DIY Baby Wipes

I started making baby wipes when my 2nd son was born. I still buy wipes for traveling because the package is more convenient. A lot of recipes use baby oil and baby wash. My first son was very sensitive to a lot of things so to be safe, I used Cetaphil wash & coconut oil because coconut oil is antibacterial and antimicrobial.

INGREDIENTS for ONE container of wipes:

• 2 Cups of water (previously boiled and cooled OR you can use distilled water)
• 2 Tablespoon Cetaphil Gentle Wash (or any baby wash)
• 1 Tablespoon Coconut Oil (or baby oil)
• 10-15 drops of Tea Tree essential oil which is also antibacterial and antimicrobial
• Other essential oils (as desired) 
• One roll paper towel (I used Bounty's select a size because of the thickness & durability, cut in half)
• Plastic container (Mine were from Ikea)

DIRECTIONS:

• Cut paper towel in half (if you're making two batches, double your ingredients) 

• Mix the water, melted coconut oil, essential oil & baby wash in a measuring cup. I find that it's easier to pour if I use a measuring cup. Stir well to combine. 

Note: If your coconut oil is solid (it usually is), microwave it until it's melted.

• Place paper towel cut side down (because I don't want to see the shredded parts LOL) 

• Pour mixture over paper towel. 

• Let it sit for a 10-15 minutes upside down. This helps the paper towels soak up the mixture.

• Cut an "X" in the middle of the lid. 

• After 10-15 minutes, pull the cardboard from the middle. It should slide out easily. 

• Pull a piece from the middle and slide it through the lid. I used a the flip top from a used pack of wipes I purchased at Costco (They're smaller than they used to be which I LOVE).

 DONE!

You can basically customize the recipe the way you want. That's what's so great about making your own wipes. Use less water if you prefer it to be more dry or more water if you like it more moist. It also depends on the size of your paper towels. I've used regular size paper towels before (vs. select-a-size) and find that the pieces were too large so I really like the select-a-size option.

Enjoy!

DIY eye patch for glasses

I recently found out I have Bell's Palsy. You can read about my story here. Since my eye isn't closing all the way, I needed an eye patch especially to protect it from the wind and dust. I bought a couple from the local drug store but it was very uncomfortable and bulky. This meant that I couldn't put my prescription glasses over the eye patch. 

I knew somewhere on Pinterest, I could find a tutorial and I did here. I made mine slightly bigger because the tutorial was made for a child. 

MATERIALS: 

• 3 small pieces of cloth - I used felt, canvas & pretty calico prints. 
• Matching thread
• Scissors
• Pins
• Binding

DIRECTIONS:

• Draw out an almost tear drop/oval shape (see picture). Make sure to cut the 1 inch triangle shapes. I just printed the photo from Amanda's blog and used that making sure it was 5 inches long and 4 inches wide (Ignore the measurements on my picture. Those were the original measurements from Amanda). I pinned the template to my fabric (all 3 pieces) and cut them out at once. 

• Trace the triangles on the piece that will be on your eye's side. 

Look at all the pretty prints. 

• I found hair ties that I didn't want and cut those to use as the elastic bands. This will help your glasses hold the patches. 

• Sew the 3 pieces of fabric together. 

• Cut the elastic to fit on sides of patch. Pin and sew edges (You can do this at the same time as sewing your 3 pieces together).

1. Pinch where the triangles were and sew. This makes a bump (cone shape?) so that it's not flat on your eyes. 

• You can stop here or add binding. I really didn't want to deal with binding but it just looked unfinished. 

Viola! It's not perfect but it will do!

Okay so at first, I thought I could get away with using only two pieces of fabric which was a little flimsy and see through so when I made the 2nd one, I added the 3rd fabric which was much better! 

Why am I not smiling? Well, given that half my face won't move, I will definitely look like a pirate. I love the blue and yellow with the stars! If I have to wear a patch, I might as well make it the way I like it. 

More Bunting!

I ♥ bunting. There is so much you can do with different paper, fabric, shapes, sizes... the possibilities are endless! I have been using a lot of triangle buntings so I decided to go with another shape for these.

 

SUPPLIES:

• 10 Paper of choice 6 x 4 1/2
• Scissors
• Hole punch
• Ribbons
• Ruler 

INSTRUCTIONS:

•  Cut your paper to measure 6x4.5 (or whatever size you like. I used spring/Easter colors as I'm using these for spring photos. My cardstock was 12x12. I ended up with extra paper that I used to make pinwheels. See the tutorial here. 

•  Measure 4 inches down and 2 1/4 (half of 4.5) inches from sides and mark your paper.  

 

• Draw a line from the mark to each corner & cut along lines.  

 

•  Using the first piece as a template, place it over the remaining pieces and draw your line on the BACK of the paper (so you don't have to measure again!) 

 

• Punch holes on each of the corners on top (for ribbons to thread through)

 

•  Thread ribbons through holes from front to back. 

 If you're interested in the decorative DIY Pinwheels, please click here.

 

DIY pinwheels (decorative)

Pinwheels... It reminds me of my childhood. I wanted to make a few for a photo session with my boys. These are only decorative as they don't spin. I used left over card stock from another project. Click here to check it out!


SUPPLIES:

• Square paper (cardstock) I used 6x6
• Sticks/dowels (I used chopsticks)
• Pins
• Scissors
• Hot glue

DIRECTIONS:

• Cut your paper into square pieces 
• Cut from all four corners into center (do not cut through!)- you can measure and use a pencil to mark your paper but I didn't want marks on my pinwheels. 
• Punch holes in center and corners 

• Using a pin, hold all corners together in center. 

• Apply hot glue to stick and attached to back of pinwheel

And they match my bunting!

Crochet iPhone charger cover

I'm on my 2nd iPhone charger. Either I'm rough or Apple has cheap wires! I really didn't want to buy a new charger. Let's face it, new phones come out almost annually and since the iPhone 5, they've changed the chargers.

Since having exposed wires is not okay, I decided to do it the old school way and put electrical tape on it. I wasn't too excited about the look. I mean, what did I expect, right?!?

I had just finished crocheting a newborn hat and thought I'll just crochet over the wire using the same pink yarn. My husband saw me and disapproved of my wire wrapping skills and used shrink wrap instead (because it looks cleaner).

I ended up using a smaller hook than pictured. And twisting the wire as I crocheted made it look better. It was fairly simple and quick. Now I have a new (ish) pink charger!

YAY!

DIY Cake Stand

I needed a cake stand so I started searching online. I was really surprised at how much it cost! I'm frugal. Cheap if you want to call it that but I just don't want to spend $50 ish on a plain white cake stand.

When I did a search on Pinterest, there were so many projects out there using candle holders and plates, glued with E6000 or GOOP. The problem is it's either glass or ceramic and although that's great, I needed something less likely to break. I plan to use it for my one year old Cake Smash Sessions. 

I was browsing in Target and my wonderful husband saw a cake stand clearanced for $7 and called me over to look at it (yes, we are always browsing in different parts of the store). When I got there I saw all these other plates and bowls for even cheaper! Since my plan was to make them, it was perfect! Each plate (Salad size) & bowl was under $2! Did I mention they were plastic? Perfect!

I decided to go with a glue gun because the plates/bowls are light weight and I don't plan on heavy use. These will be hand washed anyway. 

SUPPLIES:

Matching plate & bowl (base)

Glue gun

DIRECTIONS:

1) Wash plates & bowls and dry

2) You can choose to mark the center of the back of the plate (I didn't because I was in a rush)

3) Apply hot glue to the bottom of the bowl (quickly before it dries) & place it on the center of the back of the plate. 

That's it! Simple as 1, 2, 3! For less than $10, I made 4 cake stands!!!!!