SALT DOUGH ORNAMENTS

Hi! Since we've chopped down our Christmas tree last week, we've decorated it with some clear lights and gold bulbs. I don't care much for ornaments, but then I came across Jess's post on making salt dough ornaments and I thought it'd be cute to make some! Well, my little man dime is only 15 weeks old therefore he can't decorate the ornaments. So I thought the next best thing would be to have his little hands and feet imprinted in the dough! So, I tried it out. It's super easy and super fun!

You'll need-
1 cup of salt
1 cup of water
2 cups of flour
5 tbs of cinnamon (or anything to make it smell good and christmasy)

Mix all the ingredients together until it has a 'dough like' consistency. Then knead it out. 

Roll out the dough with a rolling pin (or a beer bottle in my case). Cut out circles, or shapes. Whatever you'd like! I used a cup to cut out some circles. 

My main man by my side, like usual...I imprinted his little hands and feet into the dough. It took about two batches to get it right since he kept squishing the dough when I put his hand on it. So, I had to wait until he fell asleep to take advantage : ) 

Poke a hole at the top of the ornament with a straw and stick them in the oven for an hour at 325.

After an hour, take them out and let them cool down. Stella was particularly intrigued by the cinnamon scent. 

Once they cooled down I painted them white and gold. (They look better in person. Trust.) 

Stick a string through the top and you've got an ornament! (Trust.) 

 There it is! Super easy, and now I've got some nice mementos : )

RECYCLED LEGGINGS

I just finished making the babe some leggings from some old sweats I had, and I had to share how adorable he looks in them! Such a babe.

MONTESSORI PUZZLE BALL

As of lately i've been researching for some educational/developmental toys for Mason. I looked into the Montessori approach and discovered how amazing and beneficial it is to children. I didn't think that there would be any activities, or toys for infants that would follow the Montessori approach, but after getting some useful links from Randalin over at Harvesting Kale, I found some toys and ways to start using Montessori in our home! I also discovered some cool toys that I've already put on Mason's Christmas list. After searching through these links I found a blog that was helpful in showing me step by step on how to make a montessori puzzle ball for the babe! The Montessori puzzle ball is basically made for tiny little hands with many crevices that babies are able to grab a hold of. It also promotes using both hands and helps utilize their wrists by handing it back and forth between hands. I thought i'd give it a try and sew one myself. And here are the steps...

Step 1- Choose two fabrics. One patterned, one solid. I chose a striped organic cotton and an unbleached muslin. Choose a bowl or plate for a template. Keep in mind the size of the bowl/plate will determine the size of the ball. I did mine with a 5 inch (diameter) bowl. Trace the bowl on all fabrics, and then cut them out.

Step 2- Cut all the circles into fourths.

Step 3- Now just on the patterned fabric, cut out ellipses.

Step 4- Place one patterned ellipse on top of a solid quarter. Make sure the patterned piece is facing inward.

Step 5- Sew the curved top. Its recommended that you start in the middle, that way you can double stitch the entire thing to make it more durable. (I was on Mason's napping time, which is unpredictable so I didn't do the double stitching).

Step 6- Place another white quarter on top of the piece, making sure you tuck in the part you just sewed so that you don't sew it together. Now sew that piece as you did the last.

Step 7- Sew together the sides, make sure you leave enough of an opening to stuff it.

Step 8- Carefully turn the entire thing inside out. Making sure to get all the corners puffed.

Step 9- Now stuff it! I used some allergen free polyester. Stitch up the opening and repeat for all the pieces. You should have 12 patterned ellipses, and 24 solid quarters.

Step 10- Once you have three pieces done, you can stitch them together so that all corners touch.

And finally, you will have four sections of three done and you just stitch them all together. With all corners touching. This can be done by hand. I used needle and thread for the last 2 steps. I also added a bell in the middle so that it would make some noise when Mason played with it.

Its a lot harder than it seems, but it gets easier as you progress. It took me about 2 hours to make. I started right after Mason went to sleep and finished in the morning. He might still be too young for it, but he does somewhat try to grab it. So far, so good!

Happy Saturday!

DIY & a package in the mail.

Being almost 40 weeks pregnant is now starting to wear on my body. Mostly my feet. I don't like to sit down all day and do nothing so I'm usually up on my feet cleaning the place up or playing with the cats, and of course I still do a nightly walk with Matt and the dogs. Though as of lately, I've been feeling so much pressure on my feet and they start to ache like crazy. Therefore, I made a nice little foot scrub (followed by a body scrub) in order to have a moment today to sit down and treat myself to a nice pedicure done by yours truly. Its a simple scrub so I thought i'd share it.

Coconut Oil foot scrub

What you'll need:

- 1/2 cup Organic virgin coconut oil. (Either refined or unrefined is fine being that you're using it on your feet).

- 4 tbsp sugar (you can use salt, but I chose sugar).

The process:

Pour 1/2 cup of coconut oil into a jar. 

Then put 4 tablespoons of sugar (or salt) into the oil. 

And mix it all up! (The salt/sugar will separate from the oil, obvs. So you'll have to stir it each time you plan on using it). 

I added some lavender oil into mine, though any scent will work. Or, you don't need to add a scent at all.

And there's your foot scrub! Super simple, and it definitely works! 

Today I decided would be the day to tend to my feet since I plan on deep cleaning our place tomorrow for Mason's arrival so this is what I did for a nice foot bath. 

-Soaked my feet in a bath of 1 cup warm milk (...i know, but its good for the skin.) and 5 cups of warm water for 10 minutes. 

-Then I took my feet out and rubbed the foot scrub all over both my feet and let it sit for a good 5 minutes so they would absorb the oil. 

-I put my feet back into the milk/water bath to rinse them off and then took them out and dried off.

-I then rubbed coconut oil on my feet/nails/cuticles and put on some socks so the oil could properly moisturize my feet. I usually keep the socks on for a minimum of 4 hours if I do this during the day, though if its before I go to sleep I'll just try and keep them on all night. (and I hate sleeping with socks on, so I usually will do it during the day). 

-Once you take off the socks, your feet will feel amazingly smooth! 

In other news...

I got baby's cloth diapers in the mail today! So excited to see his cute little butt in these amazing bumGenius diapers! 

TWO MORE DAYS until our baby boy is here! 

XO.

last minute littles.

As of today, we've got THREE DAYS until the arrival of our little! Basically two days, since the surgery is so early on Friday. But it wasn't until today that I noticed we only have a handful of burping cloths, which even I know isn't enough for the spit up we'll be dealing with. So, I had a nice little sewing day with Caroline! Fabric shopping didn't take too long, and I really rocked the sewing machine! Thanks to my friend Melissa for the fabulous idea, I made 4 more burping cloths. Its very rewarding to know that I worked so hard on something for my baby, so he'll be looking real stylish...which does include burping cloth style.

The fabrics I chose for the cloths.

Backside of the cloth before the sewing took place.

Sewing time! 

The result! Not the best picture, but they are super soft and super cute. Definitely more pictures to come once the little man is here (and putting them to use). 

Goodnight! 

waiting for labor.

Everyday my contractions get worse and worse, and with this extreme heat I can't even stand going outside. Today has definitely been the worst. I had horrible contractions all day, though at this point they're not strong enough go to the hospital. So, I decided to spend the day working on the blank canvas over Mason's crib. Maybe labor will strike tonight!

I'm pretty happy with the finished product.

On another note, Caroline and I went shopping for fabric yesterday to make some pillows and cushions. It took us about 3 hours to find the perfect fabric, though we left the store without them considering we got burnt out by the time we were done. Its a project for another day, but I did take pictures of the fabrics. Now I just need to narrow them down.

The flag print I thought would be nice for Mason. Maybe a little pillow.

This is the fabric I am definitely going to use to make a cushion for Mason's high chair. (Once we find a wood one to restore). 

My future pillow. 

Happy Tuesday, and if Mason doesn't come sooner...we've got nine days to go!