Oh Baby!

I know, I know. I am so mean because the title of this post has nothing to do with my having a little bundle of joy. A girl can hope, but a baby isn't in my cards any time soon. But, being that I am near a military base a lot of my friends have children so I vicariously live through them when my baby fever hits. This time around, a good friend of mine recently gave birth to a beautiful baby girl. So as my baby gift I decided to make a crib skirt. I read about how to make a "no sew" crib skirt one on my absolutely favorite blog, younghouselove. I added a few modifications to make it work for me, but it was a great base to start with. I love to sew. However, I am not what I would consider a pro so to make sure I didn't screw it completely up I decided to rock out heat bond. It turned out great! Please excuse the quality of the photos, I only had my cell phone.

First, I gathered my supplies. Before I did anything I measured the sides and ends of the crib. Every crib is different so make sure you measure it yourself and not base it off online measurements. On each side I measured from side to side and from the highest the crib mattress setting until the floor. I also added an inch to each side to include a hem. I got the fabric, heat bond, decorative ribbon and a fabric pencil to make sure everything was 100% accurate. 

I measured an inch for the hem, but did it multiple times along the fabric so it'd be more accurate.

Then, I pulled the fabric up the the lines I made and ironed. This gave me a nice crease so all that I had to do lay the heat bond inside the crease and went over the creased again to activate the stickiness of the heat bond. I did this process to the bottom and both sides of all four pieces of fabric leaving the top without a hem.

After I made the hem on each piece, I started to apply the ribbon that matched the nursery's color scheme. Again, I used my trusty heat bond. I just cut a long piece that matched the long piece of ribbon, lined it up with the bottom, and ironed until it had a strong bond to the fabric.

 I got really into the ribbon process and started to space out. It resulted in me adding ribbon to the wrong side, so I did what any girl would do. I just added ribbon to both sides and bottom of each piece of fabric so it'd all match. It actually turned out even better than I pictured. It's funny how those things work out! 

After bonding the ribbon to the fabric, I took another type of ribbon and connected several pieces to the top of of each piece. I used heat bond for this step as well but since this is what would be connecting the bed skirt to the crib I also hand stitched a few stitches to make sure it was extra secure. 

I removed the mattress from the crib and used the ribbons to attach the crib skirt to the springs.

You want to make sure that the skirt just grazes the floor. But, by using the ribbon you can adjust the height of the crib mattress but just pull the ribbon farther or lower on the springs.

The finished product! 

inspiration: Having therefore these promises, dearly beloved, let us cleanse ourselves from all filthiness of the flesh and spirit, perfecting holiness in fear of God; 2 corinthians 7:1

Just a little hiatus!

I just wanted to tell everyone I am still here! This week was the first week of my new term so I was a little busy. But, this week I will be back with a few new posts and a few projects! God bless :)

Traditions

Happy New Year

I wanted to share a new tradition that has been recently added to my life. Being that I am from Indiana I am no stranger to the stupid, cold, white fluff that takes over our town during the winter. Snow. Some people love snow, but I have and will never be one of those people. So what did I do? Married someone from the south of course! The few times snow is anywhere near acceptable in my book is when you just need that one snow day to catch up on sleep or a good sledding trip, and of course on Christmas. If it were to even snow again for the rest of the season I would be perfectly fine with that.Luckily, I won't have to deal with snow only when we visit my amazing family back home. My mission is to gradually talk members of my family to move south until they are all out of indiana, haha. A girl can dream!  But, back to snow. As many times as you hear stories about reindeer making "tracks" in the snow, that is hardly ever the case. I can only remember a handful of times that it was actually snowing on christmas eve and christmas morning like in the movies. Now, I can always remember it snowing on new years eve. With all of the snow I never even heard of a tradition they have in the south that I am all too willing to adapt to, "popping" fireworks! I mean, if you really wanted to you could light fireworks on new years eve but you would look rather silly bundled up in the snow trying to light a sparkler. This year was M and I's first new years eve where were in the same place together so we took full advantage of it! My in-laws bought a ton of fireworks and as soon as it got dark we went to town! It was so bizarre. Here I am, in the middle of winter, in just jeans and a sweat shirt -gasp-! It was something I wasn't used to at all but boy did I enjoy it! If I were in Indiana I would of had to wear; jeans, boots, a longed sleeve shirt, a thick winter coat, gloves and a warm hat. It was a nice change of pace. I have a feeling I am going to be adopting a lot of new traditions into my little family but some will be the same. Case in point, Cabbage. My mom always made us eat cabbage and pork on new years day. Well made isn't the right word because I absolutely love cooked cabbage. Add just a little butter and seasoning salt and I am in heaven! Growing up she would put quarters in the pot when it was almost done cooking and if you got money in your bowl you were going to be extra lucky that year. We don't get money in our bowls now but I almost get anxious if I don't eat my cabbage for good luck on new years day! I'm so grateful that my mom carried on traditions like eating cabbage for good luck or eating finger foods on christmas eve onto to me and my siblings, because it's something that I will carry onto my children in the future. Traditions, to me, are what make the holidays more memorable!

 

inspiration

where there is neither Greek nor Jew, circumcision nor uncirumcision, Barbarian, Scythian, bond nor free: but Christ is all, and in all- Colossians 3:11 

                                                              

                                                  

Homemade Detergent!

Materials 

When M and I first got married, it was obviously  a big change for the both of us. We were both young and were used to having our own space. Cleaning was oddly a big issue only because we both had our own aways of cleaning. He was used to cleaning his barrack until it was spotless but he only cleaned when he absolutely had to. I would classify myself has having "organized clutter". Never dirty, but just a little messy. But, between the two of us we found a happy medium and the finished product was a clean and organized home! One thing that shocked me when moving into my own home is the price of cleaning products. Unless I have a coupon, I hardly ever have store bought cleaning products. Laundry detergent is one of those things that I found an really simple and affordable alternative that worked even better than the leading name brand. There are a lot of liquid and powder detergent recipes on blogs and websites all around but I just took a little piece of each and did what worked best for me. If you do a load and aren't completely happy with the results, add a cup of the generic oxy clean and t will help with stain removal. A big plus for using this recipe is there are no harsh dyes or perfumes so it's easy on your skin! 

Start out by grating one bar soap. I use ivory because I found it to work the best but use whatever you feel is best!

Use one cup of borax, you can find it along side the washing soda at almost any Walmart. I measure it out 1/4 cup at a time so that I can mix it in well gradually.

Also add one cup of washing soda gradually so it is mixed well.

mix well!

I store it in an old canning jar. Practical and pretty decorative if I do say so myself!

I use one heaping tablespoon per load. One batch normally lasts me over two months depending on if it's just me at home or if M is home with me. Again, if you feel like you want your clothes a little more fresh add a little extra per load. But I use just one heaping tablespoon per load even when washing M's smelly uniforms! 

Another little trick I do is with my fabric softener. What most people don't realize is that vinegar is a natural fabric softener. So when I get my fabric softener on sale or with a coupon I dilute it. I have an old bottle left from the last time I ran out of fabric softener so normally I fill it up with a little more than half with vinegar and fill the remaining space with the fabric softener. Now, most people can't stand the smell of vinegar but you can't even smell it by the time the clothes are done with the spin cycle. I hope my tips and tricks help make washing laundry a little easier on your wallet!

inspiration:

set your affections on things above, not on things on the earth-colossians 3:2

Mind.Blown.

An amazing mural in the gymnasium 

Today was a fabulous day! Okay maybe the word fabulous isn't the best, but all in all it was a pretty great day. During the morning and afternoon I did a bit of playing house wife and doing some organizing projects, more on organization later! But what really put a gold star on the day was my evening. M was stuck working for the night so that left me with oodles of possibilities for my evening. What was my choice exactly? Dinner with a good friend, Jessie, at a delicious pizzeria on base! Now, I must say that normally I like a good portion of protein included into my meals but I decided to try something new and go with a veggie calzone. A good decision on my part I must say. It was delicious and they gave you a generous portion size so for one price I got my dinner and my lunch for tomorrow. Jessie works for the newspaper on base and her assignment for the day was to cover the wrestling match at the high school on base. Fun fact, when I was younger I used to wrestle! And by younger I do mean when I was probably in kindergarten. It was a fun experience even for being a small girl. I decided to go with Jessie and help give the in and outs of wrestling so she could write a great story. I'm no expert but I was able to remember some things to help her out. The absolute best part of my day was watching the first wrestling match of the meet. She was a junior at the school and it was only her third match of her wrestling career. She. Blew. My. Mind. She wrestled in the 180 weight class I believe. But don't be fooled, she didn't have one ounce of fat. She had pure muscle and held her ground against her male opponent. Although she didn't win the match, she won in my book. She completed each round without getting pinned, again a great win in my book! After interviewing her coach my admiration for her increased even more! According to her coach she has no idea what she is doing as far as knowing actual moves because she is from Liberia and there is still a language barrier. Imagine how much she will improve my next season if she has already won two out of three of her only matches without knowing a single wrestling move! I know my ramble may seem a little obsessive but she honestly just blew my mind. Just seeing how well she stood out in a sport meant for males gave a little ray of sunshine in my day! I can only hope that my future daughter, well even sons for that matter, have even just half of the determination she displayed. Okay, no more rambling! I plan on making a batch of homemade powder laundry detergent tomorrow. I will post pictures and directions on how to do so along with the post. Well, until tomorrow!  

A blurry photo but she literally flipped him over!


Inspiration:
Wives, submit yourselves unto your own husbands as it is fit in the Lord. Husbands, love your wives and be not bitter against them-Colossians 3:18&19

Here Goes Nothing

Well, here we go. I hope this blog goes a lot better than my project 365, that's for sure! I've been laying in bed not being able to sleep knowing that the upcoming deployment is approaching way too fast. Sleeping just seemed like a waste of time. I decided to take M's advice and give this whole blog thing a try. I'm not promising an exciting blog, or even an interesting one for that matter. But, I will promise an insight on my life. A warning though, I am starting this blog after I decided to learn to knit, sew and discovered pinterest. Be prepared to see a lot of attempted, failed and successful projects, especially deployment projects! So, here goes nothing.