A Onesie Dress

 I have seen onesie dresses mentioned off and on online and I thought it look like fun to try. I had a onesie and a knit shirt that had nice fabric that I decided to upcycle so I was ready to give it a try.

To make it I simply cut out a strip of cloth (actually it was two strips- I had side seams) for the skirt. I sewed it into a loop and then I hemmed one side and gathered the other. Then I flipped the skirt inside out and upside down over top of the onesie and pin the gathered edge on at the waist area. Then I sewed it I think using a zig zag stitch so that it would stretch better. You could stop at this point but I decided to put something around the neck too.

I cut a narrow strip of the floral cloth and then I finished one edge by sewing over it with zig zag that was set on a really short stitch. (Similar to what you would use for applique.) I let the knit fabric stretch a little as I sewed so that it would make it a bit ruffly. Then I gathered it up along the neckline and sewed it on again with zig zag. (I also finished the edges at the end of the strip.) Then I sewed a narrow ribbon over the area where I sewed the ruffle on.

That's it! It was easy and fun. I love upcycling like that. :-)

Have you ever made a onesie dress?

Speaks to me Sunday

"We know love by this, that He laid down His life for us: and we ought to lay down our lives

 for the brethren. But whoever has the world's goods, and sees his brother in need and closes

 his heart against him, how does the love of God abide in him? Little children, let us not love

 with word or with tongue, but in deed and truth" 1 John 3:16-18

We have a God who didn't just say He loves us- He showed us. The Father was willing to send Jesus down here to teach us and then die for our sins. Jesus was willing to go through horrible suffering for us- because He loves us!

 What should our response to that be?

Our love shouldn't simply be something that is said either. We need to act on it. Jesus loved everybody. We need to follow in his steps on that as well. Whoever needs our help- we should show our love and help them. I hope I can learn to be more like Jesus in this area!

Singing for her Supper

  The last couple of days Megan has been rather obsessed with money. When we went shopping earlier this week she saw something (A stuffed pig with a pink bow!) that she decided she needs. She didn't ask me for it but since then she has been trying to earn money so she can get it. And mind you she didn't see it on a shelf it was in one of the game machines where you have to try to pick it up with a little grabber thing.

 Anyway....

Today I gave her a job helping with laundry that earned her 10 cents (I gave it to her with nickels which made her happy because in her mind the more coins the better). Then she was upstairs trying to come up with other ways to earn money. Pretty soon she comes downstairs again. "Jonathan told me a way to make money!"  Me: "Oh, how is that?" Megan: "He told me I could sing on the streets."

The background to that I found out was that Megan was playing with this little toy cup and wondering how to make money and I guess something clicked in Jonathan's brain (very helpful brother that he is) and he thought she looked like a beggar or something so he gave her that idea.

When she told me I just kind of chuckled and told her to go ahead and sing or something to that affect. I thought she would sing around the house.

But no... Megan headed up and got her boots on and wanted her coat at which point I had to explain that I didn't want her to go stand out on our road and sing in hopes of making money. She was a bit disappointed so I suggested going and singing to her siblings.

Mara and Jonathan each gave her a penny which made her happy. Two more coins!

Valentine Suncatchers

 On Wednesday night during our kids class we made heart shaped sun catchers. I believe I did this before when I was a kid but it had been a long time. We were making them to take and share when we go to a home for the elderly. We put a verse about Love on it.

  These are made using bits and pieces of old crayons (it was nice to get some of the short crayons out of our container!) that have been made into slivers by using a pencil sharpener or putting them in a Ziploc bag and going over it with a rolling pin. Then you put it between wax paper, iron it together and then cut it in the shape you desire.  A friend found more detailed directions here. (I found all the over the top warnings with the directions pretty amusing!)

  With our little leftover scraps I thought it would be fun to make a garland for our window. I simply put a hole in the top of each heart and then tied them onto a ribbon with spaces in between each one. I am enjoying that extra color on the window. The sun catchers do look a lot neater than the pictures show. I couldn't capture the neat look they have as the sun comes through them.

Have you been doing any Valentines projects or decorating? We haven't done much but I guess this is a start. :-)
I am sharing this post at:

Frugal Friday at Life as Mom and Saturday Nite Special at Funky Junk Interiors

Spending Less on Paper Products

  In our disposable society there are a lot of ways we can spend money. Paper towel, toilet paper, facial tissue, paper plates, lunch bags, napkins, sandwich bags, cleansing wipes and more can all be part of the list. So how do we spend less in this area?

  I will be honest for the most part concerning paper products- it isn't the price that bothers me the most, it is the fact that when I use them I am creating a lot of needless trash. So even though I love the fact that I can save money by using less of them I am even happier that I will be not be contributing as much to the landfill.

 Some of these items seem indispensable in our society. What can we do instead? I thought I would share what we do currently do and then how I want to improve even more.

• Napkins- Instead of paper we use cloth most of the time. I have been able to make our napkins very easily from recycled clothing and other fabric I had on hand. They are not hard to add to a load of laundry. We do have room for improvement in this however. Only some of the napkins that we have (the large ones that I made out of old t-shirts) does Ken like, if there are none of those clean then he will use a paper napkin instead. Also sometimes all of the napkins are in the laundry so the paper ones come out. I need to make more napkins that Ken likes.
• Paper Towel- We use cloth rags (made from old clothes or cloth diapers) instead. It works great. I do use paper towels if I need to drain oily foods (Bacon, deep fried foods) and we do sometimes use them on trips. I could use cloth napkins on trips instead but I don't know what else I would use for oily foods. Any suggestions?
• Paper Plates- We have pretty much completely stopped using them. When camping or picnicking we simply bring plastic plates along. When we have parties we use regular stuff and throw it in the dishwasher. It might be a bit more work but I think it is worth it. Same with plastic silverware and plastic or Styrofoam cups.
• Facial Tissue (Kleenex)- We do still use these some at our house and so what I do buy I try to find on sale or use coupons or both. We are using far less however and we have upped the using of handkerchiefs. I try to always have a handkerchief with me (and I am quick to throw it in the laundry when it needs it- I don't have this rule that it lasts a day or anything gross like that.) and I also have a basket of handkerchiefs sitting at a prominent place in our house so they are handy whenever someone needs them. They take up very little space in our laundry and are easy to fold so I don't think any expense is added there. For a family that seems to often need to blow our nose (Allergies are a part of life...) saving money on tissues is a good thing. I need to get busy and make some more handkerchiefs soon as sometimes they are all in the laundry at once.
• Lunch Bags- We don't use the little brown paper sacks. I reuse other bags instead and when I finally run out of those (as I don't get them so much anymore as I do usually remember to bring cloth bags to the grocery store) then I will make a lunch sack for Ken. With the kids being homeschooled we don't have the need to use many lunch bags anyway.
• Toilet Paper-  We do still use it. :-) I was curious if you expected me to say that we don't as that is the case with most paper products. I do try to always get it on sale and use coupons if I have them and they really actually save money. Some people do use cloth toilet wipes and it isn't as gross and weird as you might think. (There is a detailed post on it here at Penniless Parenting.) I don't think I am ready for this step (and I may never be) and I know some in my family aren't but who knows- maybe sometime in the future. I like to at least know what options there are in case I can't get toilet paper someday.
• Sandwich Bags/ Ziploc Bags- I do buy these occasionally- very, very occasionally. For sandwiches I don't pack them in bags I but them in washable containers. I do use bags for bread, freezing and some other things however. I try not to use them a lot however and what I do use (unless it is meat or some other really sticky/ messy substance) I wash and use again (and again and again...). I wash Ziploc bags as well as bread bags and other food bags (like rice, frozen corn, etc.).
• Wet Wipes- There are various sorts of these- baby wipes and then the sanitizing wipes that I have seen advertised lately. I don't need baby wipes anymore and I did use them some (when away from home) when I did need to change a diaper but at home I usually used wash clothes (for that purpose only)  that I would get wet and then clean the baby up. I personally much preferred the cloth wipes and thought that they were nicer on the baby's bottom as well. As far as the wipes that are being advertised to wipe counters and such- I don't buy them. I think this nation is a little over obsessed with "sanitizing" and I prefer just to clean with soap and water.

Those are some of the ways that we have saved money on "paper" products. I probably seem extreme to many of you but I know some of you are probably even more "pro" at saving in this area. I still want to improve- not just so we can save money but because I like the idea of using re-usable stuff as much as possible so that we don't contribute so much trash to the landfill. I would love to hear any of your tips and ideas!

I am linking this to Frugal Friday at Life as Mom.

A sweet baby hoodie for a sweet little baby

 I have really been loving the new babies around here and I have found that I am quite addicted to making little sweaters. They are fun and pretty fast and they look so cute! This one I made for Baby Sunita Grace who we had a shower for on Saturday. 

Here is the link to the basic pattern. I didn't follow it all the way (I know I always say that- I guess I have trouble following directions!) but used yarn that I had on hand and I made the front striped and then I mixed up other color placements too. I also decided to add little pockets to the front and a little tassel to the hood.

I was having fun using up this rose colored yarn. The tassel was added partly because I had about 1 foot of it left and it seemed a shame to let it go to waste. :-) I bought the Rose yarn way back when I was in college and I made a sweater for my mom with it at that time (though I didn't follow gage right and it was way to wide- last year I finally fixed it for her!).

Next project with the Rose colored yarn was a baby sweater for Mara when she was little. She didn't wear it much however as I put some wool yarn next to her neck and I decided it might be to itchy. I finally got it fixed up when Megan was little and she wore it quite a bit. (This post has a picture of Megan in that sweater.)

Then last year I made a sweater for Megan out of it. You can see the post about it here.

Last month I made another sweater set for another baby and I trimmed it with the rose colored yarn.

This was the last one to be made from that yarn and it was rather fun to reminisce about what all I had used it for. And now I am curious? Do keep yarn on hand at your home? Have you had some stashed for quite while? What has been a favorite project you have made with yarn?