Kicking Sack for Baby

A few posts back I had a picture of a yarn that I kool-aid dyed. Turned out that I didn't have enough for my kicking sack so I had to dye another skein. I wanted a nice red along the bottom of the sack and like how it turned out. There is no pattern or tutorial for this because I kind of made it up as I went but I think that it is going to work fairly well and I am in love with how the colors turned out.
Live and Love

Nursery ready for the wee one!

Furniture here and all ready for the wee one to come. Now we have a spot to put it!

The bassinet ready in the bedroom for the wee one.

  I got the idea for the tree from here
 http://www.dezignwithaz.com/fairy-tree-wall-decals-nurseries-decoration-lilly-a-320.html   
 The castle I got from here
http://www.urbanthreads.com/categories.aspx?category=EmbroideryDesigns
And finally the dragon, I used this link
http://www.clipartguide.com/_pages/1386-0812-3016-3850.html

Whipped Shea Body Butter Concoction

So those of you that know me well, know I suffer from skin issues. Excema that is triggered by allergies. I found one cause of my allergies, cats. So the kitty found a new home and since then my skin has been better but not perfect. Winters here in the Midwest don't really help skin issues. A few months ago I started using coconut oil on my skin and it has worked wonders. Regular lotion makes my skin burn which isn't a good sign. So I switched to coconut oil. It took a week or two to actually start working and not make me feel oily. I also hated scraping it out of the jar with my fingernails in the wintertime and if I thawed it out, I ended up using way too much. So I needed an alternative.

A couple people have suggested trying shea butter and I decided that now is as good a time as any to try it out, but shea butter by itself is kind of oily. So after some googling I found a recipe for whipped shea butter.

I kind of mixed a few recipes that I found but mostly I used this blog post (http://www.rawmazing.com/homemade-body-butter-recipe)  and ended up using about 4 ounces unprocessed, unrefined shea butter (bought it off of amazon) about 2 ounces coconut oil and a quarter cup olive oil. I melted the shea butter to make sure I could get out any impurities (due to it being unrefined) then I chilled it again slightly and threw it in my kitchen aid mixer with the coconut oil and olive oil. I let it mix on medium for about 20 minutes. When it came out, I got lots of fluffy oily goodness. I put it in my old coconut oil jar. I didn't add any essential oils or flavors to it. I want to see if the basic recipe works before I start adding other stuff.

My plan is to use it as a body butter, replacing it with my many lotions that I typically use. I am gonna try it out for a month and I will be back to update you and let you know how well it works!
Live and Love

It kinda looks like putty, but feels like coolwhip.

Kitchen Island Happiness

Our main floor is very open and wide and for a while now Mr. Sir and I have been itching for another countertop. This past weekend we finally gave in while strolling through Ikea (where all great splurges happen!) We found this kitchen island for 400 dollars. Just what we were looking for. Something to sit and eat at, while still giving me some more kitchen storage space. So far, I am completely in love with it. It gets the eggs off of the top of the microwave and the spice box off the top of the refrigerator, making the kitchen look more streamlined. I don't have a picture of the kitchen itself, I had just finished baking and it was a disaster.

I also took all of my clear jars full of grains and beans out of the cupboard and put them on the island so that I can see what I have better. (I then put the mixer in the cupboard to get it off of the counter, so nice to have that counter space! Too bad the mixer didn't fit on our island.)

We also figured out that it is one of our biggest splurges since we have bought our house, and a much needed splurge. Frugality is nice, but so is a happy kitchen!

Live and Love!

The Nursery is Painted...

The nursery has been painted for a while now. I have avoided taking pictures due to it being a disaster zone. But now that it is a little more organized, I feel a little bit better about showing it off. We have furniture for it (including crib, dresser, bookcase, and toybox) but they won't be here for a while and that is okay since baby will be in our room for the first while anyways. The murals are all hand painted on the walls.

The rocking chair will go in the corner with the tree, and the crib is going underneath the castle. The dragon is over the door to protect the wee one while it sleeps.

 

I got the idea for the tree from here

 http://www.dezignwithaz.com/fairy-tree-wall-decals-nurseries-decoration-lilly-a-320.html

 The castle I got from here

http://www.urbanthreads.com/categories.aspx?category=EmbroideryDesigns

 

 And finally the dragon, I used this link

http://www.clipartguide.com/_pages/1386-0812-3016-3850.html

Recycled Baby Leggings

So every year Mr.Sir gets me tall socks for Valentines day. I love these socks, and I have worn through the toes on a few pairs. Also, I hate toe socks. With a passion. My toes are meant to sit together all snug and comfy, not be separated. I also happened to have a pair of Halloween socks that I received from my late grandmother a few years before she died. I wanted to stretch the lives of these socks just a little bit, without having to deal with chilly toes.

So I took my holey-toe and toesocks and cut them off at the heel (or just above the toe confines). I folded down an edge and serged it down (if you are trying it, a zig-zag stitch works just as well), ironed and wha-la. Baby leggings for the wee-one.

We don't know what we are having, if it happens to be a boy, well, I don't think he will care if he is wearing pink leggings just at home.

They will be handy with the bulkier cloth diapers, so when hanging out at home we don't have to constantly take off pants to change the diaper.

 Live and Love