It's SEW easy! -a baby tutu

Hey all my DIY'ers! So I had been talking with my husband about something to make for our little Carolyn when all of a sudden it hit me..... lets make her a TUTU! We are huge Iron Man fans in this house so by default so is she ;) I decided that instead of making it "girly" colors (you know pinks and purples) to make it the color of Iron Man, plus she wears those colors really great and I just knew she would look adorable in it. I looked at a few tutu's to get some inspiration but I just wasn't sure how I wanted to do it. All of a sudden last night at about 1 am I sat up in bed and had got it! So I got up and grabbed my mini self healing cutting mat, my fabric scissors, my tape measure and went to work on cutting away! I made mine for my daughter who just turned four months but it is easy to measure a babys 'waist' or wear you want it to go. My daughters waist was at 18 inches. I have showed the steps for the tutu with a mini one that I am going to put on her doll. Good luck and get DIY-ing! (and I promise it is super easy!)

This is the finished project! How cute is that?!

• First you will want to gather all of your materials 
• I used three different colors of tulle, a yard of each (I used a sparkle gold, a sparkle red, and a shiny red)
• than cut all of the fabric to 5 inches wide and 18 inches long, after they were all cut I separated them by their color. 
• you will need how ever many inches your baby's (or child) waist plus an inch and a half of braided 2 in wide elastic. (you can use smaller if you want to or up to 3 inches) 
• thread to match 
• sewing machine 
• thread scissors 
• Than you will want to take the elastic and sew 1 1/2 inches over

(this is the smaller version)

this is showing sewing the elastic together

band of elastic before sewn together

• you than want to take two pieces of tulle (I did gold and red first, than gold and red for the second and for the third red and red

 the two strips of tulle (I know that the gold is hard to see but it is there!)

• Than fold the pieces of tulle length wise in half 

• Fold the the tulle over the band of elastic, scrunch a little and pin in place

• Sew (remember to backstich!!!!) the tulle together right underneath the elastic 

• Continue adding the tulle and sewing it until you are about half way done than scrunch all of them closer to make sure you are able to get as much as you can on the elastic band to make it fluffy and full!
  before the scrunch 
  
  
  after the scrunch 
• Than fill in the rest, and fluff and bam you are done!!!!

I hope that you all enjoy the blog! Feel free to make or recreate in any way but please credit back to this blog. Thank you! 

your comments, questions, and concerns are always welcome! 

-DIY mommy

spring:a new season and time for change (and unfortunately cleaning)

Well it is that time again: spring. When all of the plants have decided to bloom which inevitably brings more dust and pollen into your home. Daylight savings time has hit us yet again showing the time to "spring clean" your house. If you are anything like me you are a busy parent trying to take care of your child (or children), your husband (who sometimes is just as bad as your child lol), your house and other family members if you live with them which doesn't leave a lot of time for heavy duty cleaning. Now I don't like living in a mess or have a messy house but it doesn't always work out that I have enough time to make it spotless, get my husband off to work with lunch and make dinner for everyone, but spring cleaning is important and it also sheds the dreary feeling of winter and who doesn't love that?! I like things to be fast and easy! Usually I take a few days to get everything and all the spring cleaning done rather than try and cram it all into one day, because lets face it, THERE IS A LOT TO DO! I have found that one of the easiest ways to get everything done and REMEMBER all of the things that need to be done is by making a check list and when you get something done and are able to check (or cross) it off of your list what a sense of accomplishment.  I have found a few good sites/blogs that give a pretty good description of the best way to go about it, and ones that I really like and I have also included my list! now granted my list has more stuff on it but it is a little bit more detailed. You can choose whichever one/ones you like best! Go forth and clean my friends, clean like there is no tomorrow!

Raking in the savings: http://www.rakinginthesavings.com/spring-cleaning-action-plan/

diy 101: http://www.firsthomelovelife.com/2013/02/spring-cleaning-printable-checklist.html
              diy 101 is a great free printable list for all of you homeowners out there, however if you don't own your own home than you can just skip the "outside" portion of this print out. Also as they mention in the beginning of the blog but just to reiterate NEVER FLUSH OLD MEDICATION DOWN THE TOILET!

buzzfeed: http://www.buzzfeed.com/alannaokun/simple-tricks-to-make-spring-cleaning-so-much-easier?sub=2083561_978403
               There are some great quick tips on this buzzfeed blog to make a few things go a lot quicker and a lot easier (and we both know that  I LOVE EASY!). These are some great tips to add to that list that you make or decide to use from one of these sites, or mine!

HERE IS MY LIST!

• KITCHEN 
• clean oven, microwave, and other small appliances 
• clean inside and outside of the refrigerator and freezer
• clean inside and outside of dishwasher
• clean inside and outside of cabinets and drawers 
• re-organize and clean pantry
• clean off light fixtures and replace bulbs if need be
• wash windows and window tracks
• BATHROOMS
• use soapy water to wash walls and baseboards 
• wash ceiling, doors, and switch plates
• clean off light fixtures and replace bulbs if need be
• clean inside and outside of cabinets and drawers 
• wash shower curtains (if fabric) and wash rugs
• clean out garbage can
• sweep and mop floor
• wash window and window tracks 
• and regular bathroom cleaning 
• LAUNDRY/MUD ROOM
• soapy water to clean walls, baseboards, doors, and switch plates
• clean shelves and clean inside and outside of cabinets and drawers
• clean light fixtures and change bulbs if need be
• wash outside and inside of washing machine and dryer
• vacuum out lint trap
• sweep and mop floors
• dust any wood furniture you may have
• LIVING ROOM/FAMILY ROOM
• soapy water to wash walls, baseboards, doors, and switch plates
• clean ceiling and fans
• clean light fixtures and replace bulbs if need be
• wash throws/blankets and pillows, vacuum and wash furniture, wash curtains and blinds
• wash windows and window tracks 
• vacuum floors and floor/ceiling vents
• wash floors
• dust furniture
• BEDROOMS
• soapy water to wash walls, baseboards, doors, and switch plates
• clean light fixtures and change bulbs if need be
• vacuum floor and vents
• wash curtains, rugs and all bedding
• wash mattress and pillows
• clean windows and window tracks 
• dust furniture 
• WHOLE HOUSEHOLD
• change batteries in all smoke alarms
• clean and wash any area rugs you may have
• dust electric devices (computers, tv's, stereos, ect.)
• wash all trim around doors

I hope that you find all of this information helpful and if you have any questions or suggestions please leave a comment!!!! :D

The start of a great thing!

Hey all! To anyone who is interested and wants to know more about what these blogs are going to be about than this post is for you! I have decided that I want to start my own blog on DIY things especially baby things. I will be showing you the ways and hows of the things that I do along with some of the great blogs that I have found out there for you to check out. These blogs are going to be mostly directed towards baby DIY but you could easily use a lot of it for "grown up" projects that you may have or have wanted to try. I will also be showing you the DIY around the house to make life a little bit easier for us stay at home moms that are out there or for moms who work full time along with their husbands. Even if you dont have kids and you find that you are a crafty person dont run away from the page! These can be used by you guys too!!! Do you have a friend that is pregnant and throwing a baby shower soon? Dont want to get them gifts that someone else could easily pick out? Are you crafty?! Try some of these projects for gifts :D There are ranges of difficulty and how long it will take you to complete! I will soon be putting up my first blog about how to DIY change a children's dresser from drab to FAB! stay tuned!

-DIYmommy