Repurposed PJ's

Today I just felt like whipping out something quick to get me motivated for the rest of the day. So, I took this old pair of Capri PJ bottoms and...

Cut off the legs...


Rolled the cut edges down...


Sewed the cut edge all the way around leaving about an inch...


Threaded a 1 inch wide piece of elastic all the way through...


Then I sewed the elastic ends together and VOILA!


Two matching skirts for my little kid-lets!


The skirts are comfortable, breathable, and easy to maneuver in!


Easy to dress up!


Or down!


They can even be used as cute little swimsuit covers!

Anyway, the project turned out cute and totally managed to motivate me too. Plus the girls feel like they got spoiled. So if you're bored and on a limited budget, you might want to give this project a try. Good luck!

Something Old, Something New

Every once in a while, (about every 6 months) I get a bit stir crazy. In those moments I usually suggest to my husband that we either move somewhere else, or join the Peace Corp. He, being the more rational of the two of us, always finds some kind of logical excuse to stay where we are and eventually helps me to realize that we are just at that stage in life where we are putting down roots and we need to bloom where we are planted. He's always right (on this matter) of course, so I back off my crazy ideas and try to find somewhere else to place my restlessness. That place is usually in a PROJECT.


Like my mother, when I am feeling restless I LOVE to move my furniture, scrub my walls, and make old things look new. One of my favorite changes was to this Ikea chair last year. Kevin thought it would be cute to buy Brooklyn her own chair but didn't realize how messy a white chair can get with a 2 year old in it. So, when Grandma Hanks came out to visit, she created a pattern for me and I sewed a washable slip cover for the chair. It turned out cute and totally hides all the old Cheetos stains underneath, and the new ones on top!


Another favorite of mine is this old secretary. An elderly gentlemen who lived under us at our last apartment was moving out and let us have it for free! It had some weird wood glued on to the glass and some outdated hardware when he gave it to us, but Kevin just cleaned it up, sanded it down, slapped on some paint, and gave it new hardware. Now it is one of my favorite pieces of furniture in the whole house!

Anyway, the point is, I got that restless feeling again a few days ago so I made Kevin saw my table in half. We were running out of space for the girls to play and the leg had fallen off of it already anyway. So, he hacked it in two and now we have an awesome bar table to enjoy our breakfast together (when we're not feeding the girls in the kitchen to prevent them from painting our carpet with food!)

Thus, if you are ever feeling restless, take a look around your house, see what furniture you can move around or refurbish, and make a change! If that doesn't work, try some light spring cleaning. It really feels good!

Stretching Dollars: Don't get rid of those "SKINNY" jeans!!

So, I was thinking about the excellent post that Erin put up about taking your kids on nature walks when I suddenly remembered going to a Pow-Wow as a young child and making bags out of old jeans (random, I know). Anyway, Brooklyn loves bags in any form, so I decided rather than using a brown paper bag on our nature scavenger hunt, I would make her a very special "nature bag"!


Just grab an old pair of jeans that you've been hoping to wear again (but secretly know you never will after delivering an 8 pound baby) and cut off the leg. You can make several bags out of one pair of jeans, or just save the rest for another project.

Next, turn the leg inside out and sew up the end that you cut.

Now turn it right side out and you have a bag! Everything else from this point on is personal preference and just for fun.

We pulled out some pink scraps I had from some dresses I just finished and some pink flowers that Grandma Uda gave us. (Brooklyn really loves pink.)

The material scraps were from the straps of a dress and were already sewn in strips. I just cut V's in the ends and glued them together. Then I added a flower and a button and we were good to go!

I thought about sewing the flower on, but then I got over it. I whipped out my hot glue gun instead and glued that sucker on tight!

Then I cut a 4 inch wide strip of my pink fabric (45 inches long) to make the strap.

I ironed it in half, opened it up, and then folded the right side to the crease and ironed. Then I did the same thing on the left side. Next, I folded it back in half and ironed again. (I really hate ironing but it makes a HUGE difference when you are sewing!)

Now its time to sew down all four sides to keep the fabric together, and to keep your strap strong.

I picked an easy place for my strap to go on and gave it a few good stitches. I didn't worry about hiding the end because I'm lazy...

...instead I glued another flower with a gem in the middle over my seam! No one will ever know. :)

This is what we ended up with! A cute bag to collect nature in, our printed scavenger list, and an old iPod case to showcase Brooklyn's great finds!

Now all we need is a little warm weather so we can head outdoors and get our scavenger hunt on! Woohoo!

Oh! And if you're wondering what to do with all those other pairs of jeans that you can't wear... here is what I did. I simply couldn't stand the idea of never fitting into my jeans again so I cut them into squares and sewed this baby blanket for my little nephew. It turned out great and I've never regretted getting those jeans out of my closet. :)

Stretching Dollars: Beef up your Dress-ups

As my girls have gotten more and more into dressing up, I've discovered how expensive this activity can actually be. Dress-ups aren't cheap, especially when you venture into the realm of Disney Princesses. Anyway, being on the budget that we are on, buying dress-ups just hasn't been an option, so here are some cheap or free dress-up ideas for all the other mothers who can't spend $40 on an Ariel costume either!

If your kids are into animal dress-ups, headbands are the way to go. For Christmas I dressed Lily like a sheep by putting her in white tights, a white onesie, black gloves and shoes, and then gluing cotton balls to the top of a headband and adding black felt ears! Super easy and I think she looks VERY sheepish.


My sister-in-law Janna also dressed up her daughter like a sheep (we were making a nativity for Grandma) but she used black ribbons on her daughter's wrists and a white beanie with cotton balls glued to it and black felt ears instead of a head band. Oh! And don't forget the little black nose. So CUTE!


For Halloween, my other sister-in-law Natalie was asked by her son to turn him into a dog-banana-split! What a character! Anyway, I thought it was very clever of her to use men's dress socks glued to a headband for the dog ears. Definitely a cheap, easy, and effective solution.


If your kids just want to be fairies, princesses, and ballerinas like mine do, then delve into their existing wardrobes and you'll be surprised what you can find. Brooklyn was the angel for our Christmas Nativity and all we did was put her in her own white dress, drape my white scarf over her shoulders, and braid a necklace into her hair.


For Christmas last year Brooklyn asked for an Ariel costume. When I finally found one and discovered that it was $40 I wanted to cry. She didn't ask for much for Christmas, but I still couldn't afford it. Then I found this wonderful mermaid tail tutorial on Filth Wizardry and I was saved! I made the tail out of a pajama pant leg and some extra shiny material I had laying around. Then I cut flower shapes into some pink fabric I had and sewed them on to an old tank top. She loved it so much and even wore it to her princess birthday party the next month.


Here she is with a long sleeved shirt under her costume for her cold January birthday party. Can't you tell how happy she is? I love it!

If its ballerina's that toot your horn, then you're in luck. We were lucky enough to get this ballet top hand-me-down from our good friend Amy, but if you don't have one around all you need is a pair of tights and a swimsuit. put them together and then add a tutu and you're set!


Last but not least, if you don't have a tutu, you can make one for really cheap. My sister-in-law Janna made the red tutu that Brooklyn is wearing by simply tying tulle and ribbon to an elastic band. Fast, easy, and effective!

Stretching Dollars: Turning YOUR clothes into THEIRS

A little while back Brooklyn went through a phase where she absolutely REFUSED to wear anything but dresses to church, to school, to the play park, and to bed! I didn't have enough dresses to keep her... well, dressed, and I wasn't feeling brave enough to endure the constant meltdowns or frequent trips to the washing machine, so instead I found this tutorial online http://helpinglittlehands.blogspot.com/2010/06/easy-t-shirt-dress-with-free-pattern.html and decided to take all my old T-shirts that I didn't wear anymore and turn them into nightgowns and play dresses. It was SUPER easy and only took me 10 minutes to do all 3.

A couple days later my sister-in-law and my cousin sent me this link: http://www.craftster.org/forum/index.php?topic=170402.0 within hours of each other, so I thought I would give it a try. All you need is a men's button down shirt and a little patience. It was a little more difficult, but I thought it turned out great.


Next on my list of things to try... Pillowcase dresses! http://402centerstreet.blogspot.com/2011/03/pillowcase-dress-tutorial.html Good luck stretching your dollars!