After being inspired by our friend Dana, my mom and I decided that during our visit together, we'd try and accomplish one project per week as an outlet for our creativity (and to try new things). We have yet to decide if this is in addition to the quilting we'll likely be doing or if finishing a quilt would be our project for the week. We've got everything from kiddo projects, to gardening projects, to around-the-house projects, to gift-type projects. We'll see what we choose each week. This should be fun though.
Week One:
*Blackout curtains for the guest bedroom.
Pretty simple design with a cutesy fabric on one side and ray-blocking fabric on the other.
*Whipped Coconut Oil Body Butter.
At first, we only did about two cups of coconut oil, but liked it so much that we threw in the rest of the jar. We didn't add any essential oils this time, but would consider doing that the next time we whip up a batch. Pretty much all we had to do was scoop the coconut oil into the standing mixer and put it on high for 7'ish minutes. Then scoop into an airtight container. It's so smooth, so we get the benefits of coconut oil without the frustration of trying to scrape some out of the jar b/c it's so thick normally.
*Baby swaddler for a chunky two month old who can escape from the Big Baby swaddlers.
This one was inspired by my two month old, Hux. He's two months old, but 15 lbs. He no longer fits in his Halo Swaddlers, so I bought a Big Baby Swaddleme. It took him less than a night to figure out how to get one arm free from that, even when I velcroed it as tight as it would go. I thought I was brilliant when I swaddled both arms both times, but he could still escape. Then I thought I was smart because I safety pinned the side where he kept getting free. No need to worry. He started getting free on the other side. That's when I decided I should just spend the $30 (which seems absurd) on a Woombie... Oh wait. I remember wanting to try to make something similar from the jersey pillowcase I had earmarked for that. Yay! But THEN I saw something that seemed even easier! So we went to Costco and bought one of their organic footie sleeper outfits (with a zipper). I simply rubber banded the arms shut and zipped it up with his arms next to his belly. The bright side: it totally works better than the $12 Swaddleme. The downside: The smallest size they had was 12 months. It's pretty tight on the zippered leg, but somewhat loose in the torso and the neck hole is bigger than I was hoping (he's gotten *part* of his hand out twice). I'm thinking I may go to Target or something soon to do the same thing with a 9 mo outfit. Note: I could easily sew off both of the arms to make it look nice, but I like how when I'm done using it as a swaddler, I'll be able to unband the arms and use it as a sleeper outfit. Note two: You cannot make this work with the pull over the head sleeper outfits (the ones with elastic at the bottom for easy diaper changes). Because it's a pullover, the neckhole is WAY too big to make it even semi-work
Pictures to follow
