Budget Mummy!

So if you're anything like me then money isn't something you can just throw around. And my bub is now growing at a rapid rate - gone are the days of spending months and months in the same size! Which means she needs more clothes and she has lots of clothes that she probably won't get to wear. So I've been buying up big on the winter clearance clothes - you can get perfectly good things for as little as $1!!!! I tend to stick to t-shirts and onsies cos stretch fabric is fairly easy to work with - u dont even need to hem it if you don't want to! Sleeves can be neatly shortened with a rotary cutter (Ive got one that leaves a lovely bumpy edge and looks very cute for sleeves) or just given a nice edge like a lettuce edge : http://lynniepinnie.com/onesie_dress_tutorial/onesie_dress_tut.htm

So gather your pile of discounted tees and onesies (or raid ur wardrobe or the older kids wardrobe and gather your supplies from unwanted (or even damaged depending where the stains, holes are) items) and check out these tutorials to give them new, unique life :)






TShirt Revamps:

Pillowcase dresses

I LOVE making Piper pillowcase dresses out of kids tees. I have bought a number of boys tshirts in bigger sizes - 2, 3, 4, 5 (- Pipers in a 00 at present) And turned them into dresses! Pillowcase dresses are easy and SUPER cute! Here is a really straight forward tutorial for making a pillowcase dress that I learnt from :

http://www.aestheticnest.com/2010/06/sewing-patriotic-pillowcase-dresses.html

: I use bias binding on the arm holes of the dress because a) its neat, b) its easy and c) I think the contrast trim looks cute - I used some red checked bias binding to make piper this dress from a boys printed tee and used some vintage lace I had for the straps to girly it up

The best thing about getting them big is she can wear them as dresses then tunics (over tights or just over a cute MCN) than as a tee - definately getting my money worth there :)
Pipers got lots of pretty little dresses that are lovely and unique and cost $2.50 (or less!) and u dont have to use boys tees, u can use anything u like (Ive got some of my old tees put aside to revive for Pie clothes too!)

http://www.makeit-loveit.com/2011/07/re-purposing-tshirt-into-a-dress-with-braided-collar.html
I LOVE this dress - I tried to make one for Piper but made the braided neck way too long so added straps instead but this is so adorable and again its the type of dress u can make wide so it goes from a dress to a tunic and can be worn for longer!

A dress like this can easily be made from a tee too http://everythingyourmamamade.com/2008/05/16/adorable-3-in-1-t-shirt-dress-tunic-top-skirt/ In fact while my little Pie is sleeping I might make one after this blogs all done and dusted :)



Onesie revamps:

When bubs outgrow a onesie its genereally because of the body length - most of them have enough width in them to be worn for longer so you can cut them in half, add a cute skirt and get another months wear out of them like these easy tuts:

http://www.dana-made-it.com/2009/07/red-white-and-refashioned.html

http://lynniepinnie.com/onesie_dress_tutorial/onesie_dress_tut.htm


http://barefootinthekitchen.blogspot.com/2009/06/onesie-dress-tutorial.htm

http://www.dana-made-it.com/2008/11/onesie-dress.html

Because the top is created from the chopped up onesie (a tee thats fits could be used like this as well) ur essentially just sewing straight panels to make the skirts of the dress - easy and fast!!!

And if u want to reuse the bottom of the chopped up onesie try making some cute pants like these - http://www.dana-made-it.com/2008/11/onesie-dress.html -

or making them with ruffles like this -

http://2giggleboxes.blogspot.com/search/label/girls?updated-max=2010-03-29T12%3A19%3A00-07%3A00&max-results=20

I got 2 onesies from best and less for $5 on sale and made piper a cute dress and a ruffled nappy cover out of 1 to wear this summer - will post a pic when shes wearing it :) Plus if you follow that last tut you can easily just add ruffles to a onesie to make it a little extra special :)

Anyway, enjoy reusing last seasons wear xo

Soap Nuts

Hello world :)
Have you heard of soap nuts??? They are a much talked about topic on many pages I'm a part of and last week I discovered I could buy a trial pack from the lovely girls at Modern Cloth Nappies by Renee so I placed an order and eagerly awaited their arrival (which was super speedy, thanks MCNbR!).
A few days later the postie arrived and shoved them in my letter box (yes shoved, I have issues with my postman. I purchased 2 gorgeous print from Jess at Buggyboo for Piper's room and my friends gorgeous boys 1st birthday. Jess packaged them beautifully and clearly wrote 'Please Do Not Bend' on the envelope which the postie then folded in half and shoved in my mail box!!!!! So clearly, shoved is a great description of how said postie put my parcel into my mail box) and I grabbed them and made dash to the laundry to try them out... Well technically I went to the lounge room, opened my little parcel, read the directions so I knew what I was doing and THEN dashed to the laundry. We did a load of nappies with them and they came out really well, just like normal but without the washing powder smell - my bub smells good enough so it won't be missed around here!
Monday was washing day again - there are so many washing days with a bub in the house - and my gorgeous Kev did a few loads using the soap nuts - so they'd been through the wash 4 times when I went to do todays washing. I opened up the little bag (don't know how to use soap nuts??? you can find info on them here) and discovered that only 2 of the little half nuts (well berry type fruits actually) were spent, the rest were still good to keep washing :) So I threw the spent ones in the garden, added another soap nut and got down to some laundry :)

Todays washing loads included:

• second hand toys that I've bought or been given. All a bit grubby but didn't want to put them in the washing machine with laundry detergent as I knew Pie would be mouthing them and surface cleaning them just wasn't doing a good enough job for my liking,
• Pie's clothes,
• Pie's food covered bibs - my little gutso gobbles her solids so quick and likes to push anything that falls out back in with her fingers then suck on them for a bit so she makes a lovely mess,
• The wrap we were using to swaddle her in over the weekend which she's sucked on and spat on (we've now gone wrap free)
• Pie's nappies, inserts and wipes from yesterday - all wet, no soiled ones.

  Now, don't judge me, but with all that I had enough for one big load so I did one big load - nappies, clothes, toys all together with half a dozen or so half soap nut shells. Put it on a heavy duty wash and pressed GO :)

 When the load finished Pie was just waking from her morning catnap so I took the picnic rug and some toys outside and we had a play in the sunshine while I hung the new load and got the load husband did yesterday off the line (we only get sun on our line very first thing in the morning so have to leave it over night most of the time to get it properly dried and get the sunshine on it... Oh and I'd forgotten Kev did a load yesterday afternoon so make that 5 loads the soap nuts had done with only 2 needing to be replaced!!!) and folded up the clothes. It was so lovely that I've decided I need a laundry day bag to hang in my laundry ready to take outside while Pie and I enjoy the sunshine together - it will have toys and baby sunscreen and wipes for emergencies and ofcourse a hat. Speaking of hats, today she wore a baby bonnet I made for her months ago that was way too big, I can't believe it fits!!! I was so proud seeing something else I made on her <3
  So anyway back to the topic - soap nuts. The washing today really surprised me! I was already sold on soap nuts but today they outdid themselves. There were white singlets and rompers in there that had been looking a bit grey and they were suddenly sparkling white!!! There were pink tights that had a yuckky tinge to them after smthg ran in the washing and they were bright and looked brand new again! The toys were all spotless! The bibs didn't have a sign of food remaining on them :) If I wasn't won over earlier I sure was now! Soap nuts, I love you!!!

The 30 Day Mum Challenge

Just found this on pinterest and thought I'd put it here so one day I remember to take the 30 day mummy challenge :)

Source: imom.com via Jodi on Pinterest

World Breastfeeding Week

Did you know its World Breastfeeding Week? Nope?? Well if it hadn't came up on a status on my facebook I wouldn't have known either. Glad I do, it seems like a good blog topic.

Here's an extract from World Breastfeeding Week's website

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The World Breastfeeding Week theme for 2011 focuses on engaging and mobilising youth intergenerational work with the catchy slogan of: "Talk to me! Breastfeeding - a 3D Experience". The theme deals with communication at various levels and between various sectors.

When we look at breastfeeding support, we tend to see it in two-dimensions: time (from pre-pregnancy to weaning) and place (the home, community, health care system, etc). But neither has much impact without a THIRD dimension - communication!

Communication is an essential part of protecting, promoting and supporting breastfeeding. We live in a world where individuals and global communities connect across small and great distances at an instant's notice. New lines of communication are being created every day, and we have the ability to use these information channels to broaden our horizons and spread breastfeeding information beyond our immediate time and place to activate important dialogue.

This third dimension includes cross-generation, cross-sector, cross-gender, and cross-culture communication and encourages the sharing of knowledge and experience, thus enabling wider outreach. 

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The topic of breastfeeding often leads to lots of debate. I breastfeed my 5mo daughter and I'm glad I do it. When I fell pregnant I planned to do it for the first 6 months, now I think I'll do it until she's atleast 1. Its hard work and sometimes its painful to do and sometimes I miss having my body just for me but I keep doing it because I believe breast is best and I want to breast feed my daughter. What I don't like tho is seeing the breast vs bottle debates. Some women don't want to breastfeed, some women can't breast feed. I think its sad when instead of supporting each others decisions, women are attacking each other. I expect respect in my choices as a mother for my child but if my choices were different I would still expect that respect. At the end of the day if a child is fed and cared for and loved isnt that what really matters? I completely think women should be provided the information to make an informed decision but at the end of the day isn't it a womans body and therefore her choice?

Craft organisation + recycling = This

You know those plastic snap lock bags that PJs and rompers and the like come in??? As shown on the left of the above photo?? Well after buying Pie some new PJs I had quite a few of them to get rid of but then I thought of a handy new way to use them :)

I've got lots of craft projects on the go, I've got maybe 6 pairs of ruffley bloomers cut out to sew up, bonnets to put together, bibs that I've appliqued and are waiting to have the final embellishments added etc. So after removing all cardboard and stickers from the PJ packaging I'm left with a very handy snap close plastic pouch which has a hanger attached to it!!! I've now got all my seperate projects neatly stored and I can easily grab one during my nap time crafting, work on it while Miss Pie cat naps and then put it all back together in its bag and hang it up in the craft cabinet before Pie has a chance to do her 'I'm awake now' scream :) Good for the environment, good for keeping my teeny tiny crafting space neat and organised and good for my budget too! For bigger projects use the packaging from grown up PJs, lots of things come in these bags and rather than letting them end up in landfill, keep them in a draw ready to be put to good use :)

Oh and for safety reason I used a hole punch on the bottom of the bag to ensure it wouldn't be a suffocation hazard if Pie got her hands on it in a few months time.