How to turn a tank top into a nursing tank

This is one of those projects that takes for-ever. Not to be confused with just forever- but for-EVER! I have been working on it here & there for almost 2 months. Its a project that would only take a couple hours total (minus the dying part) but I suppose it's the fact that I had a newborn & a toddler this summer that set me back on 'production' time. (like how I made it sound like I produce things? Big & important sounding........or not.)

Anyway.

How to turn a shelf bra tank into a nursing tank.

OR I could call the first part of this tutorial 'how to replace the straps on your favorite tank top'

Ok here we go.

If you know me in real life you know I have a slight addiction to shelf bra tanks. I have pretty much worn one everyday for nearly 10 years now. Love. Them. Well when I was pregnant with Little Man I bought a couple of Old Navy's maternity ones (the length is perfect for non-pregnant ladies to by the way). Well apparently after wearing them for 3 years the straps had had enough and started coming apart.

Not wanting to get rid of them just because the straps were falling apart I figured I could replace the straps. But before replacing the straps I decided to dye the top pink. Why? Because I had dye & I could. Hehehe

Then I cut the straps off the tank top

(sorry for the blurry photos I had to take these with my phone)

Here is where you can skip ahead to the strap replacement part if you aren't making a nursing tank.
So then I cut apart the neckline on the front only of the tank top.

Ok if you skipped ahead here's where you want to jump back in.

To make a cute little strap to replace the ones we removed you will need a strip of fabric that is 4 times as wide as you want your strap. So if you wanted a 1/2 inch wide strap you need your fabric to be 2 inches wide. The length is from the front of the tank top over your shoulder and to the back of the tank top plus a little extra for seam allowance. You will need two pieces that are these sizes.

This is the strap material right side down.

Fold it in half lengthwise and iron.

Open it up. Then take each long edge and fold/iron it to meet in the center.

Next fold it in half again and iron.

This is the finished width of your strap. Sew along the edge using a small seam allowance.

If you are not making a nursing tank then attach the straps to the outside of the tank top where you cut off the original straps folding both sort ends under and sewing a square with an X in the center. Add a button as decoration if you'd like. You are done!

If you are making a nursing tank top then you need to attach the straps to the back of the tank tucking the short end under and using the square with an X in center method. Then also attach it to the front but only on the fabric that is closer to your body (in other words not the fabric that is the outside of the tank top.)

Next take some of these:

And hand sew (I know-yuck!) the eye part to your new strap on the front and the hook part to the outside fabric.

You can see in that picture that I sewed some of the extra strap fabric to the front of the tank top- I did this to add some structure before sewing on the hook since the fabric was pretty flimsy. When you see the final product you will see how it looks like a continuation of the strap.

After that all you need to do is try on your tank top, unhook both sides so the front flap falls down and mark where you will need to cut your nursing openings. Then cut a slit in a shape like two facing parenthesis: () on each side.

If your tank top is a jersey material like mine you won't need to hem the raw edges because it won't fray. If it isn't jersey then go ahead and hem all raw edges.


Then you are all done! Wear it alone in the summer, under a cute shrug in the fall/spring and even under a sweater in the winter (just pull up the sweater to nurse.) You can remove the hooks and sew the front flap back to the back flap and have a regular tank top again when you are done nursing too!

mouse over image to see before and after:

There you have it! Let me know if you have any questions & if you make one I'd love to see it!
Have A Happy Day,


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How to Make Hummus

Ok we’re going to completely gloss over the fact that I didn’t do a WIDTW (What I Did This Weekend) post yet again this week. Why? Because I really didn’t do much that I can blog about (since I don’t share pics of the kiddos on here and all that jazz).
Ok moving on. Today I have a photo tutorial for how to make your own homemade hummus!
Making Hummus is actually very easy & I do it about once every two weeks! It saves a lot of money because the size container I fill cost me at least $4 in the store!

Ready to make your own homemade hummus?(Psst: you will also find close ups of my painted countertops in these pictures! Just in case you wanted to see more detail!)

Here is the picture tutorial:
You will need:
1 can of Chick Peas
Lemon Juice
Olive Oil
3-5 cloves of garlic (or some garlic powder if you want)
Red Pepper Flakes (or whatever ingredient you need to make the flavor of your choice.
Food processor or blender or good old fashioned muscle/potato masher (notice I am using the worlds tiniest food processor-its for making baby food actually)
Note: If you have tahini on hand put some in too but if you don’t no big deal! You can also substitute sesame oil for the olive oil if you want.

Ok lets get started:
1. Open, drain & rinse your chick peas. Place in your food processor.

2. Add a little bit of lemon juice. I always eyeball this but its like 1/8 of a cup.

3. Add your cloves of garlic...more if you want a stronger garlic flavor- less if you want less. If you are using garlic powder I don't know the conversions so you'll have to either go for it & see how much you like or Google the conversions lol

4. Run your food processor a little to mix it all and start creaming the chick peas. Add your flavoring.

5. Run your food processor & stream in your olive oil until you get the texture/creaminess you want. I can't stream in while my food processor is running so I add a little, process, add a little, process etc. until I get there. You may have to stop a few times and scrape the sides of the food processor bowl to make sure it’s all getting mixed/creamed evenly.

6. Place your hummus in a container and refrigerate. I washed out an old hummus container and my homemade fits perfectly in it!


That's it for homemade hummus!
Other Flavorings you can add are:

• Roasted Red Peppers
• Feta Cheese
• Jalapeños
• Sun-dried tomatoes
• Parsley
• Ground Cumin
• Plain black pepper

Have fun with it and enjoy!
Have a Happy Day,

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None of the brands featured in this post have paid me or provided me with product to review. All opinions are my own and I bought all the ingredients/supplies myself.

Last Summer Project!

Today I’m going to share with you my spring/summer wreath that I made 3 years ago while pregnant with Little Man. I thought it would be a good “last hurrah” for Summer project.
It’s a fun little Pinwheel wreath! I didn’t take any ‘how-to’ pictures because I made it pre-blogging days but I did do a little Photoshop action to show you the basics!
First Here’s the wreath:

Cute huh?

Ok here’s the supply list:

• double sided scrapbook paper cut into 5x5 inch squares (or 3x3 or 4x4 or 6x6 etc. whatever size you want!) (or if you can’t find double sided do what I did- glue two pages wrong sides together, let dry then cut into your squares)
• foam wreath (must be the Styrofoam or foam…NOT the straw ones because you need to paint it)
• acrylic paints or spray paint in your color of choice
• brads or other round paper fasteners
• hot glue gun & glue
• sting for hanging
• small hole punch

Directions:

• Paint your wreath form completely. Let dry. (obviously do one side first, let dry then do the other & let dry) You paint it because you will see it from the side since the pinwheels only fit on the front of the form.
• Tie your hanging string around the wreath.
• Take your squares and cut in from each corner towards the center but don’t cut all the way through! Stop short of the center.  Like this:

• Next you will take every other corner and fold it into the center (without creasing it into a triangle…just pull the corner to the center gently) Like this:

• Punch a small hole in each corner that you pulled to the center. Also punch a hold in the center (or just use a pencil to make a small hole) Insert a brad or other paper fastener through each corner that is pulled in & the center and then open it up in the back of the pinwheel to secure.  You could also just hot glue the corners to the center and not use a brad. I just like the ‘finished’ look it gave.
• Next take your painted wreath form, lay it flat on a table and arrange the pinwheels on top in whatever pattern you like. I overlapped mine a little.
• Lift up one pinwheel at a time and hot glue the back of it to the wreath. Repeat until you get all the way around the wreath.
• Find the string you tied around the form earlier and hang your new creation! Fun & Summer-y!

How fun is that? And pretty cheap too! If you used browns/greens/yellows you could make one that is more fall like, same with red/green for Christmas'-y and one with different shades of white/creams would be beautiful for Jan./Feb./March. Although I have to say I love the spring summer ones the best because that’s when you use actual pinwheels :)
I hope you’ll share yours with me if you make one!!
Have a Happy day,



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Guest Post: A Few Short Cuts- a tutorial!

This is a guest post by Amanda Carlisle from A Few Short Cuts. She shows you how to save time and money in the kitchen and at the store with her recipes, coupons and more. She is a stay at home mom of 3, and loves to craft!




Back to School is just around the corner and I wanted to share this craft project with you guys. If you have a sewing machine and can sew a straight line, you can totally make this. I do not pretend to be a seamstress, or know how to sew anything but a straight line. Straight lines can get you pretty far in the world of sewing if you ask me, or my family. So far straight lines have gotten us pillows, curtain panels, and several crafts in between.

This time my straight lines made a grocery bag. Not just an ordinary grocery bag. A grocery bag made out of Capri Sun Pouches; empty of course! Did you know that you can not recycle a juice pouch? They just go sit in a landfill somewhere. Since I am trying to teach my crew not to be wasteful, we are re-purposing those pouches into a nifty grocery bag. Now, not only did we save pouches from a landfill, but we won’t need to use the bags from the store! Did I mention that it is super cute too?

What you will need

• 42 Empty Juice Pouches (easier to do than you would think)
• Sewing machine
• Thread (of course)
• 1” - 2" wide ribbon for handles

You are going to want to make sure the pouches have been washed thoroughly. The best way is to make a slit it the bottom and wash with dish soap! Then, Start by sewing 2 pouches together. Overlap them just slightly and do a zig zag stitch the whole way down.

This is how you will sew all of the pouches together. It is super simple. I used this as a lesson to teach my daughter how to use the sewing machine.

 

This is what the seam will look like

Now, to put the bag together you will need to assemble the different pieces. You will need the following...

• A Front 4 Pouches wide by 3 Pouches Tall (12 total)
• A back 4 Pouches wide by 3 Pouches Tall (12 total)
• 2 Sides 2 Pouches wide by 3 Pouches Tall (6 for each) (12 total)
• A Bottom 2 Pouches by 3 Pouches (6 total)

You can see all of the pieces above!

Now, for assembly.



Begin sewing each side to the bottom. Once they are all attached it will look like this.



Now this is the point where I goofed! I will tell you plain as day! I goofed! I should have sewn the handles on now, but did I?? NOPE! I waited until the bag was all finished, and it was a pain in the butt! Don't be like me! Sew your handles on now....You will thank me for my mistake later! :)

All you have to do is pin the 1"-2" wide ribbon to the inside of the front and back panels. Stitch in a square pattern to hold in place securely.

Back to what I did!

After the handles are attached, Sew the sides together! This is really simple.

That is it you should now have a finished grocery bag!

So far I have heard the following perks to making my own bag!

• It looks really cute!
• It smells really good (fruit punch I am guessing)
• It insulates well (added bonus)
• It is really sturdy!

So, start saving those pouches from the lunch boxes and make your own grocery bag!

Isn't that just the cutest idea? I wonder if it has 'insulating' properties (i.e. could be used as your 'meats' or 'frozen' items bag?) 
Thanks so much  Amanda for the awesome tutorial!

Have a happy day,

Baby Time Guest Post: Saving the Family Money

Today we have a fun tutorial from Karen at Saving the Family Money! Please be sure to visit her site because she has a ton of informative posts and plenty of great reading for you to do! Here she is:

Simple and easy steps to turn old picture frames into beautiful fabric covered bulletin boards.

The 2 picture frames and the gold shelf above I purchased at a garage sale for super cheap. I took out the pictures and glass and spray painted the frames and shelf black. This is the same wall that I took the before picture on, but I have since painted over the thin coat of builders paint. This is the hallway between the kitchen and the garage where everyone passes when coming and going. It will be a great place to put reminders and schedules!

Ok are you ready for me to tell you how easy it is to do? I decided I wanted to do a magnetic board because a cork board would mean I'd be putting holes in the fabric and I didn't want to do that. I went to JoAnn Fabric to look for inspiration fabric. I found these 2 coordinating fabrics and the best part is I was able to use a coupon on one of them and the other was a remnant fabric so it was discounted. I wanted it to look like artwork even if there was nothing displayed on it. Then I headed out to my favorite Home Depot where they accept competitor coupons, and got my supplies. You will need a piece of zinc-coated steel (aluminum and stainless steel will not hold magnets). I took a few magnets with me and the fabric so I could make sure it was going to work. You'll need heavy duty magnets and you should be able to buy these at the hardware store as well. My husband thinks it's funny that the Manager who was assisting me, didn't even know they carried magnets. I graciously showed him where they were..hehe. Now I chose a large piece that I could cut to size at home. It was cheaper than buying 2 smaller ones. Your hardware store might cut it to size for you if you take in your measurements or even the frame you will be using. If you do it yourself, you'll need a pair of scissors that will cut metal. They sell these for about $10 or you can borrow a pair from your sister. Thanks sis! I laid out the cardboard backing to the original picture frames and used them as a template to measure the cuts. Now you can begin your cuts. Remember it's always better to cut a piece too big and trim later, than cut it too small and waste a piece. You may want to use gloves for this part. Cut metal is sharp and I for one didn't want a cut! Once it's cut you'll want to place it inside your frame to make sure it fits. Mine was a little large so I had to trim some off of one side. Cut your fabric so you have about a 1-2 inch overhang all around the metal. I used spray adhesive to adhere the fabric. I started with a small piece on the back to get it lined up exactly the way I wanted it. Then I flipped it over and sprayed about 5 inches of metal at a time and laid down the fabric. This is where you have to be very careful because the adhesive is strong and you don't want any air bubbles or wrinkles. You might get someone to help you if you are working with a large piece. The only thing left is to place it inside the frame, secure it, then hang! I'm so excited about how well it turned out. I have not decided what to put on the shelf yet. Please let me know if you have any questions. I've also made cute teacher appreciation gifts that were a BIG hit.

Aren't those great? And EASY! Thanks so much Karen!