Toddler Dropcloth for Messy Little Boys

We had a ceramic tile floor in our breakfast nook at our old house. I hated it. But now that we have CARPET in our eating area at the apartment, I would take ugly ceramic tile any day! Carpet is HARD to clean toddler messes off of! Jackson has a habit of throwing food on the floor. I have a habit of seeing it and ignoring it not seeing it. The combination is not good. We needed a floor cover.

I'd seen vinyl floor covers that you wipe off, but I knew I would never actually wipe it off. I wanted something that I could just throw in the washer. Then I found a tutorial from Chickpea Sewing Studio for a Crumb Catcher. I've been calling it our Toddler Dropcloth. It's a mat that goes under a highchair to catch all the crumbs and spills, and it also has an attached bag so that the mat folds on itself and stores in the bag. This is really handy for somewhere like a restaurant or a friend's house so you can just get the mess inside the bag and take it home to clean. You can get the tutorial here.

Ready for crumbs to be dropped or deliberately thrown

Crumbs entering bag

Crumbs almost contained

Phew. Crumbs ready to be transported. Floor was saved.

Here is how the bag attaches...

Sew a box with an X to attach middle of bag to middle of mat

It was really simple to sew, I completed the entire project during one of Jackson's naps. And this boy does not take long naps. I think I am going to start making them as gifts. Mine isn't the cutest thing in the world as I was trying to use up fabric I already had. But with some really fun prints it could be so cute!

Baby Gate as Drying Rack/Laundry Sorter

If you live in a small apartment like me, you are constantly looking for space saving ideas like this one. My husband always says everything should serve at least 2 purposes if it's worth having around. So what's another use for a baby gate?

If your washer and dryer face each other, your gate can work as a drying rack or a surface to fold and sort laundry on! Of course, this won't work with every gate, but it was perfect for my expandable lattice-type gate. (By the way, I love this baby gate. It was relatively inexpensive, expands out really wide, and is easy to remove when you don't need it. It's also pretty small when not expanded and fits between the dryer and the wall.) Just expand the gate out as far as it goes and set it on top of your machines!

I hope this tip works for you and helps to get the laundry off the floor and out of the way! (And if you have a toddler, you know that laundry on the floor = huge mess waiting to happen!)

This is the gate I have:

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It's the Expandable Swing Gate by North States Industries. I got mine at Target. You can get it online HERE!

Puzzle Bag Tutorial

If there's one thing that drives me crazy it's when little toy pieces get separated from each other. They end up getting lost and it really bugs me when one of Jackson's toys has pieces missing!

Jackson got these really cool puzzles for Christmas.

He loves to play with them, but they have a TON of pieces to get mixed up and lost. So I decided to make these puzzle bags for them.

They are made of cheap cotton fabric and shoestring-like cording, and I also added some freezer paper stenciled images to know which one is which.

abc for the alphabet puzzle

Train for the train puzzle

Claw for the animal puzzle

# for the number puzzle

I think they turned out really cool!

If you also have puzzle pieces all over your house, try making one of these simple puzzle bags.



Materials:
Cotton Fabric
Shoestring-like Cording
Thread
Sewing Machine

Optional Materials:
Freezer Paper
Fabric Paint
Paint brush
Exacto knife
Iron
Random Cloth for pressing


1. Measure out how big you want your bag to be. I did this by laying down my puzzle on top of my material (doubled up and folded at the bottom edge) and cutting around it, leaving about an inch around the edges. On the top leave about 6 inches- you can always cut it down.

2. Sew the sides of the bag together with about a 1/4 inch seam allowance. Sew all the way to the top of the bag.

3. Place the puzzle in the bag and gather the top with your hand to see if there is excess material to be cut off, keeping in mind that you'll need to allow about 1 inch for the drawstring casing, plus a seam allowance if you want a finished off look (which I didn't bother to do!) Cut off any excess material.

4. Remove the puzzle from the bag. *If you want to make a finished edge, hem the edge now.* Fold over the top of the bag about 1 inch. Press and pin if desired. Find the center of the front of the bag and mark with a fabric pencil or with a pin. Starting about an inch from your mark, sew around the top of the bag to create a drawstring casing. Stop 1 inch from your center mark.

5. Remove the pin from your center mark and sew a vertical line down the center (I used a decorative stitch) about 1 inch in length.

6. Cut your drawstring. (Make it twice the width of your bag plus about 8 inches.) Place a safety pin through one end of the string and start threading it through the casing starting at one side of your center stitching. Pull it through the other side. Tie knots in both ends of the string.

7. Sew your seam from step 4 a little closer to the center mark on both sides so that the drawstring won't come out, but can still move around. That's it! You are done with the bag part.

The inside will look like this.

OPTIONAL:

If you want to do a freezer paper stencil, I recommend using the tutorial over at I Am Momma - Hear Me Roar. You can find it here. She even has a video on there and she really teaches the method well.

Now go make your bags and enjoy a house free of tiny puzzle clutter!

"I love my puzzles! Especially throwing the pieces!"

Tutorial: How to "Toddlerize" a Sleep Sack

Jackson still doesn't sleep with a pillow or a blanket. Call me overprotective, but I am still so worried that he would suffocate. (He's almost 2.) I feel much better with him sleeping with a sleep sack on.

Around the time he started walking, we ran into a problem. When he woke up in the mornings, he would run around in his crib and trip on his sleep sack. They make wearable blankets with little cuffs to stick little feet through for toddlers, so we bought one and it worked great. However, I didn't want to spend another $25 each buying him more toddler sleep sacks when we already had the infant kind at home that fit fine. So I toddlerized them!

Here he is watching Baby Einstein in his Sleep Sack...

And eating breakfast...

And just hanging out being cute.

On mornings when we don't have to be anywhere, he seriously stays in his Toddlerized sleep sack until lunchtime sometimes. Parenting win or fail, I don't know.

Here's what you'll need to make your own:

Infant Sleep Sack that fits your child (I used the 12-18 month kind for Jackson)
Ribbed Knit Material (like the cuff of a sweatshirt)
Sewing Pins
Sewing Machine or needle and thread

1. Cut out 2 rectangles measuring 8.5" x 10". The ribs should be vertical.

2. Next rip the seam out of the bottom of your sleep sack ONLY where you want your cuffs to be. Rip out a section measuring 4.5" on either side, starting about 1 to 2 inches from the side.

Rip out seams about this far from the sides

3. Now sew your cuffs. Fold a rectangle in half meeting one long end to the other. Press. Now fold your short ends together and pin. Sew into place with a 1/2 inch seam allowance. You should now have a tube with raw edges on one end and a pressed folded edge on the other. Repeat for your other cuff.

4. Next sew your cuff onto your sleep sack. Bear with me here, I'm not great at explaining things. Keeping your cuff turned inside out, pull the material of the sleep sack through the cuff so that the folded edge of the cuff is faced towards the top. (Right sides together.) Match the raw edge of the sleep sack (unfolded from any pressing from the previous seam the manufacturer put in) with the raw edge of the cuff. Pin into place. Sew around the bottom with a 1/2 inch seam allowance. Repeat on other side.

inside out view

5. Flip it right side out and that's it! You are done!

Now your toddler will stay nice and toasty at night and you won't run in every 2 seconds making sure they don't have a blanket covering their face! (Or is it just me that's that crazy?!)

Diapers and Wipes Pouch

I've been wanting a cute diaper pouch for Jackson for a LONG time. I couldn't ever find one that was cute without being girly, so I decided to make one. I chose this one because it looked so simple to make. I also like that you can see inside to know when you are out of diapers. The tutorial says it was designed to fit size 3 diapers. I didn't adjust the pattern, and it's a little short since Jackson wears size 4. But it fits 3 to 4 diapers and a package of travel wipes just great! It's a great thing to have when I am running out for a quick errand and don't need the whole nursery with me, or to hand to his nursery worker at church.

You can find the tutorial HERE at Noodlehead!

Jackson's Very Own Little Seat

When I saw this tutorial for a "One Seater Floor Cushion" from Living With Punks, I knew I had to make it. It had Jackson's name written all over it. He really likes to tote stuff around- so I knew the handle would be perfect. We had been wanting to get him a little chair, like the monogrammed ones from Pottery Barn Kids, but we really don't have room for one. I thought this would be the perfect solution! I wasn't sure if it was going to be too complicated for me to make, but it was really easy- the instructions are very well written- and it turned out great!

I chose to use a "faded navy-ish" fabric with brown piping to match his room (red, brown, and blue cowboy theme!) I think it looks great with his stuff.

The tutorial says to use a compass to draw the 17 inch circle pattern for the top and bottom. I couldn't find a compass that made a circle bigger than 14 inches or so, so I searched the internet high and low until I found this AMAZING PDF for cutting out circles from Scientific Seamstress - it lets you cut them to as big as 58" in diameter. All you have to do is print out the pages, tape them together, and follow the instructions. It was a GREAT find!

I thought about appliqueing a big brown star on the top of the cushion, but I think it's pretty cute plain. It's easy to overdo stuff- I always have to hold myself back!

Jackson's One Seater was so much fun to make. I'm sure I'll be making more soon!

Get the tutorial here!

On The Menu This Week

Well, I didn't manage to get a Cooking Marathon done this week, but I do have a list of things to prepare throughout the week. Here's what's on the menu:

Breakfast

Millet and Creamy Banana Bowl from Healthy Tipping Point

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Pancake Apple Rings: Apple slices dipped in pancake batter and cooked on a griddle

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Snacks

Cranberry Bran Muffins from Weelicious
 

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Lunches and Dinners

 Salmon and Potato Patties: These were adapted from a cookbook at the library, can't remember what cookbook!

Curried Millet with Chickpeas and Currents from Can You Stay For Dinner

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Dinosaur Dill Crunch Salad with Salt & Vinegar Chickpeas from Oh She Glows

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I made the Salmon and Potato patties for dinner tonight and they were really good! If only I could have gotten Jackson to try them! :(