Kids room.

I've been trying to keep on on this blog, plus The Salt Project and I've found it's kind of hard.  So on of my goals for this year is to always write a post on Sunday.  I can't even remember when these photos were taken, but judging on how chubby little man is, it was probably in November or so.  He was just helping dad build some new dressers.   The dresser in the kids room was the one I used as a kid.  It was done.  It was a good dresser, even a cute one, but it was time to do get something bigger.  It took me a while to plan it all out, mainly because the kids share a room, that really isn't that big, and both of them still need to be in a cage crib.

Brother is excited to show you his new dressers. 

We got them from Ikea (of course).  It seems that everything is slower transitioning over to IKEA.  It's kind of hard to beat the prices, plus you can paint your own, plus it's hard to thrift for such specific items sometimes.  We also really like wandering through the store for whatever reason too.  The only reason I started taking pictures of their room is because we were all playing in Brother's crib and I noticed how bright the whole room is.  It would make an awesome plant room, it seems to be the only room to get some much light!

These kids are kind of starting to get along,  Aiko just seems to ignore him, unless he's talking when she is trying to sleep.  She'll yell at him when he starts babbling around 7 AM from her little closet crib and say "Brother, stop it, stop, stop it!"  While it's not exactly always nice sounding, it is kind of hilarious.  Poor kid just gets bossed by her already.  (I've also been trying really hard to not say "Stop it" to Aiko as well.)

 

I had originally planned on putting two cribs up in their room, but there just isn't enough space.  My cousin sent me a photo of a dresser that someone built into a closet, but then I realized we could totally make it into a crib.  While I love these old style closets, I don't love it in the kids room, too much wasted space in the middle.  As a bed, it's awesome.  

At first, it was really sad to put my 1 year old in the closet instead of her crib, now, it's her safe haven.  She loves it.  I found a bunch of cushions at the thrift store long ago and my friend covered them for me.  I had plans of using them outside on our deck, but decided they fit perfectly into the closet crib.  The closet crib doesn't fit a baby mattress, so we had to find something different.  Derek found this mesh baby gate thing and it wedges in there perfectly.  Honestly, she could not get out unless she climbed.  She's not really keen on climbing, so she'll be in there for a while. 

Just a few random things.  I made this ceramic owl, which is a bank, that can only be open by hammer.  The little elephant is from Aiko's birthday party.  I thought the hats were so cute that I should save him!

While I these dressers were unfinished, I really hate picking colors.  I just feel like they are SOOOO permanent.  Or rather, I'm just too lazy to go and paint them again, so I wanted to find something that was neutral plus could be used for years to come and still be cool. My color inspiration came from  the Various Varieties of Vegetables print in our home.  

Isn't it fabulous?  I do love my veggies.  Especially when it's made so pretty!

So, that's how we chose the colors.  But then the what to paint and not to paint?!  Ugh.  So many choices that will forever change to world as we know it right?  Does anyone else ever feel like it's SUCH a big deal when it has no right being so?  So much color drama, but it's my life. 

I'm all for painting everything, while the husband is not so.  So we compromised and I REALLY like the outcome.  Random, yet not, colorful, gender neutral.  It's a good thing the dressers came with knobs too, because knobs are a WHOLE different ballgame of color decision drama.  I had some iron owl ones (I know, owls are so out.) but I just liked the little bit of quirkiness. 

Hopefully, the kids do too.  I hope they have similar tastes to me, because otherwise, we could have a war on our hands.  

Other random notes:
While I don't approve of dolls, because I don't like playing dolls, I did have my mom make these super cute dolls for Aiko.  When Orion was born I felt like she NEEDED them.  I thought she would be cuddling and holding them, but really, she only cares for her beloved monkey, so they make for super cute decoration. (Don't even get me started on how hard it was choosing material and colors for them.)

Also, let's talk about this cross stitch my sister Hannah did for the kids room.  SO COOL right?   While she claims to not be crafty, she certainly is advancing into a crafter at an alarming rate. 

Other posts I did on the kids room.  Here.  Here. I've noticed that I completely change the room.  All the time.

Decking It.

So we have this awesome deck, with super awesome potential.  But with great potential comes great cost.  So we made do with what we have.  I'm a big barefoot person.  I purposely walk around the block barefoot so I can get my feet ready for summer.  Tender feet are the pits.  But splinters...those are even worse.  Especially with poor Aiko runs around on the deck, trips and then has 30 splinters in her feet and up her leg.  

It's a big deck.  We knew it would be too expensive to replace all the boards (which it could really use.) So we looked into repainting it. 

Before-ish  (Because we ALWAYS forget to take before.)

Wait, What?!  I actually did take some photos...or steal them from the MLS, I honestly don't know. 

Can you just feel the splinters?!

It's like that barefoot dancing commercial you see from Behr, their advertisement worked so dang well! Except Behr's was too expensive.  We ended up buying Rust-Oleum's Restore from Home Depot.

There was a 4x and 10x thickness.  We chose to use the 4x and purchased the 4 gallon.   I know, we chose the most boring color ever, but while we were at the store we only saw 4 samples.  Little did we know you could actual choose like 50 different colors, after we had the paint lady start tinting.  Le Sigh

We did power wash the deck before.  Surprisingly, it rolled on very easy and quickly.  While putting on the first coat I noticed some dark clouds looming over.  Of course.  It had to rain.  So we had to wait another day for the deck to dry out again.

Aiko watching her dad work.  Apparently, his waving was hysterical.

We did the deck in a couple different steps.  First we power washed, then we painted 2 coats on the boards.  Surprisingly, it rolled on very easily and quickly.  We did have to change rollers quite a few times and don't even try cleaning them out.  We left the posts and railings until we could agree on a color. The husband wanted to keep the redwood color above, but I don't care for it, like a lot.

In the end, the husband found the stain we'd used on our wood floors.  Here.  So instead, they ended up being a dark brown.   I thought we could work as a team to stain the deck, but in the end, I had a super crappy brush and a not so good attitude, so the husband ended up staining everything while I did who knows what.  (Like care for the children.)

After, he painted the railings with the same coating as the main part of the deck.  You guys, It looks awesome.  No more splinters in Aiko's legs, we can walk barefoot, I can lay on it.

It's amazing.  

Here's a few pictures of our days on the deck.

The only downside, is that the painted deck gets SUPER hot.  So we always lay down a blanket or wear shoes until it cools of. 

Every morning the babies are stripped down to their diapers and we go get some sun.  Aiko and I lay on our backs (little brother is happily kicking) and I point things out in the sky to her.  Planes, (current favorite) clouds and everything else are all so lovely from our deck.  

How to make ANY bra into a Nursing Bra

I could have sworn I had blogged about this with Aiko, but I can't seem to find it.  I've blogged about Bra problems before, so forgive me that, yet, once again, I do.  (Actually, just found it here. )  Why even blog about this?  Well, there are bras and then there are bras.  Then, there are nursing bras (or pieces of fabric that don't do anything and make you look frumpy) and then there are extremely expensive nursing bras.  So, why not use the bras you love and turn them into nursing bras.   Fulfilling all your nursing dreams....

Anyways, these bras are my favorite brand.  I've only been able to find them at Dillard's, which I annually purchase on the New Year's Day Sale.  Instead of $40 per bra (which is $20 per boob, in case you were wondering) I spend anywhere from $12-$19.  Yes, I have some funny colored, printed ones, but read those three points above and you will see why.  As a short Asian girl who is always in need of serious boobage support, I am extremely particular about my bras.  Yes, there are those bras that are pretty and super cute, but the above are meant to do something more substantial.  

Hold up boobs.

Yes, serious, substantial work is done with these bras.  Though the band may have 12 hooks and almost as wide as my back, you won't see any side boobage coming out. 

But let's get back to the real purpose of showing you these.  As I am four days past my due date with my little boy, I have yet to really utilize these nursing bras.  Sure, the day is coming anytime soon, so it's a good thing we finished these last week.  

What you will need to make any bra into a nursing bra.

Sewing Machine

Scissors

2 Swim Suit Bra Hooks per bra (Metal ones of course)

Bras

Pliers/Metal Snips

1 Mama to actually do the work.

10 minutes or less per bra

I got these hooks at Hancock Fabric, but (Amazon has them as well)and purchased with a coupon. 

Most bras have these little metal/plastic connectors (?)  At least, all of mine always have, but again, remember, big boob problems here. I'm sure this will work with most bras.  Technically, you don't have to cut the actual bra strap like we did below, but it doesn't really matter. 

Use your pliers/snips and cut off that connector on both sides.

I had a few bras I purchased at Dillard's this year.  I bought three different sizes...which I'm not going to tell you what size, but you never know when you breastfeed how big things may get.  

The sewing doesn't have to be pretty or even match in color. (at least I never worry about it.)  My mama chose a zigzag and she was cursing my sewing machine.  It isn't just me that can't get it to work properly!  Take the strap that comes off your shoulder and slip it through the non hook section.  Fold it over and run through the sewing machine.  I like my hooks to face out towards my arms for nursing.  I have one bra that goes the opposite way and it came unhooked a few times. 

There you have it!  A simple way to change any bra into a nursing bra. Because, again, there are bras and the there are real bras. (Sorry, I'm not going to model them for you. )

While his due date rolls by, at least we got his quilt done.

Guess who stopped by today with a little something?!

My amazing seamstress/crafter friend Holli.  I had traded her some Footzoning for her to bind baby boy's quilt.  If you'll recall, she made one of my favorite quilts ever for Aiko.  here

This picture is probably the best true to color photo.  I wanted as deep a blue as I could get, so you'll probably notice some of the pictures look black...one day I'll learn about photography.  I bought the fabric from a shop on Etsy here.  I even washed it and it stayed pretty much the same. 

This is pretty much the whole quilt!  I made it the size of a crib.

Here is after hand stitching all the constellations and then tying french knots to bind the two sides together.  Which, it only took my until now to learn how to do french knots.  I always just a tied a knot. 

Sadly, it does gather lint like crazy...but it looks ever so amazing after being cleaned up!

 

Before handing it over to Holli I did attempt to lint roll it.  But of course, the lint roller ran out.  Holli is a very detailed person, luckily, it came back all lint free from her house. 

See this binding?  I love it.  
I once made a quilt...the binding, well let's just say it's half done and works enough for me.  

 

Thanks to my mom, Auntie Mitsie and Holli for helping me finish it! Because really, it always takes many people to finish a quilt. 
  

Because I say, it was well worth it.  I love staring at it.

Previous blog about the quilting process here.

Diy muslin swaddled prints with a Snorlax

I swear, this is going to be the last one.  I think we've painted and exacto-knifed ourselves out for a while.  I bought a remnant of the muslin that was just too big for a little baby.  So we chopped it in half.  

One for buffalo (post) and one for ..............

Wait for it...........

the Snorlax!!  

For those of you who don't know, a Snorlax is a Pokemon.  Who, is adorable, and if anyone wants to make me one of these, I'd let you, for free even.   (The husband claims that anyone who is younger the 35 probably knows what a Snorlax is.  Interesting stat I think)

The last few months, the husband has been making me watch these classic Anime videos...which some were good, but some were not.  But, how could I forget, that I myself, is/was a slight anime nerd.  I'd forgotten that in high school I would watch Pokemon.  I don't know why, I just liked it, a lot.  The husband has recently informed me that it actually was a game.  I had no idea.  I just liked to watch the cartoons, which, in case you were wondering, have recently been added to Netflix!

Anyways, Hannah and I were brainstorming and we came across said Snorlax.  He could be adorable on a boys blanket right, yes, yes he could and is.  He was a little harder to find an image for.  I actually found a video clip that had him in just the right position and did a Print Screen Shot on the computer.  Then we printed him out and started cutting him out.  Once again, I started the cutting, but Hannah finished it out. 

After testing him out on some cardboard we were ready! We centered him on the blanket and started painting. 

 

 After getting him applied, we started on the "Zzzzz."  I don't know why, but the Snorlax is always sleeping.  ALWAYS. 

I think he turned out pretty dang cute.  Plus, I've never seen another one like it, which is always a bonus in my mind.

Thanks to Hannah for helping all my muslin swaddling cloth dreams come true!  I probably never would have done it (or watched her do it) if she weren't around!

I posted these before, but here are some tips and instructions on stenciling. 


Some tips that I learned from Hannah on Stenciling. 

1.  Make sure your exacto-knife is sharp and your eyes are even sharper.  You may want to print a few of your patterns so if you mess up one by cutting something wrong.  Hannah even colors one ahead of time just to make sure she knows what she does and doesn't want to cut out. 
2.  When printing on the stencil paper there will only be faint lines.  Make sure to print on some scrap after running the stencil paper through to get all the left over ink that didn't print. Otherwise, you'll go to print something and it will be covered with random lines of buffalo. 

3.  Always cut your stencil out on some surface you don't mind cutting up. 
4.  Always test your stencil on something else before diving into your material.
5.  We like to tape our stencils to the cloth.
6.  Always dab off excess paint before applying to cloth. 
7.  Hold the stencil with one hand to keep it steady.  You'll want to dab your paint brush STRAIGHT up and down to avoid bleeding underneath.
8.  Once you'd applied your paint, pull stencil immediately after. 
9.  You'll want to make sure you didn't get any excess paint on the back of the stencil before laying it down again on your surface.  
10. If you are going to use a stencil multiple times, make sure to stop and let it dry after 10 times or so, depending on the details.  It may be more or less times you can use it, but you'll start to notice it sagging and just not coming out quite as sharp.  I've actually found that after the paint dries it's basically been plasticized and works really well after. 
11. Stand back and be amazed.  You did it. Yes, you are awesome and so is that stencil.  

Here are the basic utensils we used for stenciling. 

Hannah prefers the shorter style paint.  She also really likes her fat stubby paintbrush. (green one.) We used the standard sponge brush on the bison and the short sponge brush.  We use the fine paint brushes on really small detailed work, like on the tiny little "z."  Also, this is her beloved paint tray.