My Memorial Weekend Projects

While Hal and Keith were working away outside in the 95+ degree heat, I felt like I should be working on some projects inside. I did manage to sneak off a few times to hit the mall for a movie and some shopping and also to lounge by the pool with Summer for a few hours but I managed to craft a few projects over the long weekend as well. I just can't help myself! I have a feeling I am going to be cranking out many more projects this summer when I'm at home with Anna. Or who knows, maybe I'll be too tired to do anything and just sleep when Anna sleeps and get absolutely nothing accomplished. Only time will tell!!

I saw this project on someone's blog a few months ago and thought once I had a few sewing lessons from my mom and Mutti under my belt that I would attempt to tackle a car seat cover. It looked simple enough from the blog but I had never worked with two different types of fabric before and oh my goodness was this tough. I even called my mom and Mutti for advice and they both told me the problem was simple - it is really hard to sew a cotton fabric to another type of fabric that is stretchy. I had tried sewing these pieces together probably half a dozen times and having to rip apart the seams each time was absolutely driving me crazy. I finally cheated and used some hem tape that I ironed on to all four sides to keep the material in place. Luckily this did the trick and I was able to sew a somewhat straight line and keep the fabric from bunching up all over the place. I purchased the fabric at JoAnn's for just $12 with a couple coupons - not too shabby because I'm sure if I were to purchase something like this, it would be $30-$40! After a few days struggling with the machine and the fabric, here is the finished product all ready to go for Anna's carrier.

 I even had a little bit of extra fabric to make a small burp cloth.

On to the next project - this took a lot longer than I expected but I am so very happy with the finished product. It's amazing how a $5 roll of contact paper from Target can transform the insides of cabinets and drawers. Yeah, yeah, no one really pays attention to the inside of drawers and cabinets but they have been driving me crazy for years and I thought it was finally time to make them look cute.  

Before and after...what a difference a little sticky paper makes!

I'm not going to paint the insides of the cabinets because that would just be a little over the top, so the new green and white paper will have to suffice!

This mini re-do is in the guest bathroom.

I also used more of this contact paper in our hall linen closet and removed the dated country apple themed contact paper that lined the shelves in the hallway. Keith probably thinks I am crazy, but I hope he appreciates how awesome everything looks!