My girls wearing these flower bobby pins.  Even though there are several colors to choose from, all of them chose pink.  Why did I make other colors?

If you’re interested in making these flower bobby pins, I have a simple tutorial.

Materials needed:

Bobby pins

Felt fabric (any colors you want)

Glue gun

Scissors

Instructions:

Follow the above photo from left to right, starting from row 1 to 3.

Step 1: Cut a square that is approximately 2″ x 2″.  This is the size I went for but you can decide on any size.

Step 2: Cut the edges of the square to make a circle.

Step 3: Once you have the circle, start cutting from the outer edge of the circle in a spiral format all the way to the inner circle.

Steps 4 & 5: Start rolling the cut circle from the outer edge.  Keep rolling and you’ll begin to see a flower forming.

Step 6: A perfectly formed flower.

Step 7: Flip the flower over and open the small circular flap.  Apply a dab of glue to the bottom of the flower and close the flap down.

Step 8: Cut a small circle from another piece of felt.  The circle should roughly be the same size as the bottom of the flower.  My circle was cut from a 1″x1″ square.

Step 9: Slip the circle in between the bobby pin.  Apply glue on the top side of the circle where the ridges of the bobby pin run.

Step 10: Put the flower on the circle and squish it a little to make sure the flower is adhered.

Tada!  You’re done and you have a beautiful flower bobbin pin ready for your girl to wear.  My boys enjoyed helping me make these pins that they made more than I had originally intended.  Now we have a lot of flower pins of various colors.  I think it’s time to share some of these lovelies with friends.

Here’s Nathaniel in the snuggler I made for him.  This snuggler works so well and he is quite content and warm all bundled up.

Our regular routine still goes on though at a much slower pace.  School is still in session with daddy as the substitute teacher.  It’s been wonderful to have him home for a month.  He is my substitute teacher and my caretaker.  I’m very grateful and blessed by him.

When Nathaniel makes a peep, there’s always someone who is more than willing to hold him and comfort him.  Here is his big brother holding him while doing schoolwork on the computer.  He is quite good at multi-tasking I might add.  It’s so heart-warming to see how everyone cares for this little dude.

About to board the van home:

But not before one final “Ding family tradition” pose:

And one more up close:

When my husband got a pair of Angry Birds PJ pants, all the kids ooooo’ed and ahhhhh’ed over it.  They love looking at all the different birds.  I thought perhaps I could buy some Angry Birds fabric either online or at the fabric store so I can make a pair of Angry Birds pants for all the kids, but to my surprise, there was none to be found.  Sad!  But, I accidentally stumbled upon a blogger who made her own Angry Birds plush toys.  I was overjoyed and knew that my kids would love these plushies.  I’ve been secretly sewing and carefully hiding each finished birds after the kids have gone to bed each night.  They will be presented to them on Christmas day.

Here are my Angry Birds.  I stuffed each one with fiberfill and a little bit of beans to give it some weight and velocity when thrown.  Yes, they’re meant to be thrown.  Keep in mind that I filled it with “a little bit of beans” so that the kids don’t get whacked too painfully by these birds.

I sent my husband to Michael’s Arts & Crafts (because I refuse to leave my tower) to get plain 8″x10″ canvasses, which were about $1 per canvas (in bulk) after 50% off coupon.  I already have Mod Podge, paint, and other supplies.  We printed 8″x10″ portraits at Costco for $1.49 each.  All in all, the cost was $2.49 per canvas.  Yay!

I deviated from the tutorial a bit.  Instead of adding paper strips to the sides of the canvas, I painted them black.  I tried the paper strips technique using other prints and even though they turned out fine, I found that they were easier to mess up.  I really didn’t want to risk messing up these pretty portraits so thanks to my husband’s suggestion, I painted the sides black.

After the sides are completely dry, I spread Mod Podge evenly over the canvas and mount the photo onto it.  After this is dried, I spread another layer of Mod Podge over the photo itself.  I must admit that it was a bit nerve wracking doing that because it looked like I just messed up the print due to its milk streaks on the photo.  But!  It dried clear so all was good.

Here is a close-up of the finished product.  The dried, clear streaks resemble that of a true canvas print.

All five prints finished!

My husband installed a saw tooth type of picture hanger on the back of each one for hanging.  Now they’re all wrapped and ready to be presented to the grandparents.

I finally decided to do some sewing after seeing my oldest daughter’s daily wear for the past week or two.  Yesterday when I came down and saw my oldest daughter’s outfit, every fiber in me twitched again and again.  The outfit was in every way WRONG!  It was a fashion nightmare and not only that, she looked like a vagabond.  Oh . . . my poor girl!  Again, it was not because of her bad taste in clothing, but it was because she simply didn’t have clothes that could fit her.  I was determined to make her a new dress that day.

To make my life easier, I refashioned a shirt of hers that she’s recently outgrown.  I cut off 4″ from the shirt bottom, added a matching fabric skirt piece to the shirt, and finally add a bit of ruffles to the sleeves to extend them.  The “new” dressed turned out great and I love how beautiful my daughter looks in it.

After seeing her big sister in her new dress, Calissa asked me to make one for her as well.  I thought I could put it off for another day, but I quickly discovered that Calissa quietly cried and sniffled on her own, wishing that I would make her a new dress.  My heart broke.  I told her that I would make her one too and that she could even pick out her own fabric.  Her mourning turned into dancing instantaneously.  Oh my girl!!!!  She loves wearing dresses.

Again, I used the same method.  I picked a shirt that she’d outgrown.

Cut off 4″ from the bottom, attached a matching fabric piece, 17″ x 45″ , and added strips of fabrics as ruffles to the sleeves.

Here’s my younger daughter watching and waiting for me to finish up her dress so she too, can be pretty like her big sister.

Here’s my happy customer.

And of course the girls want to pose together to show off their new dresses.

I must say that repurposing shirts is a lot easier than sewing a dress from scratch.  It’s a fun project and it sews up quite quickly.  I’m very pleased with the result.

I love those baby snugglers or swaddling blankets that make a newborn feel very secure.  I found a free snuggler pattern online that I really like, but I don’t particularly care for the velcro part.  The snuggler is made of two layers:  fleece inner layer and a cotton outer layer.  I modified the original pattern to avoid using the velcro by extending the outer layer.  The longer wings allow me to tie it in a knot to make the snuggler more fitting.  See below.

Here’s my oldest daughter modeling for me.

Of course I just can’t make one because I know from experience that a baby will definitely soil the snuggler in no time.  In order to always have one in hand while the other one is in the wash, here’s the second snuggler I made.  Maybe I’ll go make another one, just in case.

Well, we are definitely ready for this baby.  Everyone in the house anxiously waits for his arrival though the thought of labor and delivery scares me.  Oh the pain!  But the result is absolutely worth it!