Thomas the Train Double Riser

If your children are fans of the wooden Thomas the Train sets, I am sure you have plenty of experience with their wooden risers - both the good and the bad.  They allow your children to build bigger and better, AND they are also not particularly stable, especially, if you double stack them.

I revealed how I solved a few issues in this post, Thomas the Train Bridge Tutorial, involving permanently attaching a track section to 2 single wooden risers.  Simple and yet so very helpful.  I am not sure how much my boys appreciated this change, but I sure appreciated it as it stopped a lot of whining and crying because the track broke, yet again.  Screws and glue are good for that.

So, when my oldest recently started combining the single risers to make double risers (which they are meant to do, unfortunately), I experienced a similar problem as before - the track broke.  Grrrr.

Boo.  Real stable, right?

Tutorial: Baby/Toddler Duvet Cover Part 2

I mentioned in my DIY Your Own Pottery Barn Pillow post that I had a matching duvet cover coming, and here it is.  This tutorial makes the Baby/Toddler Duvet Cover Tutorial even easier.

 Do your kids have any special interests or characters that they like?

There are so many great fabrics to choose from.  You don't have to settle for whatever the kid's stores want to sell you for too much money.  I bought my Star Wars fabric from Joann's at 40% off 4.5 yards.  If you play your coupons right, you might even get 50% off your desired fabric, which is likely way less then what you would pay a the store. 

Who's with me?!

Pottery Barn Pillow Case Tutorial

You may or may not have been willing to pay for some Pottery Barn Kids bedding, but I have to tell you they got me with their Star Wars line.  Mind you, I waited and watched until I got a whopping 30% discount on 2 sets of 2 different Star Wars sheets sets.  (It has been my plan all along for my 2 boys to share a room.)

Well, let me rephrase that.  

I only bought a pillow case (not the sham which costs more) and a duvet cover from Pottery Barns Kids, and I bought a navy blue fitted sheet from Walmart which matched both sets so they are interchangeable.  That is how I was able to afford it.  It was still expensive from my point of view, but totally worth it.  They only had the Star Wars bedding and the Empire Strikes Back bedding when I bought them, for which I am eternally grateful.  I don't know if I could have made a decision with 2 more, just as cool options (Vader and Return of the Jedi too) that they now have.

Upcycled Jeans Bracelet

My boys kill jeans (well any pants, really) with such regularity that I end up with lots of extra fabric in my upcycle pile.  I love that fabric, because despite having paid for it at some point, it is like free fabric to muck around with as I please.

What, try a new idea?  Sure, because it is free!  No worries that you are wasting your money on some craziness.

So, when we went to Germany, I was looking to make something or somethings really cool for my niece to match these cool t-shirts that I had made for my nephew.

Since I love upcycling, especially jeans, I was perusing pinterest for ideas and found this great idea by Av Susanne.

When you visit her blog, there is a fantastic tutorial about how to make these great jeans and beads bracelets just like she did, but of course, being me, I followed my own path.  Av Susanne cut and used existing seams to create her bracelets, which according to her tutorial only wrap around the wrist once.  I chose to create my bracelets such that they wrapped 2, 3, or 4 times (use your imagination) around the wrist.  (If you use a leg seam, you could do the same thing still using her tutorial.)  The reason for the multiple wrap idea, was that I thought this bracelet would be great to grow with my 9-year-old niece versus a bracelet that only wraps once, i.e. if if it wraps 4 times around her slim wrist now, it will wrap 3 times around when she get bigger like me.  It wraps nicely around my wrist 3 times.

Borussia Dortmund T-shirts a la Tanta Kelley

It is that time of year again!  Every spring/summer we make a pilgrimage to Germany to visit my husband’s family, and because I am so craftacular, I often make gifts (Not always, mind you) for my niece (9) and nephew (11). 

The past few years my nephew has been hard to shop or make things for.  He is not too excited about much, Kelley special or not.  Well, my Borussia Dortmund or BVB 09 (my nephew’s SOCCER team) scarf that I made him for Christmas was such a hit (incredible, right?), that I thought maybe a can’t-buy-this-anywhere-else BVB 09 t-shirt would be just the ticket.

I have been scavenging Old Navy to get the cheapest T’s when there are sales, and I just so happened to have a large and extra-large black boy’s t-shirt.  Remember, his team’s colors are black and yellow. 

What else did I need?

• yellow fabric paint.   check
• freezer paper stencil.  check

Tutorial: Baby/Toddler Duvet Cover Part 1

Like most first time parents, we bought the crib set with matching bumper (that we never used for fear of suffocating our baby), crib skirt, fitted crib sheet, super cute blanket (that I never used for fear of making it look bad after many washings), and diaper stacker.  Of all the things the came with the crib bedding set, we used the fitted crib sheet and the diaper stacker.

So, when my second son made the move from sleep sack to blanket, we chose a baby/toddler duvet and duvet cover from IKEA.  I mean, my husband is German after all

Even though I know that Americans use duvets, that is not how I grew up.  For me growing up, normal American bedding meant a comforter, blanket - maybe, top sheet, fitted sheet and pillowcase, and when we started our life together here in the States, that is how we made the beds, or rather how I made the beds.  This is not to say that my husband isn't a great help around the house, but he just didn't understand the bedding system, the hospital corners my mom taught me on the top sheet, etc.  He also hated having tucked in sheets, which I LOVE.  His feet must be FREE.  So we graduated to a duvet that covered the entire bed like a comforter.  Eventually, that was too hot (for him - being on the cold side, I loved the extra man heat).  Finally, we went totally German.  We each have our own single duvets with matching duvet covers, and this is how our children sleep as well.

I have to say that I quite like the German way as long as my duvet is long enough to be tucked in at the bottom, because this girl likes warm feet. 

Flat Book Shelf How-to

Our home is small, about 1600 sq/ft, so I am on a mission to create as much out of the way storage as possible.  It feels like a loosing battle, but I suppose with 2 young children most mothers feel like this with or without more square footage.  You might wonder why I don't buy furniture to solve my problems?   My answer to that question is that most of the furniture out there is too expensive, it doesn't fit the space available, and just doesn't suit all of our needs.  Most importantly, I know that I can make it myself, build it better, and use quality materials.  No particle board here, thank you.

So, my storage solution for my boys books was inspired by the Ana Whites Flat Wall Book Shelves.  I wanted to maximize my storage and make a good use of space in our already cramped home.