DIY Thursday: Monster Blanket

 As I was contemplating how I wanted to decorate my little guy's room I wanted either dinosaurs or monsters.  I decided on monsters =)  I made these awesome decorations to go in his room. So I then tried to find some cute cool (I am not allowed to call anything of my little boy's cute....he gets very mad because he is cool and awesome, not cute! =)  ) bedding.  He would be moving from a toddler bed to a twin sized bed so he needed a new bed set.  All of the monster themed bedding was not exactly very cute...and I didn't want Monsters, Inc stuff either.  Then I thought "How hard could it be to just make a blanket?"  I had made several receiving blankets so I figured it wouldn't be much harder to just do a big version.  It turned out that the sewing part wasn't much harder, but it involved a bit more math....yuck!  So here is what I did, and I hope I can make it clear as mud for you =)

First of all, I had to order my monster fabric online.....and it was $10 a yard!  and I couldn't use a coupon =(  So I just got a yard and a half, but if you want to use a bigger piece, it doesn't really change how to make the blanket so go for it =).  Then I had to find my matching fabrics.  I was just going to sew my monster piece onto a plain piece of fabric.  If you are really good at sewing you could probably just piece some pieces around as a border....but that would have taken me using my brain and I wasn't feeling it....so I just slapped it on a big piece of fabric.

For my big fabric, I got 5 yards of fabric.  I wanted it to be about 68 inches wide, and the fabric was 44 inches so I was going to have to sew 2 pieces together.  My original plan was to  cut the 5 yards in half, then sew those halves together and then trim the sides to 68 inches, but leaving a few inches for the hemming.

Then I realized if I cut the fabric into thirds, measured 68 (actually around 68 1.2 for the hem/seams) inches, and then cut. and then just sew the tops and bottoms together, It would look better having horizontal seams rather than a vertical seam.

So them I just had to trim my length, which I wanted it to be around 90 inches.  If you do it that way, you can probably get away with about 4 yards of fabric.

Once I had the big fabric sewn together I need to place my pattern piece on it.  I measured the sides and tops and centered my piece on, and then pinned it tightly in place.

I then sewed it on.  I just did a regular ol' zig zag stitch.  When you want to mark your spots, I just used some chalk to mark my places since it wipes off really easily.

The next step was doing my bottom piece.  I had to sew the fabric like I did the top piece.  Once I had it sewn together and trimmed to the size I wanted, I then put the rights sides together with my top piece and pinned the edges together.

Use lots of needles so you can get it flat and not bunched up.

I'm not sure the exact measurement of the seam I did, but it was to the 2nd line on my sewing machine (I'm still new to the sewing world so I don't know all the terms and whatnot).

I sewed 3 sides, leaving the top open.  I then turned it right sight out.  I got my quilt batting and put it inside.  They had the stuff that was already measured out to fit a twin sized comforter so that make it nice and easy =)  It was also iron on so once I got it in place, I ironed it so It would move around while I was sewing the rest.

 I then folded the top and ironed the hem and then was able to sew it.  I then did a zigzag stitch around the whole thing just give it a bit of a design on the edges.

I knew the batting wouldn't stay in place when we had to wash it (and since this was for a 3 year old boy, I knew we would be washing it).  Then I got some yarn, and just tied it like a regular ol' quilt.  It was super easy.  I just did them in random places because I didn't want to measure.

I know this isn't the greatest of tutorials, but I just wanted to show that even a beginner can make a big blanket.  Now just a warning....if you are wanting to make a comforter hoping to make it cheaper than buying one....it probably won't happen.  Even though I used coupons on everything but the monster piece, it was still a little bit more than buying a comforter.  I think it was about $50 total.  But it was worth it to me because I got exactly what I wanted and this will be a blanket that will be special to my little guy =)

It was hard to get the full blanket in the picture, but you get the idea.  I would have liked to have had the monster piece bigger, but at $10 a yard I was lucky to do what I did.

Ian is pleased with his blanket.  He slept with it before I even had his room done to put it in.  His sister even thought it was nice and warm.  I will be doing a similar blanket for her to match her new sister's.....but that will probably be around March......

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Wilde Card Wednesday: Canvas Decorations

I wanted to start making a tradition of making something for Christmas for each of my kids.  Last year I made some fleece sleeping bags (if I can find the pictures I will post those).  This year I wanted to do some decoration since I redid the kids' room sa few months ago.  There were a few sayings that I have loved so I decided to do them for their rooms.  They were super easy!  

Here's what I did:  I got the desired size of canvas.  I think all of them were 9x11.  Then I painted each the color I wanted.  I then cut the vinyl in to the size that I wanted.  Then I just put the vinyl on the board, and then coated with mod podge.  

I didn't want my daughter's to be plain so I added some flowers.

Boys don't really need much sprucing up =) 

I did my baby daughter's a bit different since I didn't have any yellow vinyl.  I actually painted the whole thing yellow, then cut out the vinyl (I used some of my scrap vinyl that I hate to throw away) and put it in place.  Then I went over it all with pink pain, and did it streaky so the yellow would show through a little bit.  Then once it was dry I peeled off the vinyl.  Then I did a layer of mod podge and sprinkled a bit of glitter all over.  Once it dried I put mod podge on just the stars and put glitter on them and let them dry.

These projects are super easy to do (and pretty cheap if you use a coupon at the craft store =)  ) You can customize them for each child and for whatever room decor you have.

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Munchkin Monday: Kids wavy hair

You see all the cute hair styles out there and they look like they take forever to do.

This was way easy and looked cute.

After washing her hair and getting ready for bed, I braided it in 8 different braids.

When we took them out in the morning it was all wavy. 

We put a bow and we were done.

 She loves it! Child approved and we will be doing it again.

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Foodie Friday-Stuffed Chicken Marsala

Well I never thought I would have such good carb free eating!! I LOVE my carbs but need to lose a few too many pounds and so the diet we decided to do was the 17 day diet. It is a hard one but worth it when you do it right and the weight drops quick for you. It is also nice that going carb free isn't super new to the world so we had some insight to help us out :) Another helpful thing for us is that "The Doctors" did a show about the 17 day diet and challenged people to join just this year so their website has tons of help and recipes. YAY for making me think less. With this diet being so strict and carb free completely (but limited fruit is allowed) you sometimes just miss a comfort meal. This was our comfort meal and boy were we happy to eat it. Lets just say I grew up hating salads so we can't eat salads day in and out if my husband wants to live through this.  This recipe is totally created by NOT ME!! but by my loving husband who likes to cook. 

This is a 17 day diet Cycle 1 recipe 

Stuffed Chicken Marsala

Dice desired amount of mushrooms, and onions, saute in a pan with some garlic and 1 Tbsp olive oil.

Then in the same pan add 

1-1 1/2 C. low sodium chicken broth

1/2 C. Marsala cooking wine

1-2 Tbsp dried oregano

bring to a boil and simmer about 10 minutes. Mix 1 Tbsp of cornstarch with a little bit of cool water and mix into the "gravy". Simmer another 10 minutes until thickened. 

While your sauce is simmering cook your chicken breast on a skillet with a little Italian seasoning on top. Cut your chicken down the center length wise but not all the way through only cut it 2/3 across so it is still connected and you can STUFF it :) 

Separate the sauce and the (chunks) the mushrooms and onions. Easily done with a slotted spoon. The veggie mixture gets stuffed into the chicken sprinkle with some Parmesan cheese and place into the oven on broil until the cheese melts

Then pour the sauce over the chicken and potatoes.

Now the "Mashed Potatoes" cause we are carb free those are.......... yes you know what they are..... name that white vegetable.....

Cauliflower! I know people are using this great versatile veggie for many things (we are at our house recipes to come). 

The one tip I discovered was DON'T add any LIQUID to the mashing they become way way too runny. I added a little chicken broth and boy was that a mistake. Just whip them to death add some seasonings if you like. We added onion powder and garlic powder.

Add some steamed broccoli and you are ready to go.

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