Heart of Roses

Last year at this time, I noticed that Joann's had some pretty heart shaped wreaths for Valentines, all covered in roses.  I loved the idea!  However, I did not love the price tags, so I sighed and walked away, but as I continued to see them on trips to that store, the wheels in my head began turning . . . I looked at them critically and finally decided that I could make my own and make it better. Or at least, more to my personal taste.

Thereby arose my quest to find a heart shaped wreath base for making my own heart shaped rose wreath.  I looked at all the options out there and it took some effort because heart shaped bases are hard to find. When I did finally find some the bases were often just as expensive as the finished wreaths, and to add flowers and such on top of that didn't seem to make sense.  Finally I decided to purchase a fairly inexpensive tinsel-heart-garland wreath. Like this one.

Next, I proceeded to unravel all the garland off the wreath.  I saved the tinsel and now drape it around the ceiling of my front room or Valentine's, but I really purchased this wreath for it's frame.
Then I chose some roses.  It was difficult to estimate how many I would need but I made my best guess and bought some lovely pink rose buds with pretty clear glue drops on them that look like dew.

Then I tried to figure out how I was going to attach the roses to the sparse frame and still make it look good.

At one point while looking for inspiration on-line I saw some wreaths that were covered in ruffled ribbons.  I liked this idea and figured I could use ribbon to fill in any gaps in my roses.  So then I was on the hunt for ribbon, but it too was a bit pricey for how much I figured I'd need, especially if I ended up gathering it.  Luckily, I discovered some lovely hot pink spools of silk ribbon at my local dollar store.  I began stocking up on those every time I went there but it took a while to accumulate what I thought my be enough, and even then I had my doubts.

By this time Valentine's Day had passed and my enthusiasm for my idea had waned considerably . . . So the wreath frame hung in my sewing closest and the roses resided in a basket in the corner of my room until this February rolled around.

I have no idea why the wreath seemed so difficult when I wanted to do it last year.  This year, I guess because the problem had been stewing for so long, I just picked it up and knew what the answer to all my problems was.  Hot glue.

I didn't have a hot glue gun, but finishing a year old project seemed like the perfect excuse to justify buying one for myself.

As it turned out, I didn't have enough roses . . .

 That was okay though, because they still carried the same kind at Joann this year.  (Though honestly, the new ones seemed a tad cheaper fabric and I noticed there were six roses per bunch instead of seven. . . . Hmmm.)
At any rate, I decided against the ribbon ruffles as I wasn't sure how that would look or even really work, and just went with lots of roses and a ribbon bow.

I actually should have bought just one more bunch of roses. I could use six or so more to fill in some remaining gaps, but all in all, I'm pretty happy with my very rosy Valentine wreath, and pleased that I finally finished a project!

Go me!

Happy Valentine's Everyone!

~Julie :}

Update: 2/19/12 Mo' Better Pictures -- :}

Homemade Baby Wipes

I got this idea from Parenting Magazine a few years ago, I think it was featured in their section "It Worked for Me" but I've since thrown away all my old magazines so I don't remember who deserves credit for this idea.  All I know is I've been telling myself I should just do it, and finally, this past week, I did it.

Homemade Baby Wipes. . .

These are pretty self explanatory, but I'll explain just the same:

1-2. Cut up soft old worn out tees or other clothing made from soft jersey into wipe sized rectangles. You can even end up with fun colors!
I used Yellow: a scrap of an old adult tee, Pink: the back of a cute toddler tee (I'm planning to use the cute front part for a memory quilt or pillow) and Blue: my 4 year old's worn out pj pants that had major holes in the crouch.
3. Put these new washable wipes into the container of your choice, I'm using an old wipes bag with a plastic snap top.
4. Use a spray bottle to moisten each wipe as you need it. (Also a small bucket to put soiled wipes into for washing later.)  The lady in the magazine said she just used water but I am using a 1:1 water/hydrogen peroxide solution, just to be sure it's cleaning well and can kill germs.  I keep my spray bottle on a high shelf in my bathroom so it's out of the kids' reach. The bonus to that is, the bathroom is the warmest room in the house so whenever I've used them the wipes have been nice and warm, just slightly above room temperature which I'm sure is nice for my baby.

Granted, I've only tried these for about a week now, but I'm pretty happy with them so far.  I'll probably still use disposable wipes when we go out places, just to make it easier, or at least until I run out of the store bought ones.  I guess I can always put a designated ziplock bag into the diaper bag for soiled washable wipes.  Anyway, there it is!  One less thing to spend money on just to poopify and toss.
Now, we'll see if I can realize my next project, washable night trainers for my 4 year old.  And maybe if I can figure that one out I'll even switch to cloth diapers for my next baby. Who knows? Anything is possible.

Happy . . . wiping?

~Julie :}

Three New Uses for Plastic Baby Clothes Hangers (Smart Solutions, Parenting July 2008)

 

Sorry the image quality is so bad. This was taken with my phone. (My hubby has my camera and the scanner is broken) I couldn't find the online version of these tips. They're from the July 2008 Issue of Parenting magazine, but I guess they don't keep archives that far back . . . Eeenyways . . . I just thought the ribbon hanger idea was really clever and wanted to remember it without hanging onto the magazine page, so here you go . . .   Three New uses for plastic baby clothes hangers. :} Enjoy!

~Julie :}