"Naptime" Crafts

The weather has been pretty cold here recently and we've had 2 (what?!) snowstorms, so I haven't wanted to leave the house much. To keep me from losing my mind I've been working on some projects during Grace's naptime. I'm a pretty lucky mommy because it's rare for her to nap for less than 3 hours in the afternoon. I find that I can accomplish quite a bit during that time.

Several weeks ago I headed out to a new baby/children's consignment store in town to check out what they had. I'm in the market for a new baby bouncer, but came across a steal of a deal on a Boppy nursing pillow, new with tags. Since it was naked (no pillow cover) I decided I would make a cover. I LOVE how it turned out and was surprised by how easy it was to make. The hardest, a.k.a. most time consuming, part was cutting the pattern out and taping it together.

This is the backside of the pillow. I even sewed that zipper on myself! Boppy slipcovers at Target and Babies R Us range in price from $9.99-19.99. I was able to make mine for just under $6, and it's completely custom.

I've seen these car seat tents all over the blogosphere and I think they're genius! I found a tutorial and whipped this baby out in about an hour. I've seen them priced online ranging from $20-35, but I managed to make mine for $8 and some change.

The straps are what I find genius. It holds the blanket in place while still allowing you access to the car seat handle.

I would've saved a couple of bucks if I had chosen a solid fabric for the underside, but I loved the coordinating stripe, so I splurged.

I decided to dress up some burp clothes with the leftover fabric from my projects. The one on the bottom is a two sided burp cloth. Sounded good in theory, but it was a lot more work than it was worth. I think it will be my only one.

This nursing cover, also known as a "hooter hider" was my first project. It cost me a bit more because it required more material than just fabric. The straps have D-rings to make it adjustable around the neck and there's boning in the hem between the straps so you can see your baby and have use of both hands without the rest of the world getting a peep show. I also splurged on some expensive fabric at Joann's making this nursing cover come to about $12. Still significantly less than a real Hooter Hider, but it could've easily been done for half of what I spent.

Lastly are these cute paci clips. I got a package of 12 pearl snap sets at Walmart for a couple of dollars and found the cute round suspender clips on ebay for pretty darn cheap. There's a great ribbon store close by and I was able to purchase the ribbon in 12 inch lengths to eliminate waste. When all was said and done each paci clip cost me about a $1.
Cute, huh?

See below for links to the websites where I found these great projects

http://thethriftychick.blogspot.com/2009/07/simple-car-seat-tent-tutorial.html

http://www.vanillajoy.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/03/boppy-slipcover-pattern.pdf

http://www.vanillajoy.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/03/boppy-slipcover-instructions.pdf

http://www.blisstree.com/breastfeeding123/free-pattern-to-sew-your-own-nursing-cover/

http://createstudio.blogspot.com/2009/06/two-sided-burp-cloth-tutorial.html