My Old Crib to Ben's New Toy Chest

 

 

 

 

 

I meant to write a post oh... a year ago about this transformation,

and you know... I didn't.

 

 

 

 

 

 

This turned out to be a good thing because Ben ended up breaking the thing anyway... more on that in a bit maybe.

 

 

I've written many a time about how awesomely creative my family is,

and here is yet another example.

My uncle, after hearing that I was expecting (the first time), offered to give back to me the crib that my brother and I slept in when we were babies.

And while I was tempted, it was only for sentimental reasons

as the thing is... well... old (we won't say how old).

It's been through at least 3 babies as a crib and had definitely seen better days.

Not to mention my uncle lives in GA. I live in PA. Shipping the thing to me didn't seem worth it.

 

So I moved on, my mom bought Ben his nursery furniture. Done and done.

Broken but not for long!

 

 

 

 

 

Then I get this toy chest in the mail.

My uncle turned (half of) my old crib into a toy chest.

He did the hard work,

and I put it together when it arrived at our house.

 

 

 

 

 

Clearly I didn't do a good job, because once Ben was climbing all over everything, it broke.

In a number of ways.

So while I've been getting prepped for baby number two,

I decided this thing must come back to life.



After first coat

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Wood glue,

some reinforcing screws,

some paint,

and we were back in business.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I don't usually paint wooden things, and in some cases am adamently against it.

However, this had so many scratches and teeth marks, it really had to be done.

 

 

Apple/ Fire Engine Red. Always a winner.

 

 

 

 

 

 

For the most part, you can see how it went from crib to toy chest above there.

I'm thinking that you could hypothetically squeeze two chests from one crib.

 

The bottom and the top are pieces of plywood.

 

The top, I upholstered with some 1 inch foam, batting, and coordinating fabric.

And added a handle with cotton strapping material.

 

 

Cute, yes?

And always nice to hide the ugly and obnoxious toys away.

We love it.

:)

Kitchen Progress- Part Dos

It's a mess.

I don't even know why I'm surprised by this... BUT...

this past weekend did not go as I had planned.

The good news is that it went really well.

I had a great Confirmation retreat with a good chunk of my youth group kids.

My incredible husband, meanwhile, stayed home with the babe/monkey,

made a chowder recipe he saw on the Pioneer Woman (hahaha! still funny to me. and delicious)

AND ventured out to get my early valentines and anniverary gift.

Something that I've always wanted but for which I've never actually asked, a strand of pearls (say WHAT?!?)

Awesome. Just awesome.

Unfortunately, while all of this was happening,

I came down with some sort of super ailment. again.

I feel like I've been sick for approximately 25 out of the last 30 days...

So what all this means (for the purpose of this post) is...

I didn't get as much done on the kitchen as I had planned.

For the first update, click here.

I DID manage to get the pantry units installed. HUZZAH!

I can't begin to tell you how psyched I am for these babies.

They are deceptively HUGE

while not taking up a ton of square footage in my previously mentioned "doom and gloom" kitchen.

Amazingly, they also have doors.

That shut.

That deter a mobile babe/monkey from grabbing EVERYTHING off the shelves.

So I don't have to stare at a box of Cheerios all day.

Are you picking up on the level of excitement over here?

I also got the new hardware installed on the drawers.

I switched from a regular knob (which I moved to the pantry doors)

to these...

Lastly, I began installing my under-cabinet lighting.

This, I feel is going to make a big difference in the darkness situation.

Also unfortunately, all of my batteries for my trusty drill pooped out about halfway through feeding the wiring through the cabinetry to get it all connected.

This was especially dissappointing because the whole idea behind having multiples

was, of course, to have one charging while using the other. duh.
Don't worry. I've since regrouped and tucked all of the cords neatly into the upper cabinets.

So that's that.

My deadline of Bens first birthday is quickly approaching, meaning I'll have to hit pause for a bit, turn my house into the Hundred Acre Wood, and pick up afterward.

I'm hoping to have one more progress report before the big reveal.

Wish me luck!

(and while you're at it, pray this sickness leaves me. for good this time.)

Up-cycled Jeans to Toy Storage

My find of last week...

VINYL.

 

I've never sewn with vinyl before, but I've been wanting to since seeing an explosion of post-Christmas storage ideas in the blogosphere.

FYI: I was perhaps a tad nervous about sewing with vinyl because it sticks to the sewing machine and to itself, but I found these great tips at Make It Love It.

sewfearless.com

Anyway, I especially liked these toy bags from Sew Fearless

www.makeit-loveit.com

and these hobo bags/cinch sacks from Make It Love it.

My first destination of the fabric store is almost always the remnant pile, and I was so excited to find vinyl there last week... but it wasn't nearly enough to make the aforementioned,

so I had to come up with another alternative. I purchased the little pieces anyway and was able to get about 1/2 yard for 50 cents.

Remember my love affair with denim from the thrift store?

I had a ton of random jean pieces left over from my Pajama Eaters.

I had used larger men's jeans to make this project for my nephews for Christmas.

It worked out perfectly, but I had some random leg pieces and, for lack of a better phrase, the "rear area" left over.

 

After some rainy day tinkering, measuring, sewing, more tinkering...

I've made a couple windowed hobo sacks for Ben's blocks and Lincoln Logs.

Organization! HUZZAH!

I'm thinking I have enough vinyl and jean pieces left to make at least 2 more. We'll see if I ever get there. ;)

Anywayz, let's begin...

What you'll need:
medium to heavy weight fabric for the bottoms (mine was, of course, a remnant of medium weight home decor fabric)
leftover jean pieces or some other pair of pants (you could easily get one bag out of a pair of pants and have a ton left over)
a piece of vinyl for the "window"
rope, ribbon, shoestrings, or the like for the drawstring
regular sewing implements

Step One:
Cut all of your pieces.










First, cut a 9" circle out of your medium weight fabric.
You could use some snazzy instrument...
or if you have a Corningware casserole dish like I do... use the lid. :)








Then, cut a 5"x6.5" rectangle out of the vinyl.












You'll also need 2 3"x6.5" rectangles of denim.

I used a little bit of a leg piece that I had left over.











Now for that "rear" piece to which I referred...
Iron it out as well as you can
and measure a 9"x21.5" rectangle.








You'll want to make sure that you have at least a half an inch to the left, right, top, and bottom of the pockets for the seam allowances.











Lastly, you'll need a 8"x27" piece of denim.
This is a perfect use for a leg section.





Step Two:
Sew Your "Window."

Take one piece of your 3"x6.5" denim
and sandwich it with your piece of vinyl,
lining it up longside to longside.


And sew along this longside with 1/2" seam allowance.





Serge or zigzag your edge to prevent fraying.

Unfold your pieces and sew closely to the seam like pictured.









Line up the other 3"x6.5" piece of denim to the other longside of the vinyl and repeat so you have something like this.

Step Three:
Make the body of the bag.

Place your window piece face down on one side of your "rear" piece.

Pin at the top and bottom where the denim meets with denim.










Sew along this edge with a 1/2" seam allowance.













Serge or zigzag this edge to prevent fraying.










Open piece and sew along seam.












Make a tube by meeting your window piece with the other side of the rear piece.








Pin and sew with a 1/2" seam allowance.
Serge or zigzag your edge.
Open and sew along seam.

Turn right-side out and you'll have a tube like this.

Step Four:
Mark your "centers" of the bottom circular piece and the "tube" piece.

*This step is optional, but helps me a lot when lining up the circular bottom so it doesn't gather at all.









Mark a little "tick" at the bottom and the top.











Then mark the left and the right in the middle.










*Optional- snip the edges of your circle so that it will give a little more when you go to sew it on.
Make sure not to snip past the 1/2" seam allowance.

Flatten out your "tube," centering it on your work surface and mark another tick in the center at the bottom.









Do the same for the top and the left and right.













You should now have ticks marking the front, back, and sides of your bottom.








Now, just line up your markings for the bottom piece with the tube inside out and the circular piece upside down like shown.


















Pin at your marks,











and then just work your way in, pinning as you go.
You should end up with your bottom pinned nice and evenly like so.





Now sew aroung the bottom with 1/2" seam allowance.

Remove pins and serge or zigzag your edges to prevent fraying.







Alright! Almost there!




Step Five:
Sew Your Top







Take your 27"x8" rectangle and fold, right sides facing so the short sides meet.









Pin in place.










Sew the short sides with 1/2" seam allowance.









Iron the seam open like this.









Now sew along both sides of the seam like this.
This will help hold the seam open, and you'll be able to feed your drawstring through easily later.








Iron over about 1/2" at the top.






and then another 1 1/2" again.
This will be your channel for the drawstring.


Sew along the bottom all the way around.









Step Six:
Sew It All Together

Slip your top piece, upside-down, over your bottom piece like shown.






Pin in place so your seam for the top piece is lined up with your tick at the center of your bottom piece like this.










Sew your pieces together with 1/2" seam allowance.

And (you guessed it!) serge or zigzag the edges to prevent fraying.









Pop the top up so everything is right side out.

















Use a seam ripper to cut the seam in the middle of your channel.

Use a safety pin to feed your drawstring through.








You're done!










I got a few good "action shots"










but then Ben decided that he had bigger fish to fry.









I really enjoyed this one, and I hope that you will too.

And, let's be honest, it always feels good get a little organization mixed into the chaos.