Make your own Nap Mat

School is back in session! And if you haven't run out & spent $60 on a nap mat for your toddler, read this first! Lindsay recently inspired me to save the cash & make my own nap mat for my oldest daughter, Addi. I figured that if she could crank out 3 mats in 3 days, surely I could muster the talent for 1.

Here are Lindsay's. Super cute, right?!!

So here we go...all per Lindsay's instructions...
First, buy your materials. Lindsay, being the genius that she is, figured out that if you buy your materials in these measurements, you won't have to make any cuts. That's GREAT news for me!

I bought:

3/4 yard of material for the front
3/4 yard of a different material for the back
1/3 yard of material for the pillow (my pillow is the same material as the back)
3/4 yard of filling (the cotton batting on the roll)
1 small bag of batting for the pillow
1 yard of strap for the handle and ties
velcro
total cost: $24
Before sewing, I had the back (or outside) material monogrammed so that once the mat was rolled up, the name would be visible. It took some extra time & measurements to figure out exactly where the name should be. My monogram is about 15 inches from the seam.
Start with the pillow. Fold your material in half (inside out). That will create your first seam. Easy enough, right? Then sew the top seam & half of the other side seam (leaving room to later stuff the pillow). Flip your material right-side out. The 4th (bottom) seam will be sewn together in the next step.
Next, line up ALL of your 3/4 yd materials + your newly sewn (& flipped) pillow in this order, from bottom to top:
filling material
back material
pillow (with the 4th seam towards the edge)
front material
*remember to face the print side of your materials towards each other.
*if you had your back material monogrammed, the name should be at the other end.
Sew your seam, leaving enough room unsown that you can later flip it right-side out. Sew both sides seams as well.
Before sewing the bottom seam, make 2 tabs (using velcro & strap). Place them velcro-side up on the back material. Sew your bottom (and final) seam.
Flip everything right-side out. Your tabs and pillow should now be on the outside. Stuff your pillow & then whipstitch both of your openings.

Make 2 more velcro tabs, roll up your mat (to see where to place 'em) & sew them to the outside of your mat.
And your LAST step...create a handle with your remaining strap. It should be right above your monogram. From the front side, my stitches look like this. Far from perfect but it works.
Here are pictures of my mat when rolled out.
The front...
and back...
And here it is rolled up...

A HUGE thanks to Lindsay for sharing her nap mat wisdom with me!! I can now spend that extra cash on something else.. maybe something for me!

I'm linked up to..

Sew Much Ado

It's so Very Cheri

Night Owl Crafting

Using white plates

I recently asked for your help with my living room and boy, did you come through!! Thank you SO much for your feedback! A few of you suggested using white plates on my big empty wall. Great idea!~ I don't know why I never thought of that, especially sense I already have a TON of white plates stacked up in my cabinets. I laid them all out on the floor to get an idea of spacing.

And then up they went! It took 20 minutes and cost $4.99 for plates. The little square plate on the left was my ONLY purchase. I had a few plate hangers on hand and spent about $15 on a few more. No more big empty wall!

You'll notice too, that my curtains are now turned upside down.

Another great idea from fabulous you!

thank you, thank you!

I'm linked up here

Between Naps on the Porch

Sumo's Sweet Stuff

Guest Blogger {Organization}

I'm really glad to have Jill from Wise Changes guest blogging for us today. She owns a professional organizing business and she has some great tips for us now that Fall is (almost) upon us! Join us next Thursday for more great tips from Jill.

Now that school is back in session, this means back packs, school books, extra shoes, clothes and other items left on the dining room table, kitchen table, stairs and living areas. Let your family help you stay organized and de-cluttered this Fall. Have an area in your home, either at the bottom of the stairs, family room corner, mud room or whatever works for you and put a basket or bucket for each member to put their stuff in at the end of each day as they walk in the door. Then at the end of the week, they can each take their basket or bucket to their room and put their items away for the weekend! This will help you keep your sanity during the week and everyone can enjoy the weekend!

Better Homes & Gardens


Better Homes & Gardens


Ballard Designs

If you haven’t already, now is a good time to get your day planner in order. Activities for the Fall have begun and you are going to need to keep track of them all! So update your planner and get a new one for 2011 to have available when Winter/Spring Event come up. Do an inventory of your home office supplies; replenish items that are needed, as many of these items are on sale for back to school.


Check back next week for more tips from Jill!!

Spotlight Sunday {Lindsay}

Welcome to the first ever Spotlight Sunday! I love seeing what all you blogging ladies come up with and am often so inspired by what you do!! I try and remember it all but let's face it... I'm a mom of three and I'm doing good if I remember all the sippy cups and bags as we leave the house each day! So, this spotlight is two-fold... one to showcase some of the cute things I've come across... and also for me to have a place to go back to to remind myself of what I wanted to do one day. (links to each are listed under the photos)

Have you moved a lot? I have lived in 5 places in 7 years of marriage. I wish I'd thought of this cute idea to do with all our house keys before I threw them all out. Very Cute!!

Love Stitched

I love love love topiary trees. In fact I've made one in the past. But these nope-iaries that Polly created are adorable.

Make Mine Beautiful

Can I just say that I want one of these in my house! Cindy at Cottage Instincts did a really great job! I haven't ever attempted to do a project like this but maybe one day when I find a great deal on something I will pull out the paint and my sander.

Cottage Instincts

I have seen this sign in my latest Ballard catalog and thought it was really cute. I only wish my laundry room wasn't in my garage... Check out Infarrantly Creative and see how you can make your own.

Infarrantly Creative

More Fall Decor & HELP please!

So my $200 piece of furniture has been dressed up for Fall but I still need your help finishing it. I started with this....


And gotten it to this...


It was very simply done with limited resources. I moved my cloche from another table and placed a fall wreath around it for some attention. For some reason it just looked blah to me without! I had a few fall springs that I added to my signs and vase. I even dug through leftover books from our garage sale that had fall colors and made a little stack with them. I got the cute lighted pumpkin at Marshalls a few weeks ago and love having a little light going at night that's not a candle!


Here is where I need your help!! See the little shelf with nothing but a black book on it? I have NO IDEA what to put here. I don't want a sign since I have the Special Home sign going on in the other shelf. I can't do pumpkins because of the pumpkin up top. What would you do? I just had a light bulb moment while typing this... what about a cornucopia with gourds spilling out? Help please! I know you lovely ladies have ideas galore. Please share in the comments below.

The last area I have completed so far is this little round table that used to house my cloche. I found the glass piece at TJ Maxx for $5.99 (a far cry from the $30 that another of my beloved home decor stores wanted for the same piece). I added seasonal potpourri (btw, who even knew potpourri was still in??). I then just added two things from my Fall decor box to round it out.

I still have my front porch and shutters to decorate over here. Slowly but surely I'm feeling like fall is here!! Now, if the Lord would just bless us with fall weather we'd be set! :) Happy decorating everyone!

Linking Here:
The Shabby Nest
Chic on a Shoestring Budget
A Few of My Favorite Things
It's a Blog Party

Fall Fireplace #2

So Tiffany shared her super cute fall fireplace with us on Monday. She inspired me to get mine finished that afternoon and I'm sharing it with you today! While hers was more of a "from scratch" experience, mine was adding to what I already have up there.

I started with this bucket that I made years ago that usually is hung on the wall. I had thought about hanging a wreath over the mirror but didn't have one. When I dug out my fall decor I found this bucket and thought it would fill the space just fine. I got two fall sprays 1/2 off at Hobby Lobby and stuck them back behind the bucket to hide the long stems (I could have cut them...but I'm lazy and who knows...maybe next year I'll want to use the long stems somewhere else). I added the Harvest metal sign in front just for added dimension. And it provides material for my loveable husband to kid me about what we are harvesting.... men just don't get it do they. :)

I've had this lantern on the mantel since we moved in over a year ago but it was missing something for 'fall'. So, I shopped the house and borrowed this tassel off our entertainment center knob. It has just the right colors to coordinate with the rest of the foliage.


I also shopped the house for the ceramic urn on the far right to add more weight to that side of the mantel. I never intended it to be part of my fireplace decor but I think I really like it and since it has red as its main color I think I can get away with using it again at Christmas (repeat: I'm lazy like that).

I'm not a huge fan of the all white fireplace, but that's a project for another time!!

I am pretty happy with how it turned out though. Especially for $8.00 (the price of the two HL sprays). So are y'all decorating your mantels yet?!!

Linking Here:

Blue Cricket Design

Someday Crafts

My Backyard Eden

Me and My Bucket

What $200 Can Buy

Have you ever sat and looked around your house adding up how much money you've spent on furnishings? My husband and I made a decision when we were newly married that we'd never finance any furniture. I am happy to say that we've lived up to that for the last 7 years and hopefully we can continue. We (particularly my husband) are firm believers that cash is king and is the most powerful negotiating technique. We have three pieces in our house in particular that we've saved a lot of money on by paying in cash and negotiating. These three pieces were each bought for $200.

Normally these doors are open to see the TV so I don't ever notice the clutter to the right...I guess someone should take care of that, huh?


This piece was thrown in when we were buying mattresses... all because we asked and had cash!


And the BEST most EXCITING $200 purchase EVER is.....


So the furniture guy told us all about this piece by name-dropping the maker and where he got it, etc. It all meant nothing to us to be real honest... but imagine my surprise when I got home & Googled to find this piece being sold for $1,700!!! Let's just say I did the happy dance a time or two. It wasn't exactly what I was wanting...but for $200 I thought I could make it work. :)

So, get out there... take your cash ONLY and negotiate!!