Pregnant Halloween Costume

So I have been searching around for a good idea for my Halloween costume this year and I thought it would be fun to incorporate the baby bump.

 I saw several different versions of this pregnancy skeleton costume online and the one pictured above I thought was cute and not creepy looking so I decided to model mine after it.

I found a tutorial from Make It-Love It blog that gave step by step pictures and instructions. She also made a matching outfit for her husband, but instead of a baby on the belly there is fries, burger and drink... :)

If you are interested in making your own skeleton costume check out Make It-Love It blog:

http://www.makeit-loveit.com/2010/10/our-last-minute-adult-costumes.html

I thought I took more pictures then this, but apparently not!

Here is my finished product! I think it turned out pretty cute and it was easy/fun to make!

I wish baby would have turned out a little better, I used the freezer paper like she recommended, but still had a hard time with the paint not smearing while doing baby's arm.

Car Seat Canopy

I finally finished my car seat canopy. I don't know why I let it take me so long to get done. I still consider myself a beginner at this whole sewing thing. Mine is more simple then the one tutorial I posted back in August, but I think with the big floral pattern it works.

Here is the link for the tutorial I used:
http://www.make-it-do.com/sew-it/baby-car-seat-cover-tutorial/



Here I  have my fabric cut to 35"wide x 42" long

Here I am tracing the corners of the two big pieces shown above. You will then want to cut those corners off so the canopy won't hang down to far on the corners.

Sew your backing and your top inside out together 1/4" seam, but leave a little opening to be able to turn it right side out and then hand stitch your opening shut.

I then cut 4, 4"x9 1/2" strips to create the straps on top. I just used the one fabric color on the straps, the same fabric that was used on the backing.

I then sewed 2 of the strips together, leaving one end open to turn it right side out. I bought the non-gooey Velcro that was recommended in the original tutorial and it worked out nicely.

In order to get the strap placement I ended up draping the canopy over and pinning the straps to the canopy where I thought looked good, then took the canopy off and measured them, to make sure they were even (Mine were pretty close, just had to move one down an inch) and then pinned and then sewed them in place.

Here is a final picture of my simplified car seat canopy! I love the bright colors!

Hot Mulled Cider

My mother used to make this every year around the first of October. I continue to make it every year. It's such a nice way to welcome Autumn and it makes your house smell so yummy from the spices!
You will need:
1 gallon of apple juice
1-2 oranges
Cinnamon sticks
whole cloves
First pour your apple juice into your sauce pan (I only have small ones so I could only put about half of it in at once)
Next, slice 1 orange in half (2 if you are pouring the entire gallon into on big pot)
poke holes into the orange peel.
insert into one of the holes a Cinnamon stick
then insert in the rest of hole 8-12 cloves.
put oranges into pot and heat up.
I try to let mine sit for at least a 1/2 hour for the flavor before we start serving drinks.
I usually end up leaving the oranges in there for a couple hours so that the flavor gets really strong.
You kind of have to adjust the time and the amount of cloves to taste, this is just what I like.

Car Seat Canopy Tutorial

First off let me just say I feel bad about ignoring my blog for awhile. Life has been busy, but I'm going to try to recommit to more consistent posts here on Color Coated!


Since my little one is due at the end of December I wanted to make a car seat canopy to help shield her from the cold. I found this tutorial and bought my fabric and will be making it over the next month or so when I have time. I'll post pictures when I'm finished!

For the tutorial click on the link below:
http://www.make-it-do.com/sew-it/baby-car-seat-cover-tutorial/

Make It Do is a cute blog that has some great tutorials so you should take a little look around while you're there!

Paper Lantern Obssession

So I have always thought decorating with paper lanterns looked so cool! They add such a neat dynamic to a room or party.

When I was young my mother taught me how to make this type of lantern and I made hundreds of them. I just thought they were so stinkin' neat!

Now I am day dreaming of designing my baby's nursery. Although we are crammed in tight living conditions right now, I still day dream about how I would decorate the nursery and I keep imagining these paper lanterns hung in the nursery. I just think it would look so awesome!

I found a tutorial online to make these paper lanterns. The demonstration shows Christmas paper and I think they would make adorable Christmas decorations too!

I figure I will try my hand at making some of these and see how I like them!

If you want to try to make your own, check out this blog link: http://thecreativeplace.blogspot.com/2009/10/tuesday-tutorial-paper-lantern.html

Images pulled from Google.com

Missing Ralph Lauren Paint

This is a sob post about Ralph Lauren Paint.

The Home Depot use to stock it, but discontinued carrying sometime last year because they were making space for their new Martha Stewart Paint (which really isn't that impressive of a line I might add)

So the first place my hubby and I owned after getting married was a little town house (that I love and miss so much even to this day) and we were allowed to paint the walls when we lived there.

I loved that I could paint the walls, I felt like since it was my first place I could try something new and different.

Ralph Lauren has a line of faux paint that I fell in LOVE WITH. It was called Suede and it looked just like the name. It was awesome.

Now this faux line could not be painted in bathroom or kitchens, but I did paint it on my dining room side wall. It looked wonderful. The color was Clay Red

The accent wall was pretty easy to do, and once complete looked really good.
For the first coat you just roll on the paint with a roller.

I started to panic when I finished the first coat, because it looked terrible, but I told myself that I had to finish it!

For the second and final coat you apply it with a 3" brush and do varied crosshatches. This was a lot of fun, and took next to nothing to complete this one wall.

Here is the finished wall! I still drool a little when I see this picture, and this wall isn't even complete with out my wrought iron clock from Hobby Lobby.

So if anyone ever discovers where to find Ralph Lauren paint. Please let me know. Die hard fan here.

DIY Baby Bird Mobile

I have been following the number of hits each blog post recieves and I noticed that my nursery ideas post gets way more views then any other post.

So I thought it would be fun to occasionally post a baby craft project. Since I have no need to make baby crafts right now, I am simply going to share my fun findings!

I thought the birdie mobile was very cute idea! The URL below gives directions and even has a link on the sidebar so you can download the pdf pattern for the birds.

http://www.spoolsewing.com/blog/2008/05/16/bird-mobile/

Happy Crafting!

In honor of Easter...

Easter Ideas!


There is a fine line between cheesy and cute when it comes to Easter decor.
I think Martha had some great Easter ideas on her website. Here are just a few that I really liked...

Marbleized eggs. These look awesome!

For Directions to make your own Marbleized eggs, click HERE



How do you like these simple daffodils? I think that would be fun to have as name cards if you are having a big family Easter dinner! This is fun paper to cut out flower petals and a paper cupcake cups for the center of the flower and of course jellybeans!

I thought these spring chicks looked cute and delicious! For directions click HERE






If you have little ones at home and you don't want to dye eggs, but you still would like to do something fun for Easter, why not find some cute glitter stickers and use those instead?


These are just a few ideas I pulled from http://www.marthastewart.com/

Out with the Old and in with the... Old?

Repurpose and ReuseThere is a new and growing trend of re-purposing, part of the on going trend of "going green" I honor of this growing style I have a few pictures to share with y'all. I would have NEVER thought to use my old doll house as extra storage in my laundry room

This is very similar to picture I posted previously, but I completely love the idea.

Ok, is this not cool? Garden Gutters! Reusing your old gutters and creating a little herb garden. How fun is that, and yummy too!

This idea I have seen done before in my Aunt's home. She actually used an old door as a head board, they wanted to be a little bit more discreet about it so they took the hardware off.

I recognize that this style is not for everyone, but you have to admit it is inspiring! I always admire the creativity of those that are able to reuse old items.

Images retrieved from Google

The Inspiring Vessel Sink

Vessel sinks are very popular right now, so I thought I would do a quick post on them.



Although most of the styles you see are contemporary, vessel sinks can also be very organic... just check out this Ginkgo leaf vessel:

Vessel sinks work great in any bathroom, whether be master or half bath.

It is important to purchase the appropriate faucet. Most vessel faucets I have seen are single post and a great deal taller then your standard faucet.

Sink material can vary greatly from Carrara Marble, Glass or Copper

There are so many fun shapes and styles to choose from, so if you think you want to put in a vessel sink make sure you take a good look around and see what is available!

All images retrieved from Google search.

Inexpensive DIY Cabinet Refinishing

If you have been wanting to refinish your cabinets, but don't want to spend a fortune and don't mind DIY then this is for you!




Cabinet Transformation by Rustoleum! No sanding, stripping or priming, so it saves you tons of time! It can be used on wood, laminate or melamine cabinets and it costs $80 per kit. They have several colors you can choose from and when you buy the kit it comes with instructional dvd to give you step by step instructions. I also found the website very helpful. They have instructional videos on there.

If you are curious take a look: http://cabinets.rustoleumtransformations.com/videos.php

If you are to scared to dive right into the kitchen then maybe you have a bathroom or laundry room cabinets that you would feel more comfortable tackling first. It can never hurt to practice on a small space first.

Ok, so the only thing is the website says one box does 80 lnft of cabinets, but I am almost positive when I was looking at a box at The Home Depot it said that one box does 40lnft. I personally haven't had a customer try it yet, but I am dying to get feed back. The price is just so hard to beat and it is less labor intensive then most cabinet refinishing.

If you are interested in getting cabinets refinished, but don't want to do it yourself I know that Home Depot offers a free in home consultation on cabinet refacing and I would be really shocked if Lowes didn't do the same. I personally can give you no feed back on pricing because I am not sure how much they charge for labor, but I know it will be less expensive then refacing cabinets(refacing is when you replace your old doors with brand new doors)

Hope this is helpful, like I said, no feed back yet from customers, but the price is definitely right!

Here is the link to Rustoleum's home page... lots of great tools on there for you!

http://cabinets.rustoleumtransformations.com/

Nursery Ideas

Looking at nursery ideas can be fun, whether you are expecting or not.

Along with the trend of clean lines also comes a trend of white furniture, and you really can't go wrong with white when purchasing a crib that you plan on using more then once. Although this particular sleigh style crib pictured above does seem more feminine then some.

Green and white is a fun trend. I think this nursery pictured above has just the right amount of color contrast for a very classy looking nursery. Oh, and lets not look over the fun shaped crib!

I love the simple patterns used in this nursery that really gives it some pops of interest.

Oddly enough the wall decor in this room really works well despite the fact that there are an even number of pictures hanging on the wall. Usually odd numbers work best, but this doesn't bother me.

Nursery themes are always fun, just look at all the little frog stuff!

Black and white is always a timeless option and I love how that adding a bright color of paint can give this nursery some personality.

Again we see an interesting crib and white furniture.

Clean lines and organic shapes create such a refreshing space.

I think the giant diaper pin is cute! Also love just using pops of bright colors with subdued ones. Also love the small splashes of pattern on the window treatment and various pillows!

Sometimes finding the right nursery style can be difficult. One of the easiest things you can do is find an inspirational picture and let that help you get started on designing and planning your nursery!

Making an Entrance

What to do with your Foyer...

For starters some general suggestions (but of course doesn't mean that you HAVE to do this or that your foyer will not look AMAZING if you don't)

Area rugs can make a large foyer feel more intimate.

The picture above shows a foyer with durable stone tile. Now although I LOVE stone, I realize that not everyone has the budget for stone tile, but do be sure to select something that is durable and easy to clean in the winter months.



Bright happy colors like orange and yellow families suggest a joyful welcome. Remember this is the last room you see upon exiting and first room you see upon entering. Often bright colors feel more welcoming and less formal to guests.

You can never go wrong with a mirror in an entry way. Not only is it convenient for that last look at yourself as you run out to work, but depending on the space and the size of the mirror it can help make the room feel larger. (side note... that mirror is way to big for the wall it is on)

Remember, no more then 2 pieces of furniture are recommended for your foyer area.


Now, I completely understand that orange and yellow are not for everyone so why not use them as accents on throw pillows that compliment YOUR STYLE.



Now lets face it here people, as much as I love looking at pictures of grand foyers I understand that not all of us (myself included) have a grand foyer to decorate and that depending on your living conditions we often need small spaces to fulfill multiple purposes. Sometimes just having a shelf on the wall with cute decor, or recent family pictures is all you have space for in your entry way.

For the rest of us, maybe your entry area also becomes a space that encompasses mail, children's back packs and out door toys. The rest of these pictures are ideas for organizing your entryway for its multipurpose needs.

First of all can I just say how much I LOVE THIS IDEA! Seriously, how stinking cute? Using shutters to hold mail and greeting cards!

Love this last one because not only does it give you storage for the shoes, but it also gives you a place to sit while you take your shoes off and of course the fabric gives you more opportunities to bring in color and design!

Images retrieved from google.com