I’m in Kansas City today taking my kids to see the Wizard of Oz exhibit at the Crown Center. Here are some favorites from Etsy inspired by the Wizard of Oz.
This is now a screen shot of the original etsy mini I had published. One of the items sold before I had a chance to print the screen so the bottom right hand corner item is not original to this post.
Carl and I are taking the kids to the Emerald City this weekend. We’ll be checking out the exhibit at the Crown Center Plaza in Kansas City and taking some time to hang out with our friends, the Blacks. If you want a preview of Eva’s outfit, you can check out the tutorial over on my craft website. We made some fabric covered buttons and they are now ponytails. It’s going to be so much fun! I’ll try to post as many pictures this weekend as I can.
I’ve got a video tutorial for you today. It features my daughter dressed like Dorothy from the Wizard of Oz. She loves Dorothy so I thought I’d use this button kit I’ve had for a while and make her some fabric covered button ponytails. So easy! So quick! So cheap! Enjoy.
Burp cloths come in all shapes and sizes and there is really no telling which kind someone will prefer. For my son, I’d take anything absorbent. My daughter wasn’t such a prolific drooler so I preferred something a little more sleek. 
I attended a baby shower last night for a friend and I decided to make a couple of fancy burp cloths. These are made from a brightly colored flannel and some pink minky fabric. The minky is so soft that is feels just luxurious. However, it is super easy to care for which is a MUST for any burp cloth.
Supplies to make 1 (you’ll want to make multiples so take that into consideration):
Flannel 10″ x 20″
Minky 10″ X 20″
Thread
Sewing Machine
Cut your fabric into 10″ X 20″ strips. Place one layer of flannel and one layer of minky on top of each other and fold in half. It should know measure 10″ X 10″.
You’ll want to place the fold towards you and cut out the sections where it will fit over your shoulder. I cut approximately 1 1/2″ off of each side starting at the fold and then curving outwards toward each side. You’ll be able to see in the next picture the kind of shape I cut out. 
Remember, this doesn’t have to be precise. It is a baby burp cloth, after all. You’ll want each side to match as much as possible but I just eyeballed it.
Next you need to place your fabrics right sides together and pin them in place. Stitch around the edges and be sure to leave a 2 inch opening on one side.
After you stitch, trim the seams with scissors or pinking shears. Then, you’ll pull the right side of the fabric through the 2 inch opening.
Poke everything through and make sure your corners are all the way pushed out. Now you’ll want to top stitch all the way around being careful to stitch over the opening. You can see an example of my top stitching in the very first picture.
I made two of these and rolled them up in a ribbon. This was a gift for a second child so I included a few of my felt flower ponytail holders for the big sister. Burp cloths make great gifts for any new or experienced mother. It’s hard to have too many of these things on hand when you have a little baby.
You may notice a few odd things happening around here for the next week. For example, my unexplained post about the color pink in valley girl speak. I happen to be competing in a little contest called, America’s Next Top Blogger, over at MomDot. I am a huge fan of reality tv and competitions in general so I thought I would do it. So, I hope you’ll excuse a bit of silliness happening over here. Coming tomorrow: a minky burp cloth tutorial.
Mary Ann has a blog that is private so I won’t even bother linking to it. As much as I try to convince her to make it public, she won’t. Anyway, this video won’t be as funny since you haven’t seen Tori’s. But, Eva begged me to videotape her doing this. Caleb makes an appearance as well.
Can you believe what is going on? People are totally saying that orange is the new pink. Like, how can that be? Pink is pink. Pink will always be pink. Let’s just talk about some orange things that are totally drab. Construction signs, road cones, NEON—gag me with a spoon!
There are lots of pink things that are totally awesome. Strawberry marshmallows, for instance. Cupcakes. Pink Lemonade. COTTON CANDY! Pink. Totally rocks.
Like, I totally understand about brown taking over black as the new black but someone has got to get the memo that orange just isn’t going to cut it. Sure, the fruit is totally rockin’ and I love orange juice, but I don’t want to *wear* it.
I hereby declare that if you are awesome and love pink, you should totally get with the program and leave me a comment Let’s show all those frumpy faces that orange is not the way to happiness. Pink is most rad color of them all.
Please join me in my quest to pinkify and fluffify blogland. It is the only way for utter happiness. I’m going to be doing it while listening to my walkman with Erasure and Cyndi Lauper.
What? You don’t remember Erasure? I might need to put some two-torials here on this blog so you’ll get with the program.
THINK PINK!
I’ve got 11 balls of the Elsebeth Lavold Hempathy taunting me from my yarn closet. I bought it on a trip to Pennsylvania a couple of years ago and I’m ready to knit it up into a summer tee for me.
I’m the kind of knitter that picks yarn first and then the project. I don’t always do this but more often than not, this is the case. This yarn was purchased to make another pattern but now I think a different pattern is calling to me.
This is the Slinky Ribs Pullover from Custom Knits by Wendy Bernard. It actually calls for an Elsebeth Lavold yarn (Silky Wool). This hempathy should be a good substitute. I really want to buy this book. It has all sorts of great top down patterns and most are sized up to 3X so I can cover even my most ample bosom. When I checked out some of the other projects on Ravelry (if you knit or crochet and aren’t signed up–DO IT NOW!), I noticed that these look really great on a bunch of different body types and the pattern is written so you can alter the sleeves to any length you would like.
My knitting has started to fall by the wayside. I am definitely in need of a new project like this to motivate me to pick up the sticks again.
Do you have any projects you’re planning for the warmer weather?
Kris over at JesseKate Designs wrote a lovely post about autism awareness. In honor of her nephew, she made a couple different appliques that can be downloaded at her site, SWAKembroidery.com , for free!
It has been really difficult for me to get into autism awareness month this year. Because I live it every single day, I forget that there are still people that don’t know a lot about it.
We had a rough Feb/March with Caleb. It took some time to work through a few issues and get his medication regulated. These past two weeks have been so much better. He’s able to focus more and is less apt to lash out and be physically aggressive. I try not to be embarrassed when he melts down in public. We do the best that we can. The other day we saw a kid having a hard time in a store and Eva spoke up and said, “He needs a big squeeze and a wrap like a taco!”. Wrapping Caleb up in a blanket like a taco and squeezing him really calms him down.
This post is kind of all over the place today. I guess the point I want to make is that even though I’m not blogging about autism every day this month, doesn’t mean I don’t hope that you seek out as much information about it as you can.
In order for me to keep the price of the craft challenge packets as low as they are, I am now accepting advertising on this site. Ads will be in my right sidebar and I will only accept ads that I think will appeal to my readers. I hope you will take the time to check them out.
The top spots are reserved for craft challenge sponsors. The rest are available for purchase for a month or longer. If you are interested in purchasing ad space on christynelson.net, please contact me via this form or email me directly.
