My spring break

There are several projects I've been looking forward to doing lately, so I decided that's how I would spend my spring break since I didn't have any big plans. I'm including the directions and some info about each project in case you want to try any of these yourself.

Project #1: Letters for the nursery

The letters are going to hang on the wall over the crib

I sort of got this idea from this website. I'm not sure if this makes any difference, but I traced the wooden letters onto the back of the scrapbook paper instead of the front. If you do this, remember to flip the letters over so you're tracing their reverse images. Then I used an x-acto knife to cut the letters out - I had to buy the knife, but I did already have a mat to use it on. Also, I just used my finger to spread the craft glue instead of a paintbrush - I made sure the letter was covered evenly in glue. The hardest part was cutting the letters out, but it wasn't bad. If you do this, you can also add ribbons to the back to hold up the letters by using a staple gun. That was my original plan, but I decided I like them better without the ribbon. This project took me about an hour and a half and cost $26. It would have been less if Eleanor's name was shorter and if I already had an x-acto knife! I already had the scrapbook paper, so that helped. Also, if you buy smaller letters they are less expensive.

Project #2: French bulletin boards

This one is in the kitchen

And this is the one in the nursery - the colors are much better in person!

I covered two bulletin boards - one for the nursery and one for our kitchen. (Hunter hates having the fridge covered in pictures, so this is our compromise.) This project is really easy and the only big thing you need is a staple gun. Fortunately, my brother and sister-in-law have one they let me borrow. Here's what you do:

1. Get a bulletin board - you can pick any size. The ones I got are about 2' x 1.5' and they cost $5 at Wal-Mart. You also need fabric big enough to cover it, quilt batting, upholstery tacks (I got them in the hardware dept at Wal-Mart), and ribbon. I used about 4 yd of ribbon for one of these smaller bulletin boards. I bought 1 yd of fabric but that was more than I needed - 3/4 yd should be enough. You also need a staple gun and staples.

2. Spread out the fabric face down on a flat surface. Then spread out the quilt batting on top of it, and then place the bulletin board, also face down, on top of the batting.

3. Pull the edges of everything over the back of the bulletin board tightly and use the staple gun to staple all of the layers together. Be careful - I did this on my kitchen table and one of the bulletin boards I used was very thin, so my staple ended up going into the table just a tiny bit. Oops. I realized I needed to put the staple into the frame of the board so it wouldn't go through. The corners can be a little tricky, but I just played around with them until they looked right.

4. Now that the fabric part is done, stretch the ribbons over the board. Attach them to the back with a staple gun.

5. On the front, put an upholstery tack through every spot where two ribbons come together. Then you're done!

Figuring out how to hang the board can be a little tricky. One of the boards had holes for nails built into the frame, so I just cut the fabric and batting out in those spots. The other one was easier because it came with attachments that you add to the back and you can choose where they go.

This project took me about 30 minutes for each one (once I got the hang of the staple gun!) and cost me about $14 for each board. I already had the quilt batting, but I did buy kind of pricey fabric.

Project #3: Shelf for the nursery

Believe it or not, this was unintentional, but I actually have a stuffed animal from each continent! I thought about removing the tiger since I have 2 from Asia, but Hunter said it could represent the subcontinent of India.

I have been looking everywhere for a shelf for the nursery, and I finally found what I was looking for at Michael's. The wood wasn't finished yet, so I had to sand it, stain it, and add a coat of polyurethane. This was good because I managed to find a stain that comes pretty close to matching the crib. I found a shelf like this online for $45 that I was considering, and then I was going to see if my brother could make me one instead. The one at Michael's was only $15 though, and with my 50% off coupon it costs less than the materials probably would have cost! Including the stain and a paintbrush (I already had the polyurethane), this project cost $15 thanks to the coupon. It took about 45 minutes of work over a couple of days - remember you have to let the stain dry and then let the polyurethane dry.

Project #4: Cloth wipes

Aren't they cute little butt wipers?!

I'm going to use cloth diapers, and I got this idea from my friend Emily's blog post. You can read the directions there. I did the two layer wipes like her but I made mine a little smaller. Mine are about 5 1/2" square, which is a bit smaller than I intended, but I actually kind of like the size. The fabric cost me around $11 (again, after a coupon and the 15% teacher discount at Joann's). This project definitely took the most time to make - just cutting out all of the squares (66 of each fabric!) took over an hour. So far I've only sewn a few together, but it's definitely going to take a while. It's worth it though!

I actually have 2 more projects that I'm working on, but they're not done yet. Hopefully I'll have them done by the end of the week!