Free Nursing Cover - Need reviewers

Been a long time since my last post, but life got busy! I have an Etsy shop name, check it out at Blue House White Clothing. I specialize in children's clothing and nursery decor, along with some other baby/toddler items that are all handmade with quality products at very affordable prices. My mom has made a prototype for a nursing cover. Having heard some nursing moms complain about this or that regarding nursing covers, she thought my fans and potential customers would have the same concerns. She mocked a few up and we are giving them away for moms to test them out and give us an honest review. If you have a blog that would be an added bonus! 

Here's the rundown:

We have 3 nursing covers up for grabs.

Winners will be chosen on Random.org at least 48 hours after contest ends.

They are provided to you at no cost and is yours to keep.

We do require that you give us honest feedback by email once you've had a change to use the item, preferably around 2 weeks after you've received the product.

We will email you (several times) if we have not heard from you.

If you fail to provide us with feedback, you will no longer be eligible for giveaways in the future.

You must use the Rafflecopter form to properly enter.

**If you are a blog owner, we would love for you to post your review for your readers to see. We'll absolutely give you preference for other product reviews in the future!**

Get your entries in using Rafflecopter!
You must LIKE Blue House White on FB
You must FOLLOW @bluehousewhite on Twitter
You must TWEET about the giveaway
You must PUBLISH a blog comment*
IF YOU DO NOT SEE THE TWEET ICONS PLEASE TRY A DIFFERENT BROWSER!
*You must publish your blog comment for the entry to count, I will moderate and delete any entries for 'Leave a Blog Comment' when one is not actually published.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

SuperHero Capes to the rescue!

I saw the Today Show's story on Superhero capes for sick kids and found it absolutely heartwarming.  I immediately thought of my friend's baby, Turner.  While Turner is an overall healthy baby, he does have a helmet to help shape his head and he has torticollis.  He's nowhere near as 'sick' as the children they featured but I thought that maybe a SuperHero cape would boost his spirit...and his parents' too.  So I got together some Batman fabric and embroidered a T on it for Super Turner!

I followed the instructions and used the pattern that I found at BurdaStyle.  Super easy cape for a Super little guy.  I plan on making my little guys some in the near future.

P.S. Please ignore my husbands super creep eyes in this pic...he's a great guy and not creepy at all...just not a great pic of him.

Here's little Turner in the finished cape for his 6 month portraits by Signature Photography and Art by Elysia.  What a cutie!!!

 

Light Cucumber Wraps under 300 calories

This light lunch option is no-heat, quick, affordable, and under 300 calories!  I saw a similar recipe and thought I would try it out, but change it up a bit.  I added a little more cucumber and some flavored feta cheese for a little more well...flavor!  This recipe can be easily changed up but just be cautious that the caloric count will differ.

Ingredients:

• Spreadable lite cheese wedges (Laughing Cow or store brand)
• Whole wheat tortilla (soft taco size)
• Meat/protein (I used Kroger Deli Style Honey Ham, choose what ever makes you happy!)
• Cucumber (finely chopped)
• Feta cheese (I used tomato basil flavor, you can use what you like) 

Chop up your cucumber to as fine as you like, I used about 1/2 cup.

Mix in your cheese wedges (I used 2) and 2 tbsp. of feta cheese.

Spread it out on the tortilla.

Place your meat/protein and roll it up!  Enjoy!

DIY Gold link bracelet + embroidery thread

Saw this post on a neat little blog that I like to look around at once in a while.  Thought I'd try it out myself since I had this chain link bracelet with little pearl-like baubles.  Nothing wrong with the bracelet as it was, but the baubles weren't too comfortable when typing, and I do a lot of that!  There's so many different ways to do this.  I had my own trial-n-error with this project.  I had to drastically cut down on the number of threads I used...the first picture shows 20, but I had to cut it down to 8!  The links on my chain were small so that's the reason for the cut back.  I also have a tough time getting the bobby pin to fit though the links, so I flattened it out a bit with my pliers.

Anyway, here's the before and after!

Happy Birthday to You! Sam's First Birthday...Dr. Seuss style!

Dr. Seuss would have recently celebrated his 109th birthday and I thought I should make a post about Sam's first birthday, which was Seuss themed.  His birthday is February 13th, so I'm a little late getting this out there.

Speaking of Pinterest, I'm sure if you're a parent and user of the virtual pinboard site you've looked up pins associated with birthday party planning.  Wow, was I blown away!  I sometimes feel that the site has given parents a new standard in over achieving when it comes to your kids, but I'm going to save that for another post.

Birthday boy Sammy crushing a cupcake

Back to the party, I made red velvet cupcakes with cotton candy flavored buttercream icing to resemble Thing 1 and Thing 2.  I had originally planned on making them with cream cheese icing and adding blue cotton candy to the top of that...but honestly, that sounded like too much work for me---oh no, Pinterest moms are gasping everywhere!  I also made Lorax Nutter Butters and Red Fish Blue Fish Jell-O parfaits.  We also added Cat in The Hat fruit kabobs at the last minute...they were so easy!  Just alternate sliced bananas (coat in lemon juice) with strawberries on wooden kabob sticks.

I had to fix a party favorite of ours---Ham & Swiss on Hawaiian bread with a honey mustard poppy seed sauce.  I've been asked for my recipe for these, and there's not much too it but I'll have to indulge and post one next time I make it...they are divine.  I mixed it up this time and made Sweet BBQ with a semi-dry coleslaw on Hawaiian bread.  I'll have to make a few tweaks to that recipe, but we love our BBQ!  I never had coleslaw on BBQ or burgers but after a few trips to the Carolinas---you will love it!  I also found a recipe for Rice A Roni Chicken Salad Sandwiches, I was so glad to find this because they are so good and don't take anytime at all to prepare.  My mom brought some meatballs and I finished it with some good ole Green Eggs and Ham!  They were very cute...everyone complimented on how good the food was and that it looked really nice.  I had a lot of fun making it...I prepared the entire week prior to the party.

I'm not huge into doing party favors and I thought about doing a candy bar instead because I already had a few things and thought it would be a good way to get rid of all the candy so that it wasn't staring at me for weeks.  We offered mini M&M's (Truffula tree seeds), BarBaLoot graham cracker bears mixed with marshmallows, butterscotch discs, lollipops, and more Swedish fish mixed with gummy bears.

I got all the decorations at Oriental Trading and Party City.  I made the Truffula trees with Dollar Tree square glass bowls and glass pebbles, dowel rods, and craft pom poms.  I plan on the replacing the trees with a big white or cream hydrangea flower and using them in my living room or the guest bathroom as decor.  Not bad for just a few bucks.  I also found an idea on Pinterest to use the pom poms and rope/twine on cardstock (I used watercolor paper cause it was a cream color and is heavier.) to make Truffula Tree artwork, which will also be re-used in his bedroom as decor.  I was really excited about the Lorax candy decor that I found on, you guessed it---Pinterest.  I found a curvy glass vase and glass taper candle holder (glued together with E-6000, best glue ever) at Dollar Tree and filled it with butterscotch candies.  I then went here to get the free Lorax face printable to finish it off.

We asked for guests to think of bringing a book instead of toys and clothes.  Sam gets a lot of hand me downs from his big brother and he really does have enough toys, especially since his birthday is two months after Christmas.  It went over so well, he got so many different books and I can't wait till he gets really into them.  Silas loves to read at bedtime and it's so important for kids to be read to.  Sam still doesn't get the concept that he can't try to chew the book while I'm attempting to read it...but he'll get there soon!  I kinda felt weird actually asking for certain items for gifts, but I figure we already do it for the baby showers and people are going to ask us what they want anyway...so why not beat them to the punch!  We worded it very nicely on the invites...I did the same for the Sam's baby shower, because I saved so much from when Silas was an infant that I didn't need much.

I think everyone had a wonderful time, and even though it was crowded and sometimes very loud...we made memories.  I wanted Sam to have a great first birthday, because honestly, these parties aren't cheap and as they get older the pomp and circumstance tends to fade.  And I'm OK with that, especially since there's two kids.  Our family and friends are very special to us and I'm so glad they joined us.  That's another thing...it's hard for us to have 'small get togethers' when my mom is one of 9 children and I have almost 30 cousins....on one side of my family.  But it's never a dull moment when we're around family...we love them all and there's nothing like family to help you build your memories.

 To top the nice day off...two of my very best friends made it to the party and brought their babies too!  Three best friends...three 2012 babies. We've had a busy few years and it's so nice to get together with our kids.  It doesn't happen often since they both live at least an hour away and we are all busy with kids and working, but we make the most of it!

I don't know about everyone else but I know that I'm ready for warm weather and fresh cut grass!  Bring it on spring!

Easy DIY Applique Tutorial

SHAMELESS POST: HOSTING A GIVEAWAY OVER HERE

We had a bit of snow and ice here yesterday so I took off work a little early since the roads were a little nasty.  I made it home just fine and started thinking about what I should do with the little free time that I was given (NEVER happens around my house!)  So I decided to shave my legs!  It may sound silly but if you are a parent of two toddlers...you probably understand why this was so exciting for me!  So I then turned to my current sewing projects.

I had been interested in doing some easy appliques on some shirts for the boys.  I found some free applique patterns at this site.  Nothing crazy, just simple shapes.  But the ideas to make them unique are plentiful!  I found a few 'plain' shirts for my youngest at Walmart (about $2-4 per shirt) and got out the fabrics I chose and got started.

Here's how to do it yourself!

Items you will need:

• Heat 'n Bond Lite Iron-On Adhesive (amount will vary depending on the size of applique)
• Shirt or other garment
• Fabric for the applique (Again, amount will vary)
• Iron
• Sewing Machine and sewing basics (although this is optional, I will explain below)
• Scissors

1.  Draw out your applique outline onto the paper side of the Heat 'n Bond.  Go ahead and cut out the images but DO NOT cut them on the outline you just drew.  I did this because I drew 3 different appliques on a section of the adhesive paper...so in order to keep them separate since they are going onto different fabrics, I cut them out giving enough allowance around the outline.  *As you can sort of see, some of the applique patterns have a few parts to them so you may want to make your own markings to keep them organized.*

Sorry the image is a little washed out...

 2.  Next you will take your applique and lay it onto the WRONG SIDE of the chosen fabric with the paper facing up.  Using medium heat with NO STEAM, press the iron onto the paper side of the fabric for 2 seconds. Yeah, that's all it takes!  Set it aside to cool.

This is a bird applique that I'll be putting on a little onesie in a later post.

3.  Once the applique is cool enough, carefully cut out the applique shape using the outline you drew.

4.  Lay the garment flat onto your surface.  Peel away the paper backing and gently position the applique onto your garment with the shiny side down.  Once you are pleased with the placement, iron away!  The adhesive doesn't take long to melt so a few seconds is all you need.  And here is what the semi-final* product looks like:

 * I've seen tutorials that end here.  I know fraying may not be a huge issue to some...but it is to me!  But if you don't have a sewing machine or basic sewing skills, consider yourself done with this project!

5.  I just had to 'finish' the edges of the applique.  I used a thin but dense zig-zag stitch.  I believe my settings were 0.5 for stitch length and 3 for stitch width.  Go slow around curves! I was careful to line up the outermost edge of the applique with far edge of the stitch length.  Sorry if that doesn't make sense but here's some pics to help clarify:

6. Finish sewing the edges and you're really done!

Final results:

I could do these everyday, they were so easy!  I think my little one will look quite adorable in them, it's a nice and easy way to add some uniqueness to a plain old tee.

Hope it's warm where you are...I'm ready for Spring and Summer!

Pretty little Bubble Dress

I love sewing for girls...although I have two boys. I have one niece, a few cousins, and even fewer friends with girls (boys are apparently very prevalent in my surroundings!). So any chance I get to test out my sewing creativity on them - I take it!

Don't get me wrong...I make things for the boys too, but little dresses are so fun! I found a pattern and tutorial on Pinterest and it led me too this wonderful this site. I followed the easy tutorial and changed a little bit (I put together the slit on top of the bodice differently).

I feel as if they may be a little short...but hey, I don't have girls and although I have used the boys as live dress forms, I didn't on these.  I simply followed the pattern and instructions and hoped they fit properly.  And if they are too short, I think a pair of capri leggings would set that off very nicely, maybe even add a cardigan if the weather is chilly.

Here are the results:

This will be a gift for my cousin's daughter for her 4th birthday

I made this for my niece to maybe wear at a wedding this spring