DIY No-Sew Carseat Poncho (and One for Your Build-A-Bear Too!)

I advocate for a lot of things: breastfeeding, babywearing, cloth diapering, and carseat safety! If you choose not to do the first three, that is your choice and I do not judge you for that. But if you choose to be flippant about carseat safety, that makes me upset. One big rule with carseats is no coats! Last winter we had one of those Cozy Covers on her infant seat and just zipped that over the top. This year it is not so easy. I am not a fan of fussing with the coat on and off in the car. (In fact, many times I don't wear a coat, because I don't like to fuss with it.) This idea seemed so genius to me! A lady in my mom group was making these for some other members and so I decided to make my own version!

  

The first step was choosing the fabric. Beatrix quickly fell in love with this print. She really loves puppies! We went with a solid gray for the back (you could just do one layer if you live somewhere not quite as chilly.) I got 1 yard of each. Since we did two layers this is reversible! Then I measured from her shoulder down to about halfway between her knee and her foot. I doubled that length for my measurement of where to cut. So hers is 1 yard wide by however tall x 2 (I could not find my measuring tape so I just used a string). Mr. Fish suggested we make Cupcake a matching poncho with the extra. Cupcake is the puppy she made at Build-A-Bear on her birthday and she is quite attached. The pictures I took of the process are with Cupcake's poncho, but it all works the same way.

Disclaimer: I tend to just wing things and I did not follow a pattern, nor do I have exact measurements. That is just the way I do things. This was really easy and no-sew fleece projects are very forgiving. You could also hem this instead of tying the edges if you like. I just didn't feel like dragging out my sewing machine. I just put it away last week after finishing up Christmas presents.

Set both of your fabrics on top of each other and cut to the desired size. You could make the end shape a circle or a diamond if you like - make those cuts now. We went with a rectangle for simplicity sake. Next you want to cut the neck hole. Fold the fabric in half the hamburger bun way, then the hot dog bun way. Mark the center and then make a small cut down into the fabric and then across the fold on each side. It should look like the picture below on the right. I just guesstimated the neck hole size, but you could measure the neck of a shirt that fits.

Next, cut each of the triangles that make up the neck hole in half and in half again like you see below.

(Can I just add how I hate cutting fabric with animals or people on it? It is so freaky cutting through their heads and limbs!!!)

Next tie each of those little triangles with the corresponding triangle in the layer below. You could trim the ends if you like. Here it is with the neck hole tied and the fringe cut.

Below on the left is Cupcake's poncho all finished! Cupcake is modeling the print and the gray below in the middle and right pictures, respectively. (She holds more still than Beatrix.)

Above is Bea's finished poncho, folded, like it would be if it were on her. Below it is all laid out.

We also had enough fabric to make a small blanket for Cupcake or her dollies. Below are the two matching cuties! She was not too thrilled that she could not see her arms, but she got used to it quickly.

Here it is in action! The idea is to flip the back up over the back of the carseat, lift the front and buckle underneath that. Keeping your little one warm and cozy AND safe too!

Messy Monday: Peppermint Oats

Happy Monday everyone! We had a grand time this morning with this activity and you can too!

Ingredients:

Oats
Peppermint extract
Red and green food coloring

I put oats in two separate zippy bags, added a splash of peppermint extract and a few drops of food coloring. shake and knead the bag to really get the food coloring worked in. (I did this last night so the coloring could soak in better and we did not have any stains.) The peppermint scent was quite mild. You could leave it out if you wanted, it would still be a really fun activity.

I put them in a Christmas tin, but you could really use any container you like. I thought Bea would enjoy mixing the colors so I carefully filled the container keeping the red and green oats separate. They looked really pretty once combined as well!

We had Christmas music blaring as we played, so Beatrix was dancing and having a really jolly time. We worked on scooping and dumping skills by filling the muffin tin. We also stirred them around and buried our hands in them! And for easy cleanup the spilled oats will just be vacuumed right up.

These could be used over and over, so I am storing them in the tin. Older kids may enjoy making a batch of these and sprinkling them outside for "reindeer food" on Christmas Eve!

Winter Window Squish Bag

With Christmas decorations up, it was time to say goodbye to our Fall squish bag and hello to our new Winter squish bag!

Beatrix plays with these every day, she just loves looking out the window while smooshing the contents of the bag around with her fingers and toes.

Here is how I made it!

Ingredients

Some kind of gel (I use Dollar Tree clear hair gel)

Glitter (I used blue, silver, while, and black)

Beads (I used red, white, and green)

Poms (I used red and green)

Snowflake window clings

A good quality gallon-sized freezer zippy bag. (cheapo ones tend to rip easily.)

I have found it to be easiest if you put the "dry ingredients" in the bottom of the bag first, then add the gel. 

The dry ingredients - you don't need to put as much in as you think. This was actually a LOT of glitter. It would be just as pretty with about half that amount.

Here I am trying to show about how much gel I use. Just enough to keep everything moving around nicely. Again - not too much. Don't fill the bag full!

I put up some snowflake window clings under where I was going to put the bag, for a little peek-a-boo surprise! It is fun to move the glitter around to find the big flakes. 

I think this is my favorite bag I have made so far! Mr. Fish says it reminds him of when Jack Frost paints the windows. Beatrix seems to like it as well!