Fitted Crib/Toddler bed sheets

Fitted Crib/Toddler Bed sheets

Have you ever noticed how expensive crib sheets are? Depending on where you purchase them they are quite pricey! Then if someone makes you a beautiful baby quilt or toddler bed quilt, you have to try and match a store bought crib sheet to the quilt, & usually end up with a huge variety of choices, white, pink, or blue!  So now you'll be able to make crib sheets from fabric you can purchase, to match any blanket or quilt. So lets get started y'all!

Items Needed:

70x45 inches of fabric (two yards, cut off a standard 45 inch bolt

4 feet of thin elastic, 1/2 inch or 3/4 inch

Thread

Pins

Scissors

Rotary Tool

Cutting Mat

Measuring tape

Strait Ruller

Sorry these two pictures are upside down. My blog sometimes uploads them funky and I can't turn them once they are in there. 

First measure out your elastic and cut it to four, twelve inch pieces. 

now this next step you can cut each corner one at a time or you can fold the fabric corners up and cut all four corners at one time, which ever works better for you! So now you need to cut a nine inch square off of each corner of the fabric, 

This is how each corner will look when you've cut the nine inch square. Now that you have cut your square off of each corner, essentially each corner has no corner, each has now two corners, so match up those two corners and this is where we'll sew. 

Okay now you've got your two corners lined up where you cut out your nine inch square, sew this together. 

Okay y'all this is what your corner looks like sewn together. 

Fold your first piece of elastic in half and find the center. Place the center of the elastic on the seam of the corner of what you have sewn. 

Now you'll pin the middle of the elastic on the seam you have just sewn. Then measure twelve inches away from that and pin the edge of the elastic, you'll do this on the other side as well. So you'll have a bunch of fabric between your two pins. 

Now when you go to sew your elastic, use a zig zag stitch and you will have to stretch the elastic out so it lines up with the material, if you don't then you won't have a stretchy corner to go over the edge of the mattress.  

When you let the slack back in the corner you'll see how it will pull back together, now that the elastic is sewn to the fabric.

Now you can be done at that point or you can give your sheet a more finished look, this is what I chose to do, because I give my sheets as gifts with baby quilts. In order to do that you'll need to edge the sheet. All the way around you'll need to fold over a quarter or half inch of the sheet and sew it together. When you get to the corners you'll need someone to hold the elastic parts open so you can fold over the fabric and pin the edging. Which is what the picture shows you below. When you sew it again to give it the edge you'll need to again stretch out the elastic. When you've sewn all the way around the sheet, remove your pins and you're done! 

This is one of my sheets on my cousins baby crib, I also made the skirting and the quilt. I don' have a picture of the camo sheet because I don't actually own a crib sorry! It's a baby gift. 

I hope this tutorial makes sense, and you make some super cute crib/toddler bed sheets!!!!

Dirty lenses? Clean them up!

Hey y'all! So if you're anything like me then you have never had a new vehicle, new to you sure, but never spanking new, slap your mama, off the lot vehicle.  So what I've come to realize over the years is no matter how many times I ask Mr. Amazing to change the bulbs in my headlights, they always do not give off enough light at night to make me happy. I feel like I'm driving in the dark, okay so I am driving in the dark, but you know the dark dark, I want brighter headlights, without having to purchase new headlight covers! Or heaven forbid depending on your vehicle the entire headlight!  So I have discovered via a friend an awesome way to clear up your head lights!!!!  

What you'll need:

1 medium sized tube of Tooth Paste
2 old wash rags
(I say old because no matter how many times I've washed my washrag it still smells a bit like Crest)

Note when you get to the bottom, you'll notice the headlights look better, not perfect but a heck of a lot better, and we tested our theory last night and drove over to Niagara Falls, and the sight is much better, the lights are much brighter. If you're lenses are very bad like mine are you're not going to be able to get all of the scratches to clear up, but it makes a significant improvement.

So this is my headlight cover on the front of my pickup right now. Isn't it beautiful!

So put a small amount of toothpaste on your rag.  

I have found that it does a better job when going in a circular motion, instead of a back and forth scrubbing motion. Just think wax on wax off wax on wax off.

See it's looking better already! Now that you've completed the whole lens and it's covered in dried on tooth paste, get another rag and wet it down and wipe the whole lens cover down.  

So like I said it't not perfect, but a vast improvement if I do say so myself! I hope you get even better results!

Since we are up here in New York for work we meet all sorts of people from all over the world. Currently there was a lovely couple from Corpus Christi Texas, about 400 miles from where we live in Texas. This couple was super sweet as they walked their four tiny yappy dogs all over the RV park.  They stopped to chat when they noticed our Texas plates on the pick up.  The man was super interested in what I was doing sitting in front of my pick up in my lime green lawn chair scrubbing my headlights. But he was super impressed to see the difference it had made and gave me a little advice of his own. A man he met back in Canada told him to put RainX on his headlights every once in a while, especially when you're vehicle is new so that it will never get to this point. He said that it will repel everything coming at it in the future. He also said that he's never had to replace a headlight lens since he started using it. So I think now that I'm done here, I'll go get a little RainX!

I apologize for the pictures from my pickup y'all, that sucker needs a bath! That's 1500 miles from Texas to New York bugs sitting right there. GROSS! 

Cajun Chex Mix!

Hey y'all, lets make a spicy cajun treat! 

Ingredients

2 tbl of Butter or Margarine

2.5 tbl of Worcestershire Sauce

1 tbl of Tony Chachere's Creole Seasoning

1/4 tbl of Onion Powder

1/4 tbl of Garlic Powder

Chex cereal or Crispix cereal, in any flavor of your choice, feel free to mix & match

(you can also add pretzels and nuts if you'd like, my family prefers just the cereal so that's all I made tonight)

either way you go you'll need eight cups, weather it's eight cups of just cereal or a combination of cereal, pretzels, & nuts, you need eight cups worth. 

First set your oven to 300 degrees

Then pour your cereal OR your cereal, pretzel, nut combo into a 9X13 baking dish.
Sorry about Mr. Amazing, he was digging in before it was cooked.

Then add your butter to a microwavable safe container and heat for about 45 seconds, add your spices and your Worcestershire Sauce, mix thoroughly and pour slowly all over the cereal mixture. Then turn repeatedly until evenly coated. Pop in the oven for twenty minutes, pull out and mix again, then pop back in for twenty more minutes, take out to cool, DONE!  

Once your mix is done and completely cooled scoop it into a gallon ziplock back and close up OR put into individual baggies for take along snacks. Remember it's spicy, not so great for little ones.  This recipe makes about half a one gallon ziplock bag.  Enjoy!