Cloth Diaper Shopping List

Before I started cloth diapering Colin I wasn't sure exactly what I needed.  Now I feel like I have everything under control, so here are the things we use in our home!

• You'll need a good trash can to store all your diapers in.  We use the Simplehuman Slim Plastic Step Can .  It's really great to have the step can so you don't have to touch the lid.

• Speaking of trash cans, you will need a trash can liner.  We have two (one for the wash and one for the dirty diapers)  We use Planet Wise Pail Liner.  They have really cute designs and solid colors as well.

• Now onto cleaning the diapers!  We use the bumGenius Diaper Sprayer.  I love this thing.  It works great to get the poo off the diapers.  It's also very easy to install. 

• For cleaning the diapers we use Rockin Green Detergent. We have hard well water, so this works best for us. Nicki's Diapers has other detergents as well listed here.  Don't use fabric softeners or bounce sheets.  It will make your diapers repel which is no fun.

• As for diapers we choose to purchase a mixture of brands which worked out very well for us.  Some diapers I prefer for overnights when others I wouldn't dare put on my baby overnight.  You'll find out what works best for your child.  I purchased most of my diapers from Nicki's Diapers.  We chose to buy pocket diapers.  I love pocket diapers!  I own one diaper that has the inserts sewn in and I hate it.  It leaks every time.  The brands we bought are: bumGenius, FuzziBunz, Rumparooz, Charlie Banana, and I purchased Rockabums from their actual site.  Rockabums is our favorite diaper for Colin,  We bought a total of 30 diapers, and I do laundry every day.  You could probably get away with having about 25 if you do laundry every day.  I just couldn't stop buying them.  They are sooo cute!  You'll see what I mean when you get started, it gets kind of addicting.

• If you're going to cloth diaper you might as well do cloth wipes.  I know that it might sound scary or gross, but think about a trash can full of stinky wipes that sits around for a week until the trash man comes!  Yuck!  We bought two kinds of wipes.  One are flannel from the etsy store Turtles R Us.  They are affordable and she has cute patterns.  The other are the Prince Lionheart Wipes and I bought three sets of those. It's nice to have two different fabrics for wiping.  We have a total of 72 wipes! There is always some left over, but it's nice to have extra.

• Next you'll need a place to store those wipes.  We use the Prince Lionheart Wipes Warmer.  I love this warmer and so does our baby.

• As for diaper creams and ointments we use Grandma El's.  I made the HUGE mistake of putting too much of this on our baby in the beginning of our cloth diaper adventure.  Don't do that.  You'll have pee leaking on you every time your baby pees, which is no fun for either of you.  It made the diapers repel and I had to strip them.  So, I learned to not put this on him for every diaper change.  I only use it when he's getting a red area, and I put the tiniest thinest layer on his skin.  I only trouble shoot the problem areas.  There is no need to put this all over the baby's bum.

• Now when you leave the house you'll need a wet bag to put the dirty diapers and cloth wipes in until you get home.  We got the Planet Wise Wet/Dry Bag as a gift.  You could also use the Planet Wise Wet Bag.  The only difference is the wet/dry bag has a front 'dry' zipper pouch.  Planet Wise has a lot of cute patterns to choose from.

• You'll also need a small wet pouch to hold your wet wash cloth wipes when you're on the go.  We got ours for free from Nicki's Diapers.  They do a lot of freebies if you spend a certain amount.  We got the Planet Wise Wipe Pouch.  

Well that's everything we use in our home.  If you have any questions feel free to comment below.  I know getting started can be confusing at times.  

The Moon - Free Printable

Instead of using photos to decorate a wall a lot of people are using word art or typography.  I made this simple text for Colin's nursery and I just love it!  I printed the words onto gray paper that I got out of a scrapbook paper pack.  You however can choose any kind of paper you'd like and feed it into your printer.  It's that easy!  I made some in different colors too, just download the pdf file you like below!  Enjoy! 

Orange
Blue
Green
Pink

Vintage Nursery

Here are some ideas I found on Pinterest that I am completely loving right now.

We don't know what we are having yet, but I'm having fun looking at boy & girl nursery designs. 

Our Tree

It's been pretty busy around here!  I hosted Thanksgiving this year at our home, and now I've been preparing for Christmas.  Lots of holiday decorating, cookie baking, knitting, & sewing! I also finished painting my antique desk!  I'll post the before & after pics tomorrow!  For now, here is our tree!  We planned on getting a smaller tree this year, but feel in love with this huge beauty!  It took a real long time to cut down & I don't even know how we got it in the house, but here it is:

Stay turned for the awesome transformation of my new desk!  I'm so excited!!  It turned out beautifully. 

at home

{ i started decorating the house for the holidays }

{ new.vintage kitchen rug }

{ our halloween costumes -mad men- } 

{ new.vintage yarn storage tote }

{ finally found a use for the old kitchen scale i bought last summer }

{ another new.vintage yarn tote i bought on etsy }

Easy Blaze Orange Cowl

It's hunting season here in Wisconsin and living in the country & hearing gun shots can make you kinda nervous.  Especially when you have pets.  I decided to make blaze orange cowls for both of my dogs! I chose fleece due to is snuggly warm quality.

Materials:
Blaze Orange Fleece
Coordinating Thread
Tape Measure
Cutting Mat / Rotary Cutter or Scissors

Measure your dog's neck circumference with a tape measure.  Add two inches, one for the seam and the other for a looser fit.

Measure the length of your dogs neck as well.  No need to add any length to that you don't even have to finish the seam.

Cut your fabric with your rotary cutter or scissors.

Wrap the fabric around the dog's neck with the outside fabric up against the dogs fur.  Put both end seams up against each other and pinch off where you would like the cowl to be sewn.  Hold that spot!

Make sure your fabric is inside out and sew the ends together where you pinched off.

{ I cut my fabric too long, so I cut the remaining off with pinking sheers }

Double knot both ends of string and clip them close to the knot! Turn inside out!

Be happy that you took a step closer to keeping your pets safe!

It's Been A While...

{ hand sewing hexies in the car }

It's been quite a couple of weeks!  I haven't posted in a while due to my dog Laila taking ill. 

Long story short we thought she sprained her paw.  However after multiple 2 hour long trips back and forth to the vet with an extremely sick dog { I literally had to carry her } we found out she has Lyme's Disease.  After receiving her last antibiotic today { HOORAY } she's looking & feeling a lot better.  I am beyond happy and humbled to have her healthy.

We also took a business trip out to Chicago & stayed in a pet friendly hotel which was a lot of fun!  We ate at Portillo's - they have the best cheesy fries and Italian beef sandwiches!  
I spent the long hours in the car working on hand sewing my hexies for my new throw pillow!  I finally finished it, and I am very proud because this was my first attempt sewing with hexagons/quilting!  I am hooked now and can't wait to start my next project.

{ We've been having the most beautiful sunsets here lately }