Being Genevieve

Tuesday, October 8, 2013

My Blog Has Moved

Hey everyone,

I have made the big move to my own URL and a blog layout that is a lot easier to navigate. Please update your links and come visit me over at:

BeingGenevieve.com

I'll see you over there,

- Genevieve Hill

Thursday, March 28, 2013

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So I was looking on Pinterest for a gift idea for my little sister's baby shower.

I stumbled across this picture and was thrilled! My little sister is expecting a girl and naming her Rose.

What could be more perfect than a diaper bouquet of "roses" for a little baby named Rose?!?

The only problem was that there wasn't a tutorial on how to put it together.

Here is the link if you are interested.

Here is what I did to re-create the diaper bouquet . . .

What you will need:

-About 75 newborn diapers (or any size, but you will need a bigger vase to make it look proportional)

-About 38 wood dowels

-About 75 little clear elastics

-About 16-1/2 yards of Ribbon (I only used 10 yards and just put it on some of the diapers)

-Foam Ball (mine was 6", but it all depends on what size will fit on top of the vase without falling in the vase)

-Vase

-Vase Stuffers (I used baby lotion, baby wash, baby powder, butt paste)

-Decorative Ribbon

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What to do:

Cut all the dowels in half.

Grab 1 diaper, dowel, and elastic for each rose.

Open the diaper and place dowel as I have in the picture below.

Close the diaper and begin rolling the diaper around the dowel.

Hold the diaper with one hand as you open the elastic.

Place elastic around the diaper about 2/3 the way down.

This is the top view of the rolled diaper.

Cut a piece of ribbon and tie around where the elastic is.

I think I cut my ribbon 8"

As mentioned above, I only tied ribbon around about 1/2 of the diapers because I didn't buy enough ribbon at the time. So if you are short ribbon don't worry it will look great and no one will notice!

After all the diapers are rolled you can begin sticking them in the foam ball.

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Place the foam ball on the top of the vase.

Stick in 4 roses so that the foam ball won't move around while on the vase.

Now begin filling in, as I have done, around the top of the vase.

After the top of the vase is filled in, to secure the foam ball from moving, stick a rose in the top of the foam ball. Begin filling in around it and work down the foam ball.

(Try to only stick the rose in when you are sure on the location or else your foam ball will end up with too many holes and the roses won't stay in the foam very well.)

Once you have filled all empty spaces it will look like this.

Lift up the foam ball carefully and place in the vase stuffers. Place foam ball back on the vase.

Tie a decorative ribbon around the vase.

Now you are ready to wow everyone at the baby shower with your diaper bouquet!

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Cupcake Onesies

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For my little sister's baby shower I helped my mom put together these adorable cupcake onesies.

This is the tutorial on how to make them.

Very Simple and Cute!!!

Wednesday, March 27, 2013

Rollie Pollie Bean Bag Chairs

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I made these wonderful bean bag chairs for my kids! (With some changes that are listed below.)

Check out the Rollie Pollie pattern here.

I made the large size of Rollie Pollie for both bean bags.

My changes were . . .

1. I pieced several different fabrics together and then cut out the pattern pieces from what I had pieced.

I used scraps I had from reupholstering a couple of chairs and then did a few accent fabrics with it.

2. I only could find a 26" zipper. I'm not sure where she found her 30" zippers at.

3. I filled my bean bags with bean bag beads and then 1 large bag of regular stuffing (all mixed together). I added the bag of stuffing because I had it laying around the house and it kind of broke up the feel of laying on just bean bag beads. It made it feel more like a pillow, but not really enough to worry about it. This was a MUCH cheaper option! I think it only cost me about $16-$20 to fill each one, instead of the $45 she recommends.

These bean bag chairs were worth every penny! My kids love them and drag them from room to room.

FYI: The handles she recommends putting on are a must! Without them my kids (ages 3 and 18 months) would have a very difficult time moving them very far.

Cell phone picture, very poor quality. Sorry!

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Wednesday, March 20, 2013

Car Seat Canopy

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Here is how to make one of those cute car seat canopies to keep your little one protected from the weather and unwelcome germs.

What you need:

1-1/2 yards of cotton or flannel fabric for BACK

1-1/3 yards of cotton or flannel for TOP

4-1/4 yards of RIBBON

5-1/2 yards RICK-RACK

Buttons or Flowers for Straps

Sew-On Velcro

Fabric Marking Pen

Cutting fabric:

(Pre-wash, dry and iron all fabric!!!)

Top and Back. . .

Cut 35" wide x 34" long out of your TOP fabric. Then cut 2 strips 4-1/2" x 35" from the BACK fabric. Cut 35" wide x 42" long out of your BACK fabric.

If not piecing the top. . .

Cut the TOP and BACK 35'' wide x 42" long.

If fabric has a directional pattern, make sure to cut it so it goes in the right direction (you may need extra fabric). If you are piecing the top, like mine make sure the finished dimensions of the top are still 35" x 42".

Straps. . .

Cut 2 pieces 6-1/2" x 9-1/2" out of the TOP fabric.

Cut 2 pieces 2-1/2" x 9-1/2" out of the BACK fabric.

If not piecing straps. . .

Cut 2 pieces 4-1/2" x 9-1/2" out of BACK and then cut 2 of the same size out of TOP.

Putting it together:

***All seams are 1/2 inch.***

Straps:

Place right-sides together and sew. Then do the other side. Repeat for both straps.

Flip right-side out and iron.

Fold ends in 1/2 inch and iron a crease. Do for both sides. Repeat for the other strap.

DO NOT SEW THIS CLOSED YET

Cut 4 pieces of ribbon each measuring 9-1/2 inches long. Place ribbon on the seams.

Pin in place. Tuck in the ends of the ribbon and pin.

(This is why you havent sewn the ends closed yet.)

Sew the ribbon on by going down BOTH SIDES of the ribbon as I have done here.

Please take your time on this, it moves/bunches easily!!!

Sew down both pieces of ribbon, on both sides of the ribbon. Repeat for the other strap.

Now do some topstitching on the sides of the straps (just for looks).

I like the double seam look so I do a 1/4 inch seam and then go back and do an 1/8 inch seam, to give it a double needle look. Or you can just use a double needle.

Now pin and sew the ends of the straps closed. Repeat for both straps.

Time for the velcro.

I cut mine to be the same length as my button so the stitching could easily be hidden under the button.

The first velcro to attach is where the button will be sewn on.

I placed mine 1/2 inch from the end of the strap. Repeat for other strap.

The next velcro is up to you.

I wrapped mine on the car seat and placed a pin where the top over lapped the other end.

Measured down 1/2 inch from the pin (that is how far in the velcro on the other end is sewn) and pin the velcro in place.

(Mine was placed 3/4 inch from the end of the strap.)

Now sew the buttons on top, to hide the stitching from the velcro.

Straps are done!

Main Body:

Place the 2 long strips on the top and bottom of the TOP fabric (right-sides together), pin and sew.

Iron seams open.

Cut 2 pieces of ribbon both measuring 35 inches. Place, pin, and sew on the top and bottom seams.

*Topstitch on both sides of the ribbon just as you did for the straps.*

I now place the TOP fabric and the BOTTOM fabric right-sides together.

Grab a big bowl and trace with marking pen a rounded corner on all 4 corners.

(You may notice I have an extra seam toward the end on the polka-dot fabric, that will mostly be cut off with the rounded corner. I cut my fabric incorrectly and had to piece this together. Yours should not have this.)

Now cut all the corners following your markings.

Fold the TOP fabric together to find center and iron a crease (crease should go from front to back).

Then cut up the crease 19-1/2 inches to make front slit.

Front slit is optional. You can just skip this step if you don't want a slit.

Place TOP and BACK fabrics right-sides together and cut the slit up the BACK fabric so that the top and back fabrics both have an identical slit.

Pin together.

Begin placing the rick-rack in the slit.

(I had my rick-rack poke 1/4 inch out of the seam, just like you see below.)

When you come to the corner on the bottom of the slit, turn rick-rack like so and pin in place.

Continue pinning all the way around until you reach where you began, the other side of the slit.

I measured as I went to make sure all my rick-rack was poking out 1/4 inch.

Cut 4 pieces of ribbon each measuring 10 inches long. Burn or seal the ends of all 4 ribbon pieces.

*This ribbon is for tying the slit closed.*

Now you need to pin the ribbon in place.

I measured up 6 inches from the bottom of the slit and fed the ribbon in between both fabrics, next to the rick-rack, until the ribbon was lined up exactly with the raw edges of the 2 fabrics.

I then repeated for the other side of the slit so that these 2 ribbon pieces would be at the exact same height to tie the slit closed.

Now measure down 6 inches from the top of the slit, on both sides, and do the same thing.

(I should have taken more pictures for this step ... below is what the finished product will look like. Look at the white ribbon.)