Blogs and Inspiration

I love blogs. I've become "obsessed" according to my husband. The thing I really like about blogs is taking other peoples design ideas, diy's, recipes and parenting tips. So I wanted to share with you a few things I've tried from other people's blogs.

1. Homemade mac and cheese.

This is the easiest recipe for homemade mac and cheese. Honestly, you won't find an easier one. My sister found this one and shared it with me.

• 3 c. Whole Milk
• 1 1/2 c. Elbow Pasta
• 1 c. Cheddar Cheese

In a medium sauce pan place milk and pasta over medium heat. Stir for 15 minutes (or until pasta is al dente). Add cheese and stir. Salt and pepper to taste.

That's it. It's super easy. We eat this about once a week and my kids love it.

2. Homemade cheese crackers.

I got this recipe from smilemonster.blogspot.com from one of their link parties. It's like homemade gold fish crackers, but better.

• 4 Tbsp. Butter
• 1 1/2 c. Cheddar Cheese
• 2/3 c. Flour
• 1/8 tsp. Onion Powder

Combine in a food processor. Roll out dough on a cutting board. Using a very small cookie cutter cut out your crackers. Place on a cookie sheet and bake for 12-15 minutes at 350 degrees.

*I don't have a really small cookie cutter, so I used the star shape and then cut the triangles off and cooked the triangles. It takes forever, so I really need to invest in a tiny cookie cutter for this recipe.

3. DIY Nursing Pads.

I hate buying the boxes of nursing pads at the store for $10. I knew this time around I wanted reusable, cloth nursing pads. So I started looking last night and found them to be super expensive. So I googled "DIY nursing pads and found a blog that had directions. The best part is that the pads were free to make and I can reuse them.

You'll need:

• 8- 5 inch circles of flannel. (Cut up a receiving blanket)
• Scissors
• Sewing machine

1. Take 4 of your circles and place them all together.
2. Sew a straight stitch around the edge of your circle.
3. Next trim the excess fabric.
4. Do a zig-zag stitch around the edge to prevent the pads from fraying.
5. Starting from the center, sew a straight stitch all the way to the edge of the pad, creating a dart.

Jordan and I had a friendly little competition to see who could make these better. I think I won. Although mine aren't a perfect circle, they're prettier I think. I now have two sets of these! :)

The nursing pads I made..

The nursing pads Jordan made

4. DIY Swaddle Blanket.

When Jayden was a newborn a friend of ours let us borrow " The Happiest Baby On The Block" DVD. This guy gives you 5 tips to calm a crying baby. I bet Youtube.com has the video if you're interested. Anyways, one of the tips is to swaddle your baby. And not this little wrap the baby nicely swaddle. I mean you swaddle the baby so they can't get their arms out it's so tight. We've done this with all of our kids and it's worked for all of them. They sleep better when they're swaddled. And if you say, "My baby doesn't like to be swaddled." It's probably because you're not doing it tight enough. :) Or maybe they don't like it.. I don't know. Ha!

To make your own swaddle blankets that are big enough to swaddle a newborn- 3 month old you need:

• 1 yard of flannel fabric
• a sewing machine/serger

When I had Gabriella I had my sister use her mother-in-law's serger and serge the edges of the material, but when Levi was born her mother-in-law had just moved and their stuff was still in boxes... or at least that's what my sister told me... :) So I put my husband to work and he got out our little dinky sewing machine. All you have to do is a zig-zag stitch around the edge of the material. (which if you ask my husband, he'll tell you that he invented that stitch.. he didn't though, so don't believe him.)

5. Design inspiration

Ohdeedoh.com

I love taking "tours" of other people's homes and getting inspiration from them. I literally spent hours looking at this site last week.