Handmade Vintage Baby Blanket DIY

There's something undeniably special about handmade baby blankets. My very talented mother made a blanket for me when I was born and it was something I could never part with.

Growing up, (and somewhat still today) I have been a worrier. My blanket helped bring me the comfort and security I needed to get through those childhood moments when I felt scared or alone. Although I don't remember my blanket going everywhere with me, I do remember sleeping with it every night, taking it on every vacation, and especially bringing it along to slumber parties.

I am now 26 years old and secretly still have my "blanket" in my bedroom closet. It is so worn out you can hardly see the original pink rose bud design on the fabric, and there is a large tare on the front where I use to hide all of my favortie "Pogs" so no one could steal them (tricky right?!?).

I thought it was only appropriate that I make my first daughter a blanket of her own. I designed it to look similar to my original blanket (which is why I used the vintage floral fabric and eyelet trim).

Just for fun, here are a few shots of my own baby blanket...

Click below to get the details on how I made this blanket!

Vintage Bassinet Bedding

Have you ever been a little over ambitious about a craft project?

This bassinet bedding ended up being one of those projects I thought I could crank-out in an afternoon or two (not sure where that idea came from considering the fact that I am definitely still a beginner sewer). I came to find I may have over estimated myself. This vintage bassinet was a great thrifted treasure (it only cost me $3!) but due to it's odd and outdated dimensions I had to make all of the bedding myself.

I started with the fitted bumper, which ended up being the hardest part (I think it took me a whole week of 'nap-times' to complete!). I found some great DIY crib bumper tutorials online and thought I could just use those and shorten the measurements to what I needed. Turns out, the shape of my lovely bassinet is actually larger on top and smaller on the bottom so I had measure and sew all of my pieces at an angle.

I know it doesn't look like I did much, but I actually ended up sewing a baby bumper, 2 fitted sheets, 1 cozy mattress topper, and a baby blanket (as well as giving the bassinet a fresh coat of paint).

It was a lot of hard work...I'm pretty sure half of my time went to re-cutting, re-sewing, and seam ripping...

But I am SO happy with the way everything turned out and glad that I chose to stick with it and finish the project!

*if your feeling ambitious and would like to make your own baby bedding here are a few great tutorials that can help you along the way...
Baby Bumper - at Vanilla Joy
Fitted Crib Sheet - at Made
I will also have my own DIY baby blanket tutorial posted shortly :)

Get a few more photos and details by clicking below!

Vintage Desk Chair

I hope everyone had a great weekend! There wasn't much excitement at my place, but I did get a whole bunch of things checked off my "before the baby comes" check list (strange how it can feel so wonderful to put a simple check mark across a list of words on a piece of paper :).

One of the items checked off my list was to have my handy husband fix the broken wheel on a vintage desk chair we purchased from a garage sale almost a year ago now. It wasn't even a big fix, we just needed to re-glue one of the wheels that would fall out of the leg every time I moved the thing.

I remember being super excited when we found the chair, besides the loose wheel, it was in great shape and surprisingly very comfortable to sit in (I'm not positive how old it really is, if you look below you will see one of the metal parts says 1923, but i'm not sure if that is when it was actually made). I believe the woman who sold it to us was asking $20 for it...and when I asked her if she would mind taking $15 instead, she seemed more then overjoyed that I was willing to pay even that much.

Funny how someone's "junk" can be another person's treasure. 

Pictured above is also the homemade work desk my husband and I put together last year, if your interested in the tutorial click HERE!

Thrifted and Vintage: Bassinet

For the past several weeks I have been trying to get together all of the baby necessities I currently don't own...one of which is a bassinet. I had a few different bassinet's "pinned" from various online stores but I wasn't super excited about spending $100+ on something I will probably only use for 2-3 months. Plus, nothing was really the style I had envisioned.

Thankfully, last week, my husband and I were making our traditional Thrift Store rounds and we happened upon this little beauty...

Isn't it charming?

and even more charming is the price...$3.00, now that I can do!

We had to laugh a little because this bassinet actually looks like a giant basket with legs and wheels... it even has basket-like handle bars. I couldn't resist re-naming it the "bask-inet." 

I bought a fresh can of spray paint the other day and have high hopes that I can transform this run-down "bask-inet" into something super sweet and completely functional.

Since I haven't been able to do a nursery make-over, (due to a possible move in the near future) I'm excited to have a project for the new baby that I can work on!

Wish me luck, and look forward to some before & after photos!

Fabulous Finds: Vintage Dress Take 2

Here is another one of my fabulous vintage dress finds! This dress is fun because it was one of those that looked a little questionable on the hanger but after I tried it on I realized that it really was pretty cute. I added a high waisted gold stretchy belt, (also bought at a thrift store last year) which help disguise the somewhat "bag-like" look that was going on. 

There are so many reasons why I love this dress, here are my top 3...

1. The length is perfect

2. It has pockets

3. It only cost me $1.50!!!

I hope everyone did something fun this weekend, I followed through with my plan and took a trip to the lake with my husband and 18 month old....we had a blast!

Fabulous Finds: Vintage Dress

A few weeks ago my husband and I went out for one of our regular thrift store runs. I was actually hoping to find some old night-stands that I could fix up for our mini master bedroom makeover but I had no such luck (why is it that you never find what you are looking for when you go thrift store shopping?)

Luckily I did find a few vintage dresses that just happened to be my size (usually they are way too tiny!) This one is super comfy and only cost me $2.00! Finding vintage dresses is always fun...especially when you find them at thrift stores instead of specialty vintage stores because the prices cost next to nothing.

Have you found any fabulous thrifted finds lately?

DIY Tuesday: Before & After Dining Table & Chairs

Some of you may remember a while back when I posted a few Facebook pictures of a used table & some chairs that I picked up from a garage sale for $50.

Well, a couple of weeks ago my husband and I finally finished giving  them a little update and I am very pleased with the result!

A little peek at the process...

I had so much fun re-finishing the table and chairs and love how the end result turned out! Although the process was a little more time consuming then I would have liked, I'm so glad I took the plunge and finished the project. I now have a great dining room table set for my friends and family to enjoy!

To view a basic overview of how me and my husband completed this transformation click below!

Thrifted and Vintage: A Few Tidbits

My husband and I often find ourselves scouting the local thrift and vintage stores for our "fun" Saturday activities.  As I have mentioned before, I love to find home decor and accessory items second hand, especially when they are in good condition and priced well. It makes me feel like I won the lottery or something!

The price really is key though...Have you ever been to a thrift store or garage sale that is annoyingly over priced? It's like when you go to the Goodwill and just because an old t-shirt happens to have a Gap tag, it's 5 bucks more then all of the other old T-shirts. Plus, you could probably find it on sale at the Gap for the same price...only it won't be used. Or, someone doing a garage sale is selling there jogging stroller for $150, when they purchased it at $200! I always feel like saying, "don't you realize people are here because they are looking for a deal, and can't afford to buy new?"

Anyways, over last couple of weeks we have discovered multiple thrifted treasures to add to our home, and at great prices! Here are a few of my favorites...

Vintage Ansco Pioneer Film Camera - $4

1960's Desk Lamp - $5

Vintage Glass Jars - $1.50

1950's Retro Floor Lamp - $40