DIY No Sew Changing Pad Cover

As I was working on painting Evelyn's changing table (you can read about that here) I was like "well, if I want some really stellar after pictures, my changing pad cover has got to be just as fabulous as this dresser" So I started looking for just that, but I couldn't find anything that I loved enough to buy. So I decided I could make my own! My sewing machine, however, has been giving me some attitude and I don't know how to fix it; and since I wasn't about to sew the whole thing by hand I adapted this changing pad tutorial from Made Every Day to make it without sewing.

What you'll need:

• 1 Yard Fabric of Your Choice
• 2 Yards Elastic (3/8" wide)
• Heat n' Bond (affiliate link)
  
• Iron & Ironing Board
• Safety Pin (...or a bobby pin...you'll see) 

That's it! Now let's begin...

First, you will need to cut your fabric to size, you need a rectangle that is 48"x 32." So fold your fabric in half (hamburger style) measure out 24" long and 32" wide and cut away!

Second, you will need to cut out a 7"x7" square from each corner. The best way to do this is to grab some cardboard or construction paper (I used an empty Cheerios box) and cut that out to use as a pattern.

Fold your fabric in half (still hamburger style) so that you can cut two layers at once. Lay your cardboard pattern down so it is lined up with the edge of your fabric and cut around it, then repeat to the other edge.

Third, Cut out four 7" pieces of your Heat n' Bond to make your four corners. Lay down a strip of Heat n' Bond, paper side up, on the edge where you cut out your square (it doesn't matter which edge) and iron it for two seconds.

Once it has cooled peel back the paper. Fold over the other edge of your square so the two edges line up and iron them together for 8 seconds. Repeat this process to your other three corners.

Fourth, you will hem all of your raw edges. Cut two 17.5" pieces and two 36" pieces of Heat n' Bond. Starting with any edge, lay your Heat n' Bond down, paper side up, as close to the edge as possible and iron it down for two seconds.

Remove the paper backing, fold your fabric up so your Heat n' Bond strip is covered and iron down for 8-10 seconds (depending how thick your fabric is)

Fifth, we need to create a tube to slide the elastic through. Cut two more 17.5" and two more 36" pieces of Heat n' Bond. Starting with whichever edge you please, measure one inch above the hem you just made and iron down your Heat N' Bond.

Take off the paper backing, fold up your material and iron the fabric together. Repeat to all four sides.

Sixth, slide that elastic on through! Most normal people have safety pins- if you're a normal person fold back the edge of your elastic, stick the needle of your pin through and slide it on through your tube. If you're not normal, welcome to the club. Look around you for a bobby pin, they can usually be found on the coffee table, in couch cushions, on the floor, on the arm of your chair, on your bedside table, there might be a few in your purse, you shouldn't have to look far. Now take your elastic and with the tip of some scissors just make a small snip on the end. Then loop your bobby pin through and feed that sucker on through your tube!

Seventh, now the truth comes out... so I kind of sort of sewed in this step. But you don't have to! You just need to attach the two ends of elastic together. I chose to sew them together with a needle and thread. You could use that safety pin to keep them together, or maybe try using a hot glue gun. I'm sorry if I failed you. I would have used a safety pin with you, but you know...bobby pins...

That's it!! You're done!! Now stick that thing on your changing pad, lay your cute baby down and pat yourself on the back for creating such beautiful things! 

DIY Ikea Malm Gets A Makeover Into A Changing Table

Changing tables are too expensive, then again I think everything should only cost $5, MAYBE $10. So I have been searching the classifieds for something cheap that I could fix up.  I had in mind a pretty french provincial dresser but every time I found one for sale it was either more money than I wanted to spend or it was already sold (why can't I be the only one on the hunt for a good deal??) But one day it occurred to me that I had a dresser I could use, it just wasn't the style I had in mind. I bought this IKEA Malm dresser about 5 years ago when I came home from serving an LDS mission and I needed a dresser fast. I remember the day clearly because it was my first time ever going to IKEA and my Mom and I felt like we were rats in a maze and we couldn't find our way out; talk about a good way to give a girl a panic attack.

Here's the dresser before, very plain & simple. You'll notice, I'm sure, the bottom board which seems very out of place. You see, what happened is there were two boards the same exact size, one was blue and the other was not. Somehow I ended up with the blue piece inside of the dresser where no eye will ever see it and the very plain wood piece on the outside. Don't be like me. Read your instruction manual.

 
Step One:
Lightly sand. I didn't get a picture of this, but I'm sure if you tap into your 5 year old self you can imagine it up.

Step Two:
Prime. I Just used the same primer we have been using for our walls. Is that allowed? I don't know, I guess we'll see if it holds up. I also didn't bother to paint inside because once the drawers are in you can't even see it.  If anyone comes to my house and scrutinizes the dresser enough to see the original paint color then they deserve to know I'm lazy. Plain and simple.

Whenever I paint anything I always use a foam roller instead of a paint brush. This way it looks more professional and you don't get the brush strokes from the paint brush. I've seen a lot of people that paint it on with the brush then smooth it over with the foam roller, to each his own. I DO, however, keep a brush around to get in all tight areas where the roller won't fit. 
I use this Foam Roller Kit (affiliate link) and I love it. I also use the tray when I'm doing the trim on my walls.
This is my favorite Paint Brush (affiliate link) I also use this when I do the trim around the house.

Step Three:
Paint. I had a deep, deep internal struggle with myself deciding what color to do this dresser. I really wanted it white, but then I said to myself "Dude, let your child have a little color in her life! Just because you want everything to be white doesn't mean it should be." So I decided on Sherwin Williams "watery" because I had a jar of sample paint leftover from choosing colors in my master bedroom. My heart was still bleeding a little from being yelled at about the white paint, so to help ease the pain I took one cup of the watery and added a half cup of white paint to it.

 I absolutely positively LOVE how the color turned out! I have given myself many pats on the back for it

*TIP If you have to step away from painting for any reason, like, I don't know a baby that doesn't know how to take naps without being held for example. Just keep some plastic wrap and sandwich bags close by so that you can cover up your paint and keep it from drying out. My paint went hours without being touched & it was like I never stepped away.

 

It's hard to step away in the middle of a project, but when your baby wakes up early from her nap looking this cute it makes it a whole lot easier. 

Step Four:
Add Hardware. When I started this project the vision in my head had a single long gold handle on each drawer. Then life happened. The only gold bars that I could find that were long enough and the right shade of gold were like $20-$40 and I had to buy 3 of them! So I found some shorter silver bars that I was going to spray paint gold, but I kind of failed. Luckily I only tried it out on one of them so I was able to return the rest. So I went to Hobby Lobby to see what they had for me and boy did they deliver! I found these cute little teardrop pulls and I fell in love with them instantly. I'm actually pretty happy that the bars didn't work out because I love these so much! To add these I just measured out where I wanted them, drilled the holes and slid those puppies right into place! 

 So the dresser isn't in her nursery right now because she's getting new carpet- woohoo! Once her room is all ready I'll do a whole room reveal and you'll see this piece in it's proper home. I also made the changing pad cover you see here WITHOUT sewing and I'll tell you how this next week! As always, thanks for reading!! 

Evelyn's Birth Story

It's been a while since I've posted and it's mostly because I have been way too busy snuggling with my new bundle of joy. Let me tell you a little bit about her journey getting here...

Photo Credit: Mary Horne Photo

December 19th 2016, 10:30 PM, I was minding my own business watching TV with my husband when I peed my pants. At this point in life I was pretty used to peeing my pants every time I sneezed or laughed, but I thought it was weird that this time I hadn't been doing either of those things. So I got up, changed my clothes and as I walked through the kitchen I peed my pants again and thought to myself "Man, this girl must be sitting RIGHT on my bladder because I just can't hold it in!" So I went and changed, hoping I wouldn't have to change a third time. But alas, the third time came and by this point I started wondering if it was more than pee. So I changed AGAIN, laid down on the bed and pulled out my phone to look up what it's like to have your water break . Most everything I read told me it was a huge gush of water-like waterfall status. I even read one forum where a lady was questioning whether her water had broken and someone commented something along the lines of "haha trust me, if your water broke you would know it." So I determined that my water had not broken because I was only trickling-not gushing, and I did not KNOW it as miss expert thought I should. This was just a matter of re-potty training myself. I sat back up and I peed; I laid back down and I peed, I sat up again and you guessed it-wee wee wee all the way home. My gut feeling was disagreeing with what the internet was telling me, so I told Brandon that maybe we should take a drive to the hospital.

Photo Credit: Mary Horne Photo

At this point it was probably around 11:30 pm and as we drove I thought to myself "I'm going to be so embarrassed when they tell me I'm just peeing my pants. But at least this will be a funny story to tell the girls at work tomorrow. I wonder how late we'll get home. Hopefully I can get at least a couple hours of sleep before it's time to get up."

Photo Credit: Mary Horne Photo

When we arrived we were greeted by a receptionist who wasn't in the best of moods which didn't help my embarrassment when I had to explain why I was there. Her judging eyes took away any thoughts that my water broke, and made me feel instantly foolish. As we sat there waiting to be taken into a room I started doubting myself even more. My due date was still 3 weeks away and I hadn't been feeling any contractions, to be honest I had been feeling GREAT; earlier that day I was under my desk organizing my computer cords and 2 days ago I full on ran to catch a train. I didn't have that "get this baby out of me" feeling people get as they near the end of their pregnancy.

Photo Credit: Mary Horne Photo

When they finally got us into a room the nurse came in, checked me and very nonchalantly said "yep, your water broke." I was so shocked I made her repeat herself. Like wait, you mean I'm about to have a baby? I didn't even bring a hospital bag, I thought you guys were going to laugh at me and send me home with a pack of depends. I'm not even close to having all my baby things ready because everyone kept telling me that she would come late since she is my first.  As a matter of fact I WANTED her to be a week or two late so that her birthday would be a little further from Christmas; I was under the impression I had another 4 or 5 weeks to prepare. I didn't have a bassinet, or nursing bras, and none of her clothes were washed! But she was coming all the same so thank goodness for  family who got everything ready for her back home while I was in the hospital.

Photo Credit: Mary Horne Photo

It was now around midnight and I still wasn't having any contractions so they had to start me on pitocin to get things moving along; I wasn't thrilled about it since I heard so many horror stories about things going wrong once they induce you, but I tried to stay positive and not think about it. As   I started feeling the contractions I was like, okay I can do this it's not too bad. That was short lived. A few hours into it I was ready to beg for an epidural, luckily all I had to do was politely ask for it and got it around 6:00 am. By 10:00 am I was fully dilated and ready to go, but my nurse told me that the doctor was in another delivery and she had multiple other deliveries to do before mine. So we waited, and waited.

Photo Credit: Mary Horne Photo

At one point my nurse came in and said she would have me push a couple times to get the baby closer so that when the doctor came in I would only have a little left to push. I pushed once and the nurse yelled "STOP STOP STOP! Your baby is like RIGHT there." She then proceeded to tell me not to cough, sneeze, or laugh too hard otherwise that baby was coming out. Around 12:00 pm the nurse told me I was next and that the doctor was just outside my room eating some lunch real quick; then she came back and told me that there was another woman in labor and her baby was in distress and since me and my baby were both okay the doctor was going to take care of them first. So it was back to the waiting game, but it was a very boring game since I wasn't allowed to laugh. At last just after 2:00 pm it was my turn! The doctor got all ready, came over and with just a couple of pushes Miss Evelyn Jo Warner was born weighing 6 lbs 11 oz and 19 in long. She is a dream.

Photo Credit: Mary Horne Photo

I didn't have a professional photographer come to the hospital, but my wonderful mom was wise enough to take pictures for me while my brain wasn't working. Here are just a few of them.

Thanks for reading, I hope you're as in love with her as I am. We have also done a lot of work on the house, so I should have some posts on that soon!