Our Favorite Products - Tresemme Climate Control Hair Spray

This stuff is AMAZING! I've never loved a hair product this much before. When I was younger, I used to babysit for this lady who was always complaining about how companies were changing and discontinuing products that she really loved and I never quite got why she was so upset. I totally get it now! My worst fear (besides losing my teeth and my child) is that Tresemme will discontinue their climate control line. I'm half tempted to seriously stock up so I'm never left without my favorite hair spray. I may or may not have 5 bottles in my pantry right now. I'm really not a brand snob either. The only other thing I'm this passionate about is the brand of peanut butter I'll eat. It's Skippy or nothing at all.

So why is this product so great? I don't really care about the frizz control, UV and humidity protection, or anything else that this product touts. I love this product simply because it holds my style all day long. Without fail.

My hair is very thin and fine. It's limp and sometimes stringy. I need all the help I can get. I won't lie - I back comb my hair to get a little volume. It's not because all the women in Utah do it. Really, almost no one else I know (besides the women in my family) actually back comb anymore. I don't go overboard though. But every other hair spray I've tried fails to hold the back combing. After even just a couple of hours, my hair is starting to go limp and flat again. Not cool!

But Tresemme's Climate Control Hairspray is there all day - wind, rain, or snow. Andyroo can throw his blanket on my head and I don't have to carefully peel the blanket away in hopes of saving what little volume is left in my hair.

This stuff is awesome! For me, a little sustained volume is all it takes to make me happy. I feel more confident and beautiful when I don't have to worry so much about my hair!

Is there a product you just can't live without! Let us know!

(This review was uncompensated. I'm simply sharing my love for a wonderful product!)

Quiet Book Page #3 - Barn & Finger Puppets

Remember the Quite Book Overview I did a while back? I'm going through the book page by page and explaining in more detail how I did everything and linking to any patterns that I used. Be sure to check out the other quiet book pages and the Quiet Book FAQ!

Quiet Book Page #1 - Train Tracks
Quiet Book Page #2 - Shapes and Colors

Up today is the Barn & Finger Puppets page! I think this might be my favorite page. So happy and cute!

I'd love to say this was my idea, but it most definitely was not. The idea and the template come from Homemade by Jill. Isn't she awesome!?

I did change a few things. Instead of ribbon for the outlining on the doors and around the barn, I just used more felt. I also added a couple of animals to the mix. She has patterns for the the cow, pig, and chicken. I also made a horse (which routinely gets called a dog but Andyroo) and a duck.

The barn doors open to reveal the animals hiding inside!

Be sure to check out the other templates over at Homemade by Jill to see if there are any others you'd like to use. As fun as it is to create your own, why go to the all the trouble if someone already has a pattern for you to use. Anything to make this process easier.

Customized Wipes Container

As part of the Baby Boy Gift Basket that I'm doing, I made a coordinating wipes container to match the basket liner.

I've seen a few customized wipes containers floating around in blog land. I love this idea over at Junk in their Trunk. She painted and modpodged paper onto a wipes container.

I also really liked this Wipes Band idea from Less Cake {more frosting}.

But, I didn't have the really wide elastic and I wanted to make something to coordinate with the basket liner (LINK TO POST) I made to go in the gift basket. I decided I wanted to use the same fabric and dress (or boy) it up a little bit. The main reason for customizing this case though....

Pretty insane, right? I found this wipes container clearance at Walmart for like $0.75. This was before Andyroo decided to potty train, so I grabbed it thinking we would surely use it.

Nope! And now I have this cute (if you like Nemo) but kind of hideous container of wipes that needed to be used. Andyroo tore the plastic off while we were walking through the store and I couldn't stand the thought of these drying out and going to waste. I couldn't just stick them in with a baby gift like this.

Because of the mistake I made with the basket liner, I didn't have a piece of material long enough to go completely around the wipes case, so I had to use two pieces. One went over the back of the wipes case (it was about 9 or 10 inches) and the other went around the front and sides (it was about 17 or 18 inches long). You'll want to measure the wipes container you're working with in order to get an accurate measurement.

I wanted a finished edge, so I hemmed the edge of the material. My wipes container measured about 3 3/4" tall, so I cut my pieces about 4 3/4" and turned up about 1/2 on both the top and the bottom.

For the short piece on the back, I didn't worry about finishing the short sides, but for the long piece, I also turned in about 1/2 inch to give the seam a more finished look. The picture above is of the longer front piece.

After the two pieces were hemmed, I hot glued the back piece onto the wipes case first.

Then I also hot glued the front piece around the rest of the case. I'm all about symmetry, so I found the middle of the front piece and centered it on the wipes case so that they fell evenly on the back of the wipes case. The front piece overlapped the back piece by about an inch on each side.

No more Nemo!

I added a little flair to the wipes case so that it wasn't quite so boring. Nothing much, just a little (manly) ribbon.

We're linking up with these super awesome parties:


Whatever Goes Wednesday, Idea Sharing Wednseday, What I Made Wednesday, Creative-ly U, Feature Yourself Friday, Just Something I Whipped Up, Frugal Friday, DIY Under $5, Lovely Little Linkup, Craftastic Monday, Woot Woot Wednesday, Strut Your Stuff, Our House of Joyful Noise, Get You Craft On, Wow Me Wednesday, Lovely Crafty Weekend, Weekend Wrap Up

Quiet Book Page #2 - Shapes & Colors

Remember the Quite Book Overview I did a while back? I'm going through the book page by page and explaining in more detail how I did everything and linking to any patterns that I used. Be sure to check out the other quiet book pages and the Quiet Book FAQ!

Quiet Book Page #1 - Train Tracks
Quiet Book Page #3 - Barn & Finger Puppets

Today's quiet book page is the Shapes and Colors page. It's good practice for matching colors, shapes, and fine motor skills (I used snaps to keep the matches together)

I drew my own shapes on paper, then cut them out and used them as patterns for the felt shapes. You can do whatever shapes you want in whatever colors you want.

You'll need to cut 2 of each shape - one to go on the page and one to go on the match. To add some stability and strength so the snaps aren't pulled out of the felt, I sewed the shapes onto the flannel page, then sewed the snaps on through both the felt and the flannel.

After the shapes and snaps were on the page, I sewed the other side of the snaps onto the matches. I was going to leave it like this, but I wanted the pieces to be a little stronger. I also didn't like the look of the stitches showing through the backside of the loose shapes. Instead of trying to cut out a 3rd set of shapes and getting them to match up, I simply pinned them to a bigger piece of the same color felt and sewed around the shape. Then I cut out the shape! Easy peasy.

You could also just start by cutting out 3 of each shape and stitching two of them together with a whip stitch or blanket stitch.

I also think I should have used a bigger snap. Andyroo still has a little trouble getting them to snap together. He can match them easily, but he doesn't always get the snap together. I think if it were a little bit bigger, he would have an easier time. Just something for him to grow into, I guess.

Any questions?

Quiet Book Page #1 - Train Tracks

Remember the Quite Book Overview I did a while back? I'm going through the book page by page and explaining in more detail how I did everything and linking to any patterns that I used. Be sure to check out the other quiet book pages that will follow through the next couple of weeks!

Quiet Book Page #2 - Shapes & Colors
Quiet Book Page #3 - Barn & Finger Puppets

Also, be sure to check out the Quiet Book FAQ to answer some general questions about putting a quiet book together.

I think the train tracks are Andyroo's favorite page to play with. I told him I was making some train tracks for his quiet book and he was so excited. He kept asking me when it would be done so he could play with it.

I designed the two pages in Silhouette Studio then got to work cutting everything out. The tracks were cut out of the Silhouette brown heat transfer material and the rest of the images were done with ink jet transfer paper from Joann's (also found at any craft/hobby store). To use the inkjet transfer paper, I simply sent the design to my inkjet printer, cut them out, and ironed them on. Soooo easy!

After the design was ironed on, I took 2 little train buttons and 1 little boat button and tied them to the middle ring with some embroidery floss. However, I've found that this isn't the best way to do it. Everything gets all tangled and is a pain to undo. But I have yet to think of a better way. Any ideas?

The trains and boat were leftover buttons from the I-Spy bag I made before our Iowa trip. There's enough length to move the trains all around the tracks, but not so much that they're a choking hazard.

Put in some grommets and stick the pages in your book. Using the same heat transfer idea, I'm also planning on doing a road page for some extra truck and car buttons I have leftover.

If you have any questions, let me know. I'd be happy to answer them!

Product Review - Suave Dry Shampoo

A while back, I participated in one of Suave's Facebook promotions and received a coupon for a free Suave Professionals product. I was excited about it (who doesn't love FREE) and decided to try out the new Dry Shampoo.

It's been sitting on my shelf for almost 2 months now. I've been a little intimidated to use it. I didn't want to use it and then have it not work and be left with yucky hair for the day. I finally decided to just try it. I was headed out to run some errands with my mom, Hubs had to get ready for work to leave around the same time we were, and I didn't want to wake up super early to get ready to run some Saturday errands. I enjoy my sleep way too much.

My Hair: Very thin and fine. Cut to about chin length; modified A-line with shorter layers in the back. Typically gets pretty greasy if it isn't washed daily (And believe me, I've tried going without washing for a 2nd day. No thank you!)

My Review:
Initially, I was impressed with the way the product worked. For me, there was no powdery substance left on my hair, though it did seem to dull my hair a bit. The can said to use the heat from my hand to rub it in. I tried and it still looked a little dull. Not a deal breaker.

I didn't go overboard using this product. My hair is already thin and fine and I didn't want it to wind up looking yucky. I used it on key places in my hair - my top part, around my face, throughout my bangs, around my neck line, and in a few spots throughout my hair. My face can get pretty oily, so my bangs and my face were what I was really worried about.

Immediately after spraying, the greasy look and feel went away. Despite adding more product to my hair (I already had hair spray and volumizer from the day before), I didn't feel like it was weighted down. In fact, I think it helped restore some volume. That's a plus for me. I'll take all the volume I can get (since I have no natural volume)!

After spraying the dry shampoo, I went ahead and styled it just as I normally would. I used my straightener to get some of the wrinkles out and to add a little shape (curl under) to the end of my hair. I also back combed a bit and pulled my bangs back to the side.

For most of the day, my hair was fine. However, around 5 or 6, my hair started to feel really heavy and...gross (I don't know if that's the right term) again. Then it started to get clumpy and my scalp started to get itchy soon after. After two days of not washing my hair, I usually start to get a little itch from all the oil and product build up, so that wasn't really a surprise.

When it came time to wash my hair the next morning (I don't think I'll ever try this as a 3+ day shampoo), I washed my hair twice in order to feel like it was completely clean and that I wouldn't have any residue left.

Bottom Line: I'll use this product again. Not on a regular basis and not if I'm going to be out and about all day. I think it might be better suited (for me) as something to get rid of some of the oils if Hubs and I are going out on a date and I need to freshen up my look. 

(This post was non-compensated. I did receive a free coupon to try a Suave Professionals product, however this review was not part of the offer. I simply thought other mom's out there might like a review of this kind of product!)

Another Basket Liner Redo

I have another friend who just had a baby and I wanted to do a gift basket for her also. The last basket I created was rectangular, so I decided to go for a challenge and found a round basket that needed a liner! What do you think?

Because this basket has kind of a lip on the outside, I decided to use a little elastic to keep the liner around the basket. Can you see the lip that I'm talking about?

I started by tracing the bottom of the basket on some tissue paper. Cut out the circle, and you'll have a pattern for the bottom of your basket. Something like this.

Cut one out of your material. I'm using a printed snuggle flannel, by the way. It was a remnant from Joann's that was given to me by the lady who gave me my sewing machine.

Also, the first way I did this was a fail. But first, I'll show you how I ended up doing it. The circumference of the basket was about 47 inches. I also measured the height of the basket - from the bottom up to the underside of the lip of the basket. Mine ended up being around 9 inches. So I cut two pieces that were about 11 inches tall and about 30 inches wide. I debated on whether I should have that much in the width of the material, but after you see my mistake, you'll understand why I went with that much material. I also really quite liked the finished product. So in the end, I'm glad I stuck with the 30 inch (60 inches total) width.

Pin the two pieces (the 11"x30") with right sides together and sew up the short sides so that when you open it, it makes a circle.

This is the long piece folded up

After you've sewn the sides together, you'll want to make a casing for the elastic on one of the long sides. I was working with pretty small elastic - 1/4", I think. Unless you have a patterned material that needs to be one way, it doesn't really matter which side you put the casing on. Make sure to leave an opening so that you can put the elastic in later. The side with the casing will be the top of the liner.

At this point, don't put the elastic in yet. Instead, you'll need to gather the bottom of the long pieces so that it will fit your bottom circle. I used my sewing machine to make the gathering stitch. Pin the bottom circle and the gathered side together.

Sew these two pieces together carefully being sure not to catch any extra of the bottom or side pieces in your stitching. I may or may not have accidentally done that.

Once those two pieces are sewn together, you can put the elastic into the casing on the top. I know there are lots of ways to do this, but I just took a safety pin and attached it to one end of the elastic and started pulling it through the casing. That's the way I learned years ago in a Home Ec class! After it's through, sew the ends of the elastic together then finish the casing.

To keep the elastic from rolling, I sewed the elastic down in a few places after it was in the casing. I picked about 4 or 5 places and just did a simple straight stitch across the width of the elastic and casing.

Put it in your basket and admire your hard work!

Now, what NOT to do...

I had the brilliant idea of trying to taper the liner so it was more fitted to the basket. Apparently I didn't have the right equation (I've been watching Numbers on Netflix) because it did NOT fit.

Luckily I tested it out before I attached the bottom! I'm not sure if I needed to add more height or width to the material or if I just shouldn't have tapered it quite so much. I don't know where my math went wrong, but that's why I decided that more was better for the second try. So, this is a perfect example of trying things out as you work to make sure that things fit properly. I would have been so upset and I would have had to start completely over if I hadn't checked.

I'll be using this basket for another baby gift, so check back and see how it turns out. I'll also be using this same material to cute-ify a wipes case, so check back for that tutorial too!