#babyfoodstuffs

Baby coconut and blueberry (cooked) mousse 

So I'm trying to post from my phone which I've never done before and may or may not work (but seems likely to increase my typo count...) And since I'm about ten years behind the trend I'm blogging about Instagram! Yeah guys its this new thing try it out! Yeah so better late than never although I still don't entirely understand it or proper hash tag protocol. The thing I've mostly been instagramming oddly enough is baby food. This somehow seems way more hysterical than grown up food to me but I'm not doing it to be a hipster (pretty sure I missed the boat on that one...) but because it helps me keep track of combinations and stuff he likes. I make all my baby's food which I'm always hesitant to admit in groups of other mommies because I'm afraid to sound judgmental, but yeah I do. I like to cook, actually find it easier than packing up the baby and traipsing to the store all the time and I like to be able to control ingredients, quality and seasoning. I freeze everything into 1 oz cubes and then combine them in various successful and not so successful ways. Daddy likes to call them nutrient cubes which has kind of stuck. I feel strongly about using spices which I started doing around 7 months ish (treating them like anything else new and waiting three days to see if there was a reaction after each one) So I started doing this as a record for myself but since I like browsing other people's recipes and combinations I thought is let everyone know that I've tagged everything with #babyfoodstuffs if you want to check it out. (Also I'm not being cute about my Instagram confusion-- I'm not entirely sure if you can see them or need to follow me or what, but I'll find a teenager to explain this to me at some point) Also please feel free to tag your own creations I'd love to see them!

Homemade ricotta with raw blueberry purée and cinnamon 

Homemade brown rice (ground in a coffee grinder and cooked w/ water for ten minutes) black beans, sweet potato, caramelized onion, cumin and cilantro.

This is a big fave lately, and by puréeing the rice and beans together (and freezing them that way) it avoids the rubbery disk of rice that happens if it goes into the fridge straight up. 

Please follow your pediatrician's advice about feeding, allergies and ingredients--this is only for inspiration and is not medical advice.

all the fabrics

So I recently discovered Spoonflower.com (or rediscovered it anyway) and if you're a fabric hoarder like myself, you're going to want to check it out. So. much. fabric. Seriously I think I have 60 designs in my cart right now. (I can't really buy that many right??) Anyway I've become somewhat obsessed with fabric design as a result, which makes sense as I'm an artist/ designer and fabric junky... not really sure why I never thought of it before. I set up a shop (added a link on the sidebar) and while nothing is for sale quite yet it will be shortly. (Shortly in mommy time seems to take longer than it used to fair warning) I also entered their "Cosmic Voyage" contest because I am a giant space nerd and to my delight made the semifinals. So if you are so inclined I would be honored if you voted for me! 
http://www.spoonflower.com/contest_voters_temp/new?contest_id=256 You have to scroll through all the designs, but you don't need to register or anything annoying like that. (My fabric is called Orion's Star Map) 

I also designed some bibs on cafe press- I haven't listed them for sale though because the terms seem to indicate that they take possession of the artwork- does anyone have any experience with them? And perhaps someday I'll actually start selling things in the etsy shop I opened years ago instead constantly buying things... sigh. 

So that happened....

It's been quiet around Made From Scratch lately, and there are several reasons I'll get into later... but the cutest one is my 4 month old son. I found out I was pregnant right after New Years 2013 and he was born in September. I now have both more and less free time somehow... and I'm still not sure how exactly it will affect this blog, but I guess we'll find out. I made a ton of crafts and projects for him and the nursery, some of which I'll try to share/ link to below. I did a kind of modern woodland thing which seemed to get really popular right after I finished everything. I blame that stupid fox song. (which you are now singing in your head... sorry) Oh well, it's still cute. I was inspired initially by this fabric, but ended up barely using it in the room and went way more mod. 

 

The walls are a grey/blue/green that was strangely inspired by the industrial tile the bathroom at work. I know that's weird, but I love the color especially against the deep orange. I knew I wanted to paint a mural, but I didn't want the small room to feel cramped and busy so I kept it really minimal. I just looked at some clip art and sketched it right on the wall (I'm a drawing professor and that sort of thing doesn't intimidate me, but you could scale up clip art too if you weren't comfortable free-handing it.) One of my favorite things about the mural (murals really because the main bit with the fox is one one wall and there are two hedgehogs and a squirrel on other walls) is the fabric decals. I came across this clipart while pondering what to draw and while I didn't buy or use it, I liked the idea of incorporating fabric patterns and used this super easy tutorial to do it. I used the fabric in addition to paint to add some pattern, but it would also be a great for people who can't or don't want to paint on the walls. The little fox pillow is from an Ed Emberley cut and sew panel. The blanket is just a crochet ripple stitch (didn't use a pattern.)

The mobile is little felt animals I stitched up and hung from branches. Again no pattern I just sat down with a pile of screw eyes and some sticks and fiddled with them until it hung nicely. It honestly took longer than I anticipated and I had to move the screw eyes around a bunch. The trick is to use a screw starter to get them to go in easily. I'm glad I made it because Mr. O loves to stare at it and lately I swear he's started talking to it.

Toy chest/ bench is an old trunk I had that I made a cushion for. I got an amazing deal on the foam from amazon and I just went to link to it but the price has gone from $12.99 to $89.99 so I guess maybe that was a little too good to be true... The art above it is an old painting of mine and prints by Melissa Moss that I've had for years. (She doesn't seem to have them listed currently.) Made the pillows, and the aforementioned hedgehogs.  

The forest print is one I've had for years that some relative of mine made, the deer print was a gift, the log I painted, the mountain print and the clock I made from mat board of all things. I was going to get plastic laser cut at work, but by 8 months pregnant I really didn't ever feel like leaving the house. So I cut it out of matboard and bought a clock kit from the craft store. (I spray painted it orange) It was really tedious and I had to sand all the edges a million times, but I kind of love it. 

The little rocking chair was once mine- I just painted it orange. I made the crib skirt- its three pieces of fabric sewn to muslin.

I just put a changer on top of an ikea dresser because that seemed more practical, and added the open shelving because there wasn't much closet space and baby clothes are cute so why not display them? It gave me more room for toys and diapers too.

 

 Awesome yeti tutorial. The elephant is another old toy of mine sprayed orange.

Adorable animal jar lids all over pinterest. And hat made from this tutorial. 

Ikea expedit bookcase on its side with vintage lamps. I bought four of the cheapest cubes I could find and coated them with spray adhesive and covered them with fabric. It was an awesome way to incorporate more fabric and was actually cheaper then making them. I made the pillow on the chair and the fleece is also from Ikea.

 

Needle felted monkey riding a dinosaur because... why not? Saw something similar on etsy and said, "I can make that!" Then I did.

Taggie dino and quilt- I went nuts with the orange and gray fabrics for this and we use it as a play mat all the time.

Close up of the chair- I really wanted a fancy new chair, but it wasn't in the budget and I had this old rocking chair that had been in my nursery as a child sitting on my porch so I finally conceded to use it at the last minute-- if we painted it. I love how it came out. It started out 70's brown and gold with floral appliques and its now shiny gray with white rustic animal stencils. I did this at 9 months. Nothing like waiting for the last minute...

Full shot of the mural.