Altering The Fattycakes Diaper Pattern To Be Front Snapping

My hubby hates side snap diapers but I love love love the fattycake as a cover. So I altered the wings to be front snapping. Here is a picture of the altered pattern.

It was pretty simple really. I added about 1/2" to the length of the wing then found the center point of the wing. Then I maked 3/4" from both sides of my center mark so the wings would be 1.5" wide at the ends. Then I just tapered down the top and bottom of the wings all the way to the end. It looks a bit funny... but it works great. I then just put a single row of snaps across the front and two snaps on the wings. (I added a second snap to the overnights pictured below after the photo was taken) Let me know if you have any questions!

More pics of finished diapers. These first two are overnights that I made with 4 layers of ZorbII. They are awesome!!

This one is a cover. Love it! I also think this would be great as an AI1. I'm going to try that soon.

LDD's & Altered Fattycakes - Plus A Review Of ZorbII

 

I finally received some ZorbII from a very sweet mamma over on the Diaper Sewing Divas Forum.  Wazoodle is the only company that makes it.  And, it's been out of stock forever!  Anyways... The boy has been needing some good fitting AI2's so I got started when my ZorbII arrived.  My favorite 2 patterns are the Fattycakes and the LDD's.  I've altered both to fit my little man.

LDD's.  My favorite daytime diaper that I don't have near enough of.  These are all Medium Longs... meaning that I added some length to the rise.  I also cut the pattern at a bit of an angle on the fold so the front would have a pinch more width.  LOVE LOVE LOVE these.  The fit is perfect, they don't leak, they are so easy to use, and hubby loves them too!  I will be making another 12 or so of these and then I'm planning on thinning out his current stash of diapers in favor or these.

The above two (lime green and the space one) are with the same pattern but I use FOE and made them AI1's.   They were so big on his thighs!  I'm hopping these will fit him when he is needing trainers.  I know they will fit eventually... but it's a bummer that they don't fit now because I love how easy they came together and how cute they are.

Fattycakes.  My hubby likes front snapping diapers best, so I altered the pattern to be a front snapper instead of a side snapper.  Both of these are for nighttime with a total of 4 layers or ZorbII.  After many uses I have yet to have any leaks.  One is made with 2 layers of fleece and the other is PUL & Suedecloth.  I prefer the PUL one and will make 2 more.  I did add another snap to the wings after this photo was taken.

My First Thrive Foods & Emergency Essentials Orders!

I received my first #10 cans this last week.  I ordered from two different places.  First I ordered from Emergency Essentials.  I started with just some things that they had in stock and things that I knew I would want to use.  (this is apparently essential when buying food storage)  I received Chicken TVP, Mixed Vegetables, & Triple Berry Blend.  The berries were very pricey, but I thought they would be great to have.  Both the mixed veggies and berries I will be putting away.  The TVP I opened the other night for us to try out.  I used it in stir fry and we were surprisingly pleased with it.  The next night I made some tvp meatballs.  They were ok but I want to find a better recipe that will make a more moist meatball.  I will be ordering more TVP in the other types next week.  All will be great for our oldest daughter who claims that she wants to eat vegetarian.

A week after receiving my goodies from Emergency Essentials I received my order from Thrive Foods.  From here I ordered some chopped onions, green & red bell peppers and their mac & cheese blend.  I also got some small pouches of the chopped onions to use right away.  I will be opening all of these to use in rotation. I'm really excited about these three things.  The chopped onions will save me so much time when making stews and sauces.  The mac & cheese blend is said to be the same stuff that comes in certain big brand blue box mac & cheese.  I'm really excited about this because now I can make exactly how much we want and with whole wheat noodles for much much cheaper!  The bell peppers I will be ordering more of on my next order.  Have you seen prices on fresh peppers lately.  Last week the non-green ones were $2.99 each!  I about fell over in the store.  We eat those like candy around here.  The dehydrated ones will go into any mixes that I make, soups, sauces, etc.  I will only buy the fresh ones to use on salads and snacking.  Hopefully that will save me money and time.

To review both companies... I have good and neutral things to say about both.
Emergency Essentials:  The good:  They have great prices and almost anything that you could want or need.  They carry two sizes including the superpails. Shipping is super cheap and your items got to me really fast.  The Neutral: They are ALWAYS out of stock of most things.  You can order them, but they can take up to 2 months to get to you from what I've read.

Thrive Foods:  The good:  Their packaging is really pretty. (this is a totally girly thing!)  They have some different foods than some other places and shipping was very affordable.  The Neutral:  Their prices seem to be a bit higher on most things.  (compared to emergency essentials)  Shipping took a bit longer, but was still very reasonable considering they are being bombarded with orders lately due to situations throughout the world.

Overall, I will be ordering monthly from both companies.  I'm excited to build up my supply.  I'm also looking into buying in bulk locally to use in my immediate food rotation.

Simple PETE 1 Gallon Jar Labels

This is a tutorial for some very very simple labels for your food storage jars. 

Step One:  Measure the place that you want your label to go.  In my case it was the lid of my containers.

Step Two:  Cut out your labels.  For mine I used my circle cutter and cut out white cardstock at 3" circles and a fun paper for the background at 3 3/8".

Step Three:  Label and draw on your labels.  I just used a sharpie and drew some crud pics of what was in each jar.  My daughter then colored them in.  You could print yours out if you wanted.

Step Four:  Place your white cardstock with labeling on your background paper.  I used my handy Zyron sticker maker.  

Step Five:  Use tape, or in my case my Zyron sticker maker and attach your labels to your containers.

Done!  See... Super easy and cute to boot.

Is It Wrong To Get So Excited About Containers?

Last month my hubby got a gallon size plastic container of pretzels at the store. (the red lid one) During some random reading about food storage, I ran into a lengthy post about using PETE (this is the type of plastic that the container is. it's marked with a 1 on the bottom of the container) 1 gallon containers for storage. The pretzel container was one of these! When the pretzels were gone my hubby washed it out and it became a new home for our oats. I knew I wanted more, but I didn't really look into it much. Then my hubby came home from Wallymart with three new containers! They sell these containers for a whooping $2.97 each. Apparently he had to ask a lady who was filling her cart with these containers if he could maybe have a few. He said that she hesitated and asked if he would be ok with just 3. LOL!!! Sign of the times or what?! I've been to Wallymart twice since then looking to see if they had restocked. Finally on Monday they had! I bought every one they had. 9 of them. But, when I got home I only had 8. I think I must have left one on the bottom of the cart. Urrrgggg......

Just look at them on the counter drying. I couldn't wait to fill them up. They now live on our shelves full of dry goods. Aren't they pretty? I'll be doing a tut in the next post for the labels I made.

Mommy Dairy

Back in late January I was in the kitchen making dinner. Rachel was on the floor playing with Cael while he jumped in his jumper. She asked me for some string cheese and while she was eating it, I hear her saying to Cael...

Rachel To Cael: "Do you like cheese Cael?"
Cael: Cute co-oing and happy noises
Rachel to Cael: "I bet when you get older you'll love cheese. Well, maybe not. But, right now your only getting mommy dairy."

I immediately started laughing which startled Cael and made Rachel look up at me wondering what was so funny. Mommy Dairy.... only my Ray would think of something like that. I wrote down what she had said so I could remember it right. That girl just makes me smile. So creative and loving. And, I thought some of you might like a giggle!