DIY Crib Skirt

One of the unintended results from the curtain adventure was that I ended up with a fair bit of fabric left over.  Not knowing for sure how the process would go I bought more than I needed of the generic blue fabric just to be on the safe side.  I figured worst case scenario many mistakes were made but hopefully working curtains were created and best case scenario I would end up with leftover scraps I could make into a coordinating crib skirt.

A crib skirt was always one of the aspects of the nursery that I didn't have strong feelings on.  I looked up various ideas of how to make my own but figured it it came down to the wire it really wasn't a big deal and I certainly wasn't going to buy one.  Needless to say I was very pleased when I found this tutorial from View Along The Way (yes, the same blog where I found the curtain tutorial...perhaps you should check it out?...) which didn't use all that much fabric and would be easy to make in an afternoon.  Here is how that process went.

Blackout Curtains Made Not-So-Easy

This is a tale of curtains gone awry and then promptly, against all hope, brought back to life.  It's a tale where everything was going so well until it wasn't.  Where a very pregnant woman would not let go of her dream to make blackout curtains for the nursery.  Particularly not when she'd been holding onto a cut of fabric for 6 months and a move.  Not even when the move resulted in a window a completely different size then she'd measured for the cut of fabric she bought online.  No, she was going to make Fidget blackout curtains regardless of time, energy, and money.  She would recommend that you not be like her.  This is the tale of those curtains.

February/March In Review

Let's just jump in shall we?

February was taken up pretty exclusively with getting ready for Fidget's arrival which involved lots of complicated baking endeavors to pass the time.  Think homemade Oreos and Oatmeal Creme Pies.

On February 8th at 12:51pm Fidget arrived on the scene making the last 2 months a whirlwind of stress, exhaustion, fun, crying, love, and wonderment.  I present to you gratuitous baby pictures.

Diaper Bag Insert

Here we are with April quickly closing in and I can't believe that Fidget is already 6 weeks old and we're figuring out this whole life with a baby thing.  At times pregnancy seems like it was just yesterday and other times it feels like a lifetime ago.  Time and how we experience it can be such a mystery.  

One of my favorite parts of getting out of the house with Fidget, aside from leaving the house of course, is grabbing my diaper bag.  I absolutely LOVE this bag!  Early on I knew that a regular diaper bag probably wasn't for me, I didn't want something super girly or that screamed diaper bag.  I also thought it would be nice if it was something that The Husband wouldn't mind carrying.  Because of this I began looking for ways to either make a diaper bag from scratch, something where I could pick the fabrics used, or use a bag I already have.  That's when I settled upon using my all-time favorite bag.  This leather Fossil bag was what I used when I was a teacher and I absolutely love it!  The only issue was that the bag itself wasn't washable should a bottle leak, wet clothes get thrown in, etc.; I mean, sure, small leaks could be mopped up from the inside but anything big might pose a problem.  That's where the idea of creating my own insert formulated and that's the tutorial I bring to you today.

How To Hide A Doorway

Hi there!  I know, it's been a while.  I really did have every intention of posting earlier but there's been this cute little girl in my life (hereafter affectionately referred to as Fidget) taking up a fair bit of my time over the last 5 weeks. :)  This time there won't be any promises.  I sincerely hope to be back to posting regularly as Fidget is beginning to have some semblance of a routine, although I fully realize that by saying that I've jinxed myself into having no discernible routine over the next couple of days.

I still have a number of tutorials related to the nursery and baby things but today I wanted to bring you something a little different.  If you've spent time renting an apartment or house you may have found yourself with the odd doorway that you'd like to cover but want to do it inexpensively.  I'm here to tell you that all you need is an extra bed sheet and a tension rod!

January in Review

Hopefully all of you have come to the end of January feeling like the year is off to a good start!  I know that around here January both felt like the longest month and at times the shortest in a long time.  I suppose this is what happens when you're getting the finishing touches in place for a nursery and know that there could be a little person in your home any week now.

Coupon Without The Crazy: Stockpiling With Sanity

How did this past week go for you?  Are you still seeing some savings?  Starting to figure out what the process might look like for you?  Don't be afraid to try something, scratch it, and try something else!  If you missed the first part about downloading coupons you can find that here, if you're wanting a refresher course on paper coupons that can be found here, and if you're feeling totally confused as to how to put those into practice you can find practical ideas on how to create a grocery list here.

So stockpiling.  I can just imagine many of you telling me how you don't have space, you don't have the budget, you have reasons that you can't stockpile.  Remember how we're trying to do this whole coupon thing without going crazy?  Well that includes stocking up!  Since I've been using coupons The Husband and I have lived in two different apartments neither of which has had a ton of storage space and I have the pictures to prove it!

But let's start at the beginning.

Coupon Without The Crazy: Efficient Shopping Made Easy

How are you all doing this week?  Are you starting to see some savings by shopping normally with a couple of coupons or at least seeing the potential?  I hope so!  If you missed the first part about downloading coupons you can find that here, if you're wanting a refresher course on paper coupons that can be found here.

So now that you have a couple weeks behind you of downloading coupons and you've got some printed out the next step is to use them.  This should be the easiest step right?  Almost!  As with the previous two weeks I'm only walking you through what I do and the things that have made this the easiest for me.  Take what you find and mold it until it works for you.  Let's go!

Coupon Without The Crazy: It's All About The Paper

How did grocery shopping go for everyone this past week?  Were you able to save a bit just by looking for online coupons?  If you missed last weeks post on downloading coupons you can find that information here.  This week I want to focus on paper coupons.  This can easily be the part of couponing people find overwhelming, time consuming, and generally hate inducing.  Just like last week my only goal is to walk you through my own process and give you one example of how to do it.  Shall we begin?

Coupon Without The Crazy: Where To Start?

Last year, shortly after the new year began I started fooling around with the idea of using coupons.  I was already pretty good at looking for online coupons for free shipping and such but I had never delved into paper coupons and the grocery store.  I spent many days reading different how-to's and other bloggers experiences with couponing, learning different ways to organize it all, what the lingo meant, and watching episodes of Extreme Couponing on Netflix.  To be honest it all seemed a little crazy and intimidating.

I've now been using coupons for almost a year and have saved over $600 in the last 4 months alone.  I want to spend the rest of January sharing my process with you.  I won't have every possible place to find coupons or every way to store them and your groceries but you will see exactly what I do every week to make grocery shopping easy without taking up a lot of time or space.  My hope is that you'll come away at the end of January inspired to put your own spin on things and figure out what works for you without going crazy in the process.

Favorite Things

What a year 2013 has been!  I hope that you all had a fantastic Christmas with loved ones and that you are posed for a great start to 2014.  I'm really excited about what is in store here at The Geeky Loft for this upcoming year.  If you're feeling the strain of the holiday season on your budget and have always thought about couponing but it's felt overwhelming I'll be starting off the new year by walking you step by step through how I do it without going crazy or spending hours and hours on it every week.

Of course there will be plenty of crafts and recipes posted although with the baby expected to arrive in early February I'm not counting on having a lot of time so we may be seeing more lifestyle type posts for a little bit.  In the interim though I've been amassing a number of tutorials that I can't wait to share with you!

Enough about what's coming up now, let's take a look at some of my favorite posts from this last year!

Merry Christmas

Merry Christmas!

May you all be surrounded by friends and family this season

and find ways to escape to your personal Geeky Loft for some r&r when needed.

11 Quick & Easy Items to Make this Christmas

Still looking for something special to make this Christmas season?  Maybe your house or apartment is needing a little extra cheer or you're desperately seeking ideas for homemade gifts to give.  Or perhaps their are a couple of kiddos running around your home who really need something to occupy their time while they are off of school.  Whatever the reason may be I've rounded up my favorite crafts from this past year to help give you a bit of inspiration.  Enjoy!

Chocolate Brownie Cake

You know how there tend to be those staple recipes that everyone has or wants to have?  Something that you know you can make consistently every time and is also absolutely delicious.  Well for the longest time I have been deeply saddened by the fact that I had no standard chocolate cake recipe to go to, or for that matter a vanilla cake recipe.  I have my brownies down, even my snickerdoodles are consistent, but the standard chocolate cake continued to allude me.  That is until now!  

November In Review

November always feels like a busy month but this year with Thanksgiving falling so late and the immediate transition into Christmas the whole month feels as though it's whizzed on by even faster than usual.  Despite this, or maybe because of this, it's difficult to remember exactly what went on over the course of the month but I'll give it my best shot.

Butterfly In The Sky...

Last week saw me making a marbleized cake as the inside needed to be just as pretty as the outside.  But why did that matter?  Well, some friends of mine were throwing a small baby shower and I offered to make the cake and in anticipation of the little girl to come I wanted something elegant, girly, and fun.  Plus I'd been seeing a number of ideas for how to shape a butterfly cake on Pinterest and was dying to try one out. :)  Ultimately I settled on using this tutorial from Handimania to get the shape just right but as I'm not exactly a girly girl myself and would have made the cake all blues, greens, and black I still needed some inspiration for the coloring/decorating which is where this picture came in handy.  Let's get to it, shall we?

Marbelized? Marbleized? Whatever, It's A Swirly Cake!

Ahh, baking a cake.  One of my favorite pastimes.  Granted it doesn't happen all that frequently seeing as how an entire cake left alone in the house with just The Husband and I disappears at an alarming rate.  Nonetheless, over the past year, really ever since I made the Spider-Man cake, I have found myself growing ever more fascinated with the art of decorating cakes.  Learning how to use different icing tips, experimenting with food coloring, trying different recipes, etc.  I find I take just about every opportunity that presents itself to bake a cake because it has become something I truly love learning about.  I think I'm getting pretty good at making the outsides fun and pretty but for the most part my cakes themselves tend to be all but pretty.  Generally my rationale is that all my time will be spent on the icing and therefore it's ok to not focus on the cake but what if I told you you could take your favorite tasty recipes and consistently make them pretty as well?

Update A Table Top

Many moons ago I showed you how I went about weatherproofing our balcony furniture.  One of the primary reasons for even doing that in the first place was because I've had redoing the top of the table on my to do list pretty much since we moved out here over a year ago.  The Husband and I knew that we wanted to cover the table with either bottle caps or coasters as he has amassed quite a collection of both and we didn't really have room to store them.  I was stuck between the two but Facebook, ever ready to lend an opinion, came through and with an almost unanimous decision coasters it was.  Even while using coasters I followed this Instructables directions almost to the letter which was an immense help!  So how do we go from a drab Goodwill table to something like this?

September & October In Review: Or Why Haven't There Been Any Posts?!?!

Hello.  Perhaps some of you are still here and reading?  Or perhaps after a solid two months without a new post you've all gone away, moved on with your lives.  I wouldn't blame you.  Let's just say the last two months have not exactly been relaxing around here.  But as today marks one year since I started this blog what better day to get off my lazy (crazy, hectic, insane, relatively pregnant) butt and put this blog into gear again!

Let's dive in to what life has had in store over the past couple of months shall we?

August In Review

I can never decide if I like the month of August or not.  On the one hand it can start to feel a tad like fall, kids are getting ready to go back to school, parents are ready for a change of pace, and life becomes totally hectic as people squeeze in every last bit of summer fun they hadn't done yet.  On the other hand the summer heat can start to feel oppressive and makes a person irritable, stores are shouting to get kids ready for school, parents can seem a bit ragged from chasing kids all summer long, and life becomes totally hectic because what if we miss that one perfect opportunity for that one family memory we'll all remember for the rest of our lives.  And so I'm left wondering, is August a good month or a bad month?