How to Replace Bumgenius 4.0 Leg Elastic

How to Replace Bumgenius 4.0 Leg Elastic

When I first started out cloth diapering, I tried to save money and purchase diapers used. The diapers were in pretty good condition but one thing I didn't really know to look at or think about was the elastic in the legs. A lot of the diapers I purchased came with worn or loose elastic causing the diaper to gap.

Onto needing to replace the leg elastic in a lot of these second hand diapers!

Supplies
scissors
needle
thread
thimble (optional)
small safety pin
1/4" elastic cut into 4 1/2" strips (or purchase the Bumgenius refresher kits which comes with elastic and aplix)   
and of course, the diaper 

1. Turn diaper inside out

2. Chose a side to start on and locate the elastic.

3. Pull a little on the elastic to expose it.

4. Cut as close as you can to where the end of the elastic was sewn down.

6.

5. Put the old elastic on the safety pin so it doesn't retract back into the diaper.

6. Hand stitch the new elastic end to the diaper on the seam as not to puncture the outer shell, either in front of the old elastic piece or after. Tie off with a knot.

7. Give the new elastic a little pull to test out the stitch strength.

8. Pin the unsewn end of the new elastic onto the safety pin. you will now have new elastic and old elastic on the pin.

9. Slide the pin through the elastic hole and pull it out the other end. The opening for the elastic will look the same as the one you started with.

10. Cut off the old elastic near the stitches and throw away. Take the new elastic off the pin and sew down, again either before or after the old elastic piece that's already on the seam.

Repeat with the other leg.

Can you notice the side that has the elastic replaced? It's the side on the right! It looks much tighter and ready to go.

Look how much better it looks after I finished both legs!

Check out some of my other cloth diaper posts:
Cloth Diaper Favorites

*Cloth Diapering mini-series*
-The Beginning 
-Resources
-Stash & Supplies
-How to Start

Cotton Babies: Share the Love Program
15 minute DIY Coconut Oil Stick +Tea Tree Oil
What's in my cloth diaper bag?
10+ Combinations to Store your Soiled Cloth Dipaers +some tips!

Easy Compact DVD Storage Solution

Here is a great way to store your DVD in a nice compact-no-scratch way! 
Adapted from here.
You can fit 120+ DVDs in one shoebox! 

 

This is what our bookcase that houses our DVDs looks like. I know it's not pretty, especially since we had our first child, we had to keep moving movies up up up, out of Christian's reach. It started to get dangerous since there was more weight towards the top of the case than the bottom. We didn't want it falling over on anyone and we couldn't see all the DVDs, so we needed a plan.

Supplies
-Tape
-DVDs
-DVD sleeves (only $5.50 for a box of 60 double sided sleeves, but buying 4 boxes for all your DVDs is like buying a single movie. It's only about $20 and they'll help keep your DVDs scratch free.)
-shoe box
-QR code reader (optional, there are many to choose from)
-QR code generator (optional, there are many, but this is the one I used) 
-scissors
-stock paper (heavy weight paper) or regular paper

1. Remove outer DVD description paper from plastic case.

2. Put DVD into DVD sleeve.

3. Tape the DVD descriptive paper on the bottom, and 3x on the long side to close openings except for the top. This will make a DVD sleeve.
4. Pinch the spine of the sleeve in half so it will lay flat.
5. Insert the DVD into the DVD descriptive sleeve along with any inserts from the case you'd like to keep.

6. File DVDs into a shoe box sideways. 

7. Cut a piece of paper into quarters and label them A, B, C etc. to alphabetize and sort your DVDs.

QR Code
You may also choose to create a QR code. This is to have a list of all the movies that you own, and to get to it quickly. 

1. Create a Google Drive Spreadsheet. 
2. As you change over your DVD cases for just sleeves, enter in the titles of the movies, making sure to leave out articles (a, the) that come first in the title. (ex. The Sound of Music>entered as>Sound of Music, The
3. Once you've entered all your movie titles, alphabetize your list by right clicking at the top of the column (or holding), and selecting Sort A>Z.

4. Get the link for your spreadsheet and enter it into the QR code generator. (Under the blue Share tab button, found at the top right of the page).
5. Print the QR code and tape it to your shoe box.

You can now have easy access to your movie list by scanning the code!

Recycle! Make sure to recycle your old DVD plastic cases! Ask your church, a teacher, art teacher, friends etc. They can be used for class videos, homemade video cds etc. You could maybe even try to sell them at an online Facebook group or yard sale. If nothing else, you can recycle them in your regular recycling bin.

How to make better Black & White Photos with PicMonkey (it's free!)

I love the look of black and white photos that are really contrasting. Black blacks, and white whites, not a lot of gray tones is perfect for me. I think it gives photos a lot more depth, feeling and even soul. 

When I was younger, and my obsession with photography was just starting, I was mesmerized by Ansel Adams' black and white photos. (If you've never seen his work, you are in for a treat!) His photos that spoke to me the most were usually the trees and mountains. They just feel so majestic and pure.

When using PicMonkey to edit photos, I learned a very easy way to turn your black and white photos a darker, classic shade, but still use their b&w effect filter.

How you ask?

All you need to do to your photo, while it is still in color, is to darken the image by turning the shadows up. That's it! You can find this under Basic Edits>Exposure, the first tab on the left. (You can also play with the Contrast slider too if you'd like.)

Once you have made your color image darker, proceed to the 2nd tab down on the left to: Effects>Black and White. 

Now your photo is a nice dark black and white photo! 

Make sure to click save, or if you'd like to fine tune it more, simply click the back arrow in the middle of the screen right above your photo, to undo any edits made.

Before:

  After:

A great way to make your iPhone pictures black and white is with the VSCO Cam app, B1 filter. It has a nice classic, dark b&w filter. 

I also love Elsie's advice in her post How to create bright & sharp iPhone Photos when she speaks about knowing when a picture is better in black and white! (Tip #4, towards the bottom)

Check out some of my other PicMonkey photo tutorials:
{Hassle free} way to make your own blog button
Customize your Photos: Text & Effects
Customize your Photos: Collage & Word Art
Customize your Photos: Photo on Photo & Watermark

A {Hassle free} way to make your own Blog Button!

So you want to create a blog button hassle free? Here's the easiest way how (short of having someone else do it for you of course)!

1. First, you need a blank canvas for your button, literally. The easiest way to do this (instead of making it yourself) is to download and save this one: blog button 125x125 (right click>'save image as'). It will save as a blank box for you to start creating your new button!

2. Open the blank blog button in PicMonkey and create away! Upload the blog button you just saved, under edit photo. Start adding font, color, your logo etc. For more detailed description on how to do this, check out this tutorial on creating Word Art (half way down through post and start with step #4). Add you own logo by clicking 'Overlay,' then 'Your Own' at the top. Bam!

☝Make sure to merge your layers on your blog button before saving. This way it saves it as a one "piece" image, instead of an image with fonts, colors etc. 

☝ Also: save as a PNG file! I've noticed they don't turn up as grainy as the JPEG.

This is my button after everything is said and done! Just text and a few circles in black and white.

3. Upload your saved blog button to your online photo book. I use Flickr. Get the HTML code for the photo you've just uploaded. ☟ (For the time being, copy this code into a blank Word Doc. You'll only need one part from it before deleting it. Set aside for step 4.)

4. Now that you have your blog button ready and saved, go to Grab My Button Code Generator (to get the html code for under your button so others can copy and share your button)! 

Plug in all your information that it prompts you for:
-your homepage title and URL
-the HTML code for your blog button image 
(go back to your copied HTML code in your Word Doc, and get the WHOLE line of text for your photo location. You'll notice it has a .JPEG at the end. You can see where my photo link was in the code, below. This is ALL you'll need from this section of code. You can delete it after you've copied your photo location.)

I changed no settings (colors, borders etc) when I typed my information in. You may if you'd like.

5. Grab your new generated blog code! Press preview and get the code. Your code will then show at the bottom of the page, under preview.

6. Once you have your generated blog button code copied, you can insert it onto your blog platform. 
Since I have Blogger, I click Layout>Add a Gadget>Click add HTML/JavaScript>paste your code (and save). Done!

It will then show up on your right hand side bar (you can see it in my picture above, at the bottom of my column, since I already had it created).

How hassle free was that for your newly created blog button??!! No writing any HTML code or copying code from other sites and inserting your information etc. Boo-ya, you're welcome! :o)

No Sew Nursery Curtian

I wanted to make an easy curtain for my sons room. It had to be something that was going to be super simple and required NO sewing. That's right, no hemming, nothing.

This is how his window looked before.... boring. I was ready for a change from the regular blinds. They had served their purpose over the years of giving this room privacy, but now I wanted something that blocked out the light more and looked a little nicer.

The curtain material that I chose made this task more difficult. Next time, since I wanted something really simple, I'll choose different materials!

Materials
-3 yards of fabric (I choose this based on my ceiling height. I also found an open weave lace netting that was beautiful and on SALE) and paired it with...
-"blackout" fabric (I chose this material because of the color and how it looked with my netting. I didn't mind if it didn't really make the room black, which it does not.) 
-curtain rod and clip rings (optional, I ended up not using the rings)
-double sided hemming tape (no iron needed. I found mine at Joann's)
-hair clips (I didn't want to pin through the "blackout" material leaving holes)

1. First I laid out both materials. Then I clipped the layers together using hair clips. You will want your materials laying with the nice side down so you see the back. Because of my material, I had to do it the opposite way.

2. Next I started with one long side, rolled over the entire side onto the double sided hem tape. Then I continued with the remaining sides.

3. The last step after all the sides were finished, was I needed to add a spot for the curtain rod to slip through. (I didn't use the rings because after I thought about it, I didn't want to crimp my material and I thought maybe it'd be a little too heavy for them.)
I simply added another strip of hemming tape and folded down the top, but made the gap much wider than the sides.

4. Slide the curtain rode through the gap, letting it gather in places if necessary, and hang rod! (You can also see here how the light it blocked a lot).

I love how this curtain turned out, even though it took way more time that I thought. Getting that netting to stick and fold over was challenging. But it looks great and it's great for nap time!