Back to School - Lunchboxes

Besides getting backpack, a big part of back to school shopping is the school lunchbox. The Warm Biscuit Bedding Co. has lots of cute girls and boys lunchboxes. We've recently added some new personalized lunchboxes! Here are some of my favorites, old and new:

Your little girl will love her very own personalized girls apple lunchbox. Your little girl gets to put her name to personalize lunch box, so it will never get mixed up with another lunch sac. Lots of apples with cute smiles cover this pink girls lunchbox. This lead-free and food safe personalized apples lunchbox is for more than just the school cafeteria. 

When PBJ’s, apples and cookies find themselves tucked inside this whimsical fairy lunch box, somehow they taste extra delicious! Your little girl will be the star of the cafeteria when she brings this cute lunchbox to her first day of school. Our fairy tin lunch box isn't just for lunch, they store Back to School supplies and secret treasures too. 


Your little boy will go bananas over his very own personalized boys monkey lunchbox. Your little boy gets to put his name to personalize lunch box, so it will never get mixed up with another lunch sac. The cute monkey on both sides of this lunchbox will make your child excited to go to school. Pick out from several fonts when you personalize it.


Your little boy will love his very own personalized boys alligator lunchbox. Your little boy gets to put his name to personalize lunch box, so it will never get lost. This vintage tin lunchbox is water resistant, with the design on both sides. A dry erase sheet on the inside lid lets you leave your child a message.

Back to School - Fabrics

If you are a crafty person looking for back to school fabric to make your child a lunch sack, backpack, or book covers, look no further! Our collection of kids back to school fabrics are sure to please kids and parents alike. Here are a few of my favorites:

This darling multicolored rulers fabric is a great kids fabric. Different multicolored rulers forms stripes in this bright kids novelty fabric. You can use this quilting cotton fabric for any of your home sewing projects. Perfect as a back to school fabric for kids lunch sacks or backpacks. I love the bright colors, and kids will too!


This adorable multicolored apples lime is perfect for home sewing projects. The lime cotton background mixes with bright multicolored apples. Kids will love this fun apple novelty fabric as much as adults. Besides for back to school, this fabric would be great for giving your kitchen a fresh look with new curtains.

This darling bright alphabet dots fabric is a great fabric for young children. The letters in the alphabet rest on bright colorful dots on an aqua background in this kids novelty fabric. A great way to teach your baby or toddler their ABCs! Besides back to school projects, it is perfect for girls or boys bedding and decor. 

If you like these, make sure to check out the rest of our back to school fabrics!

Back to School - Backpacks

It's about to be that time of year! We might have a few weeks of summer left, but pretty soon the kids are going to be heading back to school. Over at the Warm Biscuit Bedding Co. we've got you covered. Here are some the new kids backpacks we have:

Finally a fun backpack that is not only functional, but also hip! Your girl will feel ooh so chic heading back to school with this confetti dot backpack. With plenty of storage for back to school books and school supplies, as well as a front exterior zip pocket and interior pockets to help organize, this fun back to school backpack for kids is perfect for school or play. You child will love the padded back panel and padded adjustable shoulder straps.


Your girl will carry her laptop safely and in style with this chic Hawaiian floral laptop bag. The bright Hawaiian floral pattern will add cheer and style to any school day. Fully lined and padded interior keeps your laptop safe and sound. Exterior zip pocket with pleating detail hold pens, small note pads, cellphone, and other small items. The adjustable, detachable shoulder strap makes for comfortable carrying. The size is perfect for standard laptop computers 15" and below.

Finally a toddler backpack that is not only functional, but also fun to wear! Your little boy or girl will be excited to head back to school with this kids monkey backpack. This perfectly cute bee backpack holds everything your young child needs for a busy day of learning at preschool or kindergarten. We love the banana zipper toggles, that make opening and closing this pack easy for small hands. Designed for kids ages 3 and up, and made safe materials. This fun back to school backpack for kids is perfect for school or play.

Your little boy or girl will be excited to head back to school with this big kids panda backpack. This animal backpack holds everything your elementary school child needs for a busy day of learning. Designed for kids ages 5 to 10, and made with durable nylon. Big enough to hold books, a laptop, sneakers, lunch, and more! The large interior space contains a small interior zipped pocket to keep your kid organized. Exterior has a large front pocket and two side pockets. Padded back panel with name tag and padded shoulder straps make it nice and comfy. 

If you like these, check out all our other kids backpacks or our other back to school supplies!

Summer Salads

Phew, has it been hot lately. Here is a round up of great summer salads that you enjoy without any fuss or turning on the stove:

Over at one of the NYTimes blogs they got a nice list of salad idea at this post. The Quinoa, Corn, and Edamame Salad sounds really good to me.

Culinary master Mark Bittman recently wrote out 101 Summer Salads...so you've got to find something you like.  His salads are extremely simple, and often just a handful of ingredients. There are also recipes for dressings, and I think the yogurt-feta dressing sounds really tasty.

Lastly, Southern Living Magazine provides 22 salad ideas, many of which are hearty enough to be a meal, like Potato Cobb Salad and Layered Cornbread Turkey Salad.

Hope these provide you with some inspiration!

How is Fabric Designed?

Ever wonder how fabric is designed? I sure have! As a lover of all things fabric this is a topic that I've always been curious about.

Sandi Henderson, whose fabrics I love, gives a detailed description of her process on her website.  She spends 2-3 months just gathering inspiration, color ideas, and laying down rough blue prints. Then she spends another 2-3 months polishing the work. From there it's a back in forth with the fabric mill, proofing the prints and making sure all the prints are working as a collection.

Think you have what it takes to be the next big fabric designer star? Well a good place to start is to contact fabric manufacturers, and see how they take submissions. But this can be tough if you don't already have a portfolio or a background in design. Don't let this stop you! There is a fairly new website called Spoonflower, that the craft and fabric industry is excited about. Spoonflower lets you print your own fabric design, and there is no minimum amount you have to order!

How are they able to do this? They use digital printing methods, which are much greener and less wasteful than screen printing. It increases the cost per yard, but makes it no more difficult to print a yard or fifty yards, making it great for beginning designers. 

If you upload a design to their database you get a designer discount, plus if anyone buys your design you get 10% of the sale. The site is super user friendly and easy to use. They have design contests every week, and if you win you get a $100 Spoonflower store credit. Plus they use eco-friendly dyes for all their fabrics. So check it out!

Fabric on Demand also offers a custom fabric printing service, and they offer a slightly larger range of fabric types they can print on, including fleece, spandex, and suede. There is also not a minimum order.

If you are really serious about fabric design, Adobe Photoshop for Textile Design by Frederick Chipkin is a great source of information. Very easy to use, and perfect for helping people with great ideas, but who are just overwhelmed with the new technology.

Alright, time to start designing!

Custom Bedding at The Warm Biscuit Bedding Co.

What Mom doesn't want to design a special creative space for her children? A key part to any child's bedroom is of course the kids bedding. You can pick premade kids bedding sets, but it always more fun to pick out the fabrics yourself and design your own bedding. Very often custom bedding is astronomically expensive, but at the Warm Biscuit Bedding Co. we are dedicated to keeping our custom bedding service affordable.

Our custom children's bedding section and custom crib bedding section give you a blank canvas for your design imagination. Simple line drawings show all the different pieces that our team of seamstresses can sew for you. Each item page explains how much fabric you will need, and the cost.

Once you've decided what you want done, it is time to pick out our fabrics. Check out our collection of kids fabrics, baby fabrics, floral fabrics, vintage fabrics, or all our fabrics!

Know you really want to do custom bedding, but are overwhelmed with all the different fabric choices? For you we've created a page called popular fabric combinations, which is a great place to start. These start with one kids novelty fabric, and then give you a range of coordinating fabrics that our art department has selected by hand to match.

If you've got a lot of fabrics you are interested, or if you are uncertain if two fabrics will match, we always strongly recommend taking advantage of our free fabric swatch program. Select up to five fabrics to receive for free. This service takes 1-2 weeks.

Once you know what you want, call in your order to one of our customer service reps at 1.800.231.4231 Or feel free to ask us any unanswered questions you might have about custom sewing.

Vintage Textiles - Pillow Craft Project

I find all the fake vintage products out there really annoying. As the large collection of vintage fabrics at my company proves, I love fabric patterns inspired by vintage designs. But the idea of say, paying lots of money for jeans with holes in them, has always struck me as kind of odd. Plus, I am a big supporting recycling, or trying to freshen up the old instead always buying more new things...especially in this economy!

Over at the Design Sponge blog they have a super simple fabric craft project that will add some new life to old bed linens.  She creates little fabric florets out of old linens, and then attaches them to pillows that could use a little extra touch. I love it!

Materials:
Old linens
Scrap Fabric
Trims or Ribbons
RIT Dye or other household fabric dyes (optional)
Needle & Thread
Dye Bucket (only if you are using dyes)

Tools:
Sewing Machine
Iron

Step 1.
Gather your old linens, sheets and scrap fabrics and materials and decide what you are dyeing and what is going to be embellishment

Step 2: Cut scraps into squares to make little florets. Cut squares of fabric in a range of sizes (1″-3″). fold one square into a triangle and with a needle and thread, pierce through the center of the fold as shown, string along thread to knotted end, repeat stringing 3 to 5 squares per floret, tie off with a knot. Now you have a little scrap fabric flower.

 

Step 3: Following instructions included with packaged dye exactly, set up dye bath and brighten your linens (also, to remove color you may use a color remover, again following instructions included)

Step 4: Embellish bedding, by sewing down florets and trims. Any holes can easily be patched by basting fabric into place and then machine sewing it down. I then appliqued left over fabrics over the main patch for a homespun look.

For more photos on each step, or other great ideas, visit the blog.

Monday Giveaway

Hope you all had a great weekend. Congratulations to JD for winning the Pirate giveaway.

This week we are giving away a fun toy that is a great toy for toddlers and small children. All the excitement of a Big Top Circus is captured for your little one in this circus spinning musical top. A ball balancing walrus, an umbrella holding clown, and three spinning rings go round and round as circus themed music plays. Age 2+

Here's how to win:

1. Leave a comment on your favorite part about summer.

2. Mention how you found this site.

3. Check out the Warm Biscuit Bedding Co. to see what other baby toys  or toddler toys they carry.
4. Make sure I can contact you! Either leave an email address in your comment, or make sure that you have contact information on your blog profile.

You can receive an extra entry towards this giveaway if you link to this give-away in your blog and put that link in your comment. Or become a fan of the Warm Biscuit Bedding Co. on Facebook. Or Twitter this giveaway and follow me on Twitter.

The give-away is open for entries until Sunday, July 25th, at 11:59 PM. Winners will be chosen at random, and announced Monday. Good luck!

Kids Bedroom Decor Craft Project - Lighting

I was sooo excited to find this craft project. I'm a big believer that kids bedroom decor can often be simple and easy. Sometimes something as simple as a fun kids lampshade or kids chandelier can change everything. If you're of the craft persuasion, here's some ideas to make your own kids lampshade:

How to Make a Paper Mosiac Lampshade:

1. Choose an image from your child's artwork or a coloring book to use as a pattern for your central design. Trace the individual elements of the image onto mulberry paper (sold in craft and art supply stores), and then cut them out.

2.  Apply the design to the lamp by brushing glue (recommend Mod-Podge) onto the appropriate portion of the shade. Use your fingertips to gently press the paper pieces in place and to smooth any air pockets. Once you have the design positioned, randomly fill in the surrounding area with mulberry paper triangles.

3. When your decoration is complete, brush a top coat of Mod-Podge onto the entire outer surface of the shade.


How to Make a Pin-Hole Punch Lampshade

1. Cut a piece of colored paper large enough to wrap around the lampshade with an inch or so of overlap. Trim the paper so it doesn't extend above or below the shade (we used craft scissors for a decorative edge).

2. Unwrap the paper and lay it flat on a tabletop. Decorate it with foam stamps (in this case a sky motif).


3. Working on a piece of corrugated cardboard topped with a sheet of craft foam, poke a line of holes along the edges of your designs. A pushpin works well for this.


4. Wrap the paper around the shade and secure it by gluing the overlapped edges together.

Thanks to Family Fun for these two ideas!

Kids Bedding Project - Felt Pillows

Yesterday we talked about the basics of making pillows. Of course, with something as simple as a pillow, there is a lot of room for creativity. I found this craft from Better Homes & Gardens for making felt kids pillows, and I think these are really great. They feel fresh, cheerful, and nice and soft for kids bedrooms.

What You Need:

• Pencil and tracing paper
• Scissors
• Straight pins
• Fiberfill
• No. 20 chenille needle
• 6 x 6-inch pieces of felt in neon lime and fuchsia (or your own choice of colors)
• 1/3 yard of green felt
• Embroidery floss

Instructions:

1. Download the free patterns for this project or use your own. (Downloading requires Adobe Acrobat software.)

Fun Felt Pillows pattern

Download Adobe Acrobat

2. Trace the "frame" and heart patterns onto tracing paper and cut out. Cut one frame shape from neon lime felt, one heart from fuchsia felt, and two 12 x 12-inch pieces from green felt.
3. Center the frame on one green square. Pin in place and stitch with straight stitches around the outside and inside edges. Use three plies of floss for all stitches.
4. Pin the heart centered inside the open frame. Stitch with straight stitches.
5. Pin the completed pillow front to the remaining 12-inch square of felt. Stitch the front to the back with blanket stitches, using three plies of the embroidery floss. Leave a 10-inch opening on one side.
6. Through the opening, stuff the pillow with fiberfill. Continue with blanket stitches to sew the opening closed.

Kids Bedding Sewing Project & Crafts

Children's Bedding can be expensive. You'd think that kids bedding would be cheaper than adult bedding, but this is rarely the case. Over at the Warm Biscuit Bedding Co. we have always made an effort to keep things as affordable as we can without sacrificing quality...cuteness!

But regardless of how careful anyone is to keep costs down, a full set of kids bedding is never going to come cheap. And then you have the cost of kids furniture and kids decor to think of. So if you're looking on ways to keep the total cost of your kids bedroom down, consider sewing some of your kids bedding yourself. Pillows are super easy to make, and a special pillow can make a simple room really shine. These instructions from HDTV are very useful.

Consider using a bright novelty fabric to add some special cheer to your children's bedroom.

How to Make a Pillow:

Materials and Tools:
pillow form
fabric
trim (if desired)
matching thread
scissors
straight pins

Steps:
1. I prefer pillow covers that can be removed for washing--especially with baby bedding or kids bedding! Almost any type of fabric can be used to make a pillow cover, so make sure your fabric choice is washable. Anything cotton is a pretty much a sure bet though.

2. If you intend to wash the pillow cover, you must preshrink the fabric and any trims. Many fabrics can be preshrunk using the washer and dryer. Trims cannot be washed in the washer, as they will tangle. Preshrink trims by filling a basin with very warm water and soaking the trim for a few minutes. Remove the trim from the basin and squeeze out any extra water. Hang to dry.

3. Make the front of the pillow cover by cutting one piece of fabric the same size as the pillow form. Because the fabric should fit snugly over the pillow form, this measurement includes a half-inch seam allowance. If the pillow form is very firm, it may be necessary to add an inch to both the length and the width of the pillow.

4. Create the back by cutting one piece of fabric the same width as the front piece of the pillow and 4 inches longer than the length of the pillow front. Fold the piece in half lengthwise and cut along the fold. Turn this edge, which measures the same as the width of the pillow, under a quarter-inch and press. So that no raw edges will be exposed, turn under again and stitch. Repeat with the other back piece. (If the fabric you’ve chosen is very thick or stiff, you may want to cut the back piece of fabric exactly the same size as the front. This pillow cover will not be easily removed, as it will be slip-stitched closed.)

5. If you’re using a trim, attach it in this manner: With raw edges together and beginning in the middle of a side, place the trim so that 1 inch extends beyond the seam allowance and is against the right side of the pillow front. Pin in place. When the ends of the trim meet, the second end should also be extended 1 inch into the seam allowance. Sewing very closely to the trim, use your zipper foot to sew the trim in place.

6. Lay down the pillow top with the trim side up. With right sides together, lay half the pillow back on the pillow front and pin in place. Pin the other half of the pillow back in place. The two pillow backs will overlap each other by 1½ inches. Using the stitching line that attached the trim as a guide, stitch the back and the front together. (If the back of your pillow is a single piece of fabric, sew as directed, but leave an opening into which your pillow form can be inserted.) Trim the excess fabric from the corners.

6. Turn the pillow cover right side out and insert the pillow form. Slip-stitch closed if necessary.

The instructions above are perfect for a bunch of different styles. Tomorrow I'll talk about 

Summer Fabric Craft - Woman's Top

I really like the blog Sew Mama Sew, and I love this post on how to make a woman's top. The inspiration was a shirt she bought for her daughter from a thrift store. With a few tweaks of the pattern, she was able to turn it into something suitable for women, and it's easy to adjust and do variations with it. If you go to the post you can download a PDF of the pattern. I really want to do this soon.

I think fashion fabrics would work great for this project. Here are my three recommendations:

Inspire fashionable foliage! This retro melon fashion leaf fabric is perfect for home sewing projects from summer tote bags to curtains and pillows. Features melon leaves that remind us of vintage paper cut outs. This chic fabric is sure to make a fashion statement. 

This colorful orange & pink modern floral fabric is sure to make a statement. The mix of pink and orange blossoms on a crisp white cotton background make for a wonderful design accent. This floral pattern as a chic and modern tone that is sure to please. Fashion fabrics are great for curtains or chic aprons!


This beautiful bird polka dot pink fabric is ideal for home decorating projects. Whimsical black bird silhouettes run down in stripes atop pink polka dots on a cream cotton background. Bird prints are in style these days, and this fabric proves why! A great accent fabric for quilters too.

Monday Giveaway

Hope you all had a great weekend!  And congratulations to Jackie for winning the wooden picture book. I will contact you shortly.

This week we are giving away a toy that is great for toddlers and young children. Turn the handle on this old-fashioned tin pirate jack-in-the-box and wait for a colorful pirate to pop out. This pirate Jack in the Box measures 6" square. 

Here's how to win:

1. Leave a comment on how you are keeping cool this summer.

2. Mention how you found this site.

3. Check out the Warm Biscuit Bedding Co. to see what other baby toys they carry.
4. Make sure I can contact you! Either leave an email address in your comment, or make sure that you have contact information on your blog profile.

You can receive an extra entry towards this giveaway if you link to this give-away in your blog and put that link in your comment. Or become a fan of the Warm Biscuit Bedding Co. on Facebook. Or Twitter this giveaway and follow me on Twitter.

The give-away is open for entries until Sunday, July 18th, at 11:59 PM. Winners will be chosen at random, and announced Monday. Good luck!

Summer Drink Recipe

One thing that summer is not kind to is bananas. It seems they are perfectly yellow one day and brown and gross the next. My solution is to put the overripe fruit into a zip lock bag, and toss it into the freezer. Then when I'm craving something sweet I toss them and just a few other ingrediants, and voila, you've got a smoothie that's healthy enough for breakfast but satisfying enough for dessert. It's also a healthier summer treat for kids...just make sure they wear an apron if they make this themselves!

Ingredients:

• 1 to 2 frozen bananas
• 1/8 cup peanut butter
• 1/2 cup milk
• Chocolate syrup (optional)

Instructions:

It's so simple. Just put the first three ingredients in the blender, and blend till smooth. The banana to peanut butter ratio is approximate, and it always changes a bit depending how big the bananas are. Same with the milk. But that's a good starting point, and I recommend just doing a taste and adding more peanut butter if needed. Also, don't pour all the milk in at once...depending how thick you like your smoothies, you might find you need less milk. Enjoy!

Kids Summer Craft - Painted Shoes

With summer here and the kids home, I'm sure you're like me and looking for kids crafts and some good kids summer activities to keep them occupied. As any parent knows, kids go through shoes quick.  Besides the fact that their feet are always growing, they seem to be an expert at wearing down the sole or ripping a hole somewhere. Anyway, this next craft is great if your child has an extra pair of old and raggedy shoes lying around. I found this from Martha Stewart's website, and I love it!

Materials
Newspaper
Cleaned canvas sneakers
Fabric or acrylic craft paint
Artist paintbrushes
Fabric paint pens

How-To
1. Cover a work surface with newspaper.

2. Wad up newspaper and firmly stuff the shoe.
3. Using fabric paints and paint pens, decorate sneakers.
4. Let paint dry for 24 hours before painting another shade on top of the original color.

That's the simple version from her website. I did some more looking, and found a more detailed way of decorating canvas shoes on eHow that would be great for older kids or even adults:

1. Choose a design to paint on your canvas tennis shoes. You could use clip art, coloring pages reduced in size or draw your own. Choose or reduce designs to fit over the toe and sides of the shoes.

Step 2

Wad up newspaper and firmly stuff the shoe.

Step 3

Tape your design, face down, to a window. Trace the lines of the design using the transfer pencil.

Step 4

Position the design on the shoe, with the transfer side down. Pin the edge of the design to hold in place.

Step 5

Iron over the design to transfer. Do not let the iron touch the rubber on the edge of the shoe. Gently lift the edge of the design to see if it has transferred. If not, iron again. Do not remove the design until it has completely transferred.

Step 6

Mix the acrylic paints with the acrylic fabric medium according to the manufacturers instructions for the fabric medium. Using the fabric medium will soften the paint so that it won't crack while wearing the shoes.

Step 7

Paint the canvas tennis shoes. Allow the paint to dry.

Step 8

Outline and detail the painted design on the canvas tennis shoes using the black permanent marker. This will really clean up any messy edges and make the design pop.

Read more: How to Paint on Canvas Tennis Shoes | eHow.com http://www.ehow.com/how_4614167_paint-canvas-tennis-shoes.html#ixzz0sprdVnWY

2. Wad up newspaper and firmly stuff the shoe.

Step 3

Tape your design, face down, to a window. Trace the lines of the design using the transfer pencil.

Step 4

Position the design on the shoe, with the transfer side down. Pin the edge of the design to hold in place.

Step 5

Iron over the design to transfer. Do not let the iron touch the rubber on the edge of the shoe. Gently lift the edge of the design to see if it has transferred. If not, iron again. Do not remove the design until it has completely transferred.

Step 6

Mix the acrylic paints with the acrylic fabric medium according to the manufacturers instructions for the fabric medium. Using the fabric medium will soften the paint so that it won't crack while wearing the shoes.

Step 7

Paint the canvas tennis shoes. Allow the paint to dry.

Step 8

Outline and detail the painted design on the canvas tennis shoes using the black permanent marker. This will really clean up any messy edges and make the design pop.

Read more: How to Paint on Canvas Tennis Shoes | eHow.com http://www.ehow.com/how_4614167_paint-canvas-tennis-shoes.html#ixzz0sprum0Y4

Step 2

Wad up newspaper and firmly stuff the shoe.

Step 3

Tape your design, face down, to a window. Trace the lines of the design using the transfer pencil.

Step 4

Position the design on the shoe, with the transfer side down. Pin the edge of the design to hold in place.

Step 5

Iron over the design to transfer. Do not let the iron touch the rubber on the edge of the shoe. Gently lift the edge of the design to see if it has transferred. If not, iron again. Do not remove the design until it has completely transferred.

Step 6

Mix the acrylic paints with the acrylic fabric medium according to the manufacturers instructions for the fabric medium. Using the fabric medium will soften the paint so that it won't crack while wearing the shoes.

Step 7

Paint the canvas tennis shoes. Allow the paint to dry.

Step 8

Outline and detail the painted design on the canvas tennis shoes using the black permanent marker. This will really clean up any messy edges and make the design pop.

Read more: How to Paint on Canvas Tennis Shoes | eHow.com http://www.ehow.com/how_4614167_paint-canvas-tennis-shoes.html#ixzz0sprdVnWY

3. Tape your design, face down, to a window. Trace the lines of the design using the transfer pencil.

4. Position the design on the shoe, with the transfer side down. Pin the edge of the design to hold in place.

5. Iron over the design to transfer. Do not let the iron touch the rubber on the edge of the shoe. Gently lift the edge of the design to see if it has transferred. If not, iron again. Do not remove the design until it has completely transferred.

6. Mix the acrylic paints with the acrylic fabric medium according to the manufacturers instructions for the fabric medium. Using the fabric medium will soften the paint so that it won't crack while wearing the shoes.

7. Paint the canvas tennis shoes. Allow the paint to dry.

8. Outline and detail the painted design on the canvas tennis shoes using the black permanent marker. This will really clean up any messy edges and make the design pop.

So it's time to fix up some shoes!

Sewing Pattern + Fabric Pick

Any great sewing project requires two basic things: a pattern and an inspiring fabric print. It's always fun when a fabric designer comes up with patterns to use with their own fabrics. I love Anna Maria Horner fabrics, and I like this tunic dress she designed. As you can see by the image of the pattern, it really is extremely simple, just proving that don't need to be a professional to make a dress. Click here for more.

The fabric she uses is from a very popular collection of hers that can be hard to come by, but I think any large floral fabric would look great. Here's what I recommend:

This chic lavender art deco poppy floral fabric will add a little Art Deco style to your next craft project. We love the combination of white poppy floral blossoms on a lavender purple cotton background in this floral fabric inspired by both Asian and Art Deco design. 

This gray, gold, & pink daisy floral fabric will add bright style any room in the house. We love the mix of neutral and colorful hues in this daisy floral pattern. Dark gray, warm gold and bright pink flowers rest on a light gray cotton background in this floral fabric. The mix of colors make this floral pattern easy to coordinate. 

This pink floral silhouette fabric will add style any room in the house. We love the mix of bright colors in this chic floral pattern. Light pink floral blossoms rest on a hot pink cotton background in this floral fabric. The silhouettes give this fabric a modern flair.

Kids Summer Craft- Leaf Crafts

I'm a big supporter of kids crafts, and during summer time you and your child need to look no farther than your backyard for inspiration. I'll be talking about a lot of summer appropriate kids arts and crafts projects in the next couple of months, but this week I'm going to start with all the things you can do with leaves.

When most people think of leaf crafts, they think leaf rubbings. But that only really works in fall with dried out leaves. Here's what you can do with fresh green leaves of summer:

Leaf Prints:
The possibilities are pretty endless when it comes to making prints with leaves. A simple and cheap craft for kids is to just pick out some leaves from your yard or park, and make prints on paper. You can use these as fridge decoration or even greeting cards. This is a messy craft, so make sure you put down plenty of newspaper and get your child wearing a smock or an old t-shirt!

1. Instruct your child to paint one side of the leaf, and encourage them to just thinly coat the leaf--otherwise the print will be just a big blob of paint. 
2. Place the leaf face down on the piece of paper. You can use any paper, but a thicker paper that can absorb some moisture works best.
3. Cover the the leaf with a layer of paper towel, and then a layer of wax paper.
4. With a bayer (or if you don't have one, a rolling pin will also work in a pinch) lightly roll over the leaf. This can be hard for small kids as they often want to press down hard, so really encourage them to roll as gently as possible.
5. You've got your print! Feel free to have this be it, or after it dries, your child can add to it by drawing or other paint.

Variation: Use water color, and let your child make a simple background with a few colors. Once it dries, you can put the leaf print on this.

Martha Stewart takes this idea from simple kids craft to something fun for older children or even adults. She suggests using this process with fabric paint on a canvas bag. And of course as she points out this can be used on pillow shams, tablecloths, aprons,  or any other fabric based item. It's a little more complicated as you have to heat set the final piece after it dries with an iron, but besides the ironing this is something that your kid could do too! To find directions for her craft go here.

Now get outside with your child and start collecting some leaves!

Monday Giveaway

I hope you all had an amazing and safe 4th of July. The fireworks are crazy in New York, and we had a nice rooftop BBQ with the neighbors.

Congrats to Dani for winning the pink toile lampshade! Hope you enjoy.

This week we are giving away something that is perfect for entertaining babies. Future readers will use these interactive wooden picture books to make up their own stories. Small and durable enough for little boys and girls (and moms!) to tote around. 

Here is how to win: 

Here's how to win:

1. Leave a comment on your favorite kids book.

2. Mention how you found this site.

3. Check out the Warm Biscuit Bedding Co. to see what other kids books they carry.
4. Make sure I can contact you! Either leave an email address in your comment, or make sure that you have contact information on your blog profile.

You can receive an extra entry towards this giveaway if you link to this give-away in your blog and put that link in your comment. Or become a fan of the Warm Biscuit Bedding Co. on Facebook. Or Twitter this giveaway and follow me on Twitter.

The give-away is open for entries until Sunday, July 11th, at 11:59 PM. Winners will be chosen at random, and announced Monday. Good luck!