Healthy Toddler Snacks- baked carrot snack sticks

We found out the very scary way a few months ago that my 1 year old son had some pretty severe food allergies (peanut and tree nuts) and as a result my husband and I decided to make some more changes to our diets.  I always knew the US food supply was, well disgusting and poisoned (those are the first two words that come to my mind, yuck!) but I was just too lazy to do anything more than throw some organic foods into my shopping cart every once in a while.

 But, after my son's food allergy diagnosis I knew I had to get serious about healthy eating.  (More on why I feel processed foods and GMO's cause food allergies, as well as how we are dealing with our son's life threatening food allergies in a future post).  A friend of mine let me borrow the book "The Unhealthy Truth" by Robyn O'Brien and it changed.our.lives.  In the book, the author makes a point to say that you can't completely cut out GMO's and processed foods in an instant, that is unrealistic, instead she urges you to set goals for healthy eating and stick to them.  For example, we decided we would immediately cut out all food dyes and high fructose corn syrup.  Those are pretty easy to avoid when you are paying attention to food labels.  Next up was to not feed our son anymore processed snacks, that means no baby cheese doodles, baby puffs, goldfish etc...  So, I looked around online for some new recipes to make all of his snacks and have a whole list lined up to try!  I will share them all with you and let you know how they turned out, and if my son likes them or not.

The first recipe I tried was carrot snack sticks.  The recipe can be found here.  I found it on Pinterest -click here to follow my healthy baby snacks board.  I thought these were very easy to make, and my son LOVES them.  I definitely plan to make a lot more of these (you can even freeze the dough).  An even better way to make these will be with garden fresh carrots (if summer ever gets here!).

Valentine's Day Goodies

Valentine's day is just around the corner! I have a few things left on my 'to do' list to get ready for it; a Valentine's photo shoot with my son, get out the rest of the decorations, and make my son a cute freezer paper stencil valentine's shirt.  We thought we would share photos of some of our DIY Valentine's day decorations from previous years with you if you are in need of some inspiration....

Easy yarn wrapped letters- will do a tutorial in the future!

DIY freezer paper stencil shirt- tutorial here (just switch the bleach for fabric paint)

Crochet Valentine's hat-for sale here
 

easy mod podge block -tutorial coming soon!

crochet hat- available here

painted mason jars (tutorial in our last blog post)

On Valentine's morning I'm planning a big festive breakfast, thinking heart shaped bacon, heart shaped cinnamon buns, maybe pink pancakes....soo many ideas! Follow us on pinterest to see our festive pins :) 

How to Paint Mason Jars

I have an obsession with mason jars, I use them for everything from drinking glasses, soap dispensers, decoration and storage- oh and I use them for canning too.  I've never gotten around to painting any of my mason jars but decided for my Valentine's decorations I would paint a few.  I chose colors that would also work well for spring and Easter decorations.  I'll walk you through the steps I took to paint my mason jars below.....

 

You will need:

acrylic paint

mason jars (As you can see I also used food jars)

cardboard

*I didn't end up using the foam brushes that are pictured, but if you are using paint from a large can you will need them, or plastic spoons* I'll explain in the tutorial 

 

 

First, pour a little bit of paint into the jar.  I ended up using a little too much, but you can gauge how much you will need based on the size of the jar pictured below.

 

 

Once you have poured the paint into the jar, pick the jar up and holding it on an angle start rolling the jar around.  The paint will slide down the inside of the jar and cover all of the glass.  (Couldn't get a picture since I was the only one around, but you get the idea).

 

After you have covered the inside of the jar in paint, place it top down on a piece of cardboard.  The excess paint will run out of the jar and onto the cardboard.  Move the jar onto a fresh piece of cardboard from time to time, once you notice there is no more paint running out the jar turn it right side up to finish drying. 

 

I love how the paint formed a heart!!

 

Once the jars are completely dried you can start to use them for decorating and storage!  For Valentine's day I plan to stick some fresh flowers in the jars and display them on the dining room hutch.  I got a little carried away with how many jars I painted so I ended up using one of them in my craft room for storage :)

 

 

I think we will incorporate some of these jars in our Knotty Sisters craft show displays too! Another idea is to use them for utensil holders if you plan to have a Valentine's day brunch/dinner etc...so cute!

 

 

Baby Boy Nursery

Before I even found out we were having a boy I knew I wanted to use yellow and gray in the nursery.  I also was a big fan of chevron (like everyone else with a pinterest account) and wanted to incorporate that into the nursery as well.  I'm not a fan of the typical bedding sets from stores like babies 'r' us and such so I wanted to avoid anything remotely close to those looks as possible! (side note- I was a public health nurse before becoming a stay at home mom and part of my job was to educate others about the risks of crib bumpers, crib mobiles, blankets in cribs etc... So of course I followed those same guidelines when creating my son's nursery) The best way to do this was to DIY most of the nursery.  We started with painting the walls gray and decided to paint one of the walls yellow (where the crib would go). 


Cribs skirt & pillow made by The Knotty Sisters (pillow removed before nighttime)

I purchased a couple wooden crates from Michaels and painted them white then stacked them to make bookshelves.  In the future when we turn his room into a big boy room I plan to stack them under the double window and add a cushion to the top to make a window seat.

I made a scrapbook paper mobile to hang above the changing table.  It was so easy it almost doesn't need instructions.  To make it you need scrapbook paper, fishing wire, double sided tape, scissors and an embroidery hoop in the size of your choice. 

My husband made this growth chart ruler, which we plan to use to mark our son's height on each of his birthdays.  It looks great on this skinny section of the wall!

don't mind the mess in the background!

I, of course, crocheted the blanket in matching nursery room colors and to this day my son LOVES that blanket.  There is just something about it, maybe the soft yarn or maybe he knows his mom made it for him :) 

blanket by The Knotty Sisters

 

Here is a close up of one of the shelves I painted for his room.  I really like the pop of yellow in that gray corner. 

Plane coin bank is from FAO Schwarz

So, there you have it, the majority of my son's nursery.  I can't believe it's soon going to be time to plan his big boy room!





DIY Laundry Detergent

So we finally got around to making our own laundry detergent.  We have been wanting to for awhile now, but never got around to it because we thought it would be too time consuming.  Well, turns out we were wrong, it was super easy and quick to make!  We used the recipe found here.  It is only 3 ingredients; bar soap (we used Dove unscented), washing soda (we used baking soda and baked it) and Borax.  We took the bar soap and shredded it using a food processor (instead of a blender like the link says to do) then we simply tossed that into a bowl and mixed it with the borax and washing soda.  So easy!

Of course you want to know how it worked out in the laundry….  It is AMAZING!  Between muddy clothes from the kids, diaper explosions from the babies, and lots of stains and grime on our husbands clothes this detergent got them all out!  Despite the dove soap being unscented the clothing actually has a very light and clean smell to it after it is washed.

So, for anyone who was thinking about making their own detergent we highly recommend using this recipe.  It works great and takes very little time to make.  You can store it in a mason jar or some other pretty jar so that it becomes more of a decoration in your laundry room.

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Chalkboard Printables

Chalkboard printables are everywhere right now and I of course had to jump on the 'bandwagon' when it was my son's first birthday.  I had admired the 1st birthday chalkboard printables and considered buying a $45 one for his birthday, but then the cheapo crafter in me decided to try to make my own.  I googled the DIY process and found many helpful websites to create my own.  I already owned Photoshop (which is pretty much essential to make a detailed chalkboard printable) and found a website to download fonts from.  I stayed up late one night, glass of wine in hand, and managed to put together a 1st birthday chalkboard together for my son's party. 


Here is the final version:

Here is another one I made:

 

For my son's I decided to print an 8x10 to frame for his nursery and I printed a 16x20 for his birthday party.  I printed the 16x20 on photo paper (at Staples) and bought a piece of foam board from the Dollar Store and used spray adhesive to stick them together, it worked great and was much less expensive then printing directly on foam board.

 

We are now selling the printables through our Facebook page and in my Etsy shop.

 

Crochet Photo Props

photo by: The Knotty Sisters

We usually sell our crocheted creations to moms, kids, families etc.... but lately we have been getting more requests from photographers.  So, we thought we would share some of our creations that can be used as photo props.  To see our full inventory visit us on Facebook by clicking here.   We do custom orders all the time and can make just about anything!

Photo by: Hilary Murphy Photography

Photo By: The Knotty Sisters

Photos by: Twinkle Photo, MJ Hennis Photography, Kate Preftakes Photography, Yellow Lollipop Photography, The Knotty Sisters



Photo By: The Knotty Sisters

Photo By: The Knotty Sisters

Photo by: Twinkle Photo

Photo by: Twinkle Photo


P.S.- We make other things too, like the "ONE" blocks in the above photo.  We also both have a passion for photography and love to practice on knotty sister models so if you are local and have a baby that could be our 'model',message us :)

www.facebook.com/theknottysisters

DIY Bleach Shirt Tutorial

So, we decided we wanted to start a new tradition and make the kids matching shirts for our annual vacations each year. Our first challenge was wondering how will we ever get all of these little ones to look at us and smile for a picture?! (never.going.to.happen) Well, we decided to do the design on the back of the shirts (also because some of the shirts we bought had a pocket on the front), so that solves that problem! Next up was actually making the shirts. We will write out the steps and attach pictures but be warned, we can never seem to get our pictures to attach in the correct order so they might show up at the top of this post.

First buy the shirts. We bought ours at Target and Walmart- a quick note about the shirt from Walmart is that it WOULD NOT bleach!!! No matter what we did (not washed, prewashed, loads of bleach) it just wouldn’t work. So we do not recommend buying your shirts at Walmart because of this.

Next pick your design (if you have a cricut or silhouette you can use one of their designs). Then cut your design out on freezer paper. Lay design on t-shirt and iron on (make sure you put the shiny side down).

Once freezer paper design is adhered to shirt begin filling it in with bleach. We opted to use the Clorox bleach pen (make sure it says “gel for whites” on it). Depending on the color of your shirt it may take up to 20 minutes for the bleach to work.

Once your design has bleached, remove freezer paper and wash shirt by hand under cold water. Wipe away any excess bleach with your fingers. (Don’t worry your bleach will not run and smudge, we promise) Then put the shirt in the wash machine, dry it and it’s done!!
It was so simple, and the design possibilities are endless!

DIY Non Toxic Finger Paints

Finger painting is a messy fun way to get through these long cold days with your toddler.  I knew I didn't want to buy finger paints from the store so I decided to make my own (and to make sure they were non toxic).  I found a few recipes online and combined them to make a recipe of my own. It was so easy to make and I already had the ingredients in my kitchen. 

You will need:
1.5 tablespoons sugar
1/2 cup  cornstarch
1/2 teaspoon salt
1-2 cups of cold water 
 Food coloring in your choice of colors

 Place all of the ingredients (except food coloring) into a pot on the stove. Mix the ingredients on low heat for 10-15 minutes.  The mixture will start out watery and end up thickening to a consistency perfect for finger paint.  Remove the mixture from the stove and let it cool.  Once it has cooled down divide it into separate dishes (for as many colors as you plan to use- I used glass baby food jars which make it easy to store the leftover finger paint in).  Drop a few drops of food coloring into each dish and stir, continue adding food coloring until you are happy with the color. Then paint away! 

Meet the Knotty Sisters

We thought we would start a blog up to document all of our ventures into crafting and all things related to that. First we want to start off by telling you a little more about ourselves. We are Allison and Brittany Kollmer. Although we are called “The Knotty Sisters” we are actually sister-in-laws and best friends. We are married to brothers. Allison has 3 children and Brittany has 1. We live right down the road from each other which is so much fun! The kids get to see each other a lot which will be so nice for them, especially as they get older.  We are both stay at home moms who love nap time so we can get crafty. We love doing things with our families whether it be camping, going to dirtbike races with our husbands, or staying in for quiet nights!

We got started with the Knotty Sisters after our love of crocheting turned into more than just a hobby. We quickly realized how much people appreciate and love handmade crocheted items so we decided to start up our little business with a Facebook page and craft shows. We are now starting to make and sell new products as our crafting skills are expanding! We hope to update this blog with posts about our crafting endeavors, knotty sister products, DIY tutorials, photography posts and some posts about our families and our lives.

We hope you will stick around while we get the hang of this blogging thing (we’ve already written, accidentally deleted, then rewritten this post, oops!) We promise there will be lots of good posts to come!

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