A few of you have emailed asking about the perfectly-peaked Buttercream Icing that I used on the cupcakes for Clare’s Buggie Birthday. I’m happy to share the recipe but be warned… there is shortening involved. It really is the only way to make icing that defies gravity. But rejoice healthy-types, you may substitute butter in part or in full. Your frosting will just be more melty. You know you’re in trouble when the healthy option is butter, just sayin’.
Recycled Rug Ottoman
It was getting really challenging swinging in the hammock, reading a book, AND holding a wine glass at the same time, ugh life can be so hard, right? I needed some sort of pouf/table to ease this terrible burden. Made with five of these .99 Ikea flatwoven rugs and stuffed with extra linens and such from around the house, the whole thing cost just $15 bucks and also acts like a little storage unit. Get the full DIY Recycled Rug Ottoman tutorial after the jump…
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Prudent Project Round-Up
Top: Amy Lou at Inspire. Create. Bake. used our template to make DIY Party Hats | Crafty Talk made a mushroomy-cute DIY Diaper Cover | Melissa at HoneyScrap made that beautiful version of our Peasant Blouse from a PILLOW SHAM!
Middle: At La Famila Soriano she made a super sweet DIY Headband | At 5 Van Leeuwens our DIY Swaddling Blanket snuggled a brand new baby! | Laura at Laura-inator made our Mama’s DIY Checkbook Cover
Bottom: Stephanie at Momma and Baby Love made our Ten-Minute Onesie Dress and a matching headband | Stacy made her own DIY Pelmets from a Kit | And Jessica at Sew Home Grown made that gorgeous Hamptons Hooded Beach Towel!
Your “As Seen On Prudent Baby” button is over there on the bottom left. We LOVE seeing everyone’s pics, send them by form or share them with everyone in the Prudent Baby Project Pool on Flickr!
Show these ladies some love in the comments!
Free Downloadable Potty Training Chart!
Last year Jacinda created all the gorgeous free downloads to make this awesome DIY Potty Training Chart. Well, last weekend it was my turn. Girlie has been begging for undies for a while so I figured it was now or never. We went all-out for “Potty Party” with a bunch of potty DVDs (omg, have you guys seen “Go Potty Go
“? oh you have? one million times? me too) and our own matryoshka and glitter version of the sticker chart. It was a huge hit! See how many stickers she earned?!
One long weekend at home and she’s now permanently in undies all day. Is it all due to the chart? Could be. Get all the free downloads to create your own “Potty Party” Potty Training Chart here!
Link Love
Tutorial for the Anthropologie-inspired “Gather Your Roses” pillow at Sew Home Grown…
Make these felt button slippers at The Purl Bee…
Gorgeous Matryoshka themed baby shower with some DIY tips at Papercrave…
I have a weird obsession with Jackalopes so I LOVE this Houndstooth Cross-Stitch Jackalope at Craft.
And more…
Announcing The Prudent Baby Summer of Fanciful Treats with Bake it Pretty!
I just love this blog all about wonderful package design: The Lovely Package
15 essential dips and spreads for summer parties at TheKitchn
Free downloadable template for an adorable owl shaped box at Nini Makes
Really great father’s day gift ideas at Home By Sunset
10 pretty candy colored poufs at Apartment Therapy
And check out my house being crashed over at Young House Love and tell me, do you agree with one commenter that it appears disheveled?? hrmph, i have a toddler hello, it’s like 50,000 times cleaner in the pics than usual!
Giveaway: Simplicity Bias Tape Maker!
AAAAAAAAAAAAAA! The lovely ladies over at Simplicity heard how much we LOVE their Bias Tape Maker
and offered to give one away to one awesome Prudent Baby reader!!!! Are y’all the luckiest girls in the world or what?? 
We showed you how to cut bias strips and iron them into tape on our post How to Make Bias Tape and y’all went nuts for this new machine. So I made you a video of mine at work, which you can check out here: Bias Tape Maker Video What What! It’s shocking how simple it is to use and how much time it saves!
Now it’s your turn to win one! Hurry up and enter, because next week I’ll be showing you how to make the bag above (with a free pattern download) using your homemade bias tape! If you just have to have a Simplicity Bias Tape Maker right now you can pick one up for only $69 on Amazon!
So to enter this giveaway, tell us something that needs simplifying in your life. Maybe invent a magical machine to simplify it. For example: I hate folding laundry and would like Simplicity to invent a robot that would fold it for me. Oh, and put it away too. Become a follower, fan us on facebook by clicking “like” in the left sidebar, share the giveaway on facebook by clicking “like” below, or tweet the giveaway, then leave another comment each time letting us know for an additional entry. Entries will close at midnight June 16th and a winner will be randomly selected.
ENTER AWAY! and Thanks Simplicity!
Winner of Fabricworm Pattern & Fabrics!
We asked you to tell us something awesome about a boy in your life, and some of the entries touched us, some made us laugh until champagne came out of our noses, and some made us want to get pregnant all over again and try for boys! If you have a minute, read through the almost 300 wonderful things people had to say about boys and men here. But to get to the point: The winner of the three gorgeous yards of Monaluna for Birch Fabrics Circa 50 line pictured above and the “About a Boy” Make it Perfect Pattern by Toni Coward is…
…Jan from A Bushel and A Peck who said:
We planned on having our first child as far from Christmastime as possible. He was due on February 5, 2010 but instead came a month and a half early on Christmas Eve! hahah – little stinker. He was in the NICU for a week and a half but is fine and is now measuring just as big as all the other kids born that day, too 🙂 Yay for my baby!! 🙂
Hooray for you and your healthy little stinker! Jan also became a follower, tweeted and facebooked the giveaway! Those extra entries really up your chances!
But don’t fret, those gorgeous fabrics and pattern are available at Fabricworm. Now go ahead and enter to win a Simplicity Bias Tape Maker here!
DIY Sugar Cookie Cone
As I have long suspected, royal icing has serious adhesive power, which is good say, if you want to make 3-D treat sculptures like this Sugar Cookie Cone (or reattach the sole of your shoe with tasty, tasty glue.)
Click here to get the DIY for making a crowd-pleasing Sugar Cookie Cone like these that I made for Clare’s Buggie Birthday! (more…)
