Oh Baby! Extravaganza- Babyville Boutique Diaper Making Products Review and Giveaway!

As many of you know I am a huge advocate for cloth diapers.  Cloth diapers to me just make sense.  They save you money, are better for our environment, healthier for baby and let's face it.....they are super adorable!  Disposable diapers do not give you the variety of colors and patterns that cloth does.  

Have you ever thought about making your own cloth diapers?  A little over a year ago I was completely intimidated at the thought, but always wanted to try it.  Last October my husband bought me a serger for my 33rd birthday and I decided to give it a shot!  The result was a super cute fitted cloth diaper I upcycled from an old baby blanket.  Although, I must admit using a serger is a bear!  I much prefer a regular sewing machine and my favorite cloth diapers to make these days are one size pocket dipes.  Much easier and every bit as cute!

Last fall I heard from a friend there was company called Babyville Boutique who would be making a whole slew of DIY diaper making products!  Not only that, but their products would be sold in local Jo-Ann Fabrics, Hobby Lobby, and Hancock Fabric & Crafts!  I was super excited about this as it was near impossible to find diaper making supplies in my area.  As a gift, my friend sent me a couple cuts of the Babyville PUL fabric and a few appliques. After that I was hooked!  I knew I wanted to try more and thought doing a review and giveaway for my readers would be a great way to share my enthusiasm.  Sure enough, Babyville Boutique got on board for the Oh Baby! Extravaganza and here we are today..... 

DIY diaper and baby project supplies by Babyville Boutique

I was sent a wonderful assortment of Babyville Boutique products...both of their fantastic pattern and idea books "Cloth Diapers Made Easy" and "Baby Essentials Made Easy", Fold Over Elastic, Monsters & Dinosaurs 3 pack of PUL fabric, matching diaper labels, 2 large Monster appliques, Hook & Loop Tape, and Monster Snaps. 

The first thing I did when my package arrived was pour over these books!  I read both books from cover to cover and learned so many tips about cloth diaper making that has made my life easier ever since!  Both books are full of wonderful ideas. 

The Cloth Diaper's Made Easy book comes with 4 sizes of cloth diaper patterns- newborn, small, medium, and large.  All 4 of these patterns can be used to make the various diaper styles in the book.  There is your typical pocket diaper, AIO, diaper cover, diaper cover with gussets, hybrid snail shell diaper, how to make a fitted from a prefold diaper and more!  The book also thoroughly goes over what you need to get started and has many tips on sewing, proper needles to use when working with PUL fabric, and all the little tips to make things easier for you.  I think this book is awesome and highly recommend it to anyone interested in making their own diapers.

In Baby Essentials Made Easy you will learn to make various projects using the Babyville products.  As in the previous book patterns and thorough sewing instructions are included.  Some of the projects in the book include...diaper changing pad, making your own wet bag, burp pads, bibs, place mats, bottle cover, diaper pail liner, ribbon loop play mat, and more!  There is even a whole section on tye dye projects for baby!  So fun!  

Newborn Pocket Diaper with Hook & Loop Closure
Babyville Boutique Monster PUL fabric

Once I read through the books, I got started on a few projects.  My first project was making a newborn pocket diaper with hook & loop closure.  I used the Babyville newborn cloth diaper pattern with this along with the Babyville newborn soaker pattern.  For the inside of the diaper and soaker I cut up a flannel receiving blanket. Great way to use up those extra baby blankets you don't need! 
  I have only ever made cloth diapers with snaps so was interested to see how I liked working with the hook & loop.  I was actually pleasantly surprised at how easy it was!  I did have to trim the tabs down quite a bit to fit the tiny newborn diaper, but the end result was very nice.  I do prefer snaps on my diapers as they hold up longer, but on newborn diapers hook & loop makes for a quicker diaper change which is great during those tiring nights with new baby!  I can't wait to see my little man wearing this and have my fingers crossed it functions as good as it looks.

Dual PUL OS Pocket Diaper using Babyville's Dino and yellow fabric,
yellow and green snaps, and dino diaper label. 

Next I made 3 OS pocket diapers using my own pattern and an a variety of Babyville PUL fabrics, snaps, and diaper labels.  My friend Jodi (my contributor) was having her baby shower last week, so I went to JoAnn's and bought one of the 3 packs of PUL diaper cuts for the occasion.  I made a dual layer dinosaur diaper utilizing the dinosaur PUL scraps I had leftover from a previous project.  This was pretty easy to do and really jazzed up the plain yellow PUL.  I also added one of the cute dino diaper labels on the backside.  It says, "Mr. Handsome".  I lined the diaper with soft white minky and the end result was super cute!  Now I have to make one for my little boy, because I want one too!

Babyville's Turtle & Frog print PUL OS pocket diaper
with light turquoise snaps and lined in flannel. 

The Turtles and Frogs PUL fabric is one of my favorites in the Babyville line.  So adorable!  I lined this diaper with white and green polk a dot flannel that I purchased at JoAnn's.  It matches perfectly with the fabric too!  

Cloth Diapers I made using Babyville Boutique Fabrics, Snaps, and Diaper Labels

For some reason I forgot to take a solo picture of the Owl print diaper, but here it is with the others.  The Owl PUL fabric is a fun neutral design and says " Whooooo's cute? You! " and "You're such a hoot!" and "Whooooo loves you? I do!" on the fabric.  

My little monkey wearing his monkey diaper!
Made with Babyville's Monkey PUL fabric and diaper label.

Next we have the Monkey PUL fabric!  Isn't this darling?  My little guy acts like a monkey and eats bananas everyday, so this print is very fitting for him.  He loves his new monkey diaper and asks for it at diaper changes.  I lined this diaper with brown minky and also added the "Little Monkey" diaper label on the backside.

Baby Lap Pad made with Babyville's Monkey PUL fabric and designer Monkey Applique.
Can be used for changing pad too!

Last but not least, I made a Baby Lap Pad.  This project can be found on page 17 in the "Baby Essentials Made Easy" book.  So easy to make and has so many uses!  With the PUL on one side this Lap Pad becomes a waterproof barrier between you and your baby.  Great to throw over your shoulder for a burp cloth or on your lap to keep those leaky diaper messes off your pants OR use as a quick diaper changing mat when you need one!  Love it!  I made this Lap Pad with brown minky on one side and it is so soft for baby.  I also added one of Babyville's large boutique appliques to give it flare.  

So there you have it!  Some of my most recent sewing projects using a variety of Babyville Boutique's products.  I am very pleased by the quality of PUL, snaps, labels, etc.  I have not run into any issues and so far my diapers have been leak free which is great!  I still have several projects cut out and ready to sew and will share those in upcoming posts.  I am having to much fun with this!  I am even having fun thinking of ways to utilize all my scraps.  I have received some great tips on Babyville Boutiques blog and even learned how to get 2 diapers out of one diaper cut! If you are making your own diapers (or want to) I recommend following their blog because there is always something new for you to try.

Okay, ready to win some Babyville goodies????  Instructions below.

Buy It: The Babyville Boutique line of cloth diaper making products can be purchased online and in store at most JoAnn Fabrics, Hobby Lobbys, and Hancock Fabric & Crafts.  To find a store near you, click here.

Win it: Babyville Boutique is giving one lucky Happily Domestic reader an assortment of Babyville products!  This will include PUL fabrics, matching coordinates, and a book! (Winner chooses either Boy, Girl, or Neutral products)

To Enter:

After you have completed the mandatory entry you are eligible for additional entries. *See the giveaway instructions here for more information. *
*Remember to leave a separate comment for each additional entry and include your e-mail address in your mandatory entry.*

• Mandatory Entry: Visit Babyville Boutique and tell me something new you learned about the company and or their products!  Please be creative and don't use anything I mentioned in this review. *MUST LEAVE YOUR EMAIL ADDRESS WITH THIS COMMENT TO WIN*

Extra Entries: (1 each unless specified, leave a separate comment for each thing you do)

• Follow Happily Domestic blog publicly through Google friend connect (can be found at my right sidebar.) - current follows count too!

• Subscribe to Happily Domestic's blog emails via Feedburner. Sign up box on right sidebar.

• Blog about THIS giveaway between March 30th and April 13th Linking back to Happily Domestic. Leave the URL where you blogged in your entry comment.

• Grab the Happily Domestic button! (found at right sidebar)- Leave the URL where it is posted.

• If you earned the 3 extra entries for blogging about Oh Baby! Extravaganza early, leave 3 separate comments saying that you did this. See Rules here.
  

• If you earned the 3 extra entries for grabbing the Oh Baby! Extravaganza early, leave 3 separate comments saying that you did this. See Rules here.

• Follow Happily Domestic on Twitter and tweet about this giveaway (counts as 1 entry) -after this you may "tweet" daily and gain an extra entry each day that you tweet-limit one per day. Leave a link to tweet status.

• Like Happily Domestic on Facebook.

• Like Babyville Boutique on Facebook.

• Follow Babyville Boutique on Twitter.

• Subscribe to Babyville Boutique's Blog! Click here.

• Sign Up for Babyville Boutique's blog emails.  (Sign up box on their blog's right sidebar) Click here.

Giveaway ends April 14th, 2012.
Winner will be drawn by the random number generator at Random.org
and will be notified by email. Winner will also be announced on this blog.
Winner will have 48 hours to respond or a new winner will be drawn.

*This giveaway is open to USA residents ONLY.
Must be 18 years old or older to win.*

Thank you to Babyville Boutique who provided me with the  diaper making products and books
free of charge for the purpose of this review. All opinions are my own and no other compensation was received to conduct this review and giveaway.