She Lives!

Who thought I would ever blog again?! Is it a return to blogging? Certainly not on a regular basis, noooooo! But in the briefest of moments, when BOTH of my darling rambunctious girls are napping, I may be able to squeeze in a quickie ;)

So what have I been working on?? Not much.  Pinterest tends to occupy most of my free time, when I dare to dream about future projects. This dressed up sailor bracelet  caught my eye. Be sure to check out ashley ann's diy and room tours for her take on some wicked craft ideas.

So. She found these bracelets at Target. I couldn't find these pre-made sailor bracelets anywhere! Isn't that the way it goes? When you're looking for something you need you can never find it, and when you no longer need it you can find the item everywhere?! I did find them online, but didn't want to pay $5 + shipping for each bracelet. So I decided to make my own. I checked out how to make a turk's head knot bracelet on youtube. After a frustrating night I finally figured out how to make these summer time staples, not without some imperfections.  I used white paracord, (all I had) and some pink and white left over fabric to bind the two bracelets together.

Definitely no where near perfect and not my ideal color scheme, but not bad for my first go. And rather easy once I got started! I'll definitely be making more in the future for the girls!

Will I Ever Blog Again??!

Wow. I'm officially the world's worst blogger.  I would like to say that I'm going to change my blogging ways and I'd be back to posting random crafts and fun-ness, but I fear I'd be lying. Truth is I have been so busy since the arrival of baby number two that I feel it's been more important for me to spend time with both of my little girls rather than blog. I'm sure I'll be back on at some point when I have more time on my hands, because I do miss sharing my randomness. Until then, Happy Blogging to everyone else out there!

Cheers!

A Window into Organization

I think it's safe to assume that whenever there is a new addition to the family, whether baby or a new four legged friend, your schedule and routine gets turned upside down. I've found it increasingly difficult to keep track of everyone's schedules since Ingrid's arrival. Turns out that my husband was also having difficulties remembering what days were what and where he needed to be at certain times. So an intervention was needed!

I got this idea from a pin on Pinterest (what an ingeniously incredible website to waste my little time on! I love it!).

Original posting found here.

Except I didn't have 8 frames at my disposal, nor the space for something this large. I did have an old 8-pane window that I had used for a seating chart at our wedding. Remember this??

So I bought some card stock to fit into the back of the panes. I wanted something that looked like canvas. What's great about this is that I can change the look of it whenever I want or get tired of it.

I stenciled (and not very well I might add, but I sort of like the effect) the letters for the days of the week with glass markers.

Zach and I update the board every Sunday so we know what to expect in the week to come.

One small step for organization, one giant leap for family communication.

A Little Witch

For Halloween this year, I wanted to try my hand at making a costume for Stella as opposed to buying one. I did not want to set the bar too high as this was my first attempt at making any type of wearable piece of clothing for her. So I gave her a couple different options to choose from and from those choices she chose a Bad Witch - good witch or bad witch, it was going to be the same costume, I just assumed her attitude would make it 'good' or 'bad' ;)

I made the tutu and her cape. Don't ask me how I made the cape because I did not use a pattern (have no idea how to read one), and I hardly know how to use my sewing machine, so it's a miracle that it came together in the first place. And it was by a complete stroke of luck that it turned out reversible (added bonus!!).

The tutu was actually quite easy. I used tutorials from youtube to make a no-sew tutu.  I liked this tutorial and used it to create Stella's tutu.

As you can see by the above face, Stella did not feel like modeling for me today, so unfortunately you cannot see the details of her costume, but I'm surprisingly proud of how it came out, and she actually loved it too, so all's well that ends well!

Happy Trick-o-Treating Everyone!

Happy One Month Birthday

Well, it's hard for me to believe that a month has already gone by since my little girl was born. How time flies when you are sleep deprived having fun!

So I just had to post something real quick to say Happy Month-Day baby girl! Looking forward to the many milestones ahead of us.

Stella's Last Day as an Only Child

Today is a very bittersweet day for me. Today is the last day that my little baby girl will be my only little baby girl. I'm grateful that I have one last day to spend with my princess before our newest addition joins our family. So today I wanted to do something special for my little girl: all of her favorite things!

We started the day out visiting one of her favorite places, CastleTown!!

She loves to climb!

It makes her smile =)

And she likes to jump!

And slide!

And swing!

She's waving bye to the park. Safe to say we had a successful visit.

Oooh can't forget to add puddle jumping to the list of favorite things to do!

Next on the list of things to do: Refuel! 

Stella's pick today was pizza!!

We also went shopping (a favorite pass time of both daughter AND mommy)

We found this little gem! Not sure who'll be wearing it yet on All Hallow's Eve, but it was just too good of a deal to pass up!

She's practicing her cackle.

Lastly, we had to watch a favorite movie together, with one of her favorite snacks, Craisins!

I'm sure a nap will be in order for her today, and then later on we'll be off to her Gigi's house where she'll be having a sleepover. 

Tomorrow her sister will be joining our little family, and Mommy couldn't be more excited. But I will miss our time where it was just the three of us too. My little Stella has taught me so much over the past two and a half years, and if anything, I know I'll be a better Mommy to Ingrid because of her. Thank you special girl for letting me be your Mommy! I love you more than you'll ever know! 

Ingrid's Nursery

Well Hello there! It's been a little while, hasn't it?! I've been on a small blogging hiatus, but can you blame me when there is beautiful New England weather to enjoy?? Believe it or not I have been somewhat busy, especially preparing for our newest arrival, Baby Ingrid, who is due any day now! So what have I been up to?? Mostly transforming our 3rd (and extremely tiny) storage closet bedroom into a nursery... on a budget.

So without drumroll, the finished product.

So what did I do to get this simple look?? First on the agenda was to find a crib to fit the space. I knew a regular sized crib would not fit in the room, so I had to resort to a mini-crib. This actually worked out great for my budget, because I was able to find this beauty brand new at Target.com  for a fraction of what a brand new crib would cost. The downside to the mini-crib: it is impossible to find bedding for these things!! The mini-crib idea has not caught on yet, so there is a lack in bedding selection.

So her bedding became my one big splurge in her room. I found a great bedding selection to choose from at Carousel Designs. After himming and hawwing and dreaming of her bedding for months, I finally took the plunge and bought what is seen here. And I couldn't be happier with the product! I even went back and bought some extra fabric for some of the craft projects I wanted to do in her room. So what were those projects?

First off, I cannot take credit for the handmade blankie that is draped over the crib. My good friend Danielle made this for Ingrid. She is incredibly talented and creative and if I had an ounce of her skills, I probably wouldn't have spent as much as I did on this nursery. Please visit her blog to see more cuteness and DIY greatness.

I wanted to make some wall art with some of the fabric I had bought, but wasn't sure what to do at first. After looking for ideas on Etsy, I came up with the monogrammed wall plaque idea.  This was relatively easy to make. All I did was stencil on the letter "I" to the fabric, sewed buttons in place, and then stretched the fabric over a wall canvas. I used furniture tacks and hot glue to secure the fabric into place.

I also wanted something on the ceiling for Baby I to look at when she was resting. I have a mobile, but I didn't really use it for Stella. I first got an idea from Pottery Barn Kids magazine - they had taken a bazillion paper lanterns and hung them from the ceiling. I loved the look, but knew I didn't have the money for it. So I thought why not paper poms instead. I used this great tutorial from Martha Stewart to get me started. I think the whole project cost me $4.

One of my last projects was this pillow cover I made. I used this tutorial to create an envelope pillow case using fabric that matched Ingrid's bedding.  I was going to buy a smaller version of this pillow from the same place I bought her bedding from, except it was $45. Ridiculous!! I'm so glad I made this easy cover instead! All I needed was the pillow insert, which I got from my local craft store for about $9. Yay for added lumbar support ;)

One of the things I am most proud of is her closet! This is what it looked like before...

And this is the after! Hello Organization!! 

I got the cubby organizer on sale at Target. But all of those fabric drawers can really add up! Especially if you want the ones that have the label insert on the front, which is the ones I wanted. Stella had some left over ones from her room, so thankfully I only needed to buy 6 more. I bought them in matching fabric, and got the plain ones. But I still needed to add labels so that me and the Hubby could stay organized. So I made these label holders out of cardstock, used fabric glue and glued coordinating fabric onto said cardstock, and then hot glued them onto the fabric drawers. Now not only are we organized, but her closet is tied into the nursery as well.

I also found these antique coat hooks for $5. I had the Hubby hang them up and voila! Use of the vertical wall space!

Now all we need is Baby Ingrid to grace us with her presence! Cannot wait to meet her, and to spend some long, quality time together in her new room!!