for the birds

It seems I'm not really going for a theme in the nursery, although I seem strangely drawn to anything bird related.



I found this iron-on as a tshirt design on clearance. There was a little saying that I cut off before ironing each bird separately to two pieces of linen. I had the frames spraypainted white since i'm not really a fan of the raw light wood look. Once they were each in their frame, I cut off the excess material and hot glued the edges down to the back. {Total for this project: $6.} These pieces are so lightweight and easy to hang, they would be perfect for anything, even hanging off of pins in your office cubicle!

So cheers, time to go gear up and prep for that nasty hurricane. Earthquakes, hurricanes?! It's the end of the world as we know it. Well, maybe that's a bit dramatic.

another idea

that I've seen all over the web, but haven't had the chance to make yet was this:



It actually came out of an old frame my friend Carrie handed down to me. It started out gold and cream, and held an old floral oil painting. Once I received it, it was promptly spraypainted red and fitted with a chalkboard. {See it here.} Only problem is I was a little chalkboard happy at the time, and my house doesn't need this many chalkboards.

So an idea came from all that Pinterest inspiration and I couldn't be happier with the end product. After a free frame, a jar of white spraypaint, some wooden clothespins, scrapbook paper and hanging wire, my total came to a little under $10. And it only took me about an hour, start to finish including making all the little clothespins for hanging. Not too shabby and it could work perfectly for an office, kids room for artwork or bow storage, or a kitchen catch-all center. For now, this will be perfect for baby Zs room. {No, we haven't decided on a name but in the meantime I'm sticking to my guns and torturing the husband with my favorite one...}

you had me at goodwill

As many of you know, I'm in LOVE with thrift stores. And now that there's Pinterest, there are so many great ideas to create from thrift store finds. This is just the story of one of mine. I found the idea on Pinterest a while back and thought how brilliant it would be to make a knock-off version since all the store-bought versions are so pricey {even tjmaxx had a version for 30$!}.

All I needed was two old cake pans {varying sizes}, some E6000 glue {wicked stinky, I recommend doing the glueing outdoors}, an old candlestick holder, some rope and a hot glue gun. Use the E6000 to glue the top and bottom of the candlestick to the top and bottoms of your cake pans. Finish the look by hot glueing your rope {twine, ribbon, whatever you like} to the edge of each cake pan. You could also mod podge the bottoms of the cake pans if you wanted, but I liked a simpler look. So after a few hours of drying time, this is what you have:





So for $8, this is a nifty little storage container for my crafting whatevers:

like a beached whale

I've had my heart set on making these, and having a baby girl is the perfect excuse. So is a beach day.

Well, I packed up some felt and scissors and went to work while Marybeth's children terrorized the beach goers. {Not really, although there were the seagulls who definitely deserved it...}

Here's the end product:





I think I'll make a whole bunch of various flowers and hold onto them until I find headbands or outfits for coordinating with. For now they'll all reside in a felted flower purgatory. {The large gray flowers were purchased from Michaels a couple of weeks back.} And by the way, we most definitely felt the earthquake up here in Connecticut. I've never felt the earth move before, it was bizarre and cool and creepy all at once...

shoe fetish

I have a thing for shoes. For me. And now it appears I'll have a thing for shoes for my little girl. I couldn't resist these little adorable shoes from Old Navy.





And notice the new closet knobs? Those were from Hobby Lobby. I love them and hope I can score a few more for a changing table/dresser redo. I found a perfect one last weekend, but it was a little too old and shaky for my liking. With a little bit of love it could have been gorgeous...

Oh and here's a peak at the fabric I've been basing the room design around:

baby on the brain

Growing a mini human has to be the most surreal thing I've ever done. I don't even remember I'm pregnant until I look down and see the big giant belly staring me in the face. I'm not used to having nothing to wear! Unless it stretches or hangs, I can't fit into it and anything that buttons is a thing of the past. Everyone keeps saying I look great, but I just feel like a giant, well, giant. And the best part of all this? The pain of the last few days that can only be attributed to a growth spurt. Awesome.

But besides the amazing expanding belly {and butt!} there are only good things. I have had a fantastic pregnancy thus far, with little to no sickness, and that's really all I could ask for. The kicking has started, and we now know the sex of the baby, so the nursery decorating and clothes buying are about to start. I'm having a really hard time figuring out what I need though, and I'm not about to run out and register for a whole room full of things I won't use. So any and all input is greatly appreciated! The only things we're sure of at this point? We will be using an organic mattress, trying our hand at cloth diapering, most definitely breastfeeding and the chair will most assuredly be painted pink. Besides that, I'm lost. And trying to agree on a name?! Oi vey.

For now, here is the new and improved giant me:



And some prints I designed for the nursery:

at least I still like the cream cheese.

I wasn't all that impressed on my visit to Philadelphia. Sorry Philly, but you're gritty and dirty and not exactly my kind of city. I'll take NYC any day. But you do have some history, and since we picked the one day it poured as our site seeing day, my photographic journey is limited. Luckily we spent more quality time with old friends and new ones than in the heart of the city. So I give you the best Philly had to offer me, it's not much folks, but it's pretty:

i'm at it again

My husband likes to remind me that I have my priorities all out of whack. And he's right. He calls these creative tangents of mine "pet projects" and they are exactly what I shouldn't be doing when there are other much more important things to do. Regardless, here's my latest pet project for your review:

I was having trouble locating a catch-all, key/message center for the kitchen, so I made my own. A tacky square frame from TJMaxx seemed the perfect starting point. I think I paid $5 for this:



And with a little love, turned it into this:



I painted it white, painted the middle with a chalkboard paint and added in the adhesive cork board around the outer edge. The chalk holder is an upside drawer pull, attached after drilling holes through the frame. The key holder is actually a magnetized spice rack from IKEA. I purchased it a while ago but didn't end up having the space for it. Luckily, it was a perfect fit for this project. So there we have it, the possibilities of repurposing are always endless. Cheers!

I got sprayed

Or rather, I sprayed. Everything I could find. Here's a sneak peak at some of the items and the color scheme for the baby room. I think today I'll be working on that pink chair...