fabric covered letter: E

Remember that thing I did with the light switch? Well, I did a similar thing with fabric and a wooden letter:

fabric-covered switchplate tutorial: make it pretty

You wanna make one, you know you do, and if you have a few dollars and five minutes, you can:


In order to do that, you'll need:
fabric
scissors
mod podge
plastic switch cover
marker


First step, trim your fabric about a 1/4-1/2" larger than your switchplate using scissors or a rotary tool:


Second step, mark your openings and screw holes on the fabric, and trim using scissors. Leave enough extra material inside the switch square to allow the fabric to fold in and adhere to the back of the plate.



Now, cover your plate with a thin coat of mod podge. Place it on your print side down fabric, making sure to line up your holes. Press flat.


Turn your plate over, and trim the edges, leaving enough to glue down to the plate underside. Cut towards each corner on the inside of your switch hole, and glue to the underside.



That's it, you're done! Easy right? Perfect for a craft room, laundry room or a kids room. I made mine for the bebe's room. And I love it. It's so cheery.

52 A YEAR: week 2

Blue. I'm not exactly thrilled with this shot, but the way my week is going, I'll be lucky if I have time to shoot something else. So for now, this will have to do:

52 A YEAR: week 2 theme

Our theme for this week is 'blue'. I'm really interested to see how you all interpret this!

52 A Year: week 1

New. Everything is new right now. This is even the first time I'm blogging from my phone. That was the first time I added 'blogging' to my phone's auto correct. This is the first new phase of my new life and I'm just sitting here trying to survive. Yes, I have a beautiful new baby, yes I am now part of a new 'family', but my gosh, it takes a bit of stamina and sheer will-power to adjust to 'new'.

I'm not a complainer, usually I'm a go-getter. A do-it-aller, a firecracker. I'm a to-do lister. A project-starter. The girl you hate because she seems to find time to do it all. All that stuff you wish you knew how to do. Well, she's a thing of the past my friends. Or at least she's on a temporary leave of absence. For now I find myself just getting by, trying to get enough sleep to function during the 'light' hours and maybe even accomplish a thing or two, like washing diapers or showering. Nothing fancy really, if I have dinner planned and made, it's a good day.

That being said, I know I'm blessed. I have a beautiful, healthy, calm and happy baby. I have a wonderful husband who strives to make sure I'm 'ok'. I have the ability financially to stay home {thanks to said husband} and try to get the hang of this new career that I now have the utmost respect for. And we have blessings beyond our deserving, thanks to an amazing thing called grace.

So here I sit, up at midnight again, keeping this baby warm and upright to avoid upsetting her tummy after our last feeding, and I'm thinking about all the other new mothers out there. Sitting up alone in the dark of night wondering just what they got themselves into. Just like me, alone, but equally part of an unspoken world, trying to give everyone the illusion that we are just fine, 'doing great!' we say, but really, we would all jump at the chance for a good nights sleep and a bit of makeup.

But that's life, and it's a new adventure. Just like breaking in a new pair of shoes. There's going to be pain, maybe a couple of blisters and even a little blood. But if they're cute, it's so worth it.

If you are participating in the 52 A Year Project and would like to link your blog post and pictures, please click on the button below:

52 a year: a photography journey through 2012

Well Marybeth decided to rope me into a photography project to keep our creative juices rolling, and keep us learning new styles and techniques. And since neither of us can commit to creating or blogging an image a day, she decided once a week was a lot more reasonable. We've created a Facebook page, 52 a year, for members who commit with us {cause we all should be committed...} and we'll be announcing a weekly theme on Mondays, giving you a whole week to come up with something fabulous, or just something, depending on how crazy your week is. We will also have linking available here on the blog in the comment section of each weekly theme post. {once we figure out how to do that!}

So here's our first theme, which you have until next Monday to complete:

A Christmas baby

Alright, so I stuck my bebe in a stocking and took her picture, don't judge me. I'm actually in love with this photo of her. It was the very last one I took during the session and was lucky enough to capture her beautiful eyes. So if I don't talk to you all before the holidays {I tend to be a little preoccupied lately}, have a wonderful Christmas! We'll be celebrating comfy and cozy-style at home.



I've also submitted this photo to Inspire me Baby which has lots of great inspiration and hints for stellar bebe photography...
This photo was included in the Inspire Me Baby Best of 2011 – inspiremebaby.com

this old foreclosed home: a nursery reveal

Well, here it is finally, the finished nursery, a culmination of months of unfocused design:


The pink chair that might get replaced with a cushy rocker if my behind never heals! Is there such a thing as a 'sit-bone'? Because if so, mine hurts...


The crib:


The redesigned dresser, as you've all seen before, with the new changing mat secured on and all the drawers full of wee little clothes:


The organized closet, ready to rock with labels on everything so the husband knows where to find things when I send him searching:


And here's some of the details. If you have any questions about where I found certain items or how much they were, let me know and I'll do my best to let you know.



And and Aaaaaaannnnnndddd, the nursery's newest addition, Baby Elsie Grace born on 12.9.11, weighing about 7 lbs which was great, because anything bigger would NOT have come out of me the way she did! And just FYI, I wanna tell the world a big giant "I-told-you-so" because I said to everyone I was going to deliver early, and they all just laughed and looked at me with pity, as if going before your due date on your first child was an absolute pink flying unicorn. Ha, I had myself a cute little pink flying unicorn. Now hopefully, once she's old enough to have an opinion, she'll like this room as much as I do...

this old foreclosed home: the invention of an office

When we bought this sad little house, the upstairs wasn't laid out very well. At some point, it looks like the parents said "That's it! We need more room, build an addition!" with no thought or purpose to the design beside space. I mean, they even opted for less expensive options, like panelling, drop ceilings and carpet. So I KNOW that they were only thinking 'space, space, space!' Anyway, it was now up to us to make it work. To make it feel more on purpose and less like two giant rooms.

Here's what the hallway looked like before:


We decided that it was too confusing to have two rooms the same exact size, so we left the one on the right large so it would clearly be recognized as a master bedroom. Then we decided to put a hallway right down the center of the two doors and push the second bedroom wall back, quite a bit. Enough to make an open area large enough to hold the set of windows for natural light, and a desk and shelves for a usable computer area. This should come in handy when bebe decides she's going to get a Facebook account in 23 years, if Facebook's still around that is.

So here you can see the new wall and the office area, along with new doorways to the secondary bedroom and the master bedroom. Make sense?


Here's the new office area painted and waiting for floors...


We really designed around having that set of windows in the hallway, to provide natural light and avoid the long hallway feeling like a dreary tunnel. It's nice and bright during the day:


And the finished area, which personally I find is a great resource and space for both of us. I'm really glad we made the decision to rework the plans and have something that we could get a lot more use out of.

yo yo, 'sup?

Well since learning how to make these, I've decided to put them on everything. EVERYthing. I might pin a couple to the dog. The husband might find a couple on his socks. I love how easy they are to make. In fact, they're so mindless, I made a bunch while watching some tv last night and even taught the girls how to make them this past crafty night. They were a big hit.

Anyway, here's a bunch of things I've stuck them on:

A bebe skirt, a headband and some hair elastics.


A gifted bebe skirt, along with a matching headband.


hair clips.


the elastics up close and personal.


a keychain for my bebe diaper bag.

That's about it, for now. Expect to see them all stuck on your presents this year!