A Painted Corner Cabinet

One of my goals for this year was to make a list of projects I want to complete and actually complete them. I’m happy to say that I’ve made a list and slowly started checking off a few things I’d been putting off for a while. One of the projects I was most excited about was painting this:

I’d been looking for a corner cabinet just like this for a very long time. One FINALLY appeared on Craigslist, and I snatched it up. But then it sat this way for 6 months. Cute, functional, and brown. I know how adorable it would be painted pale green with ivory shelves, and a couple of weeks ago, I made it happen.

I used Behr’s Paint and Primer in One in Seedling and Cream Puff. It took 2-3 coats of paint to completely cover the dark brown wood. I’m pleased with how it turned out. I think it makes my small kitchen feel much more open and airy. Now, if I can just convince my husband to let me paint our kitchen cabinets white!

Blogging About Not Blogging

I love reading blogs. It’s one of my favorite things to do when I have down time. I love how blogs give people an opportunity to share, inspire and be inspired, encourage, and learn from one another. These are some of the main reasons I decided I wanted to blog. After one failed attempt a couple years ago, I decided I’d give it another try. That’s when I started this blog. I was sure I would have more time to devote to blogging than I had in the past since I stay home with my daughter.

There are many things that have kept me from blogging more frequently. Spotty satellite internet service, lack of ideas, etc. But then I realized these are really just excuses. I can save blogs in a Word document and post them when internet service is reliable. Even though some of my blogging ideas aren’t grand, I’ve realized that some of my favorite posts from other blogs have been about the more simple and mundane details of their lives. Those types of posts feel like a conversation with a friend, and I think that’s why I enjoy them.

I’ve never been big on resolutions  because I never seem to follow through. The most lasting changes I’ve made in my life have come from thoughtful, small, and deliberate changes made slowly. So, one of my goals for 2015 is to blog more regularly.While I haven’t seemed to have the free time I thought I would have, I do have the same 24 hours in a day that everyone else does. I shouldn’t say, “I don’t have time,” rather, “I haven’t made it a priority.” And while taking care of my daughter, husband, and my home are my priorities, I have made a goal of blogging more regularly, even if I don’t have earth-shattering ideas or perfectly staged photos to share.  While I’d love to be more specific about that and commit to blogging once a week or some other specific period of time, life happens, and I don’t know if I’ll be here that often. My plan is, though, to not let months pass in between posts.

Here’s to 2015! To thoughtful, small, and deliberate changes made slowly.

October

I love October.

It’s my favorite month of the whole year.

It’s the month I got married.

It’s the month I can finally start baking with pumpkin puree.

And it’s the month I can decorate my porch with mums and hay bales and hang my $6.00 wreath on my front door.

I know today’s the last day of October, and I’m sad about that, but I’m also excited about all of the firsts this holiday season will bring with my sweet baby girl.

On Motherhood {What I’ve Learned in 3 Months}

Heidi turned 3 months almost 9 days ago. This officially makes me a mother for… 3 months and 9 days. The past few months have been challenging and rewarding, exhausting and restful, and oh, so sweet. Here are some things I’ve learned over the past 3 months that I would go back and tell my pregnant self:

Spit-up will become an accessory. Who needs earrings anyway?

You CAN function with little sleep. Just maybe not very well. And with LOTS of coffee.

Double-check, no, TRIPLE-CHECK, the diaper bag. You will inevitably need the one thing you forgot to pack.

Don’t mess with the routine. That one night you keep her out past her 8:00 bedtime will result in a week’s worth of night-waking when she had been sleeping through the night.

Go ahead and buy the Rock ‘n Play. When she starts sleeping 7-10 hours straight, you will realize that it was worth every single penny spent.

You will get projectile-pooped on. And you will laugh. And you will plan to tell the story to her future husband.

Showers will become a luxury in the first few weeks. They will feel like 15 minutes of heaven.

You will be OVERWHELMED. But not just with diaper changes, nursing, and lack of sleep. You will be so overwhelmed with joy and gratitude that you think your heart will burst. You will look at her sweet little face and cry because she is so beautiful. Because she is so perfect. And because God chose you to be her mother. You will kiss her little nose and her little feet and wonder how you ever lived life without her. She will become your sidekick, and errands will be more fun because she will be babbling and cooing from the back seat. She will smile and turn her head coyly to the right, and your heart will melt.

You will be OVERWHELMED with the magnitude of the LOVE that you feel for such a tiny human being.

 

 

 

A Window Picture Frame

Here’s the finished product that I mentioned in my last post:

I LOVE how it turned out. The top right and top left photos are from the maternity session that a friend did for me as my baby shower gift. The other four are from Heidi’s newborn session when she was 13 days old. I ordered each of the photos in 8×10 and trimmed them down to fit each pane. 8x10s are usually pricey, but I actually only have about $10 total in this entire project. The window was a gift from a friend. Our photographer had a virus attack her hard drive shortly after our session. Because she had to mail her hard drive to California to recover the files, we didn’t get our photos until Heidi was about 2.5 months. For our trouble, she offered a $75 print credit, and that’s what I used to order the 8x10s from that session. (Those prints came from SmugMug). The two from the maternity session were printed at Wal-Mart, and you can definitely tell the difference in the quality. 

I had grand plans for cutting out pieces of card stock to put behind the photos. In the end, I just used photo-safe tape and taped them to the glass and window frame. It’s holding up beautifully!

I plan to create a gallery wall around the window frame, but I haven’t found any other frames or pieces to use just yet.

 

A Craigslist Find & An Old Window

I’m enjoying decorating our home. Since we moved when I was 37 weeks pregnant, those last few weeks were spent unpacking, settling in, and preparing for baby. She’s now three months old, and in somewhat of a routine, so I’m tackling small home projects here and there during nap time.

One of the first things on my list was finding a living room rug. Initially, we were using a 3×5 bamboo rug that I used in my sewing room before we sold our house. It was barely bigger than our coffee table and brought no color to the room (it was brown).  

I’ve wanted a braided rug for a while now, but couldn’t justify the expense of a good quality one. I found this 5×8 on Ebay for $160 and decided to try it out. (Excuse the bad cell phone pic – it’s the only one I took before I sent it back.)

I loved the colors, but wasn’t impressed with the quality. So, I sent it back, shipping on me. $20 down for return shipping, and still no rug. 

A few days later I was looking through Craigslist and saw a listing for a southwestern rug, posted 37 days ago. I assumed it was probably sold, but decided to ask about it anyways. To my surprise, she still had it, and was willing to take $85 for it, instead of the original asking price of $100. I generally am not a fan of southwestern-type rugs, but I loved the colors in this one and decided to go for it. The rug is a good size, 6.5 x 11. Not bad for $85, if you ask me. And, it’s in excellent shape. 

A friend gave me the old window, and I plan on using it as a picture frame for some of my maternity pictures and Heidi’s newborn pictures. I’ll post how it turns out soon!

April Showers Bring May Babies

So I’m sure I’m breaking some kind of blogging rule (again!) by posting pictures of my shower that happened, oh, 4 MONTHS AGO! 

But, I have the sweetest friends, and I was so blessed to be showered with such thoughtful gifts for Heidi.

It was a perfect day.

I made this garland from scrap quilting fabric. It turned out so well! I’m using it now as decoration in her nursery.

Guests signed this book in lieu of a sign-in book. Now Heidi has a story book that was signed by our family and friends at her shower! 

The punch was divine!

Maternity Photos

Is it alright for me to post maternity photos even though it’s been three months since my baby girl was born? Is there a rule in blog land against posting something that long after it’s happened? 

In my defense, I wasn’t blogging then. So please bear with me while I take a walk down pregnancy lane and remember the weeks leading up to my baby’s birth. These photos were taken by a sweet friend of mine.

A Bunting Banner

My best friend is expecting her first child (a baby girl!) in October.

She and I were blessed to be able to experience some of pregnancy at the same time, and our baby girls will only be 5 months apart.

Her baby shower is a month from today, and she wants it to be pink/lace/burlap/shabby chic.

Adorable, right?

Since she told me what kind of decor she’d like for her shower, I’ve had my eye out for things that fit the bill, and I’ve been brainstorming about craft projects that could tie in as well.

So, yesterday, while my sweet baby girl took a loooong nap, I was able to make this banner for her soon-to-be best friend, Abby Grace.

This banner was easy to make. I used some muslin scraps, lace, and letters that I already had on hand. The letters are cardboard scrapbook letters. I bought to sets of letters, A-Z, when I was working on my nursery, and since the only letters I used were H E I D I, I had plenty left over to spell “ABBY GRACE.”

I started by spray painting the letters a pale pink. While the letters were drying, I folded the muslin several times, so that when I cut it, I cut several triangles at the same time. I cut the muslin with my pinking shears, not only to keep it from fraying, but to give it that cute, zig-zag decorative edge.

Then, I sewed the lace to the top edge of the muslin triangles. (not pictured) I also ran a line of stitching along the bottom of the lace so that the lace will not pull up when the banner is hanging.

After I was done sewing, I busted out my trusty ol’ hot glue gun and glued the letters to my triangles.

I love how it turned out! So cute for such an easy project, too.

Sunflowers

Nothing earth-shattering here:

Just popping in to say that I LOVE sunflowers. They’re my favorite. Exciting stuff, right?

Hang around a little while, and you’ll see sunflowers in my home decor, my baby’s nursery, and in a vase on my kitchen table. They’re just so happy, bright, cheery, and rustic.

Because I love them so much, my husband planted them on each side of the driveway, and in a long strip on the power line that runs through our property. it’s been fun to watch them grow and bloom. They make me smile every time I drive up or a take a ride through our land.

I’m blessed to have a sweet husband who would take the time to plant them for me.