{ my first ever sewing project }

I guess to be perfectly honest, I DID complete my 8th grade sewing class...because it was required.  But even that was pretty sad. 

I was one of those girls that thought sewing was SO NOT COOL.  And I wanted nothing more than to NOT be domestic.  So, with my awesome 14-year old short term thinking, I absolutely avoided ANYTHING that could be even remotely related to domesticity.

I never learned to cook.

Or clean (until I lived on my own.  Then helloooo neat freak!).

Or sew.

Or budget.

I think you get the picture.

When we found out we were expecting our daughter (and had gotten past the "danger zone" of miscarrying), I started looking around at bedding.  NOTHING was jumping out at me.  And the stuff I did like was SOOOO expensive.  So my sweet hubsters, Ben, suggested I make it myself.

Um....what the wha???  Do you not know me at all?

We'd been together for 8 years and yet you haven't realized I can't sew a straight line?

But he had confidence in me.  So I thought I'd give it a try.

Not by myself.  Not that brave.  But my sister-in-law's mother is uh-maze-ing!  So, I got her to figure it all out help teach me the basics. And lo and behold, I COULD do it!

Who woulda thought?! (certainly NOT me)

Well, now that my baby girl is almost 2 (seriously? It's crazy!), it's about time to get rid of the crib, so I thought I'd post some pictures of my first ever sewing project (that I was secretly SO proud of myself for creating) before we get it all changed out.

Ta-Daaaaa!

Her adorable little crib:

 The bumpers.  Um, can you believe I didn't know that people MADE piping?  Yeah, I might have been pretty excited about that... :)

Inside of the bumpers.  I did not make the sheet though - that's all Target, baby!

Crib skirt.  Obviously it doesn't really poke out the slats like that.  Just pulled it out to show you the detail.  I'm nice like that. :)

The window valence. This is one thing I will definitely do differently in the future.  My Taelie-girl needs it dark to sleep, so her window had been covered up with a blanket for the last two years.  A blanket that I take down in the morning.  And put back up for nap time.  And take down after nap time. And put back up for bedtime. It's ridiculous.  But otherwise it's either too dark or too bright.  New curtains will be a MUST for her new room.

Her rag quilt.  Probably my favorite item in her room.  After she got bigger, I moved it from her crib to the armchair in her room.

A little close-up :)

Terrible picture, but this is where we hung all her bows.  I added horizontal strips of ribbon across it and attached her clips.  It is defnitely too busy, and I will be making something new for her hair stuff for her new room.  I'm just not loving it, but it worked for awhile.

  

We painted the entire room and installed the faux board and batten.  We had no idea what it was called when we did it, we just liked how it looked. Yeah, we're decor-savvy like that.  It's pretty tall too, as you can see from the pic -- sits above the light switch.  I wanted it to peek out above her crib, and I love it.  :)  We still have that glider, but are planning on selling it, it never worked with her room, and we never used it, so I never finished it.  Her dresser is in it's place now.

I wanted to do the traditional name sign, but change it up a little bit, so I made hers out of the same fabric using a tutorial.  I love the font -- sooo adorable!

Close up of the letters and the adorable knobs I got to hang them from.  They were originally pink, but didn't stand out enough on her wall, so they got a quick coat of spray paint!

And finally...the view from her doorway. I know it's hard to see, but the chime hanging in the corner I brought all the way over from Ukraine, and saved it for years before it found it's home in her nursery. I want to add sparkle too it or even make it brighter pink, but I am worried about messing it up since I can't exactly run out and buy a new one if I do. Any pointers?

Whew! I'm pretty sure this was the longest post in the history of the world!  ha!  It's crazy to look at these pictures and see how much has changed and evolved since we first put this sweet little nursery together.  I will take pictures of the changes so I can document it and remember it after it "grows up".

This is still my favorite room in our home.  I wanted to be a mom for so long that the first time I was able to cuddle my baby in her own room was a monumental occassion for me.  Everytime I walk into her room, I'm reminded how lucky I am to be a mother.  Her room totally symbolizes that to me. :)

I am SO glad I got passed my "fear" of domesticity!  Now I love all things having to do with it and only wish I would have learned earlier because now I am desperately trying to make up for lost time!  I should have listened to my mom when she told me one day I'd want to know how to do these things.  Moms seriously know everything. :) (Hopefully my kids feel the same way one day.)

What is your favorite room?  Have you ever taken on a project like this, having no idea how to do it, and loving the results?  I'd love to see your creations!

Linking up to:
Between Naps on the Porch:Metamorphosis Monday
C.R.A.F.T's:Making Monday's Marvelous

{ fabric loooove }

I have a problem.

I love fabric stores waaay too much!

Seriously, as soon as I walked into the shop, I wanted to not only get fabric for baby boy's room, but re-do my daughter's nursery and every other room in the house.  Those places are dangerous.  Seriously.

Luckily (for my husband), I restrained myself and ONLY purchased fabric for the nursery right now.

Do you have any idea how hard it was to find "boyish" fabrics that were still cute?  I am picky too...I wanted cute, but not "cutesy".  I'm weird like that.    After weeks of searching, I found some fabrics I loooove:

Oh! Could you just die!  I am LOVING them!  They are bright and fun and just what I wanted in baby boy's room!

I wasn't originally planning on using a brown, but it seemed to work well, so I went with it.  And I love it with the other colors.  Seems to tie thm all together, don't you think?

I love the stripes on this one...I think it just screams boy but in a cute way.  Maybe that doesn't make sense, but in my head it totally does :)

And my all-time favorite!  I adore the pattern on this fabric.  So fun!  I knew I wanted squares, but I love how these are not all perfectly lined up.  Perect, perfect, perfect!

All this time, I've been planning on painting his room green, but now I'm wondering if that would be too much...any thoughts or opinions?  I know I could always go the traditional blue for his room,  but I'd like to do something a little different if I can make it work.

I feel like I can breathe so much easier now that I have the fabrics picked out and in my possession!  Anyone else feel that way when they finally get what they've been searching for?  I feel like the hard part is over, now I can just put it all together the way I see it in my mind.

Any thought on wall color?  Also, I'm planning on getting dark bamboo shades or his room.  My babies tend to wake up to light (Um, I guess it's just baby, since I only have one child right now!), and I like to sleep in, so anything that helps with that, I am all for!  Any suggestions on where to get those? The window in his room is 59"x47"...do they sell them that large?  Any suggestions are greatly appreciated!

{ project: nursery }

Wow.

Obviously I am VERY new at this whole decor blogging thing, because I completely spaced posting for the last week or so.  If I were more "with it", I would have planned some posts ahead of time.  Ah well, live and learn right?

Sorry for the brief hiatus -- I am back and ready to go!

So, as some of you may know, I am a little bit pregnant.

Oh, who am I kidding -- I'm about to explode.

I am 35 1/2 weeks pregnant and baby boy (no name yet) is due to make his appearance on August 3rd.

This was me at 29 weeks:

  I have not taken a more recent pic -- if I do, I'll post it for y'all to see.

While we could not be more thrilled, I am suddenly thrown into nesting overdrive. 

See, with my Taelie girl, I made her nursery bedding, and I've been planning on making this little one's too, but between moving for the summer and having to haul stuff back and forth, I decided to just wait until I got home to worry about it.  (and I could not for the life of me, find any fabric that I just LOVED in Baltimore.  Soooo frustrating!) 

Well, I'm home now...and I only have 3 1/2 weeks to whip together some of this cuteness:

Boy, those bumpers took a lot of work -- they aren't hard at all - just time consuming.

And, knowing me, I had to make the crib skirt difficult and use multiple fabrics instead of just one.  I have issues, people...issues!

This blanket took by far the most work though...luckily I love it, but man!

I love making baby bedding, so I am actually really excited to get started on baby boy's nursery.  I have it all planned out in my head how I want it to look. 

As soon as Taelie girl wakes up, we are off to the fabric store.  I am praying this little boy waits until his induction date to get here...if so, then I have T-26 days until delivery.  That is plenty of time to make everything, right?  (just nod along with me...it will make me feel better!)

Now, if I can just find fabric I love...we'll be set!

{ patriotic love }

We have quite a bit of American pride 'round our house. 

My hubbs was thisclose to signing up for the Marines.  He tore his hamstring practically in half the day before he was going in to sign up, and by the time it healed, he had other responsibilities to attend to.  His favorite song is "God Bless the USA" by Lee Greenwood, and he tears up at the sight of soldiers or memorabilia about our great country. 

Even with all of this, we haven't been able to celebrate the 4th of July properly - because pretty much since we've been married, my husband's job takes us out of state all summer long.  We leave our home and family and travel to somewhere else in the country.  Don't get me wrong, we LOVE these adventures, but I wish I could decorate our house during this time to show our American pride. 

We do have a little something up...it stays up all year to remind us how lucky we are to live here:

(don't mind the messy messy entertainment center...I swear that thing will be the death of me one day.)

I'll zoom in to give you a closer look:

Now, I know that I don't have to decorate to show pride, but, let's be honest, it's a fun way to do so!

Especially after seeing some of the awesome ideas around blogland.

Take this for example:

How stinking adorable is that?  Those girls over at How Does She? never fail to amaze me.  I might stalk their site for new ideas....maybe....I'll never tell!

As soon as I saw that, I about died.  "I MUST have that!" I thought to myself.  And I will be making one as soon as I get back home.  I'll show you the finished product soon, I promise!

And then I saw Thrifty Decor Chick's post about this same decoration PLUS her own twist on it to make it into a door hanging:

Ack!  Could you just die?  I just love it.  So simple.  So sweet.

Sarah never ceases to amaze me with what she comes up with.

So then I decided I had to make one of those too.  Darn it all.  Why do you all have to be so talented?

If you could give me about a lifetime minute to catch up, that would be great!

And then, if all that weren't enough (sheesh! Seriously.), I blogstalked stumbled upon Living with Lindsay's Teach Me Tuesday post.  Her guest blogger this Tuesday was Sarah from A Little of This, A Little of That.  Sarah made the most adorable little girl's American flag shirt.  Seriously. To. Die. For.

Don't take my word for it though, see for yourself:

I am pretty sure I have to make this for my little Taelie-girl now.

In fact, as soon as she wakes up from her nap, I just might have to run to the store.

Yup.  I'm gonna have to.

The best part is, all of these girls gave us tutorials so we can be as crafty as them!  Score!  Just click on the links with their names and you'll be taken right to their sites.  (Nope, no one paid me to advertise these girls -- no one knows I'm here, I'm a newbie!  I just love these ideas that much!)

What are you waiting for?  Get busy crafting!  Have you seen any other to-die-for 4th ideas that I've missed? If so, let me know, and I'd LOVE to check them them out!