Handmade gift exchange, round 2

If you remember, back in December I was a part of the Handmade Gift Exchange hosted by Craftaholics Anonymous. I fell in love with it. I mean, how often do you get to be introduced to a stranger that you get to make a personalized gift for?! SUCH a wonderful idea! Just another reason why I love to blog.

This time I was paired up with the sweet Anna from a la carte. After a few e-mail exchanges it didn't take long for me to decide on what I would make for her..a plaque that says "JOY" just like the "BABY" plaque I made here.

Clothes dividers

Just in case you missed seeing my guest post over at Craftaholics Anonymous on Friday, I thought I'd share one of my latest projects: clothes dividers for Baby Girl's nursery.

Weeks 15-17

Wow, the time has flown by since my last pregnancy update thanks to my never-ending to do lists!

I wanted to start off this post by saying thank you to all of my new followers! I absolutely love blogging and crafting/decorating and to see others enjoying my work makes it even more worth while! I know several new followers have seen my posts about our journey as a family (if you've missed some of the posts I updated my labels and added "fertility" and "pregnancy" to the list) and I just wanted to let you know that I am praying for you. I know that some days finding the strength to do every day tasks is like pulling teeth. I know that other days all you want to do is cry but you're continually surrounded by people and can't. I'd like to say that one day this pain and heartache will all make sense, but I still don't fully understand why our journey took some of the twists it did, but it did, and in the end I think we're better for it all.

Guest post at Craftaholics anonymous

Even though I'm not posting on my own blog today I hope you all head over to Craftaholics Anonymous and check out my guest post. She is one of my absolute favorite bloggers and tweeters and I'm so happy to be her special guest of the day!

I shared a tutorial on how to make clothes dividers for the closet, you won't want to miss it! :) You can find my tutorial here.

To do lists

This morning I felt my first twinge of nesting. Peter's response, "You started nesting 14 months ago." Psh. Whatev. ;)

I then simply told him, "No honey that was decorating and crafting. I mean I want to pull everything out and start from scratch. If we haven't used it in the past 6 months it's gone." I said something well-thought out like that..or I just said, "No, nesting is redoing everything," without much of an explanation. Words, shmerds.

Diaper bag

A few weeks ago I went over to my parents' house to hang out and lay out with my mom. While there she surprised me with my DREAM diaper bag filled with goodies for Bebe! I was on cloud 9!

Ever since my friend introduced me to Petunia Pickle Bottom I've been in love. I'm not a designer-name kind of gal by any means, but this collection makes me drool. Particularly this bag:

The Petunia Pickle Bottom Glazed Boxy Backpack in Sunshine in Sardinia

We haven't forgotten

I received a really sweet comment the other day on one of my posts from one of my favorite bloggers that got me to thinking..not a day goes by that some part of our journey over the past year and a half does not play out in my head.

We have not forgotten the heartache, the tears, the prayers, or the hole we felt for so long as we waited on the Lord to show us His plan for us as parents.

Nursery reveal, pt 1

It's officially time for part 1 of Baby Ellwood's nursery reveal, thanks to my best friend who happens to be a fabulous photographer, Taylor Lord. Seriously, she is one of the best and she deserves all the credit for this reveal actual happening so soon.

Back when we moved in this is what the "workout/reading" room looked like:

No, we did not paint the walls those colors or chose that carpet. It was just plan ugly and it quickly became the catch-all room.

Reading nook

I officially have a reading/nursing nook in our living room and I love it.

You can see in photos from our first month in the house that we had our Christmas tree in the far corner. The rest of the year the dark wood table to the right of the tree is in the corner. You can also see that our house has changed a lot over the past year and a half..the wall color, curtains, decor style, you name it. 

Book dividers

I'm organized. I like to organize. I like when things are organized.

If you were unaware of these facts before, I guarantee you'll leave this post highly aware of my craziness.

After organizing my children's books in Baby Girl's closet I realized I wanted a cute way to keep them alphabetized. Yes, that says alphabetized and yes, you may laugh (a little).

For once in my life I came up with an idea all on my own. 

Ottomans

When it came to ordering our glider the sales women were adamant that we order the matching ottoman. $200 for an ottoman? I think not.

Thanks to Pinterest I soon decided that I needed to have a small squishy soft white ottoman that cost a whopping 100 buckaroos. 

Thanks to Craigslist I remembered that I'm better than falling for that hoopla so I got these two ottomans for $20 total. Not only are they solid with great padding, but they're on rollers. They can be additional seating since they're 17" high and/or one can be used as a cushion for my feet during those late nights.

Gender reveal party details

I've been anxiously waiting to share these fabulous detailed pictures of our gender reveal party with you. A huge thanks goes out to my dear friend, Taylor Lord for not only attending our special event but for documenting all of the little details that I worked so hard on. Baby Girl will love looking at these one day, thanks Tay!

Burlap and a box

Another random post from yours truly. 

A while back I found these burlap balls from Sweet Little Smoothie through a linky party (I believe). Once again I thought, "Why didn't I think of that?!" I mean, I've Mod Podged scrapbook paper onto eggs, why not burlap. Gr. Anywho, a few weekends ago while the Hubster was playing golf I started and finished about 6 projects, this being one of those 6. 3 are in the living room and 3 in Baby's room.

Gender reveal party

In case you've missed it, this past Friday, June 10th, we had our gender reveal party where we shared with our family and closest friends that we are having a precious baby GIRL. :) Here's how it all went down:

The party began at 7:00 with mingling and snacks. There were confetti cupcakes, veggies and dip, chips and sauces (including guacamole since baby was the size of an avocado..even though I don't like guac), sausage wraps, fruit, and of course some yummy punch.

Baby Ellwood is a..

And we couldn't be more excited! 

This past Tuesday, June 7th, Peter and I went to see the Maternal-Fetal doctor for my follow-up blood work for the Down Syndrome/Trisomy 18 testing. As she promised she did an ultrasound for free since she couldn't tell Baby's gender last time we saw her.

Paint sticks

I love Pinterest. If you don't know what that is it is my new favorite site to find ideas and inspiration. There are thousands upon thousands of pictures to look through and "pin" to your idea boards and I'm a little bit obsessed with it. (If you have your own page, check mine out here.)

Thankfully that obsession has been put to good use because it totally helped me put together Bebe's ADORABLE nursery which I cannot wait to share and it helped me with this little project.

Curtains

I've had a few people "hounding" me to post about our new curtains, ahem, Tay, so here it is.

It all started with the nursery. I knew I wanted neutral curtains in there that either blocked out heat or blocked out heat and sunlight. I'm not a sew-er in any way shape of form so I knew that wasn't an option so I set out looking online.

I found three I liked one at Target, one at JcPenney, and one at Ikea. After looking at them more closely I opted for the Ikea set and boy am I happy with my decision. It is the Merete pair of curtains that are a whopping 98" long, $20 total, and help block out heat. How could I possible go wrong?!

Gender reveal party crafts

A glimpse at the gender reveal party set for this Friday..WOOHOO! Key word: glimpse, but don't worry, I added in some tutorials for those of you who want a bit more. More pictures to come next week. :)

This was $2 at a church fundraiser and has been turned into a chalkboard for some Old Wives Tales action.

Nursery shelves

For the most part I know what I want on the different walls in the nursery. Of course I wanted a place to decorate with little odds and ends and that I could spruce up for holidays and such. The solution? Two shelves in the glidder area of the room.

My plan was to either:

1) have the Hubster use some of the wood we have left in the garage

2) have the Hubster cut up the closet doors we removed

c) find something at a yard sale

Dresser #3

As you probably know I was on the hunt to find the perfect dresser for the nursery. I thought I had found one but when we arrived at our set time with the seller she informed us that she had already sold it. Thanks for telling us lady after we picked up our in-laws van and drove out of our way to come look at it. Punk.

Well, she had this dresser on hand and since it was our second or third time someone sold my "dream" dresser before we arrived I just went with it. It cost $50 and is solid, solid wood..with fantastic old newspaper drawer lining. Sorry, I was a dingbat and forgot to take a picture with all the drawers in it before painting. Fail.

Various nursery projects

I warned you, some of my posts will be extremely hodge podged, but that's the story of my crafty life right now. Enjoy.

I don't know what I'm doing with this yet but I thought I'd go ahead and share it. Back when I transformed my Craigslist dresser to our TV stand I took out two of the drawers to accommodate for our DVR/Blu Ray player and the Hubby's XBOX. Of course I didn't throw them away so they've just been sitting in our garage..since December.

Blah to Wow

I have a lot of random posts coming your way and until I do the big nursery reveal you're just going to have to bare with me and try to enjoy the small things. :)