Nursery 'Art'

I must be getting into the 'nesting' phase of this pregnancy because I can't stop making things for the nursery.

After many hours spent perusing Pinterest, I was feeling inspired to be artsy.  I am not a particularly artsy person, I don't even draw stick people well, so I had to keep my art inspiration realistic.

I wanted to put a bible verse up in the nursery somehow, and decided this would be the perfect way.

I chose 1 Samuel 1:27:

'I prayed for this child, and the Lord granted me what I asked of him'

This verse couldn't be more true for me and the hubby.  We have been praying for this baby for nearly three years, and God answered our prayers - in his time.  And for that I am thankful (what an understatement).

I started with a canvas from Michaels.  It was a two pack for $12.99.

And alphabet letters.  I bought three packs for on sale for $2.99 each.

First, I put one coat of white paint one the canvas to get a nice base for the lettering.

While the paint was drying, I cut out the letter stickers so I would be able to test out spacing before sticking them on the canvas.  It was a good thing I bought three packs of the letters as I had to go into all three!

Then I drew pencil lines on the canvas so everything would be straight and threw everything down (in an extremely methodical way).

I borrowed one of the hubby's paint brushes and put two coats on the canvas.

To help the drying process along (because I am impatient), I brought out my hairdryer.  It's multi-functional that way.

After peeling off the letters, here is the finished result:

There was a little bit of bleeding on some of the letters, and the edges aren't as crisp as I was expecting, but I kind of like how its not perfect.

I think it looks great in the nursery.  I'm pretty sure that its home will be above the change table, but we'll have to see!

Fit For A Prince

Who knew fitted crib sheets would so easy!  Not me.  I was intimidated at the thought of them, but thankfully I found a ridiculously simple tutorial that was simple to follow and fool proof.

Dana over at MADE could not have made it simpler.

Here's the fabric I started with:

One note I want to make (because this didn't even occur to me when I  was buying my fabric) is to make sure that your fabric is at least 45 inches wide.  The two outside fabrics were only 44 inches wide, and the middle was only 41 inches.

I decided to give it a shot with the 44 inch wide fabric - and it turned out great! But I wouldn't try it with fabric that was less than that.

Each sheet took me about an hour with the most time consuming part of the process being ironing the casing down, and then threading the elastic through the casing.  But, both of those processes are wonderful when paired with a good TV show.

Here is the result of my first attempt:

I was probably a little too proud of myself after finishing this, but come on!  It's a fitted sheet!  Made by me!  All by myself!

I think it looks pretty fantastic.

Since making this one, I have made one more out of the striped fabric.  I will probably do one or two more once I get some more fabric.

Now the crib is ready for a baby!

Consider The Crib Skirted.

Despite how it appears on my blog, I have been busy!

In the last couple of weeks, I have made the crib skirt and two fitted crib sheets.  I wasn't originally planning on making my own crib bedding, but decided to give it a shot.  I'm so glad I did!

I had scoured the Internet for crib skirt tutorials, and honestly, they all looked like so much work. And why would you ever want to do more work that was absolutely necessary?  Never.

I forgot to take pictures of the process, but all I did was take the measurements of the three sides of the metal mattress spring thing, add a 1/2 inch seam allowance, made my cuts, hemmed each piece, added velcro to the top of each piece, and stuck velcro to the crib spring.

Easy peasy, lemon squeezy.

This is what I ended up with:

View fron the front

View from the side.

I'm thrilled with how it turned out.

The hardest part for me was the measuring and cutting the fabric, but it all worked out in the end.

Making it myself, I got exactly what I wanted for a lot cheaper than what I would have paid if I bought it in store.

Menu Plan Monday - Week 168

Time flies when you're getting ready for a baby!  And Christmas!

I'm gonne keep this one short and sweet.

Here's what we're eating this week:

Monday: Sausage Penne Pasta

Tuesday: Chicken Cordon Blue, Scalloped Potatoes & Veggies

Wednesday: Home made Pizza

Thursday: Broccoli & Sun Dried Tomato Pasta

This weekend is going to be a busy one! A Christmas party every night!  I'm tired already.

As always, linking up with OrgJunkie!

Happy Meal Planning!

Menu Plan Monday - Week 166

Look at me, so on top of it this week!  Writing this post before Monday!  I'm patting myself on the back right now - a very sore and achy back.

This week, the hubby celebrates his birthday!  That is what really signals the beginning of the Christmas season.  It also helps that we usually decorate the house before his birthday.

I love it, and him.  It's nothing but love over here.

Here's what we're eating this week:

Monday:  Leftover lasagna

Tuesday:  Shake & Bake Chicken, Mashed Potatoes, Corn, Broccoli & Carrots

Wednesday: Sausage Penne Pasta

Thursday: The hubby's birthday!  Meal out maybe?

Our weekends are already starting to fill up!  It's amazing how December does that!

As always, linking up with OrgJunkie!

Closet Clothing Dividers

Pinterest is good for so many things.  Aside from wasting time, it gave me the idea to make dividers for the closet in the nursery.

It is such an easy way to know what you've got for your little one so that you make sure they wear it all before they outgrow it!

I started taking pictures a little late in the process, and was doing this at night, so the pictures are kind of crappy... anyways.

Start with some cardboard, I used cereal boxes.

I grabbed something circular out of the kitchen and traced in onto the cardboard, connected the two circles with lines, and made sure to create a slot so it would fit on the closet rod.

After all that, this was what I was left with:

I then traced used that one as a template to make duplicates.

I made a stop at Michaels and picked up some scrap book paper in the colors that I will be using in the nursery.  The paper cost me about $1.59.  A steal!

I lucked out and was able to use one sheet of paper per divider.  I cut the paper in half and used spray adhesive to make it all come together.

After a little more cutting, I was left with these:

I think they are pretty adorable, and practical, which makes me love them even more!

They look pretty fantastic in the closet (the closet has since been painted blue) and is already dividing up some of his cute little clothes!

And in case you were wondering, those are two Halloween costumes filed under 9 - 12 months there.  Don't ask me why I've got costumes already - they were a good deal and I couldn't resist.

So here is project #1 in the (hopefully) many I will be doing for the nursery.

Only 14 weeks to go til he arrives!

Menu Plan Monday - Week 165

The hubby and I returned from our Hawaiian vacation very early Sunday morning.  We had a great time relaxing and dong nothing - which I know we will not be able to do much of once our little bundle arrives.

I love vacationing but it by the end of the trip I find that I am craving some good home cooked meals. And vegetables, you never eat enough vegetables on vacation.

Here's what we're having this week:

Monday: Stir Fry (lots of veggies!)

Tuesday:  Slow Cooker Chili

Wednesday: Family Birthday Dinner out

Thursday: I'm out - hubby is fending for himself.  Don't think he knows that yet.

As always, linking up with Org Junkie!  

Happy meal planning!

Menu Plan Monday - Week 163

Oh man, how did I miss last week?  I thought about posting... but then just forgot.

The hubs and I celebrated four years of marriage on Friday.  I can't believe it has already been that long!  It feels like forever - in a good way.   I'm anticipating that our fifth year of marriage is going to be amazing!

Anyways, on to food.  Here's what we're eating this week:

Monday:  Chicken Cordon Blue, roasted potatoes, broccoli & carrots

Tuesday:  Family Dinner Out

Wednesday:  Frozen Chili (left over homemade stuff!), garlic bread

Thursday:  Mom's Chicken Recipe (have to get it from her before Thursday!) mashed potatoes, niblet corn & broccoli

As always, I will be linking up with Org Junkie.

On another note, I made my first thing for the nursery!  It's not anything big, but it's a start and I will share it this week!

It's a BOY!!

At my ultrasound appointment last week, we were able to find out that we're having a boy!  We could not be happier!  I may have shed a few tears.

Here's our little man:

Adorable, right? Well, as adorable as ultrasound photo's can be!

Now that we know the gender, we can start the nursery!

And Pinterest has quickly become my biggest time waster as I search for cute baby boy stuff.

As we get going I'll post about it!

Menu Plan Monday - Week 161

Time flies.  Didn't even realize I hadn't posted anything in the last two weeks.  Bad me...

Well, here's what we're eating this week:

Monday:  I'm out with some girlfriends, so hubby is fending for himself

Tuesday:  Veggie & Pesto Pasta

Wednesday:  Homemade Pizza

Thursday:  Grilled Cheese Sandwiches

As always, I'm linking up with Org Junkie!

Gloria's Baby Shower!

Way back on July 10th, I threw a baby shower for my sister-in-law Katie and her first baby, Gloria.  I know - that was a long time ago.  Better late than never, right?

As soon as Katie told me she was pregnant, I began mentally planning her shower.  I was so excited to do this for her.  I had the basic framework of the shower planned but couldn't really go all out until Gloria was born and we found out that it was a girl!  

I had big plans for this shower, and most of them came to fruition, but the first trimester of my pregnancy got to me, so I didn't finish everything that I had envisioned but I still think it all turned out great.

I wanted to make/have things for the shower that Katie could take home as a reminder of the shower, and to use in Gloria's nursery.

I enlisted the help of a super talented scrapbooker that I work with, the uber-fantastic Hayley to create this:

It turned out way better than the version that I created in my mind.  It created such a wonderful centrepiece for the room.

And even better is that Katie was able to use this for Gloria's nursery.  Fantastic.

I bought the birth announcement off an Etsy shop called Tilly Claire's.  I absolutely loved it, and was excited that it was another item for Katie to take home after the shower.

Here are some more pictures:

Terrible lighting on this picture, but I wanted to show you that I made a cake! With pink icing! And put it on a table next to three different kinds of Jelly Belly's!  Yum.

And look at three quarters of the room.  I had to try to squeeze around 30 people in a room that was not big enough for 30.  We all made it work though.  Too bad I forgot to take pictures when there were people in the chairs... :( 

That 'G' in the bottom right corner? I did that.  Well, I bought a cardboard letter, and then painted it, and mod-podged fabric scraps on the top.  Another decorative touch that Katie got to take home.

The loot!

The beautiful momma lounging in the midst of all Gloria's new stuff!

And now for my favorite part - the quilt and baby photo!

Little Gloria is such a gift to our family and I was blessed to be able to throw this shower for Katie.  It was such a wonderful day that was spent with family and friends enjoying each others company and good food (a big thanks to my other sister-in-laws Linda & Nicole for helping with the food, along with my mom and mother-in-law).

I love babies.  Good thing that in 4 1/2 months I'll have my own!

Pumpkin Anyone?

I love fall.  Absolutely LOVE it.

There is nothing I don't love about it.

One of the great things that go along with Fall, is pumpkins.  Pumpkins for decoration and for eating.

I have never cooked or baked with pumpkin before so when I found this recipe I had to give it a shot.  It also helped that it was full of sugar and cinnamon and a maple glaze.

Thanks to a friend at work, I was sent this recipe and was sold.

I felt like this took forever to make (you need to let it rise twice for an hour each time) but it was worth it.

I forgot to take a picture of it before the hubby and I dug in, but this is what my version looked like:

Sorry for the poor picture quality, my phone was the only 'camera' I had handy.

I definitely recommend this recipe!

So yummy.

Menu Plan Monday - Week 158

Just because I wasn't blogging over the summer, doesn't mean I stopped menu planning.  I don't think I could function without planning my meals.

Now that I'm pregnant, I'm attempting to eat healthier.  Those that know me, know that I am not the best eater out there.  I tend to lean towards the quick and easy when it comes to snacking and meals.  A bag of chips and a pop was a standard lunch for me.

So, in the vain of eating healthy, I'm throwing lots of vegetables in to the mix.  

Here's what we're eating this week:

Monday:   Rosemary Ranch Chicken Kabobs with Rice (I'll be adding veggies to the skewers)

Tuesday:   Homemade Lasagna (I'll be throwing a lot of veggies in the normally veggie free sauce along with using ground turkey instead of ground beef and italian sausage)

Wednesday: Chicken Cordon Blue, Roasted Potatoes, Broccoli & Carrots

Thursday:   Healthy Homemade Mac & Cheese (there's a full butternut squash and head of cauliflower in this thing!)  This one is a new recipe too.  Hope it's good!

Here's to a healthy week - or well intentioned attempt at a healthy week.  At least my dinners will be healthy.

As always, I'll be linking up with OrgJunkie.

Happy Menu Planning!

Long Time, No Blog.

It has been far too long since I've posted.  It's not like I haven't thought about it, I have, a lot.  But there was something that was distracting me from blogging:

I'm pregnant!!

I'm 18 weeks along now (4 1/2 months) and feeling fantastic.  Although, at the beginning, was not feeling so fantastic.  Which led to the extreme lack of posting and extreme increase in napping.

We are so excited to be pregnant, it has been such a long road to get here (2 1/2 years to be precise).  After going through multiple doctors visits, blood tests, and an investigative surgery, we discovered that it was all about timing.  Clearly not our timing, or else this would have happened 2 1/2 years ago.  This was definitley God's timing.

With the extreme lack of posting, this also led to an extreme lack of checking up on my favorite blogs... which led to zero creativity and zero projects in the last three months (not that I had the energy).

I'm excited to get back in the blogging game and get my creative juices flowing!

I know I'll have lots to post about in the coming months with getting ready for baby and all that entails.

Here's a few things to look forward to:

• we're getting the built-in entertainment centre done in the living room! So excited about how this is going to change the look of our living area.
• Changing the office into the nursery! And losing my craft room to the new office... :(
• I felt like there was more when I started this list, but turns out thats all I can think of right now.

Thank you all for being so patient!

Menu Plan Monday - Week 147

Oh man.... where the heck did last week go?

Oh right, getting ready for the baby shower I was throwing for my sister-in-law, Katie.  I'm happy to report, all went well.  I'm excited to show you some of the pictures!

Here's what we're eating this week:

Monday: BBQ'd Burgers

Tuesday: Hubby is fending for himself - I'm going out with some girl friends

Wednesday: Broccoli & Sun Dried Tomato Pasta (carried over from last week)

Thursday: Chicken Cordon Blue, Veggies & Rice.

And then on Saturday, we are heading up to Penticton for four days with the Hubby's side of the family.  I am really looking forward to the time away of rest and relaxation - and boy, I need it.

As always, linking up with Org Junkie.

Happy Menu Planning!

Menu Plan Monday - Week 146

Sorry this is posted late!  You'd think with the long weekend we just had that I would have been on top of it and even had some posts banked - but you'd be wrong.  Where did the weekend go?!

Here's what we're eating this week:

Monday: Fettuccine Aflredo w Grilled Chicken
Tuesday: BBQ'd Steak, Baked Potatoes & Veggies
Wednesday: Kraft Dinner (It's a busy night!)
Thursday: Brocolli & Sun Dried Tomato Pasta

As always, I'll be linking up with Org Junkie!

New Home For The Trunk!

We finally got our living room re-arranged with our new furniture (two recliners and a couch from Lay-z-Boy) and found a new home for the antique steamer trunk that my hubby re-did.

This is what our living room looked like before:

And now, this is what the area by the window looks like:

Doesn't the trunk look perfect there?  I think so.  Unfortunately I had to shut the blinds to take the picture but I love the way it looks with the blinds open, light shining in, and our pretty trunk in all its glory right in the middle.

I love the way it looks, like the hubby intentionally refinished it to coordinate with the recliners.

It just worked out so well.

In other living room news, see the small entertainment unit against the wall?

With our new furniture, it looked so heavy and bulky, and I just plain hated it.  The hubby and I have been talking for MONTHS about what to do to hold all of our electronic 'stuff'.

Ideally we want to do a built in around the fireplace.  Something like this:

Who knows when that will happen.

But in the meantime, we kept it simple by visiting one of the best stores ever.

LOVE it there.

The hubby took a 2x2 Expedit bookcase:

And made it work for us by turning it into this:

He took out the top divider and put in two shelves that would fit our PVR, Xbox, Wii and Bose system.

I lurve the way this looks, or will look, once I get another basket, cut out the back and hide all those cords on the left side.  Geesh, what an eyesore.  Didn't realize that until I uploaded the photo the this post!

Oh well.

It looks so much better than the old TV stand.  Much lighter looking and airier... if thats a word.

I love it when projects work out!

Menu Plan Monday - Week 145

So, last weeks menu plan worked 50% of the time.  We had two of the four planned meals.  I like it when that happens, because it made this weeks menu plan so much easier to create!

Here we go:

Monday: Spicy Mediterranean Wraps

Tuesday: Rotisserie Chicken (from PriceMart) & Veggies

Wednesday: Slow Cooker Chili

Thursday: BBQ'd Hamburgers

As always, I'll be linking this post to Org Junkie.  Head on over to Laura's blog to get some awesome dinner idea's!

I Won An Award... No Big Deal

While perusing my Google Reader earlier this week, I discovered that I was given two awards!!

I never win anything, so I am thrilled about this.  I may have gasped out loud when I saw I got these (If Jasper could talk, he would verify)!  I was perusing a fav blog of mine, Excuse Me At The Table & Please. Stefanie felt that I deserved these awards and I am so thankful.

With these awards, comes responsibility

1.) Link back to the person who gave it to you (done!)

2.) Share seven things about myself

             1. I have been married almost four years to the most amazing man I have ever met.

              2. Like Stefanie, I also sleep with a stuffed animal (my Popples) and my baby blanket.

I'm sure at some point my Popples looked like this, but not anymore.

             3. I started being 'crafty' only a year and a half ago thanks to one of my best friends Amanda

           

This was before we went to see 'So You Think You Can Dance' a few years ago.
We often dress alike unintentionally, but this was definitely intentional

             4. I like the idea of gardening more than the actual act of gardening.  That would explain why                         my garden looks the way it does right now.  No picture necessary.

             5. I often feel 'over-inspired' after going through my Google-Reader and seeing all the awesome blog posts.  This causes me to shut down, and not be crafty.

             6. I love going on Vacation.  I mean, who doesn't.  We tend to vacation every six months.  Since I've been married, my husband and I have gone to Mexico, Miami (twice), Jamaica, Maui (twice), and a 10 day Caribbean Cruise.

             7. Every time I gain a new follower I do a little happy dance. Especially now that the ratio of people I know to people I don't is extremely heavy on the people I don't know side.

3.) Award 15 other new, or newly discovered bloggers.  Well, these are not all new, but they have been inspirations for me and are some of my absolute faves!

1. Freshly Minted Librarian
2. I Heart Organizing
3. I'm an Organizing Junkie
4. Film In The Fridge
5. Home Stories A to Z
6. Just A Girl
7. The Pleated Poppy
8. Young House Love
9. Beneath My Heart
10. A Thoughtful Place
11. Clean & Scentsible
12. Crafty Sisters
13. Little Miss Momma
14. Sassy Sanctuary
15. Thrifty Decor Chick

Thanks again for the award Stefanie!