Thursday, December 29, 2011

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!

Thursday, December 22, 2011

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!

Thursday, December 15, 2011

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.

Monday, December 12, 2011

Menu Plan Monday - Week 168

Photobucket

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:

Tuesday: Chicken Cordon Blue, Scalloped Potatoes & Veggies
Wednesday: Home made Pizza

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!