Finishing Touches in the Nursery

 

The nursery has been finished for several weeks now.  I hope to have the big reveal ready for you in the next post but I thought that I would share some small finishing touches in the nursery.  First of all, I purchased a can of gold spray paint for the curtain rod in the room but I got so much use out of it beyond that.  Above you can see the fox lamp that I purchased at World Market.  He used to be black but that was boring so I spray painted him gold.  Isn't he cute?

I also spray painted the cheap plastic frame that houses the "Lefse Norwegian for Love" print.

You may remember the frame that I spray painted gold to add to the wall with the string art.  I said in that post that the photo in the frame was just a placeholder.  Here is the updated frame:

I love this photo of my grandpa and grandma and my grandpa's siblings and their spouses.  My Great Aunt Lyla is on the right side.  The frame mat is just some scrapbooking paper that I had on hand.

I also spray painted the top of this canister that I found at HomeGoods.  The handle is a cabinet knob from Hobby Lobby that I glued to the canister top with E6000 glue.  I have little things stored in the canister like a thermometer, pacifiers, nail clippers, and a nasal aspirator.

I also wanted to finally update you on the cloth diaper storage in the room.  We have decided to go the cloth diaper route part time.  We plan on using cloth diapers when we are at home with baby.  To store the diapers I found some media storage baskets at Target

To attach them to the wall I needed anchors, washers and screws.

I started by cutting pieces of newspapers to the size of the bottom of the baskets.  I then pushed the screws through each of the 4 corners for each basket.  I pushed the newspaper on to the screws to mark the spots where I needed to drill.

Then I taped the newspaper pieces to the wall, making sure to check that each one was level and evenly spaced.

I drilled holes for the anchors in the spots that I marked and removed the newspapers.  Then I inserted the anchors.

Then I just screwed the baskets to the wall placing a washer between the screw head and the basket. The baskets fit about 6 BumGenius diapers.  The diapers pull out easily without taking all of the other diapers with them.

For a diaper pail we decided to use two small SimpleHuman trash cans: one for cloth diapers and one for disposable diapers.  I made the labels using my Silhouette Portrait and gold adhesive vinyl.  The cloth diaper pail is lined with a reusable liner.

I finally filled the bookshelf in the room.  I found the storage baskets at HomeGoods.  Two of them are currently empty but the other one is filled with toys that my nieces have outgrown thanks to my awesome sister-in-law.  The storage boxes are from Michaels and contain manuals from all the new gadgets that we needed for this little baby.  Well that is all for now but the big reveal is coming soon so stay tuned!

State String Art

It is hard to believe that almost all of my nursery projects are finished now and all that is left to do is clean things up.  But I guess I am almost 35 weeks and I am taking a two week class starting week after next so it is a good thing that the room is pretty much done.

Today I have a post on some more decor for the room.  String art is such an easy project and it looks so cool.  I chose to make string art with the states of North Dakota, Oklahoma, and Kansas since we have family living in all of the those states. I found the states in the Silhouette online store and they happened to be the perfect size to fit on the wood plaques that I bought at Hobby Lobby.  I put hearts on each of the states in cities where I have lived or have family or both.  I cut the states on contact paper using my Silhouette.  I then stained the wood plaques with some leftover stain from another project.

I put the contact paper states on the plaques using transfer tape.  Then I started nailing in the small linoleum nails around the edge of the states and inside the heart.  I found that using a small pair of needle nose pliers to hold the nails in place while I hammered them in made the task much easier. It took me several days to complete this task because I could only do one before I needed a break with my pregnancy carpal tunnel.

Next I removed the contact paper.

I didn't take any pictures of wrapping the string but I used embroidery thread and started by tying it to one corner of the state.  Then I wrapped it around part of the heart and then went back and wrapped it around the next nail on the edge of the state.  I continued this until I got all around the state.  Of course the heart nails will be used several times each since there are less of them.

They turned out exactly as I had envisioned them so that made me happy.  Tying the string was a little frustrating because my string kept getting tangled up as I was trying to wrap it but it was worth it.

I put these up on the wall behind the glider with a few other art pieces.

I found the gold frame in a closet.  It was a plain wood frame that I spray painted gold.  The picture that is in it is one that I took in college but I plan on replacing it with something else.  The bottom piece is a simple project that I put together with a frame that I found at TJ Maxx.

The print is just the page of an old atlas that I bought at a used book store for another project that I will be sharing soon.  It is Mexico.  I chose that page because my mother-in-law is from Mexico.  I cut the phrase "oh the places you'll go" out on gold adhesive vinyl which I happened to have in my craft closet using my Silhouette.  I used transfer tape to place the vinyl on the glass of the frame.  It was a super simple project and it turned out to be so cute.  

So that is another completed piece of the nursery for you.  I still have 3 or 4 projects left to share with you in this room and then you will have to wait a little bit for the big room reveal post.  Next up on the blog will be the 4th installment in my Sewing for Baby series.

Twinkle Christmas Art

Christmas is one of my favorite seasons but as a music teacher it is also one of my busiest seasons.  I spent the month of November prepping my students for Christmas concerts that have been happening over the past two weeks.  I spend a lot of time outside of the school day working on Christmas program related things which doesn't leave much time for projects at home.  I have, however, found time to decorate the house for Christmas and my decorations include one new addition in the form of an art project which I am excited to share with you today.

O Holy Night is one of my favorite Christmas carols so I thought a piece of art featuring the carol would be a perfect addition to my Nativity scene.  For this project I used an art canvas, a print of O Holy Night sheet music on card stock (click here to print your own), Mod Podge, Silhouette brand adhesive vinyl, a foam brush, a battery powered string of lights, and dark blue craft paint.

I used the Mod Podge to attached the card stock music sheet to the canvas.  I applied the glue to the canvas and the back of the card stock.  After it dried I applied a layer of the glue over the top of the card stock.  There were a few bubbles but they aren't noticeable in the finished art so I didn't mind.

Next, I created the word file in my Silhouette software.  I chose to make some of the words script and others more bold.  I then cut the words out on adhesive vinyl.

I then put the letters on the vinyl using transfer paper.  I applied a very light coat of Mod Podge over the letters to prevent bleeding of the craft paint. I then painted the entire canvas with the blue paint. It took a couple of coats.  Once it dried a little bit I started to remove the letters.  If I did this project again I would have waited for the paint to dry completely because some of the paint lifted up as I was removing the letter.

I used a box cutter to carefully remove the vinyl setters.

I realized later that I forgot to remove the vinyl letters for the word "it."  That is how I discovered that it worked a little better when you let the paint dry completely.

I used one of my small drill bits to put holes in the canvas and then poked the lights through.  I didn't end up putting all of the lights on the strand through the canvas.

I propped the canvas against the back of the built-in in our dining room next to the Nativity scene and then put the battery box for the lights behind the creche.  I interspersed the extra lights into the greenery in front of the canvas.

It was hard to get a clear picture for some reason so sorry for the bad pictures.  It looks so much cooler in person, trust me.  I will be back soon with a post on designing your own Christmas cards in Pixelmator and making address labels with the Silhouette cutting machines.  

Dry Erase Menu Board

I have been busy with my new Silhouette Portrait again.  I have wanted to make one of these menu boards for a while now and I am hoping that it helps me with meal planning. I have a tendency to be lazy and just want to order something or eat out if I don't have something planned.

This project was pretty simple.  I bought a long frame at Michaels and found this great graphic pinkish orangish wrapping paper at Target.

Just ignore the Mod Podge and brush in the picture.  I tried that method first and had too many issues with bubbles so I tried it a different way.

I took the frame backing and traced it on the wrapping paper and cut it out slightly bigger than the traced area.  Then I wrapped the edges over the the back of the frame backing and taped them down.  Then I put the backing back in the frame which took a little bit of effort but eventually I ended up with this:

 Then I designed the words in the Silhouette Design Studio software.

The fonts were ones that I downloaded.  The font for the word "menu" was called Fancy Pants and the font for the days was called Janda Apple Cobbler.  I bought the flourish and poppy at the Silhouette online store.  I thought the poppy would tie in nicely with my faux roman shade from this post. 

I printed the designs on black adhesive vinyl just like the labels for my spice jars.  

I really like how the black vinyl pops against the graphic background.

Then I hung it on the wall and wrote out the menu for the week.  There are a lot of leftover days because I work for the local independent league baseball team during the summer so I am not home for dinner very often.

Here is what this corner of the kitchen looks like with the addition of the menu board.  I like how it adds an extra pop of color.

I have also been working on organizing my kitchen cabinets so here is peek at some of the work I have done with that.

 

I should have taken a before but it was a crazy mess in there before.  I had thrown away all the rings that came with my measuring cup and spoon sets so I used some shower rings that I had hanging around.  It is nice to get them out of the drawers where it takes me forever to find the right size spoon.

Spice Jar Labels

So several months ago I posted this very long post on some kitchen updates that included the story of how I wanted to make one of those magnetic spice racks but it was a major fail so instead I ended up with this:

Well I have really enjoyed having my spices so accessible and organized but there has been one little problem.  The names of the spices are written in sharpie on the bottom of each jar which means that if I want to find out which spice is which I have to lift it out and check the bottom.  And while this might seem like a fun carnival game akin to picking rubber ducks out of a kiddie pool and checking the bottom to see if you won a prize, the game got really old really fast.  

So, enter my new toy: the Silhouette Portrait.  

You can find all the info on this awesome machine here. It is basically like a printer except it cuts a variety of materials including paper, cardstock, adhesive vinyl, fabric, etc.  I have been contemplating buying one for a while now so when I received some money for my birthday from my in-laws, I decided to take a leap and buy one.  I LOVE it!

My first project was making labels for my spice jars using adhesive vinyl.  I bought the label shape in the Silhouette online store.  The online store has tons of shapes for download that cost 99 cents a piece.  It is so much nicer than buying multiple cartridges of designs like other similar brands of cutting machines. There is also a featured free shape each week.  The font I used was called stencil and I think it was one that actually came with Microsoft Word but who knows now that I have so many free downloaded fonts.

 After putting all the labels on, I put them in alphabetical order to make them even easier to find.  I love the way they look.  This project was phase one in organizing my kitchen.  Yesterday I finished organizing everything inside the cabinets so the kitchen is nearing completion.  My next Silhouette project is a menu board for the kitchen wall.  I'll share as soon as I finish!