Burlap Bunting

Hello everyone! It feels like forever since I wrote a blog post.  In fact, it has been a whole month and as you might of guessed the reason for the hiatus is because of the birth of our sweet baby girl.  I published the post of the reveal of her nursery on the same day that my water broke!  I had no clue that she would be making her entrance into the world a few days before her due date.  I thought that she was going to be at least a week overdue.  Here is my sweet little Lyla in one of her awesome newborn photos from Exposures by J. Linnea:

That photo was taken at about 2 and a half weeks and now my baby is already one month old!  Today I took her one month photo.  The project that I am sharing today is a bunting that I made to use in her monthly photos.  

One of my first outings alone with the baby was a trip to Hobby Lobby to gather supplies for this project.  This was actually my second trip to Hobby Lobby with her but the first time that we didn't go in because the carts are too small to fit a car seat.  This trip I made sure to pack the stroller in the trunk so that I could enjoy the trip without having to lug a car seat around.  For this project I envisioned a combination of burlap and lace and Hobby Lobby had no shortage of items that fit my vision.  I was elated to find a pre-made burlap bunting as it made the project that much easier. I picked up some coral craft paint, lace ribbon, and various other odds and ends as well.

I made stencils of the letters of her name with my Silhouette Portrait and contact paper.  The font I used was just good old Times New Roman.

Next I applied the coral paint with a stencil dauber.  At first I didn't have a paper towel underneath and when I realized that I was painting my kitchen countertop I quickly grabbed one and shoved it underneath the burlap.  I can no longer blame this kind of thing on pregnancy brain but as a friend pointed out today I can blame it on lack of sleep.

Next, I cut pieces of lace ribbon to put at the top of each triangle of the bunting.  I attached the ribbon with a hot glue gun.

DO NOT use your fingers to press the ribbon into the glue.  Lace has holes and so does burlap so you will get burned.  I used a wooden dowel which I rolled over the ribbon to press it onto the glue.

On the end bunting pieces I attached some crochet looking ribbon and then glued on some burlap and lace flowers that I found at Hobby Lobby.

 I was loving how it turned out.  And then when I put it up with the rest of the stuff that I had gathered for her monthly photo shoots, I was really in love with how it turned out.

I hope you enjoyed my first post in a month.  I will be back with the rest of the story on the monthly photo shoots in my next post.  

Nursery Reveal

Well after months of hard work I am finally ready to reveal the nursery.  I say that it was hard work and it was but it was one of the most enjoyable projects that I have ever worked on.  It has also become one of my favorite rooms in the house which is good because I will be spending a lot of time in there! I took about 30 photos for this post and then weeded it down to 20.  Taking photos in the room is a little challenging because of the low ceiling and the brightness of the ceiling fan getting in the way.  The room looks even better in person!  Well enough of that, here are the photos:

 I also took a few photos with just the lamp on:

Here is a list of everything in the room.  If it is a product that you can buy online then I have tried to provide a link to the product.  If is is a project that I completed myself then I have linked to the blog post for that project.

Furniture:

1. Dresser-1950's antique dresser from antique store

2. Crib-Davinci Jenny Lind in white

3. Glider-thrift store purchase updated with slipcovers

4. Bookshelf-Threshold Carson 2-Shelf Bookcase in midtone cherry from Target

Decor
1. Cubby display case
2. Photo wall (prints ordered from shutterfly)
3. 3D Framed Monogram
4. Diaper Storage-media storage baskets from Target
5. Gold ceramic tray-baby shower gift
6. Glass canister-HomeGoods
7. Blackout curtain panels
8. Hot Air Balloon mobile
9. Wall shelf
10. "Lefse Norwegian for Love" print-craft fest purchase
11. Frames-TJ Maxx and Target
12. Vase-thrifted
13. Atlas Roses
14. Evening in Paris Perfume bottle-antique store
15. Peter Rabbit Music box-a gift from my grandmother when I was a child.
16. "Welcome Lyla" banner- decor from my baby shower made by my lovely shower hostesses
17. Oh the Places You'll Go art-frame from Gordmans
18. State String Art
19. Hot Air Balloon prints-from Etsy Shop PRRINT, frames from TJ Maxx
20. Fox lamp and shade from World Market-spray painted gold
21. Chalkboard Globe

Misc
1. Diaper pails-SimpleHuman trash cans
2. Crib sheet-Target
3. Pleated crib skirt
4. Storage baskets on bookshelf-HomeGoods
5. Storage Boxes on bookshelf-Michaels
6. Changing pad cover

So that is our little girl's vintage travel nursery.  I absolutely love everything about the room and I hope that you do too!

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!

Silhouette PixScan and Some Small House Updates

I am no stranger to making appliqued onesies.  They are so great for using up fabric scraps.  Here are some other onesies I have made:

When Silhouette came out with their PixScan technology I immediately thought of how much material I could save using it.  It also saves time because I can cut all the fabric parts for applique onesies at the same time.  Here is a run down of how PixScan works.

I laid my fabric scraps with the heat n' bond backing on the PixScan mat.

Then I took a photo of the mat with my iPhone.

Then I uploaded the photo into the Silhouette design software by clicking the PixScan icon.  Next I just dragged my designs over the correct fabric square.  When you go to cut your designs, the Silhouette reads the registration marks on the PixScan mat and then cuts your designs.  It was seriously that easy!  There are many other uses for PixScan but this one will certainly be one of my favorites.

I also have some small house updates for you today.  They aren't super exciting but I am happy to have them taken care of before baby gets here.

First of all, about a month ago my husband decided to finish installing the quarter round in the master bedroom.  We started this project a LONG time ago.  Unfortunately we cut half of the pieces incorrectly and so we had to order more quarter round.  Lowes took forever to get it in and then they lost our order in the store so that when we went to pick it up, no one could locate our order!  By that time it was winter and we didn't want to be going back and forth between our unattached garage to cut the pieces.  I am so glad that my husband finished it because I was tired of looking at those quarter round pieces just hanging around.

I also finally hung my degrees up in the office.  As a gift for my masters commencement my parents paid for the custom framing of my undergrad and masters degrees.  I didn't want to hang them up until the office was painted so that is why it took so long (I graduated with my masters 2 years ago)

That is it for my quick post today.  Today I also edited the photos for a post on all the finishing touches in the nursery and I also took photos of the nursery so that I can post the big nursery reveal soon!  Check back in the near future for those posts.