A Himmeli Inspired Mobile

I love making items for my babies. When I saw this post on the Oh Joy! blog many months ago, I pinned it, knowing that something like this would be so beautiful as a baby mobile. 

I found the paper fans in JoAnn's along with the bells and bought the paper straws at Target. 

red straws
red rosettes
silver rosettes
silver bells (here them ring...)

There are a lot of paper online resources for additional colors and patterns if the stores don't have what you're looking for. Pro tip though - the mini silver rosettes from Joann's come with tiny clothespins that are perfect for assembling the mobiles.

I wasn't sure exactly what I would end up making, so I used all the images over on Oh Joy! as inspiration and just went from there. The pdf is really easy to follow and gives far better images and instructions than I could ever hope to try and give.  

I then screwed some eye hooks into the ceiling above Holland's crib. Or should I say, the husband screwed some eye hooks above Holland's crib while moved his elbow to exactly where I thought the drill bit should go. Teamwork. 

I love how they turned out and Holland loves them as well.  I just give them a little push and she's in a trance. Baby hypnosis. I am thinking of adding one more.  Holland's room theme is supposed to be kind of French with creamy walls and red, baby blue, and gray accents so I'm thinking of finding some baby blue to contrast all the red. I'd love to give you all a tour of her nursery as soon as I get figured out where a painting is going.

Blanket for a Baby

No, not my baby, but a sweet baby girl who is actually due today! I cannot wait to see her little face and hopefully meet her very soon :)

I made her big sister a baby blanket for her arrival (although the blanket ended up being a Christmas gift about 5 months late) so I knew I wanted to make one for my new little niece too.  I decided to try and copy the "super easy baby blanket" by purl bee and choose some super chunky yarn in colors chosen for new baby by my sister: purple and yellow.

I quickly realized that I did not have enough yarn.  I cast on around 120 stitches and it ended up making a blanket probably as wide as the crib.

After I figured out how much yarn I actually needed, the blanket didn't take too long to make.  I used the pattern k-2, p-2, k-2, p-2, etc. and then reversed the stitch on the next row.

I think it turned out pretty.

Little niece-poo may not be able to use it much over the summer, but it's very warm and heavy to keep her toasty when it gets cool again in the fall.

One Day a Long Time Ago I Did Something New

One day, many months ago, while strolling aimlessly around Target, I found something. Doesn't everyone. And isn't it always at Target. I'm pretty sure it was one of those weekends Nathan was out of town and I was left to my own devices. I also think it might have been one of the first weekends after I found out I was pregnant. Thus Target Therapy.

Anyway, I was eyeing all of those "clearance" ends as I passed by and a throw pillow caught my eye. Yes, a throw pillow. How simple! How quaint!

Now's the part where I confess that I am an interior designer and up until that point I owned no accent pillows. None. Confession over.

So I put that $5 baby in the buggie and continued to stockpile other unneeded items. i.e.: trail mix and only the nail polish that had a delightful red clearance sticker. 

When I unloaded the pillow I realized I was even dressed the same as my pillow, wearing these jeans and a dark gray sweatshirt. It must have been destiny. So I threw the pillow on the bed just to see if it worked. I think it does, mostly. I always envisioned a giant bright graphic printed pillow for the neutral stripey bed, something similar to this, but alas, I'll have to wait. 

So without further ado, here it is. That infamous glorious throw pillow. 

Try not to be overwhelmed. i did my best to reenact the whole experience for you by squeezing my swelling tummy in these pants. You're welcome blog world.

I'm currently working on figuring out a new rug situation. I'll try not to wait three months after I've in fact figured it out before sharing.

tumblr

So, I just want to talk for a minute about how much I love tumblr. Or maybe more specifically mine.

I got into tumblr because of pinterest. Basically, half the stuff pinned on there is taken from tumblr in the first place, so I started to spend a lot of time scrolling through pages and pages of beautiful imagery. Then I realized that it could be mine too.

It's kind of my happy place. A collection of things that I simply like. A story of an ideal morning / evening / vacation / or thought.

If you want, follow the link of yonder and scroll through.  I hope it makes you happy too.

The basket

I had this idea in my head.

source via Dillan's pinboard

The sleek greyhound resting in a wicker basket straight out of some LL Bean catalog. So, when a friend's parents gave me their dog's old wicker basket. I couldn't resist.


I got the bed all prepared. I didn't have an oval pillow but I figured the rectangular one would do and might even give Dillan that extra bit of neck cushion I know he loves.

This is my result. My dreams are shattered.

My dog is afraid of his bed.

Working

Well, we have been in Nashville officially for a week and are still working on getting our apartment set up. In the meantime we are living upstairs with our landlords (also good friends). During the day, Nathan goes to work and I get up  water the garden (which I'm super excited about) and then do some work downstairs. Yesterday, and most days before it, that included painting.


Now, painting walls I can handle, but yesterday I bought a can of spray paint and attempted to paint some shelves that go in the open pantry in the kitchen. Before they were all mismatched woods.


Well, I think I discovered that I am the worst spray painter ever. Not only am I terrible at spraying evenly, but my finger gets tired and then it blocks the spray and I get drips all over the shelves.

I am currently watching tutorials on how to do this correctly, but I might go buy a small can of paint anyway. I think I may have used all the paint anyway.


But, I am excited that things are really coming together down there and I think we'll have all the painting finished today and maybe get the floors cleaned up. Then we can move in some on Thursday and Friday! Hooray!

Oh yeah, I have news...

Remember how I was getting nervous about taking my professional exam, the NCIDQ?

Then remember how I fantasized about completing the exam and rewarding myself with ice cream?

Then I told you all about that ice cream and finishing that exam...

Well, all that paid off, and I'm happy to announce that I am an NCIDQ certificate holder. 




Triple pass - All three sections. With a pretty comfortable buffer zone too.


To celebrate, I posted an embarrassing photo and called it my happy face. I'll celebrate with more jeni's when we get to nashville next week. Until then, i want to see your happy faces too. Post me a link in the comments and tell me what you're celebrating!

For my Sister

I traveled to my parents last weekend to help throw my little sister a bridal shower. Instead of finding something off her registry, which I did peruse anyway, I wanted to give her something a little more personal and sweet.

Blank printed sheet

After seeing a free download link to Love vs. Design's free printable page, via How about Orange, I knew that I wanted to write out recipe cards for Laura.

filling them in.

It was a super easy thing. Just print out the cards and write in the recipes. I was stoked to find so many of the people who attended her shower wanted to participate too. Now she has a box 1/6 (maybe?) full of family recipes. So exciting.

I even wrote out some fun cooking quotes on the divider cards. 

Oh, MFK Fisher, you know me.

All in all, it was super successful. I think I ended up with almost 70 recipes. And they all seemed simple enough for a new cook to do!

Be bold Laura, keep trying new things! That's the only way that I learned to cook and feel confident! And remember, if all else fails.

via