Craft-Wooden Sign

I have been try to tackle small projects for the house that I have had on my to-do list for awhile. One of the projects, was to create a sign for the wall space I have between the living room window and a bookshelf.

I have been trying to incorporate twine and burlap into the decor downstairs and wanted to find a way to incorporate the twine into the sign. We have a natural theme going on. The prominent colors are brown and green, with black accents. In addition to the burlap and twine, I also have moss rocks used in some accent pieces. I will do a post soon so you can get an idea of the space.

I bought an unfinished wooden sign for 8 dollars and I bought wooden letters for $1.50 a piece. I already had the twine and paint on hand. I wrapped each letter in the twine, using a hot glue gun. I painted the sign black, and distressed the edges. I used hot glue again, to glue the letters to the sign. Easy peasy!

The sign color and distressing, matches another sign we have in the living room, so they really work well together in the space.

Makeup Storage Solution

I wanted to share the way I organize my makeup and other bathroom items.

Let me start off by saying that I don't have to share my bathroom with my husband. I swear, i think separate bathrooms make for a happy marriage! No bickering about toilet seats left up or that the toothpaste cap wasn't put back on. I also was able to decorate it as girly as I wanted :)

I use Bare Minerals makeup, which I absolutely love.  I have a decent collection of the stuff, which used to be stored in a makeup bag.  I was tired of digging through the bag, trying to find the right eye shadow.  I found this cute jewlery organizer at Tuesday Morning.

 The Bare Minerals makeup fits in perfectly and it makes finding the right colors a breeze!  I actually organize the colors by the combinations I usually use.  On the other side, I have me other makeup that I don't use too often.  This way of organizing freed up much needed counter and under the sink space.

In my bathroom, I also have a small shelf that I bought a few years back.  I hung my makeup organizer there.  On the top of the shelf, I have a few glass jars to store cotton balls, q-tips and hair ties.  I have a large jar up there too that has some Potpourri.  I am planning on dumping that out soon and storing my nail polishes in it instead.

Below the shelf and makeup organizer, I have a table.  Yup, you heard right.  I have a table in my bathroom.  This table use to be a hideous computer table that I decided to give a new life.  I was originally going to finish it to sell, but liked it so much that I wanted to find somewhere to keep it.  It ended up in my bathroom and I absolutely love it!  My counter is so small and I don't have a lot of storage space in the bathroom under the sink.  This table gives me additional space to lay out makeup, hair brushes or whatever else I need when I get ready.  I have a small basket on the top of the table to hold my perfumes and small odds and ends I want handy.  On the bottom shelf of the table,  have two medium sized baskets with lids.  Those baskets hide away my bath products and hair stuff.

Here a few of the other fun decorations or organization things I have around my bathroom. I didn't have my shower curtain up, or I would have given a full picture of the whole room. I will try to get one soon and add it.

Fell down the stairs

I was walking down the stairs this morning with my 8 month old. My foot must have slipped on the edge of the stairs because the next thing I knew, I was hitting my bottom hard on a stair and sliding the rest of the way down. It has been a few hours and I am still upset (not to mentioned sore and bruised).

As soon as I hit, I pulled my son all the way in front of me and held him tight to my chest. He is perfectly ok. I scared the crap out of him though, and he cried for about a minute.

It is kind of crazy how a moms instincts kick in so quickly. I joked with my mom earlier about what the whole scene would look like if it had been replayed in slow motion. I think me falling would slow down, but the rate of speed in which I moved to protect the baby would still be in super fast speed. Once I reached the bottom of the stairs, I jumped right up to console him and make sure he was ok. If I had fallen without him, I would have probably laid there for a few minutes, in pain. I could care less about the burning sensation all up and down my back or the pain in my rear end...I was so worried that he was hurt in some way. Once I realized he was safe, I wanted to calm him down and let him know that everything was ok. I am always so careful on the stairs and yet it still happened. I have been fearful of falling down the stairs with him since before he was even born.

A little over a year ago, just a few days before Christmas, I was shopping at the mall. I was in the long line at the department store, waiting to buy the one item I needed from there. All of a sudden, I heard a woman screaming "Oh my God! My baby!". She screamed it over and over again, in unison with a high pitched cry from the baby. The woman was on the escalator and fell, dropping the baby, who continued to fall to the bottom. People rushed over. I didn't see the scene and stayed out of the way since I didn't have any help to offer. I have a vivid picture in my mind even though I didn't actually see the woman and her child fall. The paramedics arrived very quickly, although to that mother it probably felt like a lifetime. When I got to my car, I cried and I prayed. The whole situation upset me and I wasn't a parent yet. I called a friend of mine, who worked as an EMT; I was trying to find any reassurance that the baby could be ok. I actually googled the next few days to see if any news articles popped up about it. Nothing showed up, which I have always assumed must have been a good sign.

I think that memory is probably why I have been so upset all day long. Our main purpose as parents is to protect and care for our children. When something happens where your child could have been hurt, it scares the living crap out of you. My son is my entire world. I would have been devastated if he even had a bruise on him from that fall.


And now on a lighter note....

Time for some furniture makeovers!

I asked my Facebook friends for any wooden furniture they no longer want. I have been itching to redo some furniture, hopefully with chalk paint! One friend offered two side tables and some wooden frames. She also asked of I could redo two additional side tables for her. I am picking the stuff up tomorrow and will be posting updates on it as I go :) And a completely random side note... I also officially started up my photography business. I did 3 or 4 Christmas sessions for free a few months ago to see if I enjoyed it enough to do it as a side job. I had a blast, and the pictures turned out great! Since starting up my Facebook page for my photography just about two weeks ago, I have completed two boudoir sessions and have four more scheduled. I also have a few people already asking about family Easter sessions!

Nothing More Terrifying.....

Than nursing a baby with teeth. Seriously.


Little Mister has cut his first tooth and let me tell you, it is razor sharp. I am petrified each time I have to nurse him now...and I don't scare easily.

My son has been teething for months. He has been chewing on his toys, teethers, fingers and toes. He has even tried to borrow his friends various extremities, to which I find myself having to call out, "We don't chew on our friends!"

It has been months of drool and fussiness. Every time we thought a tooth had to appear soon, we found ourself waiting weeks more, wondering what was taking so long. A week ago, I finally felt a tooth starting to push through. It has taken a week more for it to push through a centimeter more, leaving me to wonder again, what is taking so long?! Every other baby I know seemed to teeth for a few days, the tooth pushed through and then was fully out a week or so later. I am ready for this tooth to finish pushing up so Little Mister can have some pain free time.

Although his tooth has still not pushed much pass his gum line, I already live in fear. This thing is new-kitchen-knife-sharp...and I breastfeed. He has already bitten me a few times, using me as a human teether while I was feeding him. Can you say Ouch?! The only thing that keeps me going is knowing that all other breastfeeding mamas face this too. That, and formula is way too expensive to use in place of the boob ;)

The worst bite so far was last night and was done by a very sleepy baby at 3am. I took him off, handed him to the husband and told him I needed to get some more water. I did get some water, but I also sat on the couch for a few minutes, hiding from my mini Jaws.

I am a breastfeeding mom though and after just a few minutes, I took a deep breath, zombie walked up the stairs, and gave the boob right back to my baby. As scary as a 7 month old with teeth is, I still couldn't imagine not continuing to breastfeed him. I love our over-the-boob bonding time and can't give it up just yet...bites and all.

Yarn wrapped wreaths with felt rosettes

Happy New Year! I don't do the whole New Years Resolution thing, so you won't have to skip right over that stuff just to get to the good parts for this post.I have been itching to get my hands into a new project. I really wanted to redo some more furniture and try my hand at using chalk paint, but I couldn't find anything I liked (and cheap) on Craigslist. A few weeks passed, and I was beginning to go stir crazy, so I decided to go make an AC Moore run and get supplies to make a yarn wreath.

I am so happy with the final product and cannot wait to make some more! They take some time to do, but are super easy and inexpensive. I didn't take pictured as I made it, so I won't put a tutorial together yet. I will try to do one in about a week though to show how to make the wreath as well as the rosettes.

Here is a picture of the finished product. I took it with my iPad so the quality and colors are awful. The yearn was this pretty teal color. I used white and teal felt for the rosettes and added a few silver berries. I want to find a cute birdie or the word welcome to it but am waiting until I find the right thing.