Wednesday, June 6, 2012

Crafty Reveal

I've been waiting to post some pictures until I had everything finished, but of course something went awry and it's not done. Not like I haven't waited years to get things in working order anyway, so what's a few more weeks?

The mobile creation was a success. I can't say that about most of my crafty endeavors, which is why I rarely entertain them. I can admire, but just don't have the care or patience to really finish a project that involves sewing machines or hot glue guns. Just not my thing.

This only involved my printer, scissors, cardstock, and hemp twine. I can handle that. Template for the birds found here.
The wall will have this in dark grey. 
It arrived, we had it taped and ready to go... started peeling... and bam. Wrong color. Silver is not dark grey, my friends. It's not. Back to Amazon it went and we'll try again soon. Here's the mobile hanging in all its glory. We're quite proud of our $7 mobile created by yours truly. Too bad B thinks crib sleeping is for the birds. Hah. Birds. Get it? Sleep deprivation jokes at their finest. Guess who might be teething and is now waking every two hours at night? Not surprising as I'm reminded that my brother and I were the same way at such an early age.
The top of the Ikea bookshelf has a bird I found at a thrift store during my pregnancy with Andrew. I sanded it down, painted it white and added another successful craft project to my miniature repertoire. The letters are to represent my kidlets, and the sign in the middle reads Love You to the Moon and Back. It was given to us by good friends for Andrew's birthday. I wrote to Andrew in one of my letters and said those words. Now B has those words to cherish as well.
The blue chest was not in there when we were decorating for Andrew. We brought it up from the basement where it used to house our wedding stuff and costumes (who doesn't love a good mullet wig?) and decided it will be B's to keep. Every Air Force Academy cadet receives one of these, among other things. It's now being passed down to B from his dad. So sweet.

The A & B pillows on the rocking chair were made by my same amazing blog friend, Katie, who made B's interchangeable bowtie onesies. The blanket was made by my mom, B's grandma. As for the curtains... anyone have any ideas on making them blackout?
We have no wall space left in B's room, otherwise we'd hang our latest acquisition: B's first stock. When I was pregnant with B, Ray decided that if he lived, he would purchase his very first stock for him and have it framed. We searched the stocks available that you can purchase and have sent to you. We decided on something that would be suitable for children (candy) and a local company, Tootsie Roll. When B moves out of the nursery and into his next bedroom, we'll hang it for him. Until then... on the mantle it stays.
Also on the mantle is another craft project I've been working on. I pinned this on Pinterest, found some map templates online, purchased some old maps from a consignment store for $3, re-purposed the frame that used to hang above the crib as a placeholder for something much better (that never happened before Andrew died) and came up with this:
I'm not entirely thrilled with it, but that's what we've got so far since B managed to take a five hour nap one day a couple weeks ago. It hasn't happened since, so therefore it remains as-is for now. It's actually wax paper backing and I'd prefer something like burlap. My mom recommended a dark blue. Since the maps are obviously not to scale, it was challenging to include the places we're from and currently live while trying to maintain some sense of the state. Obviously California is not ocean. But I wanted to use the cutout of the state itself and show where I'm from originally. Unfortunately, it looks like I'm from the middle of the state when I'm actually from the southern portion just 2ish hours from the Mexican border. Should've thought of that. And Ray isn't from the center of Maryland either. The Illinois map is the most accurate as we do live in the north part of the state just west of Lake Michigan. Also, the hearts are pieces of red paper I found on the label of Ray's magazine, The Economist. Since I re-purposed that frame (that cost me around $16 back in 2010), this whole project was less than $20 so far. I need to figure out what to do with that backing.

Here's what I paid $3 for at consignment. Nice, old, vinyl National Geographic maps that may or may not still have the U.S.S.R. labeled.
Also, we bought this. In June. 
Because it was an amazing deal for Memorial Day weekend and I scored $32 cash back on my purchase through ShopatHome. My next check in July will be for $127.08 since we apparently spend way too much online and have that much in cash back to show for it. Haha. I'd like to hope that next winter we'll be spending less time shoveling and more time together watching B walk around the house and become an overall menace to society. Can't wait. 

Another food post coming soon. This one involves the use of my blender. Get excited.

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8 comments:

Brooke said... [Reply to comment]

You can order black-out fabric from Jo-Ann fabric online for $6.99/yard. If you have a sewing machine, you could attach it yourself, but you can also use curtain clip hooks and run another narrow curtain rod behind the regular curtains so that the blackouts are a totally separate panel.

(I might have been doing some researching and bookmarking for future nursery sewing projects... I don't typically memorize the prices of various fabric selections)

Melissa said... [Reply to comment]

I am doing a rolling shade for under the curtains in our nursery. An alternative if you do not want to add black out fabric.

I really love your lamp! Would you mind if I ask if it is a touch lamp? A very beautiful and peaceful space. I love all the personal touches.

Darcey said... [Reply to comment]

We have a rolling shade under our curtains and it is working wonderfully so far, but to be honest he prefers to nap in his swing so we aren't really benefiting too much from it yet.

I hear ya on teething...it is absolutely miserable and I hate that I can't do anything to help him. Layton just cut his 2 bottom teeth this past weekend and he pretty much cried and didn't sleep for a week. Hoping you get some zzz's soon!!

Lj82 said... [Reply to comment]

Lol @ Brooke.

Nursery looks great- love all the personal touches & the tootsie stock!

Ps. The air force chest is awesome!!

Danielle said... [Reply to comment]

I would try the rolling shade, but don't install it in the widow frame-install it above the window and so it extends well past the window for more complete blockage ;)
I like that idea better than the fabric (another fab option, tho) bc then you can still have the airy, open feeling with the panels you have up already.
Of course, you can always do what I do... hang black outs over your current drapes and drape a thick quilt over that--insulated, and blacked-out :D

SG said... [Reply to comment]

It all looks fabulous! You are inspiring me to take on more crafty projects during these last loooong days of waiting :)

Addi's mom said... [Reply to comment]

Super cute mobile!

Loved the A&B on the bookshelf.

And...I wasn't sure what that last contraption was at first lol...we don't need those here in the PNW.

Caroline said... [Reply to comment]

love the mobile. We ditched our academy trunks - but at West Point they are just this ugly green color and not as big as the ones at USAFA.

Love the stock. Finn's first stock is a share of the Green Bay Packers - it went available to the public in December and we couldn't pass it up.