Sunday, March 11, 2012

The nursery REVEALED

For those of you who are anxiously waiting the reveal of our nursery...wait no longer. I finished up a few last projects this weekend and it's as good as it's going to get until our little one decides to show up and we finally find out the gender! It's looking a little more boy-ish than girl-ish right now but I have some quick plans to fix that if baby happens to be a female.

View when you walk in the door...there may still be something going above the crib such a decal with baby's name but that is still TBD. We didn't go with a full bedding set since most of it is unusable but went with a neutral brown/ivory stripe and polka dot crib skirt and ivory bedsheet for the time being.

There are lots of special touches in this room...

The quilt on the crib was made with love by Grandma Ries.

View from the other angle...straight ahead is a cross stitch from Brian's late aunt Denice with the poem/passage "Footprints in Sand".


View from the door looking in - fabric poms in the corner and my ABC's inspiration piece over there.

Up close view of the poms



 The changing station...the little blue bow is where baby's head will lie soon enough. The quilt over the back of the blue rocker was made by great-grandma Ries. It's a candle wicked quilt that matches the quilt she gave us for our wedding and is used in our downstairs guest room. Great Grammy Petska also made a beautiful blankey for baby day but that one is packed in our hospital bag.

 I posted about these on my Pinterest post...In these frames are the following lyrics "You are my sunshine my only sunshine you make me happy when skies are gray you'll never know dear how much I love you please don't take my sunshine away." This song is so sweet and near and dear to my heart...it almost brings me to tears when I hear it! Our sweet little one will be our sunshine and most definitely light up our lives.

Now that our nursery is complete we just need the baby! We are down to the last 13 days...

XOXO - j

Pinterest...how I love thee...

Pinterest is my latest obsession for inspiration for all things...house design/decor, baby everything, recipes and projects galore. I'm proud to say that not only have I spent lots of hours searching this website, I have actually ACTED on some of the ideas I pinned. I spent the last weekend or so getting my craft on! It's been fun, time consuming and rewarding! Don't worry, I was able to do most of these crafts with my feet up!

Here are a few pictures of my finished projects!

I made these decorations to spice up our kitchen island. I had the fake peonies and took blue tint mason jars, wrapped in burlap and ribbon to make these. Super easy and super springy!

Here's an up close look.
Fabric flowers are so my thing...really flowers of any sort I love so why not add some flowers to picture frames. I bought these boring burlap covered picture frames from Gordman's for 5 bucks and spruced them up with a brown fabric flower for our living room decor.
Soon to be filled with photos of our sweet baby!

Up close view of the flower...Laura Morse - I was totally thinking of you while making this project!
 Chair rehab...this guy started out an oak rocker with a sweet hunter green pattern. Now I can't take full credit for this beauty because Leslie's awesome seamstress mother recovered the cushions for me and I painted the frame this past summer. I love how this turned out and I think we will love having this guy on our first floor when baby arrives. Matches our office perfectly!

 A sneak peak and the nursery...full reveal coming soon.
Many already knew I was doing brown and teal and I made these cutie fabric poms!
I painted these picture frames...they started off being cheap, unfinished frames from a craft store for a whopping $1.99. I started off by painting them ivory, let it dry and then put some circle stickers on and sprayed over it with espresso paint. Removed the stickers and wall-ah! Well, it wasn't exactly that easy because the stickers didn't come off perfectly but I'm ok with these being perfectly imperfect. :) More about what's inside these frames for now in the nursery reveal. 


I made 2 of these pinboards in order to organize our pantry desk area...the lighting isn't the best in this pic (sorry!) but it was way to bright with the under cab light on. Love these! Similar version sells at Ballard Designs for $139 a piece! I think I made both of these for under $10!

I re-re-covered this chair now that I knew it was going to stay in our guest room downstairs. Over the summer I painted this beauty and recovered in a fabric to match our master bedroom so it needed a quick re-cover to match the green and pink decor downstairs.


For the things I don't have photos of here is a list:

  • I fixed a broken eye shadow that had shattered into pieces and is now in perfectly working order. Who knew a little rubbing alcohol can make crushed powder make up go back to it's original shape. 
  • Did you know that a dryer sheet cleans shower doors? I didn't either and WOW is it amazing!
  • Lots of recipes...specifically some freezer meals that I made for when Baby Day arrives.  
So there you have it...pinterest is worthwhile! I am not creative enough to come up with any of these ideas on my own...so glad to have the internet world to inspire me to create! I have to admit I like getting crafty and I think I'm improving my skillzzzzz! One day I might try to learn to sew...for now, I'll stick to some paint and glue gun projects! 

XOXO - j

Showered with love...

Our little one is so loved and s/he doesn't even know it yet! We feel so lucky and blessed already with this miracle and then we have all these wonderful friends and family that are so supportive and happy for us.

Here's a recap of the fun baby showers that were held for us thus far...

My high school girlfriends, most of which live in Chicago, came to visit for a weekend back in January. It was so fun to see them and catch up! During their visit, they threw me a surprise shower and brought lots of goodies for sweet baby Day! I don't have a picture from the shower part but we did document the weekend with this pic...baby Clara even made the trek!


My college friends threw us a wonderful dual, couple's shower. My friend Krystle was due 7 days before me so we decided to have a joint shower which was super fun! These event planner girls know how to bring out all the stops...here are few pics!

Ready to POP!
 
Leslie was working the bar with Mama Moscow Mules!

Yummy, yummy food!

Back to back belly pics!  

Opening gifts 

Me and Laura, one of the hostesses

Brian and I with the Krusmark's

 And last but certainly not least...Brian's family threw us an awesome shower at the Kirkwood Hotel in Cedar Rapids. My parents and brothers all made the trip as well and it was so fun to see everyone!
Ries clan

Day clan...minus Craig and Nolan

Great Grandper is going to have to make room on that lap for another one  soon! 

Grandma Julie looks like she's already had a year of practice! 


Our cutest guest, Nolan!
 Ahhh...the food...let's talk about the food for a minute. Delish! There was an omelet station and a waffle station with other goodies. The fried bananas and whip cream...OMG! A pregnant girl's dream came true this day!







 On to the gifts...baby Day was spoiled with all of the goodies from these experienced mom's and pa's!




 And just a few more pics that Brian's aunt Andi so kindly used her professional expertise to document our special day!

Me and almost new grandparents 

Me and my Moms


Me and soon to be Aunt Stephanie

Brian's co-workers threw us a little lunch shower and my co-workers will be throwing us a shower after the baby arrives. So very sweet! Every day we are one day closer to meeting our little one!

XOXO - j