Baby Room Progress

I am loving the pinks and oranges in the baby room! And I have had some nap times to get crafty and it feels good. I love being a mom, and I also love time to be creative. 

First and my favorite... My "A" wall art! 

It is not exactly like my original thoughts, but I love the pop that the pink gives to this wall over the crib.

I started by sketching and cutting out my shape from a large piece of cardboard we had kicking around the house. Then, I taped the cardboard up to the wall above the crib and traced it onto the wall using a pencil.

Then, I painted it on with a medium sized foam brush. It was easier than I thought it would be.
I cut out the "A" from one of my coordinating fabrics for the room and stuck it to the wall using spray starch. It's an awesome technique that leaves nothing on the wall when you take it down later. 

And here's how the opposite wall has come together.

Photo board shown here.

Felt flowers canvas art technique shown here.

Decoupage picture frame mat shown here.

You'd never know that our internet modem and router are hiding behind the flower frame on the dresser! 

 And now on to my crazy baby mobile made from a spider photo hanger (gifted to us for Christmas) and fabric and paper shapes and ribbons I created. 

I hung it next to the crib where baby can see it, but not over the crib just in case it ever decides to fall!

Can you tell that I am having lots of fun??? 

~ Chelsea ~

Toy Drum

I gave my little girl a box of musical instruments for Christmas. She, like most toddlers, loves to make noise, and she has always shown a special interest in music. 

As I expected, she loves her music box. 

A few weeks after Christmas, I finally had some time to help her make a simple drum out of a yogurt container to add to her box. It was a fun little project and I enjoyed being creative and making it sparkly and pink just as she requested. 

Our materials: clean yogurt container, drum sticks (dowel pieces), thin paper (we used some awesome wrapping paper from Christmas), paint (for top & bottom of the drum and for the drum sticks), decoupage and scissors. (I mixed my decoupage with some glitter to make the drum sparkly.)

I cut the thin wrapping paper into strips about 3 inches wide and long enough to cover the sides of the drum. Then, I decoupaged the strips on, overlapping them until the sides were covered. 

And the completed sparkly pink drum and drum sticks after waiting not-so-patiently for them to dry!

Now to help the little drummer understand that it's not a good time to drum when baby sister is sleeping! :) 

I brought this upon myself, I guess. 

~ Chelsea ~

House Number

I am excited that I was able to finish a quick project that I started pre-baby. I made a house number plaque to hang near my front door. Our house number is not very visible on our house, so I wanted something large and bold with the number so that people can see it from the street. Also, I don't like all the door-to-door salespeeps we get around here, so just maybe my plea for no soliciting will be noticed and respected. I have hopes, but not high ones! It's worth a shot, and it was a fun little project.

I purchased the wood plaque at Joanns using a 50% off coupon so it was about $5. I painted it with the brown paint we have for the accents on our house. Then I used my silhouette machine to cut out the numbers and letters in white contact paper. I placed them on the painted surface and then painted on a finishing coat of decoupage for durability for being outside. I hammered in a sawtooth hanger on the back to hang it up. 

Even though I didn't get the letters perfectly strait (and because I'm a perfectionist that slightly bothers me), I still love how it turned out and how it looks on my front porch. 

~ Chelsea ~

Decorating Dilemma

As I type this post, my little 5-week-old girl sits staring up at me from my lap, with the hiccups. 

So, I have this problem as of the last few weeks. I have this itch that can't be scratched. I have an adorable newborn in my house now and so I spend a lot of time bouncing and doing laps around the house in the soothing-to-sleep process for this little spazzy bundle. While I walk around my house, I think of fun new decorations that I could make. The two rooms that I am wanting to decorate the most right now are the baby room and the family room. The baby room has been a slow work in progress, and mainly because I haven't loved any of my ideas, until recently. And the family room has been neutral brown, black and white for too long and I'm ready for something more brave and bright. With all my time to think, I have some great ideas now of what I am wanting to make and change, but here's the problem... I have no time to be a creator! So, for now all the ideas are floating around in my head and I imagine them on the walls and shelves as I do my laps around the house or sit rocking my little one. 

Here are some things that I want to do...

Baby Room: 

- Hanging photo and pink/orange shapes mobile in corner of the room using a spider picture hanger.

- Find some interesting wall hanging that can complete the grouping on the futon wall. Preferably something with dimension.
- Bring some color to the window. I have an idea for a colorful valence. 

- Large "A" fabric art above the crib. I have a lot of fabrics that coordinate with the colors in her room that I would like to use for this. Something to this effect, but with more fun patterns. The circles represent twisted flowers made from different fabrics. 

Family Room:

- Turquoise may be the new color to spice up this large front room. I know the husband likes turquoise, and I'm definitely into it these days. Maybe a few different shades of turquoise. 

- Add family photos on entertainment center, I'm trying to think of a creative way to display them other than frames.
- Couch pillows
- Coordinating dining room table center piece to tie the kitchen and family room colors together.

- Quote or art hanging near front door

Hopefully, me writing out some of these ideas is the first step to getting some of them done! I hope to show you some creations soon. But for now, I'll just keep perfecting them in my head as I enjoy my little bundle! :)

~ Chelsea ~