Nursery...Part 2!

Ok...so I have lots of good things to share about this week...


like the great trip I just took with my hubby over the weekend...


and the awesome shower that my dear friends and momma threw for me yesterday...


and the 8,390,134 (total exaggeration...hehe) pictures that I took in the last few days that need to be sorted and edited...


But first things first...I have some nursery projects that I have been wanting to post...so here we go...

I wrote about hanging board and batten in the nursery in this post here...

which we followed followed up with a very tedious, strenuous and exhausting week of painting... which made the whole room really start to feel nursery-ish=)

here is a sneek peek... the blues in the picture are not really true to real life... in reality the wall color is a little brighter and more airy...

Then it was time to fill the room with some furniture (which you can already see some of in the pics above;)

My mom and hubby dragged my cobwebby dresser (from when I was little) out of her basement, and into the nursery, where I gave it a good scrub and a few fresh coats of paint to match my walls...

I have always loved this dresser and am sooo excited for how pretty and fresh it is now=)

Mike and I bought a changing table off of craigslist, which was so cute, but had a few small stains on the shelves and needed a little love...

Instead of painting it, I decided to spruce it up a bit with cute drawer liners that can easily be removed as the baby outgrows the print...and a few baskets for storage of course!

What do you think?

I am loving the look of it now!! So much brighter and more cheery!

I have a few more projects to share before I show the whole room completed... so be sure to come back for the next week to see more=)

Hope everyone is having a great night!

Nesting...

My first and only "aha" moment of the day was figuring out how to make a header that included five columns instead of four... so I added a picture just to even things out a bit=) 
... much better I think!


And as you can see... the picture I added is one of my latest project...


a bird nest necklace.


I had this picture on my pinterest for a few weeks now... and last night I decided to make one for myself!

Source

I am so happy with the result... so cute and easy!

And as much as I like it by itself...I like it even more paired with this silver pendant that has been sitting chain-less in my drawer for a few months now...

What do you think?!


I was going to just wing it (no pun intended;) when it came to figuring out how to make this little beauty, but then I found the original tutorial from Laura over at 
livelaughandphotograph... 
which was a big help=) Not to mention she is the real genius behind this delicacy... so thank you Laura!


Hope everyone is having a great night, I'm off to make some dinner!

Java & Jewelry Party...

Over the weekend I hosted a jewelry party for a friend of mine who just became a jeweler for Premier Designs...a great company that has super cute, affordable jewelry for all different styles and ages...


Instead of the traditional "Tupperware party" feel, I wanted to mix it up a little and make it a fun, cozy Saturday morning get together... complete with coffee, tea, and yummy fall-inspired food and decor...


I snapped a few shots of the day, and had some fun tinkering with my new camera and picnik...


I handmade my invitations, with the help of some scrapbooking supplies and this great little die cut machine...

I wanted the menu to be simple and harvest-y, so I did a combination of  homemade goodies and fresh fruit...

(If you are curious about any of the recipes used... let me know...I found some great ones online!!)


All in all, it was a perfect Saturday... and it was so sweet to have a house full of friends and family on such a beautiful, crisp fall morning=)


Isn't this one of the very best times of year?!

P.S. Go to my link party page to see where I'm linking up this week!

Itching for change...

I was in the mood to mix it up a bit, so I made a new header this morning...

What do ya'll think? 

Have any suggestions on...

the pictures?

the layout?

the new wording?

photo time...

Today I had lunch with my dear Aunt Meg...


Which concluded with a little photo shoot in her backyard...


with my new camera, and her great eye for photography...


it was a perfect combo=)


Just thought I would share a few favorites!

Thank you so much Aunt Meg... for the yummy lunch and the impromptu photo shoot!

Nursery...Part 1!

It's about 11:30 here and my little one has begun his.or.her nightly aerobics, which combined with the 2 hour nap I took this afternoon pretty much guarantees another hour or two or sleeplessness on my part...

Which is not necessarily a bad thing considering I have been the worst blogger since third trimester hit at the beginning of August...and I have some major catching up to do...

So, in honor of this late night soiree hosted by the little one inside me...I'm going to write the first post in a new mini series I am beginning, chronicling the progression of the nursery that I have been so diligently working on=)

Here we go!

Although I would love to just skip ahead to all the fun stuff, like the crib set, and the onesies, and the little hats and booties...

We must begin at the beginning...

One beautiful Saturday afternoon a month or so ago, Mike helped me (aka. I helped him) hang board and batten on the walls or what would become the nursery...

Although there are some great tutorials out there...we didn't really follow anything specific...just learned as we went...

(if I were to have completed this project myself, here is the resource I would have used...Sarah over at Thrifty Decor Chick has some amazing step by step instructions for all kinds of molding projects=)  

Here was the progression:

I decided I wanted it to look a little on the rustic side, with a nice wide ledge at the top, so I could interchange pictures and knick-knacks at my leisure without leaving holes in the walls:)

I am soooo happy with the result!! My hubby never ceases to amaze me with his seemingly effortless carpentry skills, and he created exactly what I had in mind=) 

So there you have it...part one of the nursery progress!!

Maybe now I will get some sleep!!

Exciting news!!

Hello everyone...

It is a beauuuutiful fall morning here in Pa, just the kind of day for some great news!!!

Great news #1:

We have a winner for the mymemories scrapbook software!! 

Kelly, it's you!! Whoohoo!!

I will send you an email today on how to redeem your package=)

Thank you everyone who participated!!

Great news #2:

Ok...I'm about to get a bit wordy so bear with me...

I have always been one of those people who takes pictures everywhere they go...

When Mike and I were dating(and he was still trying to win my little heart over) he humored me on every date by smiling for yet another picture...I have archives FULL of them, much to my delight=)

Then when we got engaged...and he still put up with the incessant picture taking...just casting the occasional eye-roll in my direction...hehe

Then we got married and jetted off to our dreamy honeymoon destination, on a trip that we knew we would never be able to duplicate...

And right around the halfway point on our trip, something horrible/tragic/inconceivable happened...

my trusty camera which took stellar pictures DIED. Just like that. 

I remember the day well...we had just rented a motorbike to tour up and down the coast of Belize and I was so thrilled at the idea of snapping pictures of the countryside, villages, and people from the backseat of our bike...

It never happened. 

we got a few good shots thanks to an emergency disposable camera back up...

but other than that...the things that we experienced and saw that day, as well as the rest of our trip, remain only in our memories.

When we got home, my dad lovingly got me another camera for my birthday...it was the same make, same model... 

but took very different pictures. 

And so for the last year of our lives, this former picture-taking fanatic has left my camera home on most adventures we have taken and dates we have gone on... so.sad.i.know.

The camera is so difficult, that I have been using my camera phone for all of the pictures that I have posted on this blog...

But now, its all about to change=)))

I am pleased to announce that I am now the proud owner of this beautiful camera:

source

I have been pretty much drooling over this beauty since I first started researching entry-level photography cameras...

And now its mine...just in time for all the fall goodness, and the arrival of our baby...woohoo!

So...I'm back...look out cuz' I have a wicked cool camera again, and a vengeance to make up for the last year of photo barrenness...

hehe.

p.s. if you read this whole post and are still reading, you are a true friend...I probably would have stopped a while back;)

Mymemories Giveaway!!

As promised...today it the day of my very first giveaway!!!

And I think we've got a good one! =)

The lovely folks over at my memories are giving away a software package, valued at around $40.00 to one lucky reader!! This software is for digital scrapbooking...basically everything you could or would do with scrapbook paper, pens, pictures, and embellishments in a physical scrapbook...you can now do one your computer, using mymemories!

So that I had a good idea of how this software works and just how fabulous it is...the mymemories team gave me my own software to try out...and I love it=)

Here is a little collage I put together of our Labor Day Party, using the My Memories Suite software. It was so easy, and I was so happy with the end result.

It was very comprehensive, and I had this page thrown together in no time!!

SO...you want to get in on this, right?

here is what you need to do...click on this link, which will take you to the mymemories website. Once you are there, browse through some of the scrapbook kits (which are available for free once you have the My Memories Suite software) and pick out a favorite...then come back and leave me a comment, including the words "enter me in the giveaway please!" and your favorite design from the website.

After you do this...please become a follower so we can stay in touch!!

Then stay tuned next week to find out if you are the winner!!

That's it!! Easy, huh?

Happy contesting everyone!

P.S. A very special thanks to my blogging buddy Catie over at Catie's Corner...for helping me promote my giveaway and for helping me get started in the world of blogging=) 

Thank you friend!!

summer dress makeover...

Just thought I would share a little project I did a few weeks ago...revamping one of my summer dresses into a circle scarf...

It was so easy to do..its embarrassing...ha...but easy is good, right?

I didn't take a picture of the dress before, but it was something like this:

source

Only difference is that mine was way less cute than this, and really about 3 sizes too big (I bought it during my first trimester, thinking that I would grow into it...thank goodness I didn't grow that much!!=)

So really all I did was chop off the bottom half (mine didn't have the cute extra ruffles at the bottom) and turned it into a scarf with no end or beginning...

And now...I love it!! It adds a fun punch of color to any outfit, and is lightweight enough to wear now, when the weather is still changing=)

Here are just some ideas I was playing around with to change it up a bit, depending on my outfit and mood...

Cute, huh?

Anyone else do any super-easy wardrobe revamps lately?

Sweet Productivity...

Where to begin???

I cannot believe it has been a whole week since I have posted anything...

I am fighting that old blogging guilt as I sit here typing...

This has truly been one of the most productive weeks I have had my entire pregnancy. 

and one of the most exhausting.

Good news is...

-the nursery is painted (batten board walls and all)

-my 7 loads of laundry, which sat untouched while the nursery was getting painted are washed, folded and put away

-my entire house, which also sat untouched while the nursery was getting painted is now vacuumed, dusted, and mopped

-the walls throughout my home have all been touched up, and my window ledges have all gotten a fresh coat of stain

-my hardwood floors are freshly lemon oiled and smelling sweet

-Mike and I successfully pulled off a Labor Day party for 25 of my extended family members (some of whom had never seen our home)

-I am still alive.

Bad news is...

-I ache from the top of my head to the tips of my toes.

needless to say, my nesting drive is in full swing...

time for a break;)

Hope everyone had a fabulous labor day weekend and got to spend some quality time with loved ones=)

P.S. Its official, the Mymemories giveaway will begin on this Friday, and will end on Monday...so be sure to come back later this week for details!!!