The Nursery - Sources

 

1.  Orange and green wire hexagons from CB2.  These were wedding gifts that we received a few years ago and don't seem to be currently available on the CB2 website.

2.  Dresser.  Purchased on a garage sale by my sister-in-law.  Refinished by my father-in-law.

3.  Planet Wise Hanging Diaper Wet/Dry Bag in Meadow Tweets fabric.

4.  Diaper changing pad with a DIY cover (thanks to my mother-in-law!) in fabrics purchased through Dry Good Design Online.  The cover was made following this tutorial by Jaime of Prudent Baby.

5.  "Home Is Where You Are" banner from Urban Outfitters.  This item seems to be out of stock, but if you like the sentiment, you might like this. 

6.  Robot mobile from etsy seller verycute.

7.  Alphabet artwork DIY'd using Picnik.

8.  Curtains made by mother-in-law using fabric purchased from Dry Goods Design Online.

9.  Crib, mattress and fitted sheet all from Wal-Mart.

1.  Roundy print by etsy seller laura george.

2. "Woody" faux bois clock by kikkerland.

3. "Jesus Loves The Little Children" artwork DIY'd using Picnik.

4. Baby porcupine photograph by Sharon Montrose.

1. Chair and footstool.  Previously owned.

2.  Toy tub.  Received as wedding gift a few years ago.  I believe it is from Target.

3.  Expedit bookshelf from IKEA.  Ceramic squirrel and elephant - thrifted.  Yellow Candela Tooli nightlight.  Pirate ship from Michaels - painted red by me.  

4.  Bunting by etsy seller Kate Greiner.  Purchased at Urban Craft Uprising.

5. Spontan magnetic board from IKEA.

 1.  "Well, HELLO handsome" artwork DIY'd using Picnik.

2.   "Giraffe in the Shade" by Andy Biggs.

3.    "Be Awesome Today" print by etsy seller Lucius Art.

The Nursery

Baby P's nursery is pretty much complete and I am in love with it.

I wanted his room to be light, bright and colorful.  I avoided pastels and went for lots of varying patterns in the fabrics that were used.

The wall above the crib (to the right of the "Home Is Where You Are" banner) will eventually be filled in with a large black and white photo of Baby P.  But, it will remain blank until he arrives and said photo is taken.

My only (slight) disappointment is the rocking chair.  While I would have loved to have purchased a beautiful, modern rocker or glider, it just wasn't in the budget.  Actually, I do own a beautiful modern rocker - the Eames RAR - but in this instance I was looking for something that would also be more practical.  So, the Eames will remain in the living room and the vintage orange La-Z-Boy will make for some comfortable rocking during night time feedings, etc.  The La-Z-Boy might not be my first choice, but I do think that it "goes" in the room and that makes me happy.

Watch my next post for details about where all of the goodies came from.  :)

♥ brooke

My DIY Baby Book / Journal

Here are a few reasons why I created my own baby book and here are a few tips for you, if you are interested in creating a similar keepsake.

And here are some photos of my project! 

 

♥ brooke

How To Create a DIY Baby Book / Journal

Using cardstock, a printer, scissors, scrapbooking sticky squares (I don't know what the technical name), and a skinny sharpie, I am in the process of creating a DIY baby book/journal for Baby P. 

For several reasons, this seemed like the best option for me and for this particular baby.

If you are interested in doing something similar, here are a few tips:

• Search “printable” or “download” on Pinterest. 
• Once I found something that I liked and that seemed appropriate or adaptable to the baby book, I printed.  

• Try to keep an open mind concerning the intended use of the printable item.
  
  • The front page of Baby P.’s book was intended to be a Save The Date card for a wedding.  Instead, I used it as a way to mark his due date.
• Use the printable items as inspiration for topics to include in your baby book. 
  •  I used a list printable to keep track of our favorite baby names.      
  •  I used a travel printable to journal about the trips that we went on during the pregnancy.
• Browse through traditional baby books at the bookstore to get ideas for other pages to create in your personalized book.
• One book that I looked through had a blank monthly calendar.  I searched for something similar online and found an adorable (brightly colored!) blank calendar that I plan to use to keep track of important activities that occur.
• Most of the books that I have browsed have had a place for baby's footprint.  I plan to bring some blank cardstock to the hospital for the same purpose and to make a cute title for the page using Microsoft Word or Power Point.  

• Print out lined or blank pages for yourself (or others) to journal about your pregnancy or to write letters to the baby.  

• If you will have any baby showers during (or after) your pregnancy, ask the hostess to include an activity that will allow others to add to your baby book.
  • At one of my baby showers, each guest was asked to write a note to Baby P. that I later added to his book.
  
  **This is the second post in a three part series about creating a "do it yourself" version of a baby book/journal.  Part one explains why I created my own baby book and part three shows some photos of the project!
  

Why I Made A DIY Baby Book / Journal

I wasn’t a fan of any of the baby books that I checked out at our local bookstore.

Yes, I’ll admit that I am particular about such things. 

Many of the books that I looked at had great content, but I wasn’t particularly enthralled with the pastel color schemes or cartoon-y animal themes.  Also, some of the fill-in-the-blank style pages just didn’t quite fit with our family.  For example, Baby P. will have two sets of maternal grandparents.   This wasn’t something that seemed readily available in most of the pre-made baby books. 

I considered not keeping a true “baby book” and instead buying a blank book to fill in with more of a journal-style record of my pregnancy and Baby P.’s first few years of life. 

I wasn’t sure about this idea, either, so I shopped some more.  No luck.

Then, as I was browsing on Pinterest, I kept running across free files that I could download and print.

A little *spark* went off in my head and I decided that I could make my own baby book/journal combo. 

Doing so would allow me to customize the book in my own style, create pages that were specific to our own Baby P. and easily combine the traditional fill-in-the-blank style baby book with a journal.    

All of this for the cost of some cardstock, ink, a three-ring binder and some page protectors…not bad.  And so, the downloading, printing, writing and gluing began.

**This is the first post in a three part series about creating a "do it yourself" version of a baby book/journal.  Part two gives some tips for creating your own baby book and  part three shows some photos of the project!

Nativity

I purchased the first part of our Willow Tree nativity set (shown above) within the first month of our marriage.

Mary, Joseph and Baby Jesus were bought at a Christmas store in Estes Park, Colorado two weeks after we were married. 

The starry background piece was a housewarming gift from Mr. Blessings' parents.

The shepherds were a gift for our first Christmas as a married couple.

The wisemen were a gift to commemorate the impending birth of Baby P. 

I made the Bethlehem painting to frame the scene, the winter of our first Christmas as a married couple and our first Christmas living in our first house.

The set is complete.

It is going to be one of those things that was just "always there" for Baby P. and all of our future Baby P.'s .  Our children will probably never wonder where it came from or realize the significance that it holds for me - - marking so many of our newlywed milestones.

They will, I hope, spend countless hours looking at it and rearranging the figurines.  I remember my sister and I doing just that with our mom's nativity set.  We had so much fun setting up all of the important players that were present at the birth of Jesus.  We would try to find the best arrangement, only to find a new "best" the next day.  

I hope that, as our family grows, our nativity set will spark endless conversations about the birth of our Savior. 

♥ brooke

Weekly Photo Shoot for Baby P.

I have long been enamored with John and Sherry of Young House Love and as soon as they started their weekly photo ops with baby Clara, I knew that I would have to do something similar whenever a baby graced our home.  

I love the way that Clara’s project turned out, but I want to do something a little different for Baby P.
 

I bought a yard of soft grey wool fabric with a subtle pattern.  This will be the backdrop for every photo throughout the year. My plan (for now, anyway) is to dress him in a white onesie for each photo shoot and to use Picnik to add text - labeling each photo with the week it was taken.

The big plan for these photos is to compile a book a la Shutterfly (or a similar service) with each weekly photo and some commentary along the way.  I purchased a 2012 calendar that I plan to incorporate into the book.

So, for January, when baby is (hopefully) not yet born, I will include the calendar page and some commentary about baby showers and final preparations.

For February, I will include a page (or two or three) with his first weekly photos and then a separate page with the calendar and notes on his first few weeks of life.

And so on.

I am quite excited about this project.  It will be so fun to see how he changes and grows each week and to make a keepsake in the process. 

♥ brooke