Safari Mobile

Baby gifts have got to be my all time favorite thing to make. There is just nothing as fun as creating things for new little people. I might go a bit overboard. But I was so excited about Parker I couldn't help myself...  

Parkers room is safari themed - I will have to find out if I can show you pictures of his room- its adorable!

These were supposed to be about 1/2 the size they ended up being.... that's what happened when you make the smallest animal first and want them all to be to scale. 

and by scale I mean the giraffe and elephant are babies and the rest are adults...

They are each needle felted from wool roving. The giraffe was around maybe 7 inches.  

I kind of want to keep every mobile I make. But I am pretty sure matt would put his foot down... and it would be sad if Parker didn't have a mobile! 

Isabella's Room

So here is Isabella's room (yes, finally) As I said earlier it's out of my normal comfort zone with decorating it but I am really happy with how fun it turned out.  I still need to complete some finishing touches but I figured if I didn't show you all now it might never happen! Please feel free to skip all of the writing and just look at the photos! 

This is the wall the door is on (it's to the left of this painting, the door you see is the closet)

The painting in this picture is what Isabella is named after. It's by James Christensen and it's one of my favorite pieces ever. Uber bought it for me right after we were married and Mum framed it. So I figured at least for now it has to be in her room. 

I've been seeing the "I am a child of God" prints all over the place and I really liked it so I made one in photo shop and had it printed locally. The style is copied from this etsy seller I just color matched the text in mine to the colors in the room.  (please note I made it for personal use only) I actually really wanted to order this print to hang with it but currently she only offers it in 8x10 with is too small.

The mobile which I showed you all here.

The crib skirt fabric is Framed Sea Glass from Anna Maria Horners line LouLouThi. 

I had all sorts of issues in this space since we didn't want to paint and the 9 ft ceiling just made me feel like everything looked blah and short and squat so I started out with this (excuse the iphone photo...also note the bat in the crib... this was before Isabella arrived) I was happy with it but not thrilled. Then late one night while I was up with Isabella I came across this featured on a blog which lead me to this blog seriously could it have been any more perfect?

 So here is my version. I already had the Martha Stewart pinwheels so I had to work with what I had (unfortunately because the party store versions are so much cheaper!)

I LOVE LOVE LOVE this wall! It matches her quilt and brings the color up to the ceiling.

The ottoman from our last post. 

This Begonia was a gift for Isabella. It's doing absolutely gorgeous in her window... The beautiful miniature rose that was also sent, not so much it's gone to live with my mom and I am hoping she can revive it because it was also stunning. 

I couldn't bring myself to get rid of this corner cabinet so it's currently living in her room. The balls and poufs were an addition before the flower wall. That's about 3' of space and it looked bad with nothing there so I decided to make it into a 

NIGHT LIGHT! (update: tutorial here) I don't leave it on all night this is just what I turn on when I come into the room. It gives enough light to change her and see my way around but not enough to wake either of us up. 

I lined the back of the corner cabinet with gift paper from World Market. The pink ribbon is from Martha Stewart's Michael's line a few years back it's adhesive. On the shelves are a bunch of random keepsakes. The stained glass piece is supposed to be hanging... lost one of the pieces of chain in the move. And I still haven't printed pictures for the frames. 

Growth Chart and the Mendocino Mermaids

I had these two frames that needed art work so I made up these (based off of these prints here once again for personal use only) not sure if these will stay permanently I just love the song and the design and needed something for now. I want to find hooks to hang under these... someday 

Here's a quick picture of the girl in her room. She's wearing this dress made by Grandma. She is growing so fast! 

So there you have it. It's not done but it's done enough for now. I really want to get on with it and do some other projects... not really sure what yet! 

Hope you all enjoyed. Sorry for being SO LONG WINDED. 

Moroccan Pouf

I finally completed my last project for Isabella's room (not that I am actually done in here but when am I ever done anywhere?!) I wanted a foot stool and instead of acting like a normal person and finding one to buy I decided to make one. It's in the style of Amy Butlers gumdrop pillow (or what non-crafters would call a Moroccan pouf) but not in anyway the dimensions of it. It slightly larger then I bargained for at over 24" in width and height. I actually modified the pattern pieces from this BHG tutorial. 

 I really like the way it turned out. Though as you will see soon this whole room is kind of outside my normal decorating comfort zone. I really wanted this space to be fun and bright and colorful... I think I achieved that.  And when you start with something like my peacock quilt it can get busy fast! 

 So inspiration for this craziness? Well it all started when Mom and I were walking through West Elm and saw these really awesome one of a kind throws that were hand quilted and created from large pieces of fabric - which I now can't find online argh! But I've seen the style there and at Ballard designs. Beautiful stuff. So I wanted to do the same style on the pouf. I used shot cotton (from purl soho and a local store) and made all of my side pieces then I spent the next month and a half (blech!) adding my favorite detail to it, I think it's called pick stitching? Anyway it doesn't actually take that long to do this stitching it's just that the pouf is SO large and to get the look I wanted the stitching so SMALL! Each row is a 1/4" or less apart. So yes I am very excited that this project is complete.  

Full room details coming shortly... finally!

I love Recess!

One of my favorite quilts sold. As much as I am sad to see it go it's nice that someone will finally be using it! A matching bumper was requested to go along with it. 

Luckily Mum was nice enough to let me buy some of the now impossible to find fabric that she had in her stash so I could make this happen.  

I LOVE the way it turned out. The crib it's off to fill is white (to explain the choice in backing and binding).

This project reminded us how much we adore this fabric. So maybe if we can get all of the projects we already have started wrapped up we will get back to doing some more quilty goodness with this stuff. 

Birdie Mobile

I am so excited to show you Isabella's mobile! I had planned regardless of the sex that the next baby's mobile would be birds. I started this two days before we found out for sure it would be a girl and was happy to get to come home and make crab apple blossoms for my tree branch!

 I seriously love felt - it's so much fun to work with because you can make anything out of it! 

A barred owl. I really think owls are some of the prettiest birds... of course they can also be pretty scary so I decided he should be sitting instead of flying!

 Hummingbirds are Uber's Mom's favorite bird so I knew one had to be included. 

 A blue bird - my grandmother is always taking pictures of these in her backyard... among other things but these are the cutest! 

 Cardinals are my Mum's favorite bird. 

 This is the only one that I didn't choose for a specific reason I just wanted another color of bird and a yellow warbler was the first yellow bird that popped up on my google search... 

 I went back and forth on how to do the branch in the end I used my only crochet skills to make a branch out of roving yarn and then felted it. I am really happy with it and so happy that the felting process made my ridiculously imperfect job almost invisible or possibly intentional!

Micah is absolutely infatuated with it. He wants so badly to play with it and will go into the guestroom where it's hanging and point and babble about it. I am pretty sure he is plotting ways to get to it... since I've caught him on his way into the room with things like a hanger! Hopefully the baby will enjoy it half as much!

And a big fat P.S. I finally got my act together and started selling on Spoonflower -- I still haven't finished the Color Book (soon hopefully) but my Zoo fabric and Number Book are up. Thanks!

A little bit of Zebra

Micah's room has a new addition- an awesome Zebra stained glass piece that my Dad made (and I am pretty sure is his original design) before I was born they've been lugging it around for years all packed up so I had them pull it out of the attic and Uber built it a frame and then Dad stained it for me. 

 It's really hard to get a picture of it- but I LOVE it!

It's so fun to have something this awesome just packed away waiting for you to use!

Nursery Reveal

I am so happy to finally show you Micah's completed nursery!

My goal was to create a fun space that he wasn't going to out grow quickly. I really wanted to stay away from any specific theme's but have a lot of nature inspired items. It was amusing to realize later that the first item I had for the nursery was a calendar print of James Christensen's Flight of the Fable Maker that I'd had my Mum frame a few years ago. I had it hanging else where in the house and had totally forgotten about it until half way through finishing the nursery. It fits in perfectly and ties the whole room together. So somewhere I managed to keep that in the back of my mind as I made all of my design choices!

I can't say by any stretch of the imagination that this nursery really ended up being budget friendly, well at least by our standards. But I did pick items that could be used for all future children and then could transition into our house in other areas easily. And everything that I could possible do myself I did.



Matt and I have always thought it would be fun to have a giant map in the house so I decided to incorporate one into the nursery. I just love the array of muted colors it brings into the room and I made a bunch of flags out of Japanese masking tape and straight pens to mark all of the place we've been separate, together, and soon as a family.

It's hard to pick a favorite item in the room but the Tree Stump Ottoman is definitely near the top. And to make it even sweeter it's full of a schleich animal collection my dad has steadily been adding to.

The Mobile and Quilt are my other favorites for the room. And are hopefully items that will be with him for many years to come.

Most of the toys in the room are hand-me-downs from various family members. With a few additions like his own Steiff elephant, SIGG bottle and various Melissa & Doug items.
Well there it all is finally! I hope you guys enjoy the pictures as much as we are enjoying the room! Oh and sorry there is not Micah shoot for you this post has taken a few days to get together and I simply forgot to load one in at the bottom when I started... I'll try to get some up in the next few days! : P

Resource list:

Crib - Walmart.com

Dresser- 'vintage' piece my parents picked up second hand for me in Germany

Chair - Babiesrus

Side table - Pottery Barn Kids

Rug - Pottery Barn

Wall sconce - Restoration Hardware outlet

Curtains - Pottery Barn pinstriped sheers discontinued

Floating shelves - Ikea

Closet shelves/hanging system- Lowes

Baskets - Michaels Craft Store

Wooden clothing hangers- amazon.com

Book baskets & wall hooks - from Ballard Designs but have since been discontinued

Map - McMaps.com

Toy Chest- has been in the family since my mum was a child

The elephant puppet is from this etsy shop

Puky Bike - a gift from my parents

The stuff I made: Tree Stump Storage Ottoman, Bunting, clothing organizer, Mobile, Quilt, bumpers, Deer head, Spoon Shadow box, growth chart

Stuff others made: elephant stuffed animals, hamper, diaper bag, back pack, elephant garland,