Gumdrop's Nursery...the start

We moved back in with my parents right before Christmas due to details of our future being uncertain right now. J will graduate after the baby's born due date (about 2 weeks later), Gumdrop will arrive at some point, J will start a job (no ideas on where yet or the financial situation that will put us in), and I will become a stay-at-home mommy (so we want to live close to J's job). So with all that in the air, my parents graciously offered their home to us again. This time, it's a little different since we are pregnant...oh, and my brother, his wife, and their 2 dogs are there as well. =)

The "bedroom" we will be using for the nursery is small. It is 8 feet by 11 feet with 2 windows on outside walls. The other 2 walls back up to our bedroom and our bathroom. Talk about hard to keep quiet! Someone buy us a sound machine from our registry please!! =)

Here are some pictures of how it looks now, with nothing we have registered for, only things we had or were given already. Hopefully, this will change as I find/get more things. I know that when I find things on Pinterest or blogs, I wish more bloggers said where they got the furniture, decor, or any little cute thing that I really want to steal for my room. So, my goal is to be as helpful in that area as possible. Hopefully, it will be helpful and not annoying. =)

This is the view when you walk into the room from the front door. As you can tell, we are still using this room as a little bit of storage. We need to get rid of the boxes and a few things you see stacked on the cube shelves. The cube shelves are from IKEA. I bought them when I was teaching in a public school to use for my classroom library. They were part of the EXPEDIT series; however, I just found out that the series has been renamed to KALLAX. What you see in this picture are two 2x2 cube shelving units. You can find it here on their website.

This is the crib we were given by a family friend, before we dressed it up with the bedding she gave us. It was given to her by someone else; so, I cannot tell you where it is from or any details about it. I have another crib in mind that I would LOVE to have. Unfortunately, it's just not in the financial cards for us to get everything we want. However, I feel so blessed that we even have someone who is willing to just give us a crib, no strings attached.

This is the view to the right of the entrance. You can see the Dr. Seuss bedding that we were given, stuffed duck animals from my brother's childhood, a sock monkey my in-laws bought Gumdrop for Christmas, and the gray elephant laundry/toy basket that my mom bought Gumdrop for Christmas. I'm pretty sure that was my favorite gift this Christmas. That or the OSU pacifiers my in-laws gave us.

This a view from the small window in the picture above, back towards the entrance. The main point of this picture is the wall space. Right now, my weekly chalkboard is hanging there courtesy of leftover nails from the room's previous use. I may ask for advice on what to hang there later.

This is what the crib and shelving unit look like from the big window you see from the entrance to the room. The shelving unit is similar to the 2x2 ones but it is one unit, 4x2 and stood up on one of the short ends. You can find it here at IKEA. The brown, tan, and blue baskets in both cube units were bought at Michael's when I turned the shelves from classroom bookshelves into my craft room storage. Now, the cube shelves will be used for our sweet Gumdrop. I am currently trying to find a link for you to purchase the baskets if you would like to do that.

We have registered for bedding, baskets, and curtains that match our color theme. We have also registered for a reclining glider. That is the only piece of furniture that will go into the room. It's just too small for anything else. It would go where the elephant basket is right now, in the corner. We will have to see how it will fit and we may have to move one of the 2x2 shelves under the chalkboard to give us the space. We will see!

More on decor for the walls to come soon. Happy Friday!

Halloween Decor

So, I haven't been extremely crafty lately. However, I am getting better at decorating with what I have. I've gotten a few new and fun items to decorate my apartment. Thanks to the hubs for letting me "splurge" on a couple things. And by splurge, I mean use a 40% off coupon at Michael's. =) Here are a few of my new favorites for Halloween.

This was actually a Christmas present from the hubs. =)

Fall and Halloween are easy to decorate for because some of your fall decor can be used as Halloween decor (i.e. pumpkins). My apartment shifted from Fall to Halloween on October 1st. Yes, I feel that each holiday deserves a solid month of having decorations out. I love all my new purchases but I love my crow. For some reason, I thought it was totally necessary for Halloween decor. I was hoping to put him in my birdcage but we are having difficulties figuring out how to hang that cute, pink thing in our apartment. So, this is what I have done for this year.

I'm thinking this is a pretty good compromise, for now. Another Halloween decoration for me is my BOO Jars. Remember these? Well, this is what they look like in our apartment...with my new purchase.

Printables are also a great way to update your decor often but without much work. Also, if you build up a stash of holiday printables, this display will never look the same two years in a row. Love knowing that. Here are my 3 frames that I always have out; this time what they look like this Halloween.

I got 2 of these printables from Blooming Homestead. There are multiple versions of the 8x10 pumpkin-shaped subway art. The link I just provided you also has the printable for the 5x7 crow. The 8x10 subway art in the vertical frame was found on The Petersen Post. I loved how it was in traditional colors but done with modern fonts and patterns.

Hope you have a Happy Halloween!

B Amy

Decor: Ranch Room

I hope you like the clock J & I made for our room at the ranch. That same day, I decided it was time to finally hang the cross my in-laws made for us this past Christmas. This is what ended up happening. 

I'm obsessed with how awesome this looks. I finally have a part of my life that looks put together, finished, and not crazy because of all my knick-knacks. Ok, let's talk about all the pieces.

I found this R while shopping with my mom during Warrenton this spring. It was a splurge for me and Mom was willing to help me out. She knows that I'm collecting Rs for when we have our own house. This one ended up being big! And I love that so it fits in with our room at the ranch.

This is the cross my in-laws made J & I for Christmas. They layered 3 unfinished crosses with a wrought-iron cross. The bottom & smallest wood crosses are painted chocolate brown on the edges. They were also given a spackle treatment in cream color on the faces. The middle wood cross has the chocolate edges & scrapbook paper on the face. The paper has names of God on it. I love it! I'm pretty sure Modge Podge is what was used to attached it to the face.

This is what was after the R and cross were in place. All those fake flowers are ones that I have had since high school. I love them & every way that my mom has arranged them for me in the past. But they have always been in this vase.

Gorgeous shape but glass doesn't fit into the ranch feel. Also, this vase was too tall. Once the flowers were placed in this vase, they covered up the cross. J remembered that there was an old spittoon out on the dock that wasn't being used. He brought it in and we realized that it was the perfect height & feel for the room. Mom cut my fake flowers down and arranged them to fit the new "vase." We added a vanilla candle and this is what we got. =)

I love it! I hope this helps you get creative (from the cross) and clean (less knick-knacks).

Decor: Peeps Vase

Do you remember this vase from my Thanksgiving display?

I knew I would end up using these vases for multiple things. So I bought 3. Ha! 

This new project was an Easter vase using themed candies and flowers.

You will need:

• 2 vases, one being able to fit inside the other
• jelly beans - I got only orange...to match the flowers.
• peeps (the bunnies are better) - I got yellow bunnies.
• flowers - I went with orange tulips.

I found a drinking glass that fit inside of the vase. I would recommend (because mine didn't) a glass that is NOT wider at the top of the glass. When we get to the next step, you'll see why.

I emptied out the popcorn kernels, put the glass inside the vase, and put the jelly beans between the vase and the glass. It was hard because my glass was wider at the top, leaving a small space to pour jelly beans into and not getting any in the glass.

Next, I took my Peeps. This picture is to prove to my mom that yellow bunny Peeps DO exists!

Again, I wish my glass was skinner at the top. It took a lot of maneuvering to get the Peeps to fit between the vase and glass without completely mushing them. I was proud that they almost covered the top of the glass!

 I found these gorgeous, blooming, orange tulips at Kroger! For $9.99!!!! Aren't they gorgeous?!

As you can tell, I'm still learning and exploring picture angles and lighting with my new camera. What do you think of the last picture of the tulips?

The last step in making the vase was to put water in the glass ONLY and trimming the tulips to fit!

 Am I just bias or is this fun & gorgeous or what?!

 Here they are in my Easter display. Go here to see where to get the details on that display.

Printables & Decor: Thanksgiving

Happy Thanksgiving!!!!!

I decorated the ranch & even cooked a few things. I will be cooking one breakfast this weekend and I have two recipes for leftover turkey. I will definitely be sharing later!

I hope you have a wonderful & blessed day today with your families!

Update: (I know this is late but I finally uploaded the pictures from my camera.)

I found a link that had many free Thanksgiving printables. I found 2 banners I liked and couldn't pick which one to use...so I used both. =) 

The first banner was found on the blog At Second Street. I was able to hang one under the mantle with the help of my mom. The mantle is 10 feet long and about 6.5 feet off the ground.

This is to show you how big the fireplace is. =)

All I had to do was print the banner on white cardstock and cut it out on the brown border.

I then cut slit in both upper corners and threaded jute string behind each letter.

 The other was above the buffet table that ends up being a big dessert landing. I will link where this came from if I can find it again. =)

 This banner was printed on white cardstock and cut out on the rectangles drawn.

Then, I poked holes in each upper corner and used jute string again.

These were some of my favorite printables that I had found, printed and framed. The Harvest subway art and the verse were found at Betty Crocker Wannabe.

 In the background, you can see my pumpkin vase. I found 3 cylindrical, over-sized votive vases at Michael's. I filled them with popcorn seeds, having the seeds being at a different level in each vase. Then, I just placed tea lights on top of the popcorn kernels. Next year, I hope to have fall colored candles instead.

The last touch was food labels. I found the blog Flamingo Toes that made "Get Your ______ On" dinner label cards. I thought they were so fun and totally necessary so that everyone at the ranch knew what the food was.

 Get Your Turkey On

Get Your Cranberry On

Get Your Sweet Potatoes On

Get Your Potatoes On

Get Your Veggies On 

Get Your Gravy On

Get Your Rolls On 

 Get Your Stuffing On

This is Green Beans & Macaroni and Cheese (no signs though)

Get Your Drinks On

Happy Thanksgiving from my family and our dogs!

Decor: Fall Centerpiece

This was the inspiration picture I saw on Pinterest. 

I figured this would be a very easy thing to accomplish. 

I went to Hobby Lobby to find a vase, fake pumpkins, and the branches. They were all 50% off. Originally, the vase was $16.99, the branches $4.99, and the pumpkins $1.99 each. I ended up paying $14 for the whole project!!

I know that real pumpkins are awesome but I figured that if I bought fake ones, I could reuse them every year (low cost!). I found the ones that looked the most realistic. Unfortunately, they were mounted on sticks so they could be stuck in tall arrangements. Lucky me that those sticks pulled right out. Another bummer is that they have some glitter still on them from the pumpkins they were sitting by but it's not that noticeable so I'm happy!

Step 1: Put pumpkins in vase. =) This is what they look like in the vase (before I rearranged them).

Step 2: Insert branches all on one side of the vase & place somewhere fun!! (When I rearranged the pumpkins, I made it to where all the bottoms of the pumpkins face the branches.)

The finished product!!!! I hope you like it as much as I do. Now I just need to figure out where to put it. =)