Home again, home again!

Hannah Rose is almost 9 weeks old already! We have spent most of that time either having company or being company so, needless to say, we are ready to get some structure back into our lives! Several weeks back I drove out to Tucson with the girls, my mom and her two dogs. Yes, you read that correctly. Twenty hours with a toddler, newborn and two stinky adorable dogs.

The drive wasn't nearly as stressful as I thought it would be. I planned and fretted and fretted some more about the road trip. Fortunately, my friend Lindsay was road tripping with her three boys the week before we left and I asked her for some tips. You see, Lindsay has three boys - did I mention that? Anyway, she is one of those moms that I envy because she is super crafty and always seems so together when I feel like a frazzled mess! She suggested taking lots of snacks and movies to watch. My mom also convinced me to buy some inexpensive toys to give Ellie along the way. Great idea! I know some of you super moms may be questioning my use of bribery with a toddler but let me tell you, it worked! When Ellie started getting restless in her car seat or didn't want to get back in the car after a rest stop, we just pulled out a present :)

To keep expenses down, we also packed sandwiches, drinks and snacks. This also stressed me out a little because I'm still uncomfortable with Ellie eating junk food (did I win back any mommy points?!). Instead of packing a lot of junk, I brought string cheese in the cooler and made our own trail mix of unsweetened cereal, dried bananas, raisins, crackers and then threw in a SMALL quantity of mini marshmallows and teddy grahams. I put it all in a large ziploc bag and just scooped out a small bowl as needed. It was a hit with Ellie (except for the dried bananas!).

I'm so thankful that God gave us a safe trip and I hope to get back to writing more posts soon. Here are some pictures from the drive:

Playing with one of her road trip presents

Riding in the car for 20 hours isn't that much fun - I asked her to smile for this one!

Picture Perfect feat. Scrabble letters

Last year for Father's Day I made Chase this picture:

(As always, I apologize for my photo skills. I hope being a good photographer is not a prerequisite of including pictures in a blog...)

I know, I know - baby sister still needs added but I haven't searched for extra Scrabble letters yet. I originally found them at an antique shop but you can also find them online. You could also make fun magnets or jewelry out of them.

For my project, I just glued the letters onto card stock, had it custom matted at Hobby Lobby and stuck it in the shadow box. I love easy projects!

However, it seemed a little too contemporary with the rest of the decor in my house and I felt like it needed something more. That is when I found this post by Love Stitched for a lace matted picture frame. I thought her picture turned out lovely and it inspired me to raid my mom's lace collection (thanks Mom!).

All you need is the amount of lace to go around your matte, scissors and spray adhesive.

I did miter my corners instead of overlapping them but I think Love Stitched's looked great and she didn't miter her corners so it won't make too much of a difference, just depends on your preference.

And here is the finished product!

Chest of Drawers Makeover

Okay, here is the second makeover project I've been working on. It also belonged to my grandfather and means a lot to me. After refinishing the dresser, this was a breeze! This is my best "before" picture (embarrassing, I know) as it didn't cross my mind until I had started sanding! In my defense, I took this just as a reference before heading to Lowe's:

It required a lot more sanding but only required two quick coats of paint. I would still like to find a good protective topcoat to add though. The hardware was in pretty good shape and a good friend convinced me to keep it and not switch it out for something new ;-)

 Here is the "after" picture. The paint color is called "Feeling Blue?" to which I respond, "No but I think I'm in love" :-)

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Dresser Makeover

Family heirlooms are one of my favorites - they remind of us of our loved ones near and far away.  However, sometimes they need a makeover like this one:

I wish I had a better "before" picture but my mom has been in town and using the dresser. I snapped this picture as a point of reference before heading to Lowe's to pick out some paint. I have painted a few things around the house but I wanted to be very careful with this dresser that belonged to my grandfather. I turned to Centsational Girl's blog (Kate) for some professional tips and was inspired by this DIY transformation.

I started by removing all the hardware and sanding down all the pieces. This dresser was in desperate need of some TLC! 

I used wood filler to patch some different spots. This large area on the top of the dresser was severely damaged and required a little more work.

Instead of purchasing the primer Kate recommends, I purchased a good quality paint with a primer included in it and that worked fine. 

The hardest part was trying to get the paint in all those tiny crevices!

The hardware was very outdated so I purchased some new knobs.

 I love the keyholes on this piece and am hoping one of the old skeleton keys I have will work in it. How neat would that be?!

Unfortunately, there is not protective top coat on the dresser. I tried the Miniwax Polycrylic that Kate suggested but it yellowed my paint job and I had to re-sand and repaint...not fun :(  Do you have any suggestions??

I have to say I am thrilled with how the dresser turned out. Next up is a chest of drawers. I'll post that once I get another spare mommy moment :)

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Welcome Hannah Rose!

Now that the new addition to our family is over a month old, we are finally getting adjusted. Making sure big sister gets enough attention while also taking care of the new baby has been a challenge! The lack of sleep is completely worth it when I look at that beautiful face! We are so thankful that God has blessed us with two adorable daughters and are honored to have the privilege of raising them to be faithful Christians. 

For now, Hannah Rose is sleeping in this:

A bassinet given to my grandmother when my mother was born. Her friend was from Germany and the bassinet was hand made there. This is the third generation and fifth child to use it! When I was pregnant with Ellie, my mother-in-law helped me update it with the bedding you see here.

Ironically, my crafty friend Katie (who I mentioned here and here) made this beautiful wreath to decorate my hospital door during my stay. Isn't it perfect?! And did you notice? It is the exact same two prints that I used for my bassinet over two years ago. She got the tutorial from this site. I think it would make a great gift for a baby shower or for various holidays. I want to make one for Valentine's day like the one GardenMama shows in her tutorial.

Little Girls' Tea Party

My good friend Katie just hosted a tea party for her daughter's third birthday. Ellie and I both had so much fun that I'm not sure who enjoyed it more! Katie was kind enough to let me post some pictures to share with you all. I wanted to feature her party because she is so creative and I know I will be stealing some of these ideas in the future :)

Beautiful (and yummy!) pink cake pops, tea sandwiches and pink tea

Table setting for the party

This centerpiece is gorgeous with the eyelet trim. You can find how-to instructions on my last post.

Miss Katie getting Ellie "accessorized" for tea :)

They are all dolled up! I love the embellishments Katie added to the hats.

Katie made their necklaces out of gumballs!

The girls enjoyed tea sandwiches, cookies and fruit salad.

Ellie is STILL wearing her ring and earrings from the party. She calls it her "ling ling" (bling bling - thanks Mimi)

Ellie was pretty worn out from all the fun. Thanks for the great party Katie!

Lace Decoupage

The only thing intimidating about this project is trying to pronounce "decoupage" correctly ;-) My friend Katie told me about this tutorial which I love! However, I don't have any white vases sitting around and Katie said she was going to try it out on some mason jars. So...I rummaged through my collection and ended up using baby food jars and the jars our Parmesan cheese comes in - I loved the style of them and knew they would come in handy for something!


 I haven't decided what I'm going to do with my finished product. I think they would make lovely votive holders but I also think they would be great for holding utensils at our next dinner party. I can't wait to make some more!

Repurposed Tablecloth

Thanks to my wonderful mother-in-law, I have these lovely new placemats! When Hannah Rose was born, she came to stay with us for several days - little did she know that I would be putting her to work on my projects ;-)

This project came about when I found this floral tablecloth on sale at Target. I fell in love with the pattern and the price (2.97!) but, unfortunately, it was on clearance and my table size was no longer in stock. I knew it would cost a lot more to buy a comparable quality print at the fabric store so I purchased the tablecloth with the intent of repurposing it. For $2.97 I have six place mats, a table runner and fabric to spare!