Nursery Sneak Peek

Time for a quick peek into little Baby Stewart's room! It's about 95% complete. If she would just get here already, it would be 100% complete, but since I peak in her room about 5,000 times a day, I always find something to change. But everything is pretty well arranged at this point.

Here is her sweet little crib with the counting bird garland I made out of rick-rack. The crib, mattress and clock are all from IKEA. The bird cards are from Land of Nod. The diaper genie was a shower gift. And the rug is from Target, or Tarjay Boutique as we call it at my house, purchased for 25% off! The nursery walls look gray in this picture, but they're actually a really pale turquoise color - Benjamin Moore's Crystalline in zero-VOC, eggshell finish, paint.

Here's a close up of the garland hanging above her crib. Maybe little muffin will like birds as much as her mom and granny do?

This is the opposite corner of the crib. The white sailcloth curtains are from Target. The basket and rocker are both from my Target baby registry (thank you, family). I got the petite square side table from Hobby Lobby with a birthday gift card from my mom. It was marked 70% off - woohoo! The lamp is from Walmart. I ditched the white shade the lamp came with and purchased a red drum shade (also from Walmart) to accent my rug. The sweet quilted pillow is from a lady at Tyler and my old church in Dederick, MO. Her name is Muriel and she makes the most delightful crafts and candles! The wall shelves are picture ledges that we purchased from IKEA. I've been collecting the books over time - some are from my childhood, some were shower gifts and some I bought for a steal on Amazon. 

Isn't this print the cutest? It's from one of my Etsy favorites - trafalgarssquare.

A peek inside her basket - lots of blankets and stuffed animals.

 New knobs from Hobby Lobby. They are very Anthropologie-esque, but lessthan half the price.

 Little dresses - washed and ready.

 Here is the changing table, purchased from Target.com. The baskets are from Target too (imagine that)! I went with pretty baskets, because I LOVE baskets. We can use them in little one's room as she grows, or we can use them to corral different items in any of the other rooms in our house. Right now, they hold diapers, wipes, Desitin and some different bath items. The paper chain was given to me by some of my favorite women in Champaign, IL. Each link has a handwritten prayer for our little family on it. It is one of the most special things about this room.

In the frame is a mother's prayer that my mother-in-law gave me. I'm going to pray different lines of it as I wipe that precious fanny throughout the day.

Close up of the prayer chain.

Monday's Most Wanted

These sweet prints from Trafalgar's Square on etsy:

Don't you think they would look good in our little girl's nursery?

Book Wall

{photo from here}

Take a look at this magical nursery. All right people, cool your jets...I wasn't intentionally seeking out pictures of baby nurseries. I just stumbled upon cute little nursery on a decorating blog I follow called House of Turquoise. You know that there is nothing I love more than children's books. And look at that striped turquoise ceiling! Eek!

Pinecone Garland

For the past few weeks, I've been admiring some lovely garlands and buntings on Etsy and I got the creative itch to make my own! I already had most of the supplies I needed to create the garland I envisioned, except for pine cones. I scoured my block for pine trees so that I could snag some fallen cones, but I couldn't find any. There is a lot of foliage in Champaign, but not so many pine trees. So I headed to Walmart and found a bag of cinnamon scented (bonus!) pine cones for $4 in their Christmas section. I love that Walmart already has Christmas stuff out. I perused each aisle slowly, taking in all of the sparkly ornaments and shimmery ribbon. Eek! I love Christmas!

To make my garland, I used some tweed twine, scissors and five similarly sized pine cones (although, I think the next one I make will be all different shapes and sizes). I wanted to hang my garland from the hutch in the living room, so I measured the width of the hutch and multiplied it by two - that way, the garland would have enough room to be draped from one end of the hutch to the other. Then I cut my twine and started with my first pine cone by simply tying a circle around the top of it. Next, I spaced the next pine cones by about five inches and looped the twine around it and continued to do the same with the remaining three cones. Last, I tied little knots in between each pine cone because I thought it would add a little more texture to the twine. To hang it, I stapled the twine to the top of the hutch (I know that sounds ghetto, but the staples are hidden).

Overall, I'm pretty pleased with how simple this project was and how cute it turned out. Pine cones are nice, because they are seasonal and I can hang them all winter long. Here is the finished product:

Beautiful Things

One of my favorite things to do on a Saturday morning is hunt for old junk that I can make awesome. I like to hit the Habitat for Humanity ReStore first and then I head to The Salvation Armies. That's right, we have TWO in Champaign - W. John St. and N. Market St.! Then, the last stop before heading home is usually Lowe's, in case I need some more sand paper, primer or paint.

I think my love for old stuff first began my freshman year of college where I lived next door to, my dear friend, Maria. Maria has this incredible gift of taking old, worn out stuff and transforming it into something stunning. Every time I hear the chorus of  Beautful Things by Gungor, I think of her (not because she makes people out of dust, like God, but because she makes beautiful things out of vintage clothing, worn furniture, dusty antiques, etc.) Click here to see a portrait of her delightful home in Kansas City, including her studio where she runs her own online vintage clothing business - Adelaide's Homesewn. So, thank you, Maria, for teaching me to see the potential for beauty in people's unloved junk. It is my favorite hobby and much cheaper than golf.

Every room in our house has at least one piece of furniture that I found on Craigslist or at Salvation Army, Goodwill or the ReStore. I know Tyler is so thrilled when he gets a text in the middle of his homework or sermon prep that says "I found something for $8.00 at the ReStore. Yippee!"  and he has to spend his afternoon recruiting a buddy to go with him in the church bus to pick up a 100 lbs. piece of crap (they have to use the church bus, because there are a shortage of trucks in Illinois).

Here is a house tour of some my finds:

I always see these chairs when I go antiquing with my mom in the Hill Country, but I can never buy one, because I don't think Southwest Airlines would let me carry it on. I found this cute little lady at the Habitat for Humanity ReStore for $7. I've got my eyes peeled for her sister.

This piece was a $35.00 Salvation Army find. I didn't do a darn thing to it. Except wipe it down real good and line the drawers with shelf paper. It houses bills, scarves, table linens and candles and is located immediately to your left as you enter through the front door.

This is probably my favorite piece. It houses all of our fiction books, cookbooks, photo albums, favorite board games, seasonal Better Homes & Gardens magazines and, my favorite, a green notebook full of ripped out pictures and articles with DIY projects and decorating ideas. I just had to touch up a little of the white paint. I also made a backing out of foam board, fabric and a staple gun. Simply measure the back of each shelf, cut the foam board to those measurements, wrap the board like a present (I used a black fabric scrap first and then my pretty patterned fabric to give it a little more dimension).

This dresser is in our bedroom. We used to have two cheap-o IKEA ones, but they didn't make it through the five million moves we made over the course of the past few years. I love IKEA, but when it comes to dressers that you open and shut at least twice a day, the old fashion wooden track ones are the way to go. The bird print, pewter lotus bowl and mirror (pictured above) are all from the ReStore. The mirror is the most recent thrift find. I'd been looking for one just like it all summer and I finally found it yesterday (yay!). I sanded it and painted it with some leftover green paint I had  from the bathroom remodel.

 

Each of these worn out items paints the portrait of my home. Do you have any treasures like this in your home?

Happy Fall Y'all

I've been so busy at work. At Story Time on Tuesdays, we've been talking about all things Autumn...apples, leaves, Halloween. This Sunday, we're beginning a unit on Daniel.There's nothing cooler than a story about a guy being saved from man-eating lions. At Wednesday night 607, we're studying the Old Testament and we just finished our lesson on Noah's Ark. One boy asked me what happened to the dinosaurs. I wasn't sure what to say, because I really don't really know for sure.

 

The next big event for the children's ministry is happening on Columbus Day - Oct. 11th. It's FAMILYPALOOZA! I ordered some decorations and activities from Oriental Trading last week. As I was browsing one of the fifty catalogs that they send me each week, I stumbled upon a pretty interesting craft (see red arrow):

It's the Turkey Drumstick Headband. Only $5.99 for twelve.

Today has been a relaxing Saturday. In between football watching and stew making, I bought some pumpkins! I decided to keep them on display inside only (dawgone squirrels). I love picking out the pumpkins and gourds that are awkward looking. Most people go for the perfectly round, orange ones, but I like the unloved ones - the ones with lots of pumpkin pimples and weird curves. 

 

Tyler is afraid of the white one. It does kind of look like something straight out of The Nightmare Before Christmas. That movie is so weird! 

I also picked up a cute little chalkboard from Prairie Gardens. It goes great with my green polka dot apron that my mom sewed me.

Callie the Cat helped me hang it.

Out with the Old

Three weeks ago, Tyler and I bought our FIRST EVER piece of furniture. And it's here!!!! Well, it's not here, but it is at This is It Furniture waiting for us to borrow somebody's truck and come pick it up. Yippee! Our little brown couch that my aunt found on the side of the road treated us well for five faithful years, but we are so excited to finally have a new couch AND a love seat for company to sit on.

Anybody need a Classic Brown Couch?

Terrarium Love

I love getting Pottery Barn catalogs in the mail. Let me first explain that Pottery Barn does not send me catalogs because of all of the merchandise I purchase from them. I think I've bought one thing from there - a bag of fake artichokes for $7.99, the day after Christmas. I just request their catalog because I like to ogle over their stuff and try and find similar items (for much cheaper) at TJ Maxx, Tuesday Morning or the Thrift Store.

A Pottery Barn catalog is where I first fell in love with terrariums. Then, I saw them again at while purusing Design Sponge online. I just love the idea of all that green naturey goodness bottled up in a jar to display wherever you want. So today, I decided to make my own! Let me preface this how-to by informing you that my terrarium is not very legit. It's fake. All of it. I did not grow anything. But I did find cool sticks and rocks to put in it, straight from my front yard! Here is how I made it...

1. I used a jar (as seen in this post) as my terrarium house. I purchased the jar at Wal-Mart a couple months ago for less than $8.00. Yesss!

2. Then I went to Michael's and bought some dried basil and a bag of assorted moss - totaling around $7.00. 

3. Next, I collected some twigs and rocks from my front yard. I also went to the shed and dug around in the Rubbermaid tub labeled "fall decorations," searching for pine cones. I found some! (Thank goodness I am such a freak about organization and labeling). So I laid the moss assortment in the jar first and then added the cute little pine cones I found in storage.

4. Then, I cut up some sprigs of the dried basil and arranged it in the jar. Next came the twigs and rocks and voila (sp?), I had my very own terrarium! And for less than $15. Take that, Pottery Barn!

Isn't it cute. It's my own little woodland habitat on a shelf. I can't wait to transform it into a winter wonderland after Thanksgiving. I could use cotton balls at the bottom for my snow. And maybe I will make a snowman out of foam balls and sit him on top of the snow. And then I could hang snowflakes from the jar's lid. I think I will have to use some silver glitter too....I love all the seasonal possibilities my terrarium has. 

I Spy a Bird

I love birds. Real ones and decorative ones. I think my love for them began with my mom. She knows a lot about birds. She can hear the song they sing or look at the color of their bellies and identify them by their actual scientific bird name. It is pretty impressive. I identify them by saying, "oh, look at that cute little birdy bird."

I have birds all over my house.  Don't worry, they are not creepy gross taxidermy owls or anything. They're friendly birds. I'll even prove it by going on a bird hunt (a metaphorical one, of course).

This one is a two-fer:

Bird #1: I just got this iron bird attached to a iron thingy at Tuesday Morning. I'm not sure what I'm going to do with the thingy yet..I'm thinking about buying some moss to put in it. Or maybe something white. I know that a candle would be the obvious thing, but I don't have one quite wide and tall enough. Any ideas? 

Bird #2: I spy something that you set a coca-cola on. You got it, a coaster! My parents and I went to this darling shop in Castroville, TX when I was home last August and while my mom and I had moved on to the antique shop next door, my dad secretly bought them for me. He's such a thoughtful person.

 

 These dainty little birdies were a hostess gift from my sister-in-law. They are from Anthropologie, so they are extra special (and extra cute)!

I like birds so much, that they greet my guests! Go ahead, wipe your feet, they won't mind.

 I thought this iron lattice with a bird on top was too cute to pass up. I got it at Prairie Gardens a while back. It keeps my geraniums in check.

This bird weighs a ton. He makes a good decoration for the top of my entryway buffet. He also makes a good door stop. Or burglar weapon. 

 

 These cutie-pa-tooties first caught my eye at my best friend Laura's house. She had them, so I just had to have them too! So we made a trip to Pier 1 and I bought this little pair. Aren't they just so plumply perfect?

You know you like birds when you spend 10 minutes taking pictures of them and then 10 minutes telling people in the world wide web about them. Do you have a "bird like" collection in your house?

Botanical Prints

Can you imagine this lovely set of six botanical prints matted in black frames & hanging on a green wall in someones living room? 

I can. 

{for sale on etsy at ethanollie vintage}