My first blog award!

I was super excited yesterday to get an email from Bri at Emerson Grey Designs that my blog was one of the ones she nominated for the Liebster Award.  I'm not too familiar with these blog awards since this is my first one (insert happy dance here).  The idea of the Liebster Award is to showcase blogs that have 200 followers or less.  Apparently my job now is to choose 5 other blogs that I would like to hand this award off to.  In the meantime the other rules of the award are to thank and link back to the blogger who presented you the award.

So lets check out Bri at Emerson Grey Designs.  Not only am I flattered that she chose my blog for this award,  I'm happy to have discovered her lovely blog.  She too has a love for Nursery Design and works as a designer specializing in Nursery and Kid's Room Design in Southern California.  Here is just a little snippet of what she can do:



What a fresh and fun Nursery.  I'm loving this color scheme!

To see some more awesome Design Boards check out Bri's blog here.

So next up is choosing 5 blogs I'd like to pass the Liebster Award on to.  I'm going to take a few days to figure that out.  I am a little bummed that I haven't had as much time lately to devote to my blog and this award is just the motivation I need to get moving.  Of course taking care of my son and newborn daughter is the most rewarding thing I could do but I realize for my own sanity happiness I still need to make time for my other passions in life.  (design being at the top of that list)  

Mom Song

One of my dear friends emailed this to me.  I just had to share it because it made me laugh out loud.

If you need a good laugh click here.

Color Inspiration: adding some to my blog roll

I recently came across this lovely blog that I'm making a part of my daily reads.  Design Seeds is a blog dedicated to offering color inspirations.  The author Jessica is a color enthusiast and expert.  She posts beautiful photos along with color schemes that could inspire anything from interiors, fashion, artwork, etc.  Here are some examples of her work:

via



via

Who would ever think to look at a bowl of pasta for inspiration?!  This makes me realize inspiration is EVERYWHERE and a lot of times where you would least expect it.  I'm adding Design Seeds to my favorite reads so I can be inspired daily!

Headband Storage

I hope you all had a nice Easter weekend.  We had a pretty relaxing time since my husband had spring break and we didn't travel this year.  (Well as relaxing as life can be with a newborn and a 3 year old that is!)  I actually had a few minutes to get a little project done for my daughter's room.  I found this headband storage idea initially on Pinterest and thought it was a cute way to store and display all of those adorable flower headbands my daughter has.  The best part is I used leftover fabric from her crib skirt and an oatmeal container which was less than $2.00. 

So here is what I started with:

and how I did it:

I started by cutting a piece of fabric to fit around the container with a little bit of overhang on the bottom so I could wrap it under and glue it.  I cut it so the finished edge of the fabric would go right around the top lip of the container.  (If you don't have a piece with a finished edge you could just fold over the top and iron it so it looks finished)  I folded over the left side and ironed it so there would be a finished edge once I wrapped it around the container.  I also ironed the whole piece so there were no wrinkles.

 I attached double sided tape just under the lip of the container. Then I started attaching the fabric at the top while smoothing it out and making sure it was even all the way to the bottom.

Once I got all the way around I added more double sided tape to secure the folded over edge.

 Then I continued with the tape all the way down the finished edge to make sure the fabric was secure.

I ended up having a little too much fabric on the end so I trimmed it and glued around the bottom and folded the fabric over.

After I was done with the fabric part I decided to paint the lid white. The plastic was really standing out screaming "old oatmeal container!" so I think the white makes it a little less conspicuous.

This is where I got the idea to make this:


via

Then I found this one.  I like the way they covered the lid.  This definitely doesn't scream "Hi I'm a re- purposed oatmeal container!"

via

Then I found this neat one that Cassie did for her daughter over at Hi Sugarplum:

She used a real canister rather than an oatmeal container so it has a nice wooden top. 

I have another project in the works to go along with this.  I'm making a little storage area for my daughter's hair clips and sunglasses.  (she already has more pairs of sunglasses than I do, hence the need for storage)  Hopefully I can get that done in the next few days. 

What do you get when...

...you mix beautiful prints by Jonathan Adler with the great design of a Skip Hop diaper bag??

These Beauties:

These two are my favorites:



Flame Yellow

&

Duo Chevron Blue

plan ahead for newborn photos

Once we got home from the hospital after my daughter was born I started searching the internet for newborn photography ideas.  My plan was to use my new fancy camera and have my own little photo shoot with my daughter to get some cute pictures for the announcement we planned on sending.  The more I looked at different photographer's sites the more I wished I had planned ahead to get a professional shoot set up.  You know the photos I"m talking about.  (The ones where the newborns are wrapped up in a blanket with an adorable knitted hat, sitting in a neat basket on rustic wood floors and awesome damask wallpaper in the background??)  Well the more I looked into it the more I realized I should've been making these arrangements a few months before I was due.  The photographers usually want to do newborn photos between the first 7-10 days of life.  During this time the babies are still really sleepy so it makes it easier to put them in different poses and get lots of pictures.  Highly sought after photographers are going to book up way in advance so it is best to contact them earlier rather than later on in your pregnancy. 

The problem I ran into trying to take  my own photos is that I wasn't prepared with the right props and had a hard time finding a good background in my own house.  I was in no mindset to run around shopping for neat baskets, crocheted hats and fuzzy blankets after we got home from the hospital.  (Again, had I planned ahead I could've had this stuff ready and possibly been able to pull off taking my own pictures.)  I lucked out though because a friend of mine gave me the name of a girl that started out doing newborn and maternity photography as a hobby.  She is still in the process of growing her business so she was able to fit us in last minute and she charged less than the going rate for these photos.  Her name is Melissa and she came right to our house and brought backgrounds and props and was so patient with both of my kids.  I wanted to get one of the two of them and of course getting them both to cooperate almost didn't happen.  My daughter cried almost every time we would lay her down and my son had to be bribed with candy to do what we asked of him.  My daughter was two weeks old at the time so had we done it a few days earlier she may have been a little more sleepy and less likely to cry when we put her down.  By some miracle Melissa was able to get a bunch of good shots in the few minutes that the kids were willing to be photographed.  Here are just a few of my favorites:

 If you are planning on having newborn photo done here are a few suggestions:

1. plan ahead (contact photographers in your area a few months before your due date to get on their
    schedule)
2. purchase any accessories you want to include in the photos like hats, diaper covers, headbands, etc.
   ahead of time and keep in mind you will need newborn sizes.   (some photo prop shops I found on    
   etsy specifically make hats for newborns.  (these are smaller usually than 0-3 sizes)  Try these on the
   baby before the day of the photo shoot to make sure they fit.
3. If you are going to be doing any photos that your hands will be in have a manicure.  (I didn't do this
    and was filing my nails last minute)
4. If you plan on doing photos yourself make sure you have backgrounds and props bought.  Pinterest
   is a good place to get ideas for different poses and use of props.