Happy Birthday Mum!

Today is mums birthday!

We had a dinner for her last night
it's so fun to have her close by!

So I can torture her .... and make her hold Micah!

Merry Christmas

We started out matching (courtesy of my mum's Christmas eve pajama pants) but Micah's didn't last long enough for a group shot : (
Here he is on his own... there were pictures of him smiling but this one was my favorite! I am loving the thumbs down and waving of the other hand.
He was cheesing it in almost every picture from Christmas morning
And here is his Great Grandma reading to him...

But apparently Brinkley is a better listener!

There are more fun shots but I will leave some for other people to blog (so they better blog them!)

Pine Cone Tutorial

Full tutorial here.

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,

6 years

Micah's Mobile

I'm FINALLY done with the last piece -for now- of Micah's room. I wanted to do a mobile over his crib but I wasn't big on anything I saw out there ... so of course I made my own! Thank goodness Uber likes it because apparently he hates mobiles....he was nice enough to wait until I was done with it to tell me!

I went ahead and repeated the sea theme from his sea turtle quilt. All the creatures are needle felted from beautiful wool roving. We've got a beluga whale
an octopus
a manatee
a pelican
a sea turtle
a sea horse and a pacific blue tang... more commonly known as Dora
and here's what it looks like from Micah's perspective. He likes having something to look at! Alright and just to make everyone happy here is a Micah shot!
His great grandparents sent him this awesome rocking horse! He loves it!

Next up pictures of the completed nursery!!

Christmas Garland

It's been on my to do list to finish my Christmas garland ... and after a few weeks I can finally say it's complete!

Ridiculous right? I have no idea why I did this... it's just been in my head for a while... goodness knows I don't really have the time!
It took 4.5 yards of 3 different green colors and 1 yard of 2 different brown colors of yummy mixed wool felt, plus 2 yards of velvet ribbon to make this (roughly) 9ft long garland.... oh and brown grosgrain not sure how much of that but a 12 yard spool still has plenty left on it!
I know I made a bunch of the pine cones last year but I couldn't for the life of me get them to come out the same way... I wish I could remember I looked for a tutorial too but no one seems to be saying how they make them! They are fun to make but I was getting frustrated because I couldn't get any of them to go together the same way! If I figure it out I will try and draw something out to at least give people the gist.
I think this is going to be my new thing to have a really fun garland for every holiday- I already have valentines day done ... now I just have to get started on all of the rest of them... hahaha

Randomness

Micah received this awesome silver spoon (lol) from his awesome Uncle Kris and I wanted to display it until Micah can actually use it so I broke out some of my Martha Stewart craft stash to whip up a shadow box... I kinda love it!

I FINALLY found night stands for the Master bed room this has been a LONG hunt ... years actually. I had something in mind and I never found it exactly and anything close was sooo ridiculously expensive that there was no way I was settling. I happened to be playing around on pottery barn the day after thanksgiving and came across these... on clearance and with no delivery surcharge- Perfect!
I loved them even more when they arrived! I also bought the charging stations which are great (also clearance and free shipping!). The baskets underneath are Target. Now I just need to get the headboard done I think I have finally decided to make one for this room... well see how long that takes me!
How cute are these? These are some that Mum made from Heather Baileys Tutorial they fit him so well! Of course I lost one the first time I took him out of the house in them... not the shoes fault I am pretty sure they came off when I pulled him out of his carrier : ( but no worries she said she'll make him another pair!
Micah in his prison outfit...
He is getting so close to laughing he smiles at you and makes happy noises but he hasn't actually laughed yet...

oh and I actually finished a big craft project yesterday so hopefully will get pictures of it to show you tomorrow!

Thanksgiving Holiday

We had a lovely Thanksgiving holiday. Ubers parents came out from California to see Micah for the first time! We had Mum take a bunch of pictures while they were here. The lighting sucks... which is my houses fault not mums.

The day after Thanksgiving we all went out to the beach... so weird...

blue jelly fish
have no idea what kind this is... but he's cute
This is how Micah and Uber roll... his neck is fine he really likes it like this... he will scream at you if you try and move it! (No we don't let him do this all of the time though)
We ordered baby sunglasses ...lol... he was in a bad mood that night but the picture made me laugh. He doesn't mind wearing them.
And this one just to make you want to pinch his cheeks! He's all pimped out for church, this is an outfit mum got him and I LOVE it!
crafting tomorrow if I can get the pictures uploaded!