Wordless Wednesday

Jacob's Nursery Tutorial

Poor Jacob. His room is still not finished. I am such a bad mommy. I had it all decked out for Sophie and then our little miracle arrived. With the stress and exhaustion that comes from a newborn and 2 year old, I just never got it together. Well, I am changing that right now!

I have been obsessed with string art lately, and I decided to make an initial for Jake's room. Here is what I came up with!

I purchased a  wood canvas from Michael's Crafts and taped a printed "J" to the front. I used Pacifico font.

I hammered tiny nails around the J and then removed the paper and tape from inside the nails. 

I then taped one end to the wood board and wound embroidery floss around the perimeter of the nails. Once I had an outline, I filled in the J by winding the floss around the nails haphazardly. I ended the floss where I began and tied it in a knot.

Next, I cut and tore strips of paper to line the top of the canvas and glued the ends on the back side. 

 Since the nails came through the back of the wood canvas, I wanted to cover them up. all I did was cut a piece of cardstock scrapbooking paper a little smaller than my wood and then cut a rectangle where I would hang the piece. I glued the paper to the back and had an easy way to hide my unsightly back.

There you go! An easy decor idea for any room!

2013 Goals

I try to never make resolutions. It seemed like I would always get let down when I didn't keep them or I would just forget them in a couple weeks. But last year I did something that seemed to work for me. I made a little tag that had the goals I wanted to accomplish for the year and posted it next to my mirror in my bathroom. I would see it every day and think about how to accomplish those goals. Well- I seemed to really work on those items and I decided to do the same this year. 

Here are my 2013 goals:

I think it helps when your goals are pretty...What do you think? Do you have goals this year?

Rings and Earrings

I mentioned in a previous post that I was working on some new products for my shop. Well, it looks like the earrings are not going to be added anytime soon and let me show you why:

See that darn little lip on the back side of these earrings? See how uneven and annoying it is? It has been driving me crazy for days weeks months. I don't want to sand each earring to remove that lip. And I won't. Call me lazy, whatever. I just do not have the time to spend in post resin pour to sand, file and then re-mix resin to get rid of that. So until I can figure out a way to get rid of it, the earrings will have to be shelved. Boo. I do like a challenge though so maybe I will figure it out. 

Aren't they fun?

The rings however, are ready to go.  

I am wearing one of these chunkers right now. They are big and bold and lovely! You can find them here and  here. Thanks for looking!

Wordless Wednesday

A New Year A Fresh Start- Smash Journal

Last year I started something called a Smash Journal. It was a way to get down my inspiration, glue in pictures and write random thoughts. I have never been a journaler in the sense that I write in it every day, but I have always been a collector. Old ticket stubs, interesting business cards, magazine clippings, photographs and more always seem to end up in piles around my house. Well, I decided to do something about it in 2012 and I ended up loving the process. You would never call them art journals, but they are as close as I have ever gotten!

Here are some shots of my pretty full Smash Journal. 

I titled this one "Inspired" because I felt like I finally got back some of my creative inspiration. I misted, doodled, stamped and splattered my cover and it evolved a bit over the year.

Some of my favorite photos of my jewelry.

Lovely lace and one of my new obsessions: glitter tape.

Coveted washi tape.

My 2012 goals (and results). I will show you 2013's goals in a post soon.

Pretty full.

My 2013 cover. Fresh, new, my year to create. Create a new life for my family, create new projects and new opportunities and create new things that make me happy.

Lovely layers.

I am already filling up pages. Dreaming, creating...

Bingo

After eying a set of antique bingo numbers on Etsy and hesitating too long before buying (darn it) I jumped when my favorite brocante had some for sale. These are as beautiful as I had hoped.

Fun huh?

Jacob at 5 Months

I feel like I say this every month, but Jacob is really coming into his own! We have more and more fun every day and he is just becoming is own little person. It shouldn't surprise me as much as this since he is my second child, but obviously I think it is pretty amazing how at this age they can be so different!

After a little time spent working on his fine motor skills (grabbing, pinching and pulling), he is back to flipping immediately when placed on his back. This makes for some interesting napping positions in his crib. 

Oh, he loves those tootsies and I love seeing him grab them. 

A completely happy guy. Loves his sister!

One thing that is so different between my two kids is how Jacob always has to be grabbing, tapping, kicking moving at all times. He wants to hold our drinking glasses, hold his bottle, hold my hair. Elise was much less physical as a baby.

We have started calling him "my little buggaboo", even Elise likes to chant it. I'm sure he will love it later if it sticks...

Having fun...

Wordless Wednesday

New Products

I have been working on a couple new jewelry ideas for the new year in my studio and I finally grabbed some photos of them the other day. I am excited to soon be offering rings and earrings to my product line. Both are still in the testing phases (which means I make some for myself, family and friends, wear them a while and work out the kinks or get feedback on improvements). Here are some of the new pieces in action! I would love to hear what you think!

Oh, and I took a lot of photos, so just be prepared!

The ring is my favorite! So fun!

Big thanks to my super special, ever enthusiastic, models. 

I hope you like them- do you? I encourage constructive criticism and ideas!

The Dollhouse

I previously mentioned the the dollhouse I was planning on fixing up for Elise for Christmas. Well after months of work, it was finished (well almost) just in time for Christmas. I am pretty happy with how it turned out and Elise loved it. Here is what we came up with. 

This is the front of the house. It sits on a base my husband made that is on wheels so she can turn it around and play with both sides. We made a little front yard of felt and put some animals on it. I also gave the house a fresh coat of white paint (blue for the trim) and misted some cotton lace in a peach color and glued it around the edges of the house.

This is the back side of the house. I  mostly used Studio Calico papers from their Hey Day collection on the walls. It has a kitchen, living room, master bedroom, living room, bathroom, nursery and kids bedroom.  

These are the secret rooms in the attic that closes up. I decoupaged it with vintage book pages and one of the rooms is for the baby bunnies.

 The front door with sister bunny. The topiary trees are from Michael's Craft Store in their wedding section. They were intended as place card holders but perfect for a dollhouse.

 Mama bunny in her bedroom.

The kitchen. I guess when Jacob gets a little bigger we will have to hide those plates, cups and pots. For now they sit on the table.  

The living room. Some of the rooms have these little clock faces on them.

The baby bunny in her nursery. There was a baby boy bunny but he was immediately lost in the shuffle. I keep looking between the couch cushions hoping to find him...

Little brother bunny in his room.

I stamped a doily on a white piece of paper and then cut it out and mod-podged it to the floor. These rugs are throughout the house.

I purchased this set for the furniture. Originally I planned on finding vintage furniture and re-painting it to make it new again, but I had a hard time finding pieces that weren't really expensive and also I had to think about durability for a 2 year old. 

So there it is. Elise really loves it, but I may love it more. I always wanted a dollhouse like this!