100% Proceeds to the Japan Earthquake Fund

Twenty-Percent of all my sales from Friday 3/18 to Friday 3/25 will be donated to the Japan Earthquake Relief Effort through the American Red Cross.

AgedSimplicity.etsy.com

There are several items that I'll be donating 100% of the sale to the Relief Effort. Here are just a few of the items!

Going Neutral

I love the natural/neutral look of these spaces:

Image at Apartment Therapy of Ashley Ann's Kitchen

Image at EmersonMade

Image at Ohdeedoh


Image at DesignSponge

My Twin Sis's Photography Blog

Image via monstergallery.etsy.com

My Twin Sis just launched her new photography blog a few weeks ago. I think it looks awesome! She's been a photographer for several years now and does a fantastic job. I think her new website fits her fun personality well.

Jenniferbarnesphotography.com

If you have a second, check it out! Add her to your Reader and don't be shy...give her some comment love.

Photo Editing- Easy Tricks!

So the past little while I've been learning a lot about photo editing. One of the simplest things you can do is add a photoshop (or photoshop elements) Action to your picture. It's kind of like adding a recipe or formula to a picture. You can then adjust how much of that recipe/formula you want on a photo. It's honestly as simple as pressing one button to do this.

You can download many photoshop "actions" online for free. Tonight I just discovered a whole new slew of them. My photographer twin-sister recommended The Coffee Shop Blog. And I absolutely love the Pioneer Woman's free actions.

I think one of the biggest keys to being a great photographer is to use a great lense and great photoshop actions! Editing is key in being a great photographer. I am not interested at the moment in becoming a photographer but I do think it's great to have some know-how on editing pictures well.

Here are some before/afters from my sisters new photography blog to see what I'm talking about....and p.s. if you like her new blog, don't hesitate to leave her some comment love :)

Extra Sunshine
Added Color
Boost

Nursery Cost Break Down

This room was done on a budget! I tried to use what we already owned. When I did purchase things I tried to first buy it second-hand or make it myself. I was lucky and had some pretty amazing gifts for this nursery too!

I wanted to create a room that would represent my children. I love vintage, simple, clean decor. I had a look I was going for but I didn't want to spend a lot of money. So I did my fair share of thrifting. I needed to buy a big dresser since this room doesn't come with a closet and I needed a crib for my daughter. Both big ticket items.

In total we spent: $296.25

So here's our cost breakdown

dresser: $55

dresser hardware: $18

lamp: $3

IKEA white frames: $10

Mary Poppins art: $7 (handmade by me)

basket for diapers: already owned

vintage toys: mine when I was a wee one

Total: $93

Crib: already owned

bedding: homemade gift from fantastic sister-in-laws, umm ya, they are the best!

Total: $0

Pom poms: $3 (handmade by me)

IKEA white lanterns: $8

Total: $11

Chair: $8

Paint for chair: $3 sample from Lowe's

Bookshelves: $6 (handmade by me)

Paint: $3

Books: already owned

Total: $20

Nightstand: My dad made it back in highschool

Hardware: $6

Ukrainian martroyshka: already owned

Frame: already owned (added fabric)

Temple: .25

Framed picture of the Savior: already owned

Total: $6.25

Embroidery Hoops: $8 at Hobby Lobby

Fabric: $20 but have LOTS left over

Vintage Hat stand: $5

Red Paint: $3 sample at lowes

Hats and Boa: already owned

Total: $36

And not pictured: crib and mattress...which broke on us afterall. But it's still in the cost of the room: $40

Paint for crib: $20

Total: $60

Paint for the stripes on the walls: $50

Painting supplies: $10

Total: $60

The Nursery: Dresser

The Bright, Simple, Vintage, Homemade Nursery

That is C and O's new nursery in a nutshell. And I'm in love. I can't help but walk by their room and just smile. What a cheerful, clean, peaceful, nursery.

After months of working on this room it's done. Or just about...curtains and a couple pillows will add the finishing touches. Hooray! We bought our first house this year and I'm just getty that I get to decorate it anyway I want. For months it sat bare with just a crib and a nightstand. It's not that I didn't have anything to decorate with. I just needed to brainstorm and come up with my plan.

So after a couple of weeks of planning and coming up with an inspiration board (pictures of other nurseries and ideas I loved) I painted the walls, and got busy on my thrifted/homemade room. I went off this room from The Anderson's and added from there. Wow is she talented!

So here is the "before" picture. I had already started on the taping. But you can see that the room is plain and the color is a neutral muted-green. Which was a fine color. I just needed to spice things up a bit.

The nursery doesn't have a closet. So I knew I needed a big dresser. I scored this heavy duty, vintage dresser from a thrift store. It is such high quality. They don't make dressers like this anymore.

It was a light yellow color and had fantastic hardware. I was so tempted to use the hardware. It was pure vintage-awesomeness. But in the end I went with a more clean, sleek hardware choice.

And here is the dresser refinished. I sanded it, primed it with oil-based primer, painted it white, and replaced the hardware with a more modern, sleek look.


We all know that my kids' favorite lady is Mary Poppins. I didn't want a theme room but I did want to incorporate her into the room a bit.

I made this piece of art for them.

Mary Poppins used to look like this (don't you love that umbrella fabric?!) but the frame mysteriously broke when I was spray painting it white. Ah well. I like the new-improved Mary Poppins better anyways.

I got this lamp from a yard sale for $3. It was a gold base. I spray painted it white and recovered the lampshade with Michael Miller's "Red Joy" fabric. And what a joy it is!

And those dolls!!! Those were mine when I was a baby. Seriously VINTAGE stuff. Humpty dumpty and and Little Miss Muffit are great additions to the room. Humpty has a bell inside and Ms. Muffit has a squeeker inside. C can't get enough of them.

Ikea frames. I covered the mat's with fabric

The End.

The Nursery: The Crib and Bedding

Three of my sister-in-laws made our baby's bedding. They are all so talented and generous to us.

Becky made this amazing quilt. It's even quilted with stars. Amazing! It has beautiful fabric, binding, everything.

Sara made these gorgeous bumper pads. Seriously! She made those. Amazing.



Look at the ties. So stinkin' cute.



And Julia made two sheets. One is warm flannel from Sara's shoppe and the other is from her own quilt shoppe. They are the greatest crib sheets! They fit perfect.

And I made these pom-pom's using this tutorial. The white lanterns are from Ikea.