The Nursery: Embroidery Hoops and Hat Stand

A "Tragic" Story

So I had high hopes to find a crib like this one in Norah's Nursery. That yellow, vintage-style crib was perfect. I fell in love. SO instead of buying a new crib for C (18mo. when baby brother was born) I bought one second-hand. I made sure it wasn't on the recall list and that it was in good shape. And then I sanded it a bit. Gave up on that because sanding it took way too long! then I primed it. That was my first problem. I used water-based primer instead of oil-based. Bad idea! So learn from my mistake to always use oil based primer on wood (it had a shiny surface and needed some primer to grip onto). So I primed it with both. It took hours. Then I started spray painting it yellow and decided it was going to take about 20 cans of yellow spray paint. And I'm not kidding! At $3 a can would have cost me way more than my thrifty self wanted to pay.

So I spray painted it white instead. In the end it cost me $70 total for the crib, mattress and paint. And 2 months later it's BROKEN! It broke. Over 20 hours of work on that crib, and it's gone. Ugh. So now C is on her mattress on the floor. We're so "montessori"

But for the fun part: Vintage embroidery hoops filled with modern vintage-style fabric.

Pearl Bee came up with this tutorial. And it was an easy project! And I mean super-easy-anyone-can-do-it-No sewing required EASY. The idea came from Ohdeedoh.


I didn't want this to be a theme room but I did want to add a touch here and there of Mary Poppins. Thus the umbrella fabric.

And everyone who knows Mary Poppins, knows a proper place to hang a hat is on a hat stand! So I bought this vintage one and C and I painted it red together. We hang all of her fancy hats and fancy boa.

The Nursery: Yellow Chair and Bookshelves

Chair was from the thrift store.

We sanded it a bit, primed it and painted it yellow. I love that M was so into this painting job that she almost painted the entire chair herself. Her priming paint job wasn't the greatest but it adds great character to the chair I think. I love to see the clumpy spots and know M had her hand in it.

I made the bookshelves from plans on Knock Off Wood. They cost less than $10 to make and I love that the books are forward facing, rather than binding facing.

This blanket was made by my sister-in-law Julia. She made it 14 years ago for her baby girl and gave it to us when we had our first baby. I love it and it matches the room perfectly.

The Nursery: Night Stand

I love this room so much because almost everything in it is homemade or thrifted goodness. This was made by my dad when he was in high school. He's amazing! And it's still in practically perfect condition today.

So you want to know the sad truth? I almost had my mom sell this for $5. I don't have a lot of sentiment for "things". This had been sitting in their garage for years so I convinced her to get rid of it. Someone called my mom to buy it and my mom backed out last second. THANKS MOM!!! I came to my senses and realized (years later) that I NEEDED this night stand.

We gave it a coat of white paint, replaced the hardware the same new sleek hardware as the vintage dresser in their room and breathed some life back into this beautiful side table. And now it's such a treasure to me. How could I have thought to get rid of it?

This is one of my favorite paintings of Jesus Christ. And it adds so much peace to the room. I wanted a picture of Jesus at eye-level to the kids, so this works out perfect. The temple next to it was found at a yard sale.

I found this wooden martroyshka doll while in Ukraine. I knew I had to have it for when I had a little girl of my own one day. It's a treasure to have in the nursery. The paint glistens and sparkles and inside is the most beautiful sounding bell. C and O love to play with this fairytale Ukrainian toy.

The frame mat is covered in fabric from my sister-in-law's store

Simple Lemon Cake

(pictured above, our valentines version of the same cake)

My friend turned 30 this weekend and I was in charge of making a cake for her suprise dinner celebration.

The dinner menu was simple but delicious. And so I thought I'd make a cake with that same theme...simple but delicious!

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We love this lemon cake. I don't typically like lemon desserts. But

I love this one.

Simple Lemon Cake

By Kraft recipes

1 pkg. lemon cake mix

2pkg. (3.4oz) JELL-O Lemon Flavor Instant Pudding

1-1/2 C cold milk

1 container (8oz) Cool Whip topping, thawed

Step 1: Bake 2 (8 or 9in.) round cake layers, as directed on your cake package. Cool completely.

Step 2: Beat Pudding mixes and 1-1/2 C milk with a whisk for 2 min. Immediately spread over tops of each cake. I added it all to the center but you can put half on the top layer too.

Step 3: Stack Cake Layers and Frost with Cool Whip.




Step 4: Garnish with sliced lemons and fresh mint

A cute cake bunting would be darling on top too!

I've made this cake several times and it is always a hit. Typically instant pudding and cool whip frosting would be a turn off for me, but it is suprisingly really good! And oh so simple to make.

So go ahead and make some cake :)

The Best Part of My Day-Unplanned

We didn't have any plans

Our whole family was in the nursery after getting the kids dressed in PJ's

It all started with 3 little monkeys jumping on the bed

And well, the oldest little monkey discovered that she could jump even higher...

And to her and her brother and sister, that was pretty exciting

Belly laughter broke out.
I love those big belly laughs!

Something so simple, yet so fun, turned into the best part of my day today.

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These moments, such small moments, are the greatest parts of my day.

I love how children discover new creative ways to have fun all day long. The way they can do something over and over and over again, and never tire of it.
They don't have a mental list of "things to do"

They take each moment as it comes

and enjoy each one.

I am grateful for the lessons I learn from my children. I need to be more like them everyday

Crocheted Wooden Hangers

Have you been over to Dottie Angel? She is one talented chica with a great eye for color. Her homemade treasures are beautiful. These wooden crocheted hangers are so pretty.

Via Dottie Angel

Via Dottie Angel



I saw these vintage crocheted hangers on Ashleyannphotography.com as part of her new room's decor.




And here's the one I found this week while out thrifting. I get way too excited over these vintage treasures, I know. But my heart skipped a little beat when I saw this. I think it will go great in someone's room decor. I just love the royal blue color...and I only wish it fit in with my bedroom decor. I would make a photo mobile similar to Ashley's.

Ice Cream Shoppe Valentine

I love valentines day.

I love the hearts, candy, flowers, love notes, parties, pink, red, lace, dates with the hubs. And now I think I'll add ICE CREAM to my list for valentines day LOVES.

The other day while out thrifting I found some great vintage parfait/dessert glasses. I also found this recipe box with Betty Crocker recipes from the 1970s. There was a recipe card in there with a picture of parfaits. Those 1970 pictures get me! Such vintage goodness. Right?

Well as soon as I saw that recipe card an image popped into my head for a product shot for these little lovelies:



A mini-flag banner with pinks, teals, and purples

coupled with my shop's new treasures.

I just didn't know if I could pull it off...


I'm no product photographing expert. I'm a complete amature! But I do love the way these turned out.

So here's what I did.

I cut triangles, about 1"or 2" in size and then hot glued the pieces onto green apple divine twine. Any string, lace, ribbon or jute would work just great.

To get a white background I taped my flag banner onto a large white foam board. And set my dessert glasses on white pieces of paper


I later photoshoped the paper lines out using this technique

Added some heart sprinkles for that special valentine's touch. Then I brightened each picture in Adobe Bridge...LOVE ADOBE BRIDGE!

And well, a good product shot can't go to waste. Oh no. Especially not on valentines day. So these little munchkins (along with a very special man of mine) got to try the "product" out after their baths tonight.

It was my valentines day {end of day} surprise.

And well...I think they liked it :)