Progress?

I chose a paint color today! I just DID it (I haven't even told Jim yet). I'd had two more samples I was going to try on the walls to try to compromise*, but Jim said, "They're all starting to look the same," and I have to agree. I can't tell which - you'll have to wait and see. I got a pillow for the bed and sheets to make a crib skirt but then all the way home was second guessing myself. I saw a blog post about a quilt and the colors were exactly what we're looking for so I ordered fabric today! SO scary ordering something like fabric online - I sure hope the colors are true!

I'm also trying to get Jim to go with me tomorrow to get the dresser and bookshelf and to maybe paint? That may be too much but I'm getting antsy!

I am still working on posts about the "vacation" upgrades we did too - too much going on!

Indecision!

Stella at her first day of gymnastics! She was CRAZY for it! Here she is getting help from her coach on the beam. (We didn't have a leo, but Sheri saved the day and brought an extra. We changed right there though, so we didn't take off her underwear - like how it's hanging out?) The class is supposed to be full, but they thought they could fit her in so we're crossing our fingers. She doesn't wear anything other than her "lee-lo" when we're at home. I love it!

Anyway, on to the "indecision" portion of the post...

Jim's in the process of patching the holes left by the wiring, and I'm trying to reorganize and clear out the nursery. We have six paint swatches up on the wall. Again, turquoise is SO hard to pick! Three of them were easily eliminated, a fourth is pretty much out of the running, so it's come down to two. As soon as I put them on the wall I knew which one Jim would like and he knew which I would like! (unfortunately, they are not the same one)

This first picture is one of them on one of her walls (I did it on two walls) One of us likes the one in the middle, but I'm afraid it will be too bright and jarring, the other likes the one on the far right, but I'm afraid it will be too light and not have the impact we want...

This picture is actually the room that got me going on our whole color scheme! I love it SO much and would love to just put it straight into our house. It's Robin's Nest (the far right one)

Another nursery done in the same color.

The bottom color of this nursery is Tropicana Cabana (the middle color in our samples)

Here's an empty room in Tropicana Cabana - you can get a better idea of the color, but I think that it being empty might make it actually seem brighter than it will/would when we filled the room.

Any votes? Feel free to leave your input!

Nursery "Art" and more Publisher Love

So, I've already talked about how I'm too cheap to pay to have cards made. That kind of goes for a lot of things, and I've decided it's not that I'm too cheap really, it's that I see it as a challenge. A, "Why should I pay someone $18 to make something that I could make myself for nearly nothing" kind of a challenge.

I'm planning the nursery, and I want to do an arrangement of white frames. A lot of the frames will have pictures in them, but I also wanted some other things in the frames. Neither of these ideas are my originals (as usual), but I'm a master copier. The first is a quote I saw from someone else's nursery. It's pretty straight forward, I just made it in Publisher and saved it as a JPEG. I'll print it as a 6x4 and pop it in a frame for a sweet little saying and a bit o' color. (Unless I find another quote I like better... for about $0.10 I can change my mind without feeling guilty.)


This is the one I'm really excited about! I did pay for the darling little owl on Etsy, and I had the digital stationary from last year's Valentine's Day pack I got from Etsy. This is NOT the print that will go in the frame. I'm pretty sure we've come up with a name we both love, but with 10 weeks left I still reserve the right to change my mind and we'll wait to share her name until her arrival. BUT - I thought that Joy would be a good temporary word as that's pretty much what we're filled with right now. This print will be an 8x10 and I can't wait to see it together with some of the other things in the nursery!



As far as progress in the nursery goes - there hasn't been much. We still haven't cleared the room out (though I just bought 5 storage bins to go under beds to help us organize some of the stuff), we have to patch SIX holes in the walls before we can paint because the previous owner used it as a media room, and we're trying to pick the perfect shade of turquoise. Do you have any idea of how tough that color is???

Pinkalicious Party!

I guess this is OLD news... Here are pictures of Stella's Pinkalicious Party. I loved loved loved the theme because it let me be so much more creative than going to the store and buying a certain character theme. We had tons of pink treats on the pink table, some green goodness on the green table, and a few other snacks in the kitchen. We found a Pinkalicious doll that Stella LOVES, and she had so much fun putting the goody bags together for the girls. It's going to be tough to live up to this one next year!

Goody bags: we got cupcake socks, pink chapstick, headbands, push pops, cupcake wands, and Pinkalicious books.


Stella and Kenzie checking out the Pinkalicious book and doll along with some of the pink goodies.

Lanterns that didn't stay lit along with the beginnings of the Italian meat tray/sandwich tradition!

More of the pink table: (You can just barely see the green table in the back)

Thank you's take II

For Stella's 3rd birthday party we had a Pinkalicious theme. (In my opinion, a FANTASTIC, easy, and adorable theme if you're in need of one!)

I didn't want to do the same type of thank you cards I'd done for Christmas, and I'd seen a card on Etsy, but I'm much too cheap to pay $30 for thank you cards.

This image has lost a lot of quality - I originally saved it as a PDF, then had to save it as a jpeg and crop it to put it up here.

Anyway - back to the subject. I made one, put Pinkalicious in the corner, and then copied to fit 4 on a page. I saved it as a PDF file, uploaded it to Fedex Office and had them print it on cardstock. They were ready the next day. Then I cut them apart, filled them out, and off they went. It's a bit less personal (I wrote a little note on the side of some of them), but I thought it was a cute idea and I liked that it fit in with the theme, so I thought I'd give it a try.

Overall, I'm pretty happy with them. Who knows if I'll do them again... there are so many cute ideas floating around out there!

Thank you's

I feel like I have so much to blog about and such little time! We way overworked ourselves over Christmas "vacation", but the results made it all worth it. Some home renovations and a pretty little party for a pretty little darling.

But... I wanted to share an idea with you if you are just a bit behind on your thank you cards. I don't do this for ours, but I love the ideas for Stella's thank you cards. I make mine in Publisher (I LOVE Publisher), but you could also use something like Picasa which is a great free program to download and edit pictures.

For each card I opened a 4x6 blank page and inserted a picture (my goal is to have a picture of Stella with the gift). Then I added the rectangle, filled in the color, and finally a text box. I try to have the colors go with the picture and type my little "thank you". Then, I save it as a jpeg and upload to a photo printing site. I used Walgreens today and they were ready within an hour. I typically use A6 envelopes from Michaels, but they're a bit pricey and it's out of my way. This time I picked up a box of 50 invitation envelopes from Wallys and they'll fit perfectly.

While I'm as big a fan of a hand-written note as the next gal, I like to think that the people who took the time to pick out a gift for her enjoy getting a picture with their note.

Since her birthday and Christmas are so close together (4 days), I decided to try something new for her birthday thank you cards this year. If I were to do them again I'd tweak them a bit, but I was pretty happy with how they turned out. I'll try to get those up in the next day or two!