New Nursery Art

I want the baby to have some piece of art on his wall that was created just for him by me. I did these 3 illustrations of red foxes that I'm so excited to hang once the room is painted and we get the furniture layout figured out. I can't decide if I want them hung vertically in a column or horizontally in a row of three. What do you think?

I painted them on white 140lb watercolor paper with watercolors and gouache paint and detailed them with Prismacolor colored pencils. The "mattes" are actually fake - I just painted them in. The frames I already had from way back in college to decorate our apartment, but they were black so I painted them white. Whoohoo for art that was completely free!  Here's a close up of my favorite one:

And here's Scott's favorite:

Just an FYI - if you want some custom art of your own for yourself or your baby, feel free to contact me. You can send me an email or visit my Etsy shop (button on my sidebar) and send me a request. I really enjoy creating art for people, and would love to create some for you, too!

Nesting

As you can see I'm in the process of cleaning up the look of the blog. More breathing room. Not sure if this is final or if I'm just nesting...

Baby Reece Is A...

BOY! And so begins years of therapy because his mother put his boy parts online for the world to see before he was born...

Profile

Feet

Face - and an eyeball. Kind of scary and appropriate for Halloween :)

We're just so happy he's healthy and everything seems to be ok. Isn't technology amazing? We did find out that apparently he's a giant already. 1 lb. 1 oz at 21 weeks. My due date is correct...we're just destined to have giant children.

Nursery Plans

Full disclosure: I am not an interior designer. These idea boards are ones I just threw together after seeing an inspiring color palette on the Home Depot website. Feel free to help me out. Just don't tell me that my taste sucks or I'll cry. 

I'm thinking of using the same wall color regardless if it's a boy or a girl with the same white crib and glider. These boards are just a jumping off point, and will probably evolve over time and actually putting the nursery together. For a girl...

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Robin's egg blue, chocolate and soft yellow with accents of brighter blue and coral. That picture in the top left is the one from the Home Depot fall style guide and kicked off my inspiration.  The wall color (background) is Behr Cloudburst. Some other sources:
1. Crib - Graco Somerset Convertible Crib available at Target
2. Glider - Graco Avalon Glider also available at Target
3. Curtains - World Market Suzani Panels
4. Lamp - Lampworks Recycled Blue Glass Cylinder from Amazon.
5. Round Storage Baskets - Perfect for storing toys, blankets, etc, available from AGKs on Etsy.
6. Pretty Throw Pillow Cover - Also available on Etsy from seller DesertDaze.
7. Handmade Plush Birdie Mobile - Another Etsy Find. Seller PrettyPlush.

Now for a boy, I'm keeping the same general thing but switching out the pops of coral to more of a focus on the soft creams, yellows and chocolates with pops of bright aqua. Also I like the idea of the accessories being more "manly" with lots of wood and wicker.

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1. Curtains - again from World Market. They have such an awesome array of styles!
2. Wicker Baskets - found this set on Amazon.com
3. Modern Wood Mobile on Etsy from seller babydarling.
4. Wooden Stacking Rings on Etsy from seller TheWoodGarden.
5. Birch Robins Egg Blue Pillow from Etsy seller buttongrass.
6. Baby Blanket - I found this baby blanket in the same fabric as the pillow from Etsy seller SewnNatural. It must be meant to be!

Feel free to leave comments and suggestions. Like I said, I'm no designer, so I welcome helpful hints!

Fall Decorations Part Deux

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Alright, I think I'm done with my fall decorating. There's no real theme, just lots of projects I thought would be fun. I've shown you previously my candy corn wreath, spooky bunting and leaf inital for the front door. Other than that:

1. I moved in a small black cabinet that needs to be repainted underneath our mirror and will use it for holiday displays for the next month until I can repaint. On top is a cluster of mosaic candle holders in fall colors and the remainders of the candy corn.

2. How pretty are these giant fall nested glass leaves I got from Marshalls? They're irridescent, heavy-duty glass and I got all three in a bundle for $16.99. Plus they already matched my decor. I also got the glittery pumpkin and reed diffuser at Marshalls as well. I've displayed them on our never-used dining room table and the coffee table.

3. I didn't go crazy outside, just a couple of white pumpkins with the same leaves on top I used to make our "R" leaf initial. I can never find good white pumpkins, so I just bought these and painted them white.

We also have a little halloween countdown on our chalkboard in the kitchen. Is it just me, or does anyone else get a little sad when the decorating is over? Now that I have no more fall projects I kind of want to start decorating for winter.  One season at a time...I know.

20 Weeks

And, we're halfway there. We have our big mid-point anatomy scan next week where we get to make sure the baby is growing properly and they measure all of the organs to make sure everything is ok. We also get to find out the sex if the baby cooperates! I have no preference either way...just for a healthy baby. Although my intuition is leaning towards a boy, but you never know.

Just a Quick Update

I've felt the baby kick from the OUTSIDE (as in on my hand) for the first time in the last couple of days. So that's been pretty exciting. Also, I cannot get enough of pregnancy blogs and websites. It's an addiction. And just as a random side note, before you think of offering any sort of advice to a pregnant woman, remember this little gem from Heather over at Dooce:

"No need to give me a warning that begins with the detestable phrase, "Just wait..." I can guarantee that every time you use that phrase in conversation with a pregnant woman you are earning cosmic points that when added up one day will result in a piano falling on your head."

True words indeed.

Fall Decorations 2012 - Part One

I hope you all are enjoying your fall. Other than a bout with a nasty stomach bug over the weekend, my fall has been going well so far! My football team is undefeated (so far), and the weather has been so nice, and I've actually gotten a lot of craft projects done. I got to do my fall leaf initial for the front door, and my chalkboard for the kitchen, and recently, I've completed this Candy Corn Wreath and "Spooky" muslin bunting.

The wreath was originally a project found on Women's Day and is made of a foam wreath, black electrical tape, candy corn and hot glue. A cheap and easy project - and a tasty one. I admit I ate quite a few in the process. For the original tutorial, go here.

The bunting was just made from some old muslin I had laying around and fabric pens. I used a paper template to make all of the triangles the same size and strung them together with elastic cording. I'm sure someone could do this much prettier, but it works for me.

And from the other side. You can see the mess in our guest room/soon to be nursery.

Close up of the candy corn. It's one of those treats you either love or hate!

I hope you all are getting some of your fall projects completed! Of course the biggest project we have coming up is the nursery. I'm ready to get started on it, and I can tell I'm nesting already.  Happy fall!