Our Improved Front Room

Nothing like a baby blessing to get my butt in gear and get some UFO's done! Here's the before: And here's the after:The fabric was all only $3 a yard from a local home fabric store. The rug ended up being the "inspirational piece" for all the coloring ... reds, greens, browns, & yellows.

I used the thrifty decor chick & nesting place's ideas for curtains. Upholstery tacks were only $1.47 at Wal-Mart and look at the awesome pleated windows as a result!Seriously the whole window "mistreatment" took about an hour from start to finish ... love it! :)

Then I did a knock-off version of the temples from the cultural hall website. I was able to photoshop a similar looking version of the St. George temple (where we were married) and even to personalize it for only $3, the frame was $17 ... a lot cheaper than the $200 on-line price tag ($140 at Costco). The rest of the odds n' ends were picked up from Tai Pan Trading (in St. George ... love that place!). It helps complete that odd little corner ...

Then the family tree I picked up (for only $2.50 from a Hallmark clearance center a couple of years ago) was put on that little section of a wall on the window. I love the gold frame that frames it all in. It fits and fills up the space perfectly. And here's the throw pillows (I stole the stuffing from the other pillows). We pretty much already had everything, but the total spent was around $100 for all the throw pillows, curtains, frames for Ryan's diplomas, everything! LOVE IT!!! :)

Butterfly Artwork

So this was the inspirational piece ... and this was my version ... and my friend Christy who did one on the same day with me. (I like hers better)An awesome friend of mine cut the circles out for us using her cricut. Then it took us most of a day to lay out the pieces, and get the shapes we wanted. We hot glued the buttons down. And we stitched the paper pieces, then spray glued them down. The process of actually adhering the pieces all down took less than an hour. And the best part is, it's a LOT less than the $150 price tag of Pottery Barn Kids! :)

Price Break Down:

Scrapbook Paper - $1.20 (Bought @ Jo-Ann's for 5 sheets for $1)

Canvas Board - $9.00 (size is 24" x 24")

Buttons - $1.50 (found in the bead/craft section at Wal-Mart, one bag is 4 oz & was enough)

Revived Corner

So my friend Lisa offered us five fantastic cork boards the other week! :) I had my hubby use the staple gun to stick some cute small checkered fabric on it (which now that I'm looking at it, looks a lot like the color of cork board ... lol). I used two of the big ones for this corner next to the bathroom. Here's the before for the corner (that bookshelf was always an eye sore), which we moved into Hunter's closet: And the after with the kids artwork up ... it's my favorite corner of the home now. :) Thank you so much Lisa for thinking of us! :)

Three finished projects in one week!!!

Holy cow this has been a GOOD six days ... lots of sewing and finished projects ... yeah! I'm trying to get pictures of it all to post now ... but it's pretty overcast today so it might have to wait until tomorrow. Project #1 is a baby wrap. I found a tutorial here & here. Until Savannah turns 4 in August, we have three kids, three and under! It's crazy when I try to go out & Colton really isn't ready to walk, so this has been a lifesaver already! I got a 95% cotton/5% spandex interlock weave knit from Jo-Ann's for only $4 a yard! SCORE! :) I picked up enough of it to make two ... I really like the olive green coloring. Hunter was nice enough to take the pics for me ... so half my head is cut off in them ... but you still get the idea. Then here's a pic of some of the home decor fabric I picked up in the last couple of weeks for $3 a yard ... can't wait to show the cute curtains off this weekend when our friends come over for a bbq!

Mother's Day Aprons

Baby #4 is very colicky, so not much has been happening here. But I wanted to share the aprons I made for my Mom & Grandma for Mother's Day. I used this tutorial and loved it! I want to go get some zebra print fabric now (I saw some at Jo-Ann's yesterday) and make myself one with a pink tie ... it'll be cute! Unfortunately, the flash photo isn't the best, but the close up detail shows the colors for my Grandma's better. This apron took about 40 minutes to make for me, and that included a major jam up/bent needle and de-fuzzing the inside of my machine. Definitely want to do this again! :)

Thanks you guys! It's not a finished project ... there's still curtains, the bed quilt & a bed skirt to be made ... but it's been a slow work in progress (I've been collecting the stuff for over a year) ... so I'm not too worried. I'm hoping to find more odds n' ends to put on the shelves as time goes on. It's fun doing it with her though. :)

I never posted the pic of the kids in their shirts (mainly because there still isn't a 100% wonderful pic of all three with their shirts to show) ... but here's a pic taken at Kiddie Kandids the other day that kind-of shows them.

Then I completely spaced a gift that is due next week! Oops!!! I already made the quilt top ... but I haven't been feeling well enough to actually sit & sew ... guess it's time to suck it up and get to work on this sucker, she's getting married next weekend and I wanted to give it to (on time).

**Sorry for the bad pic**

Just a simple patchwork of one of the mary englebriet charm packs. I loved how bright & happy it was ... just like the bride-to-be. I pulled it out last night to at least pin, but fell asleep ... maybe today instead of a nap I can get it at least pinned???

Savannah's Room

Today is my husband's first day back at work since the baby was born. I'm trying to find a new groove ... one that (so far) hasn't involved a real shower ... lol. This fantastic baby stage doesn't last long enough and I am trying to soak it all up with Jax ... he may be our last little baby. But I wanted to share these pics real quick of Savannah's room ...

Ryan hung up the shelves on the wall for me after I made a floor diagram of it all ... all of the items are things that I've been slowly collecting/re-purposing for her. I took that shelf & mod podge'd on some scrapbook paper. I really like the way that green polka dot background makes everything pop! I filled it up with some dolls on top that were given to her (one from Russia, one from South America and the Hello Kitty doll from China), and put a thrift store find on the bottom. Then I had painted around a basic corkboard and stapled fabric on it to hold some pics for her. My favorite is that shelf for the purses ... I am meaning to paint it, but for now it's up & those purses have a home. We still can't find about half of them though. The bucket is in the closet (it took up too much floor space) holding lots of baby blankets now.

Next up: to frame the ABC sampler & then later this week I want to make the butterfly art work (similar to this) for the other side.