Poof

I found this poof for a steal at TJ Maxx and have slowly started building the whole nursery design around it.  I started out with my mind set on coral pick but this little poof changed it all, funny how you have your mind set on one thing and can go a whole different direction with just one purchase.

Elephant pillow

I'm getting real creative with the blog post titles huh? ;)  These pregnancy hormones have my brain on a hiatus.  The nursery is moving right along these days.  In fact, just a few more things to finish off and we will be done.  Before we even knew the gender of the baby I knew I wanted to make this pillow and it was super easy.  

It was inspired by this pillow that retails for $100.  It's an awesome pillow but I just can't justify spending $100 on a pillow for a nursery.  

source: amazon

So here we have my take on this pillow.  I started with a plain white pillow cover that I just so happened to get for free at IKEA with my coupon I got in the mail.  Did any of you guys get one of those?  Even if you didn't have a coupon, this pillow retails for $7.  Not too bad at all.  

source

Then I just took one of these iron on transfer sheets and printed out the picture I wanted to transfer.  I got mine from Target.  

and used this free printable elephant I found

source

Then, I just followed the instructions for the transfer paper.  Basically print your image onto the transfer paper, iron it on and you're done.  I added some yellow pom pom trim from fabric.com

source

It's actually the tiniest pom pom trim I've ever seen but oh so cute.

and here we have the finished product

and our new glider that we got from Walmart.com of all places.  I love that it looks more like a regular arm chair than a glider.  

Black Friday Freebies

OK, so I'm not giving away anything super spectacular like a big screen TV for black Friday but I do have a few free printables for you today.  We are really making some progress in the nursery.  In fact, the only thing left to do is get the crib and set it up.  Now I'm sure I'll think of a few more things we "need" or will tweak things up until the day she's here.  One of the first things we did in the nursery (after painting) was to create a gallery wall.  I wanted this wall to be playful, a little eclectic, and meaningful.  So here you have it.

Starting from the top left corner, we have a picture that my mom took (meaningful), a printable that I made (playful and meaningful), her first ultrasound (meaningful), $4 thrift store mirror (playful), "E" found at a yardsale for $5 and it's her first initial (It came off the side of an old building which I thought was kind of cool)  And lastly, an octopus print (playful and eclectic)  We may expand the wall over time but right now I think it's just right the way it is.  The best part about it is that we didn't have to buy anything for it.  I repurposed frames we already had, created my own printables, and gathered a few things from the garage.

For the octopus print, I found an image on graphics fairy and made it black and white on the computer.  

source for image

and this one is meant to be like an eye chart, my hubby and a few friends didn't get it at first but I really like it.  Follow the lines as you are reading and it says, "I love you to the moon and back xoxoxo"  Here it is if any of you want to use it

Seeing Stripes

The stripes on the ceiling are finished and I am oh so happy.  Although it was a lot of work I think it was definitely worth it and well worth the effort, even my hubby said so.  Next up is a fun DIY light project I've got going on.  I love the chandelier but I've found something a little more playful.  The chandelier will find a new home in my office, which I'm sad to admit is still halfway done.  For anyone who's wondering, the ceiling color is yellow magnolia by Martha Stewart.  It's one of my favorite yellows.

(pardon the cell phone pic, it was late when we finished and just wanted to snap a pic to show you guys)

And so it begins...

We spent this past weekend getting some major things accomplished in the nursery.  We started with painting the walls and then moved to the ceiling, the biggest accomplishment.  As to be expected, I have already changed the nursery plan from what I originally showed you.  It all started with this yellow pouff that I found which I'll talk about later.  Anyways, last night we accomplished the major task of taping off the stripes for the ceiling.  The only thing worse than taping stripes on a wall is taping them on a ceiling. By the end of it I felt like my arms were going to fall off.  If I had to do it over again I would use a chalk line, snap it, and then tape it off but of course we didn't have one of those last night and I had ants in my pants and wanted to get started.  I'm so thankful for my hubby who went along with me on this.  At first he said, "Are you sure you really want to do this?"  To which I answered "yes, of course" and so the fun began.  Stay tuned for phase 2 when we have them all painted.  

biggest project yet...

I'm still claiming the baby as my biggest project yet, but this one is pretty big too as far as design goes.  I'm working with a client on her beach house and we are starting from the ground up.  We took a little weekend trip down there to finalize the lighting plan and get started on choosing some of the finishes.  I'm very excited about this opportunity and the fact that I love all things beachy makes it even better.

Here are a few pics of the house now in it's beginning stages.  I'll share progress pics along the way.

soon to be living room...

soon to be kitchen...

and the view from their master bedroom porch, wouldn't you love to wake up to that every morning?

Hope you guys had a great weekend, back to the grind tomorrow!

Rosette Cake Tutorial

I bet you thought this tutorial was never coming, well it's finally here and you're going to love how simple it is.  It's such a pretty cake and so easy to make.  It will be your go to cake for all occasions.  Since a picture is worth a thousand words I figure we'd do this with mostly pictures.  I took as many as possible with my icing covered fingers.

Start out with some buttercream frosting, you can never go wrong with buttercream frosting.  I use the Wilton recipe found here.  

Then, crumb coat your cake to provide a base coat and keep the crumbs in.

Next, cut the tip off your icing bag (you can also use a gallon size ziploc bag)

and the secret, this little tip from Wilton.  It does all the work for you.  You can find it at most craft stores (Hobby Lobby, Michael's, etc.)  In case you can't read it, it's the Wilton 1M.  Insert it into your icing bag and fill her up.

Then, just pick a starting point.  It really doesn't matter where it is just pick on and go with it.

Then, just start piping working your way around like a pinwheel in a clockwise motion and you end up with a beautiful rosette.

Keep doing that until you've covered the whole cake and you're done.  You can make them as big or small as you like.

Here's the previous one I did for a birthday party

So now I've shared all my secrets.  So easy huh?