Nursery #2

I swear you blink, and life has passed another year. I obviously haven't kept up with my craft blogging, and I wish I still had time to do so, but with my company doing newborn props and life in general, there is really no time left. We moved into our new home about a year and a half ago, and there is a tiny 8x10 (really 8x8 of usable space) room next to the master that works perfectly as a nursery. So about 5 months pregnant with baby girl #2, I started. Hubby helped me pick out the fabric, which was fun. We orignally thought we might have a boy, and I bought a cute little fox bonnet because I wanted a woodland styled boy nursery. When we were surprised that #2 was a girl, hubby still wanted to use the fox and orange theme through out it, so we went with it! It might be that she is a spring baby, but her nursery is way more bright/colorful than #1's. (See #1's nursery here.) So without further ado, our sweet baby girl's nursery. 

The second image is from the previous owner of the house, the third is from when we turned it into #1's nursery after moving in. #1 was not there for long though, she got moved into the bigger bedroom, and was soon converted to her big girl room. The paint we used was Silver Birch by Glidden, still one of my favorite colors. The room then sat empty for a while with a desk and a couch. 

Because we wanted to use a lot of bright colors, I went with a very soft oatmeal color for the paint. I also wanted it to have a slight modern feel, so we used just paint and decor to bring in the colors and elements. I went on the search for nursery prints on Etsy and found these that I fell in love with from Kit Chase. I made the little doll that now displays the bonnet that we bought that sort of started the whole theme. While small, the room fits cozily the big three, so I'm excited to have it. 

The camera kind of made the colors wonky in some of these, the rug is a teal/mint dusty color, not the green it shows. LOL. The blurring on the wall is where her name and letter is, which we haven't quite announced. (Well if we announce that name anyway, she may come out something else! LOL) The dresser is the one from #1's nursery. We took out all the hardware, filled all the holes and drilled new ones. We put in new hardware and I also painted a chevron pattern across the top. Most of the decor is DIY, but the frames, rug, bottles and little hook board are from Hobby Lobby, as well as the bird. A few frames from IKEA. Glider is from Babysrus, pouf and pillow were DIY. Ruffled quilt is also DIY. 

All bedding was made by me, which was a fun project. Foxes are from IKEA. (If I hear, what does the fox say, I may go into prego rage and punch a wall. Or that person in the face. Just saying. hahaha) Frames are all waiting for her newborn session. :) 

We are pretty excited for this little one to get here, and it should be within the next two weeks! So excited for Button to have a little sister, and excited to watch them grow together. I'm sorry that I have been the worst blogger alive, since none of these have tutorials. LOL. But here is a quick reference sheet for the items. Have a lovely Thursday!

Crib: Lauren from Graco

Glider: Chenille in Ivory from Newco/Babysrus

Dresser: Restored/DIY

Pouf: DIY, Tutorial HERE.

Bedding: Made by me (Most fabric was from Joanns)

Ruffle quilt was inspired by #1's as seen HERE.

(pinterest diy crib sheet, etc etc and you will find tons of tutorials)

Bassinet: Thrift

Floating shelves: Ikea, or Walmart. I can't remember

Flag bunting: Made by me

Chair pillow: Made by me

Rug: Hobby Lobby

Dream Big art: DIY

Frames: IKEA and Hobby Lobby

Nursery Art: Kit Chase from Trafalgar Square

Miscellaneous Decor: Hobby Lobby

Felted bow for newborn pics: Milkmoney on Facebook and Etsy

Fox Bonnet: Two Crafty Mamas on Facebook and Etsy

Vintage Inspired Doll: Made by me

Dresser Hardware: Hobby Lobby and IKEA

Curtains: DIY from Twin Sheets, Ricrac from Hobby Lobby

That should do it, have a lovely day! 

Um.....hi?

Uh, it's been a while. Forever really. I have no excuses. Life happened. Over and over. Life has been so good for us! We moved in September, and love our home. I hope to get a house tour up with all the neutral, organic decor. It's soothing and I love it. I have been insanely busy with my company Avonli Cottage. I get spoiled in being able to work doing something I adore. Making photography props for newborns is SO fun.

My facebook page is where I post all the latest work, but it's stuff like this:

 So fun, huh? I made the pant set.

Our little went from this:

To this:

And I'm still having a hard time believing it. Ok, maybe not THAT much since Sept, since the first pic is from when she was like 9 months, but still. Nuts. She is a crazy fireball of a two year old now, and I wonder how most people survive this stage.

We recently converted her room to a 'big girl' toddler room, and decided that since the rest of the house is all neutrals, her room should have some colors so she at least knows they exist. ;)

It was my first time quilting, but if you don't look too close at the binding, then it gets an A+. :) I'll get some more pics and the house tour up soon....ish. You know me, I'm awesome like that.

Have an amazing Tuesday!

Oh Hello!!

So, it's been a while. What have you been up to? 

Nothing? Oh you moved out of your mom's basement? 

Well that's cool ! So.... big gulps huh?

Now that we've gotten the awkward post absence greeting over with, I can blow the dust off this blog and perhaps get back to doing some blogging here and there! 

To explain my absence here is what I've been up to: 

Aren't they scrumptious little babies??? Many of you know that I dabbled in newborn photography for a while, but what I really loved was all the beautiful props and images that resulted. I then decided to use my love of sewing and start to make those props for the images. And it has been a crazy ride! You can find more of what it is here. I have been absolutely blessed to be able to work at home and do something I just love in addition to raising our darling little. (Who is now 19 months! So crazy!)

BUT, we just bought a new home! We'll be renting out our current property, so we'll get to make the transition pretty smoothly. And I get to decorate, and paint, etc, etc all over again! Yay? Yay! 

So I will be posted a lot of before and after as we make our new home into my french country cottage I always wanted. :) 

And to leave you for today with an updated image of my little:

She's giant! hahahah. And little miss sassy pants, but so good and darling as well. We are blessed. Till later! Have a wonderful weekend! 

point of view {love}!!

 Wahoo! A craft post! I know it's been forever. :) And what better way to begin again than with POV? This month is LOVE! Perfect timing for February. 

Go and check out these awesome projects: 

Darling burlap heart bunting from Jonie at Just Between Friends

Cute ruffled heart pillow from Amy at Ameroonie Designs

Perfect heart embellishment from Meg and Steph from DIY Divas

DIY Photo Pillow Heart Prop from Camilla at Rosy Red Buttons (Here!)

Chic heart decor  from Michelle at A Little Tipsy

Love this darling quilt art at Gwenny Penny

And now for mine.

DIY Photo Pillow Heart Prop! 

 It's really really easy. Like easier than I could handle, so I got distracted and played with the little. A lot. She's getting huge! We celebrated her 1st birthday last week. I still can't believe it. And there I go again, all distracted.

 The first thing you will do is lay out some fabric and then fold it back on itself so that there are four layers of fabric, with the main fold at the bottom, and the fold you made at the side. 

 Then you are going to go back to elementary school and cut a heart. Just like they showed you. Remember? 

 So when you unfold it, you have a perfectly symmetrical heart, and two layers at that. 

 Pin right sides together and then sew along the edges. Leave a small opening. 

 Stuff! I used about a large bag of Poly fill, the heart I made is nearly three feet across. 

 Fill it so it looks nice, and then hand sew the little opening. Pretty simple. 

And voila, a nice heart pillow. Really this part is super easy, now you get to do the fun part. 

Take pictures of your littles on it! For those who are more into photography, you will have seen things similar to these in a lot of newborn photos this year, so now you can make your own! And if you're not so much, how cute will this HUGE heart pillow be on a little girls bed? Just saying....

And! Have you seen the homemade valentine cards going around? Like this? 

Ok, they aren't JUST like this, but its all the rage to do something in a scrapbooking program or photoshop and use those as their valentine to pass around. Obviously my little is well, too little. So I made them for you. :) (Files are formatted to 4x6)

To download the horizontal file (it is a png, so can layer over any photo in pretty much any editing program) click HERE. 

To download the vertical file, click HERE. 

Hope you enjoy!

Alright, have your own 'love' themed project to share? Come link them up over at Gwenny Penny!

Thanks for stopping by, go share your projects! Can't wait to see them. :) 

Have a wonderful weekend! 

photo session giveaway!!

CioCo Photography is doing a 1,000 fan giveaway! Giving away a full family session, plus other really awesome prizes! Go check out the giveaway here! 

oh {laws}

I'm giving up even apologizing, because I already know I'm super lame. :) So I've missed you all! Thanks for all your support, and I promise that once the new year is in swing, I will have some fun projects. Until then, enjoy this delicious Ryan G crafting image. ;) 

Have a wonderful Thursday! 

point of view {BURLAP}!!

It's time for POV! And I LOVE the theme this month BURLAP, and there are some fun projects out there, so check them out here:

Easy ruffled DIY canvas from Camilla at Rosy Red Buttons (you are here!)

Darling burlap art from Leanne at Organize and Decorate Everything

Great gift embellishment from Michelle at A Little Tipsy

Cute burlap flower bag from Amy at Ameroonie Designs

Seriously awesome burlap turkey at Gwenny Penny

Wonderful subway art table runner from Angie at The Country Chic Cottage

On to my project....

Ruffled Burlap Canvas!! 

So super easy and it makes a fun and unique display in your home.

 Recently I have started a home studio for my company CioCo Photography. In the process of doing said studio, I knew I needed to have some of my work displayed, but I wanted it done in a less traditional way than I've seen. So I had some images printed off in 8x10's. You can do whatever size you want really. I then went to Walmart and bought different varieties of canvas- some stretched, some just the straight.

 On the stretched ones I just painted the sides. The staples look uber ghetto, but they work. I could have taken more time and really cared about them, but I am just not that kind of girl. So ghetto they are.

 I adhered the images to the canvas with mod podge on the back, and after it dried I put it on the front as well to give it a matte look. I then spread them out to dry.

 For my newborn canvas', I got 16x20 stretched canvas' and then just mod podged the back of the picture to the canvas to give it a clean look. I put them up on the wall, but decided the straight out staples were a little too ghetto, even for me. I didn't want to paint them. So I though, I love ruffles, and I love burlap, so voila, a project was born. 

 I cut strips of burlap to go around the frame from scraps I already had. I suppose you could buy burlap to make it long enough so that you just have one strip (less ghetto) but I was going cheap.

 I then started hot gluing the burlap around the canvas, gathering and gluing as I did. No sewing required. Then when my husband got done playing starcraft doing his masters homework, he came to help. I took this picture to have proof that he did. I didn't realize the flash was pointed right at his face until I saw this:

 And then had to take a picture because I'm kind of a sadist I thought it was a little funny. 

 And here she is. Yes, all these photos have been awful because it was night and flash was required. 

 So here is the other canvas all by its lonesome in the early morning. It will be the next one once I go find some more burlap.

 Aw, doesn't she look tons better? It will look great once the other is up also. The whole studio is kind of cremes and natural tones and textures. 

And here are the others. My little is on the left, I can't believe how big she is getting! For the flat canvas' I just hot glued some hemp string on the back on each corner to hang. Hemp is kind of technically just strands of burlap, so it works right? Awesome.

So go make your own little burlap wonder! And when you do, link it up HERE! Or have a burlap project made and you want to show it off? LINKY PARTY is HEREERERERERE. Really go link up, I'm super excited. ;)