My baby shower

I’m a bit of a type A personality, so I had a pretty strong hand in planning my shower, as my sisters and Val can attest to! I love planning parties so it felt only natural to plan this one! I wanted to have a warm, vintage feel to the party while incorporating the colors peach, pale pink and cream and also pinwheels! I spent about 3-4 months prior to the shower scouring flea markets and estate sales for vintage finds for inspiration and to incorporate into the décor of the party. Among my finds were wooden wine crates, vintage spools of thread, children’s books (including my two childhood favorites – Alice in Wonderland and The Wizard of Oz), vintage linen placemats, and whimsical Bailey’s teacups.

I love breakfast food so I planned a menu focused on breakfast items and also tried to incorporate peaches into the food and drinks wherever possible. My favorite part of the spread was the omelette bar, manned none other than by my husband! Guests could pick out their choice of fillings and get their omelette custom-made right in front of them!

My sisters and I tried to incorporate as many DIY elements into the shower as well, such as the pinwheels which were made out of paper printed with text from Alice in Wonderland, all the signage for the food and drinks, mini paper flags for the mini pancake stacks, the mini ribbon bunting for the Bundt cake, and hand-stamped muslin bags containing handmade matchbook notepads for the favors. Guests were invited to create a fabric or felt flower that could be used as a hair clip or strung on a garland for the baby’s nursery. Everyone was so creative and all the flowers were beautiful! My daughter’s name is Eden, so she now has her own little Garden of Eden! 

I'm a mom!

The time has finally come... I'm a mom! Meet Miss E.

born September 5, 2011
8 lb. 1 oz.
20.5 in

Adjusting to life with a newborn is pretty tough, but she is so worth it! Hopefully I'll be back in the swing of things once we've got a routine going!

Tracking baby's growth

This striped 1st birthday party is so adorable! 

See those photos in the back? It's the birthday boy photographed on his monthly "birthday" in a cute onesie indicating how many months old he is! I've seen several friends of mine document their little ones every month for the first year, but I have yet to see this onesie idea and I love it! 

{ source: wrenhandmade }

Wine crates for storage and shelving

I mentioned in a previous post that I bought some wine crates for only $3-5 each. They were used as part of the decor for my baby shower, but now I'm trying to figure out a way to repurpose them as storage or organization for the office/studio. They're currently stacked and being used as a sort of side table for our printer, but it's probably not safe to leave it like that long-term. One slip of a crate and the whole thing will come tumbling down! 


I did some searching and found some great ideas for shelving and storage. Now I just need to find time to get this done before baby comes! 

{ source: designsponge } 

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This one isn't shelving/storage but it's so pretty!!!

sneak peak: my bebe shower!

It's been a whirlwind of a month! From finishing planning my baby shower (yes, I wanted to plan the details myself - I couldn't help it!) to getting the nursery ready, I've barely had time to relax! 


Here's a sneak peek at some photos from my baby shower just a couple of weeks ago. More details to come! 

My dream office desk

We recently remodeled two rooms downstairs, turning one into an office and one into a spare bedroom. I've got a great little corner of the office set up with my desk and some shelving (sorry, no photos yet), but sometimes I can't help but peruse the 'net for my dream office desk and accessories. Here's some of my favorite finds:

sources: vintage notebooks | twig pencils | typewriter | wooden calendar | mango wood desk organizer | owl lamp | french writing desk | french chair | black frame

Okay, I actually already own the black Ikea frame... I have yet to put it up in the office though because I just can't figure out where to best place it! =P

Kinfolk magazine

I am in love with a new magazine - Kinfolk. 


Kinfolk's manifesto:


Kinfolk is a growing community of artists with a shared interest in small gatherings. We recognize that there is something about a table shared by friends, not just a wedding or once-a-year holiday extravaganza, that anchors our relationships and energizes us. We have come together to create Kinfolk as our collaborative way of advocating the natural approach to entertaining that we love.


Every element of Kinfolk – the features, photography, and general aesthetics – are consistent with the way we feel entertaining should be: simple, uncomplicated, and less contrived. Kinfolk is the marriage of our appreciation for art and design and our love for spending time with family and friends.


I love their emphasis on small gatherings and the simple, natural feel of the photography in the magazine. Here's a few of my favorite shots from Issue One.

There's these cute little vignettes on the website as well:

breakfast for two

lunch for two

dinner for two

It makes me wish I could dine outdoors in my backyard with my husband everyday! If only San Francisco weather were a little warmer! 

Fabric hair clips for baby!

Did I mention I was expecting a girl? :)

Lately, I've been looking at lots of baby hair clips, and they're all actually quite easy to make! I spent some time over the weekend making a few different kinds of hair clips, which I plan to either clip directly into her hair or on a headband.

 

 

There are tons of tutorials out there and these are just a few of my favorite:

Box-fold felt flower

Fabric yo-yos

Felt bloom flowers (this one is actually for a super-cute belt!)

Rolled fabric flowers

I love going to fabric stores and checking out their remnants sections. Remnants are great for small fabric projects like these clips. Some good local fabric shops are Peapod Fabrics, Discount Fabrics, and Fabric Outlet. I found the felt from SCRAP, some of which was already cut up into small squares which is exactly what I needed for the felt flower. 

eBay is also a great source for materials. I bought 50 plain double prong alligator clips for $6 and 20 yards of grosgrain ribbon in 20 different colors for $1.25. I also found 12 crochet baby headbands for $4.25, which comes out to $0.35 cents per headband! I love a good deal! ;)

Glass vessels galore

When I was younger, I remember our kitchen being littered with various jars and bottles of all sizes and shapes. Now that I’m a homeowner myself, I can completely understand my mom’s desire to save nearly every single container. There are so many uses for them!

My husband and I eat a lot of pasta; so naturally, my pasta sauce jar collection is quite large!

I wanted more variety of sizes in my jar collection so last year, I asked a friend of mine who recently had a baby to keep her baby food jars for me. Now I’ve got a set of about thirty of them, and they’re perfect for storing craft materials.

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We used the baby food jars for my sister’s baby shower last year to hold small bunches of baby’s breath and placed them on tables as mini centerpieces. And did I mention that I’m also expecting? J I’m due in September and my sisters and bridesmaids are throwing me a baby shower in August, and I have a feeling those baby food jars will be making a reappearance!

More from my sister's baby shower next time!

Best of Both Worlds

I'm lucky to have an entire room dedicated to crafting, but it's crazy to see how many supplies I've "needed" over the years. I love having 2 craft tables in my room to lay out my work or craft with a friend, but it didn't leave much room for storage. It was a hard one, but I finally made the decision to get rid of a table and find more storage space.

I was leaning towards getting the popular Expedit shelf from Ikea

Storage space? Check!

As it turns out, I was sad to have to say bye to my second working area. Luckily, Ikea has the Varde, an awesome cabinet base used in the kitchen.

Hello storage and workspace!

Even better, I found it on Craigslist for less than half the price!

A lovely, big counter with plenty of storage

Just like ordering half a sandwich and cup of soup, I'm glad I got the best of both worlds.