Baby Girl's Bedding!

Alright, I finished the crib bedding today. The bumpers weren't hard but they were completely tedious and time consuming. There were so many little pieces that went into them. From curving the edges to doing my own cotton cord piping to making 24 ties. But I could not be happier with the results. They seriously turned out completely adorable. Now, I still don't have a mattress so there is a small layer missing in the picture. There will be a 5 inch layer of the gray elephants in between the ruffles and the bumper, but until we buy the mattress, here is the bedding!! :) 


It took me about 26 hours but totaled at only $112! I am so happy with that. Crib bedding is so stinking expensive, and I just can't make myself pay $400 for bedding. Instead I got exactly what I wanted for much, much less. 

[a picture to show the sheet next to the bumper...]

[close up on the ties and the piping]

When the crib and room are completely done I plan on taking pictures with my real camera. These aren't great quality, obviously. But at least you get an idea of what it looks like!  :) 

Maternity Photo Shoot

A couple of weeks ago Josh and I had a good friend of our's, Kelly Cannon, take our photos. She is a photographer based here out of Utah and she is fantastic! It was such a beautiful night. We chose to have them taken in an apple orchard here in Provo. The orchard was to die for. The colors were beautiful and there were deer everywhere! We had such a good time. She had so many good ideas for different poses. We brought a bunch of clothes and accessories for the pictures and I couldn't be happier with how everything turned out. You've probably seen the three that I posted on Facebook, well, we got them all yesterday! So here they are! I won't post all 48 on here. I'll post them all on Facebook, but I will post one of each on here! :) She did different edits for each of the pictures. I can't tell you how much I love them. I can't wait to get a big one printed for our wall. Thanks Kelly! Link to Kelly's blog is here.

[See the deer??]

Pinterest Night

Josh started using Pinterest about a year ago but only used it for about a week before he stopped. Just recently he revisited it and found that there really are a lot of great ideas on there. We gathered together some of our favorite home decor diy projects and had a little Pinterest night. We had a lot of fun. We went to JoAnn's for supplies. We got canvases, crayons, spray paint and masking tape. We did two projects with plans to do one more here soon.

Using the masking tape we taped off random lines on a 20x30 canvas. Then we simply spray painted it. We did a big green one and a small blue one. They were so easy, and I think they turned out really fun! We have the ledge way up high in our living room that was in need of something. I think these canvases look great up there.

Our second project was for baby girl's room. Using a small canvas we hot glued crayons across the top of the canvas in order according to the rainbow...sorta. Then we used my heat gun that I use for embossing in scrapbooking and simply heated up the crayons until they started dripping. It was also so easy and I think it turned out adorable. I can't wait to hang it in her room.

We have one more big project that involves more spray paint and canvas for above our bed but we haven't tackled it yet. I'll post about it when we do! :)

Quick Update

I haven't posted in a while, as we've been busy with work, home improvements and getting ready for the arrival of our little girl. Today marks the one month countdown to her due date. Crazy. I can't believe that she could come any time now. It still feels somewhat surreal. But I am definitely getting excited to meet her. Am I ready? Not quite. I'm ready for the labor, delivery, having my baby part...but I'm not ready in the...she has an adorable nursery to come home to kind of way. We're trying to get it put together, but there is still a lot to do. Her crib is here and I have been sewing my brains out getting the bedding for the crib made. The skirt (with all those insane ruffles) is done! And the sheet for the mattress is also finished. All I have left are the bumpers. I have them all cut out and have started sewing but I still have a few hours of work to do on those. Then there is the changing table to buy, so that things will start having a place. And other than that, we just have decorating to do. I'm pretty excited about what I have planned for her walls. I don't want to ruin the surprise, so just look forward to that! :) I suppose I'll post my progress on the crib bedding so far though. I thought about saving it until it was completely done, but it's too adorable not to share.

[some of the different fabrics]

[the finished crib sheet. i love the elephants!]

[after cutting all the strips for the ruffles out...so exhausting, and so tedious] 

[practicing my ruffles on a scrap piece of fabric]

[getting started! Each ruffle involved finishing three sides of the strip with an overlock stitch which is very similar to a serged edge (huge thank you to Kelly for letting me borrow her machine that can basically do anything!) and then running two stitches across the top to be pulled for the gathers. in other words, this was a very, very long process]

[my first ruffle! pinned and ready to be sewn]

[halfway done with the ruffles. i laid them across the back of the couch as i finished them]

[starting to piece the ruffles together with their connecting pieces cut from muslin]

[all four layers together and ready to be sewn!]

[And the finished product on the crib and ready for baby!]

 I made it longer than the tutorial one because I wanted it to touch the ground. It's a little too long, but I still love it. I just need to buy a mattress now to but the sheet on and then finish the bumpers! I can't wait for her room to be ready! 

I have quite a few more things to post about, but no time to do it right now. Monday is our day off and I thought I would sneak in a quick post while Josh was showering and getting ready. We are now off to run errands and get a few more things for the house! :) 

Oh, one last thing, we sold Josh's laptop and I am blogging from our brand new MacBook Pro! It's beautiful and we love it. It was quite the investment, but I'm so sick of buying laptops that only last a couple years. This one better last us a long time! 

Posts to look forward to: Pinterest night, more pictures of the apartment and our maternity photo shoot pictures which we are getting tonight! Can't wait! 

Our New Place

I know this is the post most everyone has been waiting for. Sorry it's so long in coming. I came and took pictures when we first got the keys but then things got so busy so I never got a chance to blog them. Then I just found my camera cord today, so I took some more and I'll post them all. Now, remember, our place is still mostly in boxes, so please excuse the mess! But we love it! It's been great so far. 


First are the pictures I took a few weeks ago of the apartment empty. I love the ceilings. It's one of our favorite parts. They are so tall and add a lot of space to the place (a lot like our last place, but even taller). 

[Front door]

[Stairs leading up to our place (we're on the third floor)]

[Porch space]

[View from front door]

[Living and dining room]

[Pantry]

[Kitchen]

[Living Room]

[Master Bedroom]

[Master bath]

[Master bath]

[Master closet]

[Hooray! Washer/dryer!]

[Second bedroom/baby's room]

[Second bedroom closet]

[Second bath]

Now, here are some pictures I took today. We've unpacked a lot but we still have a ton to do and a ton of furniture to buy still! 

[Don't mind Josh, he's just playing some video games...]

[Living room]

[Future dining room...next paycheck!]

[Ah! Messy kitchen]

[Kitchen. I love the window]

[View from kitchen to living room]

[Bedroom]

[New dresser from IKEA]

[Master bath (new shower curtain!)]

[Master bath/closet]

[Master bath looking in bedroom]

[Hallway view from our door towards the second bath/bedroom]

[Baby's room]

[Baby's closet with all her clothes hanging finally!]

[Grill on our porch]

[View from our front door]

[View into the house from front door (new rug)]

[View of vaulted ceilings in front rooms]

[Slanted ceiling in master bedroom]

Well, there it is! We really like it. Obviously I will post more updates as things get done, but we are so excited about it. It is tons more space and we are feeling more ready for baby girl. Speaking of which, we bought the crib today. :) It will arrive in 7-14 days, so we don't have it yet. I will post pictures when we get it set up! Can't wait.