Acrylic Tray Tutorial

I have been meaning to get this post up for quite some time. 

So apologies to those on Instagram I promised I would share this!!

(This is for you Stacy Heckman)

I am sure by now you have all seen the acrylic trays people are using in their homes.

 

via pinterest, having a hard time embedding the links. so sorry.

via pinterest.
so sorry I am not tagging the original pinner, please forgive me.

But what if you want several sizes???

Recently I was reading a blog who purchased her acrylic "trays" that are actually the acrylic 1" frames from michaels.
Here is how to make your own...

Step 1:

Purchase acrylic frames from michaels.

Step 2:

Add your desired design motif to the top of the frame. (from the inside of the frame the design will reflect once it is in "tray" mode)

I knew I wanted a polka dot design, so I used an eraser to dip in my paint for a perfect dot.

Obviously this step is pretty redundant, but use an at random pattern, trying to remember less is more, dont overpopulate the dots. haha.

Step 3:

Let the dots dry.

Step 4:

after the dots have dried add your desired final coat. 

I chose a champagne colored pearlescent pain.

Step 5:

An Update!

For those of you who have called, texted, emailed, facebooked, instagramed, everything to check in on baby!

As of right now he or she is very content not budging so the plan is for now to carry on with life and let a csection be our last resort at 41 weeks.

In other news we have worn our knees out praying we are making the right decision, trusting the lords timing is right and praying for peace over the selling of our home. 

I have a peace right now that eerily, honestly passing all understanding that we have made the right decision.

I have painted bible verses on walls before repainting them, prayer walked this place and I am very happy to report there is a lovely family taking possession of our home a week from wednesday. 

Everything, every SINGLE step of the way has been the lords doing. 

They were the second people to look at the home. 

I prayer walked before they viewed it and when their agent called I just knew it was meant to be. 

soooo here comes the NO you ARE NOT crazy but OH YES WE ARE crazy part....

You know my official due date is July 9th... right?

So we will close here the 3rd, begin packing, etc on the 4th, on the 8th hope to close on an extreme fixer upper we found in our ideal school district in the suburbs.

And if baby isnt here from then we will go to the hospital either the 9th for an induction or the next week for a scheduled c section to welcome our new bundle of joy.

The lords timing is perfect. I know this.... for those of you that know I am an EXTREME type A organized planner you know the lord is ROCKING my world with this whole thing. 

I have been very hesitant to share this information with the general public because of our terribly horrible awful experience last year where the sell fell through the day before closing.

But again, I am really freaking everyone out with how calm I am and all I can say.... the lord has given me a complete and total peace that I cannot explain and he is carrying the situation.

If I can ask for one thing its your prayers.

Specifically the sell of our buyers home, the people purchasing their home have a contingency, they have a contingency, and we have a contingency.

We are #3 in the domino of people house changing.

Pray for smooth appraisals, repairs on inspections to be made in a timely fashion, and everyone's financing to hold solid so this domino doesn't crash. Pray the lord continues to bless everyone's financing involved.

Pray for my husband as he is amazing beyond belief for dealing with my raging hormones as we attempt to move and EVERY SINGLE person is watching me like I am an EGG about to hatch. 

Pray for my inlaws as they have graciously offered to come up here for an unknown amount of time to help us get settled and unpack.

And pray for my four year old. She is very excited about moving but obviously apprehensive and not sure how we are going to get all her things to a new house. This is the only place she has ever known and I want to make sure this doesn't rock her little world in a negative way.

End result, the me sharing with yall our exciting news is more a massive prayer request.

Thankfully we have sorted through alot since last summer and dont have alot of extras of things we dont just love or dont currently need. 

Hopefully that will mean a quicker move. 

Hope to be back again before the move with a few last things to share. 

Love each and every one of you who take the time to read this crazy thiing!

You all are such a blessing!

The story of a Hare

We woke up late this past saturday morning begging to head back over to grammy and pop's house.

You see my mom has an EXTREME obsession with bunny rabbits.

In the past 2 weeks we have spotted a wild bunny around their home. He has been across the street, in the neighbors yard, under a bush; then we saw him within 10 feet from my parents front door when we went to leave friday night!!!

 (Real life picture here people.... a boy with his chock milk, bunny cup and his blankets! another obsession!)

So we woke up sat morning and I knew I had to show them.... 

Big sister watched in amazement as I told her about a little girl named Sloane, who lives at the beach and has a wild bunny who comes to her door pretty often. 

Of course she gave me the "prove it" face. So I pulled up Erika's blog and showed her the pictures she shares!

Both of my kids began to squeal in delight!!!!

We then immediately picked up the phone to call grammy and see if the bunny ate the celery and carrots we put out the night before.

A few nibbles were taken she said! 

Hopefully.... my moms dream will come true and the funny wild hair will stick around and my kids can enjoy such a rare experience of life with a bunny foo foo!!!

Getting Ready for Baby

Currently I am 36 weeks and 4 days!

Longest I have ever made it is 38 weeks...

Guess its time to make the bedding, wash the clothes and start packing the bags. 

I have put things aside, like 1 or 2 things a week but... its time to get it all out and prepare to bring baby home to this house.

First thing I found was a precious stork door hanger on etsy. I loved it but the shipping was more than the hanger...

That's where a friend from high school came in!

She made the most perfect gender neutral stork for us to use at the hospital and at home!

Isnt it adorable??

Can't wait to add either a blue or pink bow to it!

The other little thing I have found is a super cute company in Daphne, Alabama that makes wooden signs. 

I knew I wanted something different to hang over the baby's crib and this is one of her spring/summer designs!

My mother in law has already picked it up and will bring it when she comes in town for baby to be born!!

The bedding has been started and I kind of ran out of steam.

We decided on neutral bumpers and I will decide on other colors for the crib skirt and drapes once baby arrives!!

Time to go wash those clothes and show mom a last few things she might need to pick up for me.
She is on standby to go buy girly goodness if its a girl!

I just have this strong hunch its a boy. I am carrying sooo similar to how I carried C!

Whew...

Okay so... recap.. 

Been on the market 22 days. With FSBO we have had some great exposure and traffic. So far 6 showings I think and we are just waiting for the right offer to come in.

Whew is the only word I really have to recap my life basically since August. 

I was teaching at mothers day out monday, wednesday, and friday and our daughter was attending preschool across town tuesday, thursday and friday.

When we found out we were expecting in November I knew something had to give. 

Luckily I was able to switch from teaching the 3 year olds to snuggling with the babies at MDO. 

I would be lying if I said this was an easy spring. 

(most days I had these aweful bags and no makeup... remind me not to do that again!)

Our son was sick CONSTANTLY,(flu, 19 ear infections, staph infection, allergies to food, allergies to medicine, etc)  I am still having issues with my heart, and I started really pursuing my dreams of designing and creating children's clothing.

Most have asked how I did it, others asked if I am still designing. 

The long and short is I wake up at 6 am and go to bed about 1 am.

I won't lie to you, I am exhausted... and with my husband travelling about 36-38 weeks out of the year I was pretty burntout!

This past fall was a good time to re-evaluate the design, long story short I was not charging anywhere near enough, I was doing way more travelling than possible with 2 children and it just wasn't working for me. 

From now on my current clients are on retainer, we work one project at a time and don't move on to others until the current project is complete. Allows me to meet the immediate needs of that space and stay focused on the task at hand.

I have GOT to get to about 5 different houses and follow up on the completed projects as I left them with homework while I worked on the applique, taught and tried to manage everything while my husband traveled for work. 

So stay tuned on how we were able to transform these rooms. I had a blast working with each and every one of them and I am excited about some of the things being completed as I type!!

I am happy to report I have quit working at Mother's Day Out to be a full time stay at home mommy....

er.... stay at home designer..... er... full time night warrier....

Either way I am SUPER excited to recharge my batteries and let my creative juices for the ol' blog come back. 

Now that I have adjusted to the embroidery and applique and have a little bit of a hang of things expect there to be some more projects, tutorials, and excitement on here.

I apologize things have been so few and far between but there just havent been enough hours in the day!! 

Now we are home ALL summer!!!

Can't WAIT to put some pinterest projects to work and start checking off my ever growing to do list. 

First on the list... make it to the apple store and get a new charger for the laptop, becuase lets face it... I blog with laptop propped up in bed! That's just what has always worked for me.

Second on the list... hopefully.... prayerfully we wont be in this house much longer.. which means a new blog name and LOTS of new design projects.

(enough of the furniture rearranging right??)

And third..... to reveal to all of you just how organized we have become since we found out we were expecting #3 in the fall. 

Only a few more things to sell, get rid of and I will do a real life house tour of all the storage solutions we have put into plan in our small 1400 square feet. 

And all I can say is there will be tumble weed blowing through any house larger than this we have gotten rid of so much! 

SERIOUSLY!!!!

sooo what have yall been up to??? Do share because I am BACK and ready to breathe some new life into this space!!!!

What do you want to see?? 

What do yall need help with?

Lilly wants to know!!!

DeJa Vue

Sooo I am kind of in denial we are actually doing this again. I have fought god on this for quite a while.

But... We are back on the market.

It's been a week and we have had 4 showings... Total god thing... We have no sign in our yard and no mls number. Just trusting The Lord will send the right person or family.

We have done a lot of work recently to make the house most appealing to the largest amount of people.

Sorry I have been slacking in that way but here is the hopefully, prayerfully, final home tour of this place!

Will you join me in praying for us trusting the lords timing and for The Lord to bless the finances of whoever he has to purchase our house.

Be back with baby posts!!!

A New Lamp

These days its the little things...

Like finally finding a new lamp I LOVE for the nursery.

I love it!!

And of course its the Threshold collection from Target. 

I don't seem to make it into many other stores these days.

This is what it looks like with the rest of the changing area.

A Mother's Day Treat

I thought I would take the weekend off and spend time with my kiddies, but before I do I wanted to share what we are doing for my mom for Mother's Day.

We commissioned a piece of artwork by a friend, she also happens to be an incredible artist!!

Meet Katie Toombs.

She is Amazing!!!

Not only is she an artist cranking out work right and left, but a mommy to 4 little ones! 

I don't know how she does it. 

*all images property of Katie Toombs Fine Art

Here is a sampling of a recent art show that was held this spring.

 *images property of Katie Toombs

how precious is this painting?

*side story: Our church is making plans to try and move the original historic chapel from its original location onto the current church property. Katie is commissioning these pieces and a portion of the funds will go to restoring the chapel and getting it placed on current church property. 

*image property of Katie Toombs 

This is actually the actual painting we got for my mom! 

I can't wait to give it to her this weekend!!

Thanks again Katie! We will share a picture once we get it hung!!

What are you doing for your mom for mothers day??

A Trip to the Childrens Museum

Recently daddy had a day off from work so we ventured to the children's museum.

We had a blast taking brother for the first time and can't wait to take the new baby soon!

and this picture confirms 100% why I want arm lipo....

the end.

April in Review

We are starting the single digit countdown to baby. I have been sewing, cleaning, organizing and cleaning some more to get ready for baby.

C bear is 15 months old and still just 21 pounds!

His lack of heftiness is made up for in energy as determination! This little booger keeps me busy!!!

Here is a snapshot of our month in review!!

Having Dr. T check our ears and adenoids after our surgery.

Baby number 3 just growing away!!

Sister with her house at schoolbus at the preschool art show!

Afternoon snacks at target

This crazy fella has been quite the helper as we finish up working on the screened in porch!

So deep in thought to be 15 months old!