Baby Nursery Tour

With a week before Baby Pope is due to be born, we’re happy with the outcome of the room for him/her to come home to. After the sneak peek I posted in July, I’ve completed quite a bit of sewing and Ronny has helped a lot with reorganizing.

I was inspired for the colors of the room from the fabric {Moda’s Baby Jane} that I used to make the crib quilt. I also liked the vintage/antique feel for decorations, so I found a lot of the decorations from antique stores and from Ronny and I’s childhood.

My grandparents gave us this beautiful, antique dresser for baby’s room. It is the perfect size for the changing pad and a bin for easy access to diapers, wipes, and creams.

The wall collage was a work in progress that I’ve been collecting for some time. I’m thankful for Ronny and his measuring tape/level skills. He made sure it was all even. I would have just eyeballed it. :)

I made this small quilt hanging out of scrap fabric from my quilt. It was my first paper-piecing quilting project. I used this cow pattern, and included mini-flying geese as well. When putting on the binding, I included large, white rick-rack and hung the wall hanging inside of a frame I found from Goodwill that I spray painted white.

This year when we were visiting the National Western Stock Show, I came across this poem call, “The Tradition” and I loved the ending paragraph. Frame also found at Goodwill.

I love Golden Books. And since this book had a cow and the perfect colors for the baby’s room, I framed it (in another spray painted frame from Goodwill.)

This piece is a yarn art that I found in my grade-school crafts box. I’m not sure when I created it, but I love the colors. It was hung in my office, but I switched frames.

I left one small square frame to put a baby picture in.

I also made the crib mobile. Using this tutorial, I simply printed out the steer and bird silhouettes for the pattern. I made fabric/batting sandwiches, sewed around the steers and birds, then cut them out. I used Fray Check to keep the edges from fraying. Then I used embroidery floss to attach each one and tied to an embroidery hoop. Ronny said baby will get to start their livestock judging skills early with this pen of five. :)
 

The other side of the room includes our glider chair (that I originally got for my office), book shelf, Ronny’s childhood rocker and bear, pallet shelf and the laundry basket that I scored at a craft show.

This shelf was passed down from Ronny’s family. I found the wood crate and freezer basket at antique stores for books, and my friend, Maggie gave us the FEED wire basket that I’m using for toys. My friend, Georgia’s dad repurposed the lamp and painted it turquoise. I love it!

I think Ronny’s nesting kicked in before mine because he organized the whole closet!

We are using this basinet that was my Dad’s, and each one of us kids slept in. The frame above it is from the Colorado Baby Shower where my family and “mom’s” each included a Bible verse.

For the sewing projects, I used the sizing for the crib skirt from this tutorial I found on Pinterest, but instead of velcro, I attached ribbons. I liked the idea of using ribbons to tie on the skirt so I can easily move it up as I move the mattress down. I incorporated the flying geese pattern that I used on the quilt as well.

I struggled to find a changing pad cover online to buy, so I used this tutorial to make my own. I had a strip of the turquoise, ABC’s fabric so I put it in there for some fun color.

The last thing not in nursery right now, but is a nice addition for Baby Pope coming is this beautiful rocking chair from Grandpa and Grandma Bailey. We picked it out at a local Amish store, and I love that I’ll be able to do lots of rocking and cuddling in it very soon!

Home office | my favorite things

I wanted to highlight my favorite things of my new room.

First, I obviously LOVE my chair. It is a Flexsteel swivel/glider and so comfy to sit and read/write. I’m also a fan of paisleys – which is why I chose the print.

All of the pieces on the wall are special to me. This first one was a 4-H project I did with paper and string when I was little. I found this digging through some things at home. I found a frame that is double glass with an easy edge that slides on to display the piece.

The “mola” above my desk is a quilted piece of art that Mom found for me when we were in Panama. Since it is turquoise and I love quilting, this one is special.

The pallet shelf is rustic and fun that it came from the ranch. I also love it that Ronny and I made this together. Other favorites about this is that it has our brand, and star, and a picture of Hank.

The chest is Ronny’s show box made in High School. His mom refinished it last year and I love the dark brown accent it adds to the room. It also stores extra quilts and blankets.

Our picture stand. I used to have this in the living room, but since redecorating, I brought it in here. This was a hand-me-down shelf from the Pope’s, but I love that we have all of our family pictures in one place.

On that shelf is also one of my other favorite pieces of art. This was made by Aunt Sue, in which she took our wedding invitation and added beautiful paper flowers. She knew I loved turquoise (probably from our turquoise wedding invitations!) and the flowers match perfect to my room.

DIY | Gourd Birdhouse Tutorial

For Mother’s Day, I got a little crafty (with my beloved gourds of course – Ronny might call me obsessed!). I created fun birdhouses to give as gifts. I did quite a bit of research on how to correctly dry my gourds and store them. I wrote about that here.

I waited about 6 months until they were totally cured and dried so that I could hear the seeds rattling around inside. I decided to make my mothers and grandma a birdhouse – just in time for Mother’s Day. Here is the tutorial:

Gourd Birdhouse

Supplies: Gourd(s), rubber gloves, mouth & nose mask, bleach, sandpaper, drill & drill bits, wire, twine.

1. Start by taking fine sandpaper to the mold spots on the gourd. {be sure you are wearing your gloves and mask…you don’t want to breath in mold! I have proof that I wore mine.} My gourd had a lot of wrinkles, so I had to be a little careful with the sanding so it didn’t leave a lot of marks.

2. After you remove the mold, give the gourd a diluted bleach bath. This will help get some of the mold off. Then be sure to let it dry.

3. After it is dry, start with the bottom and drill 3-5 small holes. This will allow for any drainage of water that gets into the birdhouse.

4. Next, drill a hole through both sides of the gourd underneath the stem in order to hang your gourd.

5. To create the hole for the birds, make sure to research what kind of birds might be in your area to use it. I used this chart and decided to create about a 2-inch hole. You can use a large drill bit, but I decided to make several small holes in a circular pattern where I wanted my bird opening.  

6. Punch out the center of the hole, or use the drill bit to “cut-through” to the surrounding holes. Then sand the edges smooth.

7. Pull the “innerds” out. Some of the websites that I found said to leave a few of the seeds inside to help attract birds.

Almost done!

8. To finish it up, you can use spray paint or  just a polyurethane coating. The paint or coating will keep the gourd from rotting. Here is an example of a “hammered” textured spray paint I used on most of the gourds, but I left my favorite gourd natural and just used the clear polyurethane coat.

9. In order to hand the gourd, Ronny helped me put a small wire through the stem hole. I then tied jute twine (because that is what I had – you could use wire or any other type of hanging material) to the wire and hung from my tree.

Carhenge | Alliance, Nebraska

I've been traveling again...

Source: google.ch via Claudia on Pinterest

...but no, not to Stonehenge in England. Similarly though in Alliance, Nebraska is a monument created from classic cars cleverly coined as, "Carhenge".

Carhenge replicates and has the same proportions as Stonehenge with 38 vehicles. The history of this is art project in Alliance is pretty interesting... read the full history of Carhenge here.

This was just a pit stop on a Media Tour I've been on with my Board members. Back on the road again...