just passing the time... pinterestingly.

still no baby!

and that's just fine, the due date's still 10 days away {what?  only TEN?  yikes.}  so in the meantime, things are starting to calm down around here & i'm starting to feel more on top of things & a little bit ready for the newest member of the fam to make his appearance.  my bags aren't packed yet but all the baby clothes are washed & i know we could grab what we needed {by going off the list i've made} in just a matter of minutes... so i'm no longer sweating that.  we've reorganized a lot of the house & decluttered {two trips worth of goodwill donations feels goooood} & things are generally pretty tidy around here these days so the nesting bug has simmered a bit too.

i'm all caught up on photoshoot edits & am finding myself with just a little more time than usual which has led me back to a long lost love of mine... pinterest.  oh man, how i've missed thee.  and i've missed projects.  being creative & watching things go from just an idea to an actual physical completed thing.  i don't think i've done very many projects in the last nine months on account of all my napping.  seriously!  parker's naptime was generally when i'd do cool stuff like fun DIY projects & blog posts & lately his naptime has been MY naptime.  which is nice but not very creatively fulfilling.

so i was perusing pinterest yesterday & found two pins that went together perfectly.  a personalized alphabet book & a code for a free 8x8" photobook from shutterfly.  it was like it was meant to be!

i started on it approximately five minutes later.  that's gotta be some sort of new record for acting on a pin, right?  i'm creating the pages in photoshop & just importing them into the book as full page pictures.  most of the pictures are from archives... it's been awesome to find some use for those pictures that are just living sad neglected lives in my iPhoto albums.  a few of the pages are pictures i've taken just for this project though & that's been fun too.

this book is all about parker & his favorite things.  there's no mention of baby brother because i'm hoping he'll have it as a little keepsake of when he was our one & only... i'm sure there will be lots of parker + baby brother in his future so i want this to be a special little book for him.

and why have i not been doing more photobooks in my life?  such an awesome way to display your photos!!  i feel many many more of these coming on in my future.  i think i'm addicted.

here are just a few examples of some of the pages.  when the book actually comes i'll take some pictures & show off the final product.

but first i have to think of something for U, V & Y.  hmmmmm... any ideas?

befores & afters.

first off?  we are having a serious run of crap weather here in the pacific northwest.  like, flood warning torrential downpour weather.  and this is no fun for a photographer with a new camera who wants to get outside & put her stuff to the test!  i haven't been able to shoot a single session with my new camera & it's killing me.  killing me dead, people!  rain, go away!  i've scheduled a maternity session this weekend so i'm crossing my fingers & toes & eyes & whatever else that it happens because i'm getting a little bit anxious.

in the meantime what have i been doing?  making good on some of my home projects.  things are getting wrapped up around here & maybe it's nesting or maybe it's cabin fever but either way it's progress.  the toybox we started like a million years ago is now complete & sitting in our living room holding way more toys than the little basket we used before did & it feels like we have officially reclaimed our living room from the millions of blocks & cars & puzzle pieces that previously overran it.  although, the finishing of the toybox must be credited 100% to sam... and a post will be dedicated to this later.

for now, here's a little project that took me just a few days.

when we had our family photos done a couple weeks ago i knew that i specifically wanted something i could blow up & display that really captured my little family.  and the photo ledge in our entry way was waaaaaay embarassingly out of date so i knew i wanted to do something there.  after getting our photos back from stacy jacobsen, i went to work.

this was our photo ledge as it had existed for the last six years in our entryway:

random beach pictures of sam & me from when we were DATING.  that's like, forever ago.  parker wasn't even a twinkle in our eye at that point!  and if you look really closely, you may even recognize that there isn't even a photo in the last frame.  i guess i never got around to filling that one.  who does that??

ok, my concept for the new photos as designed in photoshop:

i measured the ledge & drafted the sizes that i thought would look good.  from left to right the prints are 8x10", 16x24" canvas, 5x7" & 8x10".  i also made the pinterest inspired date print in photoshop too.

after all the prints came back & i painted the ledge white {five coats later!} here is what it looks like in real life:

i am in l-o-v-e LOVE with it.  it really brightens up our entry way & finally shows off my little family to the rest of the house.  love it.

and one more little before & after before we go.

i remember reading somewhere {i'm sure it was a blog... sorry to whoever it was, i wish i could credit you!} but they encouraged you, as a picture-taker, to just plain & simply always take the shot.  if something's happening in the moment & your settings may be all wrong & you think in your head it won't turn out... who cares.  take the shot.  it may be improved a bit in photoshop & a crappy picture is probably better than none at all.

this has stuck with me.  if parker's doing something crazy i'll snap a couple pictures without even looking at my settings & then attempt at adjusting them to get that perfect shot.  but oftentimes the moment has passed.

that happened today.  he was cracking himself up by tickling his own neck... one of the most ticklish parts on his little body.  he was tickling & giggling & this was the first shot i took:

after some quick edits in photoshop, i was able to make it somewhat decent.

he is so goofy.  and if i could freeze him in this stage of life i might consider doing it.  but then again maybe not... because i'm sure someday it will be nice not to have to wipe yogurt out of those neck crevices after breakfast.

i'm not here today... but i'm over there!

at chelsey's blog, the paper mama!

she has been doing this kinda amazing series the last few weeks called "50 DIY days of christmas."  everyday she posts a DIY craft masterminded by either herself or a guest blogger.  welp, today is my day to put my little DIY hands to work & show off something i did my very own self.

so hop on over there & see what i did & how you can do it too.  wahoo!  {sorry, i had to.  it rhymed.}

... posted over at the paper mama.  go check it out!

stickin' it to pinterest - vol. 5

seems like it's been a while since i got my craft on, doesn't it?

well i saw this little diddy on pinterest & decided it was something even i could handle.  i pinned it & went on my merry way not really thinking much more about it {as i usually do}.  then one day i was walking around the craft store surrounded by christmasy crafts & decor & music & feeling all hyped up on christmas spirit when i walked right into a display of mixed christmas cardstock on sale.  i immediately remembered these cute stars & decided it was meant to be.

such an occurrence could only be explained by divine intervention, yes?  

i followed this tutorial.  it's pretty dang similar to my own tutorial below... just different paper?  and fonts.  yes, i used different fonts.

not pictured:  stapler & string.  and super glue.  oh & a pencil.  turns out i suck at making supply list photos.

just follow the steps below.  if you can't read the type on the picture, just click & it will enlarge big enough for your reading pleasure.

the original tutorial used plain ol' elmer's glue to stick the stars together.  i didn't have that on hand & couldn't get the stapler to make it work either.  that's where the super glue came in... stuck a few drops on the insides, smooshed the two halves together & now they're bonded for life.  how romantic.

there you have it!  make some in different colors, designs & sizes.  then attach some string & hang 'em up all over the house... i love 'em!

special thanks to my sister in law jodi for making these along side me the other day.  the stapler was her idea & i must say it was genius.  pure genius jodi.

another pinterest project crossed off the bucket list.  hip hip hooray!

pinteres-ting on hallow's eve!

i can't not post on halloween, right?  it's only one of the funnest holidays of the whole year.  i mean, seriously.  candy, pumpkin patches, pies, cookies, crisp fall air, spooky movies, kids in cute costumes & all kinds of fun decorating?  i'm in.  except for the part about the pumpkin patch... it wasn't until saturday night that i realized we never made it to one this year.  MOM FAIL.  oops.

anywho, i'm not failing at doing at least one halloween themed thing that i pinned on pinterest.  because if you're anything like me, you created a whole halloween board & had grand ideas of making decorative spiders & gorgeous pumpkin centerpieces for the table & all that stuff.  turns out, i didn't have a single pumpkin in my house until this morning... and even that one is still sitting in my car.

ok, enough about me.  on to the cute craft!

i saw this a while back & immediately liked the idea due to its simplicity.  three ingredients, no baking & it's chocolate.  win win win.

here are the steps... as if you need them.  the hardest part about making these is saving some of the fudge stripe cookies to make witch hats out of.  i like to eat them.

and that's it!  easy peasy.  and cute, right?

now go have a fun halloween & come back tomorrow for what will hopefully consist of cute parker costume pictures.  but ya never know... it's impossible to get a picture of anything but the back of that kid's head these days.

happy halloween!

halloween vote?

wordless{ish} wednesday: little projects.

you know how i've been talking big lately about all the projects i have going on around my house?

{this is where you smile & nod}

well i've made baby steps of progress.  but the problem with mixing up the decor of your house is that you can't just change one thing.  i mean, if you change a color scheme everything has to go.  and then you realize this has become more than just getting new curtains, now you have to get new throw pillows & wall accents & oh my gosh wood furniture doesn't look so good with these things let's paint everything white!  but it's like i always say, go big or go home.  i really do always say that.  in fact, i never stop saying that.

so i decided to give you a little sneak peak into my home at a couple of the little projects i've completed around here that make me a happy panda.  and turns out?  some are even pinterest inspired.  so maybe this is kinda a mini-stickin'-it-to-pinterest post?  ok yes, it is.

oh & ps:  this is totally not wordless... just in case you hadn't figured that out yet.

number one.  my wire-clothesline-picture-holder thing.  there are two lines & the top one is about 4' long & the bottom one is about 5' long.  they go on much longer in both directions than this picture shows.  they are hung above my computer monitor & keep me company late at night as i blog & edit into the wee hours of the night.  weird?  not at all.

i was inspired by pictures i've seen like this & this, but really it's not that original it's just something i've seen around & liked.  so i did it.

rundown:
- wire = $2.50
- pictures = $14
- mini clothespins = $0 (already had)

total cost:  $16.50.  and it makes me very, very happy.

number two.  new sheets & quilt.  i've had a recent obsession with all white bedding.  there is nothing like a bedroom with a bed that has fresh crisp white bedding, right?  think: posh hotel.  yeah... now we're talkin.  and you should know by now that i have become particularly obsessed with quilts.  this is actually the quilt that started Quilt-pocalypse 2011 & after being super frustrated that i couldn't find fabrics i liked as much as these, i ended up just ordering the real one online.  if i had done that in the beginning?  i woulda saved a pretty penny.  but it's too late, & a fabric buying monster inside of me has officially been born.

i am still working on making a handmade quilt though... someday i will reveal it to all of you.  oh yes, i will.

total cost:  let's not talk about it.  because i'd have to include what i spent in my original endeavors of attempting to make it.  oh, & please don't bring this topic up with sam.

let's move on.

number three.  big wire organizer baskets.  these may not look like much to you but they mean the world to me.  ok, that's a bit of an exaggeration.  they're really not that big of a deal.  but they do bring lots of order to the top of my office bookshelf & for that?  i'm grateful.

i was inspired by this & actually plan on hanging a chalkboard above them, similar to the picture.  and i'm going to paint the bookshelves white like the picture too.   i'm such a copycat.

rundown:
- each basket = $7
- black spray paint {they were ugly metally metallic originally} = $4

total cost = $25.

number four.  my bathroom makeover.  it's a work in progress.  but here's a little peak at my mini-project inside this bigger project.  i'm not sure why i'm so proud of myself for spelling "BATH" in my bathroom but so far i really like it.  i bought the letters from joann's on sale & didn't have to do anything besides stick on those velcro sticky things & eyeball the arrangement.  it was done in five minutes.  maybe that's why i like it so much?

rundown:

- each letter = $1.50

total cost = $6.  and that's a price you can't shake a stick at.

so there you go folks.  some of the little things around my house that i've been working on & proof that i'm not all talk when it comes to my millions of home decor "projects."  because i wouldn't want you to think i was saying all those things just to sound cool.  because i know it sounded really really cool... that's what you were thinking, right?  

{linking up with wordless wednesday at and then she {snapped},  baby baby lemon, the paper mama, & a little king & i}

votes are also cool.

stickin' it to pinterest - vol. 3

remember back in this post how i said pinterest gave me anxiety?  how i worried about after all the time i spent pinning, i would never actually put all the carefully placed & picked pins to perfect pin-ity use?  well here i am.   continuing in my endeavors to make use of my well curated pinterest boards & stickin' it to the pinterest man.

go me!

{see previous projects here & here}

this was actually something i'd seen a long time ago... before the days of pinterest {aka: the dark ages.  what'd we do before pinterest??  dishes?  sleep?}.  when i saw these shelves pop up on pinterest in a couple places i decided it was time to incorporate them into p-ray's room.  it had to happen.

the very first place i saw these IKEA spice rack shelves turned bookshelves was here, but they popped up again here.  it's not like you need a super detailed tutorial on this one, but who would i be if i didn't provide one?  not the amy you all know & love.  that's who.

here goes.

it really doesn't get any cheaper to make some sort of awesome wall-storage for the little man's books.  at $3.99 a piece i think the whole project cost around $20 after the spray paint & wall screws were bought {the shelves don't come with anything to hang them by}.  check out IKEA's website & see if yours carries these sweet little racks.

remember, they're sold as spice racks so they're around the kitchen shelving stuff.

obviously you don't have to do this, but i wanted to match the shelves to the rest of p-ray's furniture, which for the most part is white {check out his whole nursery tour here}.  also, make sure your husband doesn't care if you get white paint all over the garage floor despite painting on top of something.  lucky for me, mine didn't.  because yeah, that happened.

it wouldn't be from IKEA if it didn't require "some" assembly.  but lucky for you & me it's pretty easy to put these bad boys together.  unless you're prone to wrist cramping from the the little wrench that's included when putting in the screws... which i may or may not be.  ok i am.

it was pretty obvious where this needed to go.  we read books on p-ray's great-grandmother's hand-me-down rocker before naptime & bedtime but had nowhere handy to store the books.  so... duh.

it's true.  while sam helped me level the shelves & hand-drill holes into our wall, i got caught up in lots of p-ray picture taking.  i couldn't help it.  because how cute is he watching toy story on my phone with all his stuffed animal friends??

{sidenote:  sunday was kind of another sick day for him.  i thought he was 100% better, but turns out it's more like 75% since his fever has been coming & going.  boo.}

parker LOVES his new reading nook.  he loves being able to sit on your lap & have all his books on display for his choosing pleasure.  just when he was getting impossible to keep settled on your lap for story time, this glues him right back down into that chair.  and for that?  we're loving it.

and for your viewing pleasure... two more pictures.  because i couldn't decide which one not to include & thus?  included them both.

vote? thanks!

stickin' it to pinterest - vol. 2

remember back in this post how i said pinterest gave me anxiety?  how i worried about after all the time i spent pinning, i would never actually put all the carefully placed & picked pins to perfect pin-ity use?  well here i am.   continuing in my endeavors to make use of my well curated pinterest boards & stickin' it to the pinterest man.

go me!

this was one of the first pins i pinned to my "i'm crafty" board.  i love how simple it is & yet it's so freaking creative.  who thinks of this stuff?  i'll tell you who.  martha stewart.  well, the people who write for her website, anyway.  the original tutorial can be found here.

and here is my version:

nothing crazy here in our ingredients list.  probably all stuff you already have sitting around your house right?  so you should probably make this.

funny story.

i went to the craft store for a balloon paper punch & got real mad when i couldn't find one after looking for over half an hour.  all the balloons in the original tutorial are perfectly uniform & i knew they HAD to be punched.  so i went home angrily cursing all things jo ann's.  i decided to look over the tutorial again & realized the balloons are just circles with little triangles attached.  duh!

so moral of the story is unless your craft store is awesome & has balloon punches?  you just use a hole punch, cut out triangles & tape them on.  lesson learned.

there's probably a few ways you could do this.  i made my triangles in photoshop with the letters already on them, printed them out in the color i wanted & cut them out.  that's one way.  i then folded them over the thread & glued the halves together to make cute little banners.

this was the fun part.

i followed the tutorial & put the banner up before the balloons.  this makes no sense & if i ever make a card like this again i'll do the balloons first.  duh!  it'd be a lot easier then reaching behind & around the banners.

anywho, to attach the banner i made small holes in the card, threaded the string through & tied knots on the other side of the hole.  it makes your string come out of the front of the card, but i didn't care.  i wanted it to be sturdy.  i attached the first layer of balloons using a glue stick & then the top ones with 3d foam squares to make them pop out.

you're pretty much done & at this point it's looking pretty cool.  i fussed around with where i put my balloons & moved things around until i liked the overall look.  yes, it did make a difference to have a yellow balloon here instead of a red one.  and a green one there instead of a blue.  obviously.

after all that fuss for the inside of the card, i bet you totally forgot about making something for the front, right?  silly you.  we can't have a card with nothing on the front can we?  nope.

i just went along with what the original tutorial did & made a single large balloon.  seemed easy & it was.

so now your card is done & you want to take pictures with it for your blog right?  you set up your camera with the self-timer, hit the shutter button & it starts to beep loudly to count down.  your 16 month old hears the loud beeping & comes running in from where he was playing to see what the noise is & an impromptu photoshoot takes place.

this step is mandatory.

and now you're done!  all you have to do is find someone who is having a birthday & give it away.  sam was the recipient of mine which works out because now i get to keep looking at it another week or so.  yes, i'm that proud & you will be too.

what things from pinterest have you made?  i'd love to see!

thanks for your votes friends!

stickin' it to pinterest - vol. 1

so if you follow me on facebook, you may have caught my little bout of pinterest anxiety the other night.  i can waste time on that site with the best of them & after a while it makes me anxious.  why?  so so many projects/recipes/outfits/diy crafts/home decor ideas/kids games/blah blah blahs that i LOVE, but i may or may not ever look to pinterest again when it comes time to use them in the future.  ya know?

in short, it fills me up with inspiration & then i hear this little voice saying, "hey, you just spent all kinds of time looking at random things on my site.  are you ever gonna do anything with all of this?"

actually yes i am, stupid belittling pinterest-voice.  i am.

so here's how this is gonna go down.  every now & then i'm gonna do a pinterest-inspired post.  it may be a recipe, a craft, or my interpretation of an outfit i pinned.

this is me stickin' it to pinterest.

i picked this project because i really just wanted to improve my sewing skills.  sewing triangles to a ribbon seemed easy enough & the reading nook in p-rays room needed a little somethin-somethin.  win win.

here are sites i had pinned for inspiration:  this.  this.
and here's the tutorial i {semi} followed:  tutorial here.

but honestly?  i pretty much made it up as i went along.  here's what i did & how you can do it too.

parker was such a trooper in the fabric store.  it is SO hard for me to decide on fabrics... there are just so many!  i'm like a kid in a candy store.

i bought half a yard of each color, which was way more than i needed.  if i was to do it over, i'd just use the little scraps for a buck or so each & do way more colors.  like, a couple different orange patterns, a couple different blues, etc.

i experimented with different pattern sizes until i liked the way the triangles looked.  i think my final ones ended up being 5.5" across the top & 6" down the sides.  like the tutorial, i chose to have a raw edge on my flags rather than finished.  i like the look of it, & it's way easier.

so you cut out all your triangles, stick them back to back {"wrong" sides together} and sew down the sides.  i left the tops open since they'd get shut when sewing the ribbon on top.

i measured out my ribbon to the length i wanted & then started laying out my flags.  you can experiment with spacing & color patterns.  you're the boss of you.

then i folded my ribbon down the horizontal line & ironed it so it'd stay folded over nicely for pinning & sewing.  wanna know a secret?  sam helped me hold down the ribbon so i could iron it, but he probably wouldn't want you to know he helped.  so don't tell anyone.

i only pinned about four or five flags on at a time & then went & sewed them on just so it didn't get too crazy keeping it all together.  again, personal choice.

after you've sewn all the flags on you can sew up your ribbon ends & celebrate!  because you're done.  easy peasy.

ok, actually this wasn't suuuuuper easy for me since it was my first time sewing all on my own.  but it was a huge learning experience.  i got way better by the end & i even had to do all kinds of crazy things like re-thread my machine on the top & the bottom.  AND, i even had to wind up my bobbin!  i used youtube tutorials for help with that.

i feel like an old pro.

so here it is in p-ray's room.  it was really hard to get a good picture of it so you could catch the "essence" of what it looks like.  if you want to see more of his room, check out his nursery tour here.

{bookshelves stolen from here}

and yeah, those bookshelves are totally photo-shopped in.  they'll be added soon & it will complete his little reading nook!  this is where he gets stories read to him in his great-grandma opal's rocker before naps & bedtime.

so yeah.  i think my first pinterest-ing project was a success!  take that, pinterest.

wanna feel successful?  just click twice to vote.  you'll succeed every time.