The last few weeks.

The last month has been a busy busy whirlwind of activities! It all started with a very cute little Lincoln making his appearance! Then 4 days after little Linc was born, I started feeling funny. Actually it was localized to my tongue... I thought the painkillers were possibly to blame. I immediately discontinued use of them. Later that evening I was laughing, and Andrew gave me a funny look "what's wrong with your mouth?". I had no idea, I all the sudden had no control over the left side of my mouth... by the next morning I couldn't control my entire left side of my face. So the following week was spent going to Dr.appointments. We were told it was something called "Bells Palsy". Basically it can be caused by a few things, in my case it was brought on by stress and physical trauma (labor). I could have this condition from anywhere from a few weeks, to a couple years. Fun.
In the weeks to follow, my Mom was able to come into town, followed by my entire side of the family. We were able to attend my older brother Danes wedding, and the reception that was held in Colorado. Just a few days after getting back into town, Andrews family arrived in town. We are getting ready to send off his youngest brother Scott on his mission.

I feel like I have not sat down in a few weeks, but it sure has been fun seeing everyone, and getting to know are newest member of the family.

Better late than never...
Lincoln Micah Decker is one week old today!
He was 8lb. 8oz and 20 inches. He is an easy baby and we are loving every minute of it!

This pregnancy has seemed totally different than my pregnancy with Wyatt. There is a different kind of anticipation. With my Wyatt my main thought was "were going to have a baby." There was no thought to anything past that. There wasn't any thought as to how his personality would be, or the different cute things he would say. I only thought of holding a cute baby, and dressing him up in many, many, different outfits.
This time things are very different. I think about how excited I am to see how little Lincoln will look, how his temperament will be, and how he will respond to life. I am excited to get to know and watch another little person grow and develop. Granted I miss the baby stage were they just cuddle, but more than anything I am looking forward to have another little person in my life that I will love unconditionally.
The one thing that has not changed is that I am SO READY to have this baby!

Had a Dr's appointment today. He said things are moving along nicely and he expects me to go into labor naturally (before my inducement date on Aug 16th). We are getting anxious!

I am not a patient person...

I was going to try and do the whole small project reveal until the room was done... Well I can't wait!! Here it is!

Row Boat

I found this awesomely tacky little piece when I was was searching for the bins I mentioned in a previous post. I snagged it for $2.99! It just needed a little TLC.

After a couple of coats of primer it was ready for a paint job! I just used painter tape and taped off lines!

Before:


After:


Thrift store Shelf : $2.99
Paint (Leftovers) : $0.00
Total $2.99

About 30 min of actual work, drying times not included.

Bins

I have started work on a bookcase makeover. The only problem is I had no idea what I was going to put in the bookcase. I don't like clutter (AT ALL). So i decided I needed some sort of basket or bin. It is amazing how expensive they can sometimes get, so off to the thrift store I went. I happened upon these awesome bins! They are solid wood, which normally means it has great potential! All you need for this is to lightly sand it, a few coats of primer, and a topcoat. After it dried, I taped off a stripe, that I painted it with basic acrylic paint. After that it still looked plain, so I put my Silhouette to work!

Damage
Small Bin: $2.00
Large BIn: $3.00
Paint : $0.00
Total= $5.00!

Before:



After:

Ceiling Compass

As much as I would have loved to hand paint a compass on the ceiling, I think the owners would have frowned upon that. So I chose a renter friendly option. I started out with some of this....



Foam board, can be found for $1.00 at a dollar store! I needed 2 for this project. I just laid out a basic pattern, and used an exacto knife to cut it out. After this it was just a matter of taping, and spray painting!

I just tacked it to the ceiling with small picture hanging nails.




Foam Board $2.00
Spray Paint ( Leftover) $0.00
Total -$2.00

Took about an hour.

Curtains

When starting the baby room I knew I really wanted to have the same color scheme so I could combine the boys rooms. But, I wanted it to be a little more baby. I wanted lighter fabrics, that would make the room seem brighter, so I went to Joann's and found a woven cotton for an amazing price! After sewing the the stripes in one long piece, I cut them into four, one for each panel. After hemming all the edges, I went and put button holes every 5 inches across the top. I then took 14 inch pieces of rope, and looped it through them. I thought it really added character to an otherwise plain curtain.
Over all damage:

Woven Cotton 7 yards, $5.99 ( I had a 50% coupon) = $21.00
Rope Trim 6 spools, $1.99 ( On sale 50% off ) = $7.00
Ikea curtain rods, $1.99! = $4.00
Total = $32.00 for 4 custom curtain panels, and rods!



About 2 hours of work.

Lincoln's Room

My inspiration for Lincoln's room came from Wyatt's recent bed makeover. His bed was originally black, and I decided it would look much better white (See previous post). I absolutely love the change and decided the black crib needed a new paint job anyways. But just new paint was not enough... it needed a new look. I started with some bead board, that was cut out so that it would fit in the end caps. (Thanks Andrew!) Then I cut off the rounded top of the end caps, and put a 1x3 across the top with a piece of trim under that. From there it was a good sanding, 2 coats of primer, and a coat of top coat.

Primer (Leftover from Wyatt's bed) $0.00
Paint (Leftover from Wyatt's bed) $0.00
Trim $5.00
1x3 $5.00
Bead Board (2 sheets) $30.00
Total = $40.00

Before:


After:


Stay tuned as I reveal more of his room!

It's a BOY!

Like I said earlier, I am on a baby kick. The only problem is, is I have most things I need for baby... But while living in Utah amongst the land of young families, I have seen one item I don"t have yet.
Lots of Mom's have a canopy that drapes over the car seat to help the baby sleep when in bright light. I love this idea. Every time I took Wyatt out of the car in his car seat he woke up. Or I was trying to drape a blanket over him.

Again, since we don't know gender ( I am guessing a boy). I went with a black and white print that I love!





I have a sneaking suspicion Wyatt is not going to like another baby in his seats...

So we don't know what we are having yet, but I have the itch to get things ready for baby. When Wyatt was a baby, we lived with the Decker's , and that little baby got so much love and attention. With all the attention, he never was sat down, and he hated it when he was. Well this time, I don't have that luxury. This baby is going to NEED to love a swing.
So I started looking for a swing... they are all SUPER UGLY and SUPER EXPENSIVE! So I found this hideous pink one on KSL and for $15.00, and with $10.00 in materials, it now matches my family room!

Before: (Go figure he likes them now!?)


After:

It has been awhile since I have posted. As always I am always working on projects. Lots of them! If I am not working on personal projects I am working for a lady that has me produce items. On an average week i will make 3-4 full nursery sets, including: Skirts, bumpers, diaper stacker, diaper bag, and pillows. Normally I have a few orders for custom art work, and mobiles to match the rooms. Anyways, I will show you some of the stuff I have been working on. I will start with the newest and work my way back words...

These were a product of necessity. I hate maternity pants! Well I cut up some old pants and an old tank top. A few minutes with a sewing machine, and ta-da! Comfortable maternity pants!



This was just some old fabric cut into squares . Then I hot glued the heck out of them!


Same principle I cut out a heart with the jigsaw, and hotglued fabric squares. Then I put it on top of a DI frame for $2!


This is the inside of the heart from the wreath.... My front entry table needed a festive decoration.


While Wyatt is young I need to take advantage of the fact that he has no choice in wearing ridiculous costumes. So for christmas I whipped up this little number. Love it!



Well, we were really excited to be hosting Christmas this year. We didn't have nearly enough beds though. So I decided, heck Wy will need a bigger bed someday. So I hit the Home Depot, came home with $50.00 in lumber and built this bed. All it needed was a few coats of paint and we were good to go! I ended up using the rest of the paint on my vanity!


Before: Found an old desk at D.I. for $15! It had potential so I snagged it.


After: A lot of sanding and a little paint. Turn a desk into a vanity. I just took and old mirror and painted it.



This was Wyatt's costume for Halloween. I loved the way it turned out, he was my little prince charming.


I was feeling ambitious and took on a few costumes this Halloween. I wish I had taken pictures of all of them. This was the Mad Hatters Hat, and featured below was Alice's dress. We also had a King of Hearts, Queen of Hearts, as well as one of the playing cards!




Here are some of the Fall decorations I put together this year . I hit the D.I. and grabbed a whole assortment of vases. After cleaning them up I wrapped a cool textured linen and wrapped them with twine. I love the look, then I just added fall foliage! Super cheap!


This was an old D.I. frame, a grapevine wreath for $4.00, and leftover fall leaves from decorations!



My friend Melissa was over one afternoon, and she is an amazing stylist, as she was lowlighting my hair, I kept staring at the bare looking entry way. We discussed it, and she thought an entry way table would be cute. From there I had a vision! I went to Home Depot left with $19.00 in lumber and threw this beauty together! I used stain I got from Ikea from a previous project!


With the leftover wood from the entry table, I made a shelf for the bathroom, and used the extra molding to make a frame for the mirror! Love it!






This is an overview of my family room. It has been finished for a while but I love it. I always incorporate the festive decorations on the shelfs . It is an easy way to incorporate the different seasons. Oh and there are NOT windows behind those curtains. It was just a huge empty spot and I didn't have a ton of money for huge art pieces. So I found fabric I loved and suspended the panels between curtain rods on the top as well as the bottom.




This is an after thought to Wyatt's room. I loved the way his room had turned out but it seemed empty to me ... So I came up with this fun fort from the leftover fabric from his room. Just some PVC pipe for the frame and we were good to go!


This was a fun project, when we moved to our new place, we found out my younger brother Luke would be moving in with us! We had 3 days to turn and unfinshed basement, into a habitable living space. I found a carpet remnant for $50, and we took curtains and sewed rod pockets on either end of LOTS of sheets. It created a cool look, and covered the concrete and 2x4"s. After that I hung some lanterns from the ceiling that I got from IKEA for $1 a piece! For the headboard I bought a piece of "As Is" boards from IKEA for $2.99! I mounted it to 2x4"s and TA-DA headboard! I wish I had before shots, because it was BAD!

That is a risky guess.

Well today I was out running errands and a lady approached me and asked " When are you due ? ". I figured if I look pregnant enough, that someone would feel confident enough to ask, (Granted, some people are just stupid) I am far enough in to announce it! I am about 11 weeks in, and looking about 18 weeks! It looks like are two kiddos will be almost exactly two years apart. We are thrilled about it!



Told ya.