Here Fishy, Fishy, Fishy....Rainbow Fishy

A couple of weeks ago, a client sent me a picture of a headband she's in love with.  I decided I wanted to try my hand at making my own.  Here's the original

I'm not sure where the image is from.  I did some searching online but couldn't find it anywhere.  I just don't want to take credit for the design as it's not my own.

This is what my versions look like:

This is the big version.  I love the colors in this one.  It's kind of big on Miss R, but on an older girl I think it would be perfect.

The smaller version.  Still super cute!!!  My Mom suggested giving the headband, along with the "Rainbow Fish" book, as a gift to little girls and I love that idea.  Here's some pictures of the headbands without my super adorable model.

I think I'll be making more of these very soon.  Probably a whole school of them!  (ha ha, I crack myself up)

Getting Back to Headbands

It has been waaaay too long since I posted anything about headbands!!!  I've been really busy trying to get some stuff into my Etsy shop and building my Facebook page beyond my circle of friends.  What's really cool is that my work schedule changed to 3 nights a week instead of 4, so I have an entire extra day to work on things like that.  (Well, when Miss R is napping anyway.)  

Since I've been really into crocheting lately, I decided to do some crochet headbands.

I've actually made these in several colors and sizes now.  It's really fun mixing and matching the headbands, flowers, and beads.

I did this one in a newborn size as a special request from a close friend.  It turned out beautifully.  

Even My Neighbor Totoro has made an appearance in my headbands.

And then of course, my turquoise hedgehog.  

And this gorgeous piece....

My little one loves modeling the headbands.

She gets really upset when it's time to take them off.

She wasn't happy about taking the headband off!!  Isn't it cute on her?  

Next time I'll show you guys some of the custom work I've been doing.  I'm pretty proud of the pieces I've put together!

Finally Framed!!!

Lately I've been really trying to finish up projects that I started before Miss R was born.  This weekend I finished up one of my favorites.  I bought this frame a looooong time ago, and last March I spray painted it thinking I would use it to hang my jewelry on.  

After it was painted, I glazed it with a dark gray/almost black color.  At that point, I knew I had to use it in the baby's room. I even knew exactly what I wanted to do.  I bought a large R, spray painted it lime green, and hot glued moss to it.

Then I attached some ribbon and hung that bad boy inside the frame.  (Well, after I made a bow to cover up the nail poking out of the top of the frame.  Quick fix and it doesn't look too bad!)  The turquoise ribbon actually came from one of our baby shower gifts and the brown ribbon was saved from Miss R's first blanket.

You can kind of see the birds I made for her wall.  There's a post coming on those, but not for a little bit because I want to make more of them.

This picture's a little bit better, color-wise anyway.  I also finally got Miss R's Star Whale print framed.  (The Star Whale is from Doctor Who.  It is from the episode "The Beast Below".  The lonely Star Whale is the very last of its kind and comes to aid the children of Earth in a time of major crisis.)  I bought it on Etsy, from the shop Slogator, while I was pregnant and just never had a frame for it.

It feels so good to have these finally hung up!!  Miss R's room is my favorite place to hang out in the entire house, and it just keeps getting better.  

We also went on a family hike this weekend...

Miss R in her new jogging stroller!!

They are faaaar ahead of me because I am sadly out of shape.  BUT I did the entire hike!!

Jeff's "Blue Steel" face.  Don't you love the condensation in his beard and mustache?  So cool.  And check out all the colors in his beard!  That is just rad.

He's proud of me for finishing the hike.  It was about 3 miles with LOTS of hills.  Now, I just need to do that more often....

Flower Makeover--Now With Glitter!!

My family is incredible and after my munchkin was born, they threw me a beautiful baby shower.  (We had it after she was born so that everyone coming in from out of town could meet her.)  Here's a picture of Miss Munch and me at the shower.  

She was very hungry and tired at this point, but can't you just tell how stinking adorable she is???  The flowers behind me were only part of the decorations, but I'm going to do a whole post on the other part soon (hint: they are fairy gardens).  After the shower, my Mom let me take as many of the flowers as I wanted (and also gardens, fabric, tulle, anything I could carry) to use in the baby's room.  

Once I got around to feeling up to crafting, I embellished the flowers a bit using Plaid FolkArt Extreme Glitter Paint.  It was waaaaay too much fun.  I think I painted 8 or 9 of them.  It took awhile, what with having a newborn and all, but I finally finished and hung them in her room.

Here's a close-up of one flower.  It's hard to really get a good shot of the sparkle!

And here's the whole cluster of flowers.  I ended up hanging them using tiny brads because the 3M strips wouldn't work on the fuzzy backs.  Now, just for fun, here's another picture of my munchkin and me.

This one is from the day after she was born.  She is such an angel.

A Mobile of Pretty Little Birdies

For the baby's room I knew that I didn't want to use a traditional, store-bought mobile.  I wanted something different and I wanted to make it myself.  So, cruising around Pinterest, I found this mobile.

It was love at first sight. I immediately printed the pattern for the birds and got to work. They can actually be sewn by hand, but I used the chance to practice with my sewing machine. Some of the fabrics I used came from the remnant bin at Joann Fabrics, but others are vintage. After several weeks I had the birds all sewn and stuffed. The branches I spray-painted gray because I wanted them to stand out a little more against the wood beams in the room.

I love it!!!  The best part is that my daughter loves it too.  She'll be five months old in a couple of days and she is STILL fascinated by it.

I had to glue my branches together a bit because I had a terrible time with the physics of getting it hang properly.  I'll blame pregnancy brain for that, but the truth is I'm not sure I could do it without glue even now!!  

I'll be sharing this at  

Ombre Dresser #2!!

Okay, in my last post I showed you the second dresser for the baby's room?  Here it is again if you've forgotten.....

This dresser came from my grandma's house.  She recently moved and is sharing time between my parents' house and my aunt's house.  The dresser is mostly made from cedar and she's had it, well, longer than I've been alive.  We couldn't let that go to waste!!  

The top was especially icky, but with lots of sanding it cleaned up very nicely.  Unfortunately I did not take a picture of that step.  The hardware was also pretty bad, so the hubs and I soaked it in a vinegar/baking soda mixture.  Then we scrubbed them down with a wire brush.  They are actually a VERY nice bronze color underneath all that grime!!  


For color choices I decided to go with greens.  I used 4 colors:  Valspar Apple Slice for the dresser itself, Spring Lawn for the top drawer, Afternoon Delight for the middle drawer, and Awakening for the bottom drawer.  Again I was worried that the colors would be too much for the room, but I think it turned out great!

 We decided to keep the hardware the way it was instead of spray painting it silver.  It gives it more of an earthy tone, I think.  

 It reminds me of grass in the springtime, and it looks great with the bedding my Mom bought us!

There they are!!  Both dressers, all finished BEFORE the baby gets here.  Hopefully I never try to refinish furniture while being HUGELY pregnant again, but hey, who knows, right?  

Pinterest Inspired Ombre Dresser!!!

Well over a year ago I brought home this dresser from my parents' house.  It had been sitting in their storage area for many, many moons and they were going to get rid of it.  No way!  I brought it home and it proceeded to sit in my work room.  And sit in my work room.  And sit in my work room.  

Me getting pregnant is THE best thing that could have ever happened to this dresser.  I decided it would go in the baby's room, but first it needed work!!!  I found an awesome dresser on Pinterest that inspired me to go with an ombre paint job.  Problem?  I'd never redone a piece of furniture before, so I googled some tutorials.  The one that worked best for me is from Centsational Girl.  She gives TONS of great tips and shows you exactly what products she uses.  


To get started I sanded and then primed everything with Zinsser Cover Stain oil-based primer.  Holy moly that stuff is awesome.  I actually said to the hubs while I was painting "Let's paint ALL of the furniture!"

After more sanding, priming, and sanding again, I got to work on the colors.  This part was so much fun for me. 

I also spray-painted the original hardware and added a vintage glass knob to the top drawer.  Here's the end result.

And here's a sneak peek of what it looks like in the baby's room....(ignore the terrible lighting)

It was so much fun to do, and it turned out so well, that I decided to do the same type of thing with a dresser from my grandmother's house.  

 It's old and needs a lot of work!!!  Good thing I have my trusty sander!

Check back soon for a post about this dresser!!  It's almost finished, but not quite yet.  What do you think about the yellow dresser?  Cool?  Lame?  I love it, so I guess that's really all that matters right now!