New Year. New House!!

I have so much to catch up on.

I feel like I am too far behind that it will never happen, but I'm determined to do the best that I can in the next few weeks! 

Although I am so thankful for my phone and the fact that I can take a kazillion {not really because I seem to run out of storage all.the.time} pictures on a whim, I am always bummed that I don't take more pictures with my real camera. 

So these are pretty much all instagram catch ups, but it will do!

We celebrated Adalyn's birthday in Texas!

We had so much fun visiting with Mr. B's family! 

I love Texas! 

I loved our Christmas card this year and meant to post it:

Back.

Christmas was fun this year and makes us extra excited for the years to come!

We had a big snow storm and played in the snow.

A few days after Christmas we BOUGHT OUR FIRST HOUSE!!!!

We've been working hard on getting the house ready. Thankfully we didn't buy a fixer-upper like Mr. B wanted, but it was outdated so we've been working our hineys off with the help of our awesome families!

  It's come a long way in a short amount of time and we are exhausted!! 

It feels like an unending process, but I know it will be worth it!

 It already is! 

And of course, I really should've taken better before and after pictures. 

So bummed about that. 

Like, really bummed. 

That old saying "Don't blink"....

it's true.

Two of my maternity sessions from Captured. had their babies and I experienced my first newborn sessions.

Handsome Nathan...

And beautiful Emilie...

I fell in love.

It was so much fun and I can not wait for my other newborn sessions!!

Today the weather warmed up and we were able to enjoy some fresh air in our new backyard.

It was a nice break from all the house stuff and I can't wait until the warm weather is here to stay!

I'm going to try reallllly hard to stay up to date on here!

Looking forward to what God has in store for us in 2013 and we are thankful for the new exciting steps that have already been taken so far.

This year will be about making our first house a home and I'm looking forward to documenting it!

Chevron Chevwrong

I posted this last week not knowing about this link up,

so next time I'll post a new one.

Assuming I'd have some new readers here's my experience with a chevron lampshade. 

--------------------

Pinterest and I have a love-hate relationship.

I love the plethora of ideas.

I hate that I hardly do anything I pin.

I love the simplicity and the projects that spawn my imagination.

I hate that it "makes" me unhappy with our home and the decor we have.

Specifically in our bedroom.

So last weekend I decided I was going to whip up some chevron lamps.

I got these lamps last year at Goodwill, I had already painted the bases but the lampshades were just off-white and boring. 

I thought it would add a little modern touch to our room if I made them chevron.

I had the tape.

I had the paint.

I had some time.

Perfect. 

Adalyn went down for her nap, I got my supplies and it was time to transform the lamps. 

After about 30 minutes of trying to figure out how to even tape a point, I was getting really frustrated. 

Not only was I wasting nap time, I was annoyed with myself and my brain....why couldn't I figure this out?!?

Seriously.

I've seen a million and one DIY chevron projects.

Why am I not capable of taping a zigzag onto the lampshade?!

I'm annoyed again just thinking about it. 

I'm pretty sure another 15 minutes passed by and whenever I thought I finally "got it" the next one I tried wasn't lining up right.

Since Mr. B is much more of a perfectionist than I am he decided to give it a try.

I found online that if you put some tape as an ending point for your points it's easier to line up the points.

So we gave it a try.

Please note all the bunched tape on the ground...which may or may not be half of the pile from my trial and error.

We wasted more nap time.

And tape.

And happiness. 

Mr. B thought he got it and then, sure enough, the more he did it the more it wasn't looking right. 

Adalyn woke and it was a whole {at least} hour and a half hour nap completely wasted. 

Well... not completely.

We did get one point done.

Do you understand the value of a nap time and how detrimental it is for one to be wasted on trying to make a triangle with tape?!?!

So our day went on, we took some breathers until it was time for time for Nap #2. 

I had a new idea and used Adalyn's nesting box to make my points so they would be even and the same size.

This started out as a great idea until I pulled the tape off the box and ripped it multiple times. 

Awesome. 

I was almost finished with the top row and then I got to the end and there wasn't enough room for the rest.

Hmm, I guess this is why people measure these things....

I gave up and tried again at bedtime. 

Using a new wooden box toy this time for my angles, I was on a roll and it was finally working. 

I finished the top row and then it was time for the second row which then created it's own problems because this row really needs to be measured equally {aka way too much work}

Mr. B helped- we tried- we failed. 

It stayed like this in our room for a few days. 

Super classy.

I went to take the tape off and officially give up and decided to give it one more try.

This time all the zigzags were lining up. 

I was feeling relieved and happy.

I put it up, took a few steps back 

and realized it wasn't even.

At all.

And then the thought of making another lampshade and going through this process again made me want to cry. 

And punch it. 

And then throw it at the wall.

So the tape came off. 

I wasted hours of free-time.

Loads of tape.


I eventually measured it and the lampshade is smaller on top and slowly gets bigger towards the bottom. 

So I think {and hope} that this has something to do with my big fat failure of a chevron lampshade. 

And in the end I was left with this amazing transformation!!

I have a new respect for the people that do DIY chevron. 

Seriously.

It takes some patience.

And skill.

And major brains.

Ok, maybe not major brains...but it definitely takes a fully functioning brain.

Which these days is rare for me. 

I'm lucky if I can even remember how to spell or have an adult conversation. 

Summer Goals: Hobby Style

I have a list of personal goals I'd like to achieve before the end of the summer, but I also have a list of "me time" goals that I'd like to accomplish before the end of the summer.

I am hoping that if I put an end date to it then maybe I'll actually do it.

But if it's anything like how my exercise and diets go....

well, let's just say I don't have the best track record.

I've never {a whole 7.5 months} been one of those moms who needs to work in order to feel independent, good about themselves or any other personal reasons {other than money}, that people go back to work for. A majority of those feelings, I am sure, have to do with the fact that I have always been a nanny or worked with kids. In a way, this is all I know. It's all I've ever wanted and I am truly doing my dream job every day. {Thank you, Lord and Mr. B!} In saying that, I do think it is still important to have hobbies. To have something outside of being mommy and wife that make you feel good. For me that is DIY stuff and I'd really like to get back into it! I also enjoy taking/editing pictures and I do make time that, but I'd also like to start some other projects.

So my list that I'd like to accomplish before the summer ends:

::Learn how to use my camera::

I have a few tutorials pinned and bookmarked.

 I know my camera can do so much more than what I do with it, so I'd really like to figure that out and learn how to take good pictures in manual mode.

:: Refinish the island::

We put our old little kitchen island in Adalyn's room and I planned on refinishing it to match. I'd like to start and finish that.

::Cover the living room pillows to add more color::

 ::Finish the kitchen curtains::

::Re-do/organize sewing room::

I was so excited to have a sewing room in our new place and I have yet to really use it. It kills me! I've only done the kitchen curtains in there and I didn't even finish that project! Everything was just put in there when we moved and I'd like to organize/make it fun and use it!!

::I'd really love to get Adalyn's monthly books completed started or at the very least her birth!::

:: Make at least 5 new meals and 5 new projects that I've pinned!::

I am not sure where this is from, but I saw it on Pinterest one day.

How true is that?! Ha!

Fix it Friday

I've been obsessed busy with finding cheap things and spicing them up some with spray paint or fabric.

Hopefully soon Mr. B will realize that I am not just buying/collecting junk, but kind of know what I am doing.

I thought I'd share some of my most recent projects around the house.

I realized I'm really bad at taking "before" pictures though, so in the future that is something I'm going to try and be better at.

It makes the process that much more rewarding, ya know?

I realize some people {like Mr. B and Mama Grace} would much rather buy new items than buy supplies and take time fixing something, but for those frugal and crafty people...this is fun.

For reals.

I found two matching lamps at Goodwill for 2.99 each. {Hello, good deal. You don't realize how expensive lamps are until you're on the lookout!}.  They were gold and u.g.l.y.  First I painted them an off-whitish color and I really liked them until I put it in our room and it looked very blah. I went with a dark espresso color instead and it looks much better. Next is to cover the lampshade. Oh and maybe straighten it out, too. We will see. 

Bought this frame for $4 at Savers and planned on making it into a chalkboard for the kitchen for little notes or bible verses. It was hard trying to find the right color in a spray paint to match our tealish kitchen. I tried to make it look a little distressed and kind of failed. It still adds a nice touch to the kitchen though and is a fun project to make. Now it needs one of those long skinny signs that say "Bless our Home" or something above it. A trip to Hobby Lobby is in my future. 

This was a brown scentsy warmer from Mama K, I really wanted it in the living room but it didn't really match. I went on the search for some orange spray paint, but could only find bright construction cone orange....um no thanks. So when I was at Michael's I found some Terra Cotta flower spray that was the perfect color I was looking for. I wasn't sure how it was going to work since it is made for flowers, but it did! I love how it turned out and use it every day. 

I received this cute little gown as a hand-me-down before we found out we were pregnant. It was a little on the boyish side, but I liked the color and new we would be using gowns in the beginning. I used my seam ripper and  took off the little turtle and duck tag and made some flowers out of scrap fabric and sewed them on. 

And here are some misc. projects with no before pictures....

1. Was a green lamp I spray painted the dark espresso and re-covered the off-white lamp shade with some brown zebra fabric.

2. I had some old pillows that I recovered to add some pop of color to our living room.

3. The two small vases were $1.99 and $2.99 from Savers- they were just the colors I was looking for! The bigger vase I picked up at a yard sale for 50 cents. It was green glass, but I knew I could spray paint it and put it somewhere in the house. When I decided to add orange as an accent to our living room and found the two little vases I knew just what I would do with the bigger vase. It came out really good, and no one would ever know it was bright green. 

4. I have been spicing up some plain onesies that I have. I am still a newbie, but getting better and have lots of onesies to practice on! 

Have you done any fun DIY projects recently??

I love looking in pinterest and other blogs to find some new idea!