Guess who's been buried in clinicals, nursing care plans, and nutrition reading guides? This girl! All my friends have been asking what my next project is going to be, and I haven't had time to think about it! I've got ideas swimming around in my head, but a lack of time and energy is keeping me from getting started...



via


Also adding to the lack of projects is the fact that we put our house on the market last week! Exciting and scary at the same time! I can't get involved in big projects with the possibility that someone might want to come look at our house. I also don't want to spend any more money on this house since we'll be "moving" on soon, hopefully. So, if you know anyone in the Nashville area looking for a "charming" 4BR/3BA ranch home in move-in condition and in a great, family neighborhood, let me know!!


I hope to have some small projects and recipes posted soon, so don't forget about me!

Burp Cloth Tutorial: How to Make a Pretty Baby Gift

Guess who didn’t have the Internet at home last week? ME! While it was highly frustrating because I teach two online classes, it was kind of nice knowing that I couldn’t get on the computer. I’ve got a log of blog reading to do!




I’ve got an easy tutorial for everyone today. If you know how to sew a straight stitch, then you can make pretty burp cloths to give as gifts. Burp cloths are my go-to gifts for new moms because I firmly believe you can’t have too many! Ever since the day Elliotte went through every single burp cloth we owned plus some towels, I’ve given them as gifts. I used to order them through Etsy until I learned to sew and realized how easy they were to make.


All you need is a pack of cloth diapers and some coordinating fabric and thread. I like to use fat quarters from JoAnn because I can make three burp cloths with each one. These burp cloths are obviously for a precious baby girl.


Start by unfolding one of the burp cloths and measure the length and width of the center strip. Then, using a cereal box or something similar, cut out a strip equal to the center strip of the burp cloth. This will make things so much easier!


Using the cut-out as your guide, cut your fabric a little bigger than the strip. A rotary cutter makes things go super fast! I usually go ahead and cut all my fabric at the same time.


Now move to your ironing board, and iron your fabric around the cut-out. I also iron the burp cloths at this point too.


For the ends, I fold them over just like I’m wrapping the ends of a present.


Once the fabric is ironed all around, pull the cut-out from inside the fabric. Now you’re almost ready to sew!


Place the ironed fabric right side up on the burp cloth and pin it down in a few places.
Note to self: get a new ironing board cover! Gross!


Now it’s time to whip out your sewing machine! All you have to do is sew a straight stitch around all four sides of the fabric. Make sure you back stitch at the beginning and once you get all the way around the fabric. It’s “sew” easy! Yep, I typed that.


Once you’ve done all this three times, you’ve got a super cute and sweet homemade gift for a new mom and baby! If you want to get fancy schmancy, use a zig zag stitch or add some ric rack around the edges. I used a zig zag stitch on the bottom burp cloth below, and it adds a little extra touch.


Wrap the burp cloths up with a pretty ribbon and you’re all done! I love picking out fabric for these gifts and making them look pretty. I like to make them pretty for boys too.


Now you know how to make an easy baby gift that a new mom (and dad too) will use all the time! What’s your go-to baby gift? Give me some more ideas!

Linking up to some of these fabulous parties! Tatertots & Jello, Between Naps on the Porch, My Uncommon Slice of Suburbia, Serenity Now, Mommy By Day Crafter By Night, The 36th Avenue, The DIY Showoff, Today’s Creative Blog, At the Picket Fence, Home Stories A to Z, Gingerbread, Remodelaholic, Thrifty Décor Chick, The CSI Project, Beneath my Heart, Crafty Scrappy Happy, Perfectly Imperfect, One Artsy Mama

Kitchen Reveal: Going from Black to White Cabinets

 
The kitchen cabinets are finished!!!!! I’m am so excited to show them to you! I thought it would be fun to dig up pics of how the kitchen looked when we moved in our house 5 1/2 years ago so you could see just how far it has come. There are a million tutorials on painting kitchen cabinets, so I’m not going to tell you how to do that. I sanded, primed and painted…6 COATS OF PAINT! Going from black to white cabinets will take you 3 coats of primer and 3 coats of paint. Trust me on this one! The white I used is "Antique White" by Glidden. Onto the pics.


Here is our lovely kitchen the way it looked when we moved in. (These are the pics from the MLS listing.) Shiny, paneled walls. Peaches and cream cabinets. Linoleum floor. Chili peppers hanging from the windows. No dishwasher. It was a jewel.




And here is how the kitchen looked before I painted the upper cabinets white. We moved the peninsula against the wall and added upper cabinets. All the cabinet doors and drawer fronts were replaced. We added a dishwasher and new appliances. I obviously painted the cabinets black. We installed hardwood floors and granite countertops. We painted the gleaming paneling a pale, minty green. My chosen colors were black, pink and green.




Here they are all finished! I really love the contrast of the black and white. It’s amazing how much the white paint has brightened up the kitchen. I hardly need to turn on the lights at night anymore because they just glow.


There’s always a sweet pug peeking in while I take pictures. My counters are never this clean, but the bright, white cabinets have inspired me to keep the counters as uncluttered as possible.


Here’s the main view of the kitchen! See how gleaming it is?! And don’t you love the “artwork” on the fridge? Priceless. I wasn’t about to remove it for pics. Keeping it real, people.




We all love a good before/after, so here it is!


BEFORE


AFTER


Six coats of paint and a week and a half of hard work was totally worth it! Don’t be scared to go for it.

Linking up to some of these fabulous parties! Tatertots & Jello, Between Naps on the Porch, My Uncommon Slice of Suburbia, Serenity Now, Mommy By Day Crafter By Night, The 36th Avenue, The DIY Showoff, Today’s Creative Blog, At the Picket Fence, Home Stories A to Z, Gingerbread, Remodelaholic, Thrifty Décor Chick, The CSI Project, Beneath my Heart, Crafty Scrappy Happy, Perfectly Imperfect, One Artsy Mama

Perfectly Pink Baby Shower

For those of you waiting on a kitchen cabinet update (is anyone waiting on a cabinet update?), they are done! I do not have pics yet because I literally have not been home during the day to take any! With school starting back and planning a party (keep reading), my days have been FULL! I promise some pics very soon if anyone is still reading…

On Saturday, I helped host a baby shower at my mom’s house for my cousin, Paige. Paige is expecting Baby Charlotte sometime the end of February. It was a family shower full of yummy food and pretty baby girl things.

Here’s the wreath I made for the front door. Two pink feather boas tied together and wrapped around a piece of pipe insulation makes a pretty wreath! I sprayed the pipe insulation pink in case any showed through all the feathers. Mom added a “C” for some cute personalization.

Mom made these cute topiaries! She wrapped feather string around a foam ball and secured the string with pins. She painted a dowel white and used glass beads in a small pink bucket to secure the topiary.

I designed the invitation using Pixlr and Picnik. Both are super easy to use, and I never thought I would say that I had designed an invitation! I will have a hard time paying someone to do them now.

The gorgeous flowers were done by a sweet friend! The china doll was mine as a child, and I can tell you that it’s a miracle it was not broken. I hated dolls!

My friend, MJ from 517 Creations, designed the beautiful “cupcake” toppers. Since we had brunch, they were placed in the Danish. Charlotte’s monogram and a pink baby onesie were the perfect little accent.

Aren’t they stylish and sweet? Thanks MJ!

We wrapped the forks in pink napkins and tied them with a pretty pink ribbon.

We had to have some pink rock candy stirrers for the coffee!

MJ also designed the “Sweet Baby Girl” banner that we hung going into and out of the “big room”.

Even the dog was festive!

The food included egg casserole, cheese grits, hot fruit, banana and pumpkin bread, sausage balls, Danish and Russian tea, coffee, and tea punch!

These two, Elliotte and my neice, Leah, were the life of the shower. E was so excited that Paige let her help open presents.

All the ladies in the “big room” at my parents’ house.

We had such a good time “showering” Paige and Baby Charlotte. We can’t wait to meet her!

I hope to have a kitchen cabinet post for you all very soon! Don’t you hate it when your day job gets in the way of your hobby?!

Linking up to some of these fabulous parties! Tatertots & Jello, Between Naps on the Porch, My Uncommon Slice of Suburbia, Serenity Now, Mommy By Day Crafter By Night, The 36th Avenue, The DIY Showoff, Today’s Creative Blog, At the Picket Fence, Home Stories A to Z, Gingerbread, Remodelaholic, Thrifty Décor Chick, The CSI Project, Beneath my Heart, Crafty Scrappy Happy, Perfectly Imperfect, One Artsy Mama

A Little Organization to Begin 2012

I don’t know about everyone else, but taking Christmas decorations down starts the slippery slope of getting things organized and purging in our house! Nothing is safe! I’ve cleaned out my closet, E’s toys, Ben’s closet, and the garage. There is lots more that needs to go!


Our kitchen table seems to be the catch-all for everything when we come in the house. It’s been driving me crazy having E’s bags and coat right there where we eat our meals. I didn’t know what to do with all her stuff until I spied this little guy at IKEA last month and knew that it would solve our bag and coat problem! I had the perfect wall for three of these, and at $1.99, they were a steal. Who doesn’t love a cute little dog bootie hanging on the wall?! I knew E would love them!



This is the wall by our backdoor. I’ve got my dry erase calendar on it which I have resolved to actually use this year! I knew the hooks would fit perfectly below the calendar, and they would be low enough so E can hang her bags and coat on her own. She loves to hang her coat on the back of the chair, so hanging it on a dog tail hook on the wall should be a no-brainer.



Here they are hung on the wall all ready for some stuff! I think they are so cute! They are really strong too. They can hold two bags of stuff without any problem!





My little, nekkid girl was very excited to hang her coat on her own hook.



I’m so happy this stuff is off our table and hanging on the wall! E comes inside and takes off her coat and hangs it straight on a hook. We also know exactly where her bags are and can get to them easily.


See those black cabinets in the top right corner of the pics above? Well, they are black no more! I’m finishing up the cabinet doors today, so hopefully I will have some pics to show you this week. They are looking really good! It’s amazing what a little lot of white paint can do.


Happy Monday!

What did I get myself into?

Long story super short: we had to do some repair work in our basement because of a cracked cast iron pipe. The result of that work landed me priming some new paneling on Monday. Since I finished priming the paneling in record time and didn’t want to waste any of my primer, I decided I should just go ahead and start priming my kitchen cabinets! I’ve had the paint for months and just haven’t found the right time to start painting. Of course, I figured the right time should be the week that school starts back and I start teaching again. Perfect timing.


I did get a whole lot done though! On Monday, I removed all the upper cabinet doors and primed all the cabinet boxes. The rest of the work will take some time. The cabinet doors are in pretty bad shape. Whoever painted those doors five years ago did not know what they were doing! (That might have been me.) I’m going to have to do some major sanding and cleaning before I can prime and paint. In the meantime, this is what we’ll be looking at:




I’m using Kilz Clean Start primer, and it is fabulous! Definitely the best that I’ve worked with so far. These are the cabinets we use as our “pantry” since we don’t have a walk-in pantry. The majority of the cabinets are on the other side of the kitchen. I’m only painting the upper cabinets to lighten the kitchen a bit. I still love my black cabinets and don’t want to lose them completely! Plus, those lower cabinets get SUPER dirty from a certain two year old and two dogs, so the thought of white cabinets down there actually scares me a bit.





I had my external hard drive out because I was making our yearly photo book and ran across this picture from five years ago. These are the same cabinets. The uppers were new and not painted (doors not yet installed) and the lowers were a lovely peach and cream. The paneling was a super high gloss, and we had vented doors EVERYWHERE (even the bathroom!)! Thank goodness I could see past all this when we bought our house! Prior to the hardwoods, there was a lovely linoleum that the pattern actually looked like there were footprints in it.
It. was. so. bad.




Looking back through all the pictures from when we first bought our house over five years ago has made me so proud of how much we have done! I’ll show you more “before” pics when I’m done painting the cabinets so you’ll really appreciate the transformation. The former owners, in addition to all the lovely treatments above, had plastic chili peppers hanging from the kitchen windows!


Happy Wednesday!