a woodland nursery

With a little less than three months to go I'm starting on my boys' nursery. I'm going with a 'woodland theme' and thought I'd try my hand at making a designer collage {I think that's what you call them?}. Here's what I came up with.

Boys' Woodland Nursery

{1} Painted or decaled aspen trees. We have a thing for Colorado, that may be where this whole 'woodland theme' idea came from in the first place. Behind them is Martha Stewart's "Sharky Gray" paint. 

{2} Handmade owl pillows. I'll have to try my hand at this.

{3} Deer antlers or white deer head- I have no clue where to find these. Please let me know if you do!

{4} Tree art

{5} Linen for bedding- maybe bumpers and bed skirts? I'm thinking simple.

{6} Woodland alphabet cards. These particular ones form Etsy seller InkTreePress

{7} Spray painted pine cone mobile

{8} Pottery Barn Brookfield crib- times two of course! {Trying to get Ben to make something similar to this for me}.

{9} Sheep skin rug 

{10} White curtain panels for window and closet. 

...

What do you think? Any more ideas for a woodland nursery? Anyone else planning on one? I'm hoping to get this thing going by next week, and I'll of course show you the finished product when I'm all done! 

happy fall!

Fall is my favorite season of the year. I love the transition from tank tops to long sleeve shirts, capris to jeans, and flip flops to boots. And of course my birthday and our anniversary being in the fall, and knowing Christmas is right around the corner helps too! This year we have two little ones to welcome in the fall- making it quite possibly the best fall ever!

So I'm excited to get on with fall, even if it's not official yet. Here are some of my favorite F A L L things... enjoy! 

D E C O R A T E 

Left to right: 1: unknown source 2: DIY wreath from Delia Creates 3: Wreath from Martha Stewart 4: Acorn decor from Favor Creative

W E A R 

Left to right: 1: Anthropologie 2: Forever 21 3: Aldo 4: Etsy seller Our Sunshine

And a few more of my favorite fall things:

Yay for fall! Hope you are excited and inspired!

family tree prints

I made a family tree for us this weekend. There's something so satisfying about putting your entire family on a sheet of paper. And although I have a way to go on a few lines I feel totally accomplished. I had such a hard time finding a 'cute' family tree so I thought I'd design a few aesthetically pleasing ones that I'd like to to have on my wall. Thought you might be interested too... {If you need some help with genealogy research check out this post and this one}.

Here's what I designed:

And one with a time line that I'm not sure if I'll include yet:

And a few more designs: 

A full 8 generation tree {but could be made smaller} in various colors

A full 5 generation tree

...

Putting these up for sale on my Etsy shop soon, but if you'd like to order one now you can contact me. Here are the details that include printing {about $30 for full color} shipping additional:

Silhouette Design {20x16} with name layout, also includes two 8x10 silhouettes: $60

Circle Design black and white {2'x2'} without names: $15

Circle Design color {2'x2'} without names: $40

Tree Design {20x16} with name layout: $45

Tree Design {20x16} without name layout: $35

ancestors & genealogy how to's

I've been thrust back into the world of genealogy lately thanks to a recent visit with my Grandpa. It's pretty amazing the things you don't know about your family. Really. And really things your parents don't even know. It's fascinating. 

I've been diving into my dad's side of the family this week, which has been fun. His family was all very German and very wealthy- which makes it interesting. Here are some of the houses I found that my ancestors lived in {and some even built}:

If you look close on this one you can see a design on the chimney- I believe it's a WM- the initials of my Great Grandfather who built the house. Unfortunately it's not still in our possession, although that would be pretty great. This particular house over looks the Mississippi River in one of the best neighborhoods in the city.

This one is no longer standing, but it belonged to my Great-Great Grandmother. My Grandpa said he used to visit this house and was always scared to go inside- it was very dark and decorated with exotic things from around the world like tiger and zebra rugs... hmm.

Here's a four generation picture of my grandpa, dad, me, and the girls {and the twins of course!}

I also found an old album, and thanks to Grandpa I now know who everyone is in the photos.

My grandpa {the baby}, his sister and mom.





My grandpa's dad and grandfather- I thought the date was fun on this one, my great-grandfather {the man on the right} was the one who made the album I found.





And lastly, my {get ready}, great-great-great grandfather. That's right, whether you liked it or not you just looked at 7 generations of my family. I think it's pretty fun. 

And in case you'd like to do some genealogy research yourself, here are some of my favorite how to's that I've found helpful

{1}

Your most valuable resource are your older living relatives. Start with parents, and move back to grandparents and great grandparents if you can. Ask them anything and everything- first names and dates if they remember, and after that stories. Either audio record or write down what they tell you. It will be priceless in years to come.

{2}

Ancestry.com is one of the best tools I've found when researching. It's a great place to begin after getting a few names from family members. They have census records, ship records, marriage certificates- it's pretty amazing.

{3}

Your hometown library {or where your family is from} is also an invaluable resource. You'll be able to find out where your ancestors lived {by searching the city directories}, and possibly see photos of them. They'll also have all of the local newspapers on microfilm at your disposal. It's easy to find obituaries, marriage announcements, and other blurbs about your family from the newspapers.

{4}

Get organized. I'm in the process of doing this now. Once you get started in genealogy it becomes a whirlwind quickly. I've found keeping family lines separate is a big help, for example: my mom's side, my dad's side etc. and have a place to keep photos and newspaper articles. I'd suggest keeping a 'family tree' with your names and dates somewhere handy. Ancestry.com has a brilliant online resource for keeping a family tree that's free, otherwise keeping it by paper works wonderful too. {In fact it wouldn't hurt to do both!}

Tomorrow I'll be releasing a few family tree templates for purchase in my Etsy shop. Stay tuned! 


*Update*

I'm spending just a few more days tweaking the designs. They should be up by Monday, sorry for the delay.

goodbye to a friend

Last week we lost a dear friend.

Our very well loved chocolate lab, Macey. 

I've concluded the reason why it's so hard losing a pet is because they are such a prime example of unconditional love. They love us no matter what, and Macey was so good at this. She was so good with the girls, and always protective {she wouldn't ever let me leave a baby crying}. After processing for several days we realized Macey taught our girls so much. She taught them responsibility- they were always the ones to feed her, give her water, and let her outside. She also taught them love, friendship, and dependability. 

May used to be a little crazy in her early years, but the second we brought our first home from the hospital she calmed right down and stayed that way from then on. Such a good puppy.

During her last few years {she was only 6 1/2 when we lost her} she developed diabetes and needed two shots of insulin a day. Despite this we weren't prepared to lose her so soon. The girls and I were visiting grandma and grandpa out of town and Ben called me at midnight one night to tell me. Between all my sobbing he told me he heard the Lord tell him very clearly, "it's time to say goodbye to Macey." Ben looked over at her and nothing seemed out of the ordinary, but he went over to her and within a minute she was gone. What a comfort to both our hearts that the Lord cares so much even for Macey.

We held a little funeral for her in our backyard. I'll always remember the girls' sweet little voices saying, "bye bye May May." Zuriah {4} said the other day, "Mom, Jesus is in our hearts and Macey is in our hearts too!" Anah {2} has just been telling me "May May Jesus Mama." I guess Macey now has also taught the girls about death and Heaven. 

My floors desperately need mopping but I just can't seem to bring myself to mop up May's paw prints just yet. All those times when I got mad at her for tracking in- it really makes me appreciate the little things. 

Sorry for a bit of a depressing blog post today, just missing our

winner & favorite room

I've decided now in all my nestings it's a good time to redesign the girls' room as well. My youngest {2} is still in a crib so our plan is bunk beds for them very soon. And while we're getting them new beds, why not new bedding... and new paint? That's where it's gone. 

I grabbed a Restoration Hardware Baby & Child catalog and went through it with my 4 year old. I was thinking the rooms look appealing to me but wasn't sure if she would like them- well she does. Very much. 

Here's her favorite:

Specifically the pink bedding {of course} but to my surprise she also loved the wall color and furniture color- I'm very much ok with that. Beautiful. 

Should be fun!

On to the giveaway winner. I selected via Random.org, and got comment #24. If that's you {anonymous} I will be contacting you via email to get you your winnings! 

If anyone is interested in purchasing silhouettes, birth prints, or {soon to come} coasters, visit my Etsy shop and take 20% off through next week! {Just mention this post}.

bag {2} tutorial

Out of a bit of necessity I decided I wanted a trash keeper for our new van. I couldn't find anything I liked to buy so I just designed something simple- here's how I made it. {Oh and you can use this for your stroller too, it'd be a great little extra storage, or even a small bag- just change the straps.}

Just a warning, this tutorial is a bit photo heavy.

What you'll need:

Pretty fabric {about a half yard}

Fabric for inside bag 

Stiff iron-on interfacing

2 D Rings

Iron 

Sewing Machine

I used some Amy Butler home decor fabric for the outside and some solid quilting fabric for the inside.

Cut two pieces of the pretty fabric to 9"x 12". Do the same for the inside fabric.

Cut your interface to be about an inch shorter than the pretty fabric {so 8"x12"}

Do it for each side, and iron them on. 

Fold over {twice} the extra fabric and sew it for both sides.

Place the two pieces facing each other and sew the two sides and bottom together.

When you flip it, this is what you should have. 

Now for the inside- sew the two pieces together, while hemming the top and leaving it open {the top hem should be longer so this bag is just about a 1/4" shorter than the outside bag}. You should have basically a small pillowcase.

Place the insert inside. 

And sew a seam around the top, just under the hem of the pretty fabric.

To make the strap cut a strip of fabric to your desired length. Fold it "pretty to pretty" and sew it shut. Then turn it inside out. 

I like to sew two seams to make it flat.

CUT about 4 inches of this strap. 

Take the longer strap and sew the end shut like pictured. 

Take the shorter {4"} strap and sew on two D rings.

I used a zipper foot to get a closer seam.

Here's where you can decide where to put your straps. For a bag you can place the straps on either side. For my purpose I placed the straps together in the center of the back of the bag.

And sewed it shut repeatedly for strength... cut all strings to clean it up.

This will work to hang from your seat... 

Or here in the front off the 'purse hook'

Cutest little trash bag that you can't find at Target. Pretty simple and quick, and now my new van stays clean!

Don't forget to sign up for

I'll be announcing the winner tomorrow!!