Baby's Room is Ready!

At long last, the baby's room is finished! Its been quite a process and my husband has done a ton of stuff to the room including new door, new wall, new lights, new baseboards and a new closet organization system!  Pretty much he has the nicest room in the house at this point.  We're really happy with the way it turned out, just walking into it makes me feel cheerful and excited, I hope that it does that for baby pickle too.

On a different note, I've decided that this is going to be my last blog post.  It was kind of a long time coming, as you can see its already been 3 months since I last posted, but I was still sad to come to realize that I no longer felt compelled to post new things.  But to be honest, Pinterest has really filled my need for noting beautiful things, commenting on art, and bookmarking crafts and future ideas.  Follow me there, I'll keep posting my new design projects as well as anything I'm selling in my Etsy shop (when I re-open it eventually!).

Thanks for looking, enjoy the photos of pickle's nursery!

The fruit of the spirit artwork I designed, printed & mounted.  We wanted something meaningful on the walls that pickle can look at and learn while growing up.  It was so fun to design!  Got the bookshelf from Ikea, lamp from Home Goods, books & toys as amazing gifts from so many generous people. 

Close-up on the fruit of the spirit artwork.  If you'd be interested in buying a set of these, you can email me through Etsy and my shop. :) I'd be willing to make more if people want to buy them. 

I hung the ABC flashcards on the wall, the designs by Lorena Siminovitch are beautiful.  Got the crib sheet from Target, my mom sewed the crib skirt with fabric I found at Joann's and the quilt over the side of the crib is also something my mom made a long time and and really inspired the 'brightly colored' theme of the room. 

I love how she picked some unusual things to illustrate for certain words, makes it so fun and unpredictable! 

Close-up on the quilt, so bright and beautiful!

The mobile! Mom crocheted the ball and I hung them, I think it turned out beautifully. 

Curtains from Walmart, zig-zag rug from Urban Outfitters. 

Another mom creation, she created the blanket to match the mobile. 

Love this bulletin board, just covered it with paper from Linwood Ave and got the grow sign for Christmas.  Also Z (my niece) made pickle the cutest 'we can't wait to meet you pickle' sign we hung up for his arrival. 

Dresser/changing table, got such a good deal at the Land of Nod outlet.  Got the bird prints from Beethings.

And a picture of the closet because Josh worked so hard to make it functional and space effective! 

Baby Boy Announcements

In gearing up for a baby boy, I realized that all the designs I had stock piled for baby announcements were very girly.  So I set about creating some for boys! Its been a lot of fun, and I've gone a more simple route this time, which I'm liking.  Here are some of the roughs that we decided not to use so enjoy! The real announcement will come to everyone in the mail or get posted here once pickle has arrive and it is truly finished.  :)

[*No, those are not real baby names we're considering, and no those are not photos of any babies we know personally, they're cute though!] 

Christmas Cookie Party

I've never thrown a Christmas party before this year and I'm thinking now, that it's something I'd really like to do again!  It was so much fun and around this time of year it makes for such a festive time.

I also did a little more 'display' things for the party then I would normally, which made it feel special and exciting.  Here's some photos!

It's a DIY Christmas!

Since the invention of Pinterest, so many crafts have come to light!  I got in the mood again for some crafting and this Christmas I decided to do a few of them! My home is now officially 'decked' for the holidays! 

A 'Merry Christmas' sign I designed, cut and strung up in our family room.

My Christmas-themed yarn wreath. Same idea as my other yarn wreaths but with Christmas colors. 

Pom pom garland.  Sadly it doesn't hang as elegantly as I had wanted, but I still love the concept!  I took the leftover white yarn from the yarn wreath (I would never knit with this, very cheap, does not feel nice to touch!) and created dozens of pom-poms in various sizes.  Then I strung them on some yarn and voila! 

Cutest little white bottle brush tree, found at Joann's for $1, sugar on the bottom, little red cookie sprinkles on the tree and on the bottom for some color.  All in a vase I had. Ideas are here!

Baby on the Brain

Sorry for those of you who are not interested in baby things.  But here's more stuff I'm wanting to do, make, buy for the nursery! 

Josh loves bunnies, I love sweet simple photos, its a marriage made in heaven!  From The Animal Print Shop, great, simple photos of all kinds of animals.  

From HappyasLarry Designs, awesome rug!  If only it were a little cheaper or I could make something similar...mm

As a more practical and affordable option for the floor, I got this rug from Urban Outfitters for the room.  Just to add a little brightness to the boring carpet we've got in there. 

Since I love type, and lately chunky geometric slab serif fonts like this one, I couldn't pass this up.  And I got it for Christmas, so exciting!  From William Dohman on Etsy.  And they have so many other great phrases too, this just was my favorite 'baby' phrase. 

Since I'm going all out multi-colored everything for pickle, why not this too?  Either I'll create it myself and frame it, or I'll make something similar for the birth announcement with maybe just a photo on the back.  We shall see....but love this overlapping type in block formation! Thanks for the inspiration Apple Blossom Print.

Baby Pickle's Room

We're having a baby!  Which has turned my mind towards decorating a baby's room, of  course. There's so much out there, I've been overwhelmed in a good way.  Here's what I know:
1. I don't like most pastel colors, I'm more a bright colored type person.  (think color wheel, primary colors etc). 
2. Most baby room themes don't appeal to me personally, I'm more intrigued by color and various graphics as a theme. 
3. The room is painted grey so I knew I'd have to have some exciting things on the walls to make the room feel like a 'kids' room.
Before/during/after pictures of the nursery to come and more awesome things that we're making/buying for pickle!  Here are a few of the things I've thought of, seen, gotten, thought about getting, or are on my list! Enjoy!

No this is not our nursery. :)  Just a cool nursery photo I found on Pinterest.  Love the idea of hanging ABC flash cards.  I'm also a big fan of this IKEA shelf filled with bright colored toys, books, bright colored bins etc. 

For the flash cards, I stumbled across this amazing illustrator!  Lorena Siminovich, check her out, I love everything she does! 

Custom Baby Annoucement

Sorry for the immense delay!  More on that later, but for now something new I've recently finished.  A few months ago I was lucky enough to design a match letter for some friends of mine wanting to adopt [full post here].  This was such a great project and I have now been lucky enough to design their baby announcment now that they've been blessed with a precious baby boy!  What an awesome thing to be part of!  :)

P.S. This baby announcement was a custom design, made especially to their tastes/wants.  If you ever thing of anything you'd like me to do let me to design especially for you, let me know!  I also can do the printing and incorporate the costs to the total price so its easy-peasey for you!

Anniversary Invites

You saw the Save the Date cards, now here's the actual invitations!  Fun hawaiian/60s theme.  Should be a great party and I think the invites turned out really fun!  Enjoy.

Final Wedding Invites

At long last the invitations were put together and sent, got mine in the mail, what a treat!  I'm not sure how often I'll take on wedding designs but when I see them all printed and done up like this it makes me want to do more!  Enjoy.

Baby Shower Invitations

I recently did a design set for a baby shower.  I think they turned out so cute, its great when the person being honored has a specific design sensibility, I really enjoyed creating these, they're a style I wouldn't normally go for but in the end I loved how they turned out!  Thanks to Alisha, my new favorite client for the work! :)

Adoption Match Letter

I just finished one of the coolest projects I've had the privilege of working on!  Some friends of mine are looking to adopt a child into their family, and part of that process is creating what's called a match letter.  (This is the book that birth families look through to pick out an adoptive family for their child).  This is what I was able to design for them.  It was a lot of fun, getting to see family photos, see what they wrote about each other and I loved getting to be just a small part of their adoption process!  Below are the pages in the letter, and here is their blog where they talk about all their experiences and also have ways for you to help...you should check it out.  Enjoy! (Also to you visiting my blog from Alisha & Ben's, welcome and thanks for visiting!!). 

This summer I'm into...

all of these things.  No rhyme or reason, this season I'm into these things.  Enjoy!

Planters from Pottery Barn, I'd love to cover my porch with these! 

These knitted poufs have long been on my list of things 'to buy', though my hangup is I'm not sure where to put it in the house! 

This was one of my favorite wedding gifts, so personal and I love it!  I recently decided that it was ok to actually use instead of just admire, so if you come over, you'll probably see it holding some cheese to be eaten. 

Scrabble tiles!  As necklace items, as inspiration for decor, who knows what possibilities they hold! 

Copper lanterns from Pier 1, really like this type of metal look.

Photography Dilemma

A while back we got a gift certificate to CanvasOnDemand.com for a 16x20 canvas print.  Nice! But we then decided to print our New Zealand photos elsewhere.  So now this gift certificate is expiring and we could not think of any photos we wanted to get blown up!  Well sure, there's a few but we thought, our house is already full of New Zealand photos, Wedding photos, Europe photos...so we kind of want a little something else, something different then a photograph, something more unique. This dilemma (granted, it's a nice one to have...) lead me back to the photo manipulation skills I learned in college but rarely have the chance to use! I waded through piles and piles of negatives, did some photoshop work and came out with something I really love!
PHEW, what a long explanation, when all I really wanted to show you is the fruits of my labor.  Enjoy!

This is the one we went with!  Windmills on the island of Mykonos, Greece

Gondolas in Venice

Ponte sant'Angelo across the Tiber river in Rome

And the ominous gargoyle from the top of Notre Dame overlooking Paris. 

New Recipe Card Design

I've come up with a few new recipe card designs and have listed them on Etsy!  Check 'em out!

They come all printed and packaged, make a perfect gift.  :)

Wild Flowers in Bottles & Jars

I feel pretty behind the times on this semi-trend, but since its spring/summer I've been seeing these everywhere again!  Lovely compilations of wild flowers in unique jars and bottles.  They looks so wonderfully haphazard and almost shabby chic?  I love them, these pictures make me wish I had a collection of apothecary jars and a field of wild flowers behind my house! 

From a wedding post on holleeanne

And another from the same post as above, love that the bottles are all different colors and what kind of flower is that yellow ball!!

From a DIY project on Style Me Pretty

From Elizabeth Ann Designs, beautiful colors in these flowers and veggies on the table too! 

Not sure these are wild flowers, but I still love the variety of bottles holding various flowers.  Makes things so much more interesting!  Also from Elizabeth Ann Designs.