Our little boy's ecclectic nature nursery.

I'm not sure if that's even what you would call it, but here are a few snapshots of our little boy's room. I think I've mentioned it before, but he is sharing space with his daddy. :) I wasn't too happy about it at first, but I tried really, really, really, really hard not to fight about it. Then one day while I was praying about it, God showed me how thankful I should be that my husband is willing to share the same room (office/nursery) with our son, when most kids in America go to bed at night without a dad around. That totally changed my perspective, and I'm super excited for my boys to have a hang out spot. ;) haha

Those are the prints I blogged about here. I bought the postcard size of them and found some inexpensive wooden frames from Hobby Lobby. You can also see one of the knit mushrooms my very creative friend Amy made for me, by request. She rocks! She is a great, great cook (so check out her blog) and she knit the cutest sweater vest for out little one, and got us some awesome vintage books!! I love used books and handmade things. :) To the left is a jar of eggs. haha It's very random, but I decided to add it anyways. For some reason I bought a glass egg on our honeymoon, and then somewhere else after that, and I just buy them wherever I can find them now. I told my gramma about them once and she had a few that (I believe?) her  mom had collected, so she brought them to me on one of her trips out here. So now I have a jar of eggs that people in my family have been collecting for a few generations. I thought it fit the nature theme. What do you think? ;) haha

I collect framed butterflies, which I've talked about before. This was my first collection one of my uncle's bought me from a flea market. After that, I was in love with the vintage ones, but they are VERY expensive. B got me another set when he went to Cambodia. My parents brought those with them on their last trip down, so I will hang them soon as well. I really want to get some other framed bugs, as weird as that sounds. Maybe some bumble bees or beetles. I have a few other small collections around the house. They are so colorful! I also made the garland out of old fabric scraps I had laying around. A friend of mine mentioned that they look like butterflies. I hadn't noticed, but they totally do look like fluttery wings. :) It adds to the nature theme, I guess.

I love these woodland animals! My boss just gave us the deer yesterday, and I wanted to keep it for myself to cuddle with. ;)

One of the gals in my creative workshop does calligraphy art. I so wish I could write that beautifully! I found a poetry book on motherhood at a thrift store a few months after I got pregnant. This is one of my favorite poems I found in it. I thought the title was so adorable too!! So, she wrote it up! How gorgeous is it!? I haven't framed it yet, but I intend to. I will eventually hang it in there as well. This is the actual poem, since you can't read it from the picture:

To a Little Invisible Being Who is Expected Soon To Become Visible

by Anna Laetitia Barbauld

Germ of new life, whose powers expanding slow

For many a moon their full perfection wait,—

Haste, precious pledge of happy love, to go

Auspicious borne through life's mysterious gate.

What powers lie folded in thy curious frame,—

Senses from objects locked, and mind from thought!

How little canst thou guess thy lofty claim

To grasp at all the worlds the Almighty wrought!

And see, the genial season's warmth to share,

Fresh younglings shoot, and opening roses glow!

Swarms of new life exulting fill the air,—

Haste, infant bud of being, haste to blow!

For thee the nurse prepares her lulling songs,

The eager matrons count the lingering day;

But far the most thy anxious parent longs

On thy soft cheek a mother's kiss to lay.

She only asks to lay her burden down,

That her glad arms that burden may resume;

And nature's sharpest pangs her wishes crown,

That free thee living from thy living tomb.

She longs to fold to her maternal breast

Part of herself, yet to herself unknown;

To see and to salute the stranger guest,

Fed with her life through many a tedious moon.

Come, reap thy rich inheritance of love!

Bask in the fondness of a Mother's eye!

Nor wit nor eloquence her heart shall move

Like the first accents of thy feeble cry.

Haste, little captive, burst thy prison doors!

Launch on the living world, and spring to light!

Nature for thee displays her various stores,

Opens her thousand inlets of delight.

If charmed verse or muttered prayers had power,

With favouring spells to speed thee on thy way,

Anxious I'd bid my beads each passing hour,

Till thy wished smile thy mother's pangs o'erpay.

I randomly pulled stuff from around the house that I thought fit the theme and just added it to these shelves. I really have a thing for eggs and butterflies, I guess. The butterfly in that blown glass was a housewarming gift from my brother in law. haha I got those little wooden boxes for $3 from Target. I've been collecting those books since I was in high school. And I didn't think a nature room was complete without a real, living plant. :) I've been quite pleased with it! It's a pathos house plant. They are supposed to be very easy to take care of, as far as indoor plants go. I love the bright shade of green it adds. I somehow ended up with dark aqua and lime green being some of the main colors in this room. :)

Hope you enjoyed the mini nursery tour! I kept it very minimal, but I really love it. :)

xoxo

It comes and goes.

That's energy that I'm talking about. These days at least. I've got to make the most of it when I can, even if that means planning out my nesting and meals when I'm awake at 4 a.m. haha! Today I got home around 4 after a long, but good, day at work, and sat down on the couch with some water and my laptop, planning on never getting up again for the rest of the night. But alas, I talked myself into doing my workout, and I've suddenly had energy ever since. Yesterday I went crazy to town making all sorts of things for the babies room , and one cute project for myself, and I've had enough energy in the last hour to finish some of them up. :)

Please know that I am generally not this crafty, I promise. At least...I'm not as crafty as many other people I know. I did many of these projects because I was able to use things from around my house or they required basic craft supplies that I have on hand from past projects. These are also projects I've been keeping track of on my pinterest boards for months now, and have finally decided to just do them, so it's not like I find something and get it made before dinner time. ;) It's takes lots and lots of pins, time, and courage. haha

This book garland was super easy to make! I made it for the baby boy's room, but my baby shower is also book themed, so I thought it would be cute to use there as well. I just pulled the pages out of an old book I had around the house that I've used in the past for various projects. I also had the string. I did buy the mini clothes pins, but I plan on using those in lots of different ways in the baby's room, so I didn't mind spending the 1.50 or whatever they were (plus my teacher's discount at Michael's! Score!). The paper that I used for the book covers I did buy, but just because they were .59 each and I didn't have a spare cereal box on hand. I do plan on making some more where I use cereal boxes and just paint them, or the pattern of the boxes themselves may be kind of cute and add to the creative mix.

 

 

I always check the clearance for acrylic paint. I usually find some funky colors for .19. I think this was one of those colors I found, but I just so happen to be using it in the baby's room quite a bit. I bought these letters right after we were married to use this idea in our bedroom, I just never got around to finishing it. Plus, I think it looks much cuter for the little guy's room. I've got them sitting above the doorframe of his room, and I'm going to cut out a small cardboard star or two and paint them gold and stick them up there as well.

 

 

 These toilet paper roll owls are so adorable!! I'm going to make a few more and set them on different shelves in his room. I think it's so fun how you can create different personalities with each owl. This was a very, very cheap project!! I think everyone in America has spare toilet paper rolls on hand.

 

 



And last but not least, these fun flats that I repainted!! I am a sucker for any item of clothing that has a cat on it...so I had to make these when I saw the how-to. The paint was a little old, so who knows how long they'll last, but I think I originally purchased the shoes for just a couple of bucks anyways. And they aren't the most comfortable, so I've only worn them one or two times, but now I have a cute reason to push through the pain! ;)

I hope you guys enjoyed checking up on my nesting projects. :) Do you see a theme of some sort coming together? haha

xoxo

A nest.

It seems like that's what I'm building when I consider all the fabric and string scarps I'm pulling from around the house for this little boy's nursery. Oh, and the feathers. I had to actually stop myself from buying moss yesterday. haha Thanks to your prayers and encouraging words, I truly felt a difference at work yesterday. Part of it was also just voicing my need for more help, and my wonderful aids came to the rescue as usual. And now I'll be home for most of the rest of the week, and I can feel my momma mode kicking into high gear. I've been staying up a little later than usual making things, and actually taking steps to get organized with his room.

 

 

I'm making a few banners to hang on the ceiling over the crib, coming out from one of the corners. Some of the fabric I'm using are actually vintage crib sheets I snagged several years ago because I liked the print so much. I found myself having to really think about boy colors while making these. "Oh, pink flowers..what shades of pink should I put with this one?" No, no, no, Lexy! Blue! You're having a little boy. haha I've got to retrain my girlish thinking habits.

 

 



We got a big package in the mail last week and opened it up to find this beauty! B's cousins from Tacoma sent it to us. One of them drew it by hand. It's a one of a kind. I love it, as I love all sorts of butterfly or bug prints. haha As long as we have space in the nursery, I plan on hanging this up. :)

Alright, well there are a few peeks at what I've been working on this week. :) Keep me and baby boy in your prayers!

xoxo

A lonely Tuesday.

B and I usually work opposite shifts on Tuesdays. Which stinks. And he basically works alllll day Thursdays between a regular job and then ministry, and I also work Thursdays. So Thursdays also stink. But on my way to work this morning I was soooo overjoyed at the thought that I won't be lonely Tuesday and Thursday nights for much longer. :) I know this is the romanticizing part of having a new baby, but I am so going to love to have a little man to spend the night with while his daddy is out providing for us! I guess I'm spending time with him now....haha I can even feel him kicking me while I type this. Now that's love. ;)

I busted my butt getting stuff done in this little guy's room yesterday. For the first time ever, I made a list of things I was looking for before setting foot in the thrift store (thanks to some advice I got from a friend's blog post). I still only found one thing from my list...well, it wasn't even on my list, but I've always got my eye out for a good crate. I also scored yet another book and some maternity shorts. I'm not sure if this pregnancy will call for those since I'm due the last week, but they were only a couple bucks so I can pull them out if I need them.

After blogging on Sunday about all the things I really should be doing to get his room ready, I actually did them. haha I found a used changing table that was at our place by 5 p.m. and I also ordered a few of those small prints, since B and I couldn't decide on just one. All very affordable pieces. So I spent a good hour or so really dusting and cleaning the changing table. AFTER all that cleaning was when I got the bright idea to sand it down and make it look worn. I have lots of pieces in my house that really ARE old and warn, almost to the point that I don't like to clean my furniture because it just pulls more old paint off. haha Here are the before and afters:

I had already started working on the front when I remember to snap a pic.

Aaaand after. After many awkward positions, finger burns, pieces of sand paper, a purple, blistered finger, and an achey belly. I could have kept going, but it honestly took a lot out of me. Plus, it was cold standing outside for over an hour sanding away. haha But I'm quite happy with it. :) It adds to the eclectic look this doll house is going for.

By the way, today marks the beginning of the END!! :D Woohoo!! Hello third and final trimester!

xoxo