A Little Baby Primping

We recently registered for our little Olive and due to space decided to go with the Contours Classique 3- in- 1 bassinet. We currently live in a spacey one bedroom but definitely not spacey enough for a full crib. Well, I was soooo excited when it arrived last week that I stayed up and decided to put it together all by myself. Not that I don't usually put furniture together on my own, but a little piece of me was telling me daddy and I should put it together as a couple. THAT little voice was quickly pushed aside by my impatient one. This is what the "stock bassinet" looked like...

Certainly not an adorable cozy place I'd like to set my first little baby into. Then, it came with these weird half frill things that didn't really do much to gussy it up. After putting those on it looked like...

Mmm...a little better but still kind of funky, right?

My style is very plain, simple, and classic. So it wasn't the colors that bothered me. I actually would rather have everything be very neutral so that I can save most items for baby #2. This however, was just not special looking at all. After a quick (haha...quick) Pinterest search of bassinets I scoured my home looking for anything I could use to spruce this guy up a bit. I found two king size pillow cases that we had never used or would ever use and got to pinning and sewing. I decided to use the existing bumper thing since it already had velcro attached and just sew it over the funky drop cloth half flap. I am SO happy with the way it turned out! 

Finished product! 

I cannot wait to place my little baby Olive into her little bassinet now! I am SO excited! I might just add a little mobile, but besides that I'd say this is EXACTLY what I envisioned. 

So, all I needed for this little makeover:

• a little imagination
• Some unused pillow cases
• and a straight stitch on my sewing machine

Painted T-Shirts

I'm kind of at that pregnancy stage where my bump is showing but no one will ask me because I might just be a little pudgy in the middle. I'm five and a half months pregnant and just got back into the gym after breaking my toe. I take spin classes about 5-6 times a week and I felt a little funny going up to the instructors to let them know I'm pregnant (they tell you to do this on all these pregnancy websites), so I've been looking for some t-shirts with cute pregnancy designs aaaand...no. I'm not going to pay that much money for a t-shirt I'm gonna go get sweaty in. I don't even think I've paid that much more than a handful of times for a nice blouse, so no. That's bananas!

I was lucky enough to run across some CLEARANCE wohooo! Who doesn't love clearance? I found non maternity 1X sized t-shirts at Target for $3 a pop. I figure they're roomy enough to be comfy and long enough to cover the bump when it gets bigger. $3 a t-shirt? That's the kind of money I'll spend on a shirt I'm gonna get all sweaty in at the gym. I already had craft paint at home, so alls I needed was some fabric medium to mix it with.

Also, little tip... I get really lazy when it comes to clean up. So, if i'm using a non disposable bowl for painting, I like to cover it in plastic wrap and when I leave the paint in the bowl for a week cause I forgot about it I just remove the plastic wrap and toss it!

So I mixed my paint and textile medium and then I got my Silhouette out, chose my font and typed my word in. I like to use contact paper to do any kind of stencil. This is only because I have TONS of contact paper, however I have heard that freezer paper works very well for stencils as well.

Once I had my stencil cut out I placed a plain brown paper bag in the t-shirt to keep any paint from bleeding through.

I added my contact paper stencil. I didn't do a very good job of it, but it was late and I was tired and hey, I'm gonna be using this shirt at the gym anyways, right?

After the first layer of paint, I let it dry for about 30 minutes then added a second coat and allowed that to dry overnight. 

The placement of the word could have been better but I was too lazy to move the stencil and it's going to be my gym shirt anyways. I'm really happy with the results and after a few washings the lettering still looks great!

My DIY Gender Announcement

This is my first pregnancy and like most mommies out there, I am trying to document every part of it as best I can. However...I am also a cheapo! I hate paying full price for anything and wait for sales at any chance I get. This usually is true for services as well. I am absolutely in love with all of these gender announcements I see all over the place, but I just CANNOT afford to pay a photographer for every single milestone I want to capture. I'd rather save a little money so that I can get that photographer once my little one has arrived. So when my honey and I found out what we were having I was extremely anxious to announce it in a unique way and without breaking the bank.

I searched Pinterest for ideas and was inspired by this photograph. How stinking cute are they?

Just my luck, I found out I was having a girl on February 19th. So  a few days later I hit the Target Valentines Day clearance isle looking for some pink candy. It didn't even have to be cotton candy, but just my luck...a bucket on pink cotton candy for $.99! I scored some pink tissue paper and after work I rushed home, opened up all the blinds in my living room to get in as much light as possible, pulled the comforter off my bed and laid it in front of a bare wall, made a quick cone out of copy paper for my cotton candy and a tissue paper pouff. I was in my casual Friday work outfit, so the T-Shirt worked out perfectly.

And here's my finished product.

I could have probably cleaned up the edges a bit and done a little editing, BUT I'm pregnant and lazy and they look pretty gosh darn good. My baby daddy is wasting his time on his Electrical Engineering degree. I think he's found his true calling in photography. I love the way they came out and I only spent $2. OBVIOUSLY, photographers are AMAZING and I am not attempting to put down their craft at all, but for when you just can't afford it and still want to capture precious memories at home, no one is stopping you from getting a little creative! 

To all the mamas out there...you're AMAZING!

I'm usually working on a few projects at a time, but since this little bun started baking I am running on empty. Not only does this little guy (or girl) suck up all my energy but the energy I do have is taken up by the fact that I'm limping around everywhere because of my broken toe.

 Oh, did I mention how much clumsier I've been too? Well, clumsy enough to break my toe good enough to have to have a pin drilled in there. And when you're pregnant you are lucky enough to be awake for the entire procedure! I might have never known what the inside of an operating room looks like otherwise. OR gotten to experience the feeling of a drill penetrating your bone...long lasting memories.(Did you catch a little sarcasm there?)

Big ups to all the mamas out there getting everything done even when you're just not feeling it because for me, getting dressed for work in the morning is an accomplishment right now!