Feelin Crafty: Baby Mobile

Finished just in the nick of time, the last nursery project I completed before baby Liv's arrival was a mobile to hang above her crib. I had seen several cute mobiles on Etsy but they were super pricey, some of them close to $100! I decided I would create one myself for significantly cheeper. After choosing a theme of clouds and moons (you could do shapes, animals, letters, etc.), I picked up all my material at the craft store. 

Materials needed: 

-felt

-thin wire

-glitter paper

-embroidery floss

-embroidery needle

-glue gun

-stuffing

-sticks

I doubled the felt so that after tracing and cutting the shapes, I would have two sides to sew together. I then stitched the front and back of each shape together with embroidery floss. Before closing them, I stuffed the inside with batting. 

I used thick glitter paper (found with the craft paper at Hobby Lobby) to make the stars and rain drops. Because the mobile would be seen from all sides, I cut out a front and a back for each and hot glued them together. I used embroidery floss to hang them from the clouds and moons. 

I broke two sticks off some birch branches we had left over from our wedding for the frame of the mobile. I wrapped wire around the sticks to secure them together, then reinforced them with hot glue. The final step was to hang the shapes from the frame which I did with wire. 

The project was very time consuming but well worth it. Now I understand why people charge so much for these things on Etsy! I love the creative process so it was fun for me to make but it was certainly not something that came together in one sitting. 

Liv is mesmerized with it already. Each time the heat turns on in her room, the air spins the mobile around and we stand under it and watch. It's fun seeing her track the shapes. 

If you have the time to put into it, this would make a very thoughtful baby shower gift for someone. 

Happy crafting!

Nursery Tour

Alas, baby girl's room is finally done! Phew. This space has truly been a labor of love. After moving into our house in October of last year, we used our spare bedroom as somewhat of a dumping ground for things we didn't have space for in the rest of the house. We wanted to wait to find out the gender of our babe before putting a whole lot of thought into turning it into a nursery. 

Before doing anything else, Keane ripped out the disgusting carpet and we replaced it with a large neutral rug. Luckily we had original hardwood floors under the carpet that were in really good condition.  

After finding out we were expecting a girl in November, we picked out the soft lavender paint color and got down to business. We scrubbed, spackled, sanded, and painted every wall, door and baseboard. Then I decided on fabric for her curtains.

I was very adamant about choosing something that didn't look too baby-ish. I'm not a huge fan of pink but I still wanted them to be soft and feminine. Both sets of curtains cost me about $100 to make since the upholstery fabric wasn't cheap but I LOVE how they turned out. 

I found that floating shelf at a thrift store when we were living in Wyoming. It was an ugly oak color and was missing all the hooks. I sanded and painted it, and added pretty knobs from Anthropologie. Our crib and dresser set is from Target and the photos above Raybie's crib are from our two maternity photo shoots. 

This glider is from Costco and is one of our favorite purchases for the room. Keane and I are both tall and my torso is freakishly long, so we needed to find something with a high back that we could rest our heads against. I found the side table at Home Goods and I repainted an old lamp the same avocado color I used on the shelf and added a new shade. 

The flower print is from Ikea and the hook is from Hobby Lobby. I made the headbands :) 

I replaced the knobs on the dresser with some from Hobby Lobby. 

Aaaaand then there's the closet. Oh sweet husband of mine. He is so handy and totally overhauled this teeny tiny space. Up until a month ago, he had been using this closet for his own clothes since I promptly monopolized every other storage space in the house when we moved in. I wish I would have taken a before picture but this space was so inefficient. It had one bar and three shelves which were too high to even use. Hubby got all the material from Home Depot and made this small space much more usable for babe's tiny clothes. And see that 6 inch space at the bottom right? That's Keane's closet. Bless him.

Just for kicks, here are some before and after pictures of the room.

I can't wait to bring this girl home already! We're ready when you are, sweet one.

Feelin Crafty: Toddler Chalkboard

Our niece Lily celebrated her 2nd birthday at the end of January. Keane and I spent the month brainstorming gift ideas that would not only be useful, but also meaningful. 

After going back and forth between books, clothes and toys, we decided to build her a giant chalkboard so she could let her creativity run free. 

Our original plan was to buy a piece of plywood and paint it with chalkboard paint, but once we were at the hardware store, we found a much more convenient solution. They actually sold precut boards with chalkboard texture on one side. We picked that up for under $10, along with some molding and finishing nails. 

The project was very simple and only took about an hour to complete. Keane cut 4 pieces of wood and screwed them around the border on the backside of the chalkboard. This provided a frame for the board. 

He then measured, cut and nailed the molding along the front side for a finished look. We filled the nail holes with spackle and painted the trim white. 

We gave Lily sidewalk chalk to use with her new chalkboard since it's easier than regular chalk for small two-year-old hands to grasp. 

Lily loved her gift and immediately went to town drawing "pictures" of everyone in the room. She would say, "I love mama!" and draw her mom; "I love Kelly!" and draw me. Oh and she has called Keane "Uncle Papa" from the time she could talk which breaks my heart into tiny pieces. So cute!

If you are looking for a cheap, easy gift idea for little ones, this is a winner. For older children, you could screw it to the wall but for toddlers, it's the perfect size to prop against the wall with an anchor for support. Also, it turns out that chalk is super fun to break into tiny pieces and carry around in your big girl purse. 

Happy crafting!

Feelin Crafty: Jewelry Board

My jewelry has remained in a heap on my dresser since we moved four months ago. It's shameful to admit but since our house is short on storage and all our drawers are being used for clothes, I didn't even have a place to shove them until I figured out a more permanent solution. So, on the dresser they sat, collecting dust and driving me mad. 

I finally recruited the hubster to help me solve my jewelry storage problem once and for all. I decided to make a jewelry board to hang in our room so that I had clear access to all my necklaces and bracelets.

I bought some pretty knobs on sale at Anthropologie and picked out a yard of fabric to cover my board. 

I already had some upholstery tacks on hand which I planned to hammer around the border to give it a more custom look. Keane and I bought a wooden board at Home Depot and he did all the manual labor. 

We both agree that I am the brains behind these types of operations, whereas he is the brawn. 

After some simple measuring, drilling, stapling and metal cutting (I was certain this step would send Keane to the ER), my board was done and ready to be hung. 

Now I can see all my jewelry and everything is neatly organized, just the way this Type A likes it! 

Sometimes I need a swift kick to the butt

We've been slowing chipping away at lingering house projects for a while now. Ideally, I'd like to have everything done before the baby comes in April, which is a pretty realistic goal in my opinion. 

Husband may or may not agree. 

The sliding glass doors off our kitchen didn't have any window coverings when we moved in. We lived with the bare windows for a while, however we quickly realized how cold the room got once the temperatures dropped. With essentially no insulation along the entire back wall of our home, cold air flooded through the floor-to-ceiling glass and our tile floor didn't help the situation. 

So, my Handy Manny husband installed a track system and we hung one panel of Ikea curtains that we already owned. The problem was it didn't quite span the width of the door when closed and it was much too long. 

I had been putting off sewing two panels together and hemming the whole thing because the project seemed intimidating. There was A LOT of fabric to work and I was scared I would botch something and have to start from scratch with new curtains. 

It turns out I was being a big baby because once I dove in, it wasn't nearly as bad as expected. I pinned the right sides of the curtains together and sewed a tight, straight stitch down the entire length. I wasn't too worried about the patterns lining up perfectly because most of the time, the curtains are open and when they're not, you don't see the seam because they are billowy. 

Once I sewed the panels together, I hung the curtains to pin the hem. Because our house is over 100 years old, there is a slight slope to our floors. We call quirks like this "character." ;)

Instead of pinning the hem perfectly straight, I pinned it to the slope of the floor so it would look unison all the way across. I stretched the curtains down to the ground, measured 3.5 inches on the floor and pinned the bottom. Then I took them down and sewed. 

Like I said, it wasn't as bad as I was making it out to be, and it feels really good to cross the project off my list. 

You can't even tell where they were sewn together when the curtains are pulled shut. I left them fairly long because I like the look of drapes that skim the floor. They make the ceiling appear higher.  

Next project: Making curtains for the baby's room. I've never done this from scratch before so we'll see how long it takes me to tackle. I don't really have the luxury of putting this one off for 4 months, so maybe I'll be more motivated this time around!

2012: Year in Review

2012 was a year full of newness and adventure for this Ray Clan. It was a year of hard work and even harder play. We lived in 3 different cities in 2 different states in 2012. We traveled for vacations and weddings, met new life-long friends, decided we were ready to become parents, and thanked God when He blessed us with this tiny miracle growing inside me. We bought our first home in 2012.

2012 was a year of great reflection for me. I learned that I Am Enough and I discovered how to fight my Sunday Blues. I realized that the best thing you can do for your marriage is to make time for each other and I vowed to never stop acting like newlyweds. 2012 taught me that it's not my job to fix everything. More than anything, 2012 further instilled in me the idea that life is so damn short and if you aren't doing what you love, you are wasting your precious time and energy.

2012 allowed me the time to tap into my creative side. I did my fair share of thrifting and sewing. I brought back the Mom Jeans, did some serious work on styles from the 80s and 90s, and went dumpster diving.

Keane and I danced in parks in 2012. We escaped from civilization nearly every weekend to connect with nature. We celebrated his golden birthday in the most perfect way.

2012 was met with wonder and excitement– we expected great things and we got them. This year, I am aiming for the same. I can't wait to cradle our babe and navigate parenthood with my best friend. I look forward to new experiences and abundant growth. I feel hopeful for what the future holds and will continue to strive to make the most of each day I am given on this earth.

Here's to 2013. We are so blessed.