Dante's Baby Scrapbook

It's become tradition that when my friends have babies, I make a scrapbook.


The Baby Scrapbook shower gift has evolved over time. In the beginning and up until recently my mom and I left slots for pictures in the pages. Now we leave the center blank so it is easier to choose which pictures they want to put in.

I apologize for the low quality photos. I hadn't planned on posting, but thought they might be helpful to others :)

The Desk all Painted Up

My mom sent over this desk/dresser since she was making room for a new piece of furniture.

It started off as a yellowy wood color, but after sanding it and painting it with Antique White it looks entirely different! I wanted to change the hardware, but the handles are too odd of a size to buy replacements at Lowe's.

Before:

After:

And in our bedroom:

 

And SURPRISE!

I painted it the same blue as our wall inside. I used mod podge as a glaze to protect the paint since my laptop will be residing in here. I'm sure that something like polyurthane would be a better choice, but I just used what I had on hand.

The Laziest Nightstand Makeover

Scene:
Garage Sale

Cast:
Me
Baby Clara
Old lady

(On my way to my mom's, I see a garage sale sign. Follow arrow. Stop at sale. Decide if it's worth taking the baby out of the carseat. Decision: go for it!)

Me: This is nice (looking at nightstand or whatever it is supposed to be)
Old Lady: Yes, it is. I think she wants ten dollars.
Me: Hmmmm.
        Okay, I want it.


Decisions, decisions.

What color should I paint it? I intend for it to be baby Clara's, and after finding knobs at Ross on clearance, I was thinking green. BUT I only want to spray paint because I am ridiculously lazy. None of the colors worked, so I bought two cans of Valspar White gloss spray paint but only used maybe one and a half at the most.

I modge podged K & Comapny scrapbook papers on the inside and then on the back where I didn't want to waste paint.

Voila!!!

She isn't perfect, because once again I am too lazy to sand or prime. Yup, let's call it shabby chic with out the work.

Tools: spray paint, screwdriver, modge podge, scrapbook paper



The back of it. I modge podged scrapbook paper because I didn't want to waste my paint.

The inside is so cute! I can just imagine my little girl using it as a doll house if she wanted to.



Pretty green knobs from Ross

The Turquoise Hutch Love Story

Here's the story:

Once upon a time I wandered into a thrift store. I walked around till I came to the furniture section and behold!

The sweetest little yellow hutch caught my eye.

The crafty yellow glaze and country angel stickers were cute, but not my taste. I opened the doors and it smelled like cinnamon! Its previous owner must have stored her cinnamon sticks in there, because it was then that I knew I had to have it (note: how often do things smell GOOD at a thrift store?)

I bought her for $50 and crammed her into my tiny car. My back end didn't shut all the way and it bounced up and down on the freeway all the way home.

I was nervous the whole way home. When you are married you can easily anticipate your spouse's reaction. It was not going to be good. I was right.

But it made me fall in love with my hutch even more! He eventually accepted it, but now I feel like the hutch and I have a special bond. I understood how beautiful she was even when someone else didn't ;)

Her original intent was to hold (some) of my craft supplies (goodness knows I've got ten hutches to fill with that stuff). When we moved and Calvin didn't have a closet because his room is the office, I let him borrow it. I am sure that when we move again it will have a new home.

I love my spray painted turquoise hutch!

If you love the color, it's Valspar's Mediterranean glossy spray paint. I am addicted to the color. I have spray painted his dresser and star in the same color and it is just the cutest!

Classic Winnie the Pooh II

Miracle alert!!

My Uncle Bob and Aunt Chrissy are having a baby! Little Ryan is due in less than a month and we are so excited to meet him. They've been waiting over twenty years for this sweet little guy and I'm sure he will have been worth the wait.

For such a blessing, I knew I'd have to get to work painting! Just like Natassia, Aunt Chrissy decided on a Classic Pooh theme for the nursery. I set to work on making some rendered reproductions of the original illustrations by Ernest H. Shepard. You can see Natassia's Pooh paintings here.

 Pooh, Piglet, Tigger, and Eeyore visit Christopher Robin at the tree house. The original only had Pooh visiting.

 Hundred Acres is flooded! I compbined two illustrations to make this painting. Pooh and Christopher Robin are in the umbrella while Owl sits on the branch talking and Piglet is calling for help.

 Pooh, his balloon (or rain cloud disguise), and the honey bees. It's pretty much the same as my last one.

Pooh and Piglet watching Christopher Robin nail Eeyore's tail back on. Piglet was added to this illustration.

Happy Birthday, Jamie!

Jamie has been my dear friend since middle school! We went to high school, college, and even church classes together! Now we are mommies, so instead of having One Tree Hill and Gilmore Girl nights with Del Taco, we ESCAPE from our children and husbands for dinner and movies. I love how life can change, but good friends never do :)

Happy BIRTH Day, Arilyn!

Sweet little Arilyn was born two weeks before our baby Clara.

She is the third baby for my husband's best friend Jared and his wife Jen. Isn't she the cutest?! She will be sharing a very girly room with her older sister Lexi, so I thought it would be fun to do a super girly painting. Note the PINK, purple, flowers, and butterflies. Congrats to the Flores fam!

Cherry Blossoms in Watercolor

Okay, so my mom has been going crazy with her watercolors, so I had to try it out. My mom does amazing stuff. You have to see it. So I tried to do one that was nice and simple, like this window with the cherry blossoms. I'm really starting to like watercolors, so I think I'll be trying more of it. I think I like it more for illustrative purposes more than fine art. I just don't have the technique (yet) for it!

Christmas Craft Decorations

I realized that Calvin was probably old enough to help make some Christmas decorations, so I pulled out my scrapbook paper, buttons, beans, gems, yarn, siscors and glue. It was soooooo hard to even let him glue the buttons on because I am such a perfectionist.

Lesson learned: make doubles so I can make my own and he can do his own with out Mommy fixing it!

 Calvin mixing batter for a tree cake

Merry Christmas!

Love,

Tree, Santa Claus, Snowman, Rudolph, Tree, Calvin, and Heatherlee

Winnie the Pooh

As God would have it, my Twin (Natassia; born on the same day, one year apart) and I are pregnant at the same time with only two weeks between our due dates. Little Dante will be her and her husband Ray's first baby. I am sooooooooo excited to meet this little guy! I've even had dreams about how adorable he is going to be.

I knew Natassia was going to be decorating in Classic Pooh theme (of course! She's always LOVED Classic Pooh), so I set to work on making some reproductions of the original illustrations by Ernest H. Shepard. I had a hard time imitating his style, so I put my own flair into it. Here are the final pieces:

Fire Truck for the Little Fireman

 

Fire Truck with Dalmation Children's Painting by Heatherlee Chan 

 

I painted Calvin a fire truck for his room yesterday. My dad is a retired fireman, so obviously Calvin's got a love for big red trucks that have sirens and puppy dogs! We got him this Big Boy bed around February when we found out we were having another baby. He LOVES being in his fire truck bed!

Miz Jackie

My friend Jackie turned 25 last week, so I painted her a picture of flowers. It was my first time doing flowers, so I was kind of nervous about it. She was so cute when she opened it! She said it looked like it belonged in a Nicholas Sparks novel. I love that girl :)

The painting was 12x12 and it was fun painting the thick sides. I love to do that so they don't need to be framed.

Happy Birthday, Jackie!!!