Nursery Paper Craft

Since I tend to be overly organized and type A, I realized that Joe (and whoever else comes over to help when the baby is born) may need some help finding all of Baby Nash's things if I'm not around.   I decided to make these little tags to hang from each of his drawers...which I think will not only help others find things, but also let them know where to put things back.  This way I don't go looking for bibs and instead find blankets.

So I started out in powerpoint and created a rough template for business cards, which I deemed about the right size and already perforated.  I am sure you can use one of the templates in Word, but I wanted to play around with some graphics and Word can be so frustrating when it comes to free design.

I designed each card, entered the appropriate label for each drawer, and printed them out (after I printed a tester on plain paper and made sure it lined up with the perforations on the cards).  Then I used some fancy scissors to clip off the corners with no graphics (just to give it a little flair).  I punch small holes and tied some ribbon and ta-da!  Little labels!

For the bins with no handles, I simply used some double-sided tape to adhere them right to the bins (no holes needed).

 Here is a shot of the changing table/dresser set up we have.  We are still waiting on our custom nursery bedding (to include a matching changing pad cover), so that is still pretty plain.  Also, see that orange cord hanging on the left side of the pic?  That's from his ceiling light and Joe is supposed to get up there and hard-wire it so we won't have that cord hanging. 

 Also, I finally hung up the mobile I made forever ago.  I had seen mobiles around that were basically just a bunch of circle-shaped pieces of paper cut out and strung in a pattern, but they were being sold for like $100!  I couldn't see myself paying for it, so I thought I would try making it myself.  Here is how it turned out!

I used the inner circle of a few embroidery circles for the hangers, clear jewelry thread (kind of like fishing line), and a small circle cutter to punch a ton of circles out of black, gray, orange, and white cardstock.  It was insanely tedious because I had to thread the line through one hole at a time, tying a knot in between each one to keep them separate but not TOO separate.  Took me a few days, but I managed it.  Then I tied all the different sized strings of circles to the wooden hangers and then had to attach each hanger to the other ones!  I needed Joe's extra hands for this (he held the top hanger will I adjusted and tied the strings for the lower hanger).  Finally, we installed a simple hook into the ceiling and tied the whole thing to the hook using the same jewelry thread.  Phew!!!  So cute, but a lot of work.  Did save me at least $70, even considering that I had to buy the circle puncher for $15.

Wall Mural

We are pretty close to wrapping up the nursery project.  Just a few more little tweaks and we are set!  Then we just need some diapers and a baby!  Pretty excited, I must say.  We spend a lot of time just sitting in the room, imagining what it's going to be like to have this little man.

Wanted to share some pics of one of the DIY projects I did for the nursery, although I have more I will add later.

Here are some shots of the wall mural I painted.

Basically, I bought some different sized rings and circles from Michael's, which I used to draw a mock up of the design onto some posterboard.  When I was satisfied with the design and the colors, I used the circles to draw the design on the wall.  Then I painstakingly painted the design onto the wall using basic acrylic craft paint.  The orange and gray took several coats, so I was there for awhile.  We hung some letters I painted for his name and presto!  We have a finished wall!  It all looks really good in the room.  Need to take some better pictures...during the day so we have some better lighting.

The other projects I've done, which I will show later, are some closet dividers, hand-painted drawer knobs, and a sweet paper mobile.  All of which go along with our circles/dots theme, so it's pretty cute.  Can't wait for the whole room to be done so we can take the final pictures and share with everyone!

Checking Back In

I just realized that I have not blogged in almost a month and so much has happened!  We took a trip up north to see family, pick up the jewelry armoire that my dad made for me, and have our first baby shower.  We had our second ultrasound and found out we're having a boy!  I applied for an exciting job that I really hope I get.  We have completed about 90% of the nursery in the last week alone!  It's been crazy...I have so much to blog about!

Collecting Stuff

I thought I needed to do a post with all of the pcitures of "stuff" we have accumulated already.  We are in the process of redoing the nursery, but don't know the gender yet, so it's a bit slow.  We hope to find out in the next few weeks, so the planning (and shopping) can really begin!

So, my sister had a girl about 6 years ago and gave me a ton of stuff!  Most of it is sizes 3-6 years, so I can't use it yet.  What I think we are going to do is keep the stuff I know I want, then see if Joe's niece will wear any of the other stuff.  She is turning 3 this summer, so it should be just perfect for her.

Here's some of the stuff I kept from that pile (most of which is stuff I bought her for birthdays, x-mas, etc...)