Christmas Banner

I am linking up with AP's Hey, That's Pintastic today and sharing a Christmas Craft.



Last year I never got around to making a pennant banner to hang up for Christmas. I had made one for fall that I loved but then I simply ran out of time to make any more. This year, I was super tempted to just buy the one I've had pinned from Etsy but I already had all the stuff to make it myself so I just couldn't rationalize it to myself. :) I took advantage of all the time I was nursing and got the most time intensive part of the craft out of the way and the rest is easy.

Here was my inspiration:

Source: etsy.com via Jen | Life Accounts on Pinterest

And here are the steps I followed to make my own. Using a template of cardstock, I traced out the shape onto the burlap and cut out the triangles for the pennant. From here, you could hot glue it straight to the twine but I wanted to be able to adjust mine so I hand-stitched it onto the twine. That would be the part that took a bit of time, but its really not too bad.

Next I selected a font and enlarged it to 300% before printing it out. I placed the burlap over top of the letters and traced it on to the burlap with a light colored pen. Next I traced over top with my chosen color of choice and filled it in.

I then traced over the letter with glue and sprinkled glitter over the top (I found this looked more rich and colorful than the colored glitter glues).

The lighting is rather poor where we have this hung so it was difficult to get a good shot, but I've gotten so many compliments on it! It sparkles beautifully when the Christmas lights are one.

Deals Deals and More Deals

Well it's Cyber Monday and there are pages and pages of deals to be had. There is one in particular going on right now that I've been impatiently waiting for: Paper Coterie's 50% off sale!
They have are having an amazing 50% off the entire website today only with code CYBERMONDAY. Peanut is getting one of these Memory Keepers:

And I'm hoping to get one picked out for my husband and I as well. They also have Christmas cards, calenders, custom photo books, recipe books etc. I plan to make a holiday book for Peanut's first Christmas and an A-Z book for her once she's a bit older. One of my favorite deals going on today so I just had to share. I have another post for today's pinterest link up, which I'll have up later on this evening.

Hair Accessory Organization

As evidenced by my last post, Peanut has quite a few headbands and hair clips. :) So today I am linking up with AP's Hey, That's Pintastic and sharing how I contain the masses and keep them organized.


Using these three pins as ideas. I came up with 4 boards.

They were all very easy to make and its a great way to see all the accessories she has in one quick perusal rather than digging through a couple baskets.

Two of the boards were made by purchasing a big cheap frame from Walmart from the $5 bin (mine are 11x14), removing the glass and backing and spray painting it white. Once it dried, I stapled strips of ribbon pulled tightly across the back:

Once I had them stapled, it was a simple matter of using mini clothes pins to attach the headbands onto the ribbon. Viola! Instant room decor!

For the second style of hair bow organization board, I used thicker wooden frames from Hobby Lobby. Using a ruler, I marked off every couple of inches where I wanted my hooks to go and then I screwed 10-20 cup hooks into the bottom of the frame to hold her headbands. Once they were all in, I followed the steps above. Spray painted the whole thing white and stapled ribbon across the back to hold her hair clips.

Not counting paint-drying time, I'd say each one of these took about 20 minutes to make. Two I made 25 weeks pregnant, one I was 39 weeks pregnant and one I had a baby sitting on my lap the whole time. As you can see, very easy to make!

Peanut's Nursery

At long last, may I present the Baby's nursery. It's not done but when are these projects ever done. :)

Many of these pictures (the good ones anyway) were done by AP of Little Joys.Photography when she was over taking newborn shots (another post that's coming!). She did a phenomenal job! :)

And tucked in the short drawered chest would be these:

The taller drawers hold all sorts of accessories, socks, tights, hats, tutus, lace rompers, bibs, swaddlers etc. A few of my favorites ;):

It's a fun little space for her, we spend quite a bit of time in there minus the whole sleeping part (whole other post). We didn't have a large space to work with but we love how it came out. :)

**First seven and shoe image courtesy of Little Joys.Photography.**

Little Pretties

I wrote this post up while still pregnant and it's been sitting in my drafts ever since. I thought I'd share it as we get close to the holiday season.
I've been having quite bit of fun lately shopping and making accessories for the Babe.  Thought I'd share a few of my absolute favorite shops and stores that I've purchased from (you all already know my favorite is Joyfolie!

PolkaDotPosies

My favorite place to shop for hairbows!  So far I've had the pleasure of winning a set of 3 mini hairbows in a twitter contest, purchased 2 gorgeous corker and 6.5 inch hairbow sets from facebook sales and placed a big order for my favorite 4.5 inch solid hairbows from their site.  Their prices start at just $1 and shipping is quite low as well.  Not to mention, it usually doesn't take more than 2 days for the package to arrive once I've placed my order.  Highly recommend!

Giddy-up & Grow

She has tons of gorgeous and unique headbands and clips. I've bought several, including custom pieces, and I can't wait to order her Disney clips for next year's trip!

Petite Peanut

Her headbands and tutus are gorgeous and I hope one day I get the chance to purchase some mini ties and suspenders. Be warned though that shipping takes awhile, my order took 7+ weeks and communication can be a bit rough at times. I will still order from her but definitely allow plenty of time.

LittlePeaBows

I have a million and one different bow and headband sellers saved in my etsy favorites and filling my etsy cart nowadays but I happened upon an amazing sale at this shop one day and everything was 50% off.  She has since run other great sales so if you are looking for something, I definitely recommend checking her site out.  She has a vast variety of mini headbands, clips, corkers and hairbows.  I have ordered quite a few items from her and everything is super super cute and well made.

One Little Monkey

She is quickly becoming my go-to for adorable little clippies.  She has so many cute ones!  I have yet to hit one of her famous 50% off sales (her last one was right before we found out what we were having) but her every day prices are still quite affordable.  She also has quite a variety of cute flower headbands as well.

Lou and Lee

I have Amy of Evy's Tree to thank for introducing me to this fabulous seller.  She was always posting the cutest photos of her daughter wearing Joyfolie (MiaJoie at the time) or LouandLee and I've had this shop bookmarked in hopes of one day having a little girl ever since.  She makes absolutely fabulous felt headbands, just look at this cuteness!

Southern Bella Bows

The best monogram bows!  I was able to custom order some 3-initial monogram bows for the little princess and they came out perfect!  She has a great selection of bows and other monogram items as well.

Honorable mentions:

May Day Studio Designs-super cute designs but a little on the pricier side.  I would love to try out some of her items if she ever offers a sale.

Creatively Mom-absolutely GORGEOUS corkers and woven headbands, this baby probably does not need any more corkers but really can you ever have too many??? ;)  She's next on my list to try.

Moments of Grace-More corkers plus loopy bows!  The little babe doesn't have any loopy bows yet but I'd love to get her some!

The Pretty Owl I have several of her designs in my cart that I would love to pull the trigger on!

The Snootie Pig Ah, the name just says it all :). I love love love her designs, I havent ordered yet but hope too soon!

Baby Birdie Boutique Perfectly girls pieces, she has tons of beautiful designs. This also on my list for an order soon.

Is there a shop I'm missing here? Share your favorites!

Christmas Prep Begins

Life has been crazy crazy crazy.  Between a baby with a clear preferential for her mother, job changes, new car search & purchase, paperwork for a salvage vehicle, writing up a 450+ recipe family cookbook, doctors appointments, fall family activities, family visiting, a hurricane that brought loss of power, dead computer, paperwork, paperwork and more paperwork...plus a sick baby, there hasn't been a moment to blog!

I just haven't been able to bring myself to do it on my phone.  That being said, I have a sick little Peanut resting her head on my shoulder and giving me a bit of extra time, so we're going to try this because I have some adorable photos to share (which reminds me that I still haven't shared her newborn or nursery photos yet, ugh!).

Shutterfly has been offering fantastic deals lately and there was one in particular Brent and I wanted to take advantage of for the grandparents for Christmas:

We had a photoshoot with Peanut right before she got sick and managed to get a year's worth of images. Certainly not professional by any means, but adorable just the same! :) I don't have pictures of the final calender layout but here are some of my favorite pictures we included.