Father's Day Project!

James just could not WAIT to give Bo his Father's Day present.  For two days he BEGGED me to let him give it to him.  Finally, he just went for it, "Oh Daddy!  Look what I got you!" and he started pulling tissue paper out of the bag.

Well, I guess I can now share with you our Father's Day project without ruining the surprise for Bo.

 James and I decoupaged chip board letters from Hobby Lobby with scrapbooking paper that James picked out:  robots, race cars and construction trucks.  We then used wood glue to attach clothes pins to hang art work.  This will look super awesome in Daddy's office at work!

The Enchanted Nursery

UPDATE to the UPDATE:  ABIGAIL HAS ARRIVED!  We left Oklahoma on Monday and she arrived less than 48 hours later.  Figures.  But thanks to modern technology, we have been able to Skype with her on both days of her existence so far!  She is so cute and snuggly and I cannot WAIT until July 4th weekend so we can get as many snuggles in as possible!!!


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UPDATE:  Still no baby, but the nursery is finished!!!  Scroll below to see the finished product!!!

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Tick...tock...tick...tock... Less than 5 weeks until the arrival of my niece, Abigail!  Aunt Casey is just so excited... and lots of cuteness comes from Aunt Casey's excitement!

My sister-in-law Kristen's best friend has written an amazing 5-book fantasy series that is set in a beautiful enchanted forest-type place.  Though this series is unpublished, I have had the privilege of reading it and it is now at the top of my favorites!  Since first reading the books, Kristen has dreamed of making this fantasy-world a reality in her baby's nursery!

I will be helping her create this "Enchanted Nursery" and I will share the details on my blog.  I will also share how I made or altered some of my special finds so that you can get inspired to create your own!  Kristen and her husband Darin are in the process of building a new house, so it will be a long process before we can get to the fun part of painting the nursery, but here's a sneek peek of all of the fun that I have been busy creating!

Thumbprint Tree for Abby's Baby Shower

 At the baby shower, guests will use a green ink pad to stamp their thumbprint in the tree branches to create "leaves" and then write their names with a black pen inside the thumbprint.

Baby Doll Cradle

I found this cradle at a consignment sale and just couldn't pass it up!  For just $14 it is in mint condition!  

I bought curly Q letters from Hobby Lobby and with a little bit of pastel paint and some wood glue, they look like they were made for the cradle!

Be careful, because these letters are very brittle.  I actually broke the lowercase 'a' and had to glue it back together before gluing it to the cradle.  Shhh don't tell Kristen.

Wall Letters

 I found this super fun "Moss Cloth" at Hobby Lobby.  It is sold in sheets, backed by paper, and is flattened to make it super easy to glue onto letters. This definitely inspired the "enchanted forest" letters for Abigail.  I turned the moss paper-side up and put the letters face-down on the paper.  I then traced the letters so I could cut out the perfect shape of the letter.  I then used wood glue to glue the paper backing to the front of the letter and painted around it.  

On the same aisle as the moss, I found these butterflies and bumble bees that are connected to a thin wire. The wire made it really easy to stick them into the moss.  For the B, G and L, I removed the wire and used wood glue to glue the insect down.

 Bedding:

Kristen wanted bedding that coordinates with the nursery, not a nursery that coordinates with the bedding.  The difference?  Some people choose the bedroom theme based on what the bedding looks like, and with all of the adorable bedding choices out there, it's super easy to do that!  Kristen, however, wanted an enchanted forest theme, but wanted a more simple bedding that would just look good inside of the enchanted forest.  She didn't want all the focus of the nursery to be on the bedding.

 I found this adorable, yet simple, Green Dragonfly Dreams bedding by JoJo Designs, that will coordinate PERFECTLY with all of the pastels in the room, is the PERFECT shade of green to coordinate with Kristen's favorite pink and beige tones, and will add a cute touch to the room without drawing the eye straight to the crib.  Sweet, sophisticated, simple and special, indeed.

Decorative Hooks

When I see something cute that I think would look super awesome in the nursery, I take a picture with my phone and text it to Kristen.  She then texts me with a "yes" or "no"... and I can usually tell by the number of exclamation points how much she really likes it.  These mushroom hooks got an, "I love it!!!" within seconds.  

You may recognize these same curly Q letters from the cradle above.  I decided to put Abby's initials on these since she'll have her full name in various places around the room.  

Mobile

My mother-in-law made a mobile out of flowers, butterflies, and glittery pearls and hung them from the center of the room.

Framed Art

The thumbprint tree and "Ivywild" (see my post about The Flute Keeper)

 

Lighting

This lamp has been in the family for years and it has a new place in Abby's nursery.

"Moon Flies" from the book, The Flute Keeper

Wall Art

Darin wanted a duck, so I made him "enchanted ducks."

Kristen and Abby ducks

The finished tree.

"Forever Yours."

The Reveal...

Mod Podge Really Does Rock

I discovered this blog called Mod Podge Rocks which is all about, you guessed it, Mod Podge!  I have been reading this blog for a while just dying to try out this crazy hobby of decoupaging that my mom and mom-in-law both say, "I did that growing up!"

I finally decided what my first project for Kidspired Creations was going to be and let me tell you, I will be Mod Podging a lot more items!  Having never decoupaged before, I decided to start with the blog's link to "Mod Podging for Dummies" or more nicely put, "Learn How/Tips."  She shows step by step videos that truly help out us visual learners.

And thanks to her videos, here is what I made!

 

Here's how it was done...

Paper face down over my wooden plaque.

Use a crayon and lightly color over the edges, the real edge will appear darker.

No need to paint the whole thing, it will be covered in paper.

Here is when I watched the videos so that I could do this...

Now they are ready for their hooks!

Kidspired's Creations:

This particular one is still for sale:  $30 + shipping.  Comment below if you want it!

I cannot wait for my first craft fair one day!  I will definitely be selling these!  After this last one sells, I will be closing shop for the month of June for family vacations to Oklahoma, Tennessee and California!  Please pray for our safe travels!  Thank you for your interest in Kidspired Creations!!!

Butterfly Kisses

Soon-to-be Mommy, Jennifer, is rockin' her baby bump while awaiting the arrival of her baby girl, Julia!  Her friend Melanie decided to get her a personalized gift from Kidspired Creations... Jennifer's choice... so Melanie put Jennifer in contact with me so we could talk about kidspiration.

Jennifer really liked the monkey coat rack and really wanted one for her baby nursery.  She sent me several pictures of things that she liked from her shower and we chose one to inspire her baby's coat rack.  Jennifer's friend made these super cute initials with wooden butterflies that looked really familiar... I can get some just like it to match!

Kidspiration:

Jennifer's friend made these super cute initials!

Though my local Hobby Lobby was out of the butterflies, and Jennifer's store was too, I went to Hobby Lobby Online to special order them for the coat rack.  I will say that I was nervous ordering these decorative wooden butterflies online because sometimes they are damaged at the store and I have to sift through them to choose the best looking ones.  However, I was SUPER impressed that all 3 butterflies were perfect and included in my package was a card that said, "Your order was picked and packed with pride by:  Beatrice."  Thank you, Beatrice!  You picked the perfect butterflies for our project!

I also was nervous about matching the green perfectly, so though I normally don't show "in progress" pictures, I sent one to Jennifer to see if the green was ok... I warn you that "in progress" is not normally a pretty sight.

Kidspired's Creation

I e-mailed the final product to Jennifer and she send the kindest words back to me!  I just had to share:

You are SOOOO talented, Casey!  I have to admit when you showed me the first picture, I had no idea that this is what it would end up looking like!!! It is the prettiest coat rack I have ever seen. I will be recommending you to my friends and family! 

Thank you for sharing your talent with others by creating beautiful works of art :) God bless you.

The little bitty flowers are adorable! The beautiful detail in your paintings is what makes your work of art so amazing.

Thank you, Jennifer!  It was a pleasure working with you and CONGRATULATIONS on that baby girl!  May you have a safe and healthy delivery!

 

Things that Go!

I know I have mentioned a few times how excited I get when someone asks me to paint cute, girlie things such as flowers, butterflies, polka dots, and birds.  However, having two boys has made me realize how much FUN boy things can be!  I have come to LOVE playing with cars, trains, construction trucks, emergency trucks, planes, helicopters, and all things that go!  And yes, I think it is definitely a character trait for boys to have a need for speed indeed...with a little bit of reckless destruction thrown in.

There is sooo much GIRL stuff out there from clothes to decor, and so few things for BOYS... well, I want to change that starting with Things that Go!

 My first Etsy order was for two coat racks... one to match a firetruck room and the other to match a construction room.  This was my first time doing art for either of those themes so I was pumped!  James was upset that these weren't for him, though.

Kidspired's Construction Creation:

  
Kidspired's Firetruck Creation:

My friend Leigh's son, Tucker, is ALWAYS on the go go go!  It's super appropriate for him to have a transportation-themed bedroom with cars, trains, boats and helicopters.  I absolutely love decorating with standard colors too... think Crayola 8 pack!  Red, orange, green and blue make such a bold punch in a kid's nursery or playroom!