Travel Nursery

 I've been posting the details of this nursery over the last few weeks.  Here's the final shebang. My co-worker had a baby, and her husband didn't want to know the gender, but she did.  They compromised and if she agreed to wait, he agreed to let her have the nursery decorated.  That's where I come in, the only thing I ever pretend to be is crafty, but this nursery was a fun one.  Anyone that knows me well knows I love a good bargain.  I was a given a budget of 500, and I was able to put this all together for 350...winning!  I had her pin nurseries she liked for boys or girls, and she pinned a lot of navy, gray, and mint, so that was my first stop.  Her and her husband love baseball, so that seems like the obvious choice, but I didn't really think it went well with these colors, and I figured that would be a fun way to turn over his room from baby to little boy, though I've told him to go slow on the growing thing.  The other thing I know about Jessica and her husband is that they love to travel, so that's what I decided to do-little bits of travel themes in a mint, navy, and gray nursery.

 Here are the before photos.  They bought the crib and a dresser that seconds as a changing table.  The cubbies were in their office before.

 Our friend, Kristine, was getting rid of this light green chair.  I danced a little when she told me the color.  She had to choose furniture based on a neutral theme.  The colors for the girl's nursery were pinks and golds.  The prayer sign was a gift from baby Miles grandmother, and it just so happens to work perfectly as well.
Now to the after....

 This is the changing table area.  I found a cute little basket to store diapers.  I found the M with the map already on it (thank you, Michael's).  It was on sale.  I also found the round mirror and chevron frame, and tool caddy at Hobby Lobby.  I waited for those to go half off.  I made the clipboard (click back on old post for that).  I got the pillow on sale at Target, and the blanket is from HomeGoods.

 I made the banner using my cricut (click back for that tutorial).

 This little jar holds some pacifiers, and the burp clothe is another thing I made with my embroidery machine.  I put this close to the rocking chair.  Eventually, this will hold diapers etc.

 I made this little onsie for Miles, and a little album she can fill with his first adventures (click back for those details). The album is the shape of a luggage tag.   I filled the frame with their facebook pregnancy announcement.

I bought the shelf on clearance at AtHome.

 The changing pad cover was from Burlington Coat Factory.  The bedsheets (a two pack) were also from there.

 I bought the cubbies (blue) and the lamp/shade were also on clearance.  I had asked her to pull things that were from each of their childhoods so I could incorporate them.  The little truck and glove were her husband's toys when he was little.  I made the little arrows just as a little extra, they were cheap, and a fun way to use the colors.  I also had made the banner to hang somewhere and it turns out it looked good over the windows.  I had another plan, but when I went for my jigsaw it had found it's way to my brother's girlfriend's house.  In all fairness, he bought it, but my defense is it's lived at my house for about ten years now.   It turns out these looked cute above the window.

 I found this little suitcase on Amazon, the globe is from Michael's, the compass is from Ebay (less than 2 dollasr), and the airplane rattle is from Etsy.  I died when I saw this.  I tried to sew one b/c I don't know how to knit (it's on my list), but I just kept going back to this and I finally ordered it as a gift.

 I found this rug on clearance at HomeGoods (12 dollars).  I got the M at Hobby Lobby (half off).  I bought the two signs on etsy, but I used frames from thrift stores (for a dollar) to frame these signs. I just sprayed them to match the room.  Oh the Places You'll Go was the priciest of the two (24), but I got to customize the colors.  The Adventure Sign was only 5 dollars, but I had to print it myself.

 I bought the arrow pillow at Hobby Lobby, and I made this little pillow with my embroidery machine.  I made the airplane mobile.  All those tutorials have been posted in the last week or two.  I also made the quilt and the bedskirt (click back for those tutorials).

I really loved being able to put together this nursery.  It's fun to play in other people's houses and with their 'stuff.'  Mama, Daddy, and Miles got to see it this fall (finally) when they brought him home.  I can't wait to watch his adventures unfold!  

Nursery Scrapbook Crafts

 Here are a few more crafts I whipped up for the nursery I recently did (the whole thing coming soon.  I went with a light travel theme, so I wanted to make a few things that reflected that.  For the dictionary page, I pulled out the page with the word explore on it.  I found a free graphic of an old globe and added the word across the globe and then I found a plane and used dashed to make it look like it was flying around the globe.  All of it was done in word.  I'm not very tech savvy, so if I can do it....it can be done without much effort.  I used this tutorial for printing the picture onto the dictionary page and then I mounted it on some scrapbook paper and put it on a clipboard.

I also made this little banner to hang on baby boys walls.  I bought some different map paper, plane paper, and solids that match the nursery.  I used some paper to sandwich the letters onto some twine and glued taped it to the back.

Airplane Mobile

I made a mobile for a friend last spring.  She saw one online and I was able to make it for a fraction of the cost.  When I was putting together a travel themed nursery a few months back I knew I was going to make a mobile...because it's so much cheaper than buying one!  I'll share the whole nursery in a few weeks, but...here is one of the last pieces I made.  I bought a box of little airplanes via Amazon.  I took a small drill bit and started a hole in the top of the planes that matched the colors (sort of) of the room-blues, greens, and whites.  I thought about spraying them to match the colors exactly, but I really liked the details of the planes!

 Once I had the holes started I put these little screws in the top and used a tool to twist them down into the wood so I could hang them.

 I used an embroidery hoop to hang them from.  I sprayed it white and drilled four holes and some jewelry string to hang it all together along with a small white hoop (also from the jewelry/leather section) from the craft store.  I used some super glue where I tied all the clear strings so they would not come undone.

Crib Skirt

 I made this bed skirt for a nursery, and the cost was under fifteen.  I'm not sure of the exact amount b/c some of the fabric was from other projects.  I originally was going to go with ruffles, but....it's for a boy, so....I just gave him a little row of polka dots....and left the rest solid.  I didn't want to receive therapy bills later, I'm a teacher.  Anyway, I asked his mama for the dimension of the bed (52 by 29) and I cut the white piece of fabric to that size.  The drop from the mattress to the floor was 17 inches so I cut about 5 inches of the polka dot and 13 inches of the blue.  Sewing them together I ate up half an inch attaching to the white, and the other half inch attaching the polka dot to the navy so that it would hit at the right length.

I left the backside without any fabric b/c it's against the wall.  The whole bedroom shebang coming shortly.

DIY Wall Art Arrows

I've been waiting to post this!  I recently did a friend's nursery...more on that soon.  The theme was loosely travel (her and her husband travel a lot) and I used mint, navy, and gray as the colors.  I'm going to be posting lots and lots of DIYS I included and the final room soon.  The deal was her and her husband did not know the gender, and I had her add some pins for both genders so I had a general idea of what she liked.  So...the gender and the nursery were a total surprise after birth.  

I wanted to add a few pieces that were really affordable, so I bought this piece of thin wood from JoAnn for just about 3 dollars.  

 I cut the wood into three even pieces, and I cut each week in half at a diagonal.

 I evened them out so they were all about the same side and sanded the edges.

 I then used a staple gun to connect the pieces and then I took some wood glue and put it down the seam.

 Next up, I sprayed them the colors I wanted.  I'm often too lazy to go get some gloves and this is what my hand usually looks like after a really good spray paint project...and I spend twice the amount of time it would have taken me to get gloves to clean my hand.  On the other hand, I have incredibly wrinkly hands and always have....I'm a fortune tellers dream.  Too bad I don't buy into that sort of thing.....

I put a little bracket on the back of the arrows to hang these up on the wall.  More on that soon.  

Baby Burp Cloths

Here's an extra little nursery detail.  I'm posting (over the next few weeks) the details of a nursery I put together this fall as a surprise.  I was giving the name for both genders so I could add some personalized details.  I own an embroidery machine, so I decided to make a few decorative burp cloths to match the nursery theme.  I used some of the fabrics from other projects to embellish.  All the details and projects are following shortly!

Baby Quilt

 I made this quilt for a nursery I put together this last fall.  I'll be posting all the details over the next month.  This is the quilt I made (and later ironed, whoops).  I went with a navy, mint, and gray heme, so I bought half a yard of a bunch of different fabrics/designs I liked.

 I cut the strips into 7 inch strips and sewed them together.

 I just did enough until it matched the length of the yard of soft white fabric I bought as the back.  I sewed the two pieces together.  It's OK to see the seam b/c I am going to cover it with binding.

 I cut 4 yards of three inch pieces of one of the fabrics for the binding and then I ironed it down the middle.  I matched the two rough edges to the rough edge on the front of the quilt.

 I sewed it all the way around (the fold will be facing the inside of the front at this point.

 It looks like this and then...

 Pull the folded edge to the back.

 Sew it all the way around the blanket again.

 Here's the finished front/back.  More details to come soon.

Nursery Penants

 I'm about to start a big posting spree on all the details of a nursery I put together this last fall.  It was a surprise from WHAT the gender was to WHAT the nursery themed would be.  I'll share more on that later, but the first step was picking the color scheme.  I got some ideas from the parents to be on the colors they liked for both genders, and I chose navy, gray, and mint.  It was heavier on navy, but I wanted to do a few things with all three colors.  These banners are so easy to make.  If you can sew a straight line...or even glue one this tutorials for you.

 After sewing the bedding with these fabrics, I bought some binding and cut out triangle shapes out of the fabric.  I used my pinking sheers so I didn't have to sew the edges (it won't fray like it would if you do a straight line).

 I then took the binding and sandwiched the top between it and got to sewing.

 I would leave about an inch between each one, but I just sewed down the whole binding.

I'll share the whole she bang soon.