DIY Jute Mirror Tutorial

So while browsing Pinterest the other day, I came across this mirror that I fell in love with.  It was featured in a home tour on this blog and I knew I had to have it. 

I did some searching to no avail, and I realized it wouldn't be difficult OR expensive to make, so I hopped (actually waddled in my case) on over to Hobby Lobby to get my supplies. 

Here's the inspiration:

 

Here are the supplies I picked up:

One foam wreath

Two big spools of Jute

One round mirror

and I used cardboard I had around the house, and my hot glue gun

All I did was tightly wrap the jute around the wreath form until I made it all the way around.  I secured the beginning of the jute to the wreath with some hot glue, and then I glued the end piece.  

I then mounted the mirror to a piece of cardboard that I cut to fit the back of the wreath.  I used LOTS of hot glue to attach the cardboard/mirror to the back of the wreath, and VOILA!  My very own jute mirror!

I actually made it for the nursery, but decided to go with something else for the intended wall, so now I think it's new home will be in the living room.  I think I might make two more and stagger them on a wall in our master bedroom, but I'm not sure yet. 

So that's it!  Super easy, affordable, and I think, pretty cute!

Week 19 and the Gender Dilemma

People ALWAYS ask if we're going to find out the sex of our baby.  When we answer,

"no, it's going to be a surprise"

I am stunned at some of the responses we get. 

My favorite is always,

"you're crazy.  I'm such a planner, I just HAD to know" 

I find this hilarious because I am the epitome of a "planner" so I don't really see how these two things correlate.  Being a planner doesn't mean I have to know the sex of my baby.  I don't like pink or blue things, and I don't want our nursery to look any different than the rest of our house, other than the fact that there's a crib in it.  I am not a fan of any sort of characters or animals on clothes, so gender neutral stuff is my style anyway. 

The reason we made the decision to wait is very simple.  I've always imagined Vince telling me what our baby is as soon as it's born.  I cannot wait to see his eyes when he looks at our baby, then at me and says,

"baby, it's a ___". 

I have no doubt that this will be a magical experience and I'm not willing to give that up just because I'm a planner. 

Another reason I'm so happy we're waiting is something I never would have thought of before we were pregnant.  Not knowing the sex of this baby has given us HOURS of wondering to discuss.  We lie awake and night and talk about all the reasons we'd like a boy first, then all the reasons we'd like a girl first.  We discuss subsequent children as well,

"if it's a girl first, she'll likely always be a Type A personality, as first born girls often are"

"if it's a boy first, he'll be able to protect his little sister or brother in school"

and so on.  It's provided us with so much insight into how the other feels about birth order and the gender of our children.  If we knew the sex already, it would be limited to, "what's he/she going to look like"

I certainly understand why most people choose to find out.  For us, there are so few surprises in life anymore.  We are a culture obsessed with knowing everything, all the time, no matter what, and for the most part, we are the same way.  However, this is something we have really enjoyed so far, and we are looking forward to our surprise in November! 

Peach Cobbler Experimenting

With all of these amazing summer fruits calling my name lately, I've been obsessing over cobblers and pies.  I've made three peach pies in the last week and I think I've figured out my favorite recipe. 
I used a combination of different recipes to get the right texture and flavor. 

I hope you all make one this summer because they are delicious...

PEACH COBBLER:
1/2 cup unsalted butter
1 cup all-purpose flour
2 cups sugar, divided
1 tablespoon baking powder
Pinch of salt
1 cup milk
4 cups fresh peach slices
1 tablespoon lemon juice

Preheat oven at 375°
Melt butter in a 13- x 9-inch baking dish in your preheating oven.
Combine flour, 1 cup sugar, baking powder, and salt; add milk, stirring just until dry ingredients are moistened. Pour batter over butter (do not stir).
Bring remaining 1 cup sugar, peach slices, and lemon juice to a boil over high heat, stirring constantly; pour over batter (do not stir). Sprinkle with cinnamon, if desired.
Bake for 40 to 45 minutes or until golden brown.

Serve with Hagen Daaz vanilla ice-cream.  It's the right thing to do, trust me.

Enjoy!

Week 18 and a reminder for me

 

Here we are in week 18 and I cannot believe how fast time is flying now.  When I was 6 weeks pregnant, I remember feeling like this was going to last forever, and now I cannot believe how fast it's all coming.  

I've gotten so many sweet comments and compliments for my pregnancy pictures I've been doing.  I love being creative, and I absolutely adore trying to do something different from the norm.  However, today I was reminded just how unoriginal I actually am!  

I did a Google image search of bell peppers for the weekly update I send to our family.  One of the pictures that came up was this one from THIS BLOG:

I mean, I thought my pictures were pretty cute, but this girl just blew me away!  You must click on the link to her blog to see all of her fruit and veggie pregnancy pictures.  Just too cute, I tell you!

Now just for fun, I'm sharing one of my favorite images from Pinterest today.  If you're not on Pinterest, you're insane and you must head over there as fast as your fingers can carry you and sign up.  It's wonderful inspiration for absolutely anything you want to be inspired by. 

Here's my Pinterest love of the day:

What a great idea, huh?!  I might do this with all of my crayons and craft markers as well...

Check it out here

Creating pregnancy memories...

I am so happy we've started taking pictures of my growing belly to document this process.  I've come across some incredibly creative folks out there who inspired me to do more than the usual "self portrait in our bathroom" shot. 

Here's Week 16 and Week 17:

Pretty crazy to see how fast the baby is changing.  I'm looking forward to making these pictures into a book eventually, like they did over here at Kissing Tree

Or here at Hanna Mac

 

I just love how inspiring other blogs can be.  Seeing so many insanely creative people out there always pushes me to try harder.

Making Meal Planning Fun

Now that I am pregnant, I'm able to stay home more and focus on the things I really love-like taking care of our house, crafting, decorating and cooking.
Vince is SO excited for me to make meals for us during the week, and I have to say, I'm pretty excited about it too.  I've learned that a successful week of home made meals involves a lot of pre-planning on my part.  In order to make this a little more fun, I made some cute grocery shopping lists today.  I'm going to glue the tops of them together and add some magnets to the back so it'll be a notepad on the fridge.

Here's the front... I printed it out on brown kraft card stock so it looks much cuter...

I organized the categories based on the order I go in the grocery store

Here's the back of the list:

This way I can just flip my list over if I forget what meals I'm shopping for.

I think this is going to be a great way to keep me organized and help in my weekly shopping.  I may end up getting more detailed because I buy certain things at Whole Foods and certain things at Publix.  I might have to make two separate lists for that, but for now we'll see how this works out.

I'd love to hear how you all plan your weekly meals.  Do you plan ahead or just shop more often for meals?

Write You a Letter...

I decided on this blog name because so far, our baby has almost exclusively listened to Ray Lamontagne, due to Vince's severe obsession with his music.

Every time I hear this song playing from his iPhone in the nursery while he's working so hard to get it ready, it makes me think of the letters I want to write to our beautiful little baby.

SO while this blog will continue to be all things crafty, weddings, and home-making...it will also be a space for an occasional letter to our baby...

Because I already have so many things I want to tell this little miracle growing inside of me.

(PHOTO CREDIT)