a little bit of me.

{Studio Calico's Blog Hop: Documentary Style!}

ETA - THE WINNER!!!!!!!!!!!  (wow 407 comments!?  thanks everyone!!!)

The winner (drawn randomly) from my blog post/comments is.......

........

.................

I love your layout and I really love what you have done with the Fab Rips.

Posted by: julie okada | June 01, 2010 at 08:41 AM

Julie - Please send an email to info@studiocalico.com with the following information:

• Name
• Contest: Documentary Blog Hop - Susan's Blog
• Prize Won: Documentary Line

:)

*******************

Just popping in with a brand new layout, made with the new Studio Calico line...

DOCUMENTARY!!!!

love love LOVE this line...

To celebrate this new release, Studio Calico - along with the SC design team members - are hosting a blog hop!

While Documentary has a definite travel-vibe, the papers and embellies included in the line can also be used for so much more...

i ran with the travel theme for this page - opting to scrap ONE OF MY FAVORITE PHOTOS EVER (!!!) - and thus add another page to my Europe book....

...besides the background patterned paper, i mainly used the set of "Fab-Rips" to add border like pattern & texture to the center part of my page - & instead of ripping or cutting them all apart, I left them packaged (for the most part) as they come...

...the Hot Air Balloon rub-ons were another FAVE of mine from the line - and I made sure to stick one on the bottom of my page!

...AND if you'd like to WIN A COMPLETE SET OF THE ENTIRE DOCUMENTARY LINE FOR YOURSELF - JUST LEAVE ME A COMMENT on this post!

...also, be sure to HOP on over to the next Studio Calico DT Member's Blog: Tina Aszmus - in order to check out her fabulous project, and enter for another chance to win on her blog.

>> Don't miss all the blog hop links on the main Studio Calico blog HERE...

:)

happy month of june everyone!

{at 2 years 9 months, aka 2.75 years... ;)}

first of all >>> Just wanted to say thank you for all of the SWEET SWEET comments on the nursery...  i love being able to share it here.  So thanks for sharing the fun of it with me ;)

*****************

& So i've been doing the quarterly updates for ev this year, and we are now really at 2 years 10 months - craziness! - but i wanted to sneak in his 2 years 9 months update (or 2 and 3 quarters!) before it was just too late...

and this pic actually does qualify for "2.75 years" - so at least i'm not cheating there ;0)

and so at 2 years, 9 months, Evan...

...is a crazy talker.  He picks up anything you say and knows what it means/is - or he will clarify with you.  He tells people "excuse me" in the store as we pass them in the aisle with our shopping cart, bc i guess i said it a couple of times?!  He also will say "nice to see you" to the person in front of us at the checkout register.  And tell the grocery store clerk all about the bakery cookie that he just devoured.  ;)

...is our official "fire hydrant" spotter.  While we are driving can spot one from FAR away and shouts "FIRE HYDRANT - YEWYOW! (yellow)" or "FIRE HYDRANT - RED!".

...thinks that there are two types of cars - race cars and jeeps.  & Classifies every car on the road as one or the other.  Trucks are separate entity though ;)

...insists that he is having a baby sister.  ;)  we may have a problem there??

...likes to "dip it" when it comes to chips -- will eat salsa on a chip no matter how spicy, or guacamole, or cheese dip.  which is kind of amazing bc he is such a PICKY eater otherwise.  although he did have his first McD's hamburger a couple of weeks ago.  We were so proud ;)

...could read books for hours.  current faves are any and all thomas the train books, his sesame street neighborhood book, the classic "farm book", the big red barn, and occasionally will choose one of his Eric Carle books (which i love).

...loves seeing "kids playing sports" in the school fields as we pass each day.  he will say "ooooh, kids playing soccer" or "oooooh, kids playing basketball" in awe.

...will only wear sneakers.  ONLY.  too bad so sad crocs that momma loves.  ;(

...wants to chase toby around the house nonstop all day.  wants toby to "come play trains".  i have to rescue tobes.  poor poor poodle.

&

...is about to become a big brother so very soon!!!

;)

{a look at the nursery.}

Such a relief that the nursery is finished pre-baby... :)  In my crazy-brain i just needed it done to feel at ease before the birth...

& I have to admit I was a little nervous about creating a gender-neutral nursery, but once i decided on a yellow & aqua color scheme (which was highly influenced by a couple of gorgeous nurseries on oh-dee-doh), everything else just kind of fell into place.

ok - so here we go.  I am going to try my best to link as much as possible to the source as i go...

if anyone's been reading the blogg-o *that* long, you'll remember that we used a similar paint treatment with evan's first nursery (in MN), and created a big stripe around the room.  I loved that look so much, that we did it again in ev's room here, and the nursery, now.  :)  I also went a little bit crazy with monkeys in his first nursery, and decided that the animal of choice for this baby would be a giraffe... ;)  and then some elephants got thrown in too.  (just for good measure!)

all of the furniture was "upcycled" ;) from evan's nursery - except for the nightstand - which was a clearance purchase from Restoration Hardware.  Because we weren't spending on furniture, I definitely had more room (financially) to have fun with decor ;)

taking a tour around the room (which is a really nice size compared to evan's first nursery!), and starting with the bedding...

...i had the bedding custom made by this fabulous etsy shop (i highly recommend emily - she was great to work with!).  I choose the fabric (aqua with yellow polkas for the bumper and yellow bumblebees for the sheet) and sent it to her, along with the solids - but she also has a great selection of coordinated prints in her shop.  The sunshine squares quilt was made by me last month... ;)  oh, & the baby's name will go over the crib once we know JUST what the baby's name is....  hehe.

To the right of the crib is a tall bookshelf that i stuffed with toys in order to add even more color to the room.  The sound machine and video monitor will eventually go here.  The abc print is from this etsy shop - and the giraffe lamp was a cheapy Homegoods find.  I think this is my favorite corner of the room.  ;)

To the left of the crib is the window, and we had a little bit of space left over, so I was able to fit in Evan's rocking horse, and this cube (from Target) which turned out to be the perfect place to store a BUNCH of baby books.

The giraffes are wall decals purchased from this etsy shop.  The curtain topper is super simple & was made by me for less than $10.

Moving past the window, is the chair corner with the nightstand...

thought it would be nice to have someplace to put stuff when i'm feeding/rocking in the chair at all hours of the night ;)

The fact that the chair we already had was BROWN, was probably the biggest color issue that i had > but i love the chair, its super comfy, and there was nothing wrong with it, so we made it work.  I had the crazy-talented crafty-crochet-lady who made me a large afghan last year, make a similar style baby sized one out of yarn colors that i choose to match the room.  (this is her online shop, i'm sure that there's contact info on it somewhere if interested!)  i ADORE how it turned out, and somehow know that there will be many baby photos taken on it!

Above the chair is a peg shelf...

...and hanging from one of the pegs is a dream ring that i'm pretty sure eric hates, but i love.  ha ;)

There's another target cube in between the chair and nightstand - perfect for more book storage...

The illuminated egg lamp on top of the nightstand was definitely one of my splurges in the room - but it is SO fun, and shoots out little stars of light all over the room at night.  ;)  The music box next to it is something that Evan has decided that he loves, along with the orange monkey!

The bottom bin of the nightstand is now full of a whole tin of burpies - I made like 15 of these at the beginning of the pregnancy, and am SO glad that I did - they were great to have with evan (so much more durable than just a prefold dipe).  I used lots of hard to find favorite fabrics on these, bc i just thought that it would be amusing at some point to me, to be wiping up burps in the middle of the night with really pricy fabric.  ha ;)  Sophie the Giraffe is hanging out with the burpies - ready to be chewed on!

To the left of the chair corner is the changing table / dresser...

...this ended up being my little 'ode to the elephant' wall.  :)

the multi elephant "print" is really a piece of matte gift wrap(!) that i've had for over a year, the elephant mirror is from petit collage, the elephant sunshine artwork is from this etsy shop - Freya Art, and the elephant embroidery hoop was done by this etsy shop.

(the cute little bunny is a brush/comb set)

Finally (almost done!) is the last wall with the doorway on it, not a lot going on there, but it helps you see the room as a whole.

& We did "recycle" 2 little IKEA prints from evan's nursery right by the door...

Love that we were able to make so much from his nursery work in this one too, and yet they both totally have their own "look".

So that is about it.  ;)

Now i guess all we need is a baby...

:)

PS -  i'm going to upload larger images to a "nursery" set on Flickr this weekend - will update the post with a link to the set when i do...

{PARTLY Sunny!!! Studio Calico's June Kit Revealed!}

love love loved this kit... ;)

but i ALWAYS end up saying that, don't i???

it's probably bc April (at Studio Calico) just puts together the most scrumptious product, in the best way possible!... (Click here to see Partly Sunny!)

you may want to RUN ON OVER to the site to make sure that you don't miss out...  I'm guestimating that the first add-on "Rec League" (that i used on my pages here along with the main kit) will sell out quickly (!!!)...  that, and MORE SC PAPER - because the Studio Calico exclusive paper is GORGEOUS this month...

& so, here are my pages... :)

...Baby Days!  A favorite pic of evan at 9 months.  I keep going back to scrap his 9 month photos...  9 months was SUCH a fun age...  and we had such a great little "photo shoot" that day.  psssst - aren't the animal cards FUN?  (btw they are in the REC LEAGUE add on!) I turned them into a little banner along the top of my page using a Fiskars triangle punch in between each, and some of the scalloppy basic grey stickers that were in the Main Kit.  And my favorite - the BUMPY ROAD border punch pops up on this page too...  ;)

...Sweet Cheeks!  I took this pic with my fisheye lens, and i absolutely adore the distortion that it created in the resulting shot.  Ev's chubby baby cheeks look even cuter than i remember them!

...Airplane Alert!  How could i not scrap the story of Evan's obsession with airplanes, with the EXCLUSIVE STUDIO CALICO airplane print paper this month - its so yummy!

...22 Months!  Another one for his every month book.  Which is ***this*** close to being completed.  Yay momma!!! :0)

So glad i got 4 pages done with the kit this month!  Not sure what I'll come up with next month, hehe, we'll have to see...

and PS - hopefully the nursery pics will be up tomorrow - so come back...  going through them right now and choosing some to post!

:)

{a few more SNEAKS! & what's happening at 38 weeks}

my blog post title rhymes.

i kinda LOVE that ;)

i can't believe that i hit 38 weeks today...

(well actually i can when i look at my naked belly in the mirror >> Hello stretch marks, you have not only returned, but you've brought along friends, too.  awesome.)

i've been wrapped up in baby prep this week.

why do i keep thinking of random things that i need?  or things that our house needs that i want to mega-stock up on so i dont have to worry them about right after the birth??  enough already.  i just want to sit on the couch... ;)  maybe this weekend.  heeee.

and so, at 38 weeks, i...

...am so far from any state of "comfortable" that it's hilarious.

...am REALLY READY to find out if this baby is a boy or a girl ;) >>> REALLY READY!!!

...am trying to organize our house and prepare everything that i can think of.

...am so NOT interested in food, for the most part.  Altho fruit and fruit smoothies STILL appeal. ;)  (and the papa john's pizza we just ordered!)

...am having random contractions.  fun fun.

...have to pee every 30 mins at night.  awesome.

...am making lots of last minute lists.

...have one swollen hand and one swollen foot.  and a huge appreciation for my wrist brace at night!

...have ordered a TON of goodies from etsy and other newborn-ish crafty sites over the past couple of weeks.

...am sad that evan seems to have a little cold and fever and possible ear infection right now - and HOPING & PRAYING that the baby and i dont get it...

...need to photograph the nursery tomorrow, in order to blog it.  ;)

****************

And since i don't have any 38 week photos right now (maybe this weekend?!), here are a few more sneaks from the Studio Calico June Kit: Partly Sunny!!!!  and Add On #1 Rec League - that will be available tomorrow night at midnight... ;)  (and at noon for subscribers!)

DONT MISS IT!!!! it's a good one ;)

There's that FABULOUS new photo label punch showing up on the sneak above...  hehe.  ;)

YUMMY!  :)

can't wait to share the actual pages...

oh, and PS - CHECK OUT this punch (click!), i am totally hoping that it will be back in stock so that i can snag one too.... ;)

{Sneaky Peeky! Studio Calico's June Kit!}

Just, just, JUUUUUST finished up my layouts with the soon-to-be-released Studio Calico June Kit - Partly Sunny and it's add on friend, Rec League!  :)

and i have to say that it's "Super-Summer" in color tones, and "Super-Fabulous" at the same time ;)

here are a few of my sneak peeks... (the kit goes on sale this Thursday @ midnight!!!)

Besides the kit (Partly Sunny) and Add On #1 (Rec League) I used a couple of shop items this month... (K&Co Handmade Alphabet Cards, October Afternoon Fly a Kit Journaling Cards)... My favorite glimmer mist - iridescent pearl, the super-cool new PHOTO LABELS punch - check it out here, the Bumpy Road border punch - which is quickly moving into position to be one of my favorites EVER(!), Tumbled Glass Distress ink - a great match for this kit, and American Crafts this to that glue dot runner adhesive - have you tried this yet(!?!), if not you need to...!

and.... the sneak peeks are not yet done ;) >>> I have a few more sneaks to post later on in the week (and to give me something to blog...!).

oh, and PS the new baby's nursery tour should be up sometime this week too!!!!!  woot woot.  SO happy to have it just about 99% done.  (minus the actual baby, ha.)  such a relief...

happy monday everyone.

:)

{a seahorse...}

So we were checking out at Marshall's this morning...

after a little bit of probably un-needed shopping (but i want to summer-tize our mantle decor before the baby gets here, so maybe it was necessary?!) ;)...

and the checkout register lady is trying to make cute conversation with Evan...

and so she says: "Do you know what mommy is having???"

to which Evan looks at me & my belly, and then looks back at her and exclaims in the MOST excited voice EVER:

"A SEAHORSE!!!!"

(let's hope not buddy, let's hope not.)

;)

ps - photo from last friday at 'dinner at the beach'

{Aqua & Yellow Wonky Stars}

#1 - both eric and i are LOVING all of the baby guessing - so thanks for entertaining us - and be sure to enter a guess if you haven't already ;)

#2 - thanks to pregnancy-related insomnia, here i am at 2:30am+ >> blogging.  :)  and i figured what better to finally blog than the aqua and yellow wonky baby star quilt...

so here it is...

 

not sure i'm loving the way the colors photographed, so you will have to take my word for the fact that the color combo looks much nicer IRL.  k?

and just to recap - its much like the yellow and grey stars that i made for my friend melanie... :)  just a different color combo, and a fourth row of stars!

i used this tutorial, which was super easy to follow!

the giraffe in the center of one of the stars was hand embroidered prior to cutting that center block - you can find the giraffe embroidery pattern in this etsy shop...

the aqua solid is a kona cotton fabric, & the rest of the prints are mainly from my newly acquired yellow stash of prints - that have been used on lots of baby projects during this pregnancy...

and the backing is a yellow and aqua polka (same fabric that i used on the bumper in the nursery) with some other scraps mixed in...

& i have to thank eric for being the official "quilt-holder-upper" on this one.

;)

{let's guess!}

we had a "mini" baby pool set up by eric's parents when evan was born...

and it was SO much fun to see what everyone's guesses were.

(i just found the sheet of paper with the pool guesses when i was putting together ev's baby book this past weekend, and it was still amusing to look back on now!)

So...  i decided to set up another pool online this time, so that everyone could easily "guess" again.

plus - there is more to guess this time around.

heeeee.

& really it's all about entertaining me while i'm feeling huge and tired these last few weeks... ;)

soooo....

what do you think?

Humor me & Enter your baby pool guesses here... click the 'enter a guess' button on the upper right hand part of the page....

& here's a little info about evan's birth in case it helps...  he was born 1 day "early", weighed 7 lbs 9 ounces, & measured 20.25 inches... ;)

andddd... this is what i'm looking like at 36 and a half weeks...  (taken by eric yesterday) - ps this is our neighbor's trellis which sits in between our houses - you can see it from the new nursery... (i'm completely jealous of it!!!!)

:)

oh, and PS - eric has requested that you leave a comment on the blog with what you think our baby's name (boy or girl) will be.  So do that for him please.  ;)  He deserves some amusement too - for dealing with a crazy preggo wife these last few weeks!

{tuesday}

so photo'ing the aqua & yellow wonky baby stars didn't happen yesterday...

...but i DID get to it today.

problem was i didn't get around to it till like after 5pm, and the color in the pics is not-so-nice.

& so i'm not sharing those.

hehe.

i'll try again tomorrow ;o)

AND......

so, right at 36 WEEKS (tomorrow!)... i'm trying to get a handle on everything I still need to figure out / order / clean / organize pre-baby...

*** i made a dent in evan's baby book over the weekend.

>>> which i kind of find hilarious.  (nice to finally fill it out / finish it up when he' almost 3, and #2 is on the way...)

*** i'm forcing myself to organize & print all of ev's pics for his 3rd year to date - i use a month by month organization schematic - works best for me...

*** i FINALLY located my vera duffel so now i can BEGIN packing for the hospital.  just.in.case. ;)

*** i'm dealing with the nasty carpel tunnel (sp?) pain that has set in to my hands bc of the crazy amount of swelling my body is doing this time around >>> and praying that it leaves VERY quickly post-baby >>> and also praying that the wrist splints that i picked up this afternoon actually help out with the whole concept of sleeping tonite...

*** i'm still LOOKING for a cd player / nature sound-esque noise machine for the nursery.  evan refuses to part with his...  any suggestions would be AWESOME.

*** i'm wondering if we want to give G-diapers a test drive after the initial newborn phase wears off...  such mixed reviews online....

*** i'm annoyed with myself that i didnt buy the vintage baby scale that i saw on etsy a few months ago (that was virtually rust-free AND an amazing price), and now can't find one i like on either ebay or etsy... :(

*** and i'm trying to enjoy these last few weeks with 'just ev' - as crazy uncomfortable as i've become... he's still getting cuter by the day (telling me to "put the cap on momma!" here) ;)

:)