Rocket Dog

Well actually, a rocket AND a dog.

 These are a couple of recent paintings that I sent to Cherry Tree Creative, my favorite store for unique, handmade, and vintage finds. I am so excited to get to sell my paintings at this store. It is a treasure trove of things that are infused with imagination, saturated with character, and filled with history. If you're ever in Taylor, Texas, you should pop in for a spell. It's worth a special trip.

xo

nessa dee

dresser dress-up

It took less than $15 and 15 minutes to take August's dresser from this:

To this:

And the verdict?

One happy baby...

and one slobbery drawer pull.

All of these knobs came from Hobby Lobby and were $2 - $3 thanks to a 50% off sale.

xo 

nessa dee

this morning

This morning was spent in my favorite room of the house, sitting and watching and snapping a few pics.

It was a good morning.

xo

nessa dee

Playing Favorites

We try not to play favorites around here, but sometimes, just sometimes, it happens. Ever since we painted the baby's room and added all of the furniture, it has been the preferred spot for my kids. When they were supposed to be doing schoolwork at their desks they'd disappear. I'd find them, books strewn everywhere, in the baby's room working on the floor. They drag their beanbags into the space and hang out there all day. they drag their toys in there and build massive block cities in the one room I thought I could keep clean at least until the baby arrived. And it's not just the kids who are playing favorites. If we can't find the dog, she's usually under the crib, or making herself comfortable on one of the cushy surfaces in the room. If she could figure out how to get in the crib, I'm sure we'd find her there, too.

I, too, often find myself sitting in the chair, just staring at every little detail in the room. It makes me happy.

Maybe it's how bright and cheery the space is, maybe it's the decor that draws us all to the room, or maybe it's just the anticipation of the sweet little life who will soon occupy the room, but I think it's going to be our favorite space for quite sometime. 

xo

nessa dee

Baby Boy's Room: The Finishing Touches

Today's Crafty Friday is going to be postponed until tomorrow or Sunday because of my schedule, but don't fret. [you probably weren't] Instead, I have some exciting news. I finally finished the baby's room! All of those last little details are in place, and they are no longer in the back of my mind, nagging me to get them done. Okay, enough talk...let's look at pictures!

I ended up going with the larger polka dots for the robot picture mats thanks to your suggestions, and the fact that they were a much brighter orange. We flanked my robot painting with them, and I love how it all turned out.

I moved the pictures that were hanging next to the robot over by the closet, and there's still plenty of extra wall space around the room to hang pictures of this little boy once he gets here.

My mother-in-law bought the mobile for the baby from Pottery Barn Kids, and the colors are perfect. We hung it over what I call the reading nook.

I also added the little magazine rack from Marshalls which houses some of our favorite books.

And did you see them? Here, take a closer look...

Don't look too closely, or you'll see my bad sewing job, but they're finished! It took my mother-in-law coming into town and offering to sew the trim for me to finally get the gumption to finish them. You see, I'm pretty stubborn, and I don't want someone else to do something for me that I'm capable of doing myself. If I'm ever dragging my feet on a project, please threaten to do it for me.

Now that those last few projects are done, the room is almost perfect. I just need a sweet baby to finish it off.

xo

nessa dee

Just in case you're wondering, here's a resource list:

* Paint color: Behr's 'Castle Path' from Home Depot

* Crib: Bassett Baby via Craigslist

* Crib skirt: Dwell Studio from Target [out of stock]

* Crib sheets: Skip Hop's Alphabet Zoo

* Chest of drawers: Ikea

* Curtains: Ikea

* Ribbon trim and pillow material: Hobby Lobby

* Chair: Craigslist

* Mobile: Pottery Barn Kids

* Rug and book rack: Marshalls

* Dino pull toy: garage sale

* Big Boy the dog: Audrie's from when she was a baby

* Alphabet Wall Art: from various places including Hobby Lobby, thrift stores, and handmade. Each was     

   painted or covered with scrapbook paper, buttons, book pages, or map pages.

Big Dot, Little Dot

I'm trying to decide which scrapbook paper to choose for the mats surrounding my kids' robot pictures they made for the baby's room. I had my assistant [daughter] help me spray paint the frames a lovely aqua color, and I chose two different orange polka dot papers for the mats.

This is the mini dot paper...

And this is the larger polka dot paper...

[Hello, Baby!]

I'm leaning towards the bigger dots because the paper's a bit brighter, but I'm not sure. 

Maybe I'll just use both and forgo any decision making, but I guess that would be a decision in itself.

xo

nessa dee