Dining room art re-do

In keeping with my current trend of replacing all of the things in our place that I don't love anymore, I updated some of the things in our dining room. The first thing I did was spray paint a gold mirror. Now it's a gorgeous red! Super simple to do too. I simply taped some plastic bags over the glass and sprayed 2 coats. 

Before! 

During. 

During. 

After! 

So easy and by using materials I already had, this one didn't cost anything! 

Next I was inspired to repaint some art that was hanging on an adjacent wall. I really wanted to put some more red on the walls, so thankfully I had more leftover red spray paint. I had 2 coordinating pieces that were painted on wood. Each piece was one foot by 2 feet. The original art was black and white and floral. 

The first thing I did was use this amazing product again to cover the old art. 

I love this stuff! 2 coats and I was ready to go! 

Once the primer dried, I sprayed them with 2 coats of my favorite red spray paint. Now for the unbelievably tedious part. I had a pack of leftover scrapbook paper from a project I had done in our living room. 

I made a couple stencils to trace and started to trace and cut and trace and cut and trace and cut. 

These were the stencils. 

I traced 2 of the big ones and 2 of the little ones on the back sides of the scrapbook paper. Then I made 2 circles by tracing the inside of my roll of masking tape. 

These would be the center of 2 flowers. Once I had all my pieces cut out, I started laying them out in a pattern I liked. 

Next step, mod podge! I glued them all down, trimmed the edges, and put a layer of mod podge over the whole thing. After it dried, this is the final project! 

Ta da! I love this one! Super easy, and again, it didn't cost anything since I already had all the materials on hand. 

Probably my favorite part of this project was that I didn't have to put any new holes in the wall. Since I hung the artwork where it was originally hung I simply had to put it right back on the wall where it was before! 

Orange artwork to orange you going to love this new artwork!

I have been wanting to replace a few things in our place that I just don't love any more. The first one was a project in our bedroom. I found these paintings a couple years ago and I really liked them in the store. I loved the price too. I got both of them for about $15. However, when I brought them home I didn't love them anymore. They were too orange for our bedroom. So they hung on our wall mocking me for the past 2 years. 

One night I asked my husband if I could change them into something else. I told him my ideas and he let me run with it. I really didn't want to spend much money on them so I decided to paint over them. Plus, I used many materials I had leftover from baby room projects. All in all, I spent about $10 on this project. 

The first thing I had to do was paint over the orange flowers. I used this amazing product to cover it up. 

This stuff is amazing. I had used it for the baby's toy box. 2 coats of it and I was ready to roll. 

After this stuff dried, I painted them gray. The gray paint is one of the only things I didn't already have on hand. 

After 2 coats of gray paint, it was time for the most time consuming part. I am loving the chevron right now. I originally wanted to get a stencil or draw it on first. Finally I decided just to tape it off and paint over. This was an easy thing to do, but it took a long time and a lot of tape. I made sure all of my pieces of tape were 3 inches long and cut them as straight as possible. I started in the top left corner and taped and taped and taped. 

This was so tedious, especially since I was doing this on 2 canvases. It took about an hour just to apply the tape. Then I painted 2 coats of black paint. 

I have learned the hard way to not pull the tape off too soon, so I waited as long as I could to yank it off. I loved the way it turned out! 

To finish it, I took some letters from the Hob Lob, painted them red with some leftover paint, and glued them down. Here it is hanging in our bedroom. 

Now, if you noticed, only one of them is completed. I still need to finish the second one, but I need another "x". I am making our wedding date in Roman numerals. It's going to hang right under this one. I can't wait to have that one finished, but I ran into a snafu with the letters. I bought most of them one day and had to go back another day to pick up the rest because they didn't have them all. Well, when I went back I discovered that they had discontinued the letter x! Not the whole set, just x. Poor x. It must feel like Pluto did when it was downgraded from being a planet. Hopefully it won't get kicked out of the alphabet altogether. 

Blog dump...it's been a while!

I know that it has been a super long time since I have posted, but my life has been incredibly busy. I have so many projects that I want to put on my blog, but for tonight I will just catch you up on the reasons for my long absence. 

1. Baby--This little man is the main (and BEST) reason for my long absence. I am overjoyed to be his mommy. His personality is developing and he is incredibly silly. He loves to be tickled, loves bath time, and loves to eat. He is 7 months old, has 2 teeth, can sit up all by himself, and loves music. 

2. School--School has finally ended for the summer and I am so thankful for time to spend being a better wife to my husband and a stay at home mom. I am so thankful that I am a teacher and that I do get so much time off with my guys. Second semester was such a blur. Going back to work was so difficult, but I had a GREAT year! It was busy, busy, busy, but I had awesome parents and coworkers who made it very easy to both be on maternity leave and return from leave. 

3. Sleep--Not that I've been doing a lot of it, but it has certainly kept me from my blog. When I have a few minutes, sleep is what I would rather do. Little man has only recently begun sleeping better. I have learned that I can function on much less sleep than I ever thought possible. And the "sleeping through the night" is a dirty lie. I feel like its been a good night if we get 5 hours in a row! 

4. Pinterest--It's an addiction. I found in the last few months instead of using my brain power to blog, I preferred the mindless scrolling that Pinterest had to offer. Truly it is my search engine now. It's made me make more crafts, cook new recipes, and laugh harder than I should while the baby is sleeping. If you are ever bored, get on there and look at the humor boards. So funny! And a good time filler when I'm up at a 3 a.m. feeding. 

Ok that is a pretty pathetic list of reasons, but I wouldn't change it for the world. I have a pretty awesome life right now. 

10 Reasons I Am Glad I'm Not Pregnant Anymore

I love that I was able to have a baby! If you read my blog, or know me well, you know that our sweet baby is a little miracle. But I am incredibly thankful that I am not pregnant anymore. In fact, here are 10 reasons I am glad I'm not pregnant anymore.

1. The heartburn--Oh my word! I had the worst heartburn ever while I was pregnant. I think I went through about 5 giant bottles of Tums and gallons of milk while I was pregnant. Now if the old wive's tale is true, and I believe it is, then the heartburn is responsible for my sweet baby's head full of hair :)
2. Bending--I had a HUGE belly by the end. My poor husband would get home from work and go around the house and pick up all of the things I had dropped since he left. If I did try to pick something up off the floor, I would look around and pick up as much as I could in one swoop. 

This was taken just a week or two before the baby arrived. 

3. Getting off the sofa--With a giant belly, getting off the sofa was incredibly comical. It was a multi-step process. A process that my husband loved to laugh at. 

4. No more dumb questions from anyone and everyone--"Are you STILL pregnant?" "You sure there's only one in there?" "Are you still around?" I certainly don't miss those questions! 

5. I fit behind my steering wheel--By the very end of my pregnancy, my belly rested against the steering wheel. Now I have plenty of room and I even moved my seat back up a little!

6. Spicy food is back--I LOVE spicy food. Jalapenos on my baked potato. Taco sauce on tacos. Spicy anything. But while I was expecting, they caused MAJOR heartburn. Heartburn that burned through to my back. Heartburn that went from my nose to my knees. Now I can take the heat again :) 

7. I'm comfy in my bed again--During September and October, I hated my bed. I dreaded going to sleep every night. I am a tummy sleeper, but obviously I couldn't sleep like that anymore. I would adjust my 10 zillion pillows and nearly edge my husband off the bed, and still I would not be comfortable. Then there was the rolling over. That was about an eleven step process. Now my bed is comfy again, and I am finally sleeping well again. (Not for many hours at a time, but better when I do sleep.)

8. Barfing--Gross, I know, but this one must be on my list. I was one of the "lucky" ladies that was plagued with morning sickness for 9 months. I never went more than a few days in a row without getting sick. It was awful. Anything and everything made me sick. And I got sick everywhere. Now, I haven't been sick since the Thursday before Z was born, and I do NOT miss it! 

9.Clothes issues--By the end of my pregnancy I only had a handful of things that still fit. All of my skirts that were knee-length were way to short and I had to wear tanks under my shirts to cover my belly. Thank goodness that maxi dresses were in style this year or I would have really struggled to find things to wear to school. Now, slowly but surely, I am getting my wardrobe back! 

10.And the best reason I am glad to not be pregnant anymore:

Seriously, have you seen this kid? He is amazing! Definitely the best thing I have ever made!

So, there you have it! The top 10 reasons I am glad I am not pregnant anymore. People have told me that once I had the baby, I would start to forget how miserable I was while I was pregnant, and that is very true. I think more people would only have one child if they remembered everything vividly! 

3 Reasons I Will Not Be Mother of the Year

So, just in case you were thinking of nominating me for various "mother of the year" awards, please consider the following 3 atrocities. Now, mind you, I have read all the books about babies and baby care and parenting. I really have no explanation for these things, other than the lack of sleep.


1. Now, this first one could happen to anyone, at least that is what I keep telling myself. So, it's Wednesday night and I am about to leave my sweet, cranky baby in the church nursery. As a service to the nursery worker, I was going to change his diaper before leaving him. Just as I began to pull his diaper off and reach into my diaper bag, I was surprised to find zero diapers in my bag. So, now I have a crankier baby who has an entirely full diaper and nothing to change him into. I texted my husband and asked him to race home and grab diapers. Thankfully, he raced back with them before it was too late.

2. This moment also happened in the church nursery. Apparently, this is my place for embarrassing moments. I had been sitting with the baby in the service and he got crazy and I had to take him out. I was changing his diaper again, when suddenly he did what everyone warns you about. He tinkled on everything! Soaked his clothes, puddled the changing pad, and sprinkled the wall. I worked to clean up the mess and dry off sweet Zander, then reached into the diaper bag to see what I could change him into. What do I find? A burp cloth and a baby blanket. AND NOTHING ELSE!! Now, in Alabama, it never gets too cold, but this was a Sunday night and it was about 45 degrees outside. Too cold for just a baby in a diaper. Naturally, I had to do what any self-respecting mom would do...wrap the burp cloth around his shoulders and then swaddle him in the blanket and sneak out of church before any one could notice.

3. Lastly, this one just occurred today. I was washing a million loads of clothes. (The million loads were from baby poo blowouts, but that is neither here nor there!) As I was throwing a load of baby clothes into the dryer, something unusual caught my eye. As I lifted this unusual thing out of the washer, I noticed that it was extremely heavy and I didn't recognize it immediately. Upon closer examination, I concluded that it was an inside out diaper. This wouldn't be a big deal at all if I were cloth diapering. This was a disposable diaper. I am sure it was used, because the trash can and the laundry basket are right next to each other in Z's room. It was HUGE! Those suckers sure can absorb! And it was clean too. Not a stain of poo left in it! I might be onto something here! Maybe the disposable ones can be reused? Ok, probably not.

Yes, that is a newborn diaper. 

Then there is the inside view:

Clean as can be!

So, there you have it! Three very good reasons to not vote for me as mother of the year.

So...I had a baby

I know, I know, I have been procrastinating, but I have the best possible reason ever.

Introducing the newest love of my life, Zander Michael Silas

This last month has been a blur! I can't believe that this little man is here. He is healthy and perfect and growing and keeping us up at night. Here is a bit of why I have been absent from my blog :)

Monday, October 29, 3 pm--Dr. appointment. At this appointment, my doctor sent me straight to the hospital to begin an induction. I was almost a week past my due date and he was sure that I had a really big baby, so we trusted his advice, headed to the hospital, and got started that evening. 

Tuesday, October 30--Contractions, contractions, contractions. LONG DAY! At 12:30pm, my water was  broken and my contractions were 2 minutes apart. At 4:30 p.m. my doctor came in and checked on the progress. There was still no progress. I was only dilated to 3 cm. The baby wasn't moving down. The baby was not handling labor well. His heart rate had dropped several times. My doctor gave us several options. I could keep trying to go naturally, I could have a c-section then, or I could keep trying and maybe end up in an emergency c-section later that evening. As soon as I realized that the baby's heart rate was dropping, my mind was almost made up. My husband asked the doctor what he would do if I were his wife. He said without a doubt to do the c-section now. We went into this birth experience trusting my doctor completely and we trusted his judgement. When we had talked before about my birth options, he expressed that he would only suggest a c-section if he felt it was totally necessary. It was not at all what I wanted, but I trusted him. At 4:50p.m. the decision was made to have a c-section, and at 5:46 p.m. Zander was here!

Operating room--After getting all prepped, kissing my husband, and being wheeled into the operating room, I really began to panic. I was terrified. Thankfully, there were wonderful staff members and nurses there to calm me down. When my husband came in a few minutes later, it was go time. Before I knew it, I felt tremendous pressure and my husband stood just in time to see Zander's entrance into this world. Hearing that first cry changed my life. Not gonna lie, I was incredibly tearful. They brought him around to get a glimpse of him and then took him to the corner of the room to be cleaned up. When my husband brought him back around all wrapped in a blanket and hat, I was in love. We had a tiny little hairy miracle. Yes, tiny. The doctors thought he was going to be huge, but he was only 6 pounds 15 ounces. It turned out that I had so much trouble in labor because of the way Zander was positioned in my belly.

After a short stay in the recovery room, which included some more time with our sweet baby, I was moved to a postpartum room and our family and friends were allowed in to see us and the baby. It was a sweet, sweet time. A short time though, because I was exhausted. 

I have so much more to share about this experience, but duty calls. For now, here are some more pictures of our sweet miracle.

This is my favorite picture of the world's greatest dad!

And one my BFF took while she was visiting :)

One more baby room blog

So here I sit, a day after my due date, nursery ready, bags packed, maternity leave started, and no baby yet. He is stubborn, but I know he comes by that honestly. I thought I would share one last project with you that we completed for Baby Z's nursery. Back in July, we took an old wooden trunk and turned it into a toy chest for the little man. For now, it is just a storage chest for things that we aren't ready to use, but it is something that can grow with him and eventually will be overflowing with Legos and Hot Wheels.

I borrowed from 2 different ideas on Pinterest to come up with the best way to cover the trunk. I knew I didn't want to sand it and then paint it, so we used this little miracle to prime it.

2 coats of this and we were ready to paint. 

We are using bright, primary colors in Z's room, so red was the only option for me! The red went on so perfectly over the top of the primer. 2 coats later, the trunk looked gorgeous.

Then I wanted to put the word "Play" on top. This is where the second Pinterest post came in super handy. I followed a pin and read on someone's blog that I could print out a paper with the word on it, and then trace along the lines of the words. Then when you take off the paper, you have an outline on the wood to fill in with paint. It worked remarkably well!

First, I centered this. Traced the outline with a pen, then removed the paper. 

This is what it looked like after being painted. 

And a view of the entire top of the chest.

After I was finished with this, I used some wooden stars as stencils and added some blue stars to the top.

Turned out super cute! 

Right before I finished this project, I noticed that the inside of the lid was messy from the primer and paint. I didn't want to paint the entire inside, so to make up for that, I mod podged some star paper to the inside of the trunk lid.

Ta Da!

So, now it is ready! And it's filled to the brim with all sorts of baby goodies, just waiting for this little man to arrive!