Craft Projects

Again, thank you Pinterest and Etsy for inspiring a couple of the craft projects in baby Claire's nursery!! Seriously, what did people do BP (before Pinterest??) :)

I couldn't find a bedding set that was exactly what I was looking for so I opted for neutral bedding and mix matched fabrics and prints. My dear friend Veronica surprised us with custom nursery accessories and I'm so excited to get them in the room.

The fabric covered canvas was an easy project but I love the way it looks above the changing table. I have to give a shout out to Holly for helping me pick out the fabric. Without her keen eye, I would not have been brave enough to mix and match the bold prints but I do LOVE how it all came together.

 
 The peacock painting is probably my favorite! I should be ashamed to admit that it's a complete copycat of a wonderful print my bestie Marion purchased off etsy. But I'm not.

Original from Etsy

My copycat

The curtains I tried to make were a disaster. I should have learned in 8th grade home ec that I should never, ever come near a sewing machine. I'm sorry, Mrs Haney. I've now learned my lesson. But not before I attempted to make curtains. Fortunately for me, I have a great friend who bailed me out and made (or is making) real curtains for little Claire! This same friend, the amazing Kim Whitten, made basket liners for me too. Thank you Kim!!

 Lastly, is the crate bookshelf my hubs made for the nursery. He did yet another amazing job implementing my Pinterest project. As I'm writing this blog I'm realizing that the only real part I played in many of my projects was finding them, lol. I completely rely on others to execute them. Hmm. I promise to ponder what that says about me. Later.

DIY Farmhouse Table and Chairs

The table project isn't exactly recent but it is one I'm very proud of! And it wasn't even my project :) Thank you to my wonderful husband for making this one happen!!

When we found out in 9 short months our family was growing from 3 to 5, I knew this was the perfect time for a new, large dining room table. Never mind the fact that we didn't have an extra thousand $ (or more!). I'm thrifty so I started looking on the online yard sale sites, Facebook and Craigslist. Nothing was jumping out at me.

Enter Pinterest and the DIY table!! I absolutely fell in live with the farmhouse table idea as it fit in with our casual yet cozy decor. After lots of research and very little begging, Blake agreed to make me a table. He used cheapo wood from Home Depot and lots and lots and lots of manual labor to sand it smooth but the finished product is exactly what I wanted!!

The chairs were a lucky find from Craigslist. We kept the 4 chairs from our existing table and bought 6 more in a similar style. Add some fun fabric and a few staples and poof-our finished dining room!! Couldn't be happier with the finished product and I love that we can have up to 10 people comfortably seated for Christmas breakfast :)  

Not bad for a total budget of about $300!

9 months in the making

A few days after we took Jonathon into the Cannon family, we had another huge surprise!  What we had prayed and prayed for had been granted to us!  

Yes, this was quite the surprise but a great one!  Now here we are 9 months later and expecting the arrival of little Claire Elise Cannon in the next couple of weeks.

The last few weeks have been busy, busy busy!  With two little boys and a baby on the way, there is a lot to do!  We celebrated Jonathon's 4th birthday by going to the zoo which was a great time for all of us; I took a trip to Washington DC for a conference and a couple days with my bestie, Marion; and we've spent a ton of time getting a nursery ready.  Fortunately, I've been nesting like crazy the last few weeks and feel better than I ever remember.  My freezer is fully stocked, all the cabinets and closets in my house have been cleaned out.  Many of them more than once.  We have a stockpile of all the "essential" groceries we will need like toilet paper, paper plates, laundry detergent, peanut butter and pop-tarts, lol.  Now we wait.  What a great Mother's Day this year will be!  I am blessed!!

Our growing family

The last couple of months have been a roller coaster of emotions and I am reminded again of God's love for us.  He always has a plan even if we can't see it. About a month ago Blake and I were called about taking temporary guardianship of my cousin, Jonathon.  We knew right away we wanted him to come stay with us but we were a little nervous about our financial situation.  We had been trying to have another baby but with that you get 9 months to plan and save.  Could we afford another daycare payment on such short notice?  We spent the night talking about it and praying and weren't sure what we could do.  The next day in the mail our church bulletin had an insert about children and read "what can YOU do today to make a difference in a child's life."  That was all I needed to hear; it was God's answer to us.  Right now this little boy needed us and money was not what we needed to be worried about.  God would provide.  Welcome to the family Jonathon!