DIY Hot Air Balloons

Croix's room is my favorite room in the house. Yes, it is our only finished space, but beyond that it is just a really happy room to be in and I can tell he likes it. He lays in his crib and just looks around, sometimes for 20 minutes or more!  It's hard to believe this room came together over a weekend...literally. We moved into our new house with the red crib and a few shelves/brackets from Ikea. That was it. As the weeks drew closer to my due date we knew we had to get rolling on this nursery, but we were not 100% sure of the visual direction of the space. We tossed around a  ton of thoughts and even went to several stores, trying to get the creative wheels turning. Finally, after talking and talking about it we decided to write the Dr. Seuss quote "Oh The Places You'll Go" and surround the words with hot air balloons. We looked for hot air balloons on sites like Etsy and Amazon but couldn't find exactly what we were looking for, so we decided to make the pieces ourselves. 

We gathered our supplies from several different stores. We bought a lot more than we needed but we were not sure exactly what materials we would use together so we just bought what we liked and planned to take back what we didn't use. 

Here is a shot of our supplies.....

• 3 half sphere styrofoam balls, each a different size (Michaels)
• Fabric (JoAnn's Fabric)
• Several rolls of yarn (Michaels)
• Several spools of ribbon (Michaels)
• Rope, thick and thin (Michaels)
• 3 Tiny Baskets (Michaels)
• 3 Animals (Target)
• Hot Glue Gun
• Staple Gun

We did one balloon at a time and kind of let them come to life organically. The details, both big and small varied with each balloon. The large red balloon was the first up, so I will take you through the process of bringing this one to life.  We started by stapling the red fabric onto the styrofoam sphere. 

Next we hot glued large rope to the front of the "balloon". 

We went around the edge, down the front and horizontally at the bottom with the rope. The vertical rope was left long at the time so we would have more options as we went to attach the basket.

Next, we removed the little handles that came on the baskets and then Brent drilled holes into the sides. 

The excess rope was then strung through the holes....

We played with the basket, adjusting it up and down the rope, until we felt like it hung in the right position. 

Then, Brent simply tied knots in each piece of rope and then chopped off the excess. The final touch was the little animals; we found them at Target and I believe they were actually ornaments as it was Christmas time when we did this project. But they fit perfectly into the baskets. 

It was fun creating each balloon and I love how each one is different and special in it's own way. 

Once all three balloons were created we hung them on the wall. Easy-peasy. 

These little creations bring such fun layer of interest and dimension to the wall and the room! This project was pretty easy and in expensive to make, which is always a plus especially for our family as I predict it is only a matter of time before a Ninja Turtle or Iron Man make their appearance on these walls....it is Brent's son we are are talking about after all...:)

All photos are my own. 

About.com - January Recap

So,  I have good news and bad news. The good news -About.com isn't sick of me yet as my contract was just renewed - yay! The bad news - I only wrote 4 new articles in January - womp, womp. HOWEVER, I will say I really love these 4 topics and the pretty pictures that accompany them!

1. Statement Rugs in the Kitchen

Rugs are a great way to add warmth and interest to your kitchen. The sizes, colors and price points are endless, so regardless of your budget or space a rug can be an easy way to liven up your room.

2. Cows in the Kitchen

Yep, I wrote a whole article about integrating cow decor into your kitchen. Could there be a better topic? In all seriousness you  may be surprised at how pretty some of these spaces are. It appears the rest of the world has finally caught on to just how classy a cow can be. :)

3. Colorful Appliances in the Kitchen

Appliances can be a fun and unexpected way to add some color to your space. I especially love this orange smeg refrigerator....I want one!!

4. Leather Accents in the Kitchen

I'm a big fan of leather. Leather shoes, leather jacket, leather chair....and after a little investigating I found there are several ways you can bring leather, and the coolness that comes with it, into the kitchen as well!

And finally, I updated the 5 articles below, 4 of them mine! Some of you have asked why articles have to be updated, so I thought I would explain.... There are a few reasons an article might need to be updated, but more times than not about.com just wants to ensure the information in these articles is as up to date as possible. Because things change so quickly they want to make sure information that was written 6 months ago still applies today. In any case it gives you guys a chance to check out an article you may of missed in the past. 

Updated Articles:

1. 5 Easy Ways to Give the Standard Subway Tile Backsplash New Life

2. New Kitchen Must Haves

3. 6 Elegant Ways to Cheap Out On Countertops

4. Walk-in Pantry vs. Cabinetry Pantry

5. Cabinetry Construction Styles

The Story of Croix - Intro

Hi Friends, I have a little someone I want to introduce you to.....

Meet

Croix Glenn Shearer

Croix was born on Sunday, December 27th at 10:26 a.m. He weighed 7 pounds 10 ounces and was 21 1/4" long. Much like my entire pregnancy my labor and delivery was drama free. No joy ride, mind you, but a pretty straight forward experience - thank God!

Photo by Zack Moye Photography

From the moment we found out my due date was December 22nd I prayed/hoped this baby would not be born on Christmas. I'm a freak about dates and birthdays and I really, really wanted our baby to have his own special day. As I mentioned in my Christmas House Tour post we hosted all Christmas festivities at our house this year. Over the course of 5 days we had up to 19 people in our house at any given time.

Christmas Eve...

Photo by Lori Foster

Christmas Day...

Photo by Lori Foster

It was so much fun and just the distraction/excuse my body needed to keep Croix inside for a few more days. The day after Christmas everyone left and Brent and I literally just relaxed all day. It was one of those perfect lazy Saturdays where you stay in your comfy clothes and lay on the couch watching shows. I left the house twice, once to get a mani/pedi and then for dinner at the Mexican Restaurant down the street. Once home from dinner we resumed our lazy day until around 10:00 p.m.  For days I had been experiencing a little cramping, but nothing too bad, that night I noticed the cramping was not just in my lower back, but was moving into my front as well. I'd never had a contraction before so I thought, hmhm.....maybe this is something and began timing the cramps when they came.  Around that time Brent came upstairs and I filled him in on my status, so he joined in on the timing as well. The cramps, or what I now know to be contractions were about 7 minutes apart and Brent suggested I go ahead and get a shower. He suggested this because I told him I was not going to be one of those people who rushes to the hospital prematurely, plus I wanted to try and look half way decent when I met my child so a shower was something I had always planned. What I did not plan was for this whole experience to happen at night. No, my ideal plan was to wake up around 6:00 a.m. take my shower and then head into the hospital around 8:00. I'm definitely more of a morning person and was not all about being up half the night having a baby. Welllllllll, we don't always get what we want do we? While I was in the shower the contractions got stronger, so much so that Brent had to help me dry my hair and that's when we were pretty sure this was it. We ended up heading to the hospital around midnight.

By the time I got into my room for them to check me, I was dilated 5 cm and the contractions were really strong. Life was pretty tough UNTIL my favorite person, the anesthesiologist, came in and gave me my epidural. It's so funny, typically I freak out over getting my finger pricked, but I have literally never been so happy to have someone shove a needle into my spine. Relief came almost immediately, it was awesome. After that, the nurses let Brent and me sleep for awhile, and around 8:00 a.m. they checked me and I was at 10 cm, but I had a slight fever so they had to give me some antibiotics before I could deliver. By 9:30 I was ready to go and by 10:26 Croix was born! The moment was especially exciting because we had no idea if we were having a boy or a girl until the moment he entered the world! The doctors and nurses were all super excited that we didn't know, so there was such a fun energy when the doctor said, "What is it Dad?" and Brent announced...."IT'S A BOY!!" It was so surreal and cool.

Meanwhile our families were in the waiting room anxiously awaiting the news. Brent and I had bought foam light sticks in both blue and pink as a fun way to announce the gender at the hospital. After Croix was born, the nurses were nice enough to let our whole crew come back into the delivery room for the big introduction. Each person got a light stick as they entered the room and on the count of three turned them on to see if they lit up blue or pink. For the past 9 months everyone had their opinions and guesses as to what the baby was, so it was so fun to watch them find out once and for all and as you can see they were all very excited!

**P.S. the God awful fluorescents in the hospital room make the light sticks look pink or purple, but I swear...we had a boy...they were blue!

Life since that day has never been the same. Croix is a good baby and even though it's only been a little over 5 weeks, I feel like he has changed and grown so much! Being responsible for a tiny human who depends on you 100% is a lot of work and it has definitely been a transition, but he is so stinkin' cute and we love him so much. I think we will let him stay...:)

Photo by Zack Moye Photography

Oh, and just in case you were wondering, Luke and Croix became fast friends. 

Unless otherwise noted all photography is my own.