I’m REALLY Pregnant…

So, I’m 39 weeks pregnant (39 weeks and 3 days, to be exact, but really, who’s counting?) and it’s getting rough. It’s as if every single day has 400 hours in it, and everytime there’s a hint that labor might be starting, it’s a total fluke. And I keep doing research on things like “How to survive your last week of pregnancy” or “How to stay sane during your last week of pregnancy” and I can’t find ANYTHING. You know why? Because, by this point, every pregnant woman has gone absolutely bonkers! We’d be willing to stand on our heads if it would make labor come! We’re so ready to evict our child from our womb that we’re incapable of enjoying these last few hours, days, (possibly weeks, dare I say it!) of pregnancy. And I’m COMPLETELY included in this. I mean, we’re big, uncomfortable, tired, and, at least in my case, this kid has had her hand or foot in one of my ribs nearly constantly for the last 5 months. So HOW are we suppose to enjoy the end of pregnancy? It seems completely unrealistic.

Well, I’m proposing a shift in how we view things.

Every time I start to feel negative about how big I am, or WHY she hasn’t come yet, I try to think of something positive to add to a list of “Last Week Blessings.” These don’t have to be big things, they can be tiny! But I’ve found that it helps keep things in perspective. My list currently contains some of the following things;

1. I was able to do dishes uninterrupted. (no stopping to feed a crying baby)
2. Baby is active and healthy. (A full-term baby is always best!)
3. I’ve gotten two loads of laundry done, including some super cute clothes for the baby.
4. I finished prepping the nursery. (It just feels good to know that’s totally done!)
5. I took a nap! (Those are precious!!)
6. I’ve had time to spend with my wonderful husband. (I know one-on-one time will be harder to get once we have a baby at home.)
7. I’ve watched entire episodes of flea market flip.

You get the point. I mean, EVERYTHING is about to change, and yes, I’m anxious to meet my daughter. I’m excited to see what she looks like, and to watch her little personality develop, BUT, thinking about NOTHING but her arrival, is unhealthy! If you’re in a similar situation, I encourage you to keep busy, and make that list! It’s amazing what you begin to appreciate.

DIY Harry Potter Crib Mobile

It took me awhile to decide what kind of Mobile I wanted in our Nursery. I’d seen lots of cute stuff, but nothing that seemed quite right for us. My nursery color scheme is Pink, Grey, and Gold and I didn’t really wanna stray too much from that, and I tend to find a lot of nursery stuff really, really childish. Yes, I know, the nursery is for a child, however, I just can’t handle too much of it. So I decided to go with something both my Husband and I would love and something that I could make myself. So, Harry Potter it is!

There will be several sets of instructions here to kind of break it down into smaller, more manageable DIY sections.

PART ONE: Make your Broomsticks!

So, I ended up making several of these, and only ended up using one in my actual mobile. I’ll probably end up using the other broomsticks for something else in the nursery later. Here’s what you need for your Broomsticks: Several small dowels, Raffia (I got mine in the floral section of Hobby Lobby), a glue gun and glue sticks, a box cutter, and twine.

Start by scoring your dowels to make them smaller. I scored them all the way around with my box cutter and once I’d scored them, I just broke them in half with my hands. Then I cleaned up the rough edges with the box cutter so it wasn’t going to give anyone a splinter. After the dowels are cut you want to color/paint (whatever tickles your fancy) them. I used markers on a few, crayons on some, and colored pencils on some. I wasn’t sure what I wanted them to look like so I tried all three.

Next take a large section of Raffia in your hand and begin wrapping it around your fingers so that you’re holding it with both the bottom and the top appearing to be rounded. Using just a dot of hot glue to keep it in place, begin to wrap the twine around the raffia more towards the bottom to create the look of the straw section of a broomstick. Use another dot of the glue to secure the end of the twine in place.

Once the twine is wrapped around the raffia, you’ll have a smaller loop on one end, and a larger loop on the other. You want to cut those so the “loops” of Raffia are gone and it’s just the strands. I then cut them to keep them all even. Find the center of the bottom of your raffia so you know where to insert your dowel. Putting a bit of hot glue on the end of your dowel, place it into the end of the raffia and hold it until it hardens. Viola! You’ve got your Broomsticks done!

 

PART 2: Creating your Winged Keys!

Here’s what you need for your winged keys: Skeleton Keys (Either vintage or reproductions. I purchased reproduced keys that were simply made to look old off ebay. I just wasn’t willing to spend the money on actual vintage keys. These keys were only $3.00!), Wing patterns, Transparent bead illusion cord (or good old fashion fishing line), Hot glue, and Transparent Vellum Paper.

Start by finding what kind of wings you want your keys to have. I used everything from Dragonfly to Butterfly to Angel wings! I wanted each of them to have their own bit of personality. I will happily send you a PDF or Word Document of my wings if you’d like to use mine. Print your wings in various and assorted sizes onto some printable vellum paper. Vellum paper is a bit pricey (I got mine at Staples and it was $16.00) I typically don’t spend that much, however, I knew this was going to be the best way to keep the wings transparent while still being durable. So I broke down and spent the cash.

Once your wings are printed, you’ll need to cut them out. It’s easiest if you leave a section of the vellum in the center to attach the key onto. But some wings have to be cut separately, in that case, I glued the wings together. Once you’ve cut your wings you’ll want to use your hot glue to attach your wings to your keys.

For the ring that you’ll attach these keys to, I bought a cross-stitching ring and used the center ring! I spray painted it gold so reflect the color in the keys (and my nursery accent color).

PART THREE: Assemble your mobile!

Once you’ve got your keys made, your broomsticks made, and your ring painted, it’s time to assemble your mobile! Use your clear fishing line to attach your keys and broomsticks to the ring. Any design is a good design so get creative! Then attach either ribbon or twine to four areas of the top and join them together at a loop knot to make a hanger for your mobile. And there you have it! A Harry Potter Flying Key Mobile!

 

 

 

Deer Antler DIY –With a little help from my brother…

So, I recently saw this picture on Pinterest:

(Click here to see the original website it was published on and here to see the etsy shop where you can purchase it, TheShabbyShak. Her stuff is really awesome!)

Awesome right? I’m working on our nursery for our soon to come daughter (Less than 12 weeks to baby! Crazy, right?) I’ve decided to go with a grey and pink nursery with hints of Gold and when I saw this I KNEW I wanted something like this in Violet’s nursery. HOWEVER, this one was a little over my price range. At $40.00, I knew I just couldn’t swing spending that amount and feel okay about it. But I was completely in love with the concept of these antlers.

I started brainstorming on how I could get something like this, but on my “Thrifty, only wanna spend a dime” kind of budget. I knew I didn’t have any antlers, and I wasn’t even sure how to go about beginning to make this. So, when all else fails? CALL YOUR BROTHER! I texted him a picture of this beauty and said “Umm…can you make something like this?” and of course he said yes. (I swear y’all, my brother could construct nearly anything.)

So, my brother, Stan, worked on this beauty and mailed it to me!

I already had gold spray paint from another project so I took the antlers to my basement and sprayed those puppies down.

And here we go! I just put some jewelry on it so y’all could see what it looks like, but I definitely want to hang headbands and bows and stuff on it like they did in the original photo. So, this cost me a total of $0.00 because my brother had all his supplies already, he did pay to ship the antlers to me from South Carolina, but since I already had the spray paint, the only money spent was on shipping! Not too bad, huh?

 

Once I actually have this set up in the nursery (and once the nursery looks good, right now, it’s all a big huge mess! But it’s getting there!) I’ll take new pictures. And those won’t be cell phone pictures I promise! Sometime soon there should be a nursery post coming! Trust me, it’s nearly all thrifted or upcycled!

 

This Post totally isn’t about Thrifting…

SO…I know that this blog is primarily about DIY and thrifting,

however, I have amazing, spectacular, exciting news that I MUST share with you!

I’M HAVING A BABY!

Yep! A tiny Baby Yaksh will be joining my husband and I next year in April!

But, don’t worry, all my DIY and thrift hauls are not going to suddenly become baby centralized, I will still be keeping to the original concept of the blog! There just might be some stuff thrown in geared more towards having a little one, or “dressing for your pregnancy shape” cause HOLY COW I already can’t wear my pants 😉

Short Post. Big News!