So the first decoration I made involved those, some ribbons in my “theme colors” for this year (and probably several years after this) – orange and turquoise, and some hot glue.

I just hot-glued ribbon to the center of each pine cone “butt” and tied them up on the curtain rod in my living room. Festive, not overkill though, and yummy smelling. I would’ve done more in other windows but I ran out of turquoise ribbon, and needed the rest of the orange for another project (below).

The second hand-made decoration I made this year is crocheted tree garland. I didn’t want to decorate with glass balls and such, for more than one reason.

1) Obviously I have a curious toddler. She is great about leaving things alone if I tell her to FOR THE MOST PART, but I wouldn’t want her to get hurt if she got a bit adventurous when I wasn’t looking.

2) All of our Christmas decorations are in a box on the very highest shelf in the garage. I don’t feel like standing on a step stool and trying to get down the very heavy box, especially pregnant. I could ask someone to help me, but then I’d have to ask them to put it back when the holidays were over too.

So anyway, I bought some delicious yarn in my colors, and crocheted tons of circles in each color. Then I “dressed up” each circle with a border and some embellishments in the other color. Finally, I crocheted them all together into a garland using silver eyelash yarn, which turned out to be pretty cool because it’s like tinsel and ornaments all in one!

Love how the silver garland catches the light from the tree.

Anneliese loves going over to the tree and touching the circles, looking at them carefully.

The third decoration I made is a couple of bell wreaths. I found the basic wreaths in the Target dollar section (for $2.50 each) but you could easily make your own with wire and bells from the craft store. Though I don’t know if it would save you any money.

Then, I took orange ribbon and wove it around the bells, then tied it into a bow at the bottom. The turquoise glitter snowflakes are also from Target. A pack of 4 was $1 I think. I used thin white (very strong) thread to attach them to the wreath too. It’s hanging on the back of my front door (on the inside) framing the peep hole a la Friends.

I haven’t actually found a good place to hang the other one, but I’ll have it for next year!

Have you made any decorations this year? What did you create for your home? I’d love to hear about it, or if you’ve blogged it, feel free to comment with the link!

The curtains we currently have in there are turquoise, and I’ve never really loved them (we got them because they’re supposed to block the light), so I think I’m going to make this fabric into curtains for her room. Super cute.

The dresser knobs I so lovingly picked out really stand out now, with the wall color setting them off. This is what I imagined over a year ago when we put the dresser together.

Anneliese’s room is even more cozy than before, making it perfect for spending time reading, nursing, or quietly playing.

We haven’t put everything on the walls yet, and there are a few handmade touches that need completion.

But our girl likes her “new” room just fine.

This corner has a lot of significance, and I’ll explain it in a more complete room tour post later on (when we “finish” the room). But I wanted to share this picture for now. I love the way it turned out.

Loving the color.

And her mirror is in a new place, making her bed a more restful spot (the mirror had been getting distracting for her as the months went on), and making the low shelf a great place to pull up and visit with her reflection.

That’s it for now, but I can’t wait to share more with you soon!

We’re finally getting ready to paint her room the color we’ve had in mind since before she was born. I just hope it turns out the way I have envisioned it. I didn’t do a patch test with the paint, so I’m not positive, but I did have the paint chip up on the wall for a long time.

I can’t wait for the paint to be finished, so that we can put her room back together and actually hang her art on the walls. I feel sad that her room hasn’t been “finished” and we’ve lived here for more than half of her life – 6 months!

Meanwhile, I’ve been in the kitchen, mixing up a spice rub

…and washing some local carrots…

… for the best roast beef. Ready for the oven! (It’s in there now.)

I’m also going to make some mashed cauliflower for us. Too much food for 3 people? Maybe so, BUT I’m loving having my husband home again, and having an excuse to actually COOK-cook. Making roast beef for 2 adults is only half as crazy as making it for just one. That’s my story and I’m sticking to it.

(Also, husband home apparently = more blog posts. Go figure!)

Have you missed me?

I’m just curious… what does your outdoor décor look like?

At this point, we just have a table and 2 chairs in the back yard, which are nice if my husband and I just want to sit out there together or have lunch outside or whatnot. And the grill. And the lawn mower. Um… not very pretty.

The front patio is pretty roomy and I’ve been thinking of putting a chair or two out front for when I’m feeling more social. You see, I live in a cul de sac and my neighbors often hang out in the front yards just chatting and letting the kids play. It’s going to be so fun when Anneliese can play WITH the other kids.

Maybe a big potted plant (provided it is hard to kill), and I was thinking of stringing up some paper lantern type lights in the front or back, if I can figure out how to attach them to the stucco-ish (not stucco but I don’t know what it is) walls of my house. Ideas?

I’ve been looking at Pier 1’s site for ideas, and if you were talking to 3-years-ago me, I would’ve LOVED these:

Birds! Perched on little sticks!

But lately, I’ve been into BRIGHT things, and leaning toward this type of thing instead:

Love that these paper lanterns are good for indoors or outdoors, and that they’re battery powered, so you don’t have to worry about extension cords (or flames).

And this wreath is gorgeous.

How do you have your outdoor areas decorated? I’d love to see if you have a link to pictures or anything. Mine definitely needs work (though I did get some new welcome mats when we moved).

I’m curious about what Pier 1 is going to do for the first day of Spring (March 20) though. I know they’re planning some sort of sale, and you can sign up for the Pier 1 Outdoor newsletter to get a special in-store offer for the weekend of March 18 – 20. I hope it’s good.

They’re also having Pier 1 Tweetups which I would totally go to if there were one near me. Is one near you?

In case you haven’t heard of Instagram, it is summarized as Fast, simple, beautiful mobile photo sharing on your iPhone. Basically, you snap a photo with your iPhone, choose one of several filters to apply to it, and share it (I usually tweet mine).

So since I’ve only picked up my real camera a handful of times this week, here’s a peek at what our week has been like, via instagram.

Still missing The Guy, still working on growing those teeth. (Though I think the worst of this round of teething is over now!)

Making thigh-high baby socks so we don’t have to deal with leg warmers that ride up with socks that fall off. Lovely!

Waking up to this precious girl every day, and spending the morning snuggling in bed.

Experimenting with more back carries (this one in my Snuggy Baby ring sling) and using our back-carry time to get more chores done – like raking the back yard.

A sleepy baby who was fighting her naps, and only sleeping about half an hour at a time (for a couple days)… Desperate for playtime.

Hanging more pictures and such… trying to get the house in order, while Anneliese hangs out and practices eating…paper. Still waiting for her papa to come home before we introduce solids.

LOTS of nursing earlier this week – I suspected a growth spurt. It seems to have calmed down a bit though.

A small craft project for my bedroom (I’ll show you once I get it on the walls), and a building relationship between dog and girl.

That growth spurt I suspected? Check out these 6-9 month pajamas. Yeah, the 3-6 month ones don’t fit anymore. Also? Mountains of clean laundry to fold.

Being thankful that the fog seems to have lifted (literally) and that our nook of the country isn’t covered in snow. Dressing baby inappropriately in summer attire, even though it’s in the 50s. (I think it’s okay if it’s warm in the house, right?)

Taking some time to put my feet up and relax. Also, sorting through Anneliese’s smaller clothes and diapers, deciding what to keep (for a future little sibling? – but no, I’m not pregnant) and what to pass on.

As part of our “sleep plan,” spending some quiet time each day playing on the floor bed, to get comfy with it and associate it with happy feelings. Also, keeping up with elimination communication, even if I haven’t made any “catches” lately. Anneliese is comfy on her potty, and it’s a good time to sing songs and recite poems.

Excited about the fact that one of the dresses I made a while ago fits perfectly now. And surprising a friend with a baby shower (this is her daughter with Anneliese – she’s going to be such a good big sister).

Learning to sleep unswaddled – this just started today. Two 45-minute naps unswaddled on her floor bed, and one nap in the ring sling at the baby shower (not sure how long). So far tonight, she’s been sleeping unswaddled, but she’s woken several times and needed help getting back to sleep. I found it’s impossible for her to sleep unswaddled on her back at this point, because her arms just wave around nonstop. But on her tummy, she can sleep once she relaxes and stops trying to push up to see the world. Back rubs and pats help her relax, and she snuggles with her Sleepy Sheep, which is just precious to see.

So that’s the week in instagrams. Hope you enjoyed it!

2010 was a pivotal year in a lot of ways. I was pregnant for more than half of the year, became a mother, learned that my family would be staying in California for three more years, became a “PR Friendly” blogger, and exclusively breastfed my daughter (after breast reduction surgery). Some months, I blogged a lot, and other months, I hardly got anything posted. Sometimes photos were fantastic, and other times, well, an iPhone shot or two was the best I could do.

Here are the highlights… a few links to posts, and a photo from each month (that may or may not have been blogged at the time).

January

After many attempts, I finally figured out how to make homemade french fries. Crispy, delicious, soft in the middle, seasoned french fries. My husband and I were about to go to dinner, but I couldn’t resist experimenting. I remember sitting on the counter, eating them out of the paper bag with him.

(Zora sweetly cuddling her one and only surviving soft toy.)

February

I was nannying for a family here, and their lemon tree was fruiting like crazy. They gave me about 5 dozen lemons to take home, and I set about finding creative ways to use them. This Raw Lemon Cashew Cookies recipe was really good – tangy, zingy little bits of lemoniness. And after a long time of only having the energy to post iPhone photos, I was very proud of the photography in this one.

(These sweet legs belong to the boy I was taking care of.)

March

The baby’s room started materializing. Not so much in that it was for Anneliese yet, but I had begun to pack up my childcare things and clear a space for her. This was the beginning of the room I would remember as her first, where I spent the first weeks with her, nursing and cosleeping on her floor bed, changing all of her diapers, so my husband could wake up early and fly without being impaired by sleepiness.

(The start of our garden…)

April

Crazy Pregnancy Dreams began. I had a bunch of them. I could really feel Anneliese moving around in there (like tumbling, not just butterfly flutters), and it was more than a little weird. I think I felt like I was almost finished with pregnancy, but I had no idea I would be pregnant for 10 months!

(My darling husband giving Zora a much-needed trim.)

May

I officially started my cloth diapering journey, when my gDiapers, prefolds, and wet bags arrived. Very exciting!

(The two sweet sweet children I was taking care of, being so precious to each other.)

June

I was sprucing up the house, not exactly nesting because I still felt exhausted, but I had ideas and wanted them carried out. I made a new dog bed for Zora and redecorated the living room.

(Probably one of my favorite family photos – and it was totally accidental. Look at Zora’s face and stance!)

July

I finished Anneliese’s first bedroom, invented these grain free cookies of awesomeness (which I would later eat MANY of in the early days of nursing and not being able to scrounge up real food), went into labor at 40.5 weeks, continued to labor for two weeks (fielding induction questions). On July 27th, I got to meet my baby girl, and my husband and I became parents.

(The hardest, and most rewarding, day of my life. By far.)

August

Anneliese’s birth story finally hit the blog, along with reflections on the first month of parenting: breastfeeding, stopping time, snuggling, loneliness, sleep, and more.’

(my curious girl)

September

I started my gWhiz gDiapers 101 series, which I’ve gotten a lot of great feedback about (and several “you converted me!” emails). I also did my first official product review and giveaway (which also introduced me to the world of babywearing, since the sleepy wrap I already had wasn’t working out for us yet).

(This is what my husband was looking forward to from day 1 of the pregnancy… “flying” the baby)

October

I wrote about all the visits we had gotten from family members. My mother, my sister, T’s dad, and my dad. It was pretty neat watching them with Anneliese for the first time. I also wrote a babywearing celebration post for international babywearing week. That was a fun (though time consuming) one – as I linked to many other babywearing posts, DIY how-tos, videos, books, and more.

(sweet snuggly nap with papa)

November

Babywearing had become a daily event in my life, and I’d made a couple ring slings for myself and Anneliese to use. My old blog layout was outdated and no longer truly compatible with wordpress, so I made a new one, which I really like so far. As the holidays approached, I started wondering about what holiday traditions would develop for my little family.

(babywearing shadow)

December

Somehow, Anneliese inspired a poem. I don’t write poetry, but there it is. Anneliese turned 5 months old, too.

(meeting her Gamma for the first time)

When I married the guy, she made him one with airplanes on it, as a sort of welcome-to-the-family rite. So sweet!

And look what my grandmother sent in the mail this year!

I guess it’s official. We’re keeping the kid.

Thank you, Grandma Ann. It’s so special to have your handiwork displayed each Christmas, and I LOVE the poinsettias you picked out for Anneliese’s stocking.

But for now, this one is super-sweet anyway.

Our baby will be sleeping in our room in a mini co-sleeper for the first several months (honestly, likely at least until after we move), but when she graduates to her own room, we’ll be trying out the Montessori Floor Bed* thing. I also think having the floor bed will be great for naps together, nursing her to sleep, “tummy time” (especially with the mirror there!), etc. Plus if my husband has an early flight and NEEDS sleep, the baby and I can sleep in here if she’s having an especially fussy night or something.

Our floor bed is just a regular twin mattress which I got a vinyl cover for, so that in the event of accidents we will only have to change the sheet and wipe the mattress, rather than dealing with mattress pads and such.

The blanket currently on the bed was mine when I was little. It has big tulips appliquéd onto it, and I remember running my finger around the edge of each one to trace them.

The rug is from Land of Nod, and while I hoped and thought it would be more YELLOW, I decided it’s yellow enough to keep… mostly because of how soft it feels! Stepping onto it is like a dream, and I’m sure it will get lots of use as a comfy place to play.

This is the right side of the room, with the dresser/changing area and a small shelf for some books and toys. I’m not too concerned with actual childproofing at this point (which is super-important when you have a floor bed) like making sure there are no exposed cords, bolting shelves to the wall, etc… because we will be moving before the baby is too mobile. So this works for now. I LOVE the dresser/changing area.

The duck on the wall was in my room when I was a baby/small child, and I had saved it for years and years. How cool that my daughter gets it now!

Top shelf: A music box I’ve had since I was 6 I think. It plays “It’s a Small World” and has two trains that go around in circles. The little critters are “Spoka” night lights from IKEA and they slowly change color. The horses were mine when I was a kid, and the crocheted house is just something I made several years ago (it was on TV! In the intro to a show called Uncommon Threads – I also made the flowers in the intro) and kept because I think it’s cheerful.

Middle Shelf: Some board books and a soft interactive book from IKEA, plus my Peter Rabbit books from when I was little, a wooden horse my oldest sister’s friend made for me when I was a kid, and a bin of rattles, soft toys, etc.

Bottom Shelf: A couple toys that our baby likely won’t be old enough to play with or understand until after we move, but I like them there, so there!

The dresser is from IKEA, but I bought 12 different knobs from Anthropologie (not a cheap upgrade, but worth it!) to make it more interesting and special.

The aircraft prints are from 1949 or 1950, an artist’s renderings of experimental Navy jets from the time. Pretty cool if you ask me. The mirror is from an antique store here. The little green potty is for elimination communication, which we’re going to try/do (in conjunction with cloth diapers) and I’m sure I’ll write more about that later after we’ve given it a go for a while.

I can just imagine our baby examining each lovely drawer knob as she starts to pull up and stand, noticing details, and choosing a favorite, comparing the designs…

From the bed, facing the door to the hallway…

And my “nursing station” which needs to be a bit more organized and contained. Another experimental aircraft art print, plus a photo of me and my husband, a photo of Zora, and our baby’s first ultrasound picture (the one that looks like she’s waving to us). Do you have any advice for what I might need or want to have at the “nursing station”? Right now I have the breast pump, an ipod/iphone charger/dock/clock/speaker thing, a basket of burp cloths (on the floor), a couple books, and the galactagogues I’ll be taking.

The pennants over the window and closet door are something I made a while ago. I have a tutorial on how to make a bunting if you’re interested.

*For more information/experiences about Montessori Floor Beds, read these posts and articles:

• No Crib for a Bed
• Preparing the Home to Welcome the Newborn – GREAT article from Michael Olaf
• The Floor Bed
• Montessori Floor Bed in Action and a later Update After a Year
• Floor Bed Thoughts from a Dad, photos of their child’s Beautiful Serene Room and more Floor Bed Posts and Updates
• And of course, Finnian’s Montessori Room – beautiful room by Meg and my first introduction to the floor bed.

Orange rug: Love it. I debated over whether or not to do the rug-on-a-carpet thing, but decided it would add such impact to the room and define the space well that it was necessary. And once I discovered this rug-to-carpet tape and its awesome reviews, there was no question. Yes, the tape works. No curling corners, sliding rug even when vacuuming, or wrinkles when we slide the coffee table around… it rocks. I can’t believe I didn’t know about this tape sooner. It would’ve REALLY helped our rug-on-carpet situation in Mississippi. (The corners curled, tripped us, we got wrinkles in the rug sometimes, had to adjust the positioning at least a couple times a week, etc.)

Orange curtains: In case you didn’t know, if you buy curtains at IKEA you have to hem them yourself. haha. I had no clue! It’s nice though because they’re longer than other inexpensive curtains that are “ready made,” but it did take me a couple weeks before I got around to sewing them.

Orange pillows: Ikea inserts, Ikea fabric. I made the cases in the same manner as the dog bed cover. Except that instead of tri-folding the fabric, I actually cut 3 separate pieces (one for the front, and 2 to overlap for the back) because I didn’t want the design to be upside-down on the back!

The yellow baskets under the coffee table are from World Market. Gosh I love that place! I’m planning on bringing in some more yellow by spray-painting the little lamp, and making 2 more throw pillows once I find a fabric I like. I think I want something with a medium-sized yellow-and-white geometric print.

The orange picture on the wall was my Large-Scale Custom Art on a Budget… and the throw blankets were also a simple project – throw blankets from a bedspread.

Zora was posing so nicely I have to include her in the room tour.

She got a little impatient with my picture-taking though.

She thinks I’m boring, obviously.

Oh, and here’s the other side. I have ideas for things I COULD do to make the room more “finished,” but won’t do because we won’t be in this house for a whole lot longer and I don’t want to invest in decor specific to a certain space at this point… but the idea involves big natural-textured urn/vase things with interesting curly sticks and/or feathers or something… and a set of small mirrors for a wall grouping. Maybe in the next house… not here though.

In case you are wondering about other furniture…

The couch and loveseat are from Macy’s but they’re discontinued. Lucky us, we got an awesome deal.

The coffee table is an Ashley furniture thing – also discontinued. Also an awesome deal.

Pretty sure the TV console is also an Ashley furniture thing.

The “cubby shelves” are from Big Lots believe it or not. They look really nice, but up close you can tell they’re cheap. We’ll replace them someday but for now love them.

The other little shelf is a crappy Target $20 type thing. It’s temporary.

The other throw pillows (the ones I didn’t make) were from Urban Outfitters, but were a limited time thing. I LOVE Matte Stephens’s art though, and you can see a bunch more of it at his etsy shop.

So I had been looking into getting a large print made and custom framed. At Frames By Mail the process is simple and the prices are reasonable compared to other similar services. The problem is that for an “impact-sized” piece of art, even with a simple frame, I was looking at spending about $200. And since I really wanted a rug and some new throw pillows for the living room too, um…. $200 wasn’t in the budget just for one piece of art.

Enter: The alternative. Which hopefully you’ll find useful too.

Start on Flickr.com and search around for an image you like. Make sure that the Creative Commons license is there allowing you to use it for your personal enjoyment by doing an advanced search. You can use search terms like colors (I wanted something orange), “landscape,” “flowers,” “birds,” “sunset,” whatever you’re looking for.

Once you find a picture you like, click on “All sizes” right above it in flickr and download the original file. Don’t order a print yet though, because you don’t know what size you’ll need until you find an appropriate frame!

Next, go to discount type stores like Big Lots!, Homegoods, Ross, etc. These places usually have home decor sections with relatively inexpensive items. Among those items are often Large Ugly “Artwork” pieces. Examine these… if you find one from which you can remove the “art” (some of them, you really can’t. And some of them don’t even have glass) and whose frame you like the shape and size of, buy it!

We found ours at Big Lots! and took it home for $30.

Now that you know what size you’re dealing with, you may need to crop your saved photo to the required dimensions. THEN you can order it. You can use whcc.com if you have an account there, but it was simpler for me to order from Frames By Mail and only cost a couple dollars more, so that’s what I did. I think it cost about $50 for the print, including shipping.

While you’re waiting for it to come in the mail (it will take about a week or so), get your frame ready. We decided to just paint ours black. The ugly wood looked nicer in the store compared to the other junky frames, but when we got it home it looked Tacky with a capital T. So we bought a can of spray primer ($4) and a can of black semi-gloss paint ($4).

Remove the “art” and the glass, and put the glass somewhere safe. Also, clean both sides and make sure there are no streaks or fingerprints. You might wait to clean it right before you put everything together though.

As far as this incredible piece of art goes? Recycling bin!

My husband did the painting so that I wouldn’t be out there sucking up fumes into our fetus. Very sweet of him! First he propped the frame up on a box like this, so that he could get around all the edges really easily.

Then a coat of primer, which didn’t take very long to dry…

And a coat of paint. Which needed a little touching up after it dried, but not much.

… and we had a decent-looking large black frame! $38 total. Now, sometimes Michael’s or other stores have good sales on their framing departments, and it’s always worth a look. In our case though, this frame was bigger than most of the ones they have pre-made there, and also a lot cheaper.

When our pretty orange picture arrived in the mail, we slapped it in that sucker and hung it up.

And we are very happy with the impact it makes in the room.

Keep an eye out for more “impact” in this room though… we’re not finished!