THE "2" YEARS BEGIN

My baby boy is turning 2 tomorrow. It is sad and exciting all at the same time. I miss the baby that he used to be but every day is new with him.  Just the other day we asked him "Jackson, what does the train say?"  He responds with an adorable "ALLlllll Aboarrrd".  He has the most sweet voice and I never want to take a moment for granted.  Each day is precious.  Therefore I am taking off work tomorrow to be with the boy and remember the day that my body wants to forget. 

RECAP:  6 weeks of bed rest, 3 week hospital stay, 36 hours of labor.  Which I know it could have been worse, but I knew in my heart of hearts that God was giving me this wonderful child and he is EVEN MORE than I dreamed.  I still cannot look back on my pregnancy without crying tears of emotion or pure Joy.  I love just being 'Jackson's mom". 

Love you baby boy!!!

BUSY, BUSY, BUSY

No rest for the crafty at heart!! 
 Ha!  I am trying to finish most of my unfinished house projects in preparation for the boy's 2nd Birthday party...Its going....ok.  

I finally got everyone invited...at least I hope so.  Now here comes the waiting to set your plans in motion part.  You plan plan plan, but unless you can actually do it, it lingers over you like a bad headache.  

On another note, I was going through pictures the other day and ran across some of our pictures from our random Tampa trip to see my SIL to find out what she is having...ITS A GIRL!!!  While we were there we went to Busch Gardens.  The boy really liked the Monkeys and shows we got to see while there but missed seeing the birds.   BUT Shhhhhhh......we are taking the boy to the Zoo for his actual birthday next week.  He is going to FREAK!  In a good way...

From Busch Gardens/Tampa

Jackson kept saying "monkeeee...monkeee".  It was truly one of the cutest sounds.  He is madly in love with Curious George so this was quite the moment for him.  

The Monkees even came right over to the glass and said "hello".  

At least I think that is what they did, I don't speak Monkeeeee.

CONGRATS Em on your upcoming girl.  We can't wait to meet her!!!

WORKING TOWARD A GOAL

I have this thing about getting anxious when I want something to be a certain way and its not or have a project in mind and want it to look a certain way and it doesn't.  I tend to rush so much toward a goal that I ignore everything else that needs or wants my attention.   Like my Etsy store.  I want it to be a medium success, that is what I am working toward.  But meanwhile while its not, I tend to get upset or even depressed at some point.  Why?  Or like loosing the weight that my cardiologist have told me ever so sternly that I need to lose, can I do this in a day?  No.  I find that today I am telling myself, "You are working toward a goal".  A goal to finish painting all your doors, to succeed with your Etsy shop,  TO SUCCEED WITH YOUR BLOG, to succeed with the weight loss and to succeed with buying that house you so desperately want.  It truly is all in God's timing and you are working toward that goal.  

Like my most favorite scripture of all times and one that is even listed on my blog.  

ECCLESIASTES 3:1-11

For everything there is a season, 
and a time for every purpose under heaven:

a time to be born, and a time to die; a time to plant,

 and a time to pluck up that which is planted;

a time to kill, and a time to heal; 
a time to break down, and a time to build up;

 a time to weep, and a time to laugh;
 a time to mourn, and a time to dance;

a time to cast away stones, and a time to gather stones together; 
a time to embrace, and a time to refrain from embracing;

 a time to seek, and a time to lose; 
a time to keep, and a time to cast away;

 a time to rend, and a time to sew; 
a time to keep silence, and a time to speak;

a time to love, and a time to hate; 
a time for war, and a time for peace.

What profit hath he that worketh in that wherein he laboreth?

 He hath made everything beautiful in its time: 
also he hath set eternity in their heart, 
yet so that man cannot find out the work that God hath done

from the beginning even to the end.

So some exciting things are happening in our family and my Etsy store.  I am getting ready to give it a bit of a face lift AND we are closer to a new better job for the husband that doesn't have him traveling for work an hour each way and we are moving forward with trying to purchase a home by summer 2013.  And of course lets not forgot the upcoming fabulous 2nd birthday for the boy!  This year is train themed and i have picked several different things from Pinterest pinners and I think it is going to be adorable.  Stay tuned for those pics later this month.  

And like with most things everything is with God’s blessings and only in his timing.  

I will leave you with this picture taken this weekend with one of the boy's uncles and his huge orange jeep that the boy loves and loves to drive.  yeah he drove it up the street, don't judge me or call the cops.  

~Steph

BURLAP LETTERS

Burlap has to be by far one of favorite materials right now.  Its rustic, clean and you can use it in multiple projects.  Its just awesome.  So I have been wanting to add burlap letters to my store (even though there is a lot of competition out there for them), and I finally did.  I started with making letters for my son's nursery.  I am slowly turning it into a toddler room and making it a little less nursery like.  I still can't believe he is going to be 2!! Anyways, I love them.  The wood I used was already distressed so when I covered it with burlap that actually showed through.  I chose a slate grey for the letters instead of black to make it look EVEN MORE rustic.  I am really starting to think I need a support group for my "rustic-ness".   12 steps?  haha.  Here they are, in all of their Burlap glory. Available now at RusticHomemade.

MY CUTE LITTLE TODDLER CHAIRS

Yes, 2 blogs in one day! Watch out world!  

I just have to share about these 2 cute little wooden school chairs I BEGGED my grandmother to give me.  My grandmother is an antique genius.  Her house is filled with lovely things she has bought and redone over the years.  I use to wonder why I didn't get her sense for antiques.  But to my surprise it didn't hit me until my thirties. Yes, my thirties, I have admitted it here in blog land for all to see. LOL.

So the chairs....First, I remembered to take some before pictures.  Sure it was while in my garage and sure I had already started the project, but at least I remembered, that is the important part.  So I am really not sure how my grandmother inherited these but I do know they came from an Elementary school here in my town and were used back in the day when they had the wooden desks and painted everything with that horrible green paint stuff that I am sure is filled with lead or some other hazardous chemical.  So first, that had to go!

I cannot even tell you how bad my arms feel today.  That stuff is rough.  I didn't even get it all off, there are tiny specs of it in spots on the chair.  I also had to replace a part on the bottom of the chair to make it more sturdy, don't have a picture but in the first picture you can see it is missing.  I then went back and forth about what color to paint them.....I do love color.  But I decided just to stain them a walnut stain for now to show off the pretty wood I exposed through that nasty green stuff. 

They are so cute.  And I know my son will now enjoying having a chair to sit at in the living room instead of my foot stool that he insist on dragging out every time he wants to sit at the coffee table and draw or make "vroom" sounds with his cars.  And I know I only have one pictured. It is because the other one is still awaiting me but it is going to be worse than this one so my arms need to rest up a bit before I tackle that project again. 

MY LOVELY FOYER

I have this problem.  In my head several times I have written an "how to" blog over the past couple of weeks.  Don't start scrolling down trying to find them, you won't.  It would seem every project I do I always manage to forget to take "before" pictures!!  Its border line frustrating.  So I have done a few things around the house, my foyer wall is by far my favorite to date...

I changed the frames around a few times because I couldn't get the look I wanted to achieve.  But finally I settled on some frames from Walmart because I like the matted look.  The big ones were around $5 and the small ones I think were $3.  I then spray painted them with an Ivory and sanded them to look distressed.  And the "Family Established" sign I made to match and also can be found at my Etsy store.  I LOVE IT! Also note the black painted doors, such a nice clean expensive look without spending the actual money. My kind of project.  Here are some more views of the foyer..

WHERE IN THE WORLD IS STEPHANIE?

Just that, where have I been?  I have so neglected my blog the past couple of weeks.  And I really started doing it so that I would have some diary of sorts to show the boy when he gets older.  So if I don't post happenings then it is all kind of useless. lol. 

I have been working on a few projects in between working and adjusting to the husbands new schedule. Overnights..YUCK! The first few nights were nice, I will admit it.  I had the bed to myself, the blanket, no weird smells, and my own snoring to soothe the neighbors.  But after a while, it gets really lonely.  I hope they end soon.  So, since I have trouble sleeping, its craft time!! Below are a few boards I have been working on, some to sell on Etsy.com/rustichomemade and a few for the house. 

I love creating graphic images and the whole process.  So when I get on a trend it tends to consume me.  I hoping to get these finished and hang the ones I am keeping and post pictures.  I love the idea of always remembering how our son came about.  For that I had taken the idea from Pinterest and would post a link to the ladies blog, but I can't remember which one it was. :(  The others are my design. 

Black doors you ask? What ever happen to the black doors? haha. WELL....I did two doors.  I have one picture but it is in my foyer and hard to get an angle that you can really see.  I love them.  I want to finish the doors but it takes a few coats and time. But I am hoping to finish by the end of the month.  It makes such a difference in the overall effect and price of the home.  See picture.

The rest of my time is spent with this little fellow.  I can't believe he is actually turning 2!!!

He shares his mother's same humor and personality as dad did not find this as amusing.  I got the "just wait till he picks up a dirty pair and does that" speech.  Oh dad, relax!  lol. No underwear or child was harmed during this photo.