Playing Catch Up

So, I know I said I was going to keep my blog up to date and have yet to do that. I'm not promising it again but I will post when I can.

Christmas
Husband and I had a great Christmas. We had his sister and brother-in-law stay with us along with their sweet baby boy. We were able to hit both sides of the family this year since he had both Christmas Eve and Christmas off (Woo-Hoo!). That was also nice for us to be able to celebrate Christmas together during our first year of marriage. I procrastinated (surprise!) and was sewing until 3 days before Christmas to get presents done. However, I was able to finish them and I believe they were well received. Because I waited until the last minute, I have no pictures to show of them so if you know one of my sister-in-laws or my mom ask them and they'll be able to show you. I did however try to get a picture of us on our first Christmas together and this was probably the best one....perhaps next year, haha.

Next year my plan is also to have more Christmas decorations. Therefore, I'll have to get sewing on those now...we'll see how that goes.

New Year: 2013
I always feel like the new year brings such hope of "results" (for lack of better word) and then usually I can't believe it's over and I didn't get anything I wanted to done. This year however, the hope is out of my hands and belongs to 9 of my friends/family. For Husband and I are definitely out of the "wedding season" in our lives and into the "baby season" with 9 BABIES being born this year to our friends and family. It's so exciting for us and perhaps makes us itch a little, but for now we love celebrating with them.
As for my own personal goals, I've only made one new years resolution: clean out my sewing room closet. February is more than halfway over and it is still a mess, but in my defense, I have 9 babies coming so a lot of sewing must be done first! A lady at work brought this pattern in and it's so sweet and quick that I've been making that one of my main baby gifts....so if you're reading this, you know me, and you're having a baby chances are you'll be getting this.

And if you're a sewer and want to make this yourself, here is the link to the website!

Sweet Owlie Softie Tutorial

With 2013, I also get the chance to teach a few young girls at church how to sew. This will be the project for them as owls seem to be all rage. I'm looking forward to this experience as a chance to plant seeds in these girls in hopes that they enjoy sewing and turn it into a hobby of their own.

The last big thing that Husband and I got to do so far this year was spend time with Nephew K. We had a blast! I met my brother halfway to make the switch on Saturday morning and we had him until Monday afternoon when his mom came to pick him up on the way to her parents. During that time, we visited Husband at the station where we got to play on fire trucks and enjoy brownies while watching basketball. Then he and I went to the library and picked out books for the weekend and played on the playground before enjoying dinner and dessert at Bob Evans. The next morning we went to church, went over to my inlaws, played legos, colored, read, and over the course of the weekend watched WALL-E 3 times. I'm a little WALL-Ed out, but it was such joy hearing him belly laugh. I can't believe how big he is getting!


Looking Ahead:
So far this year, the only plans we have are enjoying Reds games. We went in with some friends on a season ticket package and will hopefully get the chance to visit the stadium a couple times this summer. We would also like to knock a few things off of our house to-do list but we'll take that as it comes.

I believe that is all for now. I hope you enjoyed this little glimpse into our life.

Love,
On Willow

Bedroom Makover

I have been stumped on our bedroom decor since we purchased the house in February. It seems like I had a direction for every other room but ours! Here is what it looked like before:

However, last week when my mom gave me the idea of covering a duvet insert with sheets it all came together. We received 4 sets of sheets from our wedding and we still had one set in the package. I took those and made a cover like you would a pillow and added buttons and button holes not only for the practical reason of holding it together but for Step 1 in our decor.

Since the sheets are a plain cream it left room for fun decorative pillows. I took one of our body pillows and covered it with a yard of cute red fabric I found on clearance. And those who know me well, know it had to be red! I finished off the edge of it with buttons too so they coordinated with the duvet cover.

Next, I took some burlap my mom added to my stash last week and made a slip for a pillow. Then I put a piece of cardstock inside and took another piece to make a stencil that read "a + k" I sponged on dark brown fabric paint, removed the stencil and let it dry.

And lastly, I took a duvet cover we received from our wedding that was chocolate brown (probably my second favorite color), cut it in half and made curtains out it! The reason I just didn't go with that cover in the first place was because of our "firstborn son" as my husband calls him, our orange, fluffy cat, Go, who pretty much did this during the entire project:

I would have never been able to make it look clean with him around. It went pretty fast once I had the idea and was able to do it from Friday to Sunday and for less than $15! Can't get better than that! Here is the finished project:

 I'm really pleased with how it turned out and already looking forward to my next project! Wall decor: coming soon.

Love, On Willow