baby love

Tomorrow was supposed to be our big sling reveal. All of our fabulous new spring line was to be shown off and put in our store.... 

Well, I am going to be a few days late.. 

We got rained out of our photo shoot and are trying again this weekend. Please be patient; I hope you will think it was worth the wait.  I did get one precious picture to share with you.. 

They don't get any cuter!

New Season

     Saturday we moved my parents out of their house, the house that we shared with them when we moved to Virginia two and half years ago. They welcomed us in and put up with us for a year and a half! Wow! I am so grateful. My parents are wonderful. 
   They are starting a new chapter in their lives. They are building a new addition onto my sister's house. They have sorted, given away, or put into storage their belongings. What a job. I am very excited for them. They are excited as well, but I think we were all surprised by the emotions we had on Saturday while moving the last few things out of the house.  I believe we all shed some tears and had moments of panic. It is hard to leave everything you have known to start out on a new adventure. 

   The family room 

The kitchen that they totally redid.

   My Mom and I already started planning the furniture and style of the new place, but in my heart I am still saying good bye to the old house. Good luck little house; I hope the next people love you as much as we did!

Covering the Wall

I have been wondering what to do with the wall above the girl's bed. Their beds are low, so there is a lot of wall space. Since a wall of starburst mirrors is not really in the budget... this is what we decided to do.

Pictures from Young House Love

Ok, these are just the inspiration pictures. Bridget had a great idea to go the thrift store and see what frames we could find. We loaded up (for just $15.00) and came home to prime and paint. I will share all the photos next week. I am very proud of my girls who did this all on their own!  You see, I have been up to my eyeballs with slings. You will probably not hear much from me until next week. I have the big sling photo-shoot on Saturday, and I am freaking out that I might not get it all done!


In the mean time... We have been featured on My many moments, one of the very first
blogs I found! I fell in love with her style and honest simplicity! 





This is her entry way! She is amazing at putting together vignettes! When I need to put things together for table tops or shelves, I always run to her blog first!





She also has an amazing gift for finding great objects at the thrift store. She has inspired me on many occasions to run to my local Good Will!
Head on over and see our feature and check out My Many Moments.

We did it!

Picture from www.LORIENDEVON.blogspot.com
Shamrock 8K March, 2011

Yes, that is me with the "Lori" tag on. It's a long story....

Japan

Please pray for the people of Japan. Staggering pictures of before and after..

http://www.abc.net.au/news/events/japan-quake-2011/beforeafter.htm

Still Working on it....

I have a confession to make. I did not finish my multipurpose room in the time that I said I would.... But, I don't even feel bad! I am almost there. I really have gotten a ton done, and well, life has not exactly been full of free time. The end is in site, and I will keep plugging away. I have 2 shelves to put up, curtains to change, bedding to make, and yes, I still have to paint the closet. I have already made new beds, organized all the sewing stuff, organized the closet (twice), put up the chandelier, put up barn door closet doors, painted three shelves, and organized all the school stuff! So... I leave you with this amazing hallway of organization. I think it is every home school mom's dream!

picture via timeless home

I need a Chico!

I love the show Divine Design. I have been a fan of Candice Olson for quite some time. She has an amazing sense of style, and I am envious of her drawing ability! She also has amazing assistants. 
 Well, for the past few years I have asked for Chico for Christmas. I haven't gotten him yet! I am tired of dark houses. What I wouldn't give for my own personal electrician for a week. Actually, Quentin is pretty handy. It's just that he has 2 jobs already.


So, while I wait for pot lights to go up, I have been looking at lamps.

I love this one from greige I am not so sure it would survive a 9 year old boy.

I love the middle lamp. These are from Pottery Barn

They look a bit hardier! 

But I like the lightness of the glass/crystal ones.

Oh the decisions!

Maybe I will just get a large drum shade to hang.

picture via decor pad

Sling Fabric!

I am so excited for our Spring line of Baby Slings!

They will arrive in our Etsy store on April 1st. 

Here are some close-up shots of the fabrics.

a yummy dark chocolate twill

soft blues

gray twill

Charcoal

Loving the pattern

just imagine this inside and gray twill outside!


As always we have a beautiful white waffle textured fabric available for the insides if you don't want to mix and match two prints.

Yes, pictures of actual slings will be coming! I am just hoping to generate some excitement!
If you are familiar with our slings already, and would like to place a custom order before the 1st of April, please contact me.

I love the end result. Total cost $0.00! Yeah! It took a little bit of hard work, but it was well worth it.  Have a great Weekend.

Well, I have painted and then painted some more. Here is the end result. 

I have to put all the books on today, but so far I am loving it.

I also got my shipment of sling fabrics in yesterday! I can't wait to share. I just have to clean up the work room so I can get going.

One of the fabrics I got for slings looks absolutely amazing in the room. So I am offering up the existing curtain panels for sale. They are lined with blackout lining and have been up since June of last year. They are in excellent shape.  Please let me know if you are interested.

I would like to get $50.00 a panel. I have 4. They finish at 92" long.

Here is a close-up of the fabric.

Rain

Picture Via Beyond the Barn

Have a very happy rainy Thursday!

Rethinking Storage Take 2

I started the day normally.... I had no thoughts of doing anything crazy, but it just sort of happened.


I began moving shelves around in the workroom side of the multipurpose room. 

This is the wall where the Ikea shelf was. I think it makes much better use of the wall space.

I stood the Ikea shelf up and moved it next to the window on the other side.

Definitely the worse before it gets better part! We were still doing school during all of this! Yikes!

Everything will be painted out in a creamy white!  We got it all primed, and it is just waiting for a coat of paint. In the mean time, we will have to just step over our books and sewing stuff. One particular pile I stepped over late last night caught my eye.

Notice the book in the bottom right corner. HaHa! Have a great Wednesday!

Rethinking Storage

House Beautiful

I have come to the conclusion that a sewing room stays in a constant state of messy 

creativity!  The shelf  and baskets that have all my fabric in them are working really well. I am able to get to stuff and see all the pretty fabric I have. The Ikea shelf, however, is not really working for school books. They slide to the back making it nearly impossible to find what you need. I have bookshelves here and there and am wondering if I can't cut and paste things together to make a really cool storage unit for school. I am still very much in the muddled brain idea stage. I will keep you posted. 

On the plus side, we got the chandelier hung last night. It is amazing. I am saving pictures until the end.

Here are some more great office ideas. Have fun being creative!

House Beautiful

House Beautiful



House Beautiful

Bread Box

I really don't like a lot of stuff on my counter tops. I hate to see bags of chips and bread just sitting out. I usually put all my bread in the fridge, but then it gets hard pretty fast. I don't have a drawer or an extra cabinet to throw it in, and I hate bread boxes. Well at least I did, until yesterday. A good friend gave me This bread box by Polder, and I love it! It is white, of course, and looks great on my shelf. Take a look!

Where do you keep your bread?

Almost Done!

Please don't think I have given up on the Multipurpose room. It is still moving forward. Somewhat slowly, but still moving. I have one more coat of paint on the closet doors, and I have a beautiful chandelier just waiting to be installed. I can't wait.

However, this week has been so busy that I will have to wait until next week to see any more progress.

Our AWANA Grand Prix races are tonight! I am very excited, but I am still in bed recovering from the flu! Rats. I am so praying that I will be able to make it tonight. The kids have been working so hard to get ready, and so have we! Here are Zoe and Elijah's cars.. They are great!

Elijah's black lightning 

Zoe's fish of doom.

Good luck my creative little ones!

Not Strong Enough

My little man turned 9 on Monday. Wow! I will try to get some pictures posted. All of his baby pictures have to be scanned in, and my scanner was not working yesterday. I always want to sit down and cry whenever I look at them. Time goes so fast.  The kids birthdays always make me thoughtful.
    My blogging has been pretty slim this month. I have had many major decisions to make this month and it really has drained me. The creative bug has been pushed to the back as I have wrestled with decision making.
I have come to the conclusion that I am just not strong enough....

  not strong enough to educate my children the way they deserve

  not strong enough to be the helper and wife I want to be

  not strong enough to be disciplined in my exercise and eating

  not strong enough to guide and direct a very beautiful, intelligent 14 year old girl

  not strong enough to raise a 9 year old boy who's questions are so deep they scare me

  not strong enough to be the mom I need to be for a creative, adorable 11 year old

  not strong enough to run a business effectively and efficiently

  not strong enough to spend my money wisely

And then God reminds me, "My grace is sufficient for thee: for my strength is made perfect in weakness." Most gladly therefore will I rather glory in my infirmities, that the power of the Christ may rest upon me. Therefore I take pleasure in infirmities, in reproaches, in necessities, in persecutions, in distresses for Christ's sake: for when I am weak, then am I strong.
II Corinthians 12:9-10

So.. I say all that to say, I am very encouraged! If we are honest, we have to admit that our strength is not enough, and the beautiful part is, it doesn't have to be.  I will start today in Ephesians 6....

  "Wherefore take unto you the whole armour of God, that ye may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand. Stand therefore, having your loins girt about with truth, and having on the breastplate of righteousness; and your feet shod with the preparation of the gospel of peace; above all, taking the shield of faith, wherewith ye shall be able to quench all the fiery darts of the wicked. And take the helmet of salvation, and the Sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God: Praying always with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit, and watching thereunto with all perseverance and supplication for all saint;