Nap Time Craft: Bud vase wall art!

NTC: Nap Time Craft: A craft that one must be completed during a childs nap time and must be CHEAP!

Before I even get into the next NTC  I have to give a shout out to my FAVORITE website: CRAFTGAWKER.COM . It inspires so many of my daily craft projects and it's the first thing I check before gossip websites and *GASP* Facebook! If you are a lover of crafts and D.I.Y's you will not be disappointed. Not only does it direct you to other crafters blogs but it also has tons of tutorials and printable crafts as well.

I came across Blue Velvet Chair when on craftgawker and found this post about hanging jars for decorations.

So, when remodeling my home I started collecting bud vases (ok, so I got them all from Wal-mart for $.97 a piece) with this craft project in the back of my mind. I'm not going to lie to ya, I am a sucker for all things "Shabby Chic". When growing up, everything was antique and my mom has the same sense of style that apparently rubbed off on me :). Although I can appreciate the old and beat up, I am a NEAT FREAK and everything has to be symmetrical, organized and "clean" looking. The last few years I have began to appreciate modern style but can live without that "sterile" feeling. Let's call my taste "Neat shabby chic" shall we?

BUD VASE ART

materials:
-bud vase (or any other small vase that would be laying around)
-glue gun/glue stick
-Jute twine
-fresh flower/dried flower

I didn't take pictures of the process because it is this easy: Tie your twine around the neck of your vase in a knot, secure with glue gun. Tie secure knot on the end of the string and BOOM hang on your wall :) I took some dried Babies Breath I already had and stuck them in the vases:

Not sure why the color of my wall looks like this...its really a mossy green like the photo below!

 I loved it so much I also did it on another wall in the kitchen where I have a collection of old candlesticks, keys and other gold nick-nacks.

Yesterday, I was unloading a baby food jar from the dishwasher and it hit me!!! ANOTHER HANGING VASE! 

I stuffed the jar with mossy rocks and some fake flowers from an arrangement I already have and put in on a wall in Amelias shrine my living room!

This craft could be easily done in 3.345 minutes :)

lovelove,

Nina Tank

Pumpkin Patch fun!!

I feel like I just jammed an entire week of activities into one day: Sunday. This always happens. Mostly because it's the only day, if at all, that Travis has off. Yesterday we ran errands, took Amelia to her first pumpkin patch, went to Tanners soccer game and welcomed Travis' cousin back from Afghanistan.

Travis' cousin Dustin came home from Afghanistan yesterday for his 2 week break....so glad he made it back safely! We have had his yellow ribbon on our tree for months now, he has been there since March. THANK YOU FOR SERVING OUR COUNTRY, DUSTIN!!!

  

We also went to the pumpkin patch yesterday for a quick photo session. 

There was so much chaos going on at the pumpkin patch it was so hard to get Amelia to stay still much less look at the camera. After we were done, I was annoyingly complaining in the car that we didn't get that good of photos and Travis reminded me..."It's not about getting good enough photos to post on Facebook, Nina. It's about the memories that we're making. " Awww, so glad I someone to keep me in check when I'm being an idiot. He's right...it is about making photo opportunities to brag about on a social network memories. After I got home and downloaded the pics, I realized that I actually did get some really great pictures but more importantly...DANG MY KID IS CUTE!

I am pretty obsessed with this new face she is making ^^^. She is developing such a funky and sweet personality!!! Even writing about her makes me smile...mostly because she is quietly napping as I type ;)

I was pretty impressed with the pumpkin patch yesterday. If you live in Round Rock, there is a great one right near the HEB on HWY 79. They had so many different kind of pumpkins for cheaper than you would find at the grocery store. Not quite sure if I was too little to remember or too old to care but they had some crazy looking pumpkins that I don't recall ever seeing before:

I really wanted to get a "warty" one but I almost felt like I would catch a disease....

        

Even though we truly went yesterday just to take some pictures, we couldn't leave empty handed and came home with these little boogers:

Hate to break it to ya but orange traditional pumpkins are sooooo 2010 ;) we went with a green one along with some baby gourds. 

I think that we are opting out of carving this year. We spent too much time and moolah on it last year and they ended up just rotting on the front porch weeks before halloween...

I also got my craft on and made this pillow while waiting for Trav to come home Saturday night....spare fabric I cut into squares and hand sewed onto an old pillow to give a shaggy-flower effect...at least thats what I was going for hah!! Thought it turned out super cute and it matches perfectly. Most of all, it was FREE!!

Will be posting the "easiest craft you'll ever do" later...I must go check on my sleeping beauty who has been sleeping for going on 2 hours now...gotta love growth spurts!!

HAPPY MONDAY Y'ALL! 

Lovelove,

Nina Tank

When it rains, it pours...

It was the best of times. It was the worst of times....
When it rains, it pours....

[insert any other one liners here]

 This has been the toughest year for us emotionally, mentally, physically and financially. It is a good thing I am a firm believer that God will only give us what we can handle or I would have thrown my hands up weeks ago. Long story short (PROMISE!) the last three months have been, in one word, ridiculous. We completely depleted our once brag-worthy savings account within 3 weeks. August 2011, you sucked balls.

 But then few weeks ago someone posted this on facebook and I love it. I am one step away from getting this tattooed on my body...

It oddly reminds me of one of my favorite bible verses:

Matthew 6:34 "Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own."

Most everyone knows that I had to have my gallbladder removed. The recovery was worse than my c-section. This happened right after I had my wisdom teeth removed making for back to back unexpected expenses. Welcome to adulthood, right? But then as luck would have it, our house was completely falling apart at the seams, literally...and we had to fix the foundation on our house. I dare you to google how much that cost. Lucky for us, insurance covered NOTHING. Allstate, you suck balls too. So then we were like, "Ok, well...welcome to being a homeowner!" After a long process of never being able to find a company that would finance, we swallowed our pride and paid out of pocket to just get it over with. Once we leveled our house, we discovered busted drain pipes. YAYYYY!!!!

After the entire process, we expected our house to be in bad shape, but did not expect it to be in shambles. Everything needed to be replaced. The cracks were huge in our walls and ceilings and almost every wall had to have new drywall and be repainted. So, I started to call this gut wrenching process a "remodel" and that fed my designer alter egos pride. I would complain about my new hardwood floors and popcornless ceilings, but there is just not enough time ;) (will post pics soon of the new house!!)

I did my living room in neutrals with pops of olive green and PINK! All inspired by the chair seen here:


This chair came from my parents store and my dad completely revamped it...I fell in love with the original fabric (from the 1800's!) and it was my inspiration for the whole room!

We just moved back into our home after staying with the in-laws for SEVEN, yes seven weeks. SO thankful that we had a place to stay, but even more happy to be home!


OH AND I HAVENT EATED MEAT IN 16 DAYS. Can I call myself a Vegetarian yet??? I feel so so good, but I am starting to look like this:

I promise to update this thing way more often now that  mama bird is back in the nest :)


p.s.
my baybee is almost 9 months old and I am so sad :/ does the "I just had a baby" feeling EVER go away???? I'm pretty sure I still feel like this:

lovelove,
Nina Tank

Baby "A"

Amelia: (uh-MEL-i-a)

Origin: Hebrew: Work of the Lord

The day I found out we were having a girl, I tossed the name  "Amelia" to Travis and he HATED IT. He kept saying "No. NO. All I think about is the Amelia Bedila book" and while I argued that book was my FAVORITE growing up, it was also my great grandmothers name and I have always loved it! For weeks he said no. We decided on Noa because if the name was not going to be from our family, it would be Biblical. Amelia was always in the back of my mind. My great grandmother raised my dad and she was the kindest, loving human being. She was beautiful. The first time I ever saw my dad cry was at her funeral....I had such a strong attachment to a woman I hardly knew. One night I texted Travis: "The baby's name is Amelia. No argument." He said "Ok :)". My parents came over that night and I told my dad. His eyes teared up and he was so happy, I will never forget the smile on his face that he wore the rest of the night. Even if I changed my mind about the name, I knew there was no going back after seeing how happy he was, but thankfully I never did.

My sweet butterbean just turned 6 months old, and that is exciting enough for me to share! 

People aren't lying when they tell you how fast kids grow. Some days I cannot wait for her to be "just a little older so we can..." but I look back and terribly miss the days where I just watched her nap for hours a day or where her greatest achievement was concentrating on my face. In the last week alone she has started to REALLY crawl (instead of swimming on land), drink out of a sippy cup on her own, climb up on things and stand by herself with her own two legs, say "dada" on command AND finally (today) she looked at me and said "mama". THERE IS NO FEELING LIKE THAT IN THE WORLD!

Every few weeks I try to dress her up and do a 10 minute photo shoot...Her personality is shining! She is always sticking her tongue out and crinkling her nose :) 

I have been meaning to share some pictures and craft projects from her room! Not to toot my own horn, but I adore her room hahah! When I found out that I was having a girl, I swear I wanted to keep it neutral and not look like Barbie puked in there but ultimately I caved and realized that I needed to embrace the "girly"!

Cost: $3.99 for the feather Boa. I painted this chandelier myself and already had the paints! I also had all the rhinestones that I used :) Looks so much cuter in person, I swear!

 Magical Frog (haha): Cost" $12.99 at Ikea! 

I got her furniture at wal-mart but wanted to brag on the plastic buckets....DOLLAR TREE! This Project cost me a whopping $4.00! They were a dollar each and then I bought a bouquet of hydrangeas, took it apart and glued the petals on!

Another inexpensive craft project! These are paper bugs/flowers I found at Hobby Lobby in the gift wrapping section. They ranged from $.99 to $2.99 and I tied them onto fishing wire and tacked on the ceiling. This is Amelias favorite part of the room for SURE! They are near the air vent making them the cheapest mobile I could buy :)

 This is another part of the room that I love and am looking to do the "empty frame" concept in my living room as well. Cost: $18.00. I bought the empty frames for $2.00 each at wal-mart and found the flowers at Hobby Lobby that were about $4.00 each. (I made that lamp too!!)

 Love this chair!! Cost: $19.99 from ROSS

Ikea Rug: Cost: $4.00...it doesn't get any better than that!

After our photo shoot we came inside to cool off and start dinner...it was WAY too hot outside. My lovies enjoyed some good ol' reading time before taking a bath :)

Alright world, I promise to update more often...I could go into how hectic life is right now but instead I will leave you with a cheesy smiley face....

:)