Our Sweet Pea's Nursery

We finally finished!

After almost three months of tedious research, work, furniture assembly, a series of serendipitous finds, and crafting, Camden's nursery is finally done!

There are still a few blank spots {i.e. some books to put into her bookshelf, some toys for aesthetics}, but the nursery is otherwise complete.

As soon as we found out her gender, we knew it was time to proceed with the room revamp. J immediately scheduled for painters to come and paint the room. 

We already had the paint from before -- we purchased it last year for Aubrey & Finley. The room, which was J's son, Nathaniel, and my brother, Ryan's room, with two twin beds, a big TV, a bookshelf, and their Playstation 3, had walls that were painted a light butterscotch. We changed the room to now be a light cloud gray.

Once the paint was dry, J and I installed the pink curtains we had purchased last year. Then he hired an electrician to come in and install the chandelier, another purchase that we already owned in preparation for Aubrey & Finley last year. The room did not have a ceiling outlet for lighting, so we had to hire someone to do a re-wire so that we would be able to hang the chandelier in the middle of the ceiling. J had this chandelier custom designed and made for the girls, and it was bittersweet to finally see it go up. 

After the chandelier was installed, it was time to start putting in the furniture. We are absolutely in love with the crib that we got for her. We searched and scoured every source we could possibly find to get a solid-backed convertible crib, and we were so happy to find this one! It was important for us to get a crib that was solid wood {not particle board, the way so many these days are made} and one that converts into a toddler bed, then a full-size bed. It was as if it was meant to be -- this crib is normally sold only in specialty boutiques was carried for a limited time at Babies R Us! The best part was that what normally was an over $500 crib was purchased on sale for $250! 

Once the crib was in place, we moved in the changing table. The changing table was another piece that we were incredibly picky about. During the last pregnancy, even if we had already ordered the cribs for the girls {which we returned after we lost them}, we couldn't make up our minds as to where to purchase the right changing table. Again, we wanted something that was solid wood, white, and that looked more like a dresser {not one that looks like a cart with open compartments}. 

Around the same time the changing table was placed, we also found a rocking chair from Room and Board. The rocking chair was a purchase that kinda daunted us, as the style I wanted cost a little more than the usual ones. I wanted a fully upholstered chair -- nothing that was of the wood-glider-with-pad style. After purchasing the chair, I found a storage ottoman from Ikea that matched it perfectly as well. I made the pink accent pillow with her monogram and the bear is something from J's late grandmother that was handed down to us when I was pregnant with Aubrey & Finley. Finally, it has found a place in Grandma Bench's great granddaughter's room. 

We also found a corner bookshelf from Target.com. You'd be surprised how difficult it is to find a white corner bookshelf that doesn't look like a baker's rack!

Other final touches include a side table also purchased from Ikea, the adorable pink floor lamp that my mom so kindly bought for the room, the custom vinyl monogram I ordered from Etsy, some Rachel Ashwell bedding, the prayer cross that we put up in memory of her sisters, and the pink shabby mirror I found at Home Goods. The picture frames were a gift from our friend Amy.

I was also really happy to find the rug for the room. Quite honestly, I was afraid to venture outside of our gray and pink color scheme, but the addition of the green turned out to be a great pop of color! The rug itself was also a major score: We found a baby boutique in Costa Mesa that was closing and was selling various items at closeout prices. This brand new, boutique-style rug, normally sold for $150, was bought for {are you sitting down?} a whopping $20. Like I said, I was a little leery to get it because of the color scheme, but thank goodness, my husband insisted that we get it. The pink and green match perfectly with the pink and green piggy bank that sits on the bookshelf.

     Another item I am particularly proud of is inside the cabinet part of her changing table. It is her bow and clip organizer and I made it about two months ago for her.

The fabric I used for the bow and clip organizer matches the one used on the bunting banner for her door.

I love the feel of this nursery. It's serene, elegant, and a peaceful place for us to cuddle and love on our little girl. It's really ready for Camden's arrival. 

One of my favorite items in the room is the sign that is at the top of the bookshelf. It says everything about how we feel for our little girl, and with her room ready and pretty much complete, it is ever more fitting now.

"For this child, I prayed." {1 Samuel 1:27}

Burlap Wall Art

Call it a Pinterest inspiration with a more frugal twist = 
A Dollar Tree find plus supplies I already had.


The other night, I made this burlap wall art piece, inspired by my three little ladies.

I had so much fun making it that since, I've made several versions and designs and thought I'd share a how-to. {Not to mention, J has been giving me a hard time about not posting any crafts or recipes lately...}


For this particular piece, I chose to use the word "nest" along with two different frames. The frames were templates I found in the Silhouette shop.


Here's what you need:
{1} Burlap
{2} An 8.5 x 11 inch picture frame {I got this from the Dollar Tree. You can also use painting canvas or any other old frames you have around}
{3} Assortment of acrylic paints
{4} Magic Tape
{5} Your trusty glue gun
{6} A pair of sharp scissors or a rotary cutter
{7} A sheet of plain white paper
{8} Glue Stick
{9) A sheet of cardstock {I used a 65 lb. weight stock}
{10}A flat, stiff-bristled paint brush
{11}A few sponge brushes
{12}Silhouette Cameo electronic cutting tool


HOW-TO:

{1}

Remove the inserts within the picture frame and place your sheet of plain white paper inside.

{2}

Cut a piece of burlap according to your frame or canvas size. Make sure to cut about a 1 1/2 to 2 inch allowance on each side.

{3}

Place your frame or canvas front side down on the burlap.

At the corners, cut a slit from the edge of the burlap to the corner of the frame. This helps to make flatter folds once you glue the burlap down.

{4}

Using your trusty glue gun, carefully glue down the edges of the burlap onto the back of the frame or canvas. Trim any frays as needed. As you are gluing, make sure that you are pulling the burlap just enough so that it is taut around the frame or canvas. {You don't want to stretch it out too much because it creates an uneven pattern and even holes on the front}

When you are done, the front should look like this:

{5}

Using white acrylic paint and your flat, stiff bristle brush, make small, swift, and light strokes onto the front and sides of the frame or canvas.

Something I've also learned during my several projects is when you are getting paint from your palette, use the brush to draw it out and away from the main puddle and tap it down around the palette. Try not to just dip the brush directly onto the paint. This allows for a lighter on your brush and eventually onto your canvas so that it looks more rustic.

When you are done, the canvas should have an uneven and rustic texture and finish like this:

{6}

Using your Silhouette Studio software, pick your design and format it accordingly, so that it is the size you want. For this design, I chose the 4 Nested Frames {Ungroup the frames and choose which ones  you want to use. I chose the two largest ones} and the word "nest" in CAC Champagne font.

When you are ready and satisfied with your design, use the Silhouette machine to cut out your design on the sheet of cardstock.

{7}

The next few steps are done in layers, so patience is very important. In this case, I started from the outside of the design and worked my way in. {For other designs like the bird nest I did above, it's best to work from the largest aspect of the design -- in that case, the main nest itself -- to the smallest, which were the eggs.} For this project, I started with the largest swirl frame first. Tape the cardstock stencil onto your canvas. 

Use your sponge brush in the same method of acquiring paint from the palette, gently press paint onto the edges of the stencil. 

 Hold down any edges of the stencil that may pop up as you paint. Also, what I really wanted to show was the outer shape of the frame, so I made sure that the edge between the stencil and the canvas was well covered with paint.

In this case, I was not as concerned with the center of the item, as it was going to be covered anyway.

 {8}

To ensure that the next stencil was perfectly aligned, I placed it on the canvas before taping it down and removing the outer frame.

Use the same sponge painting method to fill in the stencil. This time, fill in the whole open center with paint.

{9} Once the previous layer is complete, add the stencil with your letters. Tape the edges as you did with the previous stencils. Since this part has smaller pieces that may pop up, use a glue stick to adhere them to the canvas surface temporarily. {Examples would be the piece on the "n" below as well as the center of the "e", which was cut out separately, so I had to place it onto the canvas and glue}

{10}

Use the same sponge method to fill in the letters. This time, I used white acrylic paint again to make the letters stand out. 

Et voila!

If you decide to try this, share it with us! Email it to me and I'll put up a post of your crafts!

HAPPY CRAFTING!

22 Weeks and I Have Nothing To Compare It To

Weeks: 22 -- that's 5 1/2 months!

Weight Gain: now +5 lbs. from pre-baby weight

This Week's Cravings: Looks like I've nixed the chai teas and have returned to Pregnancy #1's staple: croissants and decaf coffee. Although it's decaf, I'm still limiting my intake, but when I do? Man, oh man, is it ever satisfying! My croissant intake has been the opposite. I've found myself having a whole turkey or ham and cheese croissant PLUS a half of a chocolate croissant in the mornings. My source has been my favorite donut place down the street, Wendi's Donuts, complete with ever-so-friendly Asians who always seem so happy to see another fellow slant-eye walking in. Love them. J is pretty happy with these cravings because I'm actually eating breakfast. Ever since childhood, I've never been a breakfast person, and pregnancy has not made it better. It frustrates J {he thinks I'm starving his child}, but he is oh-so-satisfied that he has won the battle of breakfast, at least for this week. 

New Maternity / Baby Purchases: If there's one thing about J that reminds me of my dad {a trait that I absolutely ADORE and find extremely essential in a man}, it's the fact that he is so handy. Apart from arranging for the painters and electrician to work on Baby B's nursery, my husband has done most everything. After dealing with a pesky delivery service fiasco this week, Baby B's crib finally arrived on Thursday, and was assembled so efficiently by Daddy B by Thursday evening. Friday evening brought Baby's mattress and we are almost complete! We have also ordered her bookshelf, which is scheduled to arrive sometime in the next week or so, I presume. {We bought the crib and bookshelf from two different stores, but it seems both stores use the same pesky delivery company. It is NOT promising.}

This Week's Pregnancy Cheat: I hope you're sitting down, because I have not cheated at all this week. Not-a-once. 

Things to Look Forward To: I received a phone call from a Kaiser nurse earlier this week {after my latest appointment with Dr. Moore}, who informed me that although everything seems to be going well, she has been assigned to be my "case worker" to keep track of me on the weeks when I don't have an appointment to see Dr. Moore. She has scheduled me to attend a preterm birth prevention class on the 20th. Although I'm reassured that the pregnancy this time is going smoothly thus far, I am still anxious to attend this class. At this point, I don't know if I can really be blamed if I am, at least to some degree, a little neurotic, a little over-careful, a little over-informed, or {d} all of the above. Part of my general psyche has always told me that the more information I'm armed with, the more secure I could potentially be.

Tired / Sick / Sleepy?: This week, I've felt my energy level up, and I have not been so tired. I've been going to bed at about 11:00 p.m. or 12:00 midnight and have been happily waking up between 7:30 a.m. and 8:00 a.m. Due to this, not only have I felt my energy level more easily managed, but I feel like my sleep pattern has been properly calibrated. {I understand that with pregnancy, there is no such thing as a properly calibrated sleep pattern, but I still feel pretty good about not "wasting" my day waking up late.}

----------------------

We did our 4D ultrasound earlier this week and got a few great pictures of Baby B. While there was a part of us that wished we had done it later on to get better quality pictures -- obviously, the more developed baby is, the better your pictures would be. Still, we were glad to have done it now because we both needed the reassurance that Baby B is, in fact, a girl. Sure enough, we both breathed sighs of relief when the radiologist showed us the "three lines" that they look for to determine a female gender. 

Here she is with her hand to her mouth. Someone is an avid thumbsucker. {Yikes. Her mommy was an avid thumbsucker until the age of NINE!}

Here she is again with her hand to her face. My mom, adorably enough, was in deep concern as it looks like she has a hole on her head. Not so. That's the shadow of the ultrasound bulb. You can sigh in relief too.

Baby in what we now call her "boxer" position. She looks like she's either boxing or praying.

We are also happy to report that her heart rate was strong and she was uncooperative as ever, stubborn like her parents. Our sweet little cupcake has quite the personality!

----------------------------

Just so everyone knows, I am waiting for all the nursery furniture and decor to come in and be installed before I put up a nursery tour post; however, here's another teaser pic.

That's all for now!!! 


P.S.
By the way, J gave me the green light -- we will reveal Baby B's name when we post the nursery tour!

Halloween Time!

Autumn has officially hit the Bench home.
Well, sort of.


Living in warm South Orange County, California,
autumn, among all the other seasons, tends to be the one who fights the toughest battle when it comes to showing itself.
The summer months, although they sometimes have a hard time fighting the June Gloom near the ocean,
they sometimes still seem to have staying power that pushes through to even November.


I think that's what's going on this year.
Outside of about three cool rainy days we had last week, the weather forecasts predict warm weather up until the high 80's and even the mid 90's.


Needless to say, with Halloween coming up in such a family oriented, generally kid-centric neighborhood, we are fighting on Autumn's side in little ways that we can.
For example, despite not really being a big fan of Halloween, 
I actually agreed to decorating this year.
Normally, my decorating consists of allowing J to carve a pumpkin, maybe two, on the day of,
but this year is a different story.
J was thrilled to be able to put up all sorts of decorations {including black lights! yes, black lights!} outside and we are actually looking forward to being a part of the festivities outside of just handing out candy next to our dimly lit pumpkins.
This year, we have spirit, we sure do!

Our front door:

The patio pillars:

 It's like celebrating two holidays in one! We may put up the creepy netting, but we were not going to give up having our flag there!

Lanterns on the steps

I love our little cemetery

And the piéce de resistance: 

J's ghoul in a cage!

 This guy is pretty creepy! His eyes light up and he screams!

We have a few more items to add to our festive decor,

and my feeling is that they will have to wait until next weekend. 

{As I'm typing this, my husband is sitting in front of the TV, playing his PS3 games... Battlefield or War or whatever it's called -- it could be HOURS before he realizes it's almost nighttime.}

Until the next!

Redecoration Nation Part III

I told you so. 

I told you I'd been having a love affair

. . . with mason jars, that is ;-)

As promised in my preview post earlier this week,

here is a new addition to my decoration addiction.

So last week, I was perusing on Craigslist

{yes, I am a total gypsy. I LOVE Craigslist.}

And I saw this sweet corner unit.

I needed a corner shelf / hutch for my dining room

and I lucked out with this baby.

Cute, right?

Here are the touches I added to it:

Mason jars on a cake pedestal.

The mason jars are standard Kerr widemouth jars

and the cake pedestal was purchased from Crate and Barrel last year.

These vintage milk bottles are a recent find also from Crate and Barrel. 

I absolutely fell in love with them and it was such a bonus to me that they are Italian glass!

You asking about these babies?

Yes, they are some of my new favorite items in my house!

And the best part?

They are upcycled projects I made!

They were inspired by a find I had from Pinterest!

These vases are actually ones that my flowers have come in when J had given me some {i.e. Valentine's Day, anniversaries, and -- the best kind -- the "just because" ones!}.

J had bought me some paint in chartreuse green / Tiffany blue

{I sent him to Home Depot with one of my Tiffany boxes to get the correct blue}

and I used them to paint the inside of the vases.

{a DIY project to come in a future post!}

Now they stand proudly on top of my new corner hutch

next to my peonies in my white ceramic pitcher...

and I am

IN.

LOVE.

So next project to share:

My newly "vintage" tinted mason jars.

I haven't exactly figured out where they will be placed,

but I know I'm going to use them as lanterns

for my upcoming Bunco party that I'm hosting for the neighborhood ladies.

Our theme: Southern Belles and Mint Juleps!

Stay tuned for that post!

P.S.

Have you checked out our Etsy store lately?

Remember that all followers of the blog 

get an additional 20% off your entire purchase!