Just a quick PSA for my mommy friends :)

I've unfortunately been inundated with visions of improperly tightened or restrained children in car safety seats. I just want to show a couple pictures of what should and should not be done with car seat harness straps. It's something I am very vigilant about with our girls since they are absolutely the most precious thing in the world in my life.

Without further adieu-

What NOT to do-

Car seat straps should NEVER dangle off the shoulders, and the chest plate should never be below armpit level.

(please don't pay attention to the date stamp, it's totally wrong)

Straps should look like this-

Straps should fit snuggly over the shoulders, with the chest plate aligned at the armpits. You should not be able to fit more then two fingers comfortably under the chest plate, nor should you be able to pinch the straps. If you can pinch them, then they are much to loose.

or

Also, proper strap height-

For forward facing(which is the arrangement I used for these pictures, although the seat is not actually installed) the straps should be AT or ABOVE the shoulders.

For rearfacing(which both of my girls are), the straps should be AT or BELOW the shoulders.

Be blessed ya'll!

A little late but... the best of 2010

It's been a crazy year since I went back to school and we moved all at the same time. It still seems to have been a rather productive time, though judging by the projects I got done :)


This is the picnic table I built Gabby for her 3rd birthday. It has been a HUGE hit with the kids. It has just enough room for the oldest 5 cousins to all sit together for meals.


I built this bench right before we moved into the house, it now resides in our bathroom. I like to store our towels rolled up on the bottom shelf.


A headboard for our bedroom. Although I have since decided I don't like it so the wood will be re-purposed for Gabby's headboard.

I painted the living/dining room and added chair rail. I am totally thrilled with how this turned out. Oh, and not in the picture is the molding I framed the window with, it looks SO much better.

Our Master bedroom also got a makeover... The paint color is now a couple shades darker and we have CURTAINS :)

Our main floor bathroom got a new paint job, shower curtain, light fixture, decorations, AND... I removed the carpet.



But of course, the ABSOLUTE BEST of 2010 is my darling Emilia :)

Our Christmas Card!!

Classic Scarlet 5x7 folded card

Unique party invitations and announcements by Shutterfly.

View the entire collection of cards.

50 Free Shutterfly Christmas cards!!!

Hey out there! Haven't posted since before we moved, it's been crazy with classes and home projects but I have LOTS of before/after pictures to show you all. Anyway, on to what I'm really writing about this morning.

I was made aware of this really super fantastic deal from Shutterfly this year. For those who don't know, I adore them for photo books and personalized calendars. Their quality is great and they always have great deals and/or promotional codes. This year I'm thinking about ordering our Christmas cards and/or some gift tags. How cute are they?!? This is the card I'm considering- Christmas Letter, it should be perfect for us. I want to do a family picture and then pictures of each of the girls individually. I love the letter aspect, it gives me the ability to put a more personal touch on the cards then just "hey, here's our family." I don't know that we are doing them for family/friends, but we are definitely sending them out to Micah's business contacts. I love the other cards we get from contacts, it's so nice to put faces with names.

Also... How about Christmas gifts? These wall canvases would make fabulous christmas gifts for grandparents, or even a spouse. I usually order stretched canvases of one of my favorite photos from our Christmas session and it hangs in a prominent spot all year long. They are a great "fresh" look and since they don't have a frame that needs to match with room decor they are easy to move around in the house.

Lastly... Bloggers go HERE to find out how you can get 50 free photo cards from Shutterfly!

Mod Podged mason jars

I have a decorating blog addiction. There, I said it. The good thing about this addiction is I find all sorts of way.stinkin.cool ways to make our living spaces more "me"(I guess I should say "us" but Micah doesn't really care). I found this great, fabulous, awesome, cool idea at The Hand Me Down House and knew right away that the mod podged mason jars would make wicked awesome hanging lanterns for our back patio area.

Of course I neglected to take pictures while I was putting my mod podge on the jars, but here they are drying in my(disgustingly dirty) oven.



When they are done I will wrap some wire around the tops and drop some tea lights in them. They will be so pretty lit at dusk :)

Ciao Bella!

Making our House a Home- Master Bedroom

We close on our new house in exactly 14 days, so, on Aug 26th we'll get the keys and then the real party can begin :)

This afternoon the fabric samples that I ordered came in the mail and they are *perfect*. I mean seriously, absolutely *perfect*.

And this one-
They are slightly different in color when you see them in person and I like them even better in natural sunlight.

I'm imagining the birds on a pair of accent chairs like this, which should be fairly straight forward to reupholster. Or maybe something like this-

I'm going to pick up the wood to make this headboard this weekend, once we're settled in then I'll make the rails as well.


I'm envisioning all white bedding with accent pillows made from the two different fabrics. The walls in the room will be painted the robin's egg blue color from the fabric. I can't decide if I want to paint all the walls that color, or if I want to do one big accent wall in the blue and the other 3 walls in the taupe color?

I have some other ideas floating around as well for things like night tables and decorative accents but I don't really see much point in posting pictures of ALL of them :) You'll get to see the finished project anyway.

Ciao bella!

$2 Thrift Store Shelf makeover

I finished up my $2 shelf last night and got it put in it's new {temporary} home. It's cute, but if it stays in the main living area of our house then it might need some beadboard... or something. It was really a very straightforward project. Sand, add shelf, sand more, prime, sand, paint, sand, add some feet, and paint. It's a great grey color that is almost black but not quite. I'm thinking it might get some beadboard panels(especially a back) and go live in the girl's room for toys? Or maybe in Micah's office for books.

Before(ugly, no shelf, no feet but nice sturdy bones)-


After-






































I'm joining the before and after party at ThriftyDecorChick!