Crafting Corner

This has become my crafting corner lately where creativity meets spray paint. 

 There are so many little areas of the house that I've been trying to decorate for years. They either need some color, some decorative organizational piece or just a plain, cute accessory. Fortunately, I have quite the collection of supplies from thrift shops, Goodwill, garage sales or freebies. The hardest part for me is finding the time to experiment.

This is one transformation that actually didn't turn out to be a flop.

$3 frame from Goodwill store (The nice thick matte caught my eye).

Enter spray paint (I just recently learned you could spray paint a matte! So exciting!) and some left over fabric lying around and vwala, a nice piece of art for the potty room.

I used to have a chalkboard in that space but with all the water and moisture, it didn't hold up very well and began to warp. I think this dresses it up nicely!

And this is a sneak peek at a few accessories I'll be using for an upcoming celebration I'm just so excited about. Love me some party planning!

In case it wasn't obvious, the theme is WHITE.... More on that very soon!

Celebrating with the onesies you love

(If the title has you chuckling or smiling, I can't take the credit. That would be my better half, Mr. Soto)

This past weekend, I gathered with my nearest and dearest friends to create some homemade, special onesies for the littlest Soto coming next month (uh, hopefully next month!) It was such a neat celebration from the days weeks prior of preparing all the details: gathering fabric and decorations and dying and washing dishes, cutting stencils, making name tags and the like, to the actual day of being with such incredible women whom God has blessed me immeasurably with their friendship and life example. From the moment the doorbell rang and the first guest arrived, the time. flew. by.  

And the day began. This was my speech attempt to express my appreciation and love for each one of my friends who come from varying stages and places in my journey but equally fill my life with such immense fulfillment and richness... What a dream come true to have them all in the same home sharing food, each other's company and crafting!!!!

Then we prayed and ate our heart out! The lovely spread...

This was Station 2: Choose your onesie color/style, fabric and applique stencil... 

(with some professional examples for inspiration)

Station 3: The sweatshop craft room with a lovely view of the Emde Resort...

 & the slave laborers ladies hard at work producing some awesomely creative onesies:

 They definitely surpassed any and all expectations I had with their intensity and excitement.

Hands down, Julianna had the most creative, hillarious idea for 1 of her creations...Can you guess what it is? Not a jelly bean or a jumping bean....

 It's Soren's missing left kidney!!! It still has me busting up every time I see it! Yes, child, we are already laughing at your expense before you even enter the world :)

(& you better believe he will be seen sporting that proudly)

And this super momma,  in the land of sleep deprivation, cracked nipples and a healing crotch (sorry Care), having pushed out a 9 pounder 10 days prior, shows up beautifully glowing, passes up the pre-made stencils and busts out a onesie using a hand drawn original! What a treat not only to see her but to also meet and hold baby Tyler!

 Some more highlights of the beautiful afternoon...

I'll need to update the "after" picture since several more were added after working into the evening (not to mention the backsides of some which have some really cute bum embellishments) but a very impressive transformation...

Thank you Mom (Dad, Miranda & Ita) for your incredible labor of love, countless hours of shopping, prepping, cleaning, dying, washing, ironing, gift wrapping, knitting, crocheting, decorating and much more to create such a warm, welcoming and loving environment for everyone. It was such a special time, absolutely perfect, and I am so blessed to have had such a memorable celebration in honor of our 3rd miracle.

 And a special thanks to Mr. Soto for taking over as Mr. Mom giving our girls a full day of fun memories with daddy (& some adorable video to prove it) so mommy could take a day "off" and get spoiled!

It's a Circus Life

These 2 bums have been inseparable lately, even in their sleep. 

Yep, we have made the transition from separate sleeping quarters to the chaos closeness of a single shared dormitory. Last night was the 4th night sharing their new combined space and it's been...well, interesting. I'm sure for many reasons, including cutting new teeth, new surroundings, new bedtime routine for Spicy, etc. they have both been waking a bit lot more than usual. Sometimes, the one off in dreamland can sleep right through the noises and sometimes, she just can't, which comes, the interesting part. Two babes vying for mommy's assistance to get back into a deep sleep, in the middle of the night, as my 3rd baby does somersaults of his own making my tummy feel like an erupting volcano. Good times! 

Good thing for daddy's!

But enough about that thing they call sleep (what's that, anyway?), I'm sure it will just take some time to adjust and soon they won't remember anything differently.

The real reason I was so excited to post this was to document the changes, the little (& not so little) decorating projects that have been completed to make this room possibly my new favorite little spot in the house. 

The dresser. 

Ah, the dresser. The focal point of the room. This dresser was my little sister's up until about the age of 11 or 12 when she got a new bedroom set. She's now 28 so I think it's officially an antique. Anyway, my mom moved it from room to room definitely getting her money's worth until she finally got sick of it convinced my dad to buy some new furniture for their sun room. She offered it to us and I graciously accepted, keeping in the back of my mind all those impressive DIY refurbishing projects I had seen (but never attempted) and thought I could  partake in to transform it into something of my liking. I wish so badly I had a before picture (I know I took one but after searching & searching through hundreds of my unorganized pictures, I gave up) but just imagine an off-white color, stained by the sun with paint chipping and wood warping (due to daddy and my negligence keeping it outside, uncovered, in days of harsh rain, woops!) with hideous, obnoxiously large wooden knobs. 

And here it is today...

Isn't it a beaut? I was supposed to do all the sanding and priming and painting myself (under a certain contractor's mentor-ship) but of course, SuperDad came to the rescue, completely undertaking the entire project himself and doing an amazing job as always & a whole heck of a lot better than I would have done! I absolutely looooove the way it turned out! So often, projects I undertake don't come out anything near what I had in my mind but this one surpassed my expectation and vision (probably because I didn't touch it, ha!)  I seriously get so excited when I walk in to greet my baby blue friend.
And the knobs.

 I get all giddy when my hands touch those knobs. After searching all the hardware stores and several online sites, I finally found what I was looking for and in my price range. It took about 5 days to receive them and when my UPS friend arrived yesterday, apparently I couldn't contain my excitement because without hesitation, I shouted "My dresser knobs!!!!" throwing my arms straight up to the sky as my neighbor who was standing next to me looked at me very perplexed and couldn't help but laugh at with me!  I even made the bearer of such a wonderful gift chuckle as I embarrassingly explained, "Hey this is serious stuff for a SAH-internet-shopper Mom."

Anyway, I think the glass knobs give it a vintage twist and showcase the awesome-ness of my dad's handy work!

The pendant name sign was done to coordinate with big sister's that I made over a year ago. 

Before:

After:

Another fun project was dressing up this family of hand carved elephants that traveled all the way from Ghana, Africa from my Missions Trip in 2001. I hesitated to taint their original beauty but the crafty part within me just couldn't contain itself. Once I found the coordinating crib bedding for Sweets (courtesy of IKEA) and saw the decked out elephants here (& on the back side),

 the idea immediately popped in my head and I knew I just had to tackle it!

So here goes, the Before:

 And the After:

And this bad boy has been with Spicy & I through many an adventure. 

I picked him up from Z Gallerie on sale (the only time I have ever walked past that store) when daddy was oversees and I was filling much of my down time missing him, trying to accessorize her jungle-themed nursery. It's been lugged to baby showers & photo shoots & I was so glad he still worked in this room because as annoying as it is when the girls knock him over time and time again & want to be lifted onto his back for pretend rides, I wasn't ready to part with him just yet. 

Other little touches to the circus inspired room come from Grandma Emde's labor of love.

 I absolutely treasure that these things she left behind are in my girls room, not just for looks but apart of their play and enjoyment. Seeing them take pleasure in her crafty and talented creations just warms my heart and connects all of us to her (even though they never had the chance to meet her). Every time I see them flipping through the pages of the cloth book she sewed or asking to take Mr. Clown down from the shelf, I think of her, I am flooded with memories of her, I pray for her, converse with her in my thoughts and smile, knowing she is with us in our circus party every time we play together in here.

And because the girls spend a lot of time in here, I tried to preserve the little work stations/play areas that previously existed since they still desperately need their own space/time for independent play. Although many times, I am tempted to plead with SuperDad to build an iron wall divider with a deadbolt that only I control, I think these little 'nooks' work to keep them from killing each other. ;) 

The art/drawing/coloring/homework table:

The dollhouse that they both seem to enjoy together (& yes that would be a blue-headed martian bobble-head guy invading the party on the top floor):

 The reading corner:

And the dress-up corner where Spicy spends a lot of time trying on various dresses and accessories pretending to be a ballerina princess:

Some more details:

Anyway, it's been a fun, fun undertaking that has kept me quite busy, mainly trying to purge, consolidate and organize toys and clothes that used to have twice the space.

And now, onto finishing the little guy's nursery...