Mason Jar Soap Pump

I've looked at this Vintage-y Glass Pump every time I went to Target, but at $13 dollars I never put it in my cart.  I walked away thinking how pretty it was but I could buy baby girl a pair of shoes or a new outfit for that money.  Yes, I know $13 is pretty cheap but I guess I'm really really cheap thrifty.  So I went looking through my cabinets to see what I could come up with.  And here she is:

I picked this mason jar up at an antiques fair last summer for a few bucks.  Atlas is the name of a family company so I was drawn to it right away.  It's held everything from fresh flowers to rubber bands, so I thought I would make something out of it that I could look at everyday.

Here's how I did it: (being a new craft blogger I completely forgot to take pictures...actually I wasn't patient enough to get the camera, I wanted it done right then :)

Step 1: Since this thing will be seeing a lot of moisture I put a fresh coat of high gloss black spray paint on the lid to make clean up easy.

Step 2: Drill a hole in the center of the lid starting the hole on the top side.  I found out that my lid had a glass bottom that shattered but it wasn't a big deal.  If you're safer then me you might want some safety goggles on.  I used a 1/4 inch drill bit but depending on the pump you could go bigger.

Step 3: Insert the pump. I used a pump from a plastic soap dispenser I had lying around.  I'm going to replace it with a longer one when I find it though. * You could use some Gorilla Glue and glue it in from the underside but I found it's already a pretty tight fit without the glue and stays in place.

Step 4: Fill 'er up and brag to your hubby about how you used a power tool unsupervised :)

I made two, this one and one for baby girl's bathroom.  Hers has pink soap which turned out really cute.  You could use spaghetti jars or other random glass jugs too...I save all my spaghetti sauce jars and clean them out and use them as vases.

Hope you try it out!

Ashley

  

Baby Tutorials...Kinda

Here are some ideas I had before I started blogging.  There isn't any detailed instructions but I think they're pretty self-explanatory.

I found these baby clogs at Target on clearance last summer but they seemed a bit plain.  I made the gathered flower with a button center and hot glued them on.  I used this kojodesigns tutorial-these girls are awesome by the way!

(p.s. aren't baby feet tiny :)

 I found these two shoes at a children's consignment store and added some rhinestones.

Really simple and super cute.  Soft headband from target, I think it was a 4 pack for $1, and a fake flower from the craft store.  Take the flower apart and get rid of the plastic divider things, then hot glue it all back together.  Glue it on the headband and your good to go.  I did fold over about an inch on some of them and stitch them just to make them snugger on her tiny head and as she grew I just took the stitches out.; I remember making these when I was HUGE pregnant not knowing my baby girl was going to still be bald at 15 months and really need these so people wouldn't call her "such a handsome little guy."

then

and now...

And a big fat welcome to all the new followers, I'm so glad to have ya'll!

Ashley

Master Bedroom

Here is our master bedroom work in progress. 

It's pretty much a hodge podge of things that kinda work together.  The old victrola acts as a night stand on hubbys side and an antique fold down table sits on my side to hold all my junk.  The bed was one of our first purchases as a married couple and the dresser is a hand me down that hubby painstakingly refinished. The cow rug was the first married Christmas gift hubby gave me (I think I gave him the better gift the next year though...our sweet daughter :)

before: he even added the panels on the drawers and middle to cover the old pulls.

 There's sweet cheeks.  The bell reminds me of my short lived career as a school teacher and the mirror is a clearance Target find.  

What? Everyone's husband doesn't bid on random things on ebay? He was pretty proud of this jackalope thing.  I pulled a drawing out of hubby's high school art folder and framed it.

I am a bedding freak.  I have a whole container under our bed full of pillowcases and sheets.  So each week there's a new look.  I buy sets on clearance but I never use the set together.  I like the layers it adds when you have different patterns going on, just remember to keep the color scheme similar and it will always look put together and not like laundry day.

The curtains are temporary but they seem to work for now.  The two sheers in the middle were originally for sweet girl's room (notice the ruffles that took me for.ev.er to put on) but since the government is working right outside these windows everyday I needed something to add privacy and still let in the light.  Our backyard sits on the 17th street levee here in New Orleans and for the next five months they're reinforcing the levee walls.  Which means strange men and tractors in our backyard at 6am. Yup, our backyard is looking a little sad but hopefully is will be landscaped soon.

and here's what this room looked like about a year ago

ashley

Nursery Reveal

So here is Gracie's nursery.  

in it's post-Katrina goodness.  No, she doesn't sleep on a concrete slab and we did put up a few walls just for her :) I can't say this room has been done in my head awhile because it's really just been pieced together with different finds from salvage yards and thrift stores and the much beloved (atleast in this home) craigslist.

In making our kitchen a bit bigger we made the nursery a bit smaller, but little people don't need huge spaces and when she gets older and siblings come along she will get daddy's office.  Since her room is tiny, the layout has already changed a few times and it will probably change in the future as well (hubby never knows what he is going to find when he gets home from school :)  But for now there's the crib, dresser and play chest.  I really want to find a big comfy chair for the corner with the toy chest and I've thought about doing a bookcase on either side of the crib but I'm not sure yet.

I found the portrait at Goodwill and made the pendants with some scrap fabic and taped (yup, scotch tap) it to the walls.  The drapes are a Sears clearance bin find but looked like they were ready for the flood and we are done with floods so I added a pleat detail to the bottom with plain muslin.  Striped rug is a Dash & Albert spurge.  Sheepskin rug is a Tuesday Morning find.  Lamp is a salvage yard find that got a fresh coat of white paint and the shade is from a lamp I had as a teen.

I made the mobil with random things from around the house.  I cut the wire circles out of an old ikea paper lamp that we haven't used in forever and sprayed them white.  Then I used scrape fabric to make ruffles, glued them on the strands of ribbon and hung them from the wire frame.  I also hang some extra pieces from a chandelier we have that clink together and make a pretty sound.  The most special part are the handwritten prayers and scripture written by family members on tags from my baby girls great-grandfather's workshop.

Target toychest

local restore chair

Goodwill stool (here's a before)

So, there it is. For now atleast; who know's what it will look like in a few months :)

I'm going to try and go room by room through the house to show yall what we have so far. Keep in mind there are places that are completely bare and I have no motivation to do yet but hey that's life huh.

 

Thanks for reading!

Ashley 

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I guess this is mommyhood?

So, I should have learned my lesson the first time when I decided to be handywoman and switch the dryer door to open the opposite way and ended up spending two hours trying to retrieve one of the tiny screws Grace dropped into the dryer vent. Not an accident, no, she did it on purpose, laughed and walked away. You might think I made that last sentence up but I didn't, true story.  Ended up using and dog collar, kitchen magnet and two chopsticks taped together to get the dang screw back; all while wrestling with baby girl because she had suddenly become interested again and came back to "help."
Fast forward to this morning.  While I was getting dressed my debit card dropped out of my back pocket from yesterday.  Grace picks it up and walks away.  Okay, it was keeping her happy and it was one of those mornings.  She sits down by the window and is showing the dogs outside her new treasure (aka, debit card).  I go to switch over a load of laundry, the dryer door is open and I'm reaching to get some dryer sheets.  Grace appears out of nowhere (seriously, I didn't even hear her) and I heard clink and little footsteps running away.  I turn and look, the fluff catcher (I don't know the official name but the thing you take all the clothes fluff off of after each load) is on the floor.  So I find Grace, no debit card. I find a flashlight, and find the debit card with the clothes fluff.  "ok, you can do this ash, you've done it before." Well, last time it was magnetic and this time no such luck.  Our dryer vent thing is like the valley of death apparently because they don't want anything coming out of there.  I took off the front of the dryer (I was feeling pretty good at this point, I mean I had just disassembled our dryer all by myself) only to see that the vent trap thing is never coming apart.  Ok, now what?  Two spatulas taped together and alot of "oh, so close! dang it i dropped it again" and the debit card is back in my wallet.
So I guess this is mommyhood.  Things you never thought you would be doing that you find yourself dealing with all the time.  No one tells you about these things.  But, it's worth it because this morning after all that mess, Grace grabbed me by the face and laid a wet one on me. Oh man, I'm in trouble.

Ashley

It's been awhile...

So...I'm alive.  Haha, life has been pretty chaotic this past month.  Moving, Christmas holiday in Texas, moving again, unpacking, sick baby, sick mommy and sick daddy, baby is finally well then starts teething (molars are hard!)...you get the picture.  But we are moved in, our family is back together (since we ended our lease and the house still wasn't done the baby and I were living away from Jonny for the past couple months which was VERY difficult) and things have gone back to normal.
All the boxes are unpacked and things are put away and I realized we don't have nearly enough stuff to fill this big house! So being the thrifty (cheap is more like it) couple that we are, we have been checking Craigslist continuously throughout the days and hitting up thrift store and my favorite- Target.  We scored a great couch and chair- custom slipcovered in white linen- off of craigslist for 600 buck.  Jonny was super excited because I had just talked him into a PotteryBarn couch the week before and this saved us a ton of cash and they look almost identical.  Picture to follow once I find my camera charger, and my camera.  We been hanging curtains and assembling beds every night after Grace goes to sleep and I just have to say my husband is a trooper because he is deathly sick and still drilling holes and anchoring things into the walls.  Now its all the finishing touches that need to be found, things like art and stool and all that fun stuff but I'm not in a hurry.  I did find some awesome huge through pillows at Goodwill the other day for $2.50, I was really really excited because they are from potterybarn and super expensive.  Jonny on the other hand was kinda grossed out, I washed them don't worry.
I'm going to try and take some pictures of the house and put them up soon.
Until then....

(Grace-10 months old)

Ashley

To My Daughter

365 days ago I was in labor.
I had not met you before and could only imagine what you would be like.
Who would you look like? Would you have your daddy's hair or your momma's blue eyes?
365 days ago I waited in anticipation to meet the child the Lord had been growing in my belly for 9 long months. I waited to hold your tiny hands and cup your itty bitty feet.  I waited to meet the little girl that would forever change my world.
365 days ago we prepared our home for you.  We set up your crib and put on fresh sheets for the very first time.  We packed up your tiny clothes and nightgowns to bring to the hospital.  I was so amazed at how little your onsies were and couldn't imagine you ever fitting into them.  
365 days ago I watched your daddy sleep.  I watched him take deep breathes and watched his chest slowly deflate.  That was the last night he would not worry about his little girl.  I watched your daddy as he dreamed of you and smiled with delight.
365 days ago you were in my belly. I rested my hands on you and prayed over you.  I looked down at the bump and cried with overwhelming happiness knowing you were only hours away.
365 days ago I pushed. And pushed. And pushed.  You arrived in this world a beautiful pink hue and was placed on my belly. I wept.  I loved you immediately.  You were placed in your daddy's arms as he carried you away to be cleaned up.  He put on your first diaper and wrapped you up.  Then he placed you in my arms and I stroked your sweet face.
365 days ago you were born.  You became the apple of your daddy's eye and you made your momma's heart grow to a size she never thought possible.  
Tonight I laid you down to sleep and sang you Twinkle Twinkle Little Star.  You looked up at me and closed your sweet blue eyes and I slowly closed your bedroom door.

Love forevermore, 
Your momma