Bun in the Oven, Burgers on the Grill- Baby Shower Cookout

One of my cousins is having a sweet baby girl in September and my mom and I threw a shower to celebrate! We decided to throw a fun family cookout instead of a traditional ladies only shower.

We purchased a DIY invite kit from an adorable etsy shop, A Sketchy Mind! Chelsea, the shop owner, quickly sent us all we needed to get the party planning going. 

Here are some pictures from the shower!

Ice Cream Bar

Handmade Hoop by Me for Baby

Activity Table

Diaper notes for the wee hours

Guess baby's birthday

Burger condiments in baby bottles

Simple baby banners

Drinks and gifts

Dessert Bar

Clothes Line of Baby Clothes

My Silhouette was put to work for two a few gifts for the baby! I used heat transfer vinyl on the onesies and regular vinyl on the notebook!

We also ordered other gifts from my favorite Etsy shop and used them around the house to decorate... Her Hands His Heart

We had a great time with our family and sweet baby Emmaline received so many things to help her mom and dad prepare for her arrival!

Mommy and Daddy to be!

Adorable Cart with Multiple Purposes

Earlier this summer we went to the beach with my parents and my mom and I shopped around the island one day. We found an adorable rolling cart at a local shop.

I have also found them for sale online but they are cheaper typically if you can find them at a shop... HERE is an online option!

I wanted to share three neat ways to use a rolling cart like this in your house!

1: Toy storage- in this case I used it for oversized toys that don't fit in the bins and on the shelves we have.

2: Blankets and pillows- I always like to have extra pillows and blankets around and this is a cute way to store them. 

3: Laundry! This is what I use it for the most. Our laundry room is on the same floor as our playroom and I love filling the cart up and then rolling it to the couch to fold it all!

It's helpful to have a place large enough to store the cart while it's standing but it does collapse down pretty flat and could be stored much easier that way! It has such a nice vintage look, that it's easy to store out in the open.

My New Office and Craft Room

I am SO in love with my new office and craft space. It's become one of my favorite rooms in the house, which is nice since i'm in here working everyday.

This room was actually the dining room in the original floor plan of the house. It sits right off of the kitchen and also connects to the formal living room. We have been using the rooms a little differently. With my office in the dining room, we have made the formal living room into the dining room (i'll post on that soon!).

First, let's check out my sewing table....

This table was our kitchen table in our previous house. It is perfect for sewing because there is space for my sewing and embroidery machines and extra space for supplies.

Next to the table I have my craft cart with more supplies, and my new secretary that houses my Silhouette Cameo. This secretary used to be in my sister, Blair's, house. It has served several purposes and has been a few different colors. Gabe painted it gray this weekend and then moved it into my office! It is the perfect size for holding more craft supplies.

Moving to the left side of the room...

I have a new bookshelf (yardsale find!) with work supplies and a few craft things. The basket to the left of the shelf (found at the same yardsale) holds all of my fabric.

Moving farther to the left, I have my cozy white chair. This chair was in our master a few years ago and then spent some time in our living room. It will now live away from sticky fingers and snotty noses here in my office.

Lastly, here's my desk! Where I spend about 90% of my time...

My desk faces out towards the rest of the room and faces two windows, which I love!

Lastly, here are the two doors that leave the office...

The solid door was here when we moved but we had the french doors installed to close off the space. It allows for a lot of light and I really love the bright feel it brings to the room. The french doors lead to the dining room and the solid door leads to the kitchen.

We will be installing a ceiling fan at some point. Currently, there is a chandelier that is too low for tall people to come into the room. Luckily i'm too short to hit my head on it! That's the only update needed here!

Hearth Cushions

As I mentioned in my previous post, our new home has two fireplaces. They are solid brick with hearths that come about a foot off the ground.  I really love the hearths, but they really pose a safety risk for our little ones.

After we moved I was searching Amazon (my go to for just about everything) for hearth padding. I ordered a set to try out on our playroom hearth and for another hearth it may perfect but to me it seemed like it would do nothing to protect my little guys if they had a fall.

(You can see the thin pads under my little man here)

My genius mom came up with the idea of a full hearth cushion. This option would cover all of the brick and even turn the hearth into extra cozy seating in each room.

I wish I could say I was handy enough with a sewing machine to pull this project off but I'm not. I placed a custom order with our good friend, Katie (I'm actually named after her!), who is an amazing seamstress (check out her Etsy shop: https://www.etsy.com/shop/HerHandsHisHeart )

Katie helped me find a local foam shop that cut the foam to size for me. She also helped me figure out how much fabric I would need, which I then ordered from Fabric.com (my fabric go to site).

(Here's our foam before Katie covered it!)

Once I had the materials ready, Katie got started and I couldn't be happier with the end product!! 

We've had these on our hearths for about 3 weeks now and we sit on them all the time. I love knowing that there is a much softer place to land if someone bumps up against the hearth now.

4th of July Mantel Decor

It's been so so long since my last post. The newborn fog is finally starting to clear and it's a great feeling! Our little man made his appearance on March 15 and he is the sweetest addition to our little family.

While on maternity leave, we moved! We moved about an hour and a half away to Winston Salem. It has been a great move for us so far and we LOVE our new house.

Here's a sneak peek of the new house...

We have been working hard to unpack and make his house feel like home! This house has two fireplaces and today I wanted to share how I've decorated each of them for the fourth of July!

Here's the upstairs mantel:

And downstairs:

 

I hope you have a great holiday weekend as we celebrate our country! To see more 4th of July decor, check out my best friend, Taylor's blog HERE!