Mother's Day Gift - chalkboard flower pots

Hello.  My name is Amy.  And I've been VERY absent from this blog.

Hopefully, if I get my act together, you'll be seeing more posts in the near future.

I wanted to post this before Mother's Day . . . if there are any of you who need to give a last minute gift.

We made these chalkboard flower pots last year for our mothers and grandmothers.

And {I hope} they were loved!

It's pretty self explanatory.

Buy some terra cotta flower pots and chalkboard paint/spray paint.

After you paint the pot (it does need time to dry - 24 hours), place soil and beautiful flowers inside.

Then last, but not least, write a message to that special mother of yours.

In my humble opinion, handmade gifts are the very best!

:: Nursery - sneak peek

I love Anson's nursery.

The colors. The simplicity.

There are many times when I catch myself staring at the world map,

imagining my family roaming far off places.

Maybe one day, but for now, I'm content with watching my baby sleep. Or cry.

Whichever he's wanting to do at that moment.

Life is grand.

crib/world map/jute rug

:: Deals - gap.com

Right now, Gap.com is having an amazing sale.

40% off of regular priced items and 50% off of sale/clearanced items!

It ends on the 29th (tomorrow).

This is when I like to stock up on the children's clothes for the next year.

Their winter stuff can be pretty affordable with sales like these.

I bought this dress for less than $15 and these shoes for $6 

as Ava's birthday dress.

So go over, now!

dress/shoes

:: Hair - twirl curls

I've discovered this amazing makeup blog, Maskcara.

Love, love, love it!

Not only does she have amazing makeup tips (that I definitely need),

but she also has some hair tutorials.

And there's always a need for that.

This is one tutorial that I love.

Twirl curls!

You need to try it.

:: Refashion - girl's dress

In 2012 when I was pregnant with Anson, I found a cute tunic on clearance at H&M.

I wanted to make it into a dress, so I bought two of them. 

This is what I came up with and you can see the post here.

After sewing the bottom half of the second tunic onto the first tunic, 

I had a top half left over.

I decided to make it into a dress for Ava.

Friends. . . this is a top that I've been meaning to refasion for more than a year.

My poor sewing pile.

I was determined to finish it.

Almost a year and a half later.  Ha!

I used another dress of Ava's as a pattern and just hoped that it turned out.

And luckily it did!

It looks darling on her.

And she's quite the little model.

I'll be sharing this here.

:: Home Decorating - the girl's room

It's taken a few years to change the girls room up.

From a baby nursery to a little girls room.

And it's still not even how I want it to be.

But it will, someday soon.

Right now they're sharing a queen bed.

Reese loves it.  Ava . . . not so much.

(they will eventually have their own twin beds)

We made their walk-in closet into a little play area/library

and their clothes are in the armoire (that we received for free, I might add).

It's definitely a work in progress, but we love it.

:: New Year - goals and a free printable

About a week ago, we were finally able to write down our goals for the new year.

A terrible cold that came my way, got into the way of anything and everything.

But we wrote them down even if some were in their princess dresses.

Last year I found a printable where we could write about our past year and our goals for the upcoming year, but for some odd reason, I didn't pin it!
One for children and one for adults.

So, I just made my own for my kids.

The link can be found here.

I love that little Ava is finally able to write her own.

Her goals are pretty cute.
"Learn how to sew" and her biggest goal was "to be obedient".  Ha!

She'll thank me later . . . I'm sure of it.