Nesting Instinct

I know It's been awhile and I've got quite a lot of blogging to catch up on! Gotta do it little by little while Ellie sleeps!

So you know how there's this whole "nesting instinct" that pregnant animals and people experience? Well, to be quite honest, I had never heard of it being called "nesting" until I read Gooseberry Park, by Cynthia Rylant, right before I started student teaching (it was our first read aloud). With all that being said, I must say that towards the end of my pregnancy I was trying to get every little detail ready for Ellie's room. I didn't want to be rushing at the last minute. I'm sure all of this drove Kurt a little bit crazy, but he was quite the trooper and didn't complain. For example, when we moved here we had 2 bookshelves that were completely packed. One had 3 shelves and the other 5. Well, throughout the move our 5 shelves one the one turned into 3 as well. This meant we had a ton of books that had no place to go, and I didn't like all of the clutter. Towards the end I kept wanting to get another 3 shelf bookcase to put in Ellie's closet to house children's books. When we kept looking at Walmart they'd always just happen to be out. After several weeks of not being able to get one it all fell into place. After that I was determined to put it together and do the finishing touches on Ellie's room. It actually happened to be that I put that bookcase together and put all the books in it the day Ellie was born. Talk about nesting to the max and just in the nick of time!

So, to follow are pictures of Ellie's room and I will describe all the things I did to help make it the way it is!

Alright in the picture below you can see the main wall in Ellie's room. On the far left I made the wall hangings. They are made out of toilet paper rolls cut up, hot glued together (to match bedding pattern), and then painted. I got all of the frames thrift shopping and I spray painted all of them. On top of some I then used acrylic paint to make them match her room. I embellished all the frames with some cute little flowers or yo-yos and then I added cute black and white animal prints. I also did the little framed button art piece. I thought palm trees suited the room theme, so I kept to that instead of other types. Heck, we see palm trees all the time! So why not? Then the last little piece here I did was her name. Kurt got me the wooden blocks as a stocking stuffer, so I decided to hand paint (instead of just all plain spray painted) each letter to match her bedding. I'd have to say that my favorite is the I. I love the way it turned out.

 

Here is the corner of the room. I've already spent many hours in that glider! More frames I did & then I designed the saying in Photoshop. I saw the saying in a wall art piece on Pintrest. It says "Happy girls are the prettiest."

This is a bulletin board I redesigned several years ago. Now I just turned it into the bow/hair flower holder. Might I just add that this has become much fuller since this picture was taken! I also have a vinyl piece all done that I want to hang above the holder saying "You are my sunshine." I designed it and had my Silhouette Cameo (Kurt spoiled me for Christmas!) cut it all out before she was born, but that was one thing on my to-do list that just didn't get done.

Here's a view of Ellie's closet. There's the bookcase I put together. The last thing on my to-do that I got done!

After doing all of these things I realized It was a good thing that I had done them so early. Who knew Ellie would come a month in advance? Life is unpredictable, but I wouldn't have it any other way!!