Projects Galore!

As soon as I realized I was pregnant and processed what that meant my mind then went to--Nursery! Second only to a girl's wedding, planning your first baby's nursery is something I have thought about before. I will not say I thought about it more than my wedding, but in the sequence of life events once you are married then comes baby....at some point. For us, it is almost 4 years later. Since I had an inkling that we were going to have a boy I also knew that I wanted to incorporate the gator theme into the nursery--it all started with the Facebook announcement (at right). We didn't even know if we were having a boy or girl, but the announcement had to have a gator. For the nursery itself I knew I did not want the UF Gator, but cute little cartoon gators. Easy enough, right? Well, you would be wrong! It has been very difficult to find ANYTHING that is only alligators. I can find jungles, safari, etc, but no alligators. So after scouring the many patterns that include, but are not limited to alligators, I finally decided upon this bedding set. It has the gator, but it also has a monkey, frog, and a turtle. I find it very cute and I do adore it.

That was the beginning. Now that we had the bedding and the colors, I could move forward. This meant all kinds of little projects thanks to Pinterest. The first project was completed by my wonderful hubby--painting the closet doors. In the grand scheme of things, this was not an important project, but I have to say it did make me happy and as they say..."a happy wife, a happy life." It is hard to tell from the pictures, but the walls are a light beige color and the closet doors are a chocolate brown. It will go very well with the nursery furniture once its all in place. Currently, the only thing actually inside of the room is a full-sized bed that I will be using a lot of I'm sure so I am not traipsing back and forth between rooms. This weekend we will be adding the crib, dresser, and a gliding rocker.

The next project I took on was to create a plaque sign with one of my favorite quotes from a book that I loved reading to my preschool kiddos--"5 Little Monkey's Swingin From the Tree". I had to embrace the monkey in the theme. So here are the before and after pictures. I got the idea from visiting a children's consignment shop where they were selling these for $25! I made mine for under $10!

I think it turned out well aside from a bit of a spacing issue at the bottom. Oh well, adds character right? That is what I am telling myself. Last night as I watched the Super Bowl, I embarked on my next project...making a mobile. The mobile will have alligators and I am hoping the finished product will look as good as it does in my head--I am off to a good start thanks to Gina and Kat for their scissor mastery! There will be pictures to come soon I'm sure! Is this what they call nesting?? Michael's has become my new favorite place!