Triple the Fun (+1)

Last week while we were playing with our favorite triplets, I finally got some cute pictures of them all together! My friend Holly recently moved out of my town :( so we don't see them weekly as we used to. We made it up to their new place last week and had a fun afternoon on a beautiful day.

Not only did we get to see the big girls, but I also got lots of cuddle time with their new baby sister!

Of course I was sad to see them move, especially when her husband bakes a homemade cheesecake with oreo crust and I can't go over and share it with her after the babies go to bed, but I'm happy they have more space for their growing (and active) family.

Painted Nightstand: Made by Me Monday

We don't have night tables in our bedroom (or end tables in our living room for that matter). We are the type of folks who don't like alot of furniture, but enjoy the open space instead. I decided to look for complimenting, but not matching nightstands for the master bedroom a while back, but it took me a pretty long time to find something. I found the table below for $10 at Chartreuse & Co., a monthly area crafter flea market (also featured in Southern Living).

I stopped by our local hardware store to buy a sample size container of paint…but walked out with a better deal. The owner let me go through all the Benjamin Moore testers he has and take whatever I wanted for free. Apparently Benjamin Moore didn't use UV containers so the paints did not match the true color, so they were discontinued…a benefit to crafters like me!

These are the colors I narrowed it down to. I really thought I wanted a colorful table.

The color concept failed me. It looked horrible. I don't think the color was "bright" enough, it looked way too country for my liking. So, I painted it black and it looked perfect! I hated the blue so much that I didn't even get out the camera for a picture.

Pitter Patter

You know how people say stuff about the pitter patter of little feet when you have a baby? Of course you don't really hear that sound until they start walking, which was Sunday for us! We have a walker! At less than 11 months old, William decided he was ready. It started with two steps at a time a coupe weeks ago and then on Thursday night he took four. And kept taking four, Until Sunday evening when he did six, then seven and sometimes he still does four, but that's alright :)

Look momma, I'm not holding on!

You know what's funny is I remember how excited I was when he started sitting on his own so all the photos of him weren't taken lying down. Now he is standing and it is hard to get him to sit!

Customized Wall Decal: Made by Me Monday

Good morning! Today is the first edition of Made by Me Monday where I'm going to share my crafty projects with you and hopefully you'll share some back in the comments section.

For Christmas I got a Silhouette Cameo and have been doing alot of work with paper and experimenting with vinyl. I made a decal for our laundry room and knew exactly what I wanted to do in the nursery. William's room has a great six foot nook (we also have one in the master bedroom) where we have a large chair for reading and playing. Soon enough it will be home to William's own round child-sie table and chairs.

I wanted to use words of inspiration and creativity, also things that William can do in his own little nook. Once I came up with the words, I designed the decal in Silhouette Studio and then chose colors based on the vinyl I had available. Since I used a variety of colors, I had to cut each word/image separately so I pieced it together on the floor first.

 After applying the transfer tape, the decal looked like this, backwards since it has to go on the wall correctly.

I applied the decal to the wall…..

…and then pressed it on with my little "credit card" presser. This step is important because it adheres the decal to the wall and prevents bubbles and tearing.

My favorite part is peeling off the transfer tape and seeing the finished product!

Ta-Da!!

I would love to help you design a decal for your children's room. Please stop by my Facebook Page or send me an email memorabledesigns@gmail.com

I have an Announcement...

On this day, the day after Valentine's Day I have an announcement to make:
I am going to start a weekly post Made by Me Monday.


How is this going to be different? Well, for starters, I'd like for you to share with me things you've made in the comment section of these posts. My blog isn't "ready" for a Linky party yet, but it would be great one day. For now, we'll keep it casual. This will give me additional encouragement to share some of the craft things I have made on a weekly basis. It is easy to let blog posts get shuffled around when life gets busy, but I am going to stick to this. Hopefully, ti will also allow me to see some new things you have created without having to stray far from my own blog.

So that's all for now…time to make sure I have good photos for my first few posts!

Warmer Weather Where We Are

Up until this weekend, Maryland had been experiencing April-like weather in January. This is odd, but especially odd since last year we had two snowstorms nicknamed Snowmageddon that dropped 18+ inches of snow in my front yard.

William and I took full advantage of the warm weather by going to the Zoo, the park and playing outside, which was really his first time doing so. He can't walk on his own yet, but loves pushing his fire truck around, so we bring it out with us. Keeps him from crawling or being in the boring stroller. As the weather has gotten -30 degrees again, I find myself sick, sinus congestion and sore throat. So, the rest of this post will be photos of our cute boy!

Laundry Room {Renovation}

You may know that back in 2009 my husband and I started building our first home together. The side door with laundry room, closet and door to a half-bath seemed to work great. That is until we moved in. The laundry room became cluttered. We were using our side door 95% of the time for the past two years since we didn't have a front walkway until October 2011 and walking from the driveway to the front porch meant muddy feet. So this cluttered "passageway"became our entryway.

The laundry room was the builder's color paint until December 2011. Why did we wait so long? Well, my husband is a wonderful painter, but he also has a job with long hours which gives him little time for hobbies and other fun stuff, nevermind painting. It was me too, I couldn't decide on the color. We finally painted our kitchen Cliveden Gray Morning by Valspar on March 28, 2011. This is significant because I went into labor on March 30th so the dining room remained white until December 2011. Once my husband painted the dining room, I decided to carry the color all the way into the laundry room since they all connect.

Since the wire shelf was removed to paint, we decided to purchase a basic cabinet from Lowe's for $99 to hide our detergent, cleaners, etc. Installing the cabinet and hiding these things away made an immediate difference. 

Then we started thinking about a drying rack since I am one of those people who hangs jeans, unmentionables (ahem) and sweaters to dry. In my searching for new design options, we came across this image on Pinterest and knew it was what we wanted to do. I started looking for the fold down drying racks, but didn't have much luck. What I did find was along the same lines from The Container Store. We purchased a fold-away drying rack and hung it above the dryer. 

I also found this quote on Pinterest but created it myself with my Silhouette Cameo.

I am very please with our "new" laundry room. Cheers to my husband!

A Town Without a Grocery

The town I live in has about 5,000 residents and is a "walkable" community. It ranks as 52 out of 100 if you use a town address in the search menu. We don't have any stoplights, only one main four-way intersection. It is a town where I can park at one shop in town and easily walk to the grocery, library, CVS, several restaurants (two pizza shops, McDonald's, Mexican, a full service restaurant and Subway are your options), two beer and wine stores, two really cute stores for gifts and housewares, and a few other service stores (hair, nails, dry cleaning) if I needed them. This has become especially attractive since the birth of my son because as any parent knows, doing the whole in and out of the car seat and stroller act gets old after a few errands. So, we would park, unload, do our errands on foot (also fresh air and exercise!) and head home.

Last week we lost our grocery store, Selby's Market. What is a small town without a grocery? According to a 2008 article on Yahoo!, a grocery store is a necessity in a small town because otherwise neighboring stores may increase prices out of necessity, residents can no longer shop in their own zipcode for food. There have been discussions that our property values have decreased because we do not have a grocery store, rather some food at CVS and some organic items at a small market on "the other end" of town. The Selby's have been a part of our community for 65+ years in one capacity or another. I have heard that their grocery was in this building (now a dance studio) and that building (now a gym) and then to its last location, anchoring one of our plazas. On the community Facebook page, residents have discussed the turmoil of Selby's closing its doors and what it means for the community. But you know what? I didn't do my part.

I am as guilty as the next person for doing my main grocery shopping 12 minutes down the road at Harris Teeter or 18 minutes down the road at Giant (hello gas points). The variety of produce, meats, cheeses and basic items, frequently at a wonderful price, lured me in. And I really like these grocery stores, I'm not going to say I don't since I don't lie on my blog (or in real life). So, I would frequent Selby's for staple items if I ran out and some things here or there such as eggs, milk, a frozen pizza and the BEST fried chicken ever. But I wouldn't call myself a loyal customer.

Why am I saying all this? Well just because I didn't give enough monetarily to support their business, the Selby family are some of the greatest folks in our community. A few go to church with us and they opened their hands and hearts from the first service we attended. They came out from behind the counter to say hello, ask how things were going and make your child laugh. They'd help you bring bags to your car. Heck, one Saturday morning they let my husband in before the store technically opened to buy coffee, Bisquik and The Washington Post. And to top it off, today, one of their sons called me about a beautiful metal wagon I inquired about in the store. I asked to purchase the wagon to use for William's birthday party a few weeks ago and they took my name and number. He called to ask if the party had passed or if I still wanted to borrow the wagon. He wouldn't even let me pick it up…he brought it to my home.

In the end, the Selby's business may not have been the success they had hoped, but my golly, they raised some wonderful children and they will all have a special place in our heart. Just because we no longer have a grocery store, doesn't mean we are a community without good people with good hearts and character.