DIY Nursery Progress...

I am happy to say that the nursery is coming along nicely! It's a good thing too, considering our due date is only 7 weeks away (wow!). Along with the crib and dresser/changing table that we recently placed in the room, we received the bedding from Pottery Barn Kids, got a navy blue rug from Target (thanks sisters!), put some color on the walls, and I was able to tackle two DIY projects this last week in my free time that were on my "Nursery To-Do" list. The room is starting to have character and I can't wait to share photos later on of it being more complete. In the meantime, I wanted to share the "art" I created for little Matthew's space :)

Knowing that we wanted to create a room that wasn't too "themey" and overpowering, yet didn't lack color and boyish touches, we thought (okay, I did most of the thinking) quite a bit about what kind of feel we wanted to have in the room. We prefer old and vintage over something new, yet we like to mix the two for something unique. We kept coming back to using transportation as accents in the room because we felt we could incorporate both old and new in ways that would give the room character. Of course, decorating a nursery takes $, and we realize that while we may have a nice vision in our head of what we desire the nursery (or the house for that matter) to look like, it all takes time. Also, our sweet little boy will be just a baby and I don't think the design of his room will matter to him just yet, so long as he has a place to sleep and lots of love from his mama and daddy. My list of fun "Nursery To-Dos" was prioritized based on what we have money and time for - hence the two DIY projects below.

Here is some art from Pottery Barn Kids that I fell in love with after searching for something to go on the walls that just "felt" right. Unfortunately at $69 a piece, we knew it was out of the question so I opted for a DIY version instead.

I knew that I had one 16x20 canvas laying around from a couple years ago and made a list of what I thought I needed to create my own version of transportation wall art. After sketching it out on paper and printing off outlines of a plane, truck, boat and car from the internet, I headed to the store to get the rest of my supplies. Here's my finished piece - the empty corner is where we'd like the rocker to go whenever we get one.

Cost of supplies:
    canvas - free
    transportation print outs - free
    5 sheets of scrapbook paper - $0.88 (1/2 off sale at Michael's and with 25% off coupon)
    2 bottles of paint in cream and white for background - $4.66
    black paint pen - $2 something (I'll say $2.50)
    mod podge - free
Total: $8.04 

How I Did It:
I began with painting the canvas a tan color by mixing the white and cream paints, then proceeded to take a rag and wipe it off, giving it a grunge/rustic look. While that dried, I traced my printouts from the computer onto the scrapbook paper I felt would look the best. Cut those out, centered them onto my four sections I had measured and penciled onto the canvas, and mod-podged them on. I then painted the white lines (note to self: don't keep trying to make it "better" - stick with simple!), used the black paint pen to write the letters and words, and lastly covered the entire canvas in mod-podge for a more finished look. I did it in two days so it would have adequate time to dry. Matt was surprised at the finished product, as was I, although when I see it on the wall I do get bothered by one imperfection in particular. I just tell myself it's hand-made and that makes it unique!

My second project, a hanging branch mobile, was inspired by this photo found on the blog Dear Lily. She has a tutorial there and this is one of the many inspirational projects you can browse through. Not to mention, her photos are beautiful! Anyway, I attempted to create my own hanging branch and headed out into the yard to go on a stick hunt. Thankfully, our niece and nephew visiting a while back had collected a nice pile in the yard that Matt had been adding to as he picked up after some storms. I just dug through the pile holding up this stick and that, breaking off little pieces here and there until I decided on two that I really liked together.

Matt and I love it! It only cost us $5.28 because the branches, spray paint, acrylic paints, and string were all things we had on hand. The little wooden transportation pieces were something I lucked in to at the local store for $0.88 a piece - don't you love when you find something perfect at the store and you weren't even looking for it at the time?

How I Did It:
For this hanging branch mobile, I lightly coated the two branches with yellow spray paint and then a dusting of white. I painted the wooden airplanes, cars, etc. with acrylic paints we had in our craft container. Using a light blue string that would blend in somewhat with the wall, I tied it carefully onto the pieces so they would balance evenly. Next, I baked my sweet hubby some brownies. You see, he was working hard editing weddings for Taflan Pictures, and I knew a break was just what he needed. A break that included brownies and hanging up the branch for me ;) He screwed the 2 branches together in the position I liked, held them up to the ceiling (being 6'5 1/2" has that advantage) and then carefully placed screws into the ceiling. We made sure to tie string onto each screw, connecting it to the branch and it all went up nicely. Together we tied and wrapped the strings holding the wooden pieces in place and ta-da! We have a hanging branch mobile! (If you want more details, just ask and I'll share).

So there you have it - some DIY nursery projects that have been crossed off the list in the last week. We're pleased and are anxious to get some more things crossed off before our little one arrives!

**I must mention: My lovely youngest sister came over a few weekends ago to help me paint two coats of Ships Ahoy! blue onto the walls of the nursery. I couldn't have done it without her! Thank you Meredith! At first it took a while for Matt and I to get used to considering we've never really had color on the walls of any home we've lived in aside from tans and whites (the joys of past rentals). Now we love the happiness of the color and are pleased with what life it added to the room.**

A Handmade Christmas

I realize I may be a little late in writing a Christmas post, but why not drag out the Christmas memories a bit longer? :) It IS the best time of year you know! Plus, I only just today got around to putting away our tree and decorations (yikes!) so it seems fitting to finish my day with a post about the holidays. That's what a snow day - or should I say ice day - will do for you...it's God's way of giving me time to take care of some housekeeping!

Our little Taflan family of two + 2 birds spent Christmas at my parents' house and enjoyed each minute of our time there. Much time was spent visiting family there and in VA, eating delicious food, and gift giving. We felt so very blessed! On the 30th we left for Ohio to spend time with Matt's side of the family. We had fun hanging out with everyone and playing with our five neice and nephews (with the 6th on the way!). Again, we felt so blessed!

A joy of the holiday season is being able to give gifts to those around you. I found great joy in crafting handmade gifts this year and am determined to do more handmade projects in this upcoming year. I wanted to post these pictures as soon as each craft was complete, but that would've spoiled some Christmas surprises! Here's what I handmade this year...

Cookies! I'm pretty sure I baked over 100 cookies... at least it felt like that many! Some to give away and some to eat...yum!

These are tile coasters I made for the teachers on my team at school. Fun and simple! I used scrapbooking stickers with their last initial to monogram each one. I really need to make some for myself!

This is one snowman decoration of three - this particular one was for the basement at my parents' house, since my mom decorates in all snowmen down there. The other two were for our grandmas. I saw this idea at a craft show and thought it was so cute - I just had to recreate!

A wreath I made for my middle sis - she's a music major at UNC. I bought aged music books and spent a good deal of time cutting circles and using the hot glue gun. These pics were before she found a place to hang it. I just love the way it turned out!

I made these dictionary page ornaments for my mother-in-law and sisters-in-law. We exchange ornaments each year and I thought these were unique either hung on the tree or elsewhere. I found the perfect sized decorative boxes to package them in at Michaels.

That wraps up my handmade gifts for this Christmas. I am happy to have left over materials so I can make some of these items for our home! Having a holiday vacation from work certainly fed my desire to craft and I am determined to take more time to do so - even with 19 kindergarten children taking up my time :) It's refreshing to complete a project and giving them away as gifts is rewarding! I want the gift-giving spirit of Christmas to live on well into the rest of the year...

It's a New Year!

I'm back and ready to set forth in the blogging world again. It's a bit embarrassing that I haven't posted since September... but I'm going to try much harder this year. My life has been crazy busy since my last post, with teaching and the holidays making time to sit and type a bit difficult. I want to record more events that happen with us Taflans because it's important and satisfying to me to have memories and thoughts stored somewhere that I can revisit in the future. So here's my enthusiastic attempt at blogging more than once every few months...

I'm not going to spend time catching up on all that's happened in the last few months because I'd like to get on to what's currently taking place. I will sum up Oct-Dec. with:

1. My kindergarten class is exciting, a blessing, challenging, and tiring - but I am learning so much as a first year teacher!

2. Married life just gets better and better. We had our one year anniversary Dec. 27th and eagerly look forward to the next year together

3. Our holidays with family in NC and OH were filled with many precious moments. God truly blessed us with amazing parents and siblings :)

You can see photos of 2009 here:

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2525895&id=5123936&l=e959dc0e8f

Today was one of the most relaxing Saturdays I've had in a while. My husband and I slept in (no work for him today!) and we went looking for garage sales. We enjoy this activity although our routine is usually the same: Stop at many, many homes... ooh and ahh over odds and ends that we think we would like to have... mull over whether it's a necessary purchase... drive on to the next place and do the same :) We have actually bought things at garage sales before, but usually because a great idea comes to mind and we figure we can do some kind of project with an item. A few times we've driven away saying, "Oh, we'll come back later and if it's still there, then we'll get it." Do you know what happens when you do that? The beloved item is always gone! I passed up an amazing country style wooden kitchen cupboard once because I couldn't make up my mind. Deep down I wanted it because we could fix it up and make it so charming, but we live in an apartment and honestly had no room. We said we'd come back and it was gone. I kicked myself for it the rest of the day. Today I decided to actually go with my gut and get something if it's reasonable. I bought cute snowman accents for next year's Christmas/Winter decor. Matthew bought a staple gun for $2. We got to experience our first estate sale today as well. Very, very strange going through someone's house... we decided it was a bit creepy having so many people walking around a house buying food items, looking through linen closets, and walking out with anything they could get their hands on.

We decided to go to Wekiva Springs afterward and have a picnic lunch. I can't believe people were swimming in the spring! Yes, today the high was 76, but it was chilly in the shade and the water is only 72. We enjoyed some card games and walked the nature trail, soaking in this beautiful weather before the heat comes and sucks the life out of things once again. Last time we were there we had a new addition to our growing camera family... a Canon HG-20. Today we had our newest addition - the Canon 7D (very exciting!).

We were in need of a new camera, especially with a wedding coming up in March. Our other camera is still good, but the new Canon is great :) TaflanPictures, our videography/photography business is something we are pursuing with even more dedication. Matthew has had video gigs here and there through freelancing, and our opportunity for filming weddings on the side is becoming more numerous. I absolutely love assisting with shooting weddings! Here is a link to our latest: www.taflanpictures.com/vrbensky

Our website is getting a needed makeover and we hope to book more events in the near future. Matthew loves filming and editing, and he's been doing it for 9 years or so - definitely his niche. He's currently working here in Borders on editing a wedding we shot last weekend (a beautiful one with unique details that make me want to plan a wedding all over again!). We pray God will use us and TaflanPictures for His glory as we meet new people and produce new things.

I think I'm going to go explore the craft/diy magazines before the store closes. I only have 20 minutes! I love being inspired by neat ideas - although usually this inspiration happens late in the evening and by the time I round up supplies for a project, I'm tired and ready for bed :) I would like to work more tonight on the afghan I'm crocheting. I chose colors from our wedding and a simple pattern I found in a magazine. I'll have to post pictures soon. It takes me a while because I'm teaching myself and would like to spend more time on it in the evenings after school. Oh dear school, takes up so much of my time. I think about my classroom as I go to sleep, when I'm out shopping, as soon as I wake up (no exaggeration) - possibly because I'm a first year teacher? There's ALWAYS some cute poem or song I can research, project I can buy supplies for, and techniques I can read about to incorporate in our daily routine. Wonderful job, it truly is... a consuming one, but wonderful and rewarding!

Time to wander on over to the magazines...

Welcome Spring!

Spring has arrived! I love the idea of the season - despite the fact that we live in Florida and the evidence of spring is not as easily observed as it is in states farther North of here. I am posting pictures of my spring crafts I've been working on. Below are my garden picks and bright birdhouse I painted. We're only allowed one pot outside the apartment for plants... so that's where they'll go :) Right now we're growing tomatoes (Matt ate 2 already!), spearmint (great in soda!), and basil.


Although they may be childish in nature, and my husband laughs at them (in a nice way), deep down I know he thinks they're just as cute as I do ;)



And the rest of my spring bunch to give away to Mom and our small group leader...



The next craft I am working on is paper pinwheels. I bought spring inspired scrapbook paper on the clearance aisle of Michaels and found the instructions on Martha Stewart's website. I've only made one so far but plan to make more using this blue paper to create a set of 4, and then I'll use other colors to make sets for my mom and sisters. They even spin when you blow on them!



This is what I wrote on the tag I am attaching to the spring gifts:

Colorful new day
Blooming flowers, singing birds
Welcome fresh sweet SPRING!



Now it's off to another Rose's Girls' Night :)

Overdue Photos

I am catching up on the photos I wanted to post a while ago. Above is a picture of Rose's Girls Night Out when they came to our apartment for a Valentine's/True Love Waits evening. It was a bit crowded :)

Here are a few of our garage sale items... the $1 chandelier, the window pane hanging with a collection of our seashells, and our photo collage.