Dots for Drew - We Love You!

Announcement

My sister, Janine and her husband, Jim were blessed with the birth of Drew Patrick.  This little darling entered into our family at 7:52pm on his due date of March 12th.  My new nephew weighed in at 8 lbs 5 oz and is 20" long.  He has a gorgeous head of dark hair and sparkly dark blue eyes.  We are all smitten over him. 

Baby Boy "Sprinkle"

I had the honor of planning, creating and hosting a "sprinkle" for Drew and his mommy.  My sister adopted my first nephew and at that time she would not allow me to throw a shower for her.  When she announced her pregnancy I strongly suggested that she allow me to throw her a party.  Since it is her second child we called it a "sprinkle".  I am thrilled to share the details of this event as well as some photos of his nursery as this was the inspiration/theme for the sprinkle.  Drew's nursery is chocolate brown combined with minty green with polka dots and a cute jungle animal theme. 

Invitations



I color copied a cute little monkey picture and then cut around them with an exacto blade until I had a monkey army to work with.

Printing, cutting, pasting... repeat.  I am thrilled with the results!  Here is a close up below:

Diaper Wreath

I put together this cute diaper wreath to use as decoration and for a special and useful gift

This wreath has approximately 30 diapers wrapped and tied with curling ribbon, 2 pacifiers, a pacifier clip, a teether infant Tylenol, infant gas drops, baby shampoo, lotion, powder, diaper rash cream and several finger puppets.  I used Target brand, size 2 diapers wrapped around a metal garden wreath.  Like this:

Diaper wreath displayed above the gift table:

Diaper Cake

This diaper cake features a large package of wipes on the top tier and approximately 40 diapers on the bottom.  I wanted to keep it short so it could be used as a center piece on the dining room table.  The ribbons were all from the dollar bin at Michael's and the cardboard bases were cut from boxes that I already had, glued 3 layers high with hot glue and spray painted white.  The top ribbons and tulle were left over from previous projects.

The baby booties plant that you see to the left of the diaper cake was used along with several others as game prizes.  I found several cute baby pots at the thrift store and I rooted plants that I already had.  They were cute decoration and a fun frugal prize.

                           Food

Menu

Hawaiian Meatballs

Veggie Pizza

Fruit Salad

Spinach Salad

Rolls

Chocolate Cupcakes

Chocolate dipped pretzel sticks

Green Swamp Punch

Monkey cupcakes easily decorated with Nilla wafers (mini for the ears and regular size for the mouth), M&M's, and gel icing for the details.  Pretzels are rods dipped in chocolate bark with sprinkles added.

This "cupcake stand" is a freshly painted plant stand that I salvaged from the curb several years ago.  The canisters holding the pretzels are from salvation army.  I added the dot ribbon detail with hot glue.

Mommy-to-be, Grandma "La La", Aunt Sheri (me), Aunt Ashlee & cousins (Olivia, Amelia & Addison) & approximately twenty sweet ladies had fun celebrating Drew's anticipated arrival.



Drew's Adorable Dot Nursery

Jim and Janine did a fantastic job creating this special room for their little bundle of joy.  Jim painted and applied the chair rail molding.  They bought this darling furniture set a few years ago for their son, Owen off of Craigslist. The paint choices were inspired by the furniture and bedding from JCPenney.  Janine found the dot curtain panels at Pier One and was able to get a great deal on them on Ebay.  Throw pillows were hand made by grandma "La La".

Hi Big Brother, Owen!

Close up of the bedding from www.JCPenney.com

Before

Welcome to the world, Drew Patrick.  God Bless YOU!

Letters I made to decorate Drew's bedroom.  These are white letters from Michael's covered in scrap booking paper.  Buttons and monkey cutout are added for embellishment and interest.  I can't wait to see these once they are hung!

Little Red House Kitchen

  Unfortunately I do not have any pictures of the kitchen when Ben first moved in.  I will have to describe it quickly - wall paper floor to ceiling white w/ blue horizontal & vertical bisecting lines with a faded border of Victorian houses.  The cabinets were painted white and had baby blue doors with white ceramic knobs.  Linoleum white flooring remained the same in the orange and blue scheme pictures.  Cobalt blue linoleum counter tops.  Sheer cafe curtains adorned the aluminum windows (which were replaced with new windows in the these pictures).  The original kitchen did not have a dishwasher, so we added the stainless steel dishwasher with the dream that someday all of the appliances would be upgraded.  The best thing going for this kitchen was the gorgeous cobalt blue wall/back splash tiles.  In an attempt to work with the tiles and to modernize the kitchen I used a complimentary color scheme and boldly painted the walls orange.  The color was a bit nauseating so a complete DIY kitchen makeover was in order.  We attempted this refreshing re-do while I was in my 3rd trimester of my pregnancy with my first daughter.   



Complaints:  This stove only had 2 working burners.  Additionally, it really bothered me that there was no place to set items from the fridge down since there was no counter on that side of the room.  I like to get a beverage out of the fridge and be able to set a glass down to pour it without having to walk away.  My husband didn't understand my argument, but he did come to appreciate the addition of a small workspace between the new stove and fridge. 

Praises: That cobalt blue tile.  Gorgeous!

Complaints: Bad lighting and eat-in kitchen = wasted space in this circumstance.

Praises:  Vintage milk door.  See the white little door in the picture on the left?  That was a sealed up milk door, but it is staying in this renovation.  In my opinion that is a little piece of American history.  Many times I looked at that door and wished that there was still a milk man...

Time for the Grunt Work:  Destruction!

Praises:  The removal of cabinets went well.  I was able to recycle the upper cabinets near the sink and turn them into book shelves.  See here.  The long horizontal cabinet above the stove and fridge has been beautifully restored and placed in my sister's laundry room with a drying bar attached.

Complaints:  Old mouse nest found under base cabinet... YUCK!

Complaints:  When ripping down the soffits, it sounded like it was raining.  It was pouring mouse poo on my husband's head.  SUPER YUCKY and a little bit funny!  We never had a mouse infestation problem while we lived there, but at some point they were in that attic and under the base cabinet.  Ewww.   

Soffits are removed and drywall patching has begun

Hardy backer is installed!  This is also the end of the orange.  Ahh, so serene.

Walls and trim are primed!

The beginning of the ceramic tile flooring laid diagonally.  This tile had creamy tones, gray tones, and some brown and blue veining in it.  It was very forgiving of dirt and complimented all of the finishes in the room.

Paint is on the walls - Color is Dune by Sherwin Williams and the tile is ready to be grouted. 

Praises:  Cabinet installation in progress.  These are Merrilat cabinets.  Maple with a cherry paprika finish. 

Frustrations:  The tiles didn't adhere well enough in a few places.

Solution:  They are got more thin set on them and were reinstalled.

 

Praises:  Miles more of cabinet and counter space, oh my!  Very exciting!

Frustration:  Searched EVERYWHERE for more cobalt blue tiles.  They do not exist.
Solution: I carefully removed enough tiles from behind the refrigerator and placed them one by one on either side of the window to make the back splash complete.  It was not really completed until several months after Olivia was born though.



Progress:  Dishwasher installed, counter tops in place, ceiling light fixture installed, under cabinet lighting in, cabinet pulls installed, stainless steel sink and chrome goose neck faucet installed, hand sewn valances hung (made by ME, I was so proud of these). 

Pendant light fixture over the sink. 

Tip:  To hang the curtains and have them wrap around the corner, I used inexpensive white metal curtain rods.  In the corner I inserted the bent part into the straight portion of the adjacent rod to make a 90 degree angle & had the corner resting on 2 long screws in the middle for support.  It worked beautifully.  Fabric for these curtains were found in the clearance bin at Wal-Mart.

 Back splash completed!  I am not sure why I took these pictures when there was so much junk on the counter.  Ugh.  Apologies.  The wall cabinet to the far left served as a coffee and tea area.  It was perfect!

 

New appliances installed and a fancy little counter space between the fridge and stove was a dream come true.  This freezer had an ice maker and my husband jokes that it saved our marriage.  We only had it for a brief time before we moved and we're still dreaming of it at this house.  The final detail that we added was a wine rack above the fridge.



Final before and after comparison:  We've come a long way, baby! 

  







Thank you for stopping by ~ Have a blessed day.