I Don't Know Why You Say Goodbye, I Say Hello...

so, it's been a fun, crazy and productive week at the ametewee household, that's for sure. with my mom here last week and nate off work this one, we've gotten way more done than i ever imagined i would in a 2 week period after having baby grace. we've done everything from cleaning the apartment top to bottom to gracie shopping to decorating and art to hosting 5 overnight guests on air mattresses in our living room for the weekend (granted, it was my parents, sister and brother & his wife.) and i have loved (almost!) every moment of it. having a tiny baby around is just so exciting and amazing. gracie is just the sweetest thing ever. ever. she almost never cries unless she is hungry and starting this week she has been sleeping 7 or 8 hours each night straight. SO amazing for this tired mama!

we pretty much think she's perfect. especially londerpants, who can barely contain his excitement whenever he sees her. anytime she makes a peep he says "OH! OH!OH!" and runs over to see why she's crying...and usually does something super helpful like covering her entire body (face included) up with her blanket or leaning in to kiss her while digging an elbow into her stomach. and when she's sleeping he makes a huge production out of every few minutes pointing to his nose and SHHHing everyone within a mile of her, often waking her up in the process. he's having a few jealous pains too, though. it's been so good for him having nate here all week giving him extra attention and making him feel special.

 in other news, i had been trying to figure out exactly what i wanted to do as far as decorating in our bedroom and finally decided to just go for it and do SOMETHING rather than just leaving the walls blank another day. SO...i decided to make a banner using our wedding photos. the room still looks very unfinished, but we have to start somewhere, right? and i pretty much love how it looks above our bed. i will hopefully at some point add accents, but for now i can at least wake up to a happy memory each morning since it's the first thing i see when i open my eyes...and that is such a fabulous feeling.

please pardon the fact that it looks way too far to the right...in real life it is actually centered exactly over the bed. (and yes, those are the same pillows that i had on the couch in the living room photos...we obviously need to buy more.)

and here's a few directions and closer photos of the banner itself:

to create it, i first added each photo to one of danielle thompson's old photo cards in photoshop and then printed them and sanded the edges up to make them look older. then i took a piece of colorful fabric and folded it in half and hand-stitched it the top of the photo leaving a loop at the top to later thread the twine through. i also randomly sewed a few of the new cream jenni bowlin buttons to some of them. then i just added the twine and stapled each photo card together to make them all stay together...

...and voila! a colorful ametewee love banner was born.

 

 

 

makes me happy. :)

and here's what i did with my dresser beside my bed...it's super old and used to belong to my aunt peggy when she was a kid, which is why i love it so much. i didn't have many options with our projector & dvd player being on it, so i decided to use the old heating vent that i painted this wretched shade of orange since that's one of the colors of the room. one day i'll strip the paint and make it into something beautiful, but for now this is what i got. the buttons are actually a necklace i made a couple years ago and the photo is the first photo we ever took together. quilt block and vase are ohio thrift shop finds.

 
one last piece bit of art to share...i've been trying to keep up with my thank you's as we get gifts in the mail, and have so far been able to get them out right away since they are so easy to make. after i had london it took me forever to get them out and i don't want to deal with that guilt again so i kept them as simple as possible. stickers are martha stewart (heart dotting the i is from a letter pack).

 

 and with that, i'm off to bed...but i'll be back soon with lots more to share. i'm hoping to debut the nursery very soon. i love it, but i can't get a good photo in there to save my life. i get so frustrated with my lack of photography skills...i seriously just need to take a class already. but in the meantime, i've got lots of layouts & projects that i haven't posted yet. 

sweet dreams, cheryl

Comments

[rhonda]

she is so gorgeous! i want a girl next :). love the idea for the banner! i can't wait to see the layouts you do about gracie.

[amy]

oh my goodness....i LOVE that last photo! she is too sweet.

[tara pollard pakosta]

Cheryl,

she is absolutely BREATH TAKINGLY beautiful gorgeous baby girl! Wow!!! I so want to hold her!!!
Awesome pix!!!! You do great with the camera, you are too hard on yourself! LOVE the banner, miss creative!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
tara

[tamari]

such a sweet post:)

[Denyse]

She is so very beautiful! Congratulations!!

[rebekah]

you make me smile. thanks. :)

[Giuseppina]

how darn cute is that last picture?? oh my!

[slammie]

She is just precious! And love your banner!

[Deb]

She is simply gorgeous! I love reading about your adorable family!

[Sarah]

What a sweet, sweet girl Cher! And your banner is beautiful... My little guy is 8 months old and I still can't get anything done, I don't know how you do it!

Sarah

[Ally White]

That picture banner is soooooo cool!! Love it!

[Shelley Haganman]

Sweet little baby!! Lovely banner!!!!

[Coleen Franks]

CUTE BLOG, GREAT BANNERS. I'VE FEATURED IT ON MY CRAFTY FAN PAGE ON FACEBOOK: vintageterrace2
Fan me there if you like.
Coleen

[Michelle Clement]

Awesome! We have the same taste in crazy, bright, delicious colors, I see! :) So yummy. The banner is great, as is your lovely bright bedding!