NEW MOMMY MUST HAVES

exciting announcement:: sp is an uncle for the second time!! this time around to a little baby girl!

his brother and sister in law welcomed a little bundle of perfect joy into the world on tuesday afternoon. sp headed straight to meet them at the hospital and i can hardly stand to see them all this weekend!

since i'm not a mommy and don't have any new mommy advice or recommendations, i asked some of my dear friends they are mommy's what some of the things were they 'had to have' postpartum. 

here's the collection that came together: 

new mommy must haves: 

** epsom salt - 'soothing me time' in the bathtub

** coconut oil - 'natures nipple cream' 

** dry shampoo - ' your next shower' 

** gel breast pads - 'sooth the boobs' - refrigerate and enjoy 

** traditional medicinals - 'more better mommy milk' mothers milk tea & cute mug!

** the mommys favorite wine in mini bottles

** halo sleepsack swaddle - the warm fleece kind 

** 'postpartum padsicles' for you know... (image not pictured- details below) 

here are all the goodies in a cute tote i found at hobby lobby (similar)

complete with leopard tissue paper, the mamma's favorite!!  

as for the padsicles... my inspiration was from visiting a friend just a few hours after she gave birth and the nurse had brought her in a 'frozen diaper' - genius!! i've passed that advice on to all my new mamma friends since the hospital does not just offer these up! so i thought, having something similar at home might be helpful. to save the mamma some time, i found these diy padsicles  on pinterest and will have them in the freezer when she gets home!
(i left out the lavender, figured less fragrances the better)

RED VELVET | | BROWNIE BARS

if your following me on instagram, these might look familiar!
for valenteins this year sp and i had a them: 

red wine

red meat

red velvet

all of which turned out excellent. so good in fact, that i thought i would share the brownie bar recipe with you. no need to add the red food coloring if you just want regular colored brownies:)

i never bake. mainly because i hate following a recipe. 

real talk - its so bad that i've had to throw out a boxed-cake before. told you i'm not good at it. 

but i wanted to make a desert for sp on valentines day, so i followed all of the below steps exactly!

(the only thing i didnt do was use 2 tubes of food coloring, i went with just 1)

this is the recipe i found on pinterest of course!

this girls food pics and chocolate swirls are way more impressive than mine. 

but the taste translated perfectly!!

hope you all had an extra sweet valentines as well. 

x o x o

CANE CHAIR

realtalk: garage sales, antique shopping, vintage finds, estate sales are my weakness.

i am actually really close to putting this bumper sticker on my car: i break for garage sales. 

ok, i'm not quite there, but i do love me some junk. 

like this chair i found below. at an estate sale over a year ago..... ooops!

the real deal is a little pricey (this one, these, or these!) so i thought $30 was a total steal. 

here is her in all her estate sale glory.. in need of some serious tlc.

what the before picture does not have, is the ply-wood seat insert that came with the chair, since the that part was completely non-existent at time of purchase. 

so after a year of 'thinking' about it and taking up storage space in my moms garage, i finally took on this project when the sun was shining and the wind was not blowing (critical for spray paint activities!)

supplies needed: 

you can sand it down if you want, but this one was already pretty rough, so i left that step out. 

spray paint : rust-oleum gloss white enamel

cushion form for the seat - similar here

fabric to cover the cushion  -- i found mine in the 'scrap' bin at the fabric store for $6!!

heavy-duty staple gun 

step one:  remove the ply wood and cut foam down to fit

(cut out corners are close to exact as possible so it will fit back in its place better)

step two: staple fabric to seat (over cushion) as form fitting as possible, folding down the corners neatly. (set this aside until your paint has completely dried)

** i went with a really neutral fabric, white, cream with hints of gold. i figured this part is totally enter-changeable down the road. 

step three: lay cardboard or set chair in alley way to spray paint (away from anything you don't want paint on it... spray paint travels!!)

get into all the corners, nooks and sides of the chair. I went over it 3 times (all one can) and still it think i might have missed a small spot or two. but its vintage and a little character is ok with me!

step four: let paint dry as long as possible. i let it sit over night outside, since there were 3 coats of paint that needed drying. 

step five: slowly and without force fit the seat back into its space. 

ta-da! 

new chair just the way you want it! 

now all its missing it a cute accent pillow and maybe a fuzzy throw over the side!

here is a close up of the fabric i chose. i love it! 

its just enough leopard print and gold for a soft feminine touch:)

ps: ace hardware is totally my go-to place for any crafting, around the house, repair needs. 

if only they had a lumber section i would go there for ALL my hardware store needs. 

this post is NOT sponsored by Ace - but i recommend going there!!

DATE JAR

its been for.ever. since i've last posted here. 

sorry for the radio silence. truly. 

but the holidays happened, then we traveled a little, and then i just needed a break from this little space. 

i'm thinking of going in a little different direction for a while. maybe less posts, maybe more of whats happening on an everyday/real talk basis and more true to who i am!

what better way to kick that off, than with a homemade valentines day crafting session!

a few thursdays ago, over lots of wine, a home-cooked meal and several rolls of washi-tape a good friend and i laughed, talked and made some valentines crafts.  it was so good for the soul :)

coming up with fun, new dates is not exactly easy.. sp and i love to cook a yummy meal at home, go on long adventure walks at the ranch, and visit our local favorite restaurants. but thinking out of the box or trying new things is not something we tend to do. 

soooo.. for my valentines gift to him, i made a 'date jar' .. which after a few glasses of wine, i for some reason tagged it as a 'love jar'- red wine, oops!

supplies:

stickers - dollar section at target

washi tape - collection over time (dollar section at target and cute tape )

ribbon - clearance section at tuesday morning

glass jar - tuesday morning

date idea inspiration - pinterest

free font for the date cards 

a few dollars for the none-free dates

how to:

i  came up with 8 dates, some free and some just a few dollars each (listed below)

printed them off, using this cute font, and cut them to make it just a little cuter!

then washi-taped them each up with fun color combinations

rolled them individually (wish cash if needed) and tied them with ribbon

dropped them in the jar - and had my sweet friend use her amazing handwriting to write on the chalkboard tape she had to tag the jar!

so the next time we cant decide where to go or what to do on a date night, we'll just choose from one of the cute rolls in the jar!

list of fun (almost free dates!): 
go on a walk/hike at nature reserve (free)

play a board game  (free)

make smores in the backyard (free)

one on one basketball fun at local park (free)

redbox movie + watch under fort build by you and me ($1)

frozen yogurt treat ($5)

two-buck chuck to be enjoyed outdoors ($3)

margaritas at our favorite tex-mex place ($6)

happy valentines - get creative!

flowers and chocolates are too expensive this week- try something new!