Nursery "Reveal"

I love when people title posts with the word "Reveal". It makes me feel scandalous for reading. I love a good scandal. Just kidding; I'm really boring actually.

Anyway, I figured since I did this post with lots of inspiration for my little guy's would-be nursery I should do the right thing and follow up with a post of how everything actually transpired. This is especially helpful because now that we have worn in the newness of it all {I have a 6 month old. How can this be?!?!}, it will be nice to weigh in on how effective my 'vision' has been in the overall efficiency of the room.

*there are links to the things we purchased throughout. I included them in case anyone is searching for the same thing.*

Here's a reminder of my vision for Daxon's room:

Let's start at the beginning. His door. Thrilling, I know- you can loosen the grip on the edge of your seat.

This pin was my inspiration for a little door decoration. I thought it would be easy. We had some branches just hanging out in the back yard that had been cut from some of our trees so I went out and snapped off some twigs of varying sizes and thicknesses and brought them in. I picked up a press board "D" from Hobby Lobby and sat down with those items plus my glue gun and thought I would spend a little time doing a neat little craft for my sweet little boy that was jumping around in my not so little belly. Boy was I wrong. Being the perfectionist -to a fault- that I am what I thought would take an hour or so turned into an afternoon marathon that ended with sore hands, burned fingers, and a huge mess bit of bark & hot glue on my kitchen table. And floor. And clothes. And probably my hair. Result though? I love it! It sets his door apart and I love the little pieces of moss and variation of colors on the bark. A fun introduction that lets you know behind this door is the room of a woodsy kid whose name starts with D. Awesome.

The view as you walk in the nursery:

We are very blessed with such a generous family. Our crib, dresser, and chair were gifted to us by my dad and stepmom. The Babyletto Hudson pieces were my dream furniture and I feel so so lucky my family made those dreams a reality! Overall the crib and dresser have held up very well and we love them, but they do scratch easily on the wooden parts. The changing table frame comes off when it's not needed anymore and will be stored away for future use. The crib converts to a toddler bed and a daybed.

My mom made the quilt and gorgeous name sign with some reclaimed wood from my grandparents' barn, and we purchased the cardboard die cut deer mount from the Etsy shop Cardboard Safari. The nightstand and lamp were both clearance -holla for a few dollas off- Target purchases. The shade on the lamp was originally a bluish gray and clashed with the wall color, so I watered down some of the latex paint used on his closet and gave it a face lift. The deer print blanket was a clearance -who loves clearance? I do!- purchase from Babies R Us and I sewed the pillow cover from leftover fabric used to make the quilt.

The rug is one of my favorite things about his room and was purchased from Ikea. I cannot wait to watch him play and make up fun adventures with his toys using the neat patterns on it.

I made the mobile from a bag of decorative spheres purchased at Ikea, some twine, some yarn, and an old embroidery hoop. I just wound the hoop with the yarn (periodically hot gluing it down), fastened the twine through the spheres and tied them off with triple knots and hot glue where I wanted them (and I used varying lengths to create some interest) and strung more yarn in a few places (again, securing with hot glue) and hanging it by a heavy duty ceiling hook. Dax could swing from this sucker and it wouldn't fall. And while he hasn't swung from it yet, he does love watching it sway when I tap it and set it in motion.

My mom gifted us this print from Katie Daisy's Etsy shop. I swear I could find a place for everything she creates. It's all beautiful, but this quote is especially close to my heart and I hope Dax feels the same way as he grows up and visits his grandparents. They all live close to or in the mountains and seeing them truly is going home. Excuse me for a sec... I think I have something in my eye. *Sniffle*

Okay, moving on.

On the wall next to the chair-

The curtains were another purchase from Ikea. I'll do a recap of our babymoon sometime before we have our next kid, but on the way back from it we stopped at Ikea in Charlotte and purchased the things referenced here. I love these curtains! We also purchased the blinds and they do a good job of blocking light when needed, and the curtains cast a beautiful glow. Dax loves staring at the trees and birds when we're hanging out in the recliner. 

The dresser is awesome! On the changing table are his changing pad, wipes, hand sanitizer, and lotion. In the top drawer we keep extra supplies as well as hats, baby leggings, burp cloths, and socks. The middle drawer houses his pajamas and the bottom drawer houses his casual onesies. The cabinet has a shelf in it where we keep his abundance of bathing supplies. On the bottom are all of his extra crib sheets and receiving/thin blankets.

Above the dresser is his peg board! We purchased it at Lowe's and my mom free-handed the deer in chalk and then painted it. Talent, pure talent. I bought the set of baskets at Wal-mart and they are SO handy! In the big one we keep his diapers. The middle holds face wipes and diaper cream, and the small one houses q-tips. Those came in handy while taking care of his circ & belly button at first, but are now used to put on diaper cream when needed. The vintage license plate was found by Josh, and the frame is one of the items I used to tell him I was pregnant. :) Ah nostalgia. I made the little name banner with some $1 playing cards from Target, some letter stickers, twine, and leetle baby clothespins. The 'a' in the corner came from this Christmas wreath.

His closet was a definite labor of love:

We took out the wire shelf and I used painter's tape to create the herringbone pattern. Josh painted over it with some navy mistint paint we got for $5 at Lowe's. After it was dry we installed the wooden shelf and curtain rod. We have one more that we have debated hanging up below the shelf but we have yet to make a decision about that. The two cubbies are ClosetMaid storage solutions we got at Lowe's and the hamper came from Target. On the shelf we are keeping extra toys and books as well as his shoes. In the cubbies are some of his bigger clothes as well as extra jackets and sweaters.

Next to the closet:

This is where we keep his toys and books. The cubbies are another ClosetMaid purchase and the fabric drawers are great for hiding lots of toys and maintaining an organized look. The deer drawer and green drawers came from Target. The navy blue ones came from the Dollar General and are just as nice as the Target ones, but half the price. We don't use the humidifier all the time, but it's been helpful the time or two that he has gotten stuffy.

The final view in his room:

The mama/baby deer frame was a thrifted treasure I found about a year before I even got pregnant. The two frames on the right are these that I thrifted and made over. They hold and engagement photo and a wedding photo. The collage frame in the middle has our favorite newborn photo of him in the middle and photos of Dax with us and each set of grandparents. I made some cute printables to take up the last few frames. I'd love to eventually turn this into a full blown gallery wall with 8x10 versions of the printables. We'll see.

And there we are! I feel like as his nursery evolved I wanted it to have a more muted and calming tone to it while still feeling like a fun space for a little boy. I love this space and spent most of my time waiting for his arrival rocking in the recliner and dreaming of his sweet face. Now that he is here we have made wonderful memories in his room and have tweaked things here and there as we see a need for more storage/function. I look forward to seeing this space evolve further as my sweet baby grows into a toddler and boy and develops his own tastes and preferences.

Here's hoping I get back in the habit of sharing fun family memories within this little slice of Internet soon.

Until next time,
-A

The Fun Part of Pregnancy!

Juggling pregnancy, a challenging group of students, and trying to enjoy some semblance of a life on the weekends (in between migraines... boo migraines) has left this poor blog ignored and neglected. At least when I look back on this period of time I'll have Instagram and my pregnancy journal to reflect on.

And don't let this statement come across as ungrateful because I will suffer with a migraine every day if it leads to delivering a healthy baby- but pregnancy is hard. There are times when I wish I could just hug my mama tight and thank her over and over because she went through this with two babies on board. Holy moly. I am so thankful and overjoyed and blessed and humbled and tickled to death to be carrying a baby that Josh and I created who God is knitting together in my belly as we speak.

All of those same adjectives also describe our excitement over finding out this little squishy one is a boy. :)

 I think this image sums it up pretty well:

Despite the less-than-glamorous side of pregnancy, I'm so very thrilled to get to the fun part of pregnancy (in my opinion at least): PLANNING A NURSERY!!!!!

Anyone who follows me on Pinterest knows I have had a board with nursery ideas for a while in anticipation of starting a family; not really caring how God planned to bring that about, just knowing that He would. :) Now that our goose is slightly over halfway cooked in there, we are fully aware the holidays are going to have the rest of this pregnancy flying by! As such the Atkins household is in full nesting mode preparing for our sweet boy to join our family.

I thought I would take some time to put a little mood board of sorts together so you guys can see my inspiration and ideas and maybe even offer some of your own! I got a sample of paint this weekend at our local Ace Hardware and was lucky enough to hit the nail on the head- I was looking for a gray that was muddy and had brown/beige undertones rather than blue:

Paint color: Tabby Cat Gray from Valspar.
Curtains: Ikea
Rug: Rugs-Direct
Crib & Dresser: Babyletto Hudson in Brown- Target.com
Velvet Baby Doe Blanket: Berkshire Blanket (previously Babies R Us)
Recliner: Best Chairs TRYP
Throw Pillow: Target.com
Mushroom Nightlight: Amazon.com
Tree Bookshelf: Pinterest (original source unknown)
Twig Initial Inspiration: Hello Little House
Wooden Arrows Wall Art: Cherished Bliss
Deer Silhouette: All Thyme Favorite
Katie Daisy Prints: The Wheatfield Etsy Shop

Hopefully this inspiration will come together to create a fun room for our little guy to grow up in!

Update- See the actual nursery reveal here!

Until next time,
-A

Teacher Talk

Somehow I've made it out of these last two weeks alive... let me tell you never in my life have I had such a strange combination of kids. Strange, but very funny- I've enjoyed spending my first year at my new school with them, even though they drain me of all mental and physical strength!! PASS testing is always tiring; there's nothing like staring at a group of kids for 3 hours without being able to do ANYTHING for fear of a testing violation.

This past week consisted of trying to rally my kiddos' brains long enough to complete our Cultural Night project. Lord have mercy!! You would think I was trying to convince them to do brain surgery. *Rolls eyes* Nonetheless that is done and over with and I'm super excited to do some fun ecology activities and labs (such as this one) and finish with a 'save the environment' movie such as Fern Gully (throwback to the 90's anyone??) or Wall-E. I'd be excited if I were my student, just sayin'. :)

The end of the school year always gets me excited for the next one to come! A fresh start with a new group of kids and a new chance to make an impact for good. Last year at this time I had been told that I would not be welcome back where I was teaching [ they told me it was because I wasn't a good teacher- truth be told someone ran their mouth about me expressing my opinions and they got rid of me- I hold no ill feelings toward anyone, I've just learned to be very careful about who I trust now. :) ]. At that time it was a hard pill to swallow; I was weeks away from getting married and had just bought my first house. Talk about pressure!! So the new start I got was very welcome but the result of days and days of tears (so many tears- I'm grateful my sweet, sweet Josh stuck with me and was my shoulder each and every time I broke down), fears (who's gonna want another school's sloppy seconds?), and working my you-know-what off to prove I'm not what they made me out to be.

This year- I'm more than welcome back. I have found where I belong; where God really wants me. And it makes me very excited to actually plan for my classroom. Because the teacher before me left SO much stuff, many of my things and ideas have sat in a box or on idle all school year. Most of the clutter resides in my lab closet. Need proof?

Insert scary music here...

 Poor custodians had to climb over boxes to check the fire extinguisher... I'm pretty sure the fire marshal wouldn't appreciate that. Not to worry though, because I took a whole planning period (90 minutes) one Friday and got to organizing! I'm not going to post another picture until it's completely finished, but just imagine that picture without about 80% of those boxes and that's what it looks like right now. Much better!!

I've wanted to learn how to put a 'mood board' together for a while now, and what better way to inspire me to enjoy these last two weeks of school than with a 'MY Classroom' mood board?

Using Picasa's collage function (because I am NOT a Photoshop pro like other bloggers such as Sherry and John at Young House Love and Katie Bower at Bower Power) I've created this mood board to reflect some things I already use and would like to incorporate into my classroom:

Click on the image to see full size!

All of these images came from my "In My Classroom" Pinterest board and I claim no credit, just appreciation, for these ideas!

1- If you're a teacher, you need to visit Schoolgirl Style! This pennant banner is from her Carnival collection and I love it! It would look great swagged over my white boards!

2- Our school has the coolest invention ever- a poster maker! I can take any image (legally marked for reuse, of course) and print it off as a full color poster for my classroom, and this image is a perfect example of the attitude I take in my classroom!

3- What an incredible bulletin board! A Middle School Survival Guide shared where this idea came from and even has a pdf link for the words! I love when teachers share!

4- Even though I teach seventh grade I get sick and tired of signing hall passes where students have written the wrong time. This would help my kiddos a lot!

5- More from the Schoolgirl Style Carnival collection. This teacher just can't get enough organizational labels, and these are so cute!

6- How neato is this? A crocheted frog dissection! If I can't find a pattern to do this myself I guess I'll just have to make one up!

7- I have 2 great file cabinets that need a serious makeover. Looking forward to using this tutorial to do just that this summer.

8- I used the poster maker earlier this school year to make this poster and I love this saying! What a good way to reinforce relevant contributions to class discussion.

9- Carnival collection table number pennants! So adorable!! My students are always asking me which table they are sitting at... these would remedy that for sure.

10- I already have some yellow and white paper lanterns hanging above my huge window and I'd love to add some bright polka dot ones to the mix!

11- This Stitches and Stripes border pulls all the bright colors of my classroom together!

12- I already use this border- it's called Sassy Sprockets! Awesome, or awesome?!

13- Melanie at Schoolgirl Style recommends layering your border to really make bulletin boards stand out. This simple lime green border will do just the trick!

14- My first project for my new classroom this year was a super cute pencil vase like this one for my desk. I'll have to take a picture of mine to share.

15- At Miss Kindergarten, she shares in this post how she organizes information at her desk. I can attest to the flood of papers that ends up piled up on my desk and can't wait to try this out!

16- A sub tub! How brilliant!! And she uses my froggies, too! I found the info for this project here.

17- Djinkers makes the funniest froggie and I've used many of her items to decorate my classroom with these cuties!

18- Dragonflies in First uses this frog hamper as 'Freddy the phoneme finder'. Cute as that is I have no need for a phoneme finder; however,  a 'lost and found' is a necessity with middle school kids who travel from class to class, and a Freddy the frog hamper would be perfect for that!

19- This was another one of the first projects I did for my classroom. I wasn't sure the kids would like it, but it really caught on and I go through about a sheet of these a week! They love picking up a smile on their way out the door. :)

20- Last but not least, I CAN'T WAIT to pick up a toolbox and create this neato box for all the odds and ends we teachers use all the time! Rebecca at Create Teach Share made this beauty!

So there you have it! A few ideas that I'm looking forward to tackling as this school year wraps up and sweet summertime takes over! What projects are you looking forward to tackling this summer? Maybe planning a vacation is as far as your project endeavors are going to go?

Until next time,