Busy Sewing Bee!

These past couple of weeks/months, I've been sewing, sewing and sewing some more.  The majority of my Winter Break consisted of me sitting in front of my sewing machine or standing in front of my ironing board.  You see, I offered to make my dear friend, Traci her baby bedding BEFORE I found out she was having twins (oopsies!) although I wouldn't have traded it for the world! And then my sister-in-law discovered she was preggos with Sweet Sofia and of course I wanted to help her out for her nursery as well!  Needless to say, making 3 crib skirts, 3 sets of bumpers, a blanket and such really kept me moving and grooving, doing what I love on my time off.  Throughout all of it, I realized that I love to sew even more than I thought I did.  I love the creation that I have at the end of the day and being able to see that I made out of nothing.  Oh, and I'm obsessed with fabric.  Wait, did I admit that I'm obsessed with fabric?  Well, I'm obsessed with fabric...

Sweet Sofia's bedding:

Blanket: 1 side is a purple paisley cotton fabric; the other side is a super soft, pale green minky-dot; bordered in a jumbo, wine ric-rac

 Close-up of bumpers: outside is a purple paisley cotton fabric

 Inside of bumpers: super soft, pale green minky-dot

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The crib-skirt: tailored using a purple polka-dot cotton fabric

Close-up of tailored crib-skirt

 My friend, Traci's baby bedding:

Bumpers: chevron cotton fabric for inside and out

Tailored skirt: polka-dot cotton fabric

Bumpers: floral cotton fabric for inside and out

Tailored crib-skirt: solid pink cotton fabric

Are you or someone you love pregnant?  Would you rather have your own custom-created nursery as opposed to having to choose from the generic pink&greens and blues&browns?  If this is you, click here.

I'm partying here this week:

Gluesticks; House of Hepworths; Creations by Kara; Seven Thirty-Three; Delightful Order; Someday Crafts; Shabby Chic Cottage; Momnivore's Dilemna; Somewhat Simple; Homemaker on a Dime; A Bowl Full of Lemons; Fireflies and Jellybeans; Katie's Nesting Spot

A Tribute to Craigslist

Have you ever wasted some time on Craigslist?  Let me tell you, you could start looking for things that you never even knew you "needed" :).  My love relationship with Craigslist matured when I moved to Chicago.  I don't really know why that is - probably lots of reasons: I was going to need to furnish a new apartment on a budget; this is a big city so there are lots of things listed in the Chicago area and lastly, because I have a lot of time on my hands.

I've only actually purchased 3 things off of Craigslist, but I feel like after those purchases I was convinced that this website was the bomb.com.

Our apartment that we live in was found by my friend Amy via Craigslist.  Good job Amy!  She found it the minute it was posted and we were the first people to see it...I'm so glad she found it because we definitely love living here!

I found our coffee and end table off of Craigslist in Lexington, KY.  It wasn't the look I was going for, but they were both solid wood and a good brand so I knew that they would be perfect candidates for a strip and a re-stain.  You can go here to see the transformation of these tables.

The last thing we purchased off Craigslist was an air conditioner unit for our guest bedroom.  We went a picked that up yesterday for a whopping deal!

Have you ever taken the time to look at the free items on Craigslist?  Sometimes (when I'm bored) I'll get on there and look at the free section to see what people are parting with.  It always amazes me that people actually take the time to take pictures of some of these items and post them on Craigslist as opposed to just taken them to the local Goodwill and donating them.  I've seen things like coffee mugs, stuffed animals, you name it!  Just today I found the following items that were just waiting to be picked up:

A basket of shoes.  Really?  Do you really think that the people who could mostly benefit from these shoes are perusing Craigslist to find them???  Just take them to the Salvation Army or Goodwill so that they can find themselves on a needy recipient!

A glass plate for your microwave - exactly what you didn't realize that you needed! :)

Baseballs...again, I'm so confused why they wouldn't just donate them to their local little league.

A cap and gown - for all my friends who are getting ready to graduate, let me know and I'll rush to this address to pick up your free cap and gown!

Take a second to check out the free section of Craigslist and let me know what crazy things you find :)!

Review: The Vintage Pearl

I mentioned a couple of weeks ago how I had ordered a necklace from this shop online.  I got it in the mail last week and was SO pleased with what I found when I opened it!

We got this necklace for our sister-in-law, Ashley as a very belated birthday/early Mother's day gift.  If you can't see what the charms say, they have her 2 kid's names on them and then have their birthstones next to them.  Also, I was so impressed with how shiney and beautiful the chain was.  When I saw it online, I was a little skeptical because of the look of it, however when I opened the package and saw it, I was pleasantly surprised!  

The order took awhile to get, although it was totally worth the wait!  I would definitely order from the vintage pearl again!

p.s. I did this review on my own without any prompting or requests from the vintage pearl.

Please and Thank You!

A couple of weeks ago I was getting dessert with Stephen and our friends to celebrate a birthday.  My friend Sarah had such cute little earrings on.  I asked her about them and she pointed me to this place...uhhhh ohhhhhhhhhh!

You know where this is going, don't you?  {I feel a case of want and shouldn't buy coming on...}

These were the cute earrings:

There's just so sweet and dainty and if you sit very quietly you can hear it, "Kaaaaari!  Buy meeee!!!"

Well I had full intentions of doing just that...and then I saw their price tag :(...maybe I will save some lose ends and get me some!)

And while I was there, I ran into these beauties also...oh did they sing my sweet name as I walked buy them:

Oh how I wish they were mine!

I love IKEA

So you would think that visiting IKEA last weekend in Bolingbrook, IL would have quenched my IKEA thirst...Stephen thought so too.  But yesterday, I surprised him by revealing that this weekend, I would like to venture to Schaumburg, IL to visit the IKEA there also.  Have I been bit by the Swedish bug?  One would think...but really, what it all boils down to is the fact that they have these rugs at a phenomenal price that we can't seem to price ANYWHERE we go...EVEN Wal-Mart?!  So in this post, you would see all things IKEA (almost); and because no one is here for me to show my finds from last weekend, I'm going to post them on here and pretend that you care :).

The rugs that started it all...

These two rugs will go under the beds in the Master and Guest bedrooms.  With the entire apartment being hardwood floors (and not very well maintained hardwood floors) I found it important to add a little bit of plush comfort to mine, Stephen's and all our guest's toesies when they come to visit...and at $39.99 a rug, it doesn't come at a shock that I want/and can afford them :)

Now onto last week's adventures...first off I will show you the artwork that we purchased to adorn the wall above the guest bedroom bed.  The color scheme in that room is green and brown, so in an effort to make things very cohesive, we purchased these and framed them in dark walnut frames:

We also purchased these to decorate the windows in that room.  While the windows are about as tall as the BFG (Big Friendly Giant) they aren't very wide, so 1 panel per window will do:

The last purchase that I will share with you was one that I was not originally sold on.  In fact, I was willing to walk away from this without looking back; it was Stephen who was persistent and I'm so glad I listened!  At the whopping price of $1.99, this little purchase brought color and fun to my kitchen:

You're confused by this aren't you?  You're thinking, "How does this silver bar make Kari so happy?"  Well when you buy 10 little hooks for $.99 and hang these from the bar, you can see where the smile gently enters your mouth:

And that's exactly what I did - I have my 6 different colored Fiesta mugs hanging happily from this rod and I think it was my favorite purchase of the weekend!

To end the day Stephen and I feasted on Swedish Meatballs, Mashed Potatoes, Penne Pasta with Mariana Sauce and a Diet Coke...2 people ate for $7...go to IKEA and find some fun for your humble abode!