Baby Steps to Mom

Why I am SO EXCITED: The TomKat Studio.

As you may know, when I found out I was expecting Linnea, I set out on a mission to start a home-based business as a Virtual Assistant and developed No Strings Virtual Solutions. As is the case with most business ventures, it took some time to develop and get off the ground, and before I knew it, Linnea was nearly here and my world was taken over by all things baby. That's the beauty of owning your own biz- you can prioritize your life appropriately and focus on what's most important! I had a couple of project-based clients that I helped with the launch of their Web sites and blogs, but I put anything beyond that on hold as I prepared to become a mom. 

My hubby went back to work on Wednesday, and I was finally settling into somewhat of a rhythm with the little one to where I would be able to start building my business and taking on clients again. That's when I saw a post on Twitter from the TomKat Studio (whose blog I've been following since I saw her on the cover of our local magazine, Go Gilbert! back in May) saying that she was seeking a virtual assistant for her paper and party business. Kim has THE CUTEST blog I've ever seen and it's clear that her business has taken off in recent months, so I jumped at the chance to be a part of it. I even had friends who saw the post and sent it to me knowing I would love it. Imagine my excitement when she e-mailed me to let me know that I was her top choice! I mean, LOOK at her adorable creations!

There are so many reasons I am so thrilled to work with her, besides the fact that she is one of the sweetest people I've ever talked to. She is immensely talented, creative and is genuinely living out her passion, and I love that kind of energy! Back when I started No Strings, my husband asked me what kind of clients I wanted to serve. I told him that I could work with almost anyone, but in a perfect world I would love to work with creative entrepreneurs- just like Kim! Her Web site was one I frequented when I needed inspiration and it also got me excited that I was having a little girl- bring on the pretty parties please! And lastly, that issue of Go Gilbert! is the only one I kept around the house because it was that article that inspired me to venture out on my own. It was only a few days after I read it that I found out I was expecting- and you can bet it gave me the confidence I needed that I could handle being an entrepreneur AND a good mom too!

So who would have thunk that a couple of months after our little one was born that I would be working with the very person who inspired me to start my own business? It will never cease to amaze me the way that God orchestrates things in our lives. We NEVER know just how good His plan can be until we find ourselves in the midst of it! And I am sure there is so much more amazingness to come! For now, I am looking forward to helping this successful, creative business owner and fellow mom build her company and realize its full potential. Cheers to Kim and the TomKat Studio!

Diaper bags.

Before Linnea was born, I had plans to make diaper bags for Cody and myself. I had already gotten an awesome Amy Michelle bag from three dear friends of mine when I was in Minnesota for my friend's wedding, but if you know me you know I like to have options... plus I like to make things :)

I set out with my mom for fabric and found some wonderful patterns at JoAnn. In a perfect world, I would have been able to find some amazing oilcloth while we were there, but as much as I love JoAnn, they don't carry any of the stuff. It's actually incredibly hard to find anywhere, which is unfortunate because oilcloth is waterproof and super easy to clean! Someday I'll find the perfect oilcloth and the perfect project to use it for. But I digress.

I immediately fell in love with this book by Lotta Jansdotter, a Scandinavian artist and designer, and used it for the very simple pattern for Cody's daddy diaper bag. I took Cody to JoAnn so he could pick out the cloth he wanted to use, and we ended up with army green canvas and bright orange rip-stop fabric for the lining. We also got flourescent orange reflector ribbon for the accent. Here's a couple of details:

I made my bag a bit bigger because it would also multitask as a purse- and it needed lots of pockets! My mom had the great idea to cut out some of the flowers on the inside liner fabric and applique them to the outside of the bag. I also used quilting batting to thicken it up a bit since it's so big. Here's the finished product:

And here's both of the bags:

I was pretty stoked when I had it on its first day out and got a compliment on it from the cashier at Bookmans :)

My next project is to take this shirt and make it into a dress for Linnea! Anyone know of any great tutorials?

Nursery photos and a happy baby in pink.

I think I've mentioned before that I never thought I would be the "Pink Mom," but it's safe to say that I threw that thought out the window when I found out I was having a little girl. Pink is now my favorite, favorite color ever, and I find all kinds of inspiration in its many shades. Here's a cute video of her cooing in her crib I shot yesterday- Cody and I love when she is awake and alert and not fussy- it's the best.

Pink crib from Andrea Alley on Vimeo.

When we first started planning the nursery, we had originally intended to paint the walls in a super pale shade of pink, but we nixed that idea the closer we got to her due date. I narrowed down the color scheme to pale pink, ivory, and black, with natural wood furniture and a vintage bird theme. I also wanted to incorporate as many handmade items as possible, made by myself or anyone else who was so inclined. Cody's mom and my parents were also huge contributors to her nursery! Here are some pictures of the finished product:

This is what you see when you walk in the door.

I made the mobile and the flags hanging on her crib and painted the giant "L" gold for the shelves. On the shelves are some pictures from our maternity shoot and my childhood prayer plaque that I always had hanging above my bed when I was little. It says, "Jesus, guide me through the night, wake me with the morning light." We may add some more photos from our birth shoot and newborn shoot as well. My best friend Amber made the birdhouses on the book shelf and my Hummel music box is sitting on top- I always used to fall asleep to it as a child. My Amma's dear friend from Centralia made the blanket hanging on the rack in the corner, and our friend Adria made the pillow in the corner of the crib. We found a night stand at Savers for $8 that Cody refinished and adorned with hardware from my favorite store ever, Anthropologie. We even have my dad's newborn shoes sitting on the bottom shelf :) I love all the handmade touches and keepsakes that went into our little girl's nursery!

Below is a night time shot.

View from glider. Cody refinished and antiqued my childhood dresser for Linnea's room! He did a great job :)

 
One of my favorite details- the vintage bird hardware Cody surprised me with from Anthropologie for the top drawer of the dresser.

Another wonderful detail is this chalk board Cody made. We found the frame at Goodwill for $3 and bought a board and some chalk board paint and voila! Homemade chalk board!

The glider and changing table. My Amma gave Linnea the beautiful mirror, and the quilt hanging on the back of the glider was made by my great aunt Inga in Iceland. I made the pillow and the pictures on the wall with the help of Cody, who sanded and painted the frames black (he's such a rock star).

 
Another night time shot.

 
And of course, how could I leave out pictures of the nursery's precious occupant?

  

Our dear friend Katie made the green bird rattle laying next to her- so adorable!

 

Wardrobe.

I love shopping... well, most of the time. I'm not a fan of shoe shopping because shoes never fit my outrageously narrow feet, and I tend to wear sneakers and flip flops most of the time anyway, so my trusty old stand-bys do the job just fine. I also prefer to shop alone because I tend to take way longer to shop than normal people, and I don't like to torture others with hours-long browsing through the mall. My poor husband can't take ten minutes in a store so I leave him out of the process altogether, something I'm sure he appreciates immensely.

Lately, however, shopping has become a different experience- more of a treasure hunt than anything else. I've avoided the malls and have lapsed into some sort of reverse snobbery when I see people carrying around shopping bags from Nordstrom or Barneys or some other fancy store. I scoff at them and think, if only they knew the DEALS that are out there! I don't buy anything anymore unless it's on sale, and I've started to explore the art of thrift shopping, coupons and extreme sales. It's actually quite a bit of fun- more fun than running up a huge credit card bill that I'll still be paying off ten years down the line with nothing to show for it! Been there, done that.

I pop into Goodwill every now and then and rarely leave without a good find- and I have yet to spend more than $11 there. It takes time to fish through the racks for the deals, but it's worth it, and they're there. The best part is when you go to check out, and they ring up the total, and it ends up being less than you expected to spend. That's happened to me every time I've gone- it's such a nice surprise!

For instance, Cody and I went there last weekend, and picked up a brand new, unopened game of Scene It (which he's been wanting FOREVER) for $8, a genuine Funshine Carebear for $0.69, and the cutest little denim dress and floral onesie for $4. Then we had a coupon for 20% off so it came out to a little more than $10!

A couple days later, I went to the Scottsdale location hoping to find a dresser that we could refurbish, but no luck there. I did find an adorable Gymboree dress and two onesies and spent less than $5- my lunch that day cost more than that! My friend and I happened to be at Gymboree earlier that day, and single dresses for babies start at $20 or more. I got this little dress for $3:

I found the little flowery shoes (brand new with tags still intact) and the white Converse along with a pair of pink fuzzy newborn slippers at the cutest little children's consignment shop called Once Upon A Child. Paid $9 for all three. Our friends Cassie and Matt recommended this place to us, and when we found out that we were having a girl, they bought her first outfit from there- a brown polka dot dress and matching bloomers. I was amazed by their selection and definitely will be heading there first to find clothes for our little one once she starts growing.

Because for now, it's safe to say she has PLENTY of newborn/0-3 mo. clothes. Goodness.

A couple nights ago I found an ad on Craigslist for a bag of newborn clothes for $20 that a mom-to-be needed to offload because she had stocked up WAY too much. She got tons of responses but chose to sell them to me. When I met her to pick up the bag, I couldn't believe it- it was a huge shopping bag overflowing with clothes! Onesies galore, dresses, pants, skirts, etc.- so many that I wasn't even sure little Elska would ever use them all. I was so excited when I got home that I went straight into crafty mode and made a little gold tutu to go with an adorable star onesie:

Next project: embellishing a pink onesie with a little bird stencil or applique on the butt.

My mom and I are heading to Hissyfits Resale this weekend for the Hissyfits Hullabaloo. They will have 70 vendors selling handmade goods in their children's resale store, which I'm so stoked to check out. I love handmade.

This little one will have a better wardrobe than me- and I paid less than the cost of a pair of jeans for all of it! Not only that, we have friends with baby girls who offered to give us the clothes that no longer fit their little ones. It's safe to say that clothes are the LAST thing we'll need, for a while at least. I'm enjoying the process and can't wait to dress her up :) Every day that brings me closer to meeting her is another day I become more excited. I can't wait to see what she looks like, what her little personality is going to blossom into, the things she will like and not like, the way her daddy will take care of and love her. That will probably be my favorite part- watching my husband with our daughter. There's nothing more precious than a daddy and his little girl, and the upcoming adventures we have ahead of us will certainly be no exception.

Now, whether or not he'll know how to put an outfit together...

:)

Much-needed creative inspiration.

I spent a lot of time researching ideas, recipes, and work opportunities over the past few days, and part of me gets a little overwhelmed by all the goals and projects I want to tackle with Baby Girl on the way. I spent all of last week getting distracted by various things instead of baking the zucchini bread I kept saying I would make, and finally I got around to it last night. We're talking like a week of procrastinating here, people. I'm kind of tired of living life that way- flying by the seat of my pants, somewhat organized but mostly not, with a hodgepodge of ideas and no concrete plan to implement them into anything tangible. What I am lacking is a plan. So here are a few of my findings to jump-start things:

Other than my desire for very pale pink walls, I haven't gotten very far with a nursery design. I'm the type of person who needs to see something concrete in order for the random ideas that are floating around in my head to take any sort of shape. On my blogging jaunts today, I stumbled across Project Nursery, a site FULL of design ideas, inspiration boards, real nursery designs, and DIY projects. LOVE IT. It's just what I needed to start really planning Baby Girl's nursery!

While on that site, I saw a button for a business that sounded vaguely familiar: TomKat Studio. When I clicked on the page, I remembered seeing this local mom's business featured in our town's magazine, Go Gilbert. Her blog is simply adorable- chock full of her designs, finds, and Cupcake Monday. I mean, who can beat that? Yes, please! I'll take Cupcake Monday!

A few other favorite blogs: luvinthemommyhood, Happy Together (especially the tutorials like this one), and My Mama Made It. Blogs are a dime a dozen these days, but well-designed, well-written blogs that are actually useful and teach you how to do something are priceless.

While at B+N the other day, I found this book and knew that it was a must-have on my reading list. I discovered her site today, Work at Home Success, and it is a great resource for lost souls like me who have no idea where to begin or look for legitimate at-home work. Ideally, I would like to freelance as a virtual assistant or copy editor but I need some sort of direction in order to learn how to secure clients, file taxes, etc. so that I don't get overwhelmed by trying to figure out the ins and outs of running a business AND caring for a newborn. I only have about four months to figure this out, so if you know any other great resources out there, crafty or business-related, send them my way!