DIY Nursery Project: Closet Dividers/Tags

Now that Bennett has a full functioning closet (yay!) - I wanted to make little DIY closet dividers to organize and separate his clothes by size. You can definitely buy the plastic dividers that are already done for you, for this - however; I thought it'd be fun to try a new project and add some color to the closet!

To start, I pinned different ideas on Pinterest and originally wanted to create something like this:

But then I found something much simpler that didn't involve cutting through wood (and that was much cheaper) to try, that I liked just as much. And it'd be much easier to make, which now at 33 weeks pregnant, I'm all about!

To start, I used a blank template from a blog that I found while browsing Pinterest, and pasted the blank picture/template of the tag into Microsoft Publisher. From there, I added circles (to cut out for where I'd tie the ribbon) and added text boxes to indicate the different sizes that I wanted to separate in the hanging area of the closet. Here is one of the pages that shows what I created in Publisher:

Once I was finished designing the tags with all of the sizes I wanted to include, I printed them, cut them and glued them on teal paper. I also cut out the circles with an exacto knife. 

Final touch was to tie the white ribbon through the holes on the dividers and tie them to the hanging rods in the closet! (A plus for using ribbon is that you can easily add, remove or move around the tags as needed). 

That's it! It took maybe 30 minutes to do from start to finish and I love the way they turned out! :)

Crock Pot Mozzarella Stuffed Meatballs

This recipe was so easy and was delicious! I made it on Sunday while finishing up laundry and doing some cleaning around the house - it reminded me of how much I love using the crockpot (and that I need to get back on the crockpot train!)

Ingredients:

- Mozzarella Cheese, cubed into pieces

(Tip: Use Mozzarella String Cheese!) 

- 1 lb Ground Beef

- 1 lb Hot Italian Sausage

- 1/2 tsp Garlic Powder

- 2 tsp Salt

- 1 tsp Pepper

- 1 cup Bread Crumbs

- 1/4 cup Parmesan Cheese

- 2 Eggs

- 1/2 cup Whole Milk

- 1/2 cup Parsley

- 2 jars of Spaghetti Sauce

Directions:

Combine all ingredients (except for the mozzarella cheese) in a large bowl. Cover the bottom of the crockpot with one jar of spaghetti sauce.

Take a small handful of the mixture, and place a mozzarella cheese cube in the center.

Roll into a meatball.

As you form the meatballs, place on the bottom of the crockpot. When you cover the bottom of the crockpot with meatballs, pour half a jar of spaghetti sauce over the meatballs, and begin placing another row of meatballs on top of the first layer. 

When you're done rolling all of your meatballs, cover the last layer with the remaining jar of spaghetti sauce.

Cook on high for 2.5 hours.

They were delicious and your kitchen will smell amazing! 

They were husband and in-law approved :)

Nursery Stage 4 (The Closet)

This has been one of my favorite parts of doing the nursery!

For all of you that know my Dad - he can pretty much create anything or do just about anything that you have in mind... he's quite the handyman! (Let's be real... they don't call him "Stan-the-Man" for nothing - ha!) I'm an extremely sentimental person, so not only did I want my Dad to build Bennett's closet because I knew that the job would be done correctly and without me having to stress about it  (because literally - I'm telling you that he can do anything!) but what was more important to me than that, was how much it meant to me to have him work on something in the nursery - something that would always remind me of him, each time we were in the room!

So - enough of my sappiness - it was time to figure out exactly what I wanted the closet to look like!

We brainstormed and looked at quite a few options and materials for shelving and hanging areas to come up with our plan! Side note: I'm thankful that our townhouse has huge closets in each of the bedrooms - because anyone with a baby or that is planning for one, knows exactly (or can imagine) how much stuff you can accumulate! And the scary part is that Bennett isn't even here yet, and he already has so much! From clothes to supplies to diapers to bath things - you name it, whatever it is - I wanted to have a neat place to put it all, that wasn't cluttering up the house. (Especially with a townhouse, there isn't much room for storage, so the more you can keep organized and neatly tucked away, the more free and open space you have!)

I knew that I wanted lots of shelves and 2 rows for hanging clothes. Also having space for tubs was ideal as well - if we could make it happen. Dad came one day on the weekend to do all of the measurements and to sketch out a plan and viola! We had a master plan for Bennett's closet :)

Over the next couple of weeks, Dad picked up the supplies, painted all of the materials that needed to be painted and we planned for a day for him to come while he was off of work to put it all together.

Here is what the closet looked like before (one big empty space with doors):

And here are the progress pictures from Dad and Eric working on the closet:

^ the supervisor that fell asleep on the job

And here is the finished product! I couldn't be more happy with it! There is so much space for storage with the shelving, in addition to lots of space for hanging clothes. Also what's nice about this closet, is that any of the shelves or hanging bars can be easily removed if more space is needed for larger items.

Now we're ready to start putting things away and clearing up the piles/tubs of Bennett's things that have been taking over Eric's man room and the guest bedroom/closet! I can start figuring out what we'll want to put in the furniture drawers, and what belongs in the closet. (My organized and OCD self cannot wait for this part!)

Dad - we can't thank you enough for all of your hard work and for helping us with this huge project! It means more to us than you know - and we loved having you, and spending time helping you put this plan into action! :) We love you! (And our new closet!) :)

Nursery - Stage 3 (Painting Project)

While having trouble getting comfortable to sleep this past weekend, I gave up and decided to get a head start on some of the decorations that I've been waiting to paint for months! :) I've always wanted the theme of the nursery to be light gray and white (I love brighter nurseries!) If we were having a girl, we planned to add pops of lavender, and a boy, pops of teal. When we found out that we were expecting a little boy - I couldn't wait to start thinking of different decor ideas for the light gray/white/teal colored nursery :)

I knew that I wanted decor that wouldn't be too baby-like, so that as the baby got older, we wouldn't have to completely re-do their room and would only have to update certain parts. Some of the earlier decor items that I bought to paint teal were:

These arrows that I found from Jane - They were around $15 when I purchased them back in June.

His name in cursive that I found from Jane - It was about $10 when I purchased it back in July.

A small wooden chalkboard from Michaels to use for his monthly pictures - $2.99.

I wanted to wait to start painting until the nursery was painted and furniture was in - as these were the lower items on my to-do list, priority wise. Now that the furniture is here and nursery is painted - I was excited to get started!

Here are the 'after' photos! :) We're going to wait until after my next shower in a couple of weeks, to start hanging everything and putting out the other decor items that we've collected or received as gifts so far.

Next up on my decorating list is re-painting a hand-me-down stool (thank you Kristen & Greg!) to put next to our glider to use as a little side table. Other pops of teal will come from picture frames, a lamp, Bennett's bedding with matching curtains, etc. I can't wait to be able to share our progress! :)

Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough Dip

I was searching Pinterest for an easy dessert-like dish that I could make to bring to a family party when I came across this recipe! I had all of the ingredients already (even better!) and just needed to pick up some vanilla wafers or graham crackers to serve with the dip. It was a hit! :)

Ingredients:

- 1/2 cup butter, cut into small pieces

- 1/3 cup light brown sugar

- Pinch of salt

- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract

- 8 oz cream cheese

- 1/2 cup powdered sugar

- 3/4 cup chocolate chips

- Vanilla Wafers or Graham Crackers to serve

Instructions:

In a small saucepan, melt the butter, brown sugar and salt over medium/low heat, stirring constantly, until the brown sugar dissolves. 

Remove from the heat and whisk in the vanilla extract. Sit to the side to cool at room temperature.

With an electric mixer, beat the cream cheese and powdered sugar until smooth and fluffy. Stir in the cooled butter mixture.

Add chocolate chips and continue stirring. 

Transfer the dip to a serving bowl and refrigerate. Remove from the refrigerator 15 to 30 minutes before serving. Serve with Vanilla Wafers or Graham Crackers. 

Enjoy! :)

Nursery - Stage 2 (Blinds & Furniture)

Things are becoming more real! We are now 9 weeks away from our due date and all of the little things are starting to come together as we continuously check things off of our to do list!

This morning we had a great appointment with our doctor and was able to see our little man again in 3D! He's growing right on track and is weighing in at 3 lbs 4 oz already. It's so exciting seeing him move around and check in on things - especially since I'm feeling him constantly now. 

Since my last post, we re-painted the nursery light gray (You can see the before pictures here - the room was painted a darker gray color). I'm a pretty plain person when it comes to designing rooms and decor - I like to stick with neutral colors with pops of color here and there - so our theme for the baby's nursery is light gray and white with pops of teal.

Next on our list (well, Eric's list) was to hang the new blind and assemble the glider that we've had in the original box for months. I clearly approved the hard work that took place! Tucker on the other hand - was more excited while helping Eric, instead of for the photo op afterwards with Mom.

Also this morning, the last of our nursery furniture was delivered! (Which ah... for those of you that know the furniture drama we've had to deal with over the past 16 weeks since ordering our original set - you know how relieved I am to finally just have this done!) A HUGE thank you to Mom, Dad and Madison who were able to go back to the store in DE and take care of business in person - canceling our original set, placing the order for the new set and then dealing with the new plan for making it up to us for creating such a mess in the first place :) Needless to say - the new set arrived days letter, and we received a nice refund for the all of the stress that was caused in the process. While this wasn't the original set we ordered, we absolutely love it! Here's what the nursery currently looks with our new furniture included!

Next up on our list for the nursery:

- Dad comes to build the closet

- Putting Bennett's things away 

- Decorating - including lots of DIY projects for adding those pops of teal to the nursery!