Prayer of Hannah: Decorating

A year and half ago, I bought an antique head/footboard from a lady in North Carolina. She had cut the legs off of this bed and didn’t have any side rails to go with the bed. That was fine with me because, I wanted to make a bench out of it. However, after cherishing its antiquity and doting over the detail in this bed, I could NOT entertain the thought of taking it apart and making a bench.

Plan B was now to make a toddler bed out of it. My baby was just 10 months old at the time, so I knew I had to hold onto it for a while.

When we moved, I toted it with me. DH tried to get me to get rid of it, and I looked at him like he had two heads. This bed was a work of art in my mind. I had great plans for it, and wasn’t going to keep it stashed in the garage forever. I just had to wait for the right time.

Well, today was the day! The right time had come, now that little bits was in need of a toddler bed. I wanted to use both the headboard and footboard and assemble the bed to look just as it would if I had a big, full mattress in the bed, but use a crib mattress instead. My handyman hubby did a great job building a foundation for the crib mattress to sit on, since we didn’t have side rails.

Can I just say that I LOVE LOVE LOVE how the bed came out?

Ta-dah!

We have to do a little bit more work on the bed on the sides to keep the mattress from scooting, as well as keep her from scooting upward in her sleep.

I just love it!

When she outgrows this bed, which won’t be too long, we’ll keep it in the girls’ room as a reading couch for them or put an actual full mattress in the bed instead of a crib mattress. They will love making forts/tents from the bed posts.

Can you tell the girls just love it? Big Sis wanted to sleep in it too tonight. She also loved jumping off the bed onto the floor in a “geronimo-style” fashion, like doing a "can-opener" onto carpet.

Little Bits likes to go down the white stairs on the right, but I’m sure she’ll be jumping before I can blink. We both laid down in her new toddler bed tonight at bedtime. Her smile couldn’t have gotten any bigger.

Just melts my heart.

I had thought about the girls sharing a bed at one time, but a full bed seemed a bit small for both of them, since they are both rambunctious sleepers, toss’n and turn’n every which way. A queen bed would probably work perfectly, but then again, I think I still like them having their own space since they share a room.

Any thoughts on same gender siblings sharing a bed?
I’d love to hear it!

Last week my little turned two years old. I can't believe two years have already passed since she was born.

Mattie had a Strawberry Shortcake inspired birthday party using the colors and design of Strawberry Shortcake. Below are some of the things we did to throw her her very own Strawberry Party.

These cupcakes were the BEST cupcakes I might have ever made, maybe ever had. Seriously. Making three dozen cupcakes with a double batch of the icing was a bit laborious, but once my taste buds experienced these cupcakes, it was all worth it. I already had the cupcake stands from Laney's birthday party last year.

I got the recipe from Martha Stewart's website, but really the recipe is owned by Candice Nelson, aka Sprinkles. I changed some things in the recipe that you will definitely need to know about, like adding baking soda that was accidentally left out of the recipe (that will have to be another post). Here's also a video of Candice Nelson making these (she included the baking soda in this video)

Do you think Mattie liked them? She was putting her fingers in the icing, picking the strawberries off the top, licking the icing off of them and eating them.

Mmm. Mama these are good cupcakes.

Red-picnic Dollar Tree plates and napkins

Focal point of party!
We had the party down at the pool cabana of our neighborhood. It was so nice because it was free, there was enough seating for everyone, there were ceiling fans, and a pool for everyone to swim in after eating cupcakes. (oh and not to mention a cool fireplace for our focal point)

The morning of the party my friend, Rachelle Usher, came over to help me prep for the party. What a tremendous help she was. Rachelle came over and made the balloon banner you see above. Want to know now to make it?

Supplies for Balloon Banner:

Pack of 20 balloons in red (Party City)
Pack of 20 balloons in green (Party City)
Decorator Strip ($4.99 at Party City
Strong lungs to blow up 40 balloons

Balloon Banner How-To:

1. Blow up all of the balloons.

2. Tie two balloons of the same color together.

3. Make a cluster of four balloons total by tying together two clusters of two balloons, of the same color.

4. Stick the end of a balloon cluster (4 balloons tied together) in the hole in the decorator strip.

5. Continue to stick all balloon clusters into decorator strip until you have no more balloon clusters.

6. Reserve a little bit of the decorator strip on each end so you can hang it.

*This banner was supposed to hang straight, but it was difficult to do that at this shelter, so we did the best we could. Also, I wouldn't recommend hanging balloons next to brick. Balloons were randomly popping throughout the party and scaring us to death.

I had Dear Hubby unscrew our big chalkboard from the playroom wall,
so I could make a focus point and personal birthday sign.

I snagged Mattie's birth announcements, her first year portrait, some fake flowers from our house, and a pink chicken for decor (from our house) to add to the focal point.

Spanish Moss "M" for Mattie:

"M" at Hobby Lobby for $1.99
Spanish moss at Hobby Lobby
Spray glue (on hand)
Ribbon to hang (on hand)

Spanish Moss Letter How-To:

1. Head outside with your supplies.

2. Spray your letter(s) with spray glue.

3. Quickly bunch up and lay down your Spanish moss.

That's it.

Easy peasy lemon squeezy!

My friend Rachelle actually glued the Spanish moss for me the morning of the party.
She did a fantastic job!

Inspired by the Strawberry Shortcake design (but not using the Strawberry Shortcake character stuff), I bought red, plastic tablecloths from the Dollar Tree, green and white polka dot wrapping paper from Party City for $3.99, and grabbed a few things from the house for decor (strawberry bowl and glass candlesticks).

Gotta love my animated little Lanes. She's the life of a party!

For the party favors, I sewed burlap bags with red thread.

I used a scallopped paper punch and some scrap cream cardstock to make nametags

Inside bags: (pics aren't that great due to mobile phone pics at 1:30 am)

Handmade red headbands (made from an old tshirt) with burlap rosette

Trader Joes strawberry fruit leather
Organic strawberry sucker
A few pieces of Trader Joes saltwater strawberry taffy
Little plastic bags of Trader Joes crunchy chocolate covered peanuts tied with gingham ribbon