Elsewhere

Sorry for the silence this week! It's been a rough one for me and my family. Nothing we can't handle - just been a little overwhelmed lately by life. In the meantime here are my posts for the week from over on Apartment Therapy Family:

Creative Solutions for Small Space Play

A Nursery Starts with Art: Inspired by Banquet Atelier & Workshop's Cactus Print

Happy Friday! xo, Lauren

When it Rains it Pours

Sorry for the disappearance. My life seems to have gone a bit haywire and I'm fighting to get it back under control! I'm back at work full time, Kevin's herniated discs are back in action, my sister ended up in the hospital with kidney stones, and Violet has been a bit out of her normal routine with her transition back to her babysitter's house. Not to mention the fact that I'm trying to navigating a new blogging system and deadlines over on Apartment Therapy. So needless to say blogging hasn't been high on my priority list this week. Hopefully I'll manage to have some posts for you next week - thank goodness for long weekends!

xoxo, Lauren

Lovely Little Style: Handmade Collars

Wouldn't these collars by Claudine & Compagnie just make every outfit special? Each is handmade in Belgium and is available for ages 1-12. I think the blue one is my favorite, but of course it's sold out!

Lovely Little Things: Balloon Mobiles

I really have a thing for hot air balloons lately. They're whimsical, colorful, floating - what's not to love? These balloon mobiles from Made by Mosey have really stolen my heart. Made from a mixture of new and vintage fabrics in gorgeous color palettes, these mobiles can be purchased on Etsy or from the stockists listed on this site.

Blue Eyes

I thought I'd share a few photos of my handsome little nephew today. He is getting more and more alert all of the time and just has the most beautiful blue eyes. I so miss being able to hold him and snuggle him. Too bad I can't just hop over to Australia any time I want! Thank goodness for Skype.

Photos by the lovely Candice Van Moolenbroek.

Lovely Little Room: Max's Sloped Space

Today's photos are from one of my absolute favorite blogs for eye candy: Katie's Pencil Box. Katie is not only a master of photography, but also of making those mundane moments of everyday life look like art. Her home is no exception. This particular room belongs to her son Max. He's quite the writer and photographer himself - I loved reading his letters to his new sister (whose space I'm dying to see)! And I'm always impressed when he takes photos of his lovely mama. I love that Katie was able to keep this room light, neutral, and true to her style, but still give it the perfect vibe for a growing little boy. You can see more of Katie's lovely home here and visit her blog here.

A big thank you to Katie for sharing Max's space with us!

Party Perfect

I'm seriously in love with this Etsy shop. Have you ever seen such party wonderfulness in one place?! Have & Hold Design sells greeting cards party and home decor, and custom invitations - definitely visiting for my next shindig. What are your favorite party shops?

xo, Lauren

Lovely Little Things: Matchbox Friends

Aren't these little matchbox creatures just the sweetest thing you've ever seen? These sleepy critters are handmade in Italy by atelier pompadour and sold on Etsy. Each comes complete with its own name, personality, and fun little bed. You can see more work by atelier pompadour here.

Lovely Little Links

Emily Meyer of Tea Collection has the luckiest daughter!

These little clowns would definitely be the life of the party.

Toilet paper rolls fit for a little king (or queen).

Perfect summer DIY.

The sweetest (and most portable) little dollhouse.

Pink dress + red tights + red shoes.

Looking for an inexpensive show stopper for your little space? Look no further than this DIY wall art.

Have a lovely weekend!

xo, Lauren

Lovely Links

I wish I had a wallpaper stash so I could make one of these.

Love this simple little DIY.

Couldn't have said it better myself.

The prettiest hair.

Amazing tissue holder (that's right, I said tissue holder)

Bright idea

New prints over at Banquet!

Gorgeous paper sculptures

Lovely little links:

Started working on Violet's play kitchen. (Stay tuned, more to come!)

Lovely little swings.

Adorable handmade teething rings

New favorites from Ferm Living

Lovely Little Things: New Ferm Living

I am just in love with Ferm Living's new Fall 2012 collection. Those gorgeous baskets would be perfect for storing toys and that cloud light is just amazing. Not to mention those completely adorable those little whale pillows! See more of the new collection here.

Lovely Little Swings

One: Wooden Child's Swing by La Clinica

Two: Wooden Swing by The Wooden Horse

Three: DIY Child Swing by pinjacolada

Four: Kids' Swing by Swingz n Thingz

Five: Baby & Toddler Swing by Solvej Swings

Six: Striped Child's Swing

Seven: Wooden Swing by The Wooden Horse

Eight: Filzschaukel Wool Swing by Mohr Cushion via das mobel

The Owls Have It

Happy Monday! Hope everyone had a lovely weekend. I thought we'd kick the week off with a little roundup. I know owls were a huge trend that is probably on its way out, but I'm still in love with them. Probably something to do with the fact that my Mamaw's house has always been completely covered in them. They make me all nostalgic and fuzzy feeling :) Here are a few of my current favorites for big or little people.

Clockwise from top left:

Owl Clock - DecoyLab
Calico Owl Knob - Anthropologie
Obtuse and Acute Owls - CB2
Gold Wooden Owl - SMUG
The Rise and Fall Baby Owl Pillow - Urban Outfitters
Kate Spade New York Owl Vase - Bloomingdales
Jonathan Adler Owl Sculpture - Nordstrom
Little Owl Wallpaper - Anthropologie
Barn Owl Print - Ashley Percival

So there you have it! xo, Lauren

Check out my roundup of lions for little ones here.

Lovely Little DIY: Play Kitchen Knobs

We found this little hutch on the curb and I couldn't believe that someone would just get rid of it! Solid wood, and so much character. I guess one man's trash is another man's treasure, right? It just needed a fresh coat of paint and a little DIY magic to make it into the perfect play kitchen for our little Violet. After painting it with a fresh coat of white paint, I decided the first order of business was to add knobs. I found these cute wooden ones at the Home Depot but wanted to make them a little more personal and fun. I'm really happy with how they turned out! When we installed the knobs we kept them a little loose so that Violet can turn them to 'operate' the stove or oven. Still to add: a burner, oven handle (and window?), dish towels, and art!

Here's how you can make the knobs yourself (it's really easy):

Step 1: Purchase frog tape, paint, and wooden knobs at your local hardware store in the sizes and quantities you need. I used leftover paint from our house trim, but you can use acrylic paint for this project as well.

Step 2: Use the frog tape to mask different amounts of the front of each knob. You could tape each to be equally divided, but I thought it was easier and more fun to vary the amount a bit.

3. Paint the untaped area using thin layers of paint. Two layers worked just fine for me.

4. Remove the tape (I think it is best removed while the paint is still slightly wet) and voila! Fresh and fun knobs perfect for your little one's play kitchen. Happy painting!

xo, Lauren

Violet Says

Violet's speech has just exploded lately and she's saying so many funny things! I thought I'd start a regular column so I don't forget any of it. Here are a few of my favorites:

1. We were all in the car driving to the grocery store and talking to Violet about people's ages. Kevin said, "Violet is two, Daddy is 29, and Mommy is 30 years old." To which Violet retorted, "No Mommy old, Daddy! Mommy NEW."

2. Violet: "Mommy, me witch!"
Me: "Are you a good witch or a bad witch?"
Violet: "Bad witch. Me fly me broom!"

3. After wiggling her finger around in her nose, she pulled her finger out and with triumph in her voice squealed, "Mommy, GOLD!"

4. When trying to put her shoes on herself, she realized she has them on backwards and says with the cutest grin on her face, "Silly me!"

5. One day she kept saying over and over "Damnit, Mommy. DAMNit. We were horrified until we finally asked her to show us what she was saying, and she ran over to the cabinet and pointed to it. "DAMNit, Mommy"!

Us (with much relief): Ohhhhh, CABINET!

And it's only the beginning...

xo, Lauren

Handmade Wooden Teething Rings

I'm completely smitten with these handmade wooden and crochet teething rings. The creation of mother of three Nihama-Jana Ladizenska, they're available in a huge variety of colors and styles. See more of her lovely work by visiting her namesake Etsy shop here.

Creating A Fun + Fresh Workspace

After seeing inspiring workspaces like this and this, I've got the itch to spruce up my own little desk area. You can see I've got just a few things on my wish list. We're trying to save some money at the moment, so in reality very few will probably be purchased (although I may try to DIY a couple of things), but a girl can dream, right? Check out my latest ideabook over on Houzz.com for sources!

xo, Lauren

Lovely Links

Gorgeous, gorgeous nursery. I only wish I could see more of it!

Love the first three costumes.

A most adorable coat that I will never afford - Yowza!

I'll admit it - I don't like oreos. But I'm smitten with this cake nonetheless...

Definitely want to try this.

How to make a molded light plate - pure genius.

Adorable little craft.

Have a lovely weekend!

xo, Lauren

I Throw My Hand Up in the Air Sometimes

I didn't quite get around to this post this week, so the first group of links are a bit thin. Sorry inter webs - I'm sure you have a lot more to love, I just didn't find it/save the link/pin it this week!

V's been waking up between 4AM and 6AM every morning which I'll have to admit isn't working for me much while still trying to get over jet lag. Feeling a bit zombie-esque these days! But then I just take a look at the above photo and think, who cares? I mean how can you care about something so silly when you've got a kid like that? Pure joy.

So anyway, better late than never, here you are:

Your children want YOU.

I really really want to make one of these.

Raising successful children

Over on A Lovely Lark this week:

Recipe for a play kitchen

A little mountain retreat

Violet's bedroom (Finally!)

The loveliest birth announcement

Lovely little links for the week

I did a guest post over on Buy Modern Baby this week:

Woodland accessories for your wee ones

And lastly my first post on Apartment Therapy Family:

Five Fresh Sources for Kids' Bedding

Have a lovely weekend!

xo, Lauren

A Lovely Find: Birth Announcement

This birth announcement just took my breath away. It's the creation of Brooke Schwab of Brooke Schwab Photography. I love the softness, the whimsical handwriting, the pretty vintage dress - just perfect.

Two Year Photos

We were unexpectedly able to get some two-year-old photos of Violet while we were in Australia. My sister set up a family and newborn photo shoot with the lovely Candice Van Moolenbroek and she generously let us get a few photos of just the three of us. I'm so happy with how they turned out! The one of Violet kissing her daddy just killlls me. Thank you Candice for capturing our little family so beautifully!

xo, Lauren

P.S. You can see our one year photos taken by the amazing Megyn Barroner here and here.

Lovely Little Things: Woodsy Modern

I almost forgot to share that I am a guest poster over on Buy Modern Baby this week! Go and check out my roundup of woodsy modern nursery pieces here. Thanks Esther for having me!

Violet's Bedroom

We've been working for what feels like ages on my daughter Violet's big girl room. It was a slow transformation from what I've dubbed a 'zebra bordello' to what we have today. (If you're curious you can see the before's over on my personal blog here). With a toddler running around we don't have much time, and our budget was tight, so we did things slowly and over time.

The starting point for the room was actually the rug. I had purchased it years ago on clearance from Anthropologie, and while I still love it, it no longer worked in the space for which it was originally intended. So rather than wasting a perfectly good rug, we decided to use it in the one unfinished space in the house - Violet's room. Working around this rug was a bit of a challenge for me. It definitely limited my color palette, as there aren't a huge amount of colors that go with chartreuse green. I was saved when I came across this lovely color palette over on Creature Comforts.

I was actually pretty excited to use pink, as I definitely did not use traditional girly colors in her nursery.   I knew that I didn't want the walls to be pink just in case she got a little older and decided she hated pink, so we went with a creamy neutral. That left me with the bedding and dresser to douse in as much pink as I pleased. I originally scoured Craigslist in search of an inexpensive antique dresser to paint like this one over on Making it Lovely. But when I finally found the right piece, I just couldn't bring myself to paint over that beautiful wood. Despite that I still felt that the space needed a pop of pink, so I painted a color block behind the dresser instead.

On the other side of the room I went in search of pink bedding. I hit the jackpot when I came across this lovely polka dot bedding over on House 8810. I gave Violet a billion pillows, because she loves to have pillow fights and make pillow beds on the floor. (Thanks to her Aunt Nikki and Nonny) I made two of them myself from linen that I purchased at a local fabric store. The sheets were purchased at Land of Nod and the larger sham came from Restoration Hardware (on sale). The smaller pillows were from Land of Nod, Etsy and Pretty Little Things by Lori Marie. At that point the room was starting to feel really traditional, and I prefer a combination of traditional and modern, so I mixed things up a bit with a modern bed from West Elm and bench (actually part of a closet system) from IKEA. I made the bench cushion myself - I purchased two-inch foam (on sale at 50% off!) from Joann Fabrics, used some left over fabric from my daughter's nursery, and pinned it all together. Eventually I'll get around to sewing it, but I ran out of time before we left for our vacation. It's holding up fine for now! :)

On the largest wall I went with a pull-down map that I found on eBay for $5. I had originally purchased it with the plan to paint over it, but the Mister convinced me to save it. (Luckily the colors happened to go quite well in the space). I'd been coveting this Up poster from Fine Little Day for quite some time, so that went up on the wall as well, as well as this Adventurers screen print from Fifi du Vie. These removable wallpaper decals from Love Mae jumped out at me on Pinterest and I thought they'd be perfect in the small space above the bench. The last wall that needed something was above the bed. I really wanted to use this Daydream wallpaper by Julia Rothman for Hygge & West, but I had hit my budget limit at that point. So I decided to freehand a similar mural myself ($2.80 for a paint sample jar from Home Depot) I went with a minty color for the simple fact that I'm completely obsessed with it at the moment.

I didn't have any particular theme in mind for the space - I just put together things that I love and that I thought Violet would love as well. Overall I'm pretty happy with how the space turned out, and Violet loves playing in there until we make the move out of her crib. (Very nervous about that!)

This post got a lot longer than I had planned, so I'll list all of the sources below and if you have any questions let me know!

xo, Lauren

Narrow Leg Bed - West Elm
Dottie Quilt - House 8810
Dresser - Craigslist
Bench - IKEA
Bench Cushion - DIY
Bench Fabric - Jo-ann Fabric
Zinc Letter 'V' - Anthropologie
Gray Sham - Restoration Hardware Baby & Kids
Pink Polka Dot Sheets - Land of Nod
Striped Pillow - Urban Ecology
Floral Pillow - Skinny LaMinx
Star Pillow - Hello Milky
Large Round Pillow - Land of Nod
Small Round Pillow - Pretty Little Things by Lori Marie
Linen Pillows - DIY (Fabric from Joann Fabric)
Doll - Pretty Little Things by Lori Marie
Dancer Bear - Lieschen Mueller
Map - eBay
Adventurers Print - Fifi du Vie
Bear & Antler Hooks - West Elm
Christy's Cottage Dollhouse - Melissa & Doug
Bedside Shelf - Michael's Craft Store
Umbra Horizon Crunch Cans - Container Store
Up Poster - Fine Little Day
Book Shelf - IKEA
Star Pillow - Colette Bream
Swallows Wallpaper Decals - Love Mae
Curtains - IKEA
Large Rug - Anthropologie 
Faux Sheepskin Rug - IKEA
Eleanor Frameless Mirror - Pottery Barn
Star Garland - DIY
Tissue Paper Tassel Mobile - FleurLux
Squirrel Lamp - Anthropologie
Gold Mushroom Lamp - Mokkasin
Handpainted Blocks - How Now Design
Gnome - MOMA Store
Terrarium Postcards - Quill and Fox