Flora and Fauna 1st Birthday Party

Our little gal Emerson turned 1 this past weekend and we went all out for her party. Some of our close friends and family came in from our of town to celebrate with us and it was a truly special day. Not to get too sappy, but this past year has easily been the best of our lives. Challenging, yes. But so very rewarding and full. Approaching her birthday, I got pretty emotional at the thought of Emerson going from a baby to a toddler. I already miss her cuddles and clings. However, her curiosity and excitement for discovering this world is contagious and I'm so ready for this fun next year together.

When I set out to plan her party, I really wanted to incorporate things she loved. Our house is set back into the woods and one of our favorite activities together is watching the woodland creatures in our backyard. We have wild turkeys, deer, chipmunks, squirrels and birds of all kinds. We really love animals around here. Emerson also adores the vintage Steiff animals my mother-in-law lent her and squeals every time she gets to pick one up and hold it. So a flora and fauna theme seemed like a perfect fit. 

Many of the party details are DIYs-- the triangle garland, mustard wall banner and desserts and I've tried to describe how I made them below! 

I originally set out to make Emerson's cake look much more polished than it turned out. But at 2am in the morning the night before the party, things got desperate and I decided to go for an impasto palette knife look. I really liked the way it turned out considering the circumstances and it was super easy to execute (frost a crumb layer, refrigerate, and then lather it on thick). 

See the DIYs after the jump! 

DIY Modern IKEA Tarva Hack

When I revealed Emerson's nursery a few months back, everyone kept asking how we DIY'ed the IKEA Tarva dresser in her room. So I'm finally getting around to laying out the step-by-step of how we did it!

The thing I really love about the Tarva is that it comes unfinished and is designed to be customized and jazzed up. I've seen several really awesome and inspired creations using the Tarva and I love that IKEA is creating products specifically for people who love customizing furniture.

See the full DIY after the jump!

The Ultimate Modern Baby Registry Checklist

1. Bassinet | 2. Sophie the Giraffe | 3. Boppy | 4. Wooden Rattle Toy | 5. Stokke Sleepi Crib | 6. Maxi-Cosi Mico Car Seat | 7. Video Baby Monitor | 8. White Noise Sound Machine | 9. WubbaNub Pacifiers | 10. Skip Hop Diaper Bag | 11. ERGObaby 360 Baby Carrier | 12. OXO Wooden Highchair | 13. Velcro Swaddler | 14. Jellycat Bunny | 15. Muslin blankets | 16. Baby Jogger City Stroller

When I was pregnant with Emerson and went to make a baby registry, I went a little nuts reading reviews and examining every baby registry checklist under the sun. In hindsight, I may have overcomplicated the process. Who really needs to read 200 reviews of a stroller? At the end of the day, you just want things that are awesome, functional and fit your style.

A ton of our friends and family are having sweet babes this year and I get asked a lot about our favorite baby gear. Here are the things we loved and used the most. I'm going to continually update this list as time goes on to share what works for each stage of baby's first year.

SEE THE FULL LIST BELOW:

DIY Tea Dyed Onesie

Babies grow out of everything SO quickly. I just reluctantly put away all of Emerson's 0-3 month summer clothes and was so sad to see a physical representation of time passing.

One staple of E's wardrobe has been these white onesies. I'll buy a pack of them on Amazon and in the warm weather, let her wear them around the house. In the colder season, I layer them underneath her outfits for extra warmth. They're so inexpensive that I don't mind them getting trashed with spit up or blow outs. In fact, one time, her blow out was so bad that I literally just cut the onesie off her body and threw it in the trash to avoid major clean up.

As I bought onesies for winter, I had the urge to spruce them up a bit. And when I saw this DIY via Moonologie, I knew it was the perfect organic fix.

Click to see the DIY after the jump! 

DIY Changing Pad Cover

My DIY inspiration usually arises after trying to take on a new project, looking high and low for good tutorials, and having a hard time finding what I'm looking for. At that point, I'll just wing it. And if the project turns out well, I share it with you all.

Putting together our little one's nursery has been one of my favorite projects to date. I've really loved exploring new colorful decor styles and incorporate a soft feminine vibe into the space without going over-the-top girly. I couldn't find a changing pad cover for sale that had the modern boho vibe I'm going for. So when I came across embroidered mustard yellow curtain panels on clearance at Target, I thought it may look awesome on a changing pad. Here's how I did it...

big news! we're having a BABY and it's a...

We are so very excited to announce that we're having a baby this spring!

I'm a few months along (almost 20 weeks to be exact) and hopefully that explains why I've been somewhat MIA around the blog lately. My second trimester of pregnancy has brought with it an influx of energy and excitement, so we've been diving full swing into nursery preparation and will have some really rad DIY's to share in the coming weeks (think a dresser, bookcase, and decor galore!) 

We had our midterm ultrasound this past weekend and found out the gender of our little peanut. To celebrate and surprise our families with the news, I made a special cake. And if I'm baking a celebration cake, you better believe I'm going to make it a gradient ombre layer cake.