counting weeks

I always found it annoying when I asked a pregnant friend how far along she was and she would respond with the amount of weeks. It meant I then had to take a minute and do the math in my head (I'm horrible at math so it would take longer than most people). I just wanted the answer in simple months. Now that I'm pregnant, I of course am counting by the weeks and they are flying by! The first 12 went by incredibly slow but now that I'm 27 weeks I'm getting a little nervous about this whole thing, and excited of course. Nervous mostly about raising a well-behaved child that loves Jesus. I feel like I need to read a whole library in the next couple of months on parenting. Also feeling very challenged lately with my relationship with Jesus and the affect that it will have on my child...they will see my every move and hear the words I speak...I want them to see Christ in all of it. This will be tough and many mistakes are bound to be made.

I've been spending most of my time editing some pictures and studying for an online class that is a thorn in my side these days. I HAVE GOT to start working on projects for the baby room and homemade gifts for Christmas! It's November 11th already! sheesh! Sloooooow down time! I'll try to post some pictures of the projects I do in case any of them turn out cute.


I'll leave you with one of my favorite pictures from a recent photo session. so sweet.




WARNING: Stop reading now if you get grossed out easily. 


And a picture to prove that we're counting weeks...
I'm wearing the same thing in some pictures because we forgot to take the picture for that week...Also, week 17 Jack started to write "months" instead of "weeks". I wanted to use it anyways because I thought it was cute and shows how forgetful we are I am these days.

DIY-wooden lamps

available at Target for $49.99 (without shade):

available in your backyard for less than $20 (with shade)

So, they're not exactly alike, but I've seen the one at Target and it just looks way too fake. I found a dead tree in our woods. We cut it down, soaked the pieces with ant spray (ants love to live in dead wood apparently), and sprayed them with a sealant to bring out the color and give the wood a more durable outer covering since the wood was dead and chipping off pretty easily. Added a light kit and a shade and I now have two new bedside lamps for about the cost of one had I purchased them. Love the feeling after finishing a DIY project; especially if it saves you money!

neutral nursery

Well, we are 23 weeks along in this pregnancy and time is flying by. We decided not to find out the sex of our baby after talking with many couples who waited. Their stories of that moment when the baby was delivered were all so special and exciting. We decided that we wanted that moment of surprise at the hospital after 9 long months. So, gender neutral nursery it is!

I'll be honest, I'm really not into the gender neutral things out there. I'm not really into "baby-decor" at all actually..like ducks and cartoons. I want most everything in the nursery to be able to be used as the child grows older or placed somewhere else in the house. I am such a tomboy still that most of the things I'm drawn to tend to be on the boyish side, even though I'm pretty sure we're having a girl.

I decided to do an outdoor theme. I found this picture below at a thrift store. I took a picture of it and doctored it on photoshop (brightened and smudged). I then painted over the entire image referring back to the photoshop image which is below. I have yet to take a picture of the finished piece but I really like how it turned out. This was the inspiration for the room.

Crib from IKEA has caught my eye. Love the simple lines and natural wood...and affordable price of course.

thinking blue gingham fabric for curtains

we have an old rocking chair we plan to use

thinking a fabric like this or either a yellow print for chair cushion

multi-colored fabric rugs from K Mart... bought 4 that I plan to sew together

Source: sixtyonea.blogspot.com via Madame Marjan on Pinterest

Source: spoolsewing.com via Meredith on Pinterest

thinking of making a mobile with fish and birds out of different fabrics.

As you can see there's a lot of mixing and matching going on and perhaps a little on the boyish side. I may change some things as I go if it looks ridiculous. It's hard to tell until everything is in place, and I can always add some girlish things in once we have confirmation. I'm trying to keep myself in check with decorating the room when it comes to spending money and time on it because ultimately that stuff isn't important, but it is a fun way to be creative;)

Sunday.

Can you guess where we went Sunday?

this was me when we got home.

It was perfect. 

my camera + you

I've got some extra time until February comes and that means I have time for taking some pictures.

And since I'm just doing this as a free time filler and not as a "business", it will be EXTRA AFFORDABLE for any budget. Shoots during the week will be discounted as well. Email me at meredithgward@gmail.com if interested and for pricing.

cravings

you know you're pregnant when you would pass up these...

Source: eeuphoriaa.tumblr.com via Kathy on Pinterest

or this...

Source: thefarmgirlrecipes.blogspot.com via Jessica on Pinterest

or this...

Source: flickr.com via Sandi on Pinterest

for this...

or this...

ok, let's be honest, i would definitely eat the cookies, cake, and ice cream if they happened to be sitting in front of me, but i cannot get enough mexican these days. my baby may come out screaming "¡hola!"

old school

In the spirit of school starting back I thought I would post something interesting I found while going through some of my grandmother's things in the attic. She happened to save EVERYTHING, which I'm glad she did.

This was printed on the back of a report card dated 1937-1938

I love this...especially #12...I wish my kids could go to a school with these things being expected. times have changed for sure.

I was also going through letters her and my grandfather wrote each other all during school. My grandfather died when I was about 5, so it's really neat to read about how sweet their relationship was since I really wasn't old enough to realize it then. I found an old western union telegram...which i guess would be our version of texting today...

I found references in the letters about them calling each other, but it would be very seldom and they probably weren't able to talk long. Guess we got it pretty good these days.

I also found a receipt dated in the 1950's from a tuition payment to USC law school for one semester...it cost $150! unreal.

I took a couple of months off from doing projects because #1) it was so hot to do any painting outside #2) I had awful morning sickness hitting me around 2pm until bedtime and felt like doing nothing. at. all. I've started back and just finished sewing my first striped curtain. I'm pretty hooked and trying to think of other things I can sew.

I also scored these awesome old school chairs for a dollar each. I'm going to attempt something strange with them and excited to see how they turn out.

I also got Jack to cut down a dead tree for another idea I had for our bedroom.

hopefully I'll have these finished soon...I'm known for starting many projects and finishing few.

Something I've also started doing now that -god willing- I'll be a mom in about 5 months is being diligent in memorizing some verses that have been very encouraging over the past year. I want to be able to bring them up when needed and know exactly where they are in the Bible. I want to teach my child lessons, encourage them, and back up disciplining with scripture.

here are a few I've started with...

Many are the plans in a person’s heart,

but it is the LORD’s purpose that prevails.

Proverbs 19:21

There is no room in love for fear. Well-formed love banishes fear. Since fear is crippling, a fearful life—fear of death, fear of judgment—is one not yet fully formed in love.

1 John 4:18 the Message

There is no wisdom, no insight, no plan

that can succeed against the LORD.

Proverbs 21:30

too fast

time is going by way too fast. It's almost August!

We really haven't done too much this summer. We've been to the beach and to Charleston for our 3rd anniversary!

one of the only pictures I took that weekend...

I love being married to this man.

I've unfortunately let my garden go. I was just too slow for the weeds. It's still yielding some good stuff though...

I haven't been doing too many crafts lately...It's been way too hot to work on anything outside. I had all intentions of diving into some sewing projects but have been a little under the weather until recently. I did manage to make some polymer clay earrings like this...

Source: redcraftyfox.blogspot.com via Concha on Pinterest

Working with the clay was harder than I thought so this was the best I could come up with.

You can buy the clay at craft stores. Looks like this...

they have lots of colors but I chose a neutral one because I knew I was going to paint them. You just make your shape, put in the oven (directions are on the package) and paint if desired. Simple as that. Would be a fun craft for kids to do.

Before & after and DIY printmaking

The record cabinet is finally finished except for the door handles.

before:

during:

after:

I painted the inside gray just to give myself a break from all the yellow.

The shelves are stained to match the top.

Deciding to stain the top was a last minute decision, and I'm liking it.

The yellow looks really intense in this light, but it's a tad bit softer.

Now for some printmaking! I've been really excited about this project and love how it turned out. About a month ago I went with a friend to the Artisphere festival they have in downtown Greenville. It gave me so many ideas! There were tons of printmaking artists and their work was some of my favorite. I remembered doing some very elementary print making in my high school art class and thought I could try it again having the freedom to create whatever I wanted. This was very time consuming but worth it!

First, decide on what you want to create. I was really into birds, but ended up going with a fish.

I found a black and white one online. From my experience you need to have a straight black and white image so you can know what to cut out or leave.

Next I spent $10 on a huge piece of insulation board from Lowe's. I plan on doing more prints so it was definitely worth it.

I cut out a small piece from the entire board. I created a grid on my printout and drew the same grid proportional to the size of my board. For example, there are 7 columns on the printout, so I measure to create 7 equal columns on my board as well. This is to make it easier to draw your image.

This is after I've cut out everything. I drew everything I wanted to print with a sharpie. I used an exacto knife and cut out everything that wasn't drawn over with sharpie. This could take a long time depending on how intricate your drawing is. You are removing what you don't want paint to go on during the transfer.

I had some leftover fabric I decided to use for the background.

I bought this rolling sponge at Hobby Lobby. You will want to use something like this to ensure you're getting paint only on the raised surfaces. This sponge worked really well and did not soak up too much paint.

I painted my raised surface (the red sharpie) and transfered it to the fabric and pressed down.

I had an extra pallet that was cut up to make frames with. I used some white paint and water to give the wood a white wash look. I just painted with watered down white paint and used a rag to wipe the wood until I got the color I desired.

I intended on hanging them vertically with one fish looking up and the other down, but they didn't fit under the shelf. In our next house I'll switch them because I don't love the upside down one, but it will do for now.