There are so many different things to try when tradition making comes around, but I think the ones that become everyone’s favorite cant be predetermined. You know? It has to be special and awesome and something that you look forward to every year. We have 2 traditions that we LOVE. Our annual Christmas photo (massive thanks to everyone who featured our Whoville one this year!) and our elves Mortimer and Stella.
Mortimer Mistletoe and Stella Snowflake are not your typical Elf on the Shelf breed. They are sort of horrible and play tricks on everyone. In fact, I don’t think that they have ever done a single nice thing for any of us. You can see the letter that came with them here. Be warned you are venturing into the deep dark VR archives….best of luck to you!
This year we got an emergency email from Mrs. Claus because she is the head of the ERS (Elf Relocations Services)
Dear Gubler Family,
It is with great haste that I write this email. We’ve had an incident at the North Pole that we feel you need to be made aware of. A gang of elves know as the Missile Toes has disappeared. Mortimer Mistletoe was the elf that created the organization. While we believe he is not involved in the recent string of petty crimes at the North Pole, we do have reason to believe that the Missile Toes might be headed your way to try and recruit him back into a position of power.
Please be on the lookout. We are fully aware of what we are asking, but if you do encounter this group, please capture them by any means necessary. I am aware that I am asking you to break the cardinal rule of No Touching the Elves but by so doing you will freeze them until Christmas Eve at which time Santa will bring them home.
Thank you for your cooperation in this sensitive matter.
Sincerely Yours,
Mrs. Claus
Head of Elf Relocation Services
Dylan was legitimately freaked out. But as a family we were determined not to let this interfere with our holiday spirit. So we set up the tree and went on with our lives.
Imagine our surprise when we woke up one morning and discovered the Missile Toes had no only paid us a visit, but destroyed all of our hard work in the process.
If you look at the picture above you can see that an entire section of lights was missing from the middle of the tree.
The top of the tree had been removed entirely thanks to a rigged pulley system, this guy, and his reindeer.
Crude crude crude.
Someone was playing darts with Stella as the target (its a good thing they had bad aim, those candy canes must have been sharp!) And that white guy on the wall? Clearly possessed.
We figured that they came through the duct work and used our newly made tassel garland to zip line their way to the tree for safety.
Speaking of candy canes, there was a sword fight happening that would make Jack Sparrow proud.
This guy. I don’t even know what to say about him.
Last but not least, our star had been removed and standing atop the tree in all his twinkle light wrapped glory was Mortimer.
Dylan was the one that found them and luckily was quick to report everything to us. We email Mrs. Claus and let her know that all the elves had been frozen until Santa’s visit on Christmas Eve.
I’m pretty sure we heard her sigh of relief all the way down here.
Hey hey!! I know we’re all currently in Christmas mode, but I just discovered THE MOST adorable cards that I have to plant in your brain that you’ll need for the other 364 days of the year.
Do you remember the Hallmark commercials that ran oh, 25 years ago, that was all about flipping the card over to see the Hallmark stamp on the back? That practice is FOREVER engrained in my memory (thank you cute grandma who felt a gush of love from her distant family and made me cry as an 8 year old.)
Studio INK is a new line of cards from the masters at Hallmark that is designed to push your emotions in the other direction. Like in the laugh-out-loud-these-are-SO-cute direction.
Here are a few of my favorites:
Of course anything that says crap and stinkin’ gets the Vintage Revivals stamp of approval.
This little spork just melts my pregnant heart.
I LOVE these foiled ones so much that I had to turn them into art for the baby’s room.
I used some basic floating frames from Target and corner brackets to jazz them up just a little.
Be sure to pre-drill your pilot holes so that you don’t split the frame!
EVERY FAMILY NEEDS THIS. (<—- not yelling, just well…shouting.)
There are a lot of things you cant control in life. The weather, how many times you eat Thanksgiving leftovers in a 48 hour period of time, the way your pants fit after said 48 hour period. But thankfully and miraculously there is now a way to control the way the internet is used in your home. Guys this is serious. Every family with internet access NEEDS THIS. Like its not optional. Protect your kids, set time limits, stop fighting about it, and actually control the way the internet is used. I LOVE ours, it has changed my world! Meet Circle.
So what is it? Basically It’s a tiny box. A simple phone app. And, a little magic. Disney magic to be exact.
We all know how terrifying it can be to let kids loose on the internet. There is so much information and scary things that they can easily and innocently stumble upon. It is a necessary evil in today’s world, but there is finally a way to protect your family.
With Circle, you can control all of the devices in your home.
You can set time limits (like setting bedtime for your kiddies AND their devices!) I mean, what if you never had to ask your kid to get off the computer and start their homework ever again? Imagine if Netflix or YouTube simply shut off when a preset time limit was reached―no matter what device your kid was on. With Time Limits you can set daily time limits for a family member on any app or category you want. You can also customize how much time your kids spend on each platform and even set a total online time for the day.
Filter content. Circle has 4 preset age levels (Pre-K; Kid; Teen; Adult) and allows for further customization by platform, app, and category. Choose one that matches each family member’s age and interests, filtering out all inappropriate content.
Bedtime Means Bedtime for EVERYTHING. Say “Goodnight” Devices.You know the drill. Lights off, yet devices remain on. What if late night surfing was a thing of the past? Imagine if both kid and device shared the same bedtime. With BedTime, even devices have to turn in at the same time your kids do. Create a BedTime for each family member and their devices. Simply set a sleep time, when the devices will disconnect from the internet, and an awake time, for the morning when the devices will reconnect.Pause the Internet.
Pause the Internet. With the press of a button, you can Pause the internet, disabling access to a specific device, individual, or the entire home.
Keep up with what your kids are doing online. Staying Informed Is Easier Than You Think.Just be honest; You really have no idea what your kids are up to online. What if you could see what apps and platforms your kids used the most. Even better, what if these discoveries could spur conversation and both parent and kid could actually (wait-for-it) learn something more about each other?
Are you convinced yet? Check out this video with even more info.
You guys make this pregnant girl cry!! Thank you so much for all of the sweet comments on the baby’s room. It was such a labor of love (no pun intended) and I cant wait to start sharing the tutorials! I know the rest of blogland is in Christmas mode, but we’re in baby mode over here.
If you’ve landed here without seeing the full room reveal, you can check that out here!
It was really important for me to create a space that felt like a spot a little boy would love, and could be functional (my mind tends to lean toward the way things look vs. the way they are actually interacted with) but this space needed to be safe AND amazing.
We started by painting all of the walls Sherwin-Williams 2016 Color of the Year Alabaster. Trying to keep things real on VR is a huge priority for me, so I hope you loved those before pictures. Man oh man.
When we ripped the carpet out of the girls rooms I painted the concrete (it was an inexpensive and impactful fix) but as its one of my goals in the next year to get our house to feel more cohesive, we decided to bite the bullet and continue the hardwood from our main living areas into this room. We’ll most likely be doing that in the other rooms too. #saynotocarpet The flooring that we have is this engineered hardwood from Build Direct. They have the best prices on flooring that I’ve been able to find and our original floors have held up so well, even with our crazy lifestyle. You cant beat $2.99 a sq/ft.
The stacked animal block wall was the first project that we tackled. It was one of those keep you up in the middle of the night because you are SO EXCITED to get it done projects (which isn’t hard at this point). I cant wait to give you the full rundown of the process.
The crib is an IKEA Guliver hacked with a removable playhouse. (Tutorial coming!)
So many of you wanted to know about the plaid crib sheet + changing pad cover. Its actually made from a Threshold sheet set so if you are itching for one, you might want to get on it before they are gone! For those that want the look without the DIY this red and brown buffalo check crib sheet is adorable.
Both the yellow blanket, and the striped one are from Homegoods. Now is the time of year to get a great selection, they have so many!
The cute little penguin and deer are adorable right?! They are from a company called Cuddle+Kind. Not only are they making the world cute, but they are on a charge to stop childhood hunger. For every doll purchased, 10 meals are donated to help fight childhood hunger around the world and in North America. You’ve got to pop over and check out the entire collection (and hellooooo Christmas present!)
You can read all about the thrifted boy scout giraffe painting here. I mean, how can you not love him?!
All of the furniture in the room (besides the crib) was thrifted. Finding a rocker that is comfy and not hideous and most importantly not $1000 was almost a full time job. Then I remembered this black chair that I had tucked away in my storage unit. I love it when that happens!!
The dresser is an iconic Broyhill Brasilia that I found thrifting about a year ago. Its always fun when a dresser you score for under $100 turns out to be worth 10 times that.
Obviously I didn’t want to attach the changing station to the top of it, stay tuned for the easy way we secured it without doing any major damage to the dresser. The base is a DIY (tutorial coming).
The warrior painting was thrifted, as well as the leather cup ($.50!). The lotion pump is from Target and the white canisters are from Homegoods. You can see my tutorial for mounting Staghorn Ferns here. It is seriously one of my favorite things to hang on a wall.
The light was thrifted quite a while ago and has played musical rooms (you can see it in my living room here and the tutorial for how we rewired it here) It just needed the right place to live and I LOVE how it looks in the baby’s room. I was worried it would seem to small, but once we hung it I was really happy with the size.
One thing that was a must have for me was a mirror. You got to be able to check and see if that little nugget is sleeping right? I found this one at Homegoods, but you can get one similar here.
The large rust colored rug was the biggest splurge of the room ($300) from a local vintage shop called Urban Renewal. If you ever find yourself in St. George GO THERE. They have so many cool pieces. I wanted a large flat woven rug to fill the space, but I don’t think that a scratchy wool rug is really baby friendly so I layered it with this $69.00 white rug from Target. It is so soft and fluffy and a fantastic price.
When we were in LA doing Alex’s Apartment Makeover I snatched up these old school Little Golden Book books from World Market and have been saving them ever since. Did you read them when you were little? So many childhood flashbacks.
Ok phew. Did I get everything? If not, leave a comment below and I’ll update the post! Have an amazing weekend!!
I am SO excited to finally show you the baby’s nursery! Venturing into boy territory is a whole new world and the nursery was kind of my first run at it. The hands down best part though is how involved Court was on everything. You guys. He has literally no opinion about decor ever. But this room? This room is apparently wayyy more important than anything else we’ve done in our house to date.
The space itself was sort of a hodge podge of crap. It had 3 different paint colors on the walls (its like America’s Test Kitchen for my house apparently) it had no flooring, no closet doors, was the catch all for project contraband, AND had a giant recliner in it. This room is seriously embarrassing but I didn’t want to just decorate it to decorate it. It needed a higher purpose.
I wanted the room to feel boy-ish and fun, with some really heavy childlike elements without making you feel like you stepped into a Fisher-Price catalog. Ya know? I had a really hard time deciding on a color scheme and ultimately went with a really great rust, mustard yellow, olive green and navy. It still feels classic, but is an updated version.
Can you guys hear it? Taps, slowly playing in the background. I miiiight have the distinct impression that I am walking into a firing squad, but today I want to talk safety. I’ve done a lot of research when it comes to finding the right paint to use in a baby’s room, the safest way to paint a crib, etc. While there is a plethora of information online, most of what I’ve found very fear based, opinion based, and non-specific (you know other than the fact that you’re probably going to end up permanently damaging your newborn baby because you wanted a pink crib.)
This post is completely my own opinions (feel free to chime in below with yours!) and for most of you, I’m a stranger on the internet so take it for what it’s worth. After years of die-hard use, I am a huge fan of Sherwin-Williams paints (you’ll see why below) so most of my research was specifically based around their lines. Other than being my preferred line, this post is not affiliated with them in any way.
We haven’t had a baby in our house for years. Dylan, our youngest will be 7 in Jan. My house in its current state is not child-proof in any way, shape, or form. It doesn’t need to be. My girls don’t touch stuff. I can set a pretty little vignette up on the coffee table and it will remain untouched until I mess with it. I didn’t realize how not normal this was until I had a group of 10 year old girls over for a church activity. They touched everything! My eyes were opened to what an anomaly my girls are. Its completely fine to have a giant cactus in our living room. No one even notices it.
Getting ready for the baby, and specifically getting the nursery ready has been um….touchy?
There are SO many opinions and information on the internet its easy to feel like unless you use paint that is 3 parts unicorn tears, 2 parts mud from a volcano in middle earth, and tinted with actual rainbows (because honestly, that it the only truly organic and pure source of color) then you are literally the worst parent to have ever walked the earth and your kid is going to suffer tremendously because you cant spend $600 on a gallon of Unicorn-Middle Earth-Rainbow paint.
Clearly that was a little dramatic, but anyone who has ever researched the right kind of paint for a baby crib knows its not that far off.
The most important thing that I found (that seems like the understatement of the century) is to do your research, and decide what is best and what makes the most sense FOR YOU.
The first logical thought that comes to my mind is, am I going to hermetically seal my child in their room?
No. No I’m not.
Should you be more cautious? Sure. But if you’re using Unicorn-Middle Earth-Rainbow paint in their room, and then they happen to, I don’t know, live in the rest of your house, doesn’t that sort of cancel it out? What if they fancy chewing on your coffee table, instead of the side of the crib? Shouldn’t you use Unicorn-Middle Earth-Rainbow paint everywhere just in case?
So I know what your thinking. “Great. So now not only do we have to get the crib ready, we have to change all of the finishes in our entire house?!?! SON OF A *#$(&#! MANDI!”
Actually you don’t.
*Keep in mind that I’m talking about a new-ish piece of furniture. If you have a vintage crib that has possible lead based paint or has been painted so many times that you don’t know what’s lurking underneath, you’re on your own.
Painting a crib is one of the easiest updates that anyone can make when they are working on a nursery. But seriously, Google it and I swear on everything that I own, you will be completely terrified and second guessing why you even want to have a cute nursery in the first place. You horrible person you, a cute colored crib is so trivial when you are suffocating your child with a cloud of chemicals.
Ok now.
Lets just stop for a second.
When you buy a crib from IKEA, it is MDF painted with some sort of lacquer. Right? How about if you buy one from Target? Even a super high end baby boutique? Its most likely painted with lacquer. So I would like to pose the question. How is painting over it with more lacquer or paint that is designed for highly durable every day furniture use any more dangerous?
As long as it has the proper amount of cure time, its not.
IKEA isn’t using Unicorn-Middle Earth-Rainbow paint. They are giving the piece proper cure time and that makes it safe.
When it comes to crib painting, the buzz word that everyone is using is Non-Toxic. The problem is that no one actually defines what that means, or what paint is in that category. When I hear that term I immediately react with “of course I want non-toxic! I don’t want to subject my sweet innocent baby to a toxic environment!!” Duh. But what kind of paint is non toxic? Is it only the expensive hippy paint?
Specifically the term Non-Toxic encompasses 2 things. Not adding Silica, and being Lead-Free. Most water-based paints on the market, and all of Sherwin’s are Non-Toxic. Even oil-based products are making huge strides towards being non-toxic by using plant based oils vs. fossil fuels. So I guess according to the people on the internet, you can use a paint from any of their lines to paint a crib and its fine.
Why does no one say that? Why does it feel like you can only use some crazy obscure product?
So now that we’ve established that we can use pretty much any water-based paint on the market, I’m going to take toxicity a step further and delve into VOC’s.
Almost anything that is manufactured, from paint to plywood, blankets to carpet, contain VOC’s. VOC stands for Volatile Organic Compound. It is at its most basic form, chemicals that a product off-gasses into the environment. Specifically related to paint, VOC ratings are different based on the intended use of the products (floor coating vs. wall paint vs. furniture paint). If you look at the strictest regulations it needs to come in at under 50 grams per liter (for comparison, 10 years ago most water-based paint came it at around 200 grams per liter). Less than 50 is considered Low VOC, which is fantastic. No VOC paints have zero VOC’s per liter.
The most concentrated amount of VOC’s are released when you are working with the product. I.E. when your paint is still wet. As the product cures, the VOC’s evaporate into the atmosphere. Once cured (and after your house has been aired out) the amount of VOC emission is so greatly reduced that its not even measured (there is very little research on continued emissions). The huge push for Low and No VOC paint has been not so much for the safety of the product for humans (though that is an added bonus), but because of the environmental gases that it creates in the atmosphere once it’s escaped your home.
When I stopped to think about it, while lines like Sherwin’s Emerald, or Harmony are No VOC, I realized that I would much rather have paint that is formulated specifically for furniture that is Low VOC. Emerald and Harmony are specifically designed to be used on walls, so they aren’t as hard and durable as a line like ProClassic that is designed to be used on high traffic areas like furniture and doors. (You can see the technique that I use to get a perfect finish with Pro-Classic here!)
IMHO the right formulation is more important than a little VOC off-gassing while its curing. Pro-Classic comes in at 37 grams of VOC per liter, well below the threshold. So not only is it Non-Toxic, but its Low VOC. Not to mention practically magic its so amazing. (Honestly if there was ever a line made with unicorn tears this would have to be it.) It takes about 24 hours of cure time (and about a month for it to reach its max durability, though you can start using it after 48 hours).
Teething babies gnaw on things. I’d much rather have my kid gnaw on something that had a strong and durable finish, wouldn’t you? As opposed to something that was less strong and had to be touched up more often?
Lets talk about painting the walls.
One of the reasons that I LOVE Sherwin-Williams Emerald Paint and have used it everywhere in my house is because its No VOC and it is significantly more durable and cleanable than most paints with all of that stuff. That is why its so special.
As I was researching though, I “found” a new line that I ended up using instead of my beloved Emerald. Its called Harmony. I’ve seen it in the store before, but never really asked about it. Harmony is PERFECT for a baby’s room (and I mean, realistically for everywhere in your house) not only is it No VOC (so its not off-putting any chemicals) but it has proprietary technology in it that actually reduces and eliminates odors and VOC’s that other things in the room off-put (like carpet, hardwood, glue, fabric etc.) Crazy right?! The coverage was wonderful too. Its a win-win.
Most VOC’s are odorless, but its pretty safe to say that while the odor causing ingredients of paint are still emitting, so are the VOC’s.
We all need to ABSOLUTELY be conscious consumers of what we are buying, and what we are bringing into our home. Is it worth paying a little bit more for No VOC paint, or Formaldehyde free plywood? Of course. But its something that we need to be conscientious of in our entire house, not just one room.
I am VERY interested in hearing your opinion about all of this. Do you have info to chime in with?
**Make sure you come back tomorrow to see the reveal of the nursery!!
One of the things that I am most looking forward to with the new baby is bath time. Seriously is there anything better than a fresh-from-the-tub shivery snuggler? Just thinking about it makes me SO happy! Haha.
Also, THE FIRST thing that I bought when I found out I was pregnant wasn’t an outfit or a blanket, it was JOHNSON’S® baby BEDTIME® lotion. It is my absolute favorite baby smell. Court was like “well, what if its a boy? Isn’t that a girly smell?” and I was like “Uhhhh. I’m pretty sure that its fine. Its not like Old Spice makes baby lotion.” Boy parenting. its going to be an adventure, that’s for sure. For now we’re sticking with the JOHNSON’S® baby bubble bath because it smells delightful and its blue.
So naturally when JOHNSON’S® reached out about doing a DIY project in honor of their new exclusive packaging at Target I was alllllll over it. Because babies!!
The products are the same, but the packaging has been kicked up a notch or 4. The product that really caught my eye was of course the bath time essential JOHNSON’S® baby bubble bath. Their bubble bath is like heaven in a squeeze bottle. So the obvious conclusion was to create something bath related. A while ago my friend Gina did a project using plexiglass and a heat gun that I’ve wanted to try and I thought that a cute and modern over the tub caddy would be a fun new adventure.
To get started you’ll need:
(1) 12×24 sheet of plexi-glass (they also have these in stock at your local Home Depot for $15.00)
1×2 wood (you’ll need 7-8” total)
Gold screws
2 pieces of scrap wood that measure at least 14” long Heat Gun
The first measurement that you’ll need to take is of the width of the top of your tub. All tubs are different, so just keep that in mind when you are looking at my measurements.
Peel the clear backing off of your plexi, it wont hold up with the heat gun. Your first marked measurement will be a 4” overhang that will be on the inside of the tub. The next marked measurement will be the width of the top of your tub. Mine was 5” wide so I marked it at 9” (4 for the overhang + 5 for the tub)
Next, starting at the other end measure and mark 3”, this will be the front face of your caddy, and then measure and mark 3.5” from that (so at 6.5” from your edge.) This section will be the bottom of your caddy, where your stuff will actually sit. You can make this as wide as you prefer.
Once everything is marked (make sure that its super straight and level!!) its time to bring the heat!
You are going to sandwich the plexi between the scrap wood (its acting like a vice and holding everything in place!)
Line up your tape line with the edge of the bottom piece of wood, put the 2nd piece of scrap wood on top and place your screws on either side of the plexiglass sheet. Make sure that they’re far enough away from the plexiglass that you’re not accidentally drilling through it!
Start applying the heat. Keep it directed on the seam, that way you wont create waves on the flat part that you don’t want wavy.
It will heat up pretty quickly and start to droop.
When this happens, turn your heat off and bend it down so that it’s flat against the scrap wood.
Cool right!?
For the second fold (at my 9” mark) I pushed it in a little tighter so that when it slid over the edge of the tub it gripped it a little better.
Your first 2 folds will be facing one direction, once those are done, you’ll flip your plexi glass over and do the same thing to the other side. So that its sort of creating an “S” shape.
The next step is to cut 2 pieces of wood that are the width of your 4th measurement (the one that makes up the bottom of the caddy) mine was 3.5”
Holding your wood in place, and using a small drill bit, drill a pilot hole through both the plexi and the wood. Set your screws.
Do this on all 4 sides and you are done!!
I LOVE how this project turned out, and it took less than 15 minutes from start to finish. Hello baby shower gift of the century!
You can fill it with all of your bath time needs, and make sure that the next time you’re at Target (which for me will be in the next 2 hours…) that you swing by and check out the exclusive JOHNSON’S® packaging! And if you have a little kiddo with hair, make sure to grab the JOHNSON’S® NO MORE TANGLES® baby shampoo & conditioner while you’re at it!
Happy bath time friends!
Massive thanks to JOHNSON’S for partnering up with me on this project (and for making babies smell heavenly since 1893)
