SticViews Product Review: Removable Vinyl
I was given a fun opportunity to spruce up my front door with a sponsor of mine: SticViews. I was instructed to create anything I wanted using their incredible resources. SticViews creates custom art in all different shapes, sizes, colors, and materials. They can create your design on reusable vinyl to be used for so many applications: laptop skins, wall art, car graphics, posters, stickers, window clings and more {and not to worry, if you need help coming up with what SticViews can do for you, they’ve offered a gallery of different uses for their versatile product}.
I live in a condo where everyone has the same front door {and you know how little I appreciate blending in with others}. I do, at least, have a great entrance to my place from outside in addition to the door in the hallway. I used the clear vinyl from SticView to customize the window on my front door.
Here’s the Before
Here’s what I did
I laid out a custom design in Illustrator {pen tool to create a small piece of the background, then repeated it using the “transform effect”}. If you don’t know how to create your own patterns you can choose from SticViews’ extensive image library.
I uploaded the high-res JPG to the SticViews website with the dimensions of the door glass. I received the final artwork about a week and a half later; my design on a roll of perfectly cut clear vinyl, instructions, an installation kit, and samples of other fun products.
Here’s the after
Now I can stand out above the rest in my little condo, and spruce up my little patio. This window cling gives a welcome mat feel, like a greeting when you come to my home and I’m so happy with how it turned out. I can easily remove and even keep and reuse the vinyl when we move, which makes this a great project for apartment living as well.
My transaction with SticViews was seamless, and install was a cinch. I’d love to use this product again on a super slick desktop or with a white board for my office.
Eames Knock-Off Office Chair
People keep asking me if I’ve been having weird cravings while pregnant. I think the only consistent cravings I’ve had in the last nine months have been milk, cheese, and this knock-off office chair. I simply must have it.
Ceramic Egg Crates at Joann’s
There’s no link online, but Joann’s has it’s Easter decorations out and I noticed their ceramic egg crates. You’ve seen Young House Love use them for jewelry organizing, and Joann’s has them for a fraction of the price, and even on sale right now.
{image from Young House Love}
Last year I used ice cube trays for a cheaper solution, but the price is right on these crates now.
Rocking Chair Before and After
This is the rocker my mom used with all of her seven children; it is over 40 years old. She offered it to me and my husband when we found out we were pregnant {although me and several siblings have been diligently hinting at it for years}.
I scored at Joann Fabrics to recover it for $3/yard. My mom recovered the cushions complete with zippers and her custom piping {she’s “passionate about piping!”} and she added some scrap batting to make them more durable. My hubby sanded and stained it with gel stain, sealed it with varnish, and now it’s good as new! It’s tiny and perfect for the size of the room… and I had very little hand in the project: win-win!
One more little detail, and then I’ll reveal the baby room… almost done!
Shabby Apple Maternity Line
Maternity clothes always look so cute when you’re not pregnant. But my experience tells me, that when it’s your turn to buy maternity clothes, it seems like there are very little options.
Enter: Shabby Apple Maternity Line {Mama Apple}.
Shabby Apple sent me this beautiful dress for my maternity pictures, and I am in love. When they asked me to choose a dress, my mom and I were on the phone for 45 minutes trying to pick one… because they were *all so cute*. I would have been happy with any of them.
This dress happens to be in their non-maternity line, but even it fit the bill. Most of their dresses are made with a soft jersey fabric that feels like you’re wearing sweats. The best part of dressing up in this Shabby Apple dress is that you are still *comfortable*… which is hard to do at 7 months pregnant. The stretch made it over my belly and gave me a little curve where I’d been feeling blocky.
Triple points to Shabby Apple for making my arms look skinny in this picture. That is no small feat.
And Shabby Apple is giving us a discount!
Woo Woo! Time to call my mom and figure out what I’m going to order next! Enter the coupon code Ohbrook10off to get 10% off your order!
I Make Things
I’m not good with words. I always come up with the right thing to say 10 minutes after the opportunity presents itself.
I don’t bake that well. Yes, I have chocolate chip cookies and chocolate crinkle cookies that I can deliver consistently. But anything more complicated than that will take me LOTS of practice to be successful. The yeast didn’t activate in the cinnamon rolls I made for my honey on Valentine’s Day {but he ate it anyway}.
But, I can make things.
I stole this adorable idea from transcraftinental {via Muddycakes Muse} and gave it to my husband on Valentine’s. We’ll all be skinnier this way if I just keep making things and forget about the baking.
{playing cards from my closet, cover designed in Photoshop and attached using my Xyron}
Green Bag Lady
I received my bag from the infamous Green Bag Lady. I first heard of her movement from Whitney at Whisker Graphics. The Green Bag Lady makes beautiful reusable totes out of scrap fabric and gives them out for free in exchange for your promise to use it instead of plastic bags. She has created quite a buzz… appearing on CNN, and her local news. She numbers each bag and documents where the bags get sent.
You can support the Green Bag Lady by sending her your unwanted fabric!
Danville Chocolates Website Design
This website was both so fun to design, and *excrutiating* to look at these delicious chocolates for long stretches of time without having some to snack on. Check out my new Danville Chocolates website design: www.danvillechocolates.com.
Rowan’s Room Etsy Shop
After sharing Houzz.com with you, I won a beautiful mirror from the Rowan’s Room Etsy shop via the Houzz site. Karma!
32 Weeks: What I Know Now
- 2 months to go!
- Sleep is not happening. It’s hitting number one on my list because I was thrown awake by a charlie horse in both my calf and shin at the same time this morning.
- I can only lay on my left side. If I spend more than three seconds on my right side or my back {even when propped up}, I get nauseous. I can’t even lean back in my chair. So in the middle of the night, when I’m ready for a new position, I get to move my ankles and wrists {while adjusting my three pillows}. Yes, that feels *much* better.
- When I read {or do crosswords} before I go to bed, I sit up. I rest my arms on my head. This gets my boobs OFF my stomach for 10 glorious minutes.
- At my last appointment, my doctor said I was very calm. As my belly gets bigger, I’m feeling a little less calm. The baby gets bigger, but his doorway is *not* getting bigger.
- I’m embracing these last two months. I haven’t been comfortable or slept well in weeks, but this is my last chance to be together with him like this. And somehow his roundhouses to my bladder, even in the middle of the night, are adorable.
- I’m eating smaller meals, more often. When I’m full, I’m even more uncomfortable.
- A couple of weeks ago, I was up in the night three times to the baby kicking, while my husband snored away. Is this foreshadowing?
- My whole life I could never get over feeling guilty as I pictured my husband heading off to work while I stayed at home to be with the baby. After that sleepless night, I think that guilt washed away. He’ll see the bags under my eyes and know that my work will be equally as challenging.
- My hubby will help me put on my shoes, but he’s not interested in clipping my toenails.
- If you think I’m being especially candid in these posts, you are mistaken. There is SO much going on in the pregnant body, I don’t even tell my husband some of it.
- My poor friends who have never been pregnant shudder at each new symptom. Sorry you asked?
- I feel very lucky. I’ve had no major problems in my pregnancy, and the baby is healthy.
- When I get pedicures now, I get extra long massages. Strangers are sure good to pregnant people.
- I got a massage last week, and the masseuse said she keeps “seeing butterflies with {me}.” I told her the baby had been kicking the whole time, and she thinks that was the fluttering she was seeing. I had so much more I wanted to ask her about that, but didn’t get a chance.
- Will the baby actually be born on April Fools Day? That sounds like such a fun birthday!
- Oh, and yes, that’s my hair after my new CHI. I can’t believe you all had a CHI and didn’t tell me. I feel like the kid with bad breath that nobody wants to play with.
And here’s how my husband sees it…
- Brooke and I have taken our relationship to a new level with this new addition, however there are still things best left to mystery.
- Brooke has become the loudest sleeper in the world. Period.
- My bed….my sanctuary from the world…..my place of solace has become a breeding ground for pillows.
- After our hospital tour, when the nurse said the words “we will wheel you to your car and once we hear the click of the car seat, you are on your own” I nearly ran home to my mommy.
- I have developed a spidey sense since hearing the big news. In the last several months I have saved at least 5 kids from certain death!
- I never want to hear the term “it is different when its your own” again. Poop is poop and snot is snot no matter who it comes from.
- I can never be grumpy when he is rolling around in mom’s belly.
- In the beginning of her pregnancy, I have never wished harder for someone to vomit. I guess I was waiting for that moment to make it real. She still hasn’t vomited, but… I don’t think she’s making this up anymore.
- My realization from writing this: this is really happening…..oh crap!
My past ramblings:
Lost and Found: The Umbrella Image!
Remember how we loved it and couldn’t find it?
Well, I found it. Free. Online. Here.
{Installation by Spain by Ingo Maurer, photograph by Jesús Manuel Nieto Bobadilla.}
I originally wanted it HUGE, but the biggest I could get this free image was 11″x14″ without compromising the quality. You are free to download my edited version of the image here {or by clicking on the image below}. I have framed and matted it and will be hanging it in the baby room. I LOVE this picture.
My Baby Shower Invitations
Most of my friends are creative. Some of them are flat out duds. {kidding}. ALL of my friends are creative in their own right: teaching, nutrition, numbers, crafting, and the list goes on. Nicki, however, really sets the bar. {when you get a chance, look at the wrinkly babies on her photography blog here}.
She created these invitations for my baby shower, and her attention to detail is inspiring! Thanks Nicki!
