✥ Reader Feature: Vintage & Modern Nursery ✥

I received the cutest comment from a lovely new follower of mine. Her name is  Emily, and she has a brand new blog called Dear Owen. When I saw the nursery she created for her son- I was smitten and knew she had to share it with you all, too!

I love the vintage map, the industrial light fixture, the modern patterns. You guys know me- this is right up my alley. In fact, I think I would have chosen a similar design if I were expecting! I'll let Emily tell you all about it.

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My husband and I were so lucky to have my talented friend Monica come and take pictures of Owen's nursery for us. She did such a great job! Thank you Monica!!!  The nursery was so much fun to do, and I gathered lots of inspiration and ideas from some of my favorite blogs like, Holly Mathis Interiors, Jones Design Company, and Honey and Fitz. I really wanted this room to be a mix of modern and vintage pieces with a touch of rustic.

We tried to incorporate family items into the room to make it extra special. We used my Dad's old baseball jersey, Clark's old map that his Grandma gave him, fish flies in remembrance of his Pops, family pictures, and antiques that have been given to us or that we found.

My amazing Mom made the curtains for the room, Owen's bedding, the chevron pillows,  and the bed skirt on the twin bed. We were so lucky to have her do all these things for us. Thank you Mom, you are the best!

My biggest thank you has to be to my amazing husband who did soo much work on O's room. He ripped up carpet, refinished the hardwood floors, built a closet, painted the walls and trim, installed the light, built the shelves, and of course put together all the furniture. He is a talented and hardworking man...love you so much honey!

Now that we have been using the room for 2 months, I have to say, I am really glad we used the twin bed in the room. I was unsure for a while on whether we should put this in his room but I am really glad we did. Not only does it give us an extra place for guests to sleep, it is also great for bouncing a fussy baby, or for the hubby or I to hang out on while the other is rocking Owen. 

Using an Ikea chair converted into a rocker/glider saved a lot of money and it works great, it's comfortable enough..overall I'm happy with it. 

Owen's current favorite place in his room is his changing table. Glad we decided to put it in front of  the window because he loves to look out the window and get some sunshine...seriously, if he is fussy this is our go-to place to cheer him up. He almost always stops crying when we lay him on the table and talk to him.

We've spent lots and lots of time in this room and know we will continue to!

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Doesn't Owen look picture perfect in his crib? I love the fabric Emily chose for the bedding. A-Dorable!
I am so jealous I don't have a vintage, family heirloom map in just the right shades or turquoise and tan! How does everyone have these things!! {I'm just going to have to call Ebay my "Grandma", so I can have some awesome vintage scores in my family, too!!!] 
Have any of you converted your Ikea chairs into rockers? If you have, what do you think of them? I think this was genius and now I want one for my bedroom! {No, I don't have a kid, I just like to rock- OK?!} 

If you liked the decor in Owen's nursery, then stop by Emily's to find out where she  got everything in the room!

✥ Guest Host: Vintage Recipe Filing System @ Primitive & Proper✥

It's Friday YO!!!! Today I'm super stoked to say you can find me over at Cassie's place, Primitive & Proper. I am SURE you all know her- she kinda famous like that. But in case you don't, then here's a few of my favorite furniture transformations- a la Cassie.

 This recent turquoise gem- this lovely vintage dresser is now dressed in a vibrant new color! Though this is like one of a hundred awesome furniture makeovers. It's kinda just what she does!

 Cassie's "Color My World" coral challenge- look at these chairs. I just die for that color!!! {And PS, can I get an antique sign like that toooo.....?}

Now this may not look like much- but you are WRONG! Cassie has replicated the crazy awesome finish the stores like Restoration Hardware {my personal fav- duh] charge an arm and a leg for. Stop by to see how she does it!

Holy cow! I almost forgot- I am sharing a NEW project! 

I hope to see you there! Come on over and show me some comment love! ;-)

✥ Feature: Mounted 3D Map Art ✥

I am so grateful Cheri wanted to come here and share a BRAND NEW craft she just whipped up with YOU all!! Cheri is a total go-getter. You know the type who is born to orchestrate things, who flourishes when they're busy and manages to get more done in her day than I can my my week?!

Case in point- Cheri works on three blogs and I can hardly find time to run 1!! 

I'm in love with her "Top 50" posts, which she runs on one of her blogs, Decor 2 Adoreable! They are a huge source of inspiration for projects! In fact, I've been super lucky to have projects featured on a couple of them! {Thanks Cheri!}

VIA

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I am so honored to be here today visiting with all of you sweet ladies. Becca is the sweetest blogger. I just think the world of her. She is so talented.

I will give you a quick introduction so you know who I am.

My name is Cheri and I participate in 3 blogs.

My main blog is Its So Very Cheri.

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I also blog at The DIY Club

and

have a new site

Decor 2 Adore{able}

where we feature bloggers projects and every Monday we have a Top 50+ Roundup.

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Every Sunday I have a blog party, at Its So Very Cheri.

I have 3 categories that you can enter:

1.Pinterest Followers--you just enter your Pinterest permalink so you can find new followers and they can find you.

2. Its So Very CREATIVE--for all of those creative projects

3. What's Cooking--lots of yummy recipes.

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We currently live in SW Florida but we are originally from Missouri. We are from a suburb of Kansas City called Lee's Summit.

Although we all enjoy going to all of the fun parks that we have here in Florida-we are all homesick.

If you ever go to Disney World check out my tips for saving time and money.

My sweet husband has been in school (we are all secretly hoping he finds a job back in the Kansas City area).

Since even I am secretly hoping for a move back to our friends and family, I decided a smaller scale project would be perfect then if we move, I have something smaller to pack.

You see--I have been planning on doing a few different map art project for a while now...oh let's say a few months.

I had even down loaded the maps, worked on the art and then didn't do anything with them. I know BAD BAD crafter.

Some of the projects are for some over sized Map ART but today's project is on a smaller scale.

It made the kids smile so that made me happy.

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I had some postcards from Canvas Corp and decided this would be a cute craft to use with the postcards.

Then Mandy from Sugar Bee Crafts posted her Map Art Wedding Gift and it inspired me to get my project finished.

First-I googled maps and found one I liked.

I saved them and then played around with one of them in Photoshop to give it a more "vintagy" look (I know that isn't a real word or maybe it is).

I added in a little color here and there.

(I used red, blue, aqua, yellow and brown)

using some brushes I added the touches of color here and there. Then I went over it with white at a 20% opacity to soften the colors and edges of the lines.

{then they just sat in my computer waiting for me to get back to them.}

I sized down the vintage map so it was a little smaller than the first map.

Then I printed off 2 of the maps on white card stock.

I trimmed around the state and ModPodged down the bigger (original) map towards the bottom of the card.

I grabbed some wood discs from my craft supplies...

...and glued 3 on top of each other in the center of the state.

I used a needle and thread to poke holes for the word HOME but I replaced the "O" with a heart.

I ModPodged the smaller map onto the wood discs so it added depth.

I cut out a little heart and painted it and ModPodged it onto the map right where Kansas City is located.

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Next I grabbed some wood from the garage and cut it to the size I wanted --just a little bigger than my 4 x 6 postcard.

I then cut lines into the board (just using a hand saw and working slow and steady to create grooves).

I wanted it to look like the wood had uneven slats. (I cut into the top edge of the board as well.)

I sanded over the entire piece to get rid of any rough edges and smooth out the surface. I didn't want it perfectly smooth--since I was going for a weathered look.

Then I began painting it in a dry brush method which basically means you are dragging paint over the piece.

I started with gray. When my gray dried, I added paint in khaki, gray, aqua, navy, black and white.

Once my paints were dry I went over it with a deep red paint. I used the dry brush method, just dragging paint over the surface but not completely covering everything.

I wanted a dark background so the word HOME would show up.

If you decided to stitch the letters you could paint the wood whatever color you want. I was concerned that a light background would cause my hole punched word "HOME" to not show up.

Once my paint was dry I glued 2 discs to the board, so the post card would be raised up off the wood.

Then I added a couple of DISChangers to the back so I can hang it. I picked out 2 tiny ones and I can grab a wire and balance it or hang them off nails.

If you have never used Dischangers they are so easy to use and my favorite hanging tool. You just wet the disc with a little water on your finger, set it aside for 5 minutes while the glue activates and then apply. Let it dry for a few hours or over night and it is done.

DISChangers are great for hanging plates on a wall as well.

I think this would make a really cute relocation "We're Moving" card (without the boards of course).

Thank you so much for having me today and putting up with me while I hijacked Becca's site for the day. If you want to come for visits and follow me at Its So Very Cheri, I would love to have you. I love getting to know bloggers. If you would like to find me on Pinterest--I Love to Pin.

Thanks so much ladies.

I hope I see you around blogland and please introduce yourself.

✥ Reader Feature: Vintage Style Home Tour ✥

I have a super fabulous home to share with you all today! I am so excited to show off Susan's, from Must Love Junk, vintagey home! She is a new blogger but has been widely welcomed into the blogging community- since her style is amazing! People cannot get enough- and I feel the same. In fact I went through her whole archives the other day- just reading and checking out the eye candy!!

{Susan will share a few glimpses of a few different spaces in her home. If you want to see more about that room- just click on the link. }

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This is the wall opposite my front door, the huge coat rack, and the stack of suitcases.  My talented friend Melissa made the cute little picture frame (she knows I love me some numbers!)

This wooden rack has to be one of my all-time favorite/best scores!  (And a funny story, too.) I was at the local flea market a couple years ago with my nephew Alex, who was visiting from Arizona.  He was maybe 13 years old at the time, and whenever he comes to town, I call him my 'flea buddy' 'cause he loves to go and look for model cars he collects (used to), etc.  So I look down the aisle, and spy this shoe rack, and grab his arm (nearly squeezing him to death) and tell him I've always wanted one of these, I'm freaking out, but to be cool (even though I'M the one that needs to be cool!)  So we get to it, and it's a little rough, and not the greatest one I've ever seen, but hey, that's fine with me, and I ask the guy how much...drumroll please...and he says "how about 20 bucks?"  Well, I heard angels sing, and about passed out!!

So once I recover, I pay him, and we go to load it into my small SUV, and it won't fit!  Now what am I gonna do? Well, he asks where I live (about 15 minutes away) and he then OFFERS TO DELIVER IT! Having no choice, I give him my address, and as Alex and I left, I'm fretting "Will I ever see the guy again? He could just take my money and scram!" (Not that I cared as much about my 20 bucks as getting my great find!)  And Alex is just rolling his eyes and so amused that I'm getting worked up over this piece of 'junk'. It gets better...

We're at home waiting, and sure enough, the guy comes rolling in (I was so relieved) and this cute girl gets out of the passenger's side, and comes to the door...and we know each other!  She sets up at the flea all the time with gorgeous linens and vintage jewelry, and it turned out that she's friends with the guy who I bought the rack from!  We were laughing so hard because she said the whole way to my house she was giving him such a hard time about offering to deliver a $20 item!  But she was happy it was me, and I gave her a tour of the house.  And I've enjoyed this 'piece of junk' ever since! Just had to share that. Click here to see the other details on this side of the room!

Now we continue my home tour into my front hallway/entry. Our house is a 1929 Colonial, but it's not a traditional layout...the front of the house is a big open hallway (basically unused space, but that's ok-more for me to decorate :) then the kitchen in the back of the house is TINY (but that's ok, too, since I don't cook!)  This gives you the perspective of walking out of the living room into the hall. I've got quite a collection of suitcases, but this is my highest stack. I especially love the 'striped' ones, as you can tell. 

Stop by to learn all about this huge piece in my hall- and to see all the other details on this side!

This is the room we spend the most time in (next to the sun room)...the "Living Room"...let me break it down for you:  this is the view from our front hallway.

We use an old factory cart for our coffee table-it's a true, old rough one; my hubby surprised me and stenciled "Dept No 3" on the side when I was out of town, because that's my favorite number!  I really couldn't believe he went and did that! (I absolutely can't picture him going into Jo-Ann's and buying stencils and a paint pen :)   We got the old roll-down school map at an auction when we lived in Columbus, for a steal!  The postal cart is one of my fav items-I splurged and got it on Etsy. 

And I found 2 crates/boxes that are more unison in shape and size to replace the bottom drawers!) My hubby also surprised me with the 3 connected 'stadium seats'-he's a keeper!

Stop by to see the other side of our living room!

We all love adding to our collections, don't we?  I have too many to mention!  But here are 2 of my favorites...ironstone and old seltzer bottles.  I know so many of us love ironstone-it's pretty easy to find, and usually fairly inexpensive.  I've gathered mine in a cabinet that my dad made for me using barnwood and an old window/door. I love how grouping together some simple items can make such a statement!

This is our 'office', right off the front hall/entryway. 

In here, I decided to go with more of an industrial vibe. The walls were painted red when we moved in, and we left them, so they just seemed to lean toward a more industrial look.

The red walls definitely aren't for the faint of heart (although they're not as bright as they seem in these photos!)   I've liked them, but it's time for a change, so we're thinking of painting them a gray. It should mesh well with all of the galvanized metal I've collected! 

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Totally great, right?! I loved the mail cart in her living room- and of course the railroad cart too. Susan's hubby sounds like a major sweetheart. I mean, aren't antiques always the way to a girl's heart? ;-)

 Oh- and did you see the tower of vintage suitcases!? I have a pic pinned just like that- now I can have 2! I am totally crushin' on all the little details- like tons of antique items filling the built-ins, vintage seltzer bottles, wood patina, and worn metal! (*sigh!) 

Although I love the design details, the best part of the blog is Susan herself. She is such a sweetheart!

If you guys want more- make sure you stop by and say hi to Susan. Even though she has a fairly new blog- there is a ton more eye candy to check out!

To the gals I'm meeting up with tonight for our Blogger's Dinner, I am so excited! It's gonna rock!

✥ Sponsors for Blogger's Night Out! {Woot! Woot!} ✥

Hey friends!

Just wanted to give you all an update on the wonderful sponsors we have lined up for our bloggers night out on Tuesday, July 10th. 

These lovely sponsors have been so generous & they are definitely going to hook some local Utah bloggers up!

 Cut it Out

My Vinyl Direct

 Sexy Modest Boutique

Jamberry Nails

Ginger Snap Crafts  It's going to be so much fun!  I hope to see some of you there!If you want to be there, send myself or Becca an email for the details! 

southernlovelyblog@gmail.com

berger.becca@gmail.com

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