Project Nursery - DIY goodies!

I've been busy nursery planning for what seems like FOREVER & everything is slowly, but surely coming together. I have wanted to make everything for this LO's nursery, but in reality, there are waaay more talented people that can make some of this stuff. However, there are some things this mama-to-be is perfectly capable of & so I tried my hand at two DIY projects - with more sure to come in the near future.

The first was a ribbon mobile. I had seen a few of these on the web & thought they looked so cute & calming in a baby's room. I got the inspiration for all the colors from our little girl's bedding set (more on that later) - which is a whimsy (not too babyish) design with a mix of polka dots, stripes & gingham in chocolate, aqua, baby pink, light green & white. It's seriously adorable. I am going to go wall by wall of what my plans are for the nursery, so I'll post that another day, but it's cute & fits perfectly with the aqua walls! I digress - back to the DIY ribbon mobile {please excuse how it's semi-lopsided, I tied it to the kitchen cabinet to take pics...it's waiting on the hubbs to hang it where it belongs}:

And baby view:

What do you think? I really LOVE how it came out & it's gonna look so beautiful in her room! I hope she enjoys looking up at it. I have received lots of positive feedback on this mobile & I am even thinking about starting an Etsy shop for them...jury's still out, but it would be a great way to supplement our income, have a nice additional tax write (for a home based business) & we could pay down our debt quicker, which is always a good thing. When & if I do open up a shop, I'll be sure to let you guys know & probably even sponsor a giveaway for one of these cuties!

The second DIY project is closet dividers to separate all of her cute little outfits in her teeny closet & I'm even throwing in a quick tutorial for this one! I really have a feeling her little closet is gonna be packed full of stuff, so any type of organizational tool for the closet is a good thing. Here is how they turned out:

They have a few imperfections here & there, but they will serve their purpose & serve it in a cuter way than if they hadn't been made. So here's the dealio (sp?) on how I made these little cuties....

As soon as I found out we were having a little girl, I immediately started planning out my DIY projects. One cute thing I had seen long ago somewhere & knew I'd want to try when we had a baby was DIY closet dividers. For this project, you will need the following items/tools:

• 2-3 pieces of 12x12 scrapbook paper (in a pattern you'd like for the back ground of your dividers)
• wooden door hangers (I bought 5)
• Modge Podge (I used the glossy kind, but either kind would work)
• foam brush (for Modge Podge application)
• sparkly stickers (in a complimentary color to the scrapbook paper)
• Xacto-type knife & cutting board
• ribbon (to hang them in the closet - mine aren't hung yet, but I will use ribbon to tie them on the pole)
• scissors
• hot glue gun & extra glue sticks
• embellishments (to decorate the bottom portion of the dividers)

And I'm so bad ::slaps hand::, I meant to save the receipt so that I could list the prices for everything I bought & I totally must have recycled it b/c yeah, it's gone. But, I'd guess you could spend less than $12-15 for this whole project. I went a little crazy on the embellishments & bought them from this cute specialty shop in my area called "The Nest Egg," so they were actually $3.50/piece, but you could definitely get some very cute ones cheaper from Michaels. Or, if you have a color printer, you can print some from off line & Modge Podge them onto the dividers for FREE!

So, first you gather up all your supplies:

Then, cut the large pieces of scrapbook paper into smaller pieces - slightly larger than each of your wooden door signs. Then, trace the shape of the door hanger onto the back side of the scrapbook paper. Be sure to press down hard when your tracing so that the door hanger doesn't slip around on the paper!

(I forgot to take photos of these next couple of steps - sorry!) Next, cut out the shapes you just traced with regular scissors (including the circle part that goes on the door knob). Then, Modge Podge the back side of the scrapbook paper & the front of the door hanger & carefully stick the scrap book paper onto the door hanger, being sure to cover any exposed wood. Don't worry if the paper hangs over the edge of the wood - we will take care of that later. Repeat for each door hanger. Allow Modge Pode to dry completely before moving to the next step (no more than 10-15 min per hanger, so by the time you finish the last one, the first one will be ready for the next step).

Next, use your X-acto knife & cutting board to trim off the excess paper from each door hanger.

Put your stickers on the front, top section of the door hangers & hot glue your embellishments to the bottom half (feel free to embellish as much or as little as you'd like). The final step would be to use ribbon to tie them onto the pole in your little one's closet. I haven't done it yet because I want to use this opportunity to buy some cute new yellow ribbon & I haven't made it back to Michaels yet. :)

So those are my two little DIY projects I've done for the bug so far. I can't wait to see them in her closet with all the cute little dresses & outfits she's sure to get! I hear these come in handy for baby's closets especially since they grow out of stuff so quickly, which is why I tried to space out what months the dividers covered: Newborn, 3-6 months, 6-12 months, 12-18 months & 18-24 months. Everything else after that will have longer staying power, right???!! Don't you get into the "T" for toddler sizes after that? I'm clearly not too schooled on this topic, but I love my little dividers nonetheless! 

This Friday, after our doctors appointment & ultrasound, we are heading over to Babies 'R Us to register for Baby J's shower! I really really want to make sure we put everything we need on the registry & try to avoid the fluff & unnecessary items (admitted clutter hater here). Of course, I'm sure I won't be able to resist a few really cute unnecessary things, but for the big stuff, I'd really love to avoid it if  we won't use it. So, I's calling out to all my mama readers - what did you find that you really used/needed for your first little one & what items did you buy, but found you really didn't use or need?