Five Friday Favorites 2.0!

May 27, 2016 | Posted by Chelsey

Image via Paper ‘n Stitch Blog

High five, it’s Friday! For today’s Five Friday Favorites I seemed to have focused on DIY beauty items. Gotta love it.

1) Make your own DIY Shower Jellies! Basically it’s solidified shower gel. Found on Elle Sees.

2) I’ll definitely being trying these DIY Polka Dot nails. Found on the Paper n Stitch blog.

3) Feel refreshed (and smell great) with this homemade Rose Water Face Mist. Found on A Beautiful Mess blog.

4) Do you need some inexpensive bathroom artwork? Here you go. DIY Beauty Artwork. Found on This Fashion is Mine.

5) Do you want colorful hair, but don’t want to destroy your hair? Check out this temporary ombre hair! Found on Studio DIY.

Enjoy your weekend! Woo!

– Chelsey

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Tags: friday favorites

Categories: favorite, favorite blogs

DIY Cat Food Table

May 26, 2016 | Posted by Chelsey

We have this little dog, Mr. Angus. His number 1 goal in his little Chihuahua life is to find food. Whenever he’s not sleeping, already eating, or asking us for food… He’s searching for food. He will actually eat until he can barely walk and he’s in pain. I’ve seen it. He once found his way to a cat food bowl that was larger than him and I found him whimpering by the bowl, on his side with a bulging belly. He survived that, but it’s quite the challenge to keep him from eating the cat’s food. We have two cats that are getting up there in age (one has arthritis), so I needed some sort of table to keep the food away from Angus that wasn’t too high for the kitties to jump up on. I also wanted the table to fit nicely into our small home.

I searched online and I couldn’t find anything that would work for us, so I decided we had to make it ourselves. We made a DIY Cat Food Table and it’s amazing! We made this in the Fall and it works great for the cats and us, plus it keeps our dog away from the grub. Good thing our dog can’t really jump.

It’s very simple to make. We bought all of our supplies from Home Depot (minus the metal cat dish). You’ll need the following to make this for your home:

A birch plywood board cut into: a matching top and bottom size, matching left and right end size, and a board to cover the back (or leave the back open)
Wood screws
Four legs + leg attachment parts
A metal cat dish (needs to have a lip to work for this project)
Paint

Directions:

Note: I’m not sharing measurements for this project because I think everyone will need a different size, depending on your home and pet needs.

Cut your boards to size. Measure the diameter of the dish, minus the lip (the lip will need to catch on the hole you cut). Cut the hole in the top board near one of the edges.
Use wood screws to put the piece together.
Paint the pieces and let it dry completely.
You’re done! We have this little cat table in our laundry room. We ended up securing it to the wall since one of our cats is 20 pounds…. But it works great!

– Chelsey

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Tags: cat

Categories: diy, For The Home, paper mama house

12 Ideas to Make a Kid Friendly Garden

May 24, 2016 | Posted by Chelsey

Trend: Ideas to Make a Kid Friendly Garden

It’s almost summertime and I’m guessing some of you are beginning to plan out what you will be doing in your garden. What will you plant? Will you be building anything? How can you make the garden more kid friendly? I can help you with the last question. I’ve shared 12 ideas to make a kid friendly garden on the Better Homes and Gardens blog.

Head on over to the original Better Homes and Gardens post to find the full list.

I want to see what you’re crafting! You can share a link to what you’ve made in the comments below, or tag me on Instagram with a photo (my user name is @thepapermama).

– Chelsey

P.S. I am a paid contributor for the Better Homes and Gardens blog. The images from the first photo are from Peninsula Kids, My Colortopia, BHG, and The Crafting Chicks.

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Categories: BHG, favorite blogs

Oh yeah, I had a baby!

May 23, 2016 | Posted by Chelsey

The other day I mentioned that I had relaunched my online shop a couple months ago, but failed to tell the blog world! I have been sharing shop updates on Instagram, but never on the blog. Well, my life’s been busy! I did have a baby and completely forgot to share that bit of news on my blog. I ran into a friend (I hadn’t seen her in months) the other day and she mentioned checking my blog for news about the baby, but there was nothing on there. She’s not really a social media kinda lady, so she had no idea. SO, I’m here to tell all the non-instagrammers out there: I had my baby!

Willa was born 6 weeks early on December 1st, 2015. She had to hang out in the NICU for 2 weeks so she could grow her lungs and learn to eat without a feeding tube. Those were a couple of the longest weeks of my life… leaving my newborn baby in a hospital each night and barely seeing my oldest kiddo while she stayed with my mom. I shared this NICU journey on my Instagram account and the support was amazing. I shared a ton of photos on IG, but instead of just repeating what I’ve already said on there, I’ll just share some links to a few highlights:

Contractions won‘t quit.
Right after she was born.
Learning to breath.
Preemie mom’s are kick ass.
She’s coming home!
One month old and 1 week away from her due date.
Two months.
Three months.
Four months.
Five months.

Well, this baby is now 5.5 months old and gaining weight like crazy! She has the most amazing chubby cheeks. She’s still a little behind on weight and milestones, but that’s expected for a preemie. If she had been born on her due date she would be 4 months old as of last week. So, we are patient. Adjusting to newborn life again has been rough on my brain. I can’t seem to keep up with email and work, which is understandable since I have a new baby… but I just miss my normal non-tired brain. Ha! She is sleeping through the night now, but I’m still mentally exhausted.

I’ll try and come back to the blog with some baby updates, but you can also find them on my Instagram.

– Chelsey

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Categories: about me, announcement

Five Friday Favorites!

May 20, 2016 | Posted by Chelsey

Image via Fall For DIY

It’s Friday (finally) and I am SO ready for the weekend. It’s been a crazy week with a super grumpy baby. To celebrate the end of the work week I’m sharing Five Friday Favorites with you. All of these items we could possibly make during the weekend. Maybe. Or maybe we should all just sleep and hang out in jammies? I like that idea best.

1) I’m really loving this Gold Leaf Letter Soap DIY. Wow. These would look perfect in any gift package. Found on Fall For DIY.

2) This clock is made with Perler beads! Could be a great project to do with the kiddo. Project found on FRK Hansen.

3) This typography vase is the perfect gift! Found on A Kailo Chic Life.

4) Boost your confidence each morning with this wonderful “You’re like, really pretty” mirror! Found on Studio DIY.

5) Craft these sweet watermelon gift bags for summer party giftbags, or just for fun! Found on Delineate Your Dwelling.

Happy Friday and have a wonderful weekend.

– Chelsey

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Tags: friday favorites

Categories: favorite blogs

The Paper Mama Shop Is Back Up And Running!

May 19, 2016 | Posted by Chelsey

Sometimes I forget that not everyone follows my Instagram account. I have failed to share this news on the ‘ol blog! So: The Paper Mama Shop is back up and running! It’s been closed for about 2 or 3 years, I can’t even remember how long it’s really been. I didn’t have time to keep it up and running with some other work I had going on, but things have changed and here we are. Most of the stuff in my shop has been sold at some local Portland stores for a couple years, but now you don’t have to live in Oregon to get your hands on these items. I’m all set up and ready to ship out these goodies all over the world.

All of the items in my shop are made from my illustrations. Right now I’m only selling pins and buttons, but more items will be added slowly (it’s hard to get items in a shop while holding a baby with one hand). I have some ridiculous postcards to add to the shop… but haven’t, yet.

Head on over here to check out the shop and have a great Thursday!

– Chelsey

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Categories: announcement, paper mama shop

Weekly Meal Planner Printable

May 19, 2016 | Posted by Chelsey

We are still sorta fresh into the new year, but some people (ahem, me) are already starting to forget their New Year’s resolutions. Let’s not let that happen. One of the goals I made for 2016 is to keep up with meal plans so my family and I can eat healthy and we don’t go over our grocery budget. I know I do have a 5 month old baby, so that’s a valid excuse for slacking a bit, but I am trying. To help me stick to this goal I created some easy to use free Weekly Meal Planner printables to help keep my resolution and shared it on the Better Homes and Gardens blog. My printable has a spot to write out your meal idea for each day and there’s even a space for the shopping list for the week.

If you want to save paper you can transform these printables into reusable planners. Just laminate or frame this printable, then use dry erase markers for your meal plan sheet. You can take a photo of your shopping list before you head to the store, and you’re good! The printable menu comes in three colors: black and white, orange and blue, and colorful.

To see the full post, plus get the free printables, head on over to the original Better Homes and Gardens post.

I want to see what you’re crafting! You can share a link to what you’ve made in the comments below, or tag me on Instagram with a photo (my user name is @thepapermama).

– Chelsey

P.S. I am a paid contributor for the Better Homes and Gardens blog.

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Tags: printable

Categories: BHG, diy, Free Printables and Downloads