nursery

Peek a Boo Giraffe

/ Jodi / 55 Comments

Peek a Boo Giraffe.

A fun monochromatic painting I recently did using all Sepia watercolor for this “peek-a-booing” giraffe.

Did it make you tilt your head?

Peek a Boo!

P.S.  I am pretty excited to be the “Artist of the Month” at a sweet, fun and delicious coffee shop near me – Wunderbar Coffee & Crepes.

Wunderbar serves Italian inspired coffees, French crepes and American grilled cheese sandwiches in a historic German town north of Pittsburgh named Harmony, PA.

If you are anywhere nearby, I hope you will check it out and  experience the wonder of Wunderbar.  It is not  your run of the mill cafe. Their focus is “to provide a fun and unique space where everyone is welcome to gather, connect and create relationships, for a moment or a lifetime. Where the collision of senses and caffeine fueled inspiration explode and splatter. An open minded destination where transcending concepts and ideas are explored in depth and shared with everyone to experience together and by themselves. A refuge from empty promises and meaningless stories. An escape from a suffocating environment full of pre-existing notions that condition us to be the soul-less product of our over commercialized world. A breathing, living, self sustaining space that is an embracing work of art in itself. A place you can’t wait to return to!”

Here I am Saturday after hanging up my art.  Thanks Wunderbar!

Cheers & Hugs,
Jodi

McKinneyX2Designs
BerryVineGifts

A New Old Vanity Set for the Grandie Girls’ Room

/ Jodi / 41 Comments

A New Old Vanity Set for the Grandie Girls’ Room.

I have been waiting and excited to share this post for a while.  July was full of watercolor paintings for #WorldWatercolorMonth and then there was Cookie Week last week, so I am finally getting around to sharing my latest home project.

I am blessed with the great fortune of having wonderfully generous friends and relatives!  My most recent “gift” is a beautiful antique vanity set from my cousin, Rob.


This vanity set was his beloved Mom’s and was a wedding gift to her.

It still has writing on the bottom of a couple of the drawers with names and dates.

So you can see it is at least 84 years old since it is dated “January 12, 1935.”

I adore it so much!  Not only because it is beautiful, but because of the special-ness it holds as a family heirloom.

I chalk painted it up and reupholstered the chair to match the rest of one of my favorite rooms in my home – the grandie girls’ bedroom.

You may recall what the room looked like a few years ago when I shared it here after  learning I was going to be a first-time grandma to a baby girl.

The room has evolved since then, and is now shared by two grandie girls.  Oh the joy of listening to them during a “nap” break recently chattering away until one, and then the other, fell asleep, but not until  many books were looked at and laid all over the floor with a few pillows and dolls tossed about as well.

It is now filled with wonderful “hand-me-downs” from generous friends and relatives – cherished pieces that all have special meaning!  But most of all it is filled with the joy and love that only comes from being a grandma – my favorite name in the entire world!

Cheers & Hugs,
Jodi

A Blue Pineapple for a Baby Girl Nursery

/ Jodi / 48 Comments

Blue Pineapple Watercolor 11X14

A Blue Pineapple for a Baby Girl Nursery.

I had a commissioned request to do a turquoisey-blue pineapple to go with a pink flamingo for a baby girl’s nursery.

Pink Flamingo Watercolor 11×14

Sweet new mommy-to-be, Sarah, reached out to me through our McKinneyX2Designs Etsy shop and asked if I could do my pineapple in blues and paint her an original pink flamingo – with a couple dabs of gold in each if possible.

I have been having so much fun pouring acrylic abstracts lately, it was a mind-shift to gently and neatly “splash” in watercolor, but it came back like riding a bike, and I truly enjoyed creating these original pieces in 11×14 for a sweet baby girl’s nursery.

I love the fun, creative ways new parents are decorating nurseries now, and this nursery is sure to be adorable.

Wishing you a day that is colored with turquoisey-blue pineapples, bright pink flamingoes, and dabs of gold!

Cheers & Hugs,
Jodi

Updating the Nursery at Grandma’s House

/ Jodi / 53 Comments

Updating the Nursery at Grandma’s House.

Some of you may remember the fun I had creating a nursery for my first grandchild about seven months ago.  I turned my youngest son’s childhood room into a baby girly nursery room.  Here is what it looked like when I first created it.

Time is passing way too quickly, and our little girl is growing so fast.  She is starting to get around, so it was time to lower the crib so she won’t pull herself up and tumble out.

Then, though I hope she doesn’t need it very soon, we were so generously gifted with a beautiful antique iron day bed from my our bestie cousins, Joyce and “Oh Rob,” fully loaded with soft and fluffy Pottery Barn bedding in just the right colors to match our room!  Isn’t it awesome?!!?!

I moved some things around to make room.  It will be  a nice spot for us to snuggle up and read books soon I’m sure.  It also adds versatility to this guest room allowing for another “single” to stay over.  We love having campers stay over, so the more beds the merrier!

Remember how I made the bumper pads into curtain valances (since they are a “no-no!” now)?  Well – I still had a piece left, so I cut the ties off, cut about a 6-inch opening on one end, and stuffed it with filling from an old pillow I wasn’t using to create a fun tube-shaped pillow.  Throwing that and the other pillow that came with the nursery set really helps carry the theme onto the day bed and pull the room together I think.  Aren’t I so crafty clever?!?!

I am in love with this little space in the house.  It is the smallest bedroom of the four, but it is my current fave!  I’ve redone all three (now) guest rooms.  I think it may soon be time for a master bedroom makeover!  <wink!>

Hope you are having fun in all of your favorites spaces with all of your favorite people… at life in between.

Cheers & Hugs,
Jodi

 

Creating a Nursery at Grandma’s House

/ Jodi / 57 Comments

grandmas-nursery-6

I am having so much fun creating a nursery at “Grandma’s house” for our new granddaughter.

grandmas-nursery-7

A sweet little haven for her to rest if I ever decide to let her out of my arms when she is at our home!

grandmas-nursery-4

I promised I’d show you how I turned bumper pads into a window treatment valance.  Didn’t it turn out great?!

grandmas-nursery-10

Almost everything in this room was a passed on from a friend, was given as a gift, is something I made, or something I re-purposed.

Thanks to our friends Sue and Rodney for “gifting” us with this beautiful crib they had outgrown from their two beautiful granddaughters.

grandmas-nursery-3

And thanks to our BFFs Jill and Todd who gifted us with this beautiful rocking chair when we learned we were going to become grandparents.  (Hope you don’t mind I painted and distressed it!)

grandmas-nursery-1

And thanks to our sweet Joyce and “Oh Rob” for this darling antique child’s art desk with paper roll that will be so fun in coming years!

grandmas-nursery-9

And a dear friend, Diane, who sent this sweet little hanging pillow months before our granddaughter arrived, but made me wait until her birth to open (and I really did!).  What truth there is in this message!  What joy!

grandmas-nursery-5

I’m looking forward to reading many, many books – over and over and over – in the years to come.

grandmas-nursery-2

And playing with the basket of toys generously passed down from a sweet friend and incredible young Mom, Stefanie.

grandmas-nursery-8

Sometimes I just walk into this room and smile… thinking of the memories that are going to be created and the love that is already there from the sharing of so many.

I remember the days when this was a little boy’s room with blue marbled walls and baseball trophies.  I reminisce about the two boys who shared a wall between their rooms and secrets I still don’t know about…  Two boys who were best buddies when they were little, didn’t like each other very much when they were teenagers, and are back to being each other’s “bests” as young adults.

Creating a nursery at Grandma’s house…
It is so very much
home sweet home.

Cheers & Hugs,
Jodi

 

Chalk Paint Shabby Chic Dresser Makeover

/ Jodi / 50 Comments

dresser-after-chalk-paint-and-wax-in-room-1

I am having a lot of fun creating a special room in our house for our new granddaughter.

How fun it is to be able to create a “girly” room in one of the bedrooms previously occupied by one of our sons.

I hope to show you more as we finish; but for now, I’m excited to show you what I did with this beat up old little dresser we have had hanging around forever that has served many purposes through the years.

dresser-before-1

It is a little funny that I’ve taken something beat up and transformed it into another “beat up” look.  (The guys just don’t get it at all that I PURPOSELY rubbed and chipped off the paint!!)  But I’m loving this “Shabby Chic” look achieved with White (Magnolia) Chalk Paint, sand paper, and some Clear and Antique Wax.

I had planned on painting it white, but then saw a friend show on Facebook how she transformed a piece with Chalk Paint and decided that is exactly what I wanted to do.  Considering I had this little dresser already, supplies cost about $15.  I only used half of the container of paint and just a small amount of each of the jars of wax, so plenty more for other projects.  Other than the paint and wax, all that is needed is a paint brush and some fine sand paper.

dresser-after-chalk-paint-and-wax-1
I watched this series of brief Youtube tutorials while doing this, and it only took a few hours to complete.

Looking forward to sharing more as we progress… like how I turned bumper pads from a gorgeous bedding set I acquired into window valances (because bumper pads are now a “no-no” in cribs) — but I couldn’t pass up using the gorgeous pink and green paisley luciousness!

Cheers & Hugs,
Jodi

 

 

Ahoy for Baby Boys!

/ Jodi / 38 Comments
Prussian Blue, Cobalt Teal Blue, Quin Gold Watercolor Whale 8x10

Prussian Blue, Cobalt Teal Blue, Quin Gold Watercolor Whale 8×10

After all the pink love last week, I had the pleasure of creating something blue and nautical for a sweet little boy we are preparing to welcome.

Prussian Blue, Cobalt Teal Blue, Quin Gold Watercolor Nautical Anchor 8x10

Prussian Blue, Cobalt Teal Blue, Quin Gold Watercolor Nautical Anchor 8×10

How lucky am I that one of my BFF’s had a grandson about six months ago and another BFF is having one within weeks of our granddaughter’s due date.  Seems it will be one of the greatest joys in life to share motherhood and then grandmotherhood with life-long friends.

blue-nursery-whale-watercolor-8x10-original-framed-to-11x14

So yesterday was the “Ahoy It’s a Boy” shower, and I made a couple of watercolor paintings for this little guys’s nautical themed nursery.

blue-anchor-watercolor-framed

I matted the 8×10 paintings with navy blue matting and framed them with white 11×14 frames.

It’s hard to take photos of paintings under glass without reflection and in good light, so these photos are a bit off in color, but I thought they turned out really cute, and I hope they will go well in this sweet little guys’s new room.

I thought it would be fun to make them into greeting cards too.

nautical-blue-whale-and-anchor-watercolor-greeting-cards

Can’t wait to meet you Baby Boy Griffith!

Cheers & Hugs,
Jodi

 

 

 

 

Introducing McKinneyX2Designs

/ Jodi / 83 Comments

Mx2 log

I am so excited to share something my sweet daughter-in-law, Colleen and I have  been up to the past couple of weeks.  We started a little Etsy Shop together, and I could not be more proud of her and her beautiful work, so I wanted to share with all of you wonderful LifeinBetween friends.

Colleen takes reclaimed pallet wood and creates beautiful rustic home decor and signs.

il_570xN.919819770_c4va

She takes buttons and burlap and creates sweet little works of art (several have sold already for baby nurseries!  a little blue whale and a toy sailboat!)

il_570xN.914679891_6w97

She paints beautiful sayings and adds country charm to each piece she hand makes with love and such attention to quality and detail.

il_570xN.919530413_kemg

I’ve added a few of my favorite little watercolors that I’ve turned into prints and made into cards – selling them in singles and boxed sets.

whimsy owl set mx2

From our first sale, we got a Five Star Review:

review

Thank you, Maggie!

So I hope you don’t mind me sharing here and asking if you can help us spread the word.  Will you share with your friends and give us a “favorite” on Etsy,  a “like” and/or “share” on Facebook, and follow us on Instagram too?

And maybe you’ll even find something you like or a gift for someone you love.  Here is a little gallery of some of our products.

I look forward to hearing what you think, and we would appreciate any ideas for products, suggestions for promotion, and general feedback on what you like or don’t like about it.

Thanks for letting me share, and thanks in advance to those of you that are willing to help us out and spread the word and share with your friends.

Cheers & Hugs
Jodi