I spent some time today creating a page on Facebook for The Precious Baby Collection store on Zazzle!  This is the badge they gave me – click on it to check out the page!

The Precious Baby Collection

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I’m excited to announce that I’ve just completely reorganized my original Zazzle store: Roaming Rosie Designs!

Roaming Rosie Designs is my first Zazzle store (I now have three) and so it’s been with me for awhile. Since March of 2009, anyway. That marks a year, though, so it seemed like time for an upgrade.

I’ve reorganized all the products that were there and created brand new banners for the storefront, which should make everything easier to find. I had noticed that some very nice designs seemed hidden in obscure categories and I’ve tried to help fix that, partially by creating the banners which give shoppers an idea of the products they’ll find in that category when they click on those banners.

I’ve also added over 150 new products to the store in the last week. One reason for this was because I had some designs that were not on many products; for example, the design might be featured on a t-shirt, but now it’s also on a mug, mouse pad and keychain, too.

I’ve put many, many (many, many, many!) hours of labor and love into the store over the past year, and taught myself a great deal about html and Photoshop in the process, but it’s been an amazing journey and a great creative outlet for me. And, hopefully, all the time I’ve put into reorganizing it will make it a great resource for others!

Click on the banner below to visit the shop, and please feel free to leave comments!

I had always planned on getting a bassinet to make it easier for the baby to sleep in our room for the first few months, but now that we know we’ll still be living with relatives when she’s born (and, thus, there’s no nursery yet) the bassinet just made sense.

We registered for The First Years Carry-Me-Near 5-in-1 Bassinet (pictured at left). I chose it not only because it’s beautiful in a soothing and elegant way, but also for the functionality. The top basket is removable and can be carried around anywhere, or the handle and canopy can be lowered when sleeping. Under the basket there’s a changing table, though I don’t foresee us using that much. A detachable contraption is supposed to secure the bassinet to the side of the bed, which I haven’t tried yet. There’s a basket underneath that I’ve already filled with toys and blankets and my Boppy pillow, and there’s foldaway wheels that allow you to either roll the bassinet from room to room or rock it in place.

On the handle there’s a light, five different sounds from white noise to music, and vibration controls. I like the audio selections, which seem to be at a good volume. There are three cute toys hanging from the canopy. The photo online shows some color in the toys but the ones I got are monotone – though I like that. She’ll have plenty of other colorful toys to stimulate her anyway.

My husband put the bassinet together, and the finished product is really nice. However, after opening the box and pouring out a million pieces onto the ground, he cursed his way through the construction, labeling the instructions “evil” at one point. And the one thing that really bothered me was that the handles of the basket come with large stickers on each side of the handle. Why do I need stickers on the product advertising the product? I already know what I bought.

These stickers were, well, a bit disagreeable. It took a couple broken nails (as I was afraid tools would scratch the plastic), a lot of Goo Gone, an insane amount of patience, and over half and hour to remove one sticker. I was livid – which forced me to put off removing the other sticker for a few days. I just couldn’t see any reason to cement giant stickers on the bassinet, but once they were off, I was really satisfied with how it looked.

Even with the negative review of the instructions and stickers, I still would recommend this product to others. It’s gorgeous and functions just the way I need (as far as I can tell thus far). I’m really excited about using it, and I hope the baby loves it, too!

Valentine’s Day is around the corner, but there’s still time to order gifts online. Sure, there are plenty of years that we just go out for a nice dinner instead of exchanging gifts, but this year I wanted to get a little something for my husband and I thought I’d share some of the great gift ideas I found to maybe inspire someone else. Now, since my husband reads my blog, I can’t tell you what I’m getting him, but here are a few visual examples of unique gifts that work for men.

Some guys may be happier with a gift certificate for a day at the golf course or a new set of BBQ tools, but if that’s not their style – or you just got them that for Christmas last month – here are a few ideas that may work for your man:

(just click on the item to see a larger photo and description!)

Because some things are just too weird not to share, here’s a photo of a two-headed lettuce leaf that held an honorary place in our salad tonight. Creepy but curious.

Then again, my husband’s comment was, “It’s just produce.” Nothing special.

Maybe.  Maybe not.

As I’ve now hit 31 weeks of pregnancy, I’ve received more and more baby gifts and the impending arrival of the baby is becoming suddenly very real, what with all the baby stuff lying around. I can’t believe we’re down to single digits when counting down the weeks! But we find ourselves still living with relatives, which means I still don’t have a nursery to decorate yet and can’t really be buying big things for baby. This means that perhaps I’ve been a little too overcome by the adorableness of onesies – something I can still buy, even if I try to limit most of that shopping to window shopping! I do have to remind myself that a single baby can only wear so much clothing and I’m bound to receive quite a few more outfits as gifts – which I think is great … I just have to limit my own purchases right now. Not an easy task.

But at least I can still look! And I’ve been browsing the stores online, too, which is where I found these totally adorable and sweet – pun intended – onesies by the Baby Bunch (pictured at left). They’re packaged to mimic cupcakes and they look completely delicious! My eye is drawn to the pink and white ones, since we’re having a girl, but they also come in blue or yellow colors, which makes them a fabulous gift for any expecting mom. Maybe the overload of hormones increases the cuteness of these, but either way, they are far too cute not to post!

Well, I’ve never been one for Resolutions, but I still always find that the New Year is a great chance to view things with fresh eyes.  It’s a strange New Year for me, if only because I went to bed sober last night.  Pregnancy does change things (like keeping me up half the night with heartburn).

But this year really is a new start for us.  My husband is officially out of the Army now – his last day of active duty was Christmas Eve.  And this year is a new start in many ways:  a new home (we’re not in one just yet, but that’ll happen soon enough), a new baby (the March due date is right around the corner!), and a new life in general:  new jobs, new projects and new priorities.

I’m excited about 2010.  Here’s hoping this year is better than the last few.

***

And back to those Resolutions, here’s a New Year’s quote and t-shirt for you:

“New Year’s Day… now is the accepted time to make your regular annual good resolutions. Next week you can begin paving hell with them as usual.”  – Mark Twain

My New Year’s Resolution – 1024 X 768 by scribbleprints
View more New year’s resolution T-Shirts

These too cute pillow cases designate the On Duty / Off Duty responsibilities for middle-of-the-night feedings. I wonder, though, how effective they would be for us, seeing as how my husband could easily sleep through the St. Patty’s Day parade.

Since the baby is still months away from needing any feedings that don’t include the umbilical cord, I can still find myself saying that I don’t mind being the On Duty person most of the time, especially because I’d like to breastfeed.

I wonder how long those feelings will last…

I’ve been debating whether or not to invest in wall decals for the nursery.  The tough part is that we don’t have a house yet or, thus, a nursery to decorate.  But, since the baby is due in March, I’d like to be as prepared as possible so that I can set up the nursery quickly once we finally get to move into our new home.

I know the theme and bedding set I’d like to go with:  a soft, pastel jungle theme.  I also know I’d like to hang real photos of animals in the room to accent the more cartoon-ish toys and stuffed animals that will fill the room.  But would I like more decorations to fill the walls?  My friend painted a beautiful but elaborate jungle mural over all four walls of her son’s room, but I just don’t have the time for something like that.  Decals are easy:  peel and stick.  Done.

The main problem is that when I started researching the decals, or wall stickers, I found that many were quite pricey.  I’d find animal or nature decals that were fifty or sixty dollars a sheet or even upwards of a hundred dollars for a single, larger decal.  But does my baby really need these designer products?  As neat as they are, I still find myself searching for something a little more playful.

Luckily, today I found a wide variety of animal and nature wall decals that range in prices from about $10 to $25.  Cute AND affordable – can’t beat that!  I intend to get the decals that best match the bedding I’ve chosen, but I couldn’t help sharing all of these, because they’re just all so cool… now I just have to resist buying them all! :)

As I’ve mentioned, I also write “lenses” on Squidoo, and I’ve recently published a lens all about Skillet.  Skillet is one of my all-time favorite rock bands and I wanted to help share the band with the world because they aren’t nearly as well-known as they should be!  They’re amazingly talented and their music rocks – everyone should know who they are.

So check out my lens about Skillet and click on any of the albums below to hear their incredible music!