Steph's Pick - DIY Fabric Headboard

Like most first time mom's - I've spent a decent amount of time thinking through what I'd like the nursery (and in our case nursery/guest room) to look like. Early on in my pregnancy I started formulating a list of things that needed to be done before our little peanut comes into this world.
In April we were fortunate enough to have my parents come down for a week to visit AND they were eager to help us with all of our projects around the house. They were so helpful - thanks Mom and Dad!!!
One of the projects we completed while they were in town is a fabric headboard for our guest bed. This isn't the best picture of it - but it will give you an idea of what it looks like. The best part about this project is that is was sooooo easy!! Some DIY (do-it-yourself) projects aren't all that easy, but this one really was. So I thought I'd share my step-by-step instructions so you can do this yourself.

1. Assemble Tools and Materials.
Here’s what you’ll need:
8-foot tape measure
plywood for the main fabric-covered area (the cheapest grade is fine since no wood shows)
plywood for 2 legs: about 30” x 4”
roll of upholstery batting or cotton batting
a beautiful piece of fabric for the cover
a power drill (if you have one)
a staple gun (preferably an electric one!)
Optional: cording, braid, or other trim

2. Decide on the shape and size.
First measure the width of your bed and decide how high to make the headboard. Remember that the box spring, mattress, and decorative pillows will cover up part of the headboard, so you may want to add more height to compensate. I recommend having the bottom of the fabric-covered wood headboard start at the top of the box spring Total height of this top section (not counting the legs) will be about 36 inches.

3. Cut the wood for the headboard and legs.
If you don’t want to cut it to size at home then ask the salesperson to cut it to your measurements. At less than a dollar per cut it’s money well spent. Also have them cut 2 pieces about 30” long by 4” wide. These will be attached as legs at the end of the project.
If your headboard will be rectangular then you can proceed to covering it with batting.

4. Cover the wood with batting.
Lay the batting over the wood frame, adding 2" all the way around. Staple the batting to the back of the frame where it won’t show.

5. Secure fabric with staples.
Iron your decorative fabric and smooth it face-down on the work area. Set the covered headboard, face down on top of it. Cut the fabric the same size and shape, adding about 4” extra to wrap around the back of the headboard.
Starting at the center top, begin stapling the fabric to the back, making sure that any pattern on the fabric is properly centered and straight. Pull it just enough to get a smooth front side, but not so much that it puckers.
Once you have about 12” of the top stapled, switch to the bottom edge. Smooth the fabric around the wood and staple several places on the bottom edge. Continue working in sections along the top and bottom. This might be a good time to lift up the headboard and check your progress before stapling the sides.
If everything looks good, set it down and begin to secure the fabric to the sides, folding over the outer sides and staple the fabric to the back. Make sure the corners (if you have any) look neat and tidy from the front.
Staple lining fabric onto the back of the headboard, covering all the raw edges of fabric and batting.

6. Attach the legs and secure to the bedframe.
Cover the 2 leg pieces of wood with lining or decorative fabric, stapling to the back of the leg.
Place the headboard, face down, on a flat surface. Determine the desired height of the finished headboard, and attach the legs to the headboard, about 2” in from the side edge.
Now drill holes in the legs and attach them to the frame of the bed.

That's it!!! It's a great (and cheap) way to add another great decorative dimension to any bedroom.

my AZ baby shower

Like I said in my previous post - it was a weekend of showers!!! Nine of my closest friends hosted a baby shower for me this past Saturday and I couldn't have been more thrilled with how everything went. From the moment I walked through the front door to the second I got into my car, I felt so loved and so honored. And I know baby Flies did too!
Long before this weekend, the invites were designed by my friend Laura and sent out to a handful of potential guests. Then when Saturday afternoon finally rolled around, it started off with scrumptuous food (thanks Michelle, Denise and Becky) and super creative decorations (hats off to you, Brittany and Joy), was followed by an inspiring devotional by Joy, then games by Amy, opening of gifts and finally everyone departed with a super cute favor (Zee and Amy - you're the best!). My mentor, Laurie, hosted the party at her house and the setting couldn't have been better for the group in attendance. Seriously - everything was just so perfect. I feel humbled all over again as I write out the specifics of that day.
Thanks to all of your ladies who attended - it meant so much to me to have you there and to ultimately have you as a part of our lives. We can't wait for little Ms. Flies to meet all of you!

Laura's "Something Blue" Bridal Shower

This was officially the weekend of showers (well - there were only two of them but it felt like a lot). On Friday evening I was blessed to be able to host a shower for my dear friend, Laura. She and her fiance, Phil, are getting married in South Dakota on July 18th. Because we won't be able to be there (baby due on the 12th) I knew I had to throw a great party to celebrate their upcoming wedding for all of her friends and family here in AZ.
Laura's "Something Blue" bridal shower was full of blue, blue and more blue! I was able to get my hands on a few Tiffany's boxes, a handful of giant diamond rings and loads of other great decorations. Her aunt, Michele, hosted the shower at her beautiful house and did all of the food and beverages (note: blue martini's in top left corner). Everything went so well. I hope Laura felt loved and honored by it all.

Steph's Pick - a NEW(ish) product

Alright - I'll admit it - I have no idea how long these have even been on the market. However, they are new to our household which makes them worthy of being called a NEW(ish) product!
I bought a packet of Ziploc's Zip'n Steam bags awhile back and have just gotten in the habit of using them a couple times a week. Let me tell you - they are the BEST!!!! Seriously - they've made making side vegetables so much easier and healthier. I'm a huge advocate of cooking a main dish and having a couple of sides (veggie and starch generally). Now there's nothing that specifically says I have to do this - it's just something I do. Although cooking veggies (and starches for that matter) other ways (boiling, broiling, baking, grilling, etc) is not all that time consuming, the Zip'n Steam bags have cut the time in half in some cases, which for a busy woman is so helpful.
For example - the other day I put a bunch of broccoli florets in a bag - consulted the outside of the bag for how long I needed to cook them - 5 minutes - stuck them in the microwave - did a couple other things while they were cooking - and BAM! (as Emeril would say) - they were done. Cooked to perfection and sooooo good!!!
I would strongly suggest picking up just one pack today. Try it out! I guarantee, you won't regret it!

a few more pictures

This is the last post of photo updates. Like I mentioned at the beginning of last week, I've had so many pictures to upload but just no time to do it. So - this officially marks my last photo update. Going forward we should be fairly well up to date.
The above picture is a quick snapshot we took in front of the Washington Memorial in DC just a couple weekends back. My co-workers, Sharla, Ken and I had a night free where we were able to see a good amount of the memorials in DC. Not often on work trips are we able to go sight-seeing but when we were given a couple hours of free time before catching an early morning flight the next day we had to take advantage of the opportunity. DC really is a beautiful city! I hope to be able to go back again.
And below are a few more pictures from my best friend's wedding. I got my hands on a couple of the photographers pictures and just had to post them as they turned out so great!

Steph's Pick - a Grilling Cheat Sheet

Grilling has always been one of our favorite ways to cook our meals. While growing up the summer months brought night after night of delicious meals from the grill. After moving to AZ we now spend most of the year grilling and actually try and avoid the grill as much as possible during the summer (imagine 100+ degree heat and an extremely hot grill - not too much fun).
Regardless, about a year back in my Real Simple magazine I came across a "Grilling Cheat Sheet" that we've found to be extremely helpful when trying to determine how long to grill a specific item. Just this weekend I bought some incredible filet's from Costco and we obviously wanted to cook them to perfection. We consulted our handy-dandy cheat sheet and they turned out perfect!
Download yours today from http://www.realsimple.com/static/pdfs/grillcheatsheet.pdf. It's a life-saver.

an upcoming wedding...

As I believe I've mentioned on a couple of different occassions, my brother is getting married at the end of this month! We couldn't be more thrilled to be able to join him and Amy as they celebrate their new lives together.
It's been so fun being able to play a small part in the planning processes of the wedding. It makes me want to have a wedding again! Amy is such a sweetheart and even let me try out my new camera (Nikon D90 - the best! - happy "you're having a baby" present to me) on them a couple weekends back. The above picture is just one of the few I took.
We're counting down the days till we head to Lincoln, NE at the end of the month!!!

baby Flies update

She keeps growing and growing and growing... For those of you who are always asking for more belly pictures - here you go! Here's me at 30 weeks - only 10 (ish) more to go.

And below you'll find a picture I'm sure I'll treasure forever - the going to be 5 generations of Triggs family members. To the far left is my grandmother and next to her my great-grandmother, then me and baby and lastly my dad to the far right. Note: My great-grandmother just turned 98 a couple weeks back! It was so fun to be able to see her while I was in Iowa.

And lastly - I just couldn't resist a "What size is our baby" photo. I'm a visual learner so these sorts of things help to put my uncomfortability into perspective :)

Crossfit Moms

One of the things I've been able to squeeze into my schedule over the past month is a few workouts at our friend's business, North Scottsdale Crossfit. For those of you who know me, I've always been quite active. However, I will tell you the truth, with some of the random health issues I've had going on throughout my pregnancy, I'm probably in the worst shape I've ever been in. Regardless, I'm turning over a new leaf! What better time to do it - at the beginning of the 3rd trimester!!! :)
Kevin and Joy started their business awhile back and have been progressively seeing the business grow. It's been so fun to be a part of it.

And - just a little plug for Crossfit Moms - it's such a great way to increase muscular endurance and strength. I'm hoping in the long run it will help prepare my body for labor (ughh - I don't like to think about that) as well as the physical act of lugging a baby around after our little girl is born.

a week of photo updates

Wow!!! It has been quite the past couple of months. Thanks to all of you who prayed for my travels this past weekend. Things went very well and suprisingly enough, the flights were fairly bearable.

So thank you!
I thought in an effort to try and make up some time I'm going to do "A Week of Photo Updates" as there have been so many things I just haven't had time to post about over the past few months.

This first update is two-fold (but involves one of my favorite people). A couple weeks back I was able to travel to the Midwest to spend some time with both my in-laws in Minneapolis as well as my family in Mt. Vernon. During that time I attended a bridal shower for my brother's fiance (pictures to come later this week) and also hosted a baby shower for one of my best friends - Liz. Below are a few photos (and the invite) for Liz's shower. We did a "Sprinkle" theme where everything was either umbrella/rain or candy sprinkles. It turned out great and Baby Reasland and Liz were blessed with some great encouragement from other mom's and received some super cute gifts.

The next photo was taken in mid-March when Liz and her husband, Aaron, came to spend a week of fun in the sun with us. As with so many of our friends who live far away, although their visits are so much fun, it makes us wish we lived close to them! This group photo was taken at on our favorite Mexican restaraunts in Phoenix - Los Sombreros.