Giveaway! Young Nesters Ad Space

Hey friends, I've talked about how I'm using the blog to earn a few extra pennies for our adoption (which we hope to begin this year!) so I'm offering some advertising space in my sidebar.  To spread the word about my new endeavor I'm having a giveaway of a few ad spots.  So if you are a family friendly blogger or business owner I'd love for you to participate (or share with your friends who are).

Two winners will each get one of my large ad spots (Each valued at $25).  All you need to do is enter using the Rafflecopter form below.  I set it up to have a bunch of different options so you could enter based on your preferences.  The more entries you take advantage of, the more chances you have to win.

So now let's talk about why this is beneficial to YOU.  You can read most of the details here in my Sponsor tab but right now the site gets about 11,000 page views each month (and growing) and lots of traffic from Pinterest.  I've even been featured on Young House Love and Apartment Therapy so I have new readers finding my site every day.  For you, this means lots of opportunities for people to learn about your website or business.

All the winner needs to do is send me their ad, sized 300 x 250, with the website you'd like me to link it to and I'll get it all set up.  If you've never re-sized an image of your own I recommend Picmonkey.  I use it for all of my own photo editing and graphic designing and it's free.

If you don't win but would like to inquire about purchasing an ad spot (donating to our adoption fund) you can read all the details for that on my Sponsor tab as well :)

a Rafflecopter giveaway
Thanks as always for your continued support and I'm sure there will be some interesting things to share as we start our cross-country adventure.

The Golden State

We're moving!

April: What I Made This Month

Earlier this month I saw some cool busy bags floating around Pinterest and got inspired.  Darwin loves pizza and I decided he must have one made out of felt (vegetarian of course!).  I took inspiration from the busy bag roundup here and also from the Melissa and Doug play pizza here.  And I came up with this:

It was pretty easy actually.  Easier than I thought.  Everything I decided to make was 2D so I didn't have to worry about adding batting or hand stitching.  Darwin's favorite part is taking the "crust" and tossing it above his head all over the house because he has seen the guys from our local pizza shop stretch the dough this way!

Second, I have been eying up this tutorial for a Land of Nod inspired floor cushion and finally squeezed in some time to make one for Darwin.  He watches almost no tv and when he reads books he's usually curled up with Steven or I but I have caught him sitting on it from time to time.  He likes to use it to help him climb onto the couch especially.  I ended up making my cushion a few inches taller that in the tutorial since Darwin is such a tall boy (almost 3 ft!).  And I stuffed it entirely with scrap fabrics leftover from Etsy shop orders!  Just like when I made Darwin the travel pillow.  I'd been saving all my scraps for a while, hating to throw them away, just waiting for the perfect project.

The fabric was less than $10 (on sale at JoAnns) and the piping I had to order from here because I couldn't find any at my local craft stores.

And as for the Etsy shop, I've added a new pattern to my collection of plush and magnetic number toys.  Animal Prints!

What have you been creating this month?

p.s. Check out our update on my family page right here.

Shared at: sarah n dipities, Bower Power, Classy Clutter, Tutus and Tea Parties,

Why are there ads on the site?

I was proud to have an ad-free page for a while but I decided I would like to do what I can to raise some money for our adoption fund and keep the page still reasonably uncluttered with ads.  The Google ads on the side and bottom are randomly generated based on your browser history and what content you are reading on my site and I get only a few dollars by having them here but they are low maintenance for me so I can focus my attention elsewhere in my life.

The amazon links lower down on my sidebar are products selected by me that I already use and love and recommend to others.  When you click through one of my links to the amazon site and do your shopping I will receive a very very tiny percentage of your purchase, even if it is not one of the specific items I suggested.  As long as you click my link and were recommended to Amazon by my page I'll get credit no matter what you buy.  It doesn't effect your total or payment in any way, I just get a teeny tiny cut from Amazon.  There may also be some Amazon links within the  content of my posts but only if they are relevant to what I am discussing and I think they are great products.

If you are interested in the link for your amazon shopping you can just click right here and like I said, all money earned through these programs supports our adoption:

Young Nesters Amazon Affiliate Link

I thank you very much for understanding and supporting the page as you have always done in the past.  I shared the other day on my Facebook page that I have been able to add over $1000 of Etsy shop profits to our adoption fund so far this year and it is only because of the wonderful people I have following our journey.

You can read more about our path to adoption on my family blog right here.

Kitchen in a Closet

Since I haven't blogged in a while I thought I would update on a little switcheroo we did in Darwin's room a few weeks ago. 

The change was partly motivated by the fact that Darwin is growing up (::Mama sobs::) and partly because the house will look a little less cluttered for showings if we moved a few pieces of furniture around (yes, the house is on the market!).

So anyway, here's what I'm talking about.

These are the two areas that got adjusted:

This photo is back from Nov 2011 so the clothes aren't still so tiny and we've moved the crib but same general idea

The play kitchen didn't look "bad" where it was in our open dining room area but it was just another piece that added some clutter to the space.  And Darwin still kinda fits on the changing table but he's a loooooong boy and that wasn't going to last much more. 

On a side note, I know a lot of parents forgo the traditional changing table set up but it was wonderful for us.  We are both tall people and this was great to not have to bend down to do what needed to be done.  I'm not sure though I would have bought a whole new piece for something that was only going to last us less than two years (this was a hand-me-down from my mom) but because they aren't used for long I'm sure there are lots of them floating around second hand.

So, onto the "after" photos:

Well, that one is technically a "during" photo.  Hauled all of the stuff out of the changing table while I got reorganized.

And there you have it.  Kitchen in a closet.

This closet has been SO awesome!  I don't know how we would have arranged everything if we didn't have that extra space.  Babies truly don't need tons of stuff but this room is multifunctional (our whole house is really) so we have high expectations for every space.

Our changing area is now the daybed.  We toss a mat on top of the comforter and take care of business.  But Darwin has also been using the toilet more lately so even our "changing area" doesn't get used as much as it did in the past.

 And one last look at the freshened up sideboard/frame wall.

In our small house I feel like there is always something to be organized - reorganized - sorted...  I don't really mind it though honestly.  I get some kind of high after an organizing project.  More space, more order, more neatness!  I love it!  Are you an organizing junkie too?

And as always, you can see the whole house tour through the tab at the top of right here.  Oh!  And did you notice, I FINALLY added an "about" page.

Follow my blog with Bloglovin