gotta get my sewing machine out...

Okay, so it's almost December.  Tomorrow's December.  Which means that I should have started thinking about Christmas gifts at least a few weeks ago.  But I didn't... not really.  It's time to start shopping.

Now.  I'm always a fan of a handmade gift or two.  Christmas is always a time for me to try some new crafty project.  Last year I made sock monkeys for my kids and nieces and nephews... this year Emerson will be the lucky recipient of some handmade gifts.

I've been stashing aways some scraps of vintage-y cute fabrics for a while now...

And I'm thinking that Eme would be just a little excited if I made some mini blankets for her dolls and some of these super cute doll sized diapers...  adorbs... eh?

probably actually

And once my sewing machine is out... I'll probably feel inspired to make other things too.  Like these burlap and felt initial pillows...

sequins and stripes

And maybe some things for the new baby.  Purlbee has a ton of sewing tutorials... here are some of my fav's...

Super soft super cute hooded bath towels for babe... yes please.

purlbee hooded towel

These swaddling blankets with hand stitched edging totally had me at hello.

purlbee swaddling blankets

And these handmade bibs are so stinking cute.  I received a few bibs like these from a friend when Eme was a baby and they ended up being my favourites--- not only were they cuter than the plastic store bought ones... but the industrial strength snaps used to secure the bib to the baby's neck were impossible for them to rip off.  Genius.

purlbee liberty bibs

Well... maybe it's time to start sewing... or take a nap... 

An Update of Sorts

It's not even December yet... but things are already getting crazy around here.  It seems like I'm constantly running (but not really-- more like waddling) around town with a thousand things to do... which means I rarely have time to bring out my "real" camera....

thank goodness for iphones and instagram... right?  Here's what's new...

Eme's become a real chatterbox.  She talks all.day.long.  Just about every sentence starts with the word "where" and her favourite line is "where's daddy mom?"  She asks this question approximately 300 times a day.  Doug will be in the same room-- sitting right in front of her and she'll say "where's daddy mom?" about 10 times in a row.  It's cute.  It also drives me crazy.

The other day she brought me the globe and asked "Where's Canada?"  Apparently she's listening as I give Caleb many geography/history lessons... :)

Caleb continues to love school.  This smile says it all.  

I recently made up a crazy (and loud) "we love school!" cheer that the kids and I scream all the way to school.  It's a short drive... don't worry.  It get's Caleb so pumped up about his day that he is literally attempting to jump out the door while the car's still moving so he can run to his spot in line by his classroom door.

In other news...

I may or may not have created a swimming lesson monster.

Caleb is insanely passionate about his swimming lessons... and it's become apparent that I will tire of taking him to swimming lessons long before he's ready to take a break.  You'd think that he'd be tired after a long day at school... but twice a week he happily goes off with his instructor and literally jumps for joy the entire lesson with the hugest grin on his face.

I've also created a "mom... do my hair" everyday monster.

I curled Eme's hair for church one morning and now she thinks hair straighteners and hairspray should be the daily norm.  Oh dear. 

Over the weekend I started spraying some headboards I picked up for the kid's shared room.  They should be ready for action shortly!

Meanwhile... we moved both kids in together tonight even though their room isn't "ready".  They were quite excited (although Caleb does look like he's about to cry in this picture).  Let the sleepless nights begin!!

And tonight after the kids were tucked away in their shared room asleep in their beds... I stood in Eme's room and felt a teeny bit sad that she wasn't in there... 

So crazy to think that this room will be inhabited by another child soon!

Backsplash

Who's tired of hearing about us working on the kitchen?  Not me!!  Any time there's a bit of progress I'm a happy lady.  This weekend Doug started doing the tiling... he got about half of it done, and let me tell you, I am loving it.  We went with 3x6 basic white subway tiles from Home Depot and they look awesome.  They are a warmer white that works well with the cabinetry color-- Cloud White.

We debated the grout line width for a while and decided to go with 1/16" spacers.  Since the tiles are a bit rounded at the edges the grout lines will be a bit wider than 1/16" but still nice and tight... which I like.  Doug totally blew me away with his tile expertise... the rows are nice and neat and spaced perfectly... which means I can go with a light grey grout-- just what I wanted.

And that was the weekend!  Doug worked on the kitchen while I attempted to keep the kids out of trouble.  Easier said than done :)

In other news, I've been eating/cooking sugar free this week ever since I found out that I've got gestational diabetes this time around.  It's really not all that bad-- a lot of veggies, meat, eggs, cheese, and whole grains.  With the arrival of each child I've had to adopt some interesting diets-- in the weeks after Caleb was born I had a pureed diet as my jaw was wired shut, with Emerson I ate dairy free for 6 months due to her allergies, and now-- a diabetic diet.  Out of all three diets, eating sugar free is by far the easiest.  I'll let you know how it goes...

After this I should really write a cookbook-- the dairy free, sugar free, pureed diet.  Definitely a best seller :)

Busy in the Kitchen

We made some serious progress in the kitchen over the weekend.  Yay!  Doug built the last cabinet needed for above the fridge and installed just about all the finished parts (end panels, open shelves, carrier, crown).  There is a little bit of touch up work to do and then we can start tiling.

I don't know if I've taken a picture from this angle yet... but I'm loving the open shelves... can't wait to get that tile in... it's going all the way up from counter to ceiling...

Meanwhile... there were kids that needed to be kept occupied while we were working.

Rainy day movie?  Sure.

Soon we had to get a little more creative to keep the kids from getting in the way...

(no-- we don't really stick our kids in cabinets and give them scissors to play with... Doug and Caleb schemed up a way to effectively give me the fright of my life and Eme decided to "fix" her blanket... thinking we're going to have to put some locks on these cabinets real soon... )

So Canadian, eh?

Hope you're all enjoying your Saturday!!

Today I'm honoured to be interviewed by Barbara of the blog hodge:podge!

Barbara has a great series called So Canadian, eh? where she interviews Canadian interior designers and bloggers from across the country.  Some favourite bloggers and designers of mine have been featured in the past-- definitely worth checking out!  You can read my interview HERE.

Thanks again for including me Barbara!  I'm definitely honoured to be included in your series!

Enjoy the rest of the weekend everyone!!

Today

We're gearing up for the beginning of the third trimester... to celebrate, I purchased the one thing at American Eagle that actually fit me.  It's warm, cozy, kinda like wearing a blanket instead of a sweater, kinda awesome.  And it was also in the clearance section AND an additional 40% off today.

And another super exciting thing about today... more of my kitchen is ready to be installed!!  

The excitement is starting to get to me... nerdy things like "booyah!"  and "woot woot!"  keep coming out of my mouth :)  Can ya blame me?

Happy Weekend everyone!!

Baby's Room

I can hardly believe Eme's room will soon be inhabited by a third Toewsie kiddo!  Yikes-- it's already November!  Three more months!!  

So, I'm not planning on doing too much to the room-- other than setting the crib BACK up.  I love the current paint color, the crib/dresser/chair/rug are all great, but I might switch up just a few little things.  The pink will be gone (for now... at least!), I'll probably buy a new crib sheet since I figured it's the LEAST I could do, and put a few gender neutral things up on the wall.

But, I have started on one little project that I'm pretty excited about.  I'll share more about it later on (once it's all finished) but here's a little hint...

I am totally inspired by anything Lauren Liess does in her home... and the art work in her basement family room was no exception...

Are ya curious yet?  

How to get your kids to sleep in...

I don't know about you... but our kids have been waking up SUPER early all week long... like 5:30 am early.  Darn time change.  It'll get you every time.

Well, I finally figured out how to get your kids back onto a normal  7 am "sleep-in" schedule.  Here's how:

Spend the weekend in downtown Vancouver with family.

Strap on lifejackets and repeatedly throw your children into the pool.

Keep them up waaay past their bedtime and eat dinner at about 8:30 pm even though they look like they might fall asleep face down in their fries and chicken fingers.

Make them walk everywhere, outside, at all hours of the day.

Take them to the Telus World of Science.

For 6 hours.

Suspend all naps.

Make them run like crazy.

And when they start to look tired make them keep running.

Throw them back into the hotel pool.

Keep them up late again.

This is a sure fire way to exhaust your children and will guarantee a return to normal sleeping patterns and an overall enjoyment of their own beds.

A weekend in Vancouver with family is also guaranteed to be the funnest... most exciting time of their lives :)

And in case you're wondering...

Wanna know how to exhaust a pregnant lady?  Repeat all the steps as outlined above AND add packing, unpacking, laundry, and 2 nights of sleeping in a hotel bed to the list and you've pretty much got it figured out... :)

For Your Information...

I went with the red ones...

they feel a little fall-ish... don't you think?

something pretty for a monday morning...

Instead of complaining about the fact that it's monday... I thought I'd just skip right to something pretty. I picked up this cute vintage-y butterfly poster from Spruce Collective a while back for Eme's side of the soon-to-come shared kids room.  Isn't it cute?

If you live in the area and haven't stopped by the shop yet-- you've gotta do it!  They've got so much great stuff.  And tons of other great vintage inspired posters (kinda like this one) for like $5 that are perfect for kids rooms and fit perfectly in an ikea frame.  Really... $5... it's cheaper than a Starbucks coffee!

Chair Makeover Time

There have been plenty of chair makeovers happening over at Lark & Lily Interiors these days.  Up next... a double chair makeover!  We're helping out with a top to bottom house renovation... and getting to help source furniture too.  A few weeks ago I was at a thrift store here in town and found a pair of super cheap, super comfy arm chairs.  They need a bit of help, so we're getting custom slipcovers made to give them new life for the living room of this home.

Here's the plan:

1.  the "before" picture of the two chairs.  Pretty basic, straightforward design.  Easy to slipcover.
2.  The fabric that's been selected.  We wanted a basic geometric that would complement the grey living room sofa and were looking something really reasonably priced.  When you've got a house to renovate and furnish-- you've gotta try to keep things affordable!
3.  Chair inspiration from this living room designed by Kelly Deck.  Loving a pair of matching chairs.  We decided to make a new cushion for the back of our chairs-- kind of like these ones.  Instead of an over sized "T cushion" we're going to make a separate rectangular cushion that will add a bit of height to the chair and give it a more casual feel.
4.  Slipcovered chairs from Serena & Lily.  We're loving the geometric pattern on this particular chair and the separate back cushion.

The fabric is set to arrive any day now... and we've got a "spot" booked in with our seamstress.  When they're done I'll let you know how they turn out!

Feel free to check out the Lark & Lily facebook page for more updates on our projects!  If you're interested in working with us feel free to send me an email or visit our website for more information.