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?  

Snow Week Recap

What did we do during snow week... well... you're about to find out!

Some of us didn't really care for the snow...

But most of us thought it was pretty awesome.

Caleb spent some time working in his math books.

He's getting all ready for kindergarten!

Eme learnt how to stand in her high chair and crawl up onto furniture. (oh great)  She also found out that climbing onto chairs pushed up to the kitchen counter gives her access to all the good stuff I try to keep out of reach-- like glass jars full of animal crackers.

We had some interesting meals... like pizza for breakfast (mommy approves) and hotdogs with mustard for lunch (mommy doesn't approve-- gross.)

The kids played super mario together.  Eme was taking the game pretty seriously.

There was time to hit the hills and do a bit of crazy carpeting (although Caleb tells everyone that he went "snowboarding").  Afternoons of sledding resulted in rosy cheeks, lots of hot chocolate with marshmallows, and early bedtimes :)

And... I sold Eme's change table.  She's getting to be too tall for the change table-- so it's time for a big girl dresser!  Time to start shopping...

Happy Weekend!!

An Owl and a Deer

So as of the weekend I am officially crutch free!!  To celebrate my new found freedom last night I left the house on my own and went shopping.  I'm still moving pretty slowly and am not the most graceful walker out there-- but I can definitely do a lap or two around Home Sense :)

Last night I came home with two little things for the kids rooms.  I have wanted to find a cute white ceramic owl for Emerson's room but haven't been able to find a cheap one.  I really loved these owl bookends from Indigo...  but they were $29.99 plus shipping.  Way too much $.  And now they're sold out.

But last night I found this cute little owl for $4.99.  The color isn't exactly what I want-- kind of bronze-- but I might spray paint it white.  What do you think?

White would look good in her room... I think.

How can I resist throwing in a picture of Eme in her new jeans.  They've made me smile all day :)

And now for Caleb's room.  I've been wanting to get a cardboard deer trophy for his room for the longest time.  How fun would one of these be in his room?  I found a small one at Cardboard Safari for $12-- but after paying for shipping the total was almost $30!!  Way too much for a couple of pieces of cardboard.

But, I found this metal one at Home Sense for $14.  I was a little unsure of what Doug would think of this find-- but he actually liked it!  Caleb calls it his Moose.  Now I've just got to find a spot to hang it...

So that's what I bought on my first post surgery Home Sense shopping trip.  An owl and a deer.  Just call me crazy.

Today

Today is just one of those days.  We're stuck at home.  And the kids have been extra mischievous.  I mean look at this face.  Trouble.

And this little lady may look innocent-- but she's been taking after her brother this morning.  Trouble.

Here I caught her dismantling all the piles of clean folded laundry in her room.  G-u-i-l-t-y.

Anyhow-- that's what's new in our house today.  That and some new throw pillows I made for the living room.  I mentioned a while back that I was tired of the temporary ones I had-- so I made these new (also temporary) covers until I can figure out what I really want.  I used last year's christmas tree skirt fabric to make two covers.  They feel kind of fall-ish.

And they work with my chair in the corner.

And I guess there's one more new thing.  I added another new piece to Eme's art wall in her room.  Caleb painted this hot little pink number the other day during our painting marathon.  I was pretty shocked at how great it turned out.  (FYI-- I picked up a bunch of these super cheap canvases at the dollar store in several different sizes-- they were really fun for him to paint on) 

I don't think Eme's noticed.  I don't think she really cares.  But I like it.  Great job Caleb!

And now they are finally napping.  All is quiet... hopefully for another hour or two.  A few moments of peace and quiet is all I need-- then I'll be ready for those super fun post-nap pre-dinner hours :)

So now I'm going to do something wild and crazy and eat a bowl of granola or something else that's equally interesting.  And then I get to end the day with an evening out-- at my physiotherapist's office :)

Two Faced

I gave you a sneak peak of this little sewing project a while back... a long while back.  Finally, I had an afternoon with nothing to do so I decided to finish it off.  And, I was also feeling guilty over the fact that I had stolen Eme's pillows for my own room.  Well, not really.

Anyways... the pillow is finished!  This pillow has a little something for everyone.  On one side it's got a little chevron.  Pink chevron... created by yours truly.  It only took me several hours to figure out how to turn stripes into a chevron pattern... and then several hours to figure out how to sew it together.  Emerson, you're worth it.

But wait!  The other side's a bit of a surprise... we've got stripes AND buttons.  This proved to be much much easier than I thought.  Pop a new foot onto my sewing machine, push a few buttons, (consult manual), and perform a little other sewing wizardry... and you've got yourself a perfect button hole times 3.

Now for a bit of a safety disclaimer... Eme doesn't get to sleep with her throw pillows.  This is a safety no no for small children.  They usually live on her chair and pretty up the crib on special occasions-- like photo taking occasions.

What's that Caleb?  You love Eme's new pillow too?

Before I knew what was happening Caleb had scaled the crib, stolen the pink felt flower pillow and had run off with it for his own room.  When I went to retrieve it I found it sitting pretty on his dresser.  True story.  And a shameless little excuse to fit a picture of these cute kiddos into this pillow related post :)

An Experiment

So while I was assisting my Mom with her fabric shopping we found a little pink striped goodness.  We just couldn't resist.  Can anyone say granny glam?  Yup... Emerson... pink stripes are coming soon to a room near you...

Fabric.com

But then I got a wild and crazy idea.  What if I could turn the stripes into something kinda like this?

etsy

Well... I've been measuring, and cutting, and sewing, and re-measuring, and re-cutting, and re-sewing.  And somewhere along the way I think I figured out how to do this...

And by the way... I somehow managed to take this picture with one arm while physically restraining my almost 4 year old with the other.  Couldn't handle having that light switched on and off one more time.  Gotta love mommy multi-tasking.

Now I've just gotta make something out of it.  Throw pillow maybe?  They seem to be my specialty :)

Almost there...

My daughter is almost 8 months old and I'm still decorating her nursery-- I really need to pick up the pace.  Soon she'll grow out of her crib  *tear* and I'll have to start all over again.  Well, I finally got around to putting something up on the bare wall above her change table.  I was stalling on this one, because I wasn't quite sure what to do with it.  Finally I decided to just find things around the house and create a cute little gallery wall.  And here it is... an almost free mini gallery wall for Eme's room...

I know you're all thinking... almost free?  How did you manage to pull that one off?  Well I happen to be a bit of a picture frame junkie.  I don't buy expensive ones... I have a problem with buying cheap ones.  Over the year's I've developed quite the stash.  I find cute little frames at MCC for $2.00 or $3.00 a piece, I find them in the as is section of Ikea... and let me tell you, there's a reason why they're so cheap.  They always need some major care-- sanding, painting, new mattes, new hanging hardware... lots of TLC.  In this arrangement of frames the only one that was purchased for full price was the big one.  I had it sitting around in my stash for a couple of months so it got to make its way into the collection.

Next I had to find some really cheap stuff to put into those frames.  Here's what I found.

To the left... a painting Caleb did during our at home morning art class.  And at the bottom, some super cute butterfly stickers I found at Walmart.  They were seriously 8 for $4.00.  I have a few left over if anyone wants to make their own butterfly art.  The two pictures in the middle are some pictures I had blown up and printed at London Drugs in black and white.

To the right... more butterfly art.  And the hot little pink number is a free printable from here.  I got the idea from 6th Street Design School.  I just downloaded the image and printed it off on my own printer.  The blog has other free images you could use as art for kid's rooms-- just click on the "freebie" label and print until your heart's content!

And now, some lessons learned from the process of creating this gallery wall:

1.  A painting project is NEVER as easy as you think it will be.  It is way harder.  It will take way longer than you anticipate.

2.  Always prime first.  Especially if you're using really cheap "gold" frames.

3.  Never spray paint in sub-zero conditions.  The finish will crackle as it dries.

4.  Oil paint can cover anything and make it look great.  I tried latex paint first.  The finish kept chipping and scratched really easily.  I finally switched to oil paint it finally gave me a nice glossy durable finish.

5.  My husband is a genius with a tape measure.  I never hang pictures in this house because Doug can do it 100 times faster than me and does a way better job.  For this one, he just took a quick glance at the arrangement I had on the floor, asked me where I wanted it on the wall and within a matter of minutes had the wall of frames hung PERFECTLY-- only using his tape measure and some quick math.

6.  Never start to hang a picture wall in your child's room 5 minutes before bedtime.  As fast as Doug is, Emerson was in quite a cranky state by the time we had finished up in her room.

7.  And lastly, never assume that your child will appreciate all the effort you put into her room...

Since I already had the frames this gallery wall was pretty cheap to create.  I paid $4.00 for the butterfly stickers and $7.00 to have the two pictures printed.  Grand total?  $11.00.  Not bad.  I may add more pictures to the wall over time and switch up the art in the frames, but it certainly does the trick for now.

Distracted

I can't stop playing with this app on my phone.  Even the world's worst photographer can take cool pictures with Instagram.  I had fun with my phone while sewing yesterday.  Remember the cheap sheet set that I hacked for Emerson's room?  Well I've left the pillow case and the original fitted sheet intact, but managed to make the crib sheet (see here) and now a couple of throw pillows (my specialty) out of the flat sheet.  With a bit of maneuvering I think I could probably make one more thing out of the leftover fabric... I just can't let it go to waste!


I made the covers to fit the Ikea inserts... my favorites.  But I made the covers fit a bit snugger than the pre-made covers you pick up from Ikea... I don't like mine to be baggy... I like a tight fit!   I also decided to do two new things this time around.  First up, instead of putting in zippers I made envelope pillow covers.  Way easy... especially since I was able to use the edges of the sheets that were already pre-hemmed.


And since this material is pretty lightweight and has the tendency to fray easily I decided to try out the serge stitch option on my new sewing machine.  It worked like a dream...



Eme received her first sewing lesson...


The pillow in her chair looks so fresh and pretty for spring.

I'm getting tempted to put those pillows in my room for a while...

Granny Glam

Phase one of introducing pink to Emerson's room in now complete.

I still have a few more things to add, but I thought I'd give you a quick update!

The Keep Calm poster is in place.  A couple of people have asked where I got it.  I ordered the poster from the KeepCalmPosters shop on Etsy.  There were lots of different colors to choose from-- I went with Raspberry Kisses in the 13x19 size.  I already had a frame for it at home (found in the as is section at Ikea for 10 bucks)-- all I needed was a custom cut matte to fit the poster.  I went to Michaels, and it was going to be $40 to have it cut-- too much in my books.  So I picked up a $10 "cut your own matte", used my 40% coupon, and gave it to Doug to figure out.  He did a fabulous job!  When it came time to hang it up Doug thought that we should put it over the change table... he figured that it would be a good reminder when we're in the midst of tackling a nasty diaper.  But in the end we both agreed that it worked better on this wall.


I picked up this cute little gold number at Home Sense and popped in Emerson's ultrasound picture.


My next project was to DIY a crib sheet.  I feel like I've looked everywhere to find a crib sheet that I like, and I can never find anything.  Last week I was in Zellers and found a twin sheet set in this granny-ish floral print for $19.99.  I thought it was so cute.  I brought it home, cut down the flat sheet, sewed in some elastic around the bottom and made a sheet to fit Emerson's crib.  It was so easy-- why have I not done this yet?!!  I plan to save the  original fitted sheet and pillow case for later when she moves into a real bed.  I figure I have enough fabric left over to make a couple of throw pillows too.  As I was cutting it out I thought to myself, "this room is totally going to be granny glam."  I love it!

That's all I have for now!

I've Got Pink on the Brain

I've been on the hunt for deals lately... specifically pink deals!  As you may recall, we renovated Emerson's room before we knew that she was going to be a she.  I decided to paint the room a beautiful blue-- I still LOVE the blue in there.  It obviously would have worked for a boy's room, but the blue is pretty enough that it looks great for a girl too.  But, I've had pink on the brain lately.   It's probably because pink is quickly becoming a trendy color to decorate with-- it's in the magazines, on the internet, in the stores... and I'm starting to like it.  I've never really been a pink girl.  When I was a kid my Mom painted my room pink-- I covered it in hockey posters-- true story... so I probably wouldn't opt to paint an entire room pink.  But I think it looks fabulous as a accent color.  So over the past few weeks I've been shopping for pink.... here's what I've found!

I may have also bought pink hand towels for my bathroom... :)

Operation "pink-ify" Emerson's room is now underway.  I've got some work to do-- as usual, I have a hard time buying and leaving things "as is"-- it's probably because I can never find exactly what I'm looking for... at a reasonable price (when I say reasonable I mean dirt cheap).  So I've got some sewing, framing, spray painting, and DIY-ing ahead of me this weekend.  Hope this little lady likes it!


As I was looking at this picture of Emerson, I saw this picture of Caleb as a baby.  I usually don't think that Emerson looks like Caleb did as a baby, but this picture is starting to make me think differently...

What a pretty baby boy he was... he's sure gonna love me for that comment one day...

Have a good weekend everyone!