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travel, food, design

a place to play

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The playroom was not originally finished when we built our house three years ago.  It was left unfinished and stuffed to the brim with boxes that we didn’t want to unpack and furniture [that I very much intend to refinish someday] for which we have no place in our house.  I can still picture myself flipping through Pottery Barn Kids catalogs and commenting that it was a REALLY good thing that I didn’t have a playroom to decorate because I wanted everything.
When I returned to work full-time after my second daughter was born, the commutes, the emotional adjustment, the exhaustion, led us into a frenzy of readying the house so that we could sell it and move to a home that would allow me to stop working.  We called our contractor to finish that unfinished space – we needed the square footage to sell.
Then God intervened.  Out of the blue, my husband was offered a local job, and I was able to drop to part-time work, from home.  We didn’t sell the house, but we did have a big, empty, undecorated playroom.  Oh, and no money to buy one of everything from Pottery Barn (or even one of anything, for that matter).  I was lacking inspiration until Lizzy posted pictures of her CHA booth for the debut of her new craft line, dear Lizzy.  I started gathering picture frames and shadow boxes from around the house that weren’t in use.  I picked up a few more at thrift stores.  I painted them a uniform white and filled them with various collages using the dear Lizzy spring line of paper, fabric paper, and embellishments.
I finally got to put together one of those fab butterfly collages seen around the web.
The collage is centered above the kids’ art table in the playroom.  I included a 12×12 piece of thick corkboard, covered with a sheet of the adhesive-backed fabric where the girls can pin up their artwork.
The wall is not done, of course.  I will be adding a chalkboard, maybe a whiteboard, a couple more corkboards.  Who knows – I have a good stash of supplies leftover.  I think it will be cheaper fun to add to the wall when I am coveting something in the latest PBK catalog an idea catches my fancy.
How are you covering your walls?

More Mermaids

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So, the mermaid birthday party thing….it all started when I saw the most adorable mermaid plates and tablecloth in Pottery Barn Kids.  “Hey, Livi, do you want to have a mermaid party this year?”  Of course she did!  Addie was just a couple months old and I knew I didn’t have the time to go all crazy making stuff for the birthday party so I ran back to PBK and grabbed the plates, the tablecloth, and the cutest hanging puffer fish thingee.  Easy, I thought.  She’ll be four, we’ll just have a few kids, I’ll keep it simple.  Surely, though, I could make the invitations, we only need a handful….
Hmmm…what sort of quick and easy decorations should we do?  Wouldn’t it be cute if we had some under-the-sea accents?  So, I found some really cute mermaid/starfish/seahorse cookie cutters here, and I traced them onto cardstock, cut them out, and accented them with a little Stickles.  Easy to do just a few at a time when I could grab a spare minute.  I ended up sticking them all over the windows and the walls.  Then I decided to hole-punch a bunch more and tie them from balloon strings to give the impression that the fish were swimming around the room.  I don’t know if anyone else “got it,” but I LOVED it – and the kids liked to have something to grab onto to drag the balloons all over the house.
Next, we needed activities.  I did a quick search on the internet for “mermaid party game ideas,” and there were SO many ideas.  We ended up doing a treasure hunt (mainly because I found this awesome chest at Joann’s and I wanted an excuse to buy it), sand necklaces, and a fishing game. 
Oh yes, I suppose we should feed the kids….after all, I did buy mermaid plates.  Wouldn’t it be fun to do fishy food?  Goldfish crackers, blue jello with swedish fish on top (don’t put them in it, they’ll melt and look totally disgusting and you’ll have to freak out a little and send your husband to the grocery store in the middle of the night for more blue jello), pb&j sandwiches cut out with your starfish cookie cutters (don’t you love dual purpose purchases), octopus dogs (this was so cool – cut the bottom two thirds of hot dogs into eight “legs”, boil them and they curl and look like octopuses (octopi?)
Dare to ask your daughter if she thinks it would be fun to wear mermaid tails for the birthday party. I don’t know what I was thinking when this came out of my mouth.  It really didn’t take too long to sew mermaid tails – I made eight or so, just quick, not-so-perfect tails, but still…  All the girls wore them for about five minutes of the party (which I totally could have predicted, but I didn’t consider this before I let the idea fall on Livi’s ears).  However, I think that the two or so pictures that I took before the tails came off made it all worthwhile.  I mean, how do you look at Addie’s baby mermaid tail and not smile?
Now, I have to admit that the dessert part is where things got a little out of hand.  But, we really like dessert around here.  And the “cake” is the part that I always do.  For some reason, I can’t let the cake go even though the kids really just want cupcakes.  So, you saw the mermaid cupcakes in my how-to over at Life as Lori.  I love how they turned out. 
And then the actual cake…a sandcastle, a mermaid on a rock, and about 15 hours work worth of making fish from candy molds. 
Anyone know how to photoshop that sippy cup out of the picture??
Dear Olivia… Thank you for letting me get carried away.  I really can’t help myself.  You’re cute.

Easter Mini-Album

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The weather is warming up, the days are getting longer, and the girls are all growing way too fast.  I was looking at the bin of summer clothes for Gracie today and I couldn’t bring myself to get them out.  I feel like I just put them away; it seems like Olivia was just running around in those very clothes.  Time passes too quickly on days like this and I start to panic that I’ve let moments slip by that I won’t remember.  Even through scrapbooking, photographing, and now, bloggging, I often feel like I’m only capturing the tip of the iceberg.

Two Easters ago, Olivia wore one of the outfits that I saw folded in that box this afternoon.  I went into my office and thumbed through the mini-album I created to capture those sweet memories and it just made me smile.  In case you’re looking for a bit of Easter inspiration, I thought I’d share the album.

There is no rhyme or reason to the album.  I used two pieces of 6×6 clear acrylic for the front and back covers.  The rest of the album is just cardstock adhered back to back.  I added in pages in a variety of sizes to include journaling blocks and to highlight favorite photos.  I hole-punched the sides of each sheet and joined the album together with rings embellished with a whole mess of ribbon.
If you’re looking for a way to display your mini-albums, I highly recommend these cheap picture stands.  I think I picked a few up at Michael’s for just a buck or two.  They are subtle and display a little album in any space.
I’m putting this album out with my other Easter decorations – I forgot how much I love it.  I was able to write down the cutest little things from our celebrations that year and document old and new traditions.  When I’m feeling nostalgic about the girls at an earlier age, flipping through these pictures certainly helps.  It’s better than freaking out that they’re growing too fast.  Ali Edwards said something about preserving memories this week – “Whatever you’re doing, it’s good enough.”  I needed to hear that.

File Folder Baby Announcement

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No, I did not have another baby (wink), but I am a believer in making cute and equal keepsakes for all my girls, even if it takes a while.  This announcement for Grace sits on the bookcase in her room and I smile every time I look at it.  It’s busy.  It’s bright.  It has ribbon and chipboard.  What else do you need? 

Instructions: 
1. Cut a 12×12 sheet of solid cardstock into a rectangle or file folder shape measuring 10×7.  Fold in half  and round outer corners so that you have a 5×7 card base.
2.  Cut three 1-inch strips of patterned paper and align diagonally from left bottom to top right on the front of the announcement.
3.  Stamp elephant crowd with brown ink onto solid cardstock and cut out.  Apply to bottom left corner. 
4.  Using six 3-inch pieces of ribbon, fold each piece in half and staple along back flap (this is the file folder label area on my announcement). 
5.  Embellish front with three flower/brad combinations, completed tag, and a small knot of ribbon.
6.  Lay chipboard letter face down on patterned paper and trace.  Cut out letter and glue onto the chipboard.  Sand edges.  Use foam adhesive dots to apply the letter to the front of the announcement.  (The foam adhesive “pops” the letter and gives the piece an extra layer of dimension).

Products used:  cardstock:  hollyhock solid carstock by Close to My Heart, patterned paper:  MME “everyday tango” by Lisa Cohen, ribbon: Designer Ribbon Rounds (hollyhock) by Close to My Heart , tag:  7Gypsies, Stamp:  “Nursery Bash” by Close to My Heart, brads: American Crafts, flowers and chipboard letter: from my stash, staples: office supply (I think it’s funny when magazines list “office supply” for staples…duh)

This post is linked with:
Sumo’s Sweet Stuff: Market Yourself Monday
The Girl Creative: Just Something I Whipped Up

Halloween Countertop Creations

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Olivia spotted a very sparkly, very pricey “haunted house” in a catalog a while back. I pinned up the picture with promises of making one ourselves. After painting a milk carton, a cracker box, and a couple cake boards with not-so-full-coverage paint, the wind blew them off the deck and I ran out and bought myself another birthday present, the Winter Wonderland cartridge for Cricut. Have you seen this thing? It is amazing. Not only does it have a cool font and some fun wintery pictures, but it cuts out the pieces to construct AN ENTIRE VILLAGE. A little black glitter paint, a little orange paper, a couple pre-made accents, and VOILA! we made our own sparkly Halloween village. This was so much fun. The houses I put together in the evening and the girls helped me paint the base board, the fences, and glue on the accents. Fun, easy, and really cool, don’t you think? Now, if only I had the big Cricut . . .

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