Building with Paper Mache

I feel like this blog has become pretty much about holidays, but I don't seem to be all that crafty lately except when I have to be.
This year, my boys decided they wanted a Plants vs. Zombies theme for Halloween. The older two wanted to be plants, and the youngest ended up as the de facto zombie (he likes zombies, it worked well). These are not the sort of costumes one finds at the store...
After much thought on how to build the plant heads (the majority of the costume), I settled on paper mache. I first tried crepe paper, thinking its weight and little bit of stretch would lend itself well to the round shape. I was wrong. It pretty much disintegrated. I moved on to small pieces of construction paper in the desired color. For the paper mache, I mixed about 3 parts glue, 1 part water, and painted both sides of the paper with it as I wrapped it around the balloon. Each head is made of a double layer of paper mache, followed by a round of modge podge to make it shiny and seal it.  I used a regular balloon for the pea shooter, and then created the snout using cardboard with paper mache over it. For the chomper, I used a punch-balloon, since it has a slightly more round shape. The chomper teeth are made from craft foam, and the horns are a triple layer of foam core that is attached with tacky glue. The leaves at the backs of the heads are made with felt.
I cut the neck holes a little snug, then reinforced them with the thicker (3/16") craft foam in a ring around the inside of the collar, and then wrapped them with felt that was glued and modge-podged in place. I figured this would make them sturdy enough to take on and off more than once, and also comfortable enough that they wouldn't bother sensitive necks.
I took some pictures along the journey, in case anyone wants to attempt to recreate these. They were pretty fun, and the kids loved them. They found themselves repeatedly photographed while out trick-or-treating.
The Pea Shooter:

 The Chomper:

 It was really hard to keep the chomper mouth from collapsing. The interior of this one is all sorts of purple duct tape and foam core, cardboard, basically whatever I found hanging around that I could use to support it.

 In the end, these turned out to be remarkably sturdy. They survived repeat use by a 6 and 8 year old. The chomper even survived a fellow kindergartener who decided to beat up on it (punching it several times) while it was on my son's head. These also survived a rain storm while trick-or-treating. So I have serious respect for paper mache and modge podge.
For the rest of the costumes, I painted a stem and leaves on black shirts, and had them wear black pants. Very easy.
As for the zombie, his costume was acquired at thrift stores and a couple pieces I had to purchase new (the tie and blazer). The cone I found at a party supply store. I drilled small holes in it and attached thin elastic.
And here is the finished product:

Budget Boy Fashion

I have perhaps the most pacifist almost-6-yr-old boy on the planet.  He is a very sweet, sensitive boy.  He is definitely all-boy, but not in the craving-violence way (he prefers explosions, science experiments and tornadoes).  He is also incredibly picky about what is on the front of his shirts.  I'm fine with this.  I could go on for a long time about ugly boy fashion and my strong feelings against skulls, skeletons, annoying phrases like "I didn't do it" or "Boys will be boys," etc.  My son is also not the athletic type and has no interest in baseball jerseys, skateboards, snowboards or the related abominable snowmen, dinosaurs, and gorillas wearing sunglasses.  He also has no interest in most of the cartoons that are on the older-boy shirts and finds them scary.  So, when he grew past the toddler sizes, I found that finding clothing for him was really challenging.  Gymboree tends to have tame stuff, but it's expensive.  Their cheaper sister, Crazy 8 is hit-and-miss.  Same respectively with GAP and Old Navy.  I refuse to spend lots of money on summer t-shirts, because they get trashed.  He's young enough that he doesn't always want to wear plain colors or stripes.  It is this never-ending clothing-quandry that sometimes makes me feel sorry for myself that I don't have any girls (although I recognize there are a whole host of other issues with girl-clothing).
After looking around at short-sleeved shirts this spring and not finding much he would wear, I was wandering Target.  I found a bunch of plain T-shirts for $1.78 each.  They were not the most awesome colors, but I was pretty sure I could do something with them.  I asked my son what he might want on his shirts, thinking I would once again pull out the freezer paper and do some DIY silk screening.  He decided on a hedgehog (he has a mild obsession with them), a hippo with a bird on his back (this relates to an ongoing bedtime story his daddy tells), and he wanted a porcupine for the last one.  I couldn't quite find a suitable porcupine on a google search that I could turn into a simple profile, so I decided to blow him away with  something I knew he would like: a Mythbusters shirt. 
I cut out the profiles and he got to choose the paint colors.  The whole project took me a couple of hours.  Now he has three unique shirts that he loves.  I used paint I already had.  The whole project cost me less than $6 for three shirts - which is less than the cost of one ugly shirt he wouldn't have been thrilled with anyway.  Go me!
Here they are:

 

Beautifying for Fall

I have ignored this blog for a very long time.  Why?  Mostly because I am completely sucked in to watching West Wing on Amazon Prime and I have to stream it through my computer, so it is unavailable for anything else.  Lame, perhaps, but that is mostly the reason.  Well, that and the fact that school started and now I spend most of my week being a taxi driver and by the time I am finally home for the day, the last thing I feel like doing is...anything.  I will probably back-date a few posts, though, so go ahead and scroll down if you wish.
And now, for the highlights of this year's Fall decor.  I found this idea on pinterest and LOVE the results.  It is just a bunch of cardstock bats that I cut with a template and then attached to the wall with that gummy wall adhesive. I like them so much, I am considering making more for another wall.

I love festive garlands.  Felt is such a great medium for holiday decor because it is cheap and easy to work with.  It also lasts for more than one season.  I was thinking about how to incorporate some Fall leaves into my living room and I came up with an idea to make a garland of leaves. 

• I chose a bunch of appropriate colors of felt. 
• Then I made a template of two different sizes of maple leaves out of cookie cutters traced onto cardstock.
• Then I cut out equal numbers of large and small leaves.
• I sewed the large leaves together with a simple stitch about 1/4 of the way down from the stem (through the widest part of the leaf). 
• I sewed a ribbon loop onto each end.
• Using fabric glue, I glued the smaller leaf over the large leaf to give the garland depth and to hide the stitch.

I chose to create a random-colored garland.  If you are in need of strict order, I'm sure a pattern would look equally nice.  I just liked the diversity because it reminds me of how leaves change and fall from the trees this time of year.  It is never in a very uniform way.  In fact, we live on a wonderful tree-lined street.  Our particular place is on a long-block (equivalent to three city blocks with no breaks) and every tree is the same except for a single Thundercloud Cherry.  I hate that kind of tree.  Its leaves are this ominous dark purple/black.  Alas, diversity.  I was thinking today how it gives the street character.

 And one last thing related to Fall...I LOVE this candle.  It has a nice, spicy pumpkin smell.  Brought to you by Bath & Body Works.

 



Belated Mother's Day Gift

I saw this idea on pinterest and immediately knew it was perfect for my mom.  My mom loves strawberries, sewing and has dreams of opening a tea-party-cottage someday.
What is this made out of?  A teacup, a fat-quarter, an egg-shaped piece of styrofoam and a little bit of piping. 

Banners or Bunting?

I'm not really sure what these pendant-thingies are called, so we'll call it a banner.  Anyway.  I had a bunch of brightly colored felt hanging around from some flowers I neglected to make and I decided to make a "Welcome Spring" banner.  This is another very easy craft that anyone can do if you have a bunch of felt, a rotary cutter, some double-fold bias tape and can sew in a straight line.  It's also an honest-to-goodness CHEAP craft.  You could do this one for about $6 or less.  Here's what you do:
~~Cut your triangles out.  Mine are 5" wide at the top, 6" long at the point.  (I wanted a banner that was big enough to go over my ugly blinds.  Seriously.  Why hasn't somebody come  up with a more attractive solution to sliding-glass-door covering?)  Keep in mind that bias tape usually comes in 3 yard lengths so if you want a banner that is longer, you'll have to piece together a second length of bias tape.
~~You can either purchase sticky-back felt letters or make your own.  I couldn't find 2" ones, so I made my own.  To do that go on the computer, find a font you like, type out all the letters you want and size them to whatever makes sense and print them out and use them as stencils on the back of a sheet of sticky-back felt (making sure to trace them backwards so the fuzzy side is right-side up).  It's not as terrible as it sounds.
~~Even though the letters are on sticky-back felt, you absolutely need to use fabric adhesive as well.
~~After the glue has dried, sew the pendants into the fold of the bias tape with a straight stitch.  You could also embellish with rick-rack, ribbon, etc.  The nice thing about the bias tape is that it is automatically folded under and finished on both sides.
I liked this so much, I made a Happy Birthday banner too!  The possibilities are endless and these are sturdy and store nice and flat.  Banners for every holiday!

Break Out the Glue Gun

Last year, due to attending multiple Easter egg hunts as well as receiving more than one Easter basket, the boys were swimming in plastic Easter eggs.  It felt like a complete waste to throw them all away after Easter was over, but the thought of them continuing to take over our living area was not an option either.  So, I decided to be good and pack them all away in a bag for next year.  All year long they have been driving me nuts in the closet - always in the way.  So many times I have almost tossed them.  Last week I decided to pull them out and see if I could make a wreath out of them - upcycling is in, right?  We live in a building with an indoor hallway and I love being able to hang festive things on the door for holidays.  I thought I had everything I needed on hand.  I had a 12" wire wreath frame that I had purchased for a project I never made, a bag full of plastic eggs and a glue gun.  I started tying the eggs onto the wreath before I pulled out the glue gun.  I mainly wanted to see how many eggs it would take, how to place them, etc. I only wanted to use the regular-sized plastic eggs with the little hinges.  It became apparent that 1) I didn't have enough eggs and 2) I would probably need to use at least two sizes to cover up the wire frame sufficiently without a lot of gaps.  I ended up having to go out and buy MORE eggs!  Lots more!  I am pretty sure this wreath required close to 100 eggs!  There are about 6 dozen regular-sized plastic eggs and about 3 dozen of the mini-sized eggs.  Another tip I can pass along is to make sure to use the cool setting on the glue gun (no, I didn't have any disasters, I figured this out before I began glueing).  The bows are attached with hidden twist-ties.

In the end, it was a very easy project and it turned out to be pretty cute.  We'll see if I get to my next Easter-decor project.  I'm thinking my sewing-bug may be coming back.  I made a pair of fleece pants for my older son yesterday and the ease of making them has me considering making a bunch of fun shorts for my boys this year (since they are so skinny, most store-bought clothing requires alteration anyway).  A pair of cute fleece lounge pants in half-an-hour from start to finish?  This definitely requires more practice.

Busy Pinning

Right before Christmas, I finally did it: I joined pinterest.  I wasn't really resisting for any other reason besides lack of time.  Once my projects were done, I decided to check it out.  I've had a lot of fun having a place to store all the neat things I come across in my online-wandering.  I have found some great recipes, stored some beautiful architecture and I even found a great idea for my son's valentines (stay tuned).  It has also inspired me to keep making the homemade holiday decor.  I found a great tutorial for making a Valentine's Day garland that looked easy enough and so I made it!  I wonder where people come up with these ideas originally, I certainly never would have thought of sewing a felt-sleeve so that it could be cut into a heart.  HERE is the original tutorial.  I made mine slightly different, since making yarn-balls seemed not only cheaper, but easier than the felted balls (?) that are shown in the tutorial (although of course I found a tutorial for making those as well, the materials were somewhat spendy and this is just holiday decor after all).  I also made mine quite a bit bigger than the original.  My hearts are made from 7" strips of felt.  The yarn balls were made using 1.25" and 1.5" styrofoam balls.  I love it!  It is so cheerful during this dark, dreary time of the year!  I can't wait to see what I find for Easter.  I'm sure my husband is just oh-so excited too.  He loves it when I announce that I am off to JoAnn's.
(Every time I photograph anything related to our windows I think I should have put curtains up 5+ years ago when we moved in, but since we rent, at this point it seems far too late for that kind of effort,  hence my need for holiday garland of all kind.)

So now you can:  !  Happy pinning!

Blossoms o' felt

Awhile ago, I randomly came across THIS wreath and fell in love with it.  It was the inspiration behind the pom-pom wreaths I made, but the whole time I was making those, I was very much wanting to make this one.  I've been curious about making those felt flowers for quite some time. 
I decided I wanted to make a sort of neutral front-door-wreath to put up when it was time to take down the Christmas wreath.  I wanted to make a smallish one, but they only had 12" circles at the craft store, so I had to go big.
I decided to go with a rusty-color of yarn.  I used Vanna's Choice - isn't it hilarious that Vanna is the new face of yarn???  If that doesn't make all of us feel old, I don't know what does.  Anyway, it is incredibly soft and I loved working with it while I wrapped that styrofoam for two whole hours.
The felt flowers turned out to be pretty easy to make.  I used fabric adhesive instead of a hot glue gun (I hate hot glue guns).
I love how it turned out.  In fact, I love it so much, I went and bought a bunch of nicer wool felt to make more flowers.  I have no idea what I'm going to do with more flowers, but I love them lots and lots.

Bestowing the gift of the Pom-Pom

Another of my Christmas crafts!  The thing that got me in a crafty mood this season was a friend mentioning this wonderful contraption called a Pom-Pom maker.  I had no idea such a thing existed and she described it as such an easy thing - it was a Martha Stewart craft after all! - I immediately started thinking of all these things I could do with home-made pom-poms.  I had to go out and get one.  I am not alone, we have become like pom-pom evangelists!  Here's a demo on Youtube.

I bought both packages so that I would have four sizes.  I can make very large pom-poms (I think close to a three-inch diameter) to very small ones (just a little over an inch).  I think I have made at least a hundred.  So, for the first time, I have entered the world of yarn.  It is an addicting place and while a skein of yarn is not too expensive, when you need to buy many to complete a project, there have been times that I have wished I never embarked on this journey of fluffy cuteness.  If I wasn't such an impatient person with a bit of nagging carpel-tunnel from years of computer modeling, I might consider taking up some sort of knitting or crochet.  Anyway, I was pretty ambitious with this project and I have gifted pom-poms upon many of my friends and family (and my son's teachers).  I bought the local JoAnn's entire supply of Avocado Wool Ease yarn (a truly wonderful color if I do say so myself).

This is a simple craft only in that it doesn't require a sewing machine or any glue.  It is, however, quite time-consuming since you have to very carefully wrap yarn around a foam floral wreath.  It takes about 1/3 of a skein to make it all the way around an 8" wreath.  Then the yarn is just discretely tied on the back.  The pom-poms are tied with the same color of yarn as the wreath and also discretely tied in back. 
Most of the wreaths I made were 8" but I made a couple for myself that are 10" to hang on some of our interior doors.  The one pictured is 10".  I actually think the smaller ones are a little cuter, but I've given all of those away.
I absolutely love these and once I get over how tired of yarn I currently am, I plan to make some that would work for other seasons.  I imagine that a rich, rusty orange or a nice eggplant would look great also.
Helpful tip: My one caution with pom-pom making is this: particularly with larger pom-poms, you need to use thicker, fluffier yarn.  The cheap-o Heart-brand stuff makes them look sort of spikey and sparse.

Bedtime Festivity

Showing off the first of my Christmas crafts!  For some of the important kids in my life (including my own), I decided to make festive pillowcases in nice warm flannel.  For my nieces, I included a copy of one of my favorite Christmas books - Mary Engelbreit's version of The Night Before Christmas.  I like it because it is very detailed and completely jolly!  I had them open their gifts before Christmas so they could enjoy them for a couple of weeks, so I am now free to show them off without spoiling any surprises. 

Pillowcases are a great sewing project for someone who is perhaps less confident with sewing skills.  The cool thing about making a standard pillowcase is that it takes exactly one yard of 45" wide fabric.  No waste!  (Well, except for trimming edges to straighten them.)  It's just a bunch of straight stitching, folding over twice, more straight stitching - all you have to do is pull a pillowcase out of the linen closet and take a look at how it's put together and you are on your way. 
I love the rick-rack embellishment on these (and it hides the stitch underneath). 
I loved making them so much (I made 8 total) that I bought some more non-holiday flannel to make a couple more for my boys for the new year.  My sister claims that there is no such thing as a half-hour craft, but I am here to tell you, if you have washed and pressed flannel, this takes slightly less than 30 minutes, start-to-finish.  Wahoo!  Need a gift from the heart but it's taken you a long time to decide what to make?  This is for you!
Stay tuned for another one of my projects coming very soon (I need to photograph them before I give them all away).

Building a Train

This year for Halloween, my four-year-old decided he wanted to be a train.  Not an engineer.  A train.  And not just any train, certainly not Thomas, he wanted to be a Union Pacific Diesel Engine.  Due to the fickle nature of four-year-olds, I began asking him about his Halloween preferences back in August, just to make sure he was truly set on what he wanted to be.  He has never wavered.  So, after wracking my brain for a good month, I set to work collecting supplies and inventing this thing.  In all my online research, I couldn't find a single other person who's created something like this.  How can that be?  Maybe the little man is a bit more unique than we already thought?  I decided to create the base of the train using foam core.  Foam core is light, fairly easy to cut through and a bit pricey but not as pricey as other options out there.  It is also sturdy and easy to cover with a variety of materials.  I pretty much just sat down on the floor in my living room one night, put on a movie and started cutting foam core and shaping this thing.  My main source of inspiration was his little toy U.P. engine sitting next to me on his train table. 
I needed to make sure this is fairly weather-proof, so covering the foam core was my biggest hurdle to overcome.  I didn't want to use paper or paint because I didn't do a super-awesome job creating that under-structure as you can see and I didn't want it to get all bubbly or melt in the rain.  I decided, after much internal debate and facebook crowd-sourcing, to decoupage canvas.  Why canvas?  Because it was the only reasonably priced fabric I could find in that accurate color of mustard that U.P. engines are painted.  It turned out to be a pretty great medium for the modge podge.  I hid the fabric-color-change-seams with red grossgrain ribbon "stripes."  I used some shiny vinyl for the windows and felt for most of the other details.  I am very proud of free-hand-cutting the logos and all the letters.  My husband and grandpa both asked me where I bought the U.P. logos!  The lights are some wooden disks that I painted.  The wheels are ribbon spools painted black.  The whole thing is held together with a whole lot of packing tape, tacky glue and modge podge but it is amazingly sturdy.  The straps are made out of woven nylon strapping and I attached them to the train with glue, tape AND brads (it would be tragic if it fell apart mid-festivities and he's got to wear it a few times).
I'm pretty impressed with the outcome.  The little man loves it and whenever his little brother sees it, he points to it, giggles and says "toot-toot!"
Since I way over-bought fabric, I'll be making a matching treat bag too.  Anybody out there need about a yard of mustard-colored duck canvas???

Side-note about the picture.  I took him down to the industrial part of South Seattle (SODO) where they happen to park a whole bunch of Union Pacific engines (I chanced upon this street making a wrong turn a few months ago).  I knew today would be my only shot to get down there for these pictures.  Union Pacifics don't travel north of the industrial area south of Seattle and starting Friday night, one of our main North/South roads will close for 9 days straight making me not want to go south during that time if I can at all help it. While I was posing my son safely away from the tracks and out of the street, a woman in a van pulled up.  I was sure she was going to tell me I was on private property and needed to leave, but instead she told me that she works for Union Pacific, thought this was the cutest thing ever and desperately wanted to take his picture too.  She asked me if she could post it on facebook since she was friends with a bunch of the engineers.  I gave her my blessing, she snapped the picture and off she went telling me we'd be fine as long as we stayed off the tracks.  I later kicked myself for not giving her my contact information...The little man could use a U.P. contact, don't you think?  So, if there's a photo of him circulating around facebook (not mine) and you happen to see it, send it back to me! 

Boys' Room: the Bookcase

I finished it.  The bookcase.  The last project I had planned for the room that would tie it all together.  It was quite a journey and it took me almost a week.  There were a lot of tense moments where I was wondering if I would have to scrap the bookcase and just go buy a new one.  I really didn't want to do that.  Not only did I not want to spend the money, but this bookcase has sentimental value to me.  It was mine when I was a kid and it has followed me through life (except for a stint it did in my sister's room).
The reason I wanted to paint it is that the boys' room has very dark wood in it and it was a honey-oak color.  It really stood out in the room in a mismatching sort of way.  About a year ago, I made a deal with myself about furniture.  I was done buying anything that was good-enough-for-now-basic-boring-conservative.  I am an architect and I have opinions about design.  So, I bought some crazy scandinavian-mod dining chairs.  I'll get back to my ideas about design and the related constraints in the post about the boys' room as a whole.  For now, I will leave it just by saying that my new found deal caused me to go bold with the bookcase: apple green.  I LOVE this color.  When I brought home the paint and opened it up (way back in May, I think it was) I knew I had to do this project, scary or not.  I waited all summer.  I was nervous.  I didn't want to destroy the bookcase and I had never attempted anything like this before.
Well, a couple things happened.  I was inspired by a friend's post about finishing her kids' room AND I realized that I had about one week left of warm/dry summer weather before the rains come.  I don't have a garage or a basement, so I was going to have to do this project outside on the deck (6'x8') and I needed good weather.  It was now or never. 
So last Tuesday night, I took a deep breath and began.  I put down the primer.  It of course looked terrible.  On the sides of the bookcase, I decided to use magnetic primer.  If you've never used it before, just note that while it says 3 layers should work, plan for at least 5.  Just the magnetic primer took me the better part of two evenings.  Coat after coat after coat - testing after each.  I knew it had to be strong because I was going to paint over it.  Have I mentioned that magnetic primer is nasty, stinky, awful stuff?  It is.
On Thursday night, I laid down my first layer of green paint.  DISASTER.  Wow.  I was worried.  The vertical surfaces had dripped downward and dried with lots of gloppy streaks.  Thankfully I started on the inside of the bookcase so this was not the end of the world.  I learned from this that when painting furniture, paint only horizontal surfaces.  This meant the whole thing would go a lot slower, but it was worth it.  The other thing I learned on green paint day #1 was that foam brushes are the worst possible tool to paint with.  I couldn't get an even or smooth coat no matter what I did.  I also realized I was going to run out of paint long before I was done.  So, on Friday the boys and I headed back to Home Depot for another quart and some better painting implements.  I then took Friday night off after talking to a furniture-painting-expert-friend who reassured me that I was doing okay and of course it would take more than one coat.  On Saturday I got to work once again after some sanding and using my new smooth, small roller.  Wow!  What a difference!  I was reinvigorated.  I felt like I could do it.  I could finish this.  And I did.  Today, the following Monday, I carried it back into the boys' room.
It's not perfect - far from it.  I learned a lot in the process, though, and I know that if I ever tackle this kind of project again, I'll be able to do a much better job.  I love how the green bookcase looks in the room!  It really does tie the whole thing together.
Here's a "before" shot that I took almost 2 years ago when the room was overflowing with stuff after we moved Austin in with Nathan:

Here's the "after" shot from today:

And, hey, the magnetic primer actually works!  It's great!  It has breathed new life into the gears toy - the kids love it!

Boys' Room: the Drapes

My do-it-yourself experiences working on this room have been varied, but more often than not, I would not hesitate to use the word "disaster" when describing the difference between the vision in my head and what actually happened.  Thankfully the drapes look awesome, BUT they did not come without their challenges.  Here's the story of how they came to be:
The baby-theme to this room was nautical, a sort of navy blue/light blue/white sailboat thing.  I loved it.  When we moved on to big-boy-land, and the black/white thing came to be, I knew the navy blue drapes had to go.  I didn't really want to spend a fortune on new drapes, but I am not a huge fan of the cheapy standard-style drapes out there in stores like Target.  I really wanted drapes with grommets, but I couldn't find black ones anywhere.  In the end, the $12.99 pricetag for black black-out curtains won me over and I figured for that price, I could embellish.  If you have kids, you NEED black-out curtains - take my word for it.  It buys you hours and hours of extra sleep for a small price.  Anyway, these standard curtains were the kind that sort of gather as the rod goes through them.  They were supposedly the same length as the drapes that were already hanging in their room. 
I went to the fabric store and picked up some fairly standard canvas fabric in both bright blue and lime green for quite the deal and grabbed some white grossgrain ribbon for a little something extra.  I sewed stripes on the drape panels and then covered the seam where the blue and green meet with a stripe of white ribbon.  I was IN LOVE, the whole thing took me about 3 hours and I could not wait to hang them.  The next morning, I went to hang the first panel and realized they were too short!  No!  I would not fail.  I loved them too much.  So I wracked my brain for a solution.  Sew an extra panel on the bottom maybe?  Then I had it: sew tabs on the tops!  I liked that style of curtain better anyway!  The thought of sewing the tabs (sleeve-style) did not excite me but I had the great idea to get some wide black grossgrain ribbon and use that.  It turned out to be a brilliant $3.49 fix.  In one hour I was able to sew 8 tabs on each curtain (that was how many I could get out of the spool of ribbon I bought) which was the perfect amount, I hung the curtains and voila! Perfect look, perfect length.

I like how the curtains tie the colors of the room together a little bit more.  We are getting closer...I only have one more project to do: paint the little bookcase green.  I have saved this for last because I am the most nervous about the outcome.  Stay tuned...I'm not sure how long it will take me...

Baby Feet

Another one of my little projects for the boys' room.  I scanned their newborn footprints and framed them with a poem.  I love looking at those tiny feet on the wall now and it always takes me back for a second or two to when each of them were brand-new.

Here's the poem:

I wish that I could show you
all the things that I have seen.
I wish that I could take you
everywhere that I have been.
I wish that I could indicate
the places where I fell,
And keep you, thus, from tripping
on those “rougher” spots as well.
I wish that I could do all this
and save you from the strife.
But I know that I’d be sparing you
the lessons of your life.
And you must learn those lessons
as hard as that may be,
Just know that you will always have
a helping hand from me.
- Jessica Wesolek

Birth Date Art

I know, I've taken a long hiatus. I think I needed a break.

Since I last posted, my younger son has made the leap to a big-boy bed causing me to *need* to redecorate the boys' room. I've decided to make this a labor of love and create some stuff that I really love, and hopefully the boys will be fond of when they are old enough to enjoy them.
I got the idea for these off of a baby room tour on ohdeedoh and decided to create something similar for the boys. I am really proud of the results and I can't wait to hang them up. The picture doesn't really convey the colors very well, but you can get the idea.  Since they share a room, I am trying to find ways of celebrating their uniqueness while creating a cohesive feeling in the room. I wanted to document a few of our initial impressions of our baby boys when they entered the world. I have also framed their newborn footprints. I'm a little sentimental when it comes to my babies. After all, they are growing up TOO fast.
I have chosen a palate of black/white with blue and lime green. Blue because the beds came in blue - couldn't control that. Lime green because my older son LOVES green. Black/white because it seems like the best color choices to accent the brighter blue and green. I am one who loves navy blue/light blue combos in boys' rooms but since my son loves green, I decided to branch out a bit. I think this will work well. Bold and modern and fun.
Next up: my first foray into painting furniture and embellishing drapes. I also plan to make my own chalkboard using a frame I tried to spray paint VERY unsuccessfully. I figure with enough primer, I'll be fine. Wish me luck.
This room has been percolating in my mind for quite awhile and I am so excited to see it begin to come together! I decided awhile ago that it was time to embark upon projects to improve our living space. I have been working hard at purging to declutter, changing out artwork, improving our toy-storage situation, adding a couple of new house plants, etc. I am loving the small changes.
I can't guarantee to return to this blog as regularly as I have in the past (for awhile anyway), but I am going to try to document the transformation of the boys' room from baby to little boy.

Boys cook too

My oldest son is a complete and total train-fanatic. Occasionally, though, he enjoys cooking. In an effort to build other interests, we got him a play kitchen for his birthday (we got it a few weeks early). He hasn't been too into it yet, but I think it's because he is lacking proper tools. So, for his birthday, I decided he needed a little-boy-apron. These are a little hard to come by, so I made my own. I saw this great idea on this fabulous blog called I Am Momma Hear Me Roar (SERIOUSLY, if you have some time, check out this awesome blog - the woman is amazing and posts some crafty thing EVERY DAY) and decided to create my own spin (I thought the fork looked a little too tough to actually sew around so I left it off). I bought a cheap kid's apron at JoAnn's and then embellished it. The entire project took me exactly a half hour and cost me $4 (I used scrap pieces of fabric that I had at home). The best part is, it does not look girly in any way! I love it when I am crafty AND thrifty all at the same time.