Holy Cookies Batman!

If you have ever deflected bullets with your wrist bands, or flown in an invisible airplane you will love today's post. If you have ever told your child that they are "faster than a speeding bullet" or heard the ever familiar "pshew pshew" accompanied by the even more familiar wrist shooting action... then you will love this post.
Are your spidey senses tingling?

How about your sweet tooth?

Check out the fabulous cookies my friend Kim made for her friends sons birthday... 

What a lucky kid! Aren't these fantastic? Great job Kim, thanks for letting me share these with my readers.

Bright shiney day.

I hope you all had a lovely weekend. I didn't get to any cute crafts over the weekend - what a shame!

But I did get the first layer of primer up on those darn red walls in the soon-to-be craft room. That was exciting. I'm so glad I took the advice of the paint guy and had the primer tinted to the exact shade of the paint... it looks like that is going to make a big difference in how many coats of paint it will take to cover that original red.

Of course being the over thinking, over extending, scatter brain that I am, I am already thinking about my next project.

The humongous armoire I just purchased from kijiji is soon to find it's home in my bedroom. My tiny bedroom. By the way have you noticed I preface all my rooms with the word "tiny"... maybe I should switch to "cozy" or "quaint"... maybe I can't do that yet because after jamming in a queen size bed and two narrow end tables I already feel like I am tripping over furniture?

Anyhow today finds me scouring the internet looking for inspiration, and also proof that, yes indeed we need to paint the crappy laminate and the yellow oak doors on that armoire. Yes we do. When you have a smallish room I think the last thing you want is a giant piece of furniture staring at you. Make it mellow, paint it white.

This room is pretty much the size of my actual room... I would have to stand in my closet to take this picture... "cozy".  But there isn't any visual clutter and yet the room is very decorated. But that armoire is just sitting quietly in the corner minding it's own business. Just the way I like it. This room might be a little too bling for me, but it is so calm it's a contender for the "see honey! painted armoire!" file.

Via Style at Home



Feeling tropical?

(by Kelly)

A few weeks ago I went to a luau party with some girlfriends.  It was a great way to take our minds off of the cold with some laughter & relaxation.  Who can let the -30 windchill get them down when you are surrounded by good friends?  I HIGHLY suggest throwing a tropical party in the middle of winter.  A perfect escape. 

This also was a great excuse to sport my pink peacock caftan.  Not enough reasons in this world to wear it.  My good friend Linsdey and I say we are going to grow old together, wear caftans and drink wine.  Until then, my caftan makes rare appearances at theme-parties. 

I needed a Lei to complete my ensemble for the evening.  I ran to the local party supply store and oh my...was I disappointed.  Not only was everything junk, but it was way over-priced.  Even the expensive ones were not what I was looking for.  Sure, I could have walked out with one and called it a day, but that's just not how I roll.  I knew I could do better.  My caftan deserved something pretty.  So...

Off to the craft store.  I knew I could create the look I had floating around in my head.  I browsed the fake flower section and found the perfect colors.  Everything was 40% off, I picked two bunches of flowers and spent less than $5.  I went home to create.

Here are my pieces...



I started to pull the flowers off the stems to lay them out in the order I was seeing in my head. 



I used Illusion Cord to string through the center of the flowers, but you could use any string (I would double it, personally) or a thin elastic would work too. 



This took like 10 minutes.  If that. 

Done!



I even had enough left over for a bracelet and a cute little flower for my hair...



So, don't get taken by the ones at the party store.  If you have a few minutes & some string, you can make your own.  For far less money and you can create the exact look you are going for. 

I had so much fun at the party that I forgot to take pictures of the completed look.  Oh well.  I will gladly leave you with a picture of my kids from our little get-away I mentioned in my last blog.  See how sunny and tropical it is up here?  See how much my boys like to look at the camera?  Ha!  Thanks for stopping by!  Enjoy!

What started it all...

I'm sure that somehow the tripping over wrapping paper tubes was what spurred on the whole red room to craft room redo.

So I am just giving you a glimpse into the red room... a sliver of progress... something to prove there IS actually things being done.

This is the closet (which is slowly becoming decrapified).

Now look a little bit closer...

There is all that offending wrapping paper! I finally came up with a system that will work for me. I need to SEE what I have, so poking it under the bed is no option or  I just assume I have none, and keep buying more. So I quickly rigged up a way to hang the rolls neatly and it didn't involve a drill, or dowels. No sir...  meet my seriously unfancy wrapping paper hangers:

That's it! I just screwed the cup hooks into a piece of trim that holds up that top shelf, one on each side trying to keep each set relatively parallel. Then I cut the twine to string across. I left extra twine so I could tie it into loops at either end and that way I could easily remove the twine and take out which ever wrapping paper tube I needed.
Easy peasy folks. Being cheap can sometimes result in the easiest solution... for once!

Here's a sneak peak of what is to come:

That is my $5 sewing table. I am just thinking over some finishing touches and hopefully it will be ready to show you in a couple days!

WORDS with Friends...

Kelly here...I'm back!  Thanks, Amy.  Slowly digging out from the snow and cold in MinneSNOWta.  The kids are on spring break this week and the fam is taking a little road trip to visit one of my favorite places to get some R&R.  But, enough about me.  That's not what you're here for. 

Okay, more about me...I love decorating with words & letters.  My last name starts with an "E" so if you come to my house you get to spot all sorts of random "E's" in various locations.  Very fitting that Amy shared this pretty link from The Black Chandelier with me a few months ago.

Ten blocks...60 words!  So cute!   How fun are her music notes? 

I had some girlfriends who also showed interest in this little project so we are having a girls night with blocks...aaaaannnnd probably some wine...but, mainly blocks.  I decided before the few of us dive into this little experiment I should give it a whirl first.  Nothing like telling everyone to come on over and then spending the night with the blind leading the blind.  Just kidding.  My friends are smart.

The basics for this project are: A piece of wood (I used a 2x2"), Modge Podge, sponge brush, decorative paper, solid paper or stickers (for letters) and sandpaper. 



I had everything else, I just had to buy the wood...a whopping $3 at the Home Depot AND the piece I got was long enough to cut like 60 blocks.  Wood overload.  I am assuming craft stores carry blocks.  I'm also assuming my super long piece of wood was cheaper than pre-cut blocks.  Thankfully, I have a very nice father-in-law that was willing to cut everything for me...because I don't do saws.

PSA: MEASURE THE SIDES OF YOUR WOOD TO MAKE SURE YOU ARE CUTTING EVEN LITTLE BLOCKS.  Turns out, I am not well-versed in wood and the basics of wood cutting & measuring.  I will leave it at that.

After my 11 blocks were cut (I cut an extra in case I happened to mess something up) I did a quick sanding on the edges.  These are going to be covered with paper & depending on how clean your cut is, you might not even need to sand.  Your call.

I cut the paper to fit the size of the blocks.  So, because I had 10 blocks with 6 sides, I had to cut 60 little squares.  I cut a little more just in case.  I used a very pretty Damask pattern I had laying around that was begging to be used on a project in my home. 

I used Modge Podge to adhere the paper onto the blocks.  I did have to do a little trimming here and there.  No big deal.  For the most part, everything fit.  Pretty, huh??





Let's talk letters.  I cut mine on my Cricut using the SchoolBook cartridge.  I was able to cut all the required letters from one 12x12" piece of paper.  I played around with sizing a little bit in order to get my letters to fit perfectly. Make sure you pick a color for the letters that will really stand out against your background paper.  You can also use stickers, rub-on letters, or even stamps...whatever you think you have the patience for.  The letters go in this order so you can get the maximum number of words: 

Block One: H Y E D
Block Two: A C R S
Block Three: R P E T
Block Four: V N L O
Block Five: E O M D

Block Six: S M K I
Block Seven: T F B W
Block Eight: U A G L
Block Nine: P J I H
Block Ten: F P S C

Then, I used Modge Podge again to stick all the little letters onto the blocks...


The color for the letters turned out to be a little too bold for me.  I used some brown eyeshadow (yes, eyeshadow) to darken them a bit and make them look a little more distressed.  I was too scared to try paint and I didn't have the right color chalk.  You just never know when all that eyeshadow will come in handy. 

I then did a couple more coats of Modge Podge and let everything dry overnight. 



I put them on my wine rack...



You can spell:  Harvest, Welcome, Faith, Family, Spooky, Friends, Winter, Freedom, Bless, Snow, Home, Hope, Monster, Mother, Dream, Easter, Lucky, Love, Santa, Glory, Romance, Pumpkin, Frosty, School, Autumn, Spring, Summer, Father, Fall, Happy, Merry, Fairy, Fairies, Jolly, Flower, Wishes, America, Birthday, Flake, Hearts, Christ, Jesus, Bloom, Flag, Irish, Sun, Swim, Pool, Ghost(s), Witch(es), Vampire, Fright, Thanks, Leaf, Treats, Turkey, Jewels, Cuddle, Party, Heart, Smile, Wonder...and MUCH MORE! 

My kiddos already played with their names. 

I also played around with what I could do...



Don't worry, in the end I stuck with the "SMILE" layout. 

So, there you have it.  Pretty simple.  I am really looking forward to trying this project again with friends & making a night of it.  I hope you have as much fun creating this as I did. Be creative with your sizing and letters!  As always...Enjoy!!

Mellow yellow

I successfully decrapified my soon to be craft room... totally liberating! I am kind of shocked to report that there wasn't much to get rid of, only mountains to organize. So this week I have a little wrapping paper storage shelf to share. I'm also going to show you how I intend to store all my tools, scissors, markers, glue... it seems to me that I suffer from wandering tool syndrome (because of crafting all over the house) so hopefully this fancy system helps.

I also made my way to the big orange box and bought some paint... so while I don't have a big reveal on the room yet (because I spent the weekend sanding, priming, and painting furniture) I do have a palate to share!




Paint swatches via: http://www.myperfectcolor.com/ / Fabric swatches via: http://www.tonicliving.com/

 



Anyhow the wall color is the lovely yellow (jonquil by Behr), the grey is going on most of the furniture (french silver, Behr) and the coral is just for fun (called Japanese coral on the card, cannot find it online! Behr). I'm liking that grey swirly pattered fabric for the curtains.
I'm having trouble deciding which floral fabric I like for the chair... I'm leaning towards the one closest to the bottom. Opinions?
I hope you guys enjoyed your weekend, whether it was productive or relaxing!

By the way, my favourite guest blogger has something up her sleeve for you guys as well. My buddy Kelly, she is so darn crafty... you'll love it!

 







Today is Pancake Day!

We've done this in my house growing up since I can remember and I love doing it now for my family. Pancake night is a big deal - pancakes for supper? You cannot get more fun than syrup on the table at supper time.

My mom used to carry on a tradition from her mom, and I don't know where it goes from there - but she would hide money, her wedding ring, other random things in the pancakes - and based on what you found it was like a fortune to determine who you would marry, or what you were going to be when you grow up. Crazy choking hazard, but it was so fun as a little girl to find them. It probably comes from the charm cakes from Victorian days - I can't find any other information online about anyone else doing this.

Anyhow to amp up the fun factor in my house I just add chocolate chips.  However over the weekend I had delish pancakes that were topped with sliced banana and toasted pecans... now that was yummy!

Via Wikipedia

I Survived!

Do you guys remember I was telling you about the pit of neglect, aka "The Red Room"?

Well! After almost having a nervy B trying to find my spools of thread, and bits of cut fabric for my quilt and tripping over dinosaurs and castles (The red room had a brief stint as a playroom once... brief... like 2 weeks... then it was obvious I couldn't fit my kid, his friend and all his crap in the room...) I threw my hands in the air. I stomped out of the room, stepping on a lego and tripping over a tube of wrapping paper in the process... I realized I was done with the uselessness of The Red Room...

So I weighed my options...

Via Wikipedia

Via Free Stock Photos

... and decided on Thursday (after still no luck finding the quilt) to just take the day off and use my impromptu 4-day weekend to clean it out. Luckily I got the clutter busted out quickly, then spent the next day organizing my craft supplies... I feel like I am in the home stretch and I still have 2 pieces of furniture to paint - oh and the room. But! I can now find my quilt pieces, I could easily grab a gift bag, tissue paper and a card for the birthday party my son attended without swearing, and I can see that I have about 6 bottles of white paint...

I can't wait to show you how this will turn out!

Oh yeah, not a single pic of it to share today... my camera is missing. Ha. Go figure.

But check out this beauty I have my eye on!

Hopefully everything works out and I can get it from the seller this week. I'm thinking I have the perfect spot for this in the dining room! (White... with green interior? maybe?)