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Quiet Book

2012-03-06T00:08:00.003-07:00

I have always wanted to make a quiet book. For a long time, I had different ideas going through my head and tried to picture the way that I wanted to do it. Before I actually started I was able to look around at some of the others that had already been made for other great ideas. It took a long time to figure out the logistics and a long time to put it all together. It was worth it though. I like the way that it turned out, and it has definitely been a good church activity for a little girl.

I used canvas for the pages. I cut rectangles out of a canvas drop cloth the size that I wanted the pages to be plus a 1/2 seam allowance on each side. I actually drew the seam allowance lines on so that I knew where to end what I was putting on the pages. I ended up using a combination of paint, felt, and foam to create each page, and then used both magnets and velcro to attach the pieces. When I finished the individual pages, I decided which order I wanted them in and laid them all out. I took the page that I wanted to be the first one, and sewed it right side together with the second page leaving the side open that would be binded to the book. I then sewed page 3 to page 4, etc. I then turned them right side out and used a 2" piece of felt to finish the raw edges. I placed 3 grommets in the overhang of the felt and used 3" binder rings to attach all of the pages together.

Page 1: As you can see is still not quite finished. (a year plus later) I still plan on adding some leaves for fall, and a tent and a campfire for summer. The season names are attached with magnets so they can be taken off and on.

Pages 2 & 3: A barn with finger puppet animals and a duck pond. I got the barn and finger puppet patterns from Homemade by Jill. They are free on her blog. I traced them onto my canvas with a pencil and then painted in the lines. I used felt for the barn doors, the pocket for the animals, and the animals. I also got the idea for the duck pond from her blog, but made up my own pattern for that. I planned on adding some more details to the pond, but haven't yet.

Pages 4 & 5: Mr. and Mrs. Potato Head. I used foam sheets to cut out all of the pieces for this page. I originally used magnets to put the pieces on, but they didn't stick very well to the foam so I added velcro instead. For these patterns, I just found an image of the actual toy online, scaled it to be the size that I wanted, printed it out, and cut out all of the pieces to trace onto my foam.

Pages 6 & 7: Color wheel and crayon box. I wanted a fun way to practice learning colors, so on one side I painted a color wheel and on the other I made a crayon box to hold the different color crayons. She can pull them out of the box and match them to the corresponding color on the wheel.

Pages 8 & 9: Doll and wardrobe. For these pages, I made up the patterns myself. I put a foam doll on the one page. She has fun curly fleece hair, and magnets to attach her clothes. The other page is a wardrobe with a pocket and doors to keep her clothes. I have been lazy on this page too though, and have still never made the shoes, soccer shorts, or any other clothes.

Pages 10 & 11: House and tree. I thought that it might be fun to have a house with windows and a door that opened up to pictures of my little girl, our family, and her grandparents. I drew the house on, painted it, and then sewed on felt shutters and a door so that they would open, then I sewed a small pieced of clear plastic into each opening to create a pocket so that I could slide the pictures in. The tree pattern and apples are from Homemade by Jill.

Page 12: Noah's Ark. I drew and painted the ark on, and then sewed a brown felt piece on to create a pocket for all of the animals to fit in. For the animal patterns, I found images that I liked online, printed them, and cut out the pieces to trace onto felt. I then used felt glue to piece them together.

Page 13: Under the Sea. This page was cooler in my head. It did not turn out like I wanted it to. I wanted it to be more of an "Eye Spy" type of page, but ended up with a clear bag full of sea animals that is too thick to stick on the page. She does have fun playing with and naming the animals though.

Pages 14 and 15: Shape page. For these pages, I wanted to help my little girl learn her shapes, so on the one side I painted the shapes on, and on the other page the shapes are part of a bigger shape. She can pull the shapes out and match them up on the other side.

Pages 16 and 17: Driving map. I thought that it might be fun to create a little city with roads for her to drive toy cars on. This is another one that I just kind of made up the pattern as I went, drawing it on with pencil first and then painting in the details. On the right side I sewed in some felt pockets for her to keep her cars in.

Page 18: Lady bug counting. On this page, I painted two lady bugs on leaves. I put velcro on their spots, and then cut out foam circles to put on the velcro. I put vinyl numbers on each of the circles, so that she could learn her numbers as she pulled them off and on.

That's it. That's my quiet book. In the past 14 months, it has helped us make it through many church meetings, and it has been great to have. I don't know that I am ambitious enough to make more quiet books in the future for other children, but the pages are removable so that they can be shared.

Here are a few links that I found helpful for ideas:

Homemade by Jill
Oopsey Daisy

-Mandi

Linking to: Creative Itch.

Grandma Ruby Hall's Famous Noodles

2012-03-04T19:09:00.000-07:00

I love soup. And by far my favorite part of soups are the noodles. A couple of years ago my Grandma Hall gave all of the girl cousins a index box full of family recipes with some information about different relatives on the back of each card. It has been such a fun present to use. A couple of months ago I decided to try making Grandma Ruby's noodles for some chicken noodle soup. They turned out really good and are super easy to make so I decided to share the recipe. I normally double the recipe when I make it because noodles are the best part of the soup, but here is the original recipe:

1 beaten egg
A little salt (I usually do two pinches)
1/2 eggshell twice full of milk or water (3Tbs)
A pinch of baking powder
Enough flour to make a soft dough (about 1 3/4c)

I normally mix the dough by hand gradually kneading in the flour.

The dough should be soft not sticky.

Roll out the noodle dough to desired thickness (about 1/8")

Cut the dough desired width (I usually do mine about 1/4")

A pizza cutter works great for cutting noodles.

Place noodles on dish towel or on cooling racks to allow them to dry for several hours
(If there is not time for them to dry they can be thrown into soup doughy. The noodles will just have a texture similar to dumplings.)

The noodles before they dried.

Noodles after they dried for a a few hours.

After noodles are dried throw them into boiling soup and cook until tender. I prefer to cook mine separate and then add them to the soup. They don't take too long to cook, anywhere from five to ten minutes. They will grow a bit bigger when they are cooked.

Cooked noodles

This time around I made a vegetable beef soup to put the noodles in and it turned out great.

Enjoy!

-Nicole

March Photo of the Day- Dust off those cameras!

2012-03-01T21:33:00.003-07:00

So doing the February photo of the day challenge from Instagram made me realize what a slacker I am. I've used my camera phone 28 of the last 29 days in February, number of days I used my 7D- six. And I call myself a photographer!

Three summers ago I spent a month in Scotland on a study abroad for photography. I learned the basics in Scotland and dedicated myself to learning how to really shoot ever since. But lately my photography has been neglected because Hipstamatic and Instagram are just too darn convenient.

Standing stones on the Orkney Islands in Scotland, they are older than stonehenge. The one time in my life I've ever gotten up at four in the morning to take a photo :)

So for March, I am upping the ante. I am taking actual photographs with an actual camera each day of the month. (I know, it's a crazy plan.)

I have come up with my own March Photo of the Day Challenge. I chose a theme for the day rather than something incredibly specific, so get creative and build those photography muscles.

Use Instagram or your phone if that works best for you, but I'd like to encourage everyone to dust off their cameras and put away the smart phones for a couple minutes each day. Your camera misses you!

Feel free share any suggestions or links to your pics. I'll make sure and share mine too. I might even get ambitious when I edit and create some Photoshop actions to share. Happy shooting!

-Michelle

How to Save Overbaked Cupcakes

2012-02-29T23:11:00.001-07:00

Borrowing some inspiration from Pinterest and my need to branch out and make some friends in my neighborhood, I decided to host a soup exchange night. I like entertaining and have fun planning the menu, getting the house ready, etc. For soup night, the menu included Zuppa Toscana (recipe from here), salad, bread, and cupcakes for dessert. My day went fairly smoothly, my girls cooperated and I felt like I was making good time accomplishing what I wanted to. Then, I pulled the cupcakes out of the oven. I could tell within 30 seconds of pulling them out that they were about 3-4 minute too well done. The perfectionist in me was ready to dump them in the garbage can right away and start over again. Especially with guests coming over I didn't want to serve them dry cake. I racked by brain trying to think of what I could do to salvage them.

Thank goodness, I had an epiphany. I had a vision of making Skor cupcakes, a variation of Skor cake which involves baking a cake, cutting it into cubes, and layering it with pudding, whipped cream, and Skor bits. I figured that the same thing could probably be accomplished in individual servings with cupcakes instead which would add some much needed moisture to my too dry cupcakes. I cut each cupcake in half and put the bottoms into little white mugs that I have. I then layered chocolate pudding, whipped cream and Skor bits on top of that. Then I put the tops back on and repeated all of the layers again.

They actually turned out pretty cute, and they tasted good too. Dessert saved, and problem solved.

The whole night went really well. I provided dinner for everyone, and then each person brought their own soup in individual servings so that we could exchange them. We had a good variety of soups: taco soup, chicken and vegetable soup, creamy tomato basil, and a white bean chili. Thanks to Michelle for driving through a snowstorm to come support me and hang out. We had a good time talking, laughing, eating, and now we all have lunch for the rest of the week.

-Mandi

Double Crochet Beanie

2012-02-27T15:38:00.000-07:00

I decided it was time to post a pattern. The pattern I decided on is for a super easy double crocheted hat. I use this beanie as a basis for a lot of my animal hats. The pattern should make a hat to fit a two year old. This is my first pattern so if there is any confusion please comment.

Gauge: 4 Dc =11/2"
Hook Size: H/8-5.00mm
Medium Worsted Yarn #4

Abbreviations:
Ch-Chain
Slst-Slip Stitch
Dc-Double Crochet
Rnd-Round
St-Stitch
*Repeat pattern until end of round*

To start hat:
-Chain 5, Slst in 1st chain to join. (will form a ring) Ch 3

Rnd 1
-11 Dc in center of ring, Slst in top of 3rd Ch to join. Ch 3 and turn

This is the very top of the hat. The next few rounds will be widening the hat.

Rnd 2
-2 Dc in next St from Ch. *Repeat until end of the rnd.* 1 Dc in last st. Slst in top of 3rd Ch to join. Ch 3 (24St, 2 1/2")

Rnd 3
-*1 Dc in next St next to Ch, 2 Dc in next St, 1 Dc in next St.* 1 Dc in last St. Slst in top of 3rd Ch to join. Ch 3 (34 St, 3 1/2")

Rnd 4
-Repeat last rnd. (50 st, 5")

Rnd 5
-*1 Dc in next 5 St from Ch, 2 Dc in next St, 1 Dc in next 5 St.* 1 Dc in last St. Slst in top of 3rd Ch to join. Ch 3 (58 st, 5 3/4")

At this point the beanie will resemble a plate. Don't worry the next rounds it will start to work its way down.

Rnd 6

-1 Dc in St next to Ch. 1 Dc in each remaining St until end of rnd. Slst in top of 3rd Ch to join. Ch 3

By doing just 1 Dc in each stitch the hat should no longer get bigger. It should just go straight down.

Rnd 7-12

-Repeat last rnd to finish hat.

To finish hat:

-At the end of rnd 12 slst to 3rd Ch. Pull yarn through until there is a loop about 4" long. Cut yarn at top of loop and pull yarn still connected to the skein out of loop. Take the loose end attached to the hat and tie a knot in it as close to the hat as possible. Then take the yarn and weave it back through the hat.

Finished hat

As I said before this is the base for my animal beanies. These hats are cute alone or things can be added to them.

My black bear and dog.

-Nicole

Let It Be- a DIY guide to failing every now and again

2012-02-25T17:32:00.005-07:00

I came across a Woody Allen quote once and it has stuck with me.

"If you're not failing every now and again, it's a sign you're not doing anything very innovative."

Well on my last project "innovation" was my middle name, because it was definitely a swing and a miss. Let me start at the beginning...

Last summer Ben and I were on vacation at his uncle's summer home. We were in one of the local shops and found a window for sale that had been salvaged from an old barn. So we bought it for $20 and took it home with visions of a glorious DIY project dancing in our heads.

Now last month I found that old window (I'm a procrastinator, remember?) and painted the frame a lovely pea green color (I know what you are thinking, but the color of the frame is NOT where this project went awry).

Armed with confidence from the successful paint job, I boldly charged on to step 2. Throwing caution to the wind I decided to try something new...unique...creative even. And that my friends, is where our tragedy begins.

It all began, with 3 little words- LET IT BE.

I know it seems innocent enough. But those three words were my downfall with this project. There just so happened to be 3 panes in this window, so of course I thought I'd get fancy and use some vinyl lettering as stencils, stick one of the words Let it Be in each panel, paint the negative spaces with some acrylic paint, and BAM! A DIY project worthy of the Hall of Fame.

Let's just say reality didn't even come close. From the color palette I mixed up to the method of painting, it was a disaster. In my mind I'd pictured something unique, simple and cool. But the end product was a horrible camouflage type look that even the bravest of hunters wouldn't touch with a 10ft pole.

(At first, I was going to go for a solid striped look with the paint, but after the first brush stroke the artist in me thought, "Hmmm, uniformity is boring, I'll just let the colors blend." FYI- Sometimes boring is better.)

Well, let's just say there was a clean up on aisle innovation. It took me three quarters of a bottle of fingernail polish remover and about a gazillion paper towels, but I am now back to a blank canvas on my DIY Hall of Fame project.

And guess what? Before there was Woody Allen there was Thomas Edison, and it took him 1,000 tries before he invented the light bulb.

He said, "Many of life's failures are people who did not realize how close they were to success when they gave up."

So I suppose I can't throw in the towel just yet. Maybe the Hall of Fame is still within reach. Stay tuned for take 2.

-Michelle

Toddler Closet Organization

2012-02-23T17:31:00.000-07:00

Like many of you, I sometimes have a love/hate relationship with Pinterest. I love the inspiration and the good ideas that can come from it, but sometimes it makes me jealous of all of the gorgeous, well-organized homes that are out there. I pinned a few really nice children's closets to my pinboard, and I'll admit that I was feeling some closet envy. I wanted to come up with a cute way to keep Johana's closet organized, but didn't have money to buy cute containers or extravagant shelving systems. One thing that we seem to have an excess of is cardboard boxes. Between shopping at Costco and ordering things from Amazon I feel like I am always breaking down boxes for the recycle bin. There have been a few tutorials popping up here and there for covering diaper boxes in fabric to make them more attractive, which I considered, but I still didn't want to spend the money it would take to buy the fabric.

My more frugal solution was to cover the boxes in paper. Around Christmas, I bought a roll of shiny white newsprint from a local newspaper office. I paid $5 for it, and I don't know how much was on it, but it was enough to wrap all of my Christmas presents and to cover 8 boxes and counting. I just measured the sides of the boxes, used my rotary cutter and cutting mat to cut rectangles that were 2 inches wider and longer than the box sides, and glued them on with spray adhesive. I pretty much wrapped them like a present, except that I used separate pieces of paper instead of just one.

To add some visual interest, I used scrapbook paper so cover the sides leaving a few inches of the white showing at the top. I bought a pack of patterned paper with a 40% off coupon, and since it was 12x12 sheets, I cut it into 6 inch strips. I used the same spray adhesive to attach the scrapbook paper, and on some of the long sides had to piece it together. You can only tell if you look really closely though. I was out of Modge Podge when I made all of these boxes, but I think that I will go over the scrapbook paper with Modge Podge to make it a little bit more durable.

To get more vertical storage, I wanted to do shelves. I considered doing something built-in, but since the plan is to eventually move baby sister in here someday and our storage needs may change, I opted to use the $15 Wal-Mart bookshelves instead. The blue baskets came from Dollar Tree and help to keep the smaller toys somewhat sorted. Cleaning up with a two-year old is easier when you can just throw everything in a basket, hence the stacking crates. Most of her toys are just thrown in there to make clean up easier.

I added some labels so that I actually knew what was in the boxes, and there you have my closet makeover. I like it enough that I will probably do something similar in the closet in my nursery next week.

-Mandi

Linking to:

Fireplace Makeover

2012-02-22T16:07:00.000-07:00

About a year and a half ago we bought our first home. It is an older home and needed some updating. We started out gung-ho painting the whole upstairs, ripping up all the carpet, and some of the flooring in the kitchen. After all of that, the fireplace was next on the list.

I had an idea of what I wanted but it lacked details. I looked at some images of fireplaces online and Mandi emailed me some links to blogs that she liked. From the links I found the details I needed. The inspiration came from Theletteredcottage. Her blog has awesome step by step instructions of their fireplace makeover. Now that I had an example it was time to set the makeover in motion and get my husband for assistance (aka tell him what I wanted and set him to work).

First we took out the front glass cover and the fake logs.

Then I painted the inside of the fireplace.

Then my husband started the design process. We used flat wood boards for the backing and 1 x 2's to make the squares. We used liquid nails for the backing boards and a nail gun to attach the boards for the squares.

Next, we put a 1 x 12 all the way across to make the top. Then we bought a 6 ft piece of crown molding and used that as our mantle section above the actual fireplace. We also used a small piece of decorative trim to cover the outside edge of the top board.Then we added book shelves to each side.

The bottom bench part of the fireplace was the trickiest. We had to encase the old brick and stone step. So we ended up cutting strips of wood and doing a kind of paneling pattern.

This is the finished product. Turns out that designing as we went worked best for us. We really enjoy it. It makes our front room more cozy, and yes that is a plant in my fireplace. Even though it turned out great, there are some things we would do differently.

Things we would do differently...

Caulk before we painted.
Apply some type of sealant or finish at the very end.
Use fire retardant paint when painting the inside of the fireplace.

-Jackie

Linking to:

DIY Custom Rubik's Cube

2012-02-21T17:20:00.000-07:00

My husband has wanted a custom Rubik's Cube for quite a while now. I thought about using vinyl and using en exacto knife to cut through the pieces so that they would fit on the individual squares. Then, I found custom sticker sets on the Rubik's cube website. They are pretty reasonably priced, around $6 for a kit that will make 10 customized cubes. From reading on the website, it sounded like there was a bit of a learning curve for getting the stickers to print correctly, so I thought that it might be easier to just print my own pictures on sticker paper that I already had.

I was able to download a template from the Rubik's cube website, which is a Microsoft Word document. I tried bringing the photos that I wanted directly into Word, but it was too frustrating for me to size the pictures the way I wanted to, so I saved the template as a PDF and opened it in Photoshop instead. I chose the six pictures that I wanted, cropped them to about 2.2"x2.2", and laid them across the template. There was enough space to do six more underneath, but since I only needed enough for one cube, I just left it blank.

This is what the template looked like with the pictures in it:

I saved it as a jpeg, and printed it, making sure to choose the "Fit to page" option. I used Avery sticker paper like this:

And then I used my paper cutter to cut the pictures into the individual squares. Each time I cut a square, I laid it out where it would go so that I could keep track of all the little pieces. Then, I individually stuck each little square sticker to the corresponding square on the Rubik's Cube. I actually had an old cube on hand that the original stickers had come off. (Thanks, Justin!) This part did get a little tedious, but the whole project from start to finish didn't take more than an hour. The stickers stuck surprisingly well. I don't think that they will last forever, but I figure maybe in another couple of years I can re-customize it for him with some new pictures.

Of course I didn't get pictures of all of the sides before it was scrambled, but here a couple more scrambled pictures of the other sides:

I think that Jared has had fun trying to solve this. It is a little bit more challenging than a solid color Rubik's cube, so I am excited for him to be able to put it back together.

-Mandi

Puffy Snowmen

2012-02-20T09:00:00.000-07:00

I was looking on Pinterest for a fun art project to do with myson’s first grade class when I came across a post for a puffy snowman from Alisonat Oopsey Daisy who got it from Jadi at Homemaking Fun who saw it on Krafty Kid. Where, or if, it was posted before that I have no idea but this was just what I was lookingfor.

My Samples

First I have to say that a project with both shaving creamand white glue is a recipe for trouble in a class with 21 first graders. When Idiscussed this with the teacher, Mrs S, I came with a tamer neater “Plan B project “ also as a backup. Mrs S. is great though and she was all for these snowmen.

This is how we did this project...

First, before class, I cut black hats and orange triangles from paper scraps and strips from leftover fleece scraps. I tied a knot and cut fringe in one end of each strip. This didn't take long since 4-5 of each were cut at a time.

The snow was made with equal parts of shaving cream and white glue. Hint: To judge what equal is, use a container you can see through... like a clear plastic cup, a glass mixing bowl, etc. For the class I used empty ice cream buckets. This makes it easier to see how much space the glue takes and double that for the shaving cream. Not an exact science but it worked. Fold the shaving cream into the glue.

In class the kids creased the hats between the top and the brim to give them more dimension.

They twisted the orange triangles into "carrots" and cut or tore paper for eyes, buttons and other parts.

Then came time to play in the snow. First they used a scrap paper and had fun with the texture and feel of glue and shaving cream mix.

Then each of them were given a piece of blue mat board so they could create their snowmen. These were scraps leftover from mats cut for paintings. Most frame shops have lots of mat scraps that they usually just throw away.

Here are some of their wonderful creations...

-Joanne

Master Bathroom

2012-02-18T15:40:00.002-07:00

In college, I shared a room with Michelle. For two years, we lived in an apartment that had a bathroom in our bedroom. It was so nice and so convenient to have a bathroom to ourselves. That was the one and only time I actually had anything close to a master bathroom. So, when we looked at our house for the first time, the fact that there was a master bathroom was a big plus for me. It didn't even matter that it was hardly bigger than a closet. It had all the essential parts, and with some updating, I knew we would love having it. As the rest of the house was getting de-wallpapered, the master bathroom did too. We found out that the sink was leaky and that the toilet didn't work very well, and so then the bathroom sat and sat. After living in our home for a few months, I realized that it would take a little bit more than some new paint to fix up our master bathroom. Here are some of the major issues that I had with the bathroom:

1. The bathroom felt dated with the wallpaper, color scheme, etc.
2. There was a window to the main bathroom.
3. The shower was claustrophobic. It was almost completely closed in and was dark.
4. The shower-head was about a foot too low.
5. The shower-head was not centered, so you had to hug the wall to be able to use it.
6. The linoleum was stained and peeling.
7. There was not enough light or storage in the bathroom.

One night in October of 2010, I decided to start demo in the shower. I didn't really have a plan, but it felt good to be doing something. I also found a vanity that I liked in the online classified for a good price, so I bought it even though it would be a while before we were ready for it. In January 2011 we decided to use our tax refund to have someone come in to rebuild the shower and fill in the window between the two bathrooms. After we had that done, we now had: more lighting, an exhaust fan, a solid wall without a window, and a lighter prettier shower. At this point, the bathroom sat again for a long time. I got motivated to patch the walls and do some painting in the summer, but then it sat again. In October, my dad came over and helped Jared tile the floor. In January of this year, we bought a new toilet and as amateurs, 8 wax rings later, we finally got it installed. Then, last week we found out that some frieds were going to stay with us, and we had the extra push to finally finish the bathroom. I found a sink faucet that I liked, and after a few hours longer than Jared would have liked, and 3 trips to Lowe's later, we had a leak-free new sink with running water.

So, last Saturday marked the first day in the 20 months that we have lived in our house, that we were officially able to use our first ever master bathroom. It has been so great! No more having to keep the door closed to cover a major eyesore and no more having to shower downstairs. It is so nice to have another room updated, and I think that it looks great. My husband is awesome. He did most of the demo, tiled his first floor, and installed his first toilet and sink. Here is the almost finished room:

Now we have a white subway tile shower with a new centered shower-head and faucet handle.

Even though it is hard to tell from these pictures, the walls are actually gray. I like the look of stenciled walls, but opted for vinyl instead because it was less time consuming and is easier to change.

We have a new dual flush toilet. I left the cupboard doors off for open shelving.

We no longer have a vanity floating around from room to room, but it is actually in its final resting place providing valuable storage and counter space.

Again with storage in this room at a premium, my easy solution for updating the medicine cabinet was to cover it in a solid piece of white vinyl. It provided a new easy-to-clean surface, and was much easier than trying to paint it. I also put the gray vinyl pattern over the top for a decorative touch.

No more linoleum! I love the way the floor turned out. It is light, but has gray in it so that it matches the walls and the vanity.

We still need to put a few light switch plates on, hang the door, and finish up a few minor odds and ends. It is fully functioning and useable, and so nice to have.

And here is one more picture for the side by side comparison:

-Mandi

Grandpa

2012-02-16T16:39:00.000-07:00

It's crazy that sometimes even when you know that something is going to happen, that it needs to happen, it still makes it hard when it actually does happen. My grandpa has been living in a care center for the past 18 months battling Alzheimer's. It has been hard for all of us to see him like that, not really being able to communicate or really knowing what is going on. It has been hard for us to see our Grandma not wanting to leave his side, missing him, and wanting to see him have some recollection of his life and memories. Last week he caught pneumonia and my grandmother knew that he probably wouldn't have much longer to live. So, we have all been prepared for this and have known that it was coming, but when I got the call that he had passed away Monday morning, it still didn't make it a lot easier to take.

I am glad that I had the opportunity to grow up knowing my grandpa. I so many good memories of him and the time that we were able to spend together. He was a great man who loved his family. He always treated Grandma with respect and showed all of us through his example how to be a good person. I am so glad for the man that he raised my dad to be, and in turn for how that influenced how I was able to be raised.

He has left quite a legacy: six children, twenty-eight grandchildren, and thirteen great-grandchildren. Grandpas was a teacher for many years and instilled the importance of education in all of us. In his family there are 27 Bachelor's degrees and counting, 6 Master's degrees, and 2 almost PHD's. Members of his family speak German, Japanese, Italian, Portuguese, Spanish, French, Marshallese, Albanian, and American Sign Language.

Thinking about my grandpa this week and his life, has made me step back and think about my own life; both the things that I want to change and the things that I need to keep doing. I hope that someday I will be able to leave a legacy for my family like he has. He was just a week shy of his 83rd birthday, and from my perspective, it seems like they were 83 years well lived. He loved hunting, fishing, and being outdoors. He loved fixing things, computers, and reading. He was great at quietly teaching his family the things that he believed in.

I am thankful that Grandpa is no longer suffering, that is now in a place where he can actually know what is going on and remember things about his family and about his life. I am thankful for the knowledge that I have that even though his life on earth is over, that his life really isn't over and that we will all be able to be with him again someday. So, Grandpa, thank you for everything that you taught me, and thank you for always making me feel loved and important. We all love you and will miss you until we can see you again someday.

-Mandi

February Photo of the Day- Instagram Style

2012-02-15T21:40:00.003-07:00

My name is Michelle and I'm a procrastinator (I think I heard somewhere that acceptance is the first step, or is it denial?). I never seem to finish anything unless there is a deadline. Not just any deadline, a big fat ominous deadline looming on the horizon. The nearly there, fast approaching horizon.

So the fact that I started a February photo of the day challenge BEFORE the end of the month is a sure-fire sign that I am heading in the right direction and on the road to recovery. It doesn't matter that I missed the first seven days of the month (I started on February 8th) I started BEFORE February 29 and that my friends, is a big deal.

I stumbled upon this little gem and decided to take the Instagram photo of the day challenge.

You might notice that the day I started, February 8th, the theme of the day was "sun." I don't know if was an omen or just coincidence, but there was no sun to be found all day long. The only glimpse was when it was setting and I just so happened to capture it as I drove by the railroad tracks. The hobo was a perfect touch and completely unplanned.

Day 8- Sun

Day 9- Front Door

Another day 9er and not part of the challenge, but the best fortune I've ever had. The tear makes it a little hard to read. It says, "A spontaneous picnic in the near future will be beneficial to you." Who wouldn't want that?

Day 10- Self Portrait

Day 11- Makes Me Happy

And it was also around day 11, that I got sick. That did NOT make me happy.

Day 12- Inside My Closet

Day 13- Something Blue
In loving memory of Grandpa Ray.

Day 14- Heart

So fellow procrastinators, it is not too late! (Like I needed to tell you that, it's never too late for a procrastinator.) Jump on board the Instagram photo challenge and finish out the month strong! Remember the journey to change begins with a single step, or the last half of a month-long photo of the day challenge.

-Michelle

Neighborly Love

2012-02-14T21:34:00.000-07:00

This year for Valentines I decided to be a good neighbor and pass out some treats. I didn't want to do anything too complicated but also wanted to try something creative. I came to the conclusion that cakes balls would do the trick.

I started out by making two different cake mixes, chocolate and vanilla. I let the cakes completely cool and then destroyed them with a fork; didn't want to dirty another dish so I did the destroying right in the pan.

After the cakes were a crumbly mess I added about 3/4 of a can of canned frosting to each cake and mixed it into the crumbs. There should be enough frosting in the crumbs to easily form a ball. Being the type of person that I am I like to do things myself and I really wanted to make my own frosting. However I have heard that the balls don't turn out as well with homemade frosting; hence the canned frosting.

After the balls were formed I let them sit in the fridge over night. The next day I melted both white and milk chocolate on the stove. I put the balls directly into the melted chocolate in the pan, stirred them around with a spoon until they were covered, and then placed them on a pan to cool. After ruining some chocolate I learned that the chocolate should not be heated up too much or it will dry out. It's better to completely remove it from the heat when it is almost all melted. While some of the balls were still wet I added some fun Valentine sprinkles. Others I let cool completely and then drizzled the opposite chocolate on top.

The whole time I was dipping the balls in the chocolate I was worried about it being too thick. But after they cooled and I tried one I found it was delicious a little thicker and my worry was for naught.

This is the finished product. I dropped plates off to a few friends and satisfied my desire to spread some Valentine cheer.

Happy Valentines Day!

-Nicole

Closet Reading Nook

2012-02-13T10:34:00.002-07:00

Our third bedroom upstairs waited longer than almost any of the other rooms to be redone. I knew that it would become a "big girl" room for Johana as soon as we had another baby. So, last year when I found out that I was pregnant, I became excited to start planning the makeover. Pinterest was great for ideas and I had a lot of fun with the whole process. The room had two closets, and the main one was big enough that I didn't think that we needed to use them both for storage. Since my little girl LOVES books, I wanted to turn it into some type of a reading nook for her, but wasn't sure if I should or not. Then after I saw what Thrifty Decor Chick did with a closet turned reading nook in her home, I knew that it would be fairly easy and would probably be a fun addition to the room. Below is a picture of what the room looked like when we first came to look at our house.

As you can see, this closet was just an ordinary closet with shelves for storage. All it took was removing two shelves, securing the bottom shelf with support brackets to turn it into a bench, some paint, some sewing, and ta-da, we had a reading nook.

I made the cushion and the two pink pillows. It was my first time making a seat cushion, so it hangs over the bench just slightly. It works though. I even made my own piping so that it would match the fabric. I used this tutorial for the pillows, which were super easy to make.

The top two shelves are to keep books and decorations.

There was already a light with a pull string in the nook, the string just needed to be replaced, and a cover for the bulb. I found a candle holder at Ross for $11, that became a mini chandelier with some hooks and a chain to hang it.

I also added a small ceiling medallion to cover a small hole that was up there. I like the little bit of visual interest that it adds, plus it matches the bigger ceiling medallion that we used on the main light in her room.

It is a fun place for a toddler to climb up and play. She loves pulling the string to turn the light off and on, and calls it her, "special reading place." She has also been excited to show people her sparkly light. I am happy with the way that it turned out, but still find myself tweaking it here and there.

-Mandi

Linking to Sarahndipities and Blue Cricket Designs and Thrifty Decor Chick.

Free Love Coupon Printable for Vday

2012-02-11T01:37:00.001-07:00

Most of the time, I labor to find the perfect title for anything I do. (I think I'll drive Ben crazy when it comes to naming our kids.) So it's been a bit of a downer to name these blog posts. I don't like having to be so darn predictable and informative. Any title worth its salt keeps a little mystery, leaves a little to the imagination, and all that kinda stuff. But in the blog world you've got to actually tell people what you're post is about in the title, go figure. I guess I've got a lot to learn.

Now that I've got that off my chest. I'll deliver the goods the matter of fact title promises; a DIY Valentine Coupon Book project for you.

This little gem of a project was inspired by Pinterest. Several months ago, I pinned a cool little valentine coupon book, thinking (as most people do) "someday I might use this" and then promptly forgot about it.

Well last week, I started thinking about Vday and vaguely remembered a love coupon book I once might have pinned. So I dug up the pin and followed the link to the Spotted Sparrow website. I quickly realized this was not a DIY printable, but a cool ready-made product. A cool ready-made product priced in Euros that my pitiful American Dollars are powerless against.

So I did what any normal human being would do, I made my own coupon templates in photoshop.

You might notice in the pic below that I didn't keep the orange border.
I decided to buy quality paper and let that show through as the border.

Next, I went to the local University's Art Store to buy some Stratmore paper and cut it down to 8.5"x11" paper that would fit in a standard printer.

The cover is just the top row on the template.
Make sure and CUT THAT OFF FIRST, because it should stay in ONE PIECE

Now, I don't actually own a color printer, so I had to mooch off my Mom's generosity and her color printer to print them. I didn't do any calibration or fancy pant color matching. I just hit print and her little Kodak printer actually did a pretty stellar job.

I also helped myself to my Mom's paper cutter to cut straight lines through the paper and keep the tickets a uniform size. She happened to have a perforated blade for her cutter so I ran that down the inside edge of each ticket before I cut them apart (I was stoked that she had this, it makes my ticket book more realistic because the tickets can actually tear out).

After the tickets were all cut, they were about 1/4" thick stacked together, so on my cover piece in the middle I made two folds 1/4" apart to create a jacket cover for the tickets.

Side Note: I DO NOT HAVE MAN HANDS. They were kind enough to drill the holes for me.

The Art Department at my school is super talented and I am their number one groupie. I always head down there with questions and borrow their equipment. We used their drill press to put two holes in the coupon book so that I could put a single stitch in to bind it together.

You can see the holes a little better in this pic.

After the holes were drilled, I used a quilting needle (I also had to use some pliers to help pull it through) and some embroidery thread doubled up to stitch it together. I did not knot my thread so I left a little tail, but I started on the backside of one hole and then looped through each hole twice. I ended in the hole opposite the one I started and then just tied a square knot with the two ends to finish it off.

I was pretty stoked about the final project. It looked really professional and I liked it much better than the ones I pinned on Pinterest.

I included my template for the coupon book. So any of you can give it a whirl and make your own coupon book too.

Download

Hope everyone has a great Vday and that your sweeties enjoy their coupon book.

-Michelle

Linking to Skip to My Lou and Sarahndipities.

My Beanie Experiment

2012-02-08T09:00:00.000-07:00

I love to wear beanies. In winter time, they are a constant accessory to my outfits. A couple of years ago I decided I was done spending money on beanies and undertook the task of teaching myself how to crochet.

As many hours of frustration and unpickingpassed I graduated from a holey scarf, to a whole scarf. More time passed and Ibecame quite proficient at chemo style beanies. Over time I became boredwith the chemo beanies and decided to branch out.

I had seen lots of cute frog beanies online and thought it would be a fun thing to figure out how to make. This hat is actually my second successful frog. My first beanie was a much darker green and did not have another color around the bottom. I think it looks much better with a lighter green color for the hat and with a contrasting color bordering the bottom. This pattern is a super simple one. The hat is just your basic chemo style beanie with flaps added on after. Both of which I used a double crochet stitch for. For the green part of the eyes I just made a circle with about nine stitches and then continued out from that circle to form a "tube" like shape. Then for the white part I made a smaller "tube" shape and sewed it into the green.

This hat came about by accident. I had some left over yarn and decided to try to make a shell stitched hat. As I was going along I noticed that the it kept getting bigger and bigger instead of forming the sides of a hat. So I decided to use a single crotchet stitch and bring in the sides so it could be used as a hat, not a hot pad. The hat turned out better than I thought it would. However, next time I would not bring in the bottom part of the hat so much because when it is on a baby's head it looks too puffy for my taste. This has was also a super simple hat. I did four double crochets in every fourth stitch. Then just converted to a single crochet, skipping a stitch every now and a again to bring it in to the current size.

It has been so much fun creating my own beanies. I hope to have some patterns and more hats available soon.

-Nicole

Mandi

2012-02-07T10:36:00.002-07:00

Hi, I am Mandi. I have been a part of the blogging world forthe past 3 or 4 years as a silent observer. I never quite felt up to thechallenge of trying to manage my own blog, but enjoyed seeing the great things that everyoneelse was doing. Then, around the New Year, I decided that I was ready. I wasready to have a place to share what I create, what inspires me, and what I havelearned over the past few years.

I am blessed to be married to an amazing guy who seems toget me most of the time, and is patient with all of my crazy ideas and constant projects. We are continually learning and growing together as wejourney through parenthood, homeownership, and life. I am also blessed to havetwo beautiful daughters who make my life both a lot crazier and a lot morerewarding than I ever could have imagined. Here are my two little ones:

I am a pretty motivated person. I have always taken on morethan I can handle and often times find myself chest-deep in a project trying tofinish it at the last minute. I do love to create. In all of the craziness ofeveryday life and the world that we live in, I am trying to create a peaceful,comfortable home that my family will enjoy spending time in. I am also tryingto create a life full of experiences, learning, and memories for my two littlegirls. My family is probably my biggest motivation and inspiration for doing whatI do.

I love reading, snowboarding, soccer, board games, movies, holidays,and exploring new places. I like writing, organizing and re-organizing,cooking, and having fun. I am shy when I first meet people, at times impatientand impulsive, but mostly happy and excited about life. I am a hard worker,resourceful, and creative.

I have had a lot of fun the past 3 weeks trying tocome up with blog posts and taking pictures of some of the things that I havebeen working on. Already, just the thought of getting another post ready hasmotivated me to finish some projects that have just been sitting for a while,or to start others that I had been wanting to start.

-Mandi

Valentine's

2012-02-03T10:23:00.001-07:00

I have been excited to decorate for Valentine's Day ever since I took down all of my Christmas stuff. I have slowly been working on my mantel for the past couple of weeks and then decided that I just needed to be done with it or the holiday would come and go and I wouldn't have any pictures to post. I love playing around with different fonts, so this print is my new decoration for the year. I just printed at home and stuck it in a frame that I already had. Feel free to use it to add to your own Valentine's Decor.

Download

Here is what it looks like on my mantel:

And the up close shot:

The other fun thing that I made was the paper heart chain. I followed this tutorial. It is written in Mandarin or another language with characters, so I couldn't read it, but the pictures make it really easy to follow. Since I wasn't using double sided paper, I folded my strips in half so that the pattern would be on both sides. I then made another chain, but attached them together side-by-side instead of up and down. I also had the idea to make some of the hearts out of photos of my girls. I used the little cards that come in the package when you print photos. I know that both Costco and Shutterfly send them, so that you can see what you ordered. They were the perfect size, so I just cut them into strips and used them like the paper. They turned out pretty cute, and it is fun to look through our pictures from last year on the hearts. Here is a close-up of those hearts:

Happy Valentine's Day to everyone.

-Mandi

Linking here to Design Dazzle and here to Thirty Handmade Days.

For the Love of Polaroid- Free digital polaroid generator

2012-02-02T22:55:00.001-07:00

If you could've met young Michelle and asked her what she wanted more than anything, her first answer probably would've been a Power-wheels jeep; but as her tastes matured, she definitely would've looked you straight in the eye and said without hesitation "one of those cameras that prints pictures."

Why are polaroids so cool? Is it the instant gratification? The dreamy hazy photos? The cool white border? I'm not sure it's even possible to understand the mysterious allure of the polaroid, all I know is that I fell pretty hard for them many years ago.

Fast forward nearly two decades. Michelle is grown up. Michelle has fallen pretty hard for something or someone else. Ben, the coolest guy in the world (I realize that's a pretty bold statement, but it's the truth. For proof, read on). Ben has many endearing and admirable qualities, but cemented his title as the coolest guy in the world, the day he walked in with a Fujifilm Instax 210 polaroid camera.

Now, this is not just any camera. This is a super camera, that has been on many journeys to new lands, helped spread holiday cheer, and documented many significant milestones over the last few months.

This fall, I realized another dream (it's been a big year). I replaced my Cannon D30 with the mighty Cannon 7D. And although I love, love, love my Cannon 7D, sometimes I will reach for the polaroid before I pull out my 7D.

You might ask why I would shun a fancy pant HD digital camera for a $60 low resolution throwback from 1985. Well, the answer is simple.

It hasn't taken a bad photo yet.

But don't take my word for it, see for yourself.

See what I mean? They are so perfectly imperfect that you can't help but love them.

We love them so much, we had to include a gallery hanging by the guestbook at our wedding.

Now for those of you that can't stomach the idea of cheating on your digital camera with a polaroid camera, you can still share in some of the magic by creating digital polaroids with your photos in Photoshop.

I've played around with a few of my photos and have created some polaroid-like actions in Photoshop that are okay, but a couple weeks ago I found a Free Polaroid Generator on DeviantArt (this generator is a free downloadable package of actions for Photoshop) that has some pretty stellar actions and is super easy to use. So rather than spend time creating my own actions, I use theirs.

These pics are examples of just 4 of the free polaroid actions in the generator but there's plenty more where these came from.

I feel like I should have something clever to end with, but I'm drawing a blank. I can't successfully wrap up a post about my love of polaroid photography, because there isn't an end in sight. So I'm gonna go ahead and finish with a cliffhanger ending.

-Michelle

Pillowcase Pillow Mattress

2012-01-31T12:12:00.000-07:00

I just realized that a lot of my posts will probably have two common themes. First of all, there will probably be a lot of posts that are about some type of hand-me-down item that was given to me by a family member. Second, many of my posts will probably be about projects that I have created for my daughters.

My mother-in-law gave me a stack of old pillowcases and bedsheets that were all in really good condition. We've used many of them on our beds, but some of the pillowcases I set aside until inspiration struck for a project. Thank you Pinterest, this fun mattress popped up and I knew what I could use them for.

(from here)

After doing some research and seeing tuturorials out there from others who had tried to recreate this, I knew that they hadn't used individual pillowcases. Most people had used a solid piece of fabric and then sewn across to create the five pockets. Since I already had the pillowcases on hand so I decided to give it a try.

For my first attempt I just sewed all five pillowcases together. It turned out like this:

It was great, I bought five of the dollar pillows from IKEA to put in the cases, and it was perfect for a two-year old to use for over night trips. She even slept on it for almost two weeks straight while we were refinishing the wood floors in the upstairs bedrooms. As you can see, it was plenty long and a little bulky to carry around. The pillowcases were also pretty loose around the pillows, so there were big gaps between the pillows. So, I decided with a little unpicking and a little cutting, that the pillow mattress could be improved.

I measured the pillows and found that they were about 17 inches long, so I cut off about 3 inches from one side on each of the four of the pillowcases. I decided to only use four instead of five this time.

I then turned the inside out and sewed the back together. Then I sewed all four of them together again. I also top-stitched over the little flap created from the seam from sewing the together just to make it look a little more finished. This is what my second attempt left me with:

It was much less bulky this time. The perfect size for my toddler with some room to grow. The gap between the pillows is much smaller. I still think that I will add some Velcro or ribbon ties to the open edges of the pillowcases to help keep the pillows in a little bit better. My little bug thinks that it is great to pad her landing when she jumps down the stairs.

-Mandi

Linking here to The Space Between & here to Blue Cricket Designs.

A Little Bit About Me

2012-01-29T21:21:00.000-07:00

Hi, my name is Nicole, Nic, Cole, or Nickel. Sometimes I even get called Michelle or Mandi and I'll answer. I think Michelle put it best when she said, "I'm aforeigner in the blog world." I too am a foreigner starting on this newfrontier. So here I go.

I am the youngest of the three of us sisters and as such Iused to say all of the creative genes ran out before they could get to me. Thenone day I realized, I do have a spark of creativity in me! What a day. Because I discovered my own creativity I agreed to participate in thisblog to share that "spark" with the blogging world. Watch out world.

As Mandi mentioned before I am recently married to my bestfriend David. He is a ball of energy who keeps me laughing and going all thetime. He's a very understanding husband. When my "spark" decides tohit he patiently answers what color he thinks looks best, how high the eyesshould go, and yes I'll sand this part of the dresser.

We both love to be active and play. Anything done outside isbetter. Anything done in the mountains is best.

We love to travel and see new places. We both have a bit ofa nerdy side and enjoy, reading, Rubik's Cubes, mind games, and puzzles. Weboth have a love for languages and both are working on our third one.

We love to cook together. We are constantly trying out someawesome new recipes and some not so awesome recipes.

I am a college graduate working full time with more time onmy hands then I know what to do with. All this newly found time has beengreat to help fuel my "spark".

So help fuel the "spark", create.

Liebster Blog Award

2012-01-27T21:03:00.000-07:00

In German Liebster means beloved, favorite, dearest. This award is given out by fellow bloggers to up and comers with less than 200 followers, encouraging new friendships and community.

Upon receiving the Liebster award, you do the following:

1. Post the award on your blog for the world to see!
2. Show your thanks to the blogger who awarded you the Liebster by linking back to them.
3. Reveal your 5 picks for the award and let them know they’ve been chosen.
4. Bask in the love from the most supportive people on the blogosphere…other bloggers!
5. Finally, the best rule of all, have fun and spread the love!

Thanks to everyone who has been reading our little blog. It is exciting to have people checking out our posts. It is great to be a part of the blogging community and to try and network with all of the amazing people who are out there.

Thanks to Bri at the Modern Parsonage for giving us this award. She has a great blog with DIY projects and the renovations that she has been doing on her home.

Choosing five other blogs to pass this award onto was fun. I could spend way too much time blog hopping and checking out what cool projects other people are doing. So, here is my list:

1. ReesiePie Creations - Darcee is an extremely talented mom who loves making clothes for her young daughter. She doesn't have any formal sewing training but is able to look at something and find a way to recreate it for her little one.

2. The Massif Project - This is a shout out to my younger brothers. They love anything outdoors related and spend a lot of time enjoying mother nature. Their blog is a way for them to share their love of adventure and to encourage others to be active as well.

3. My Recipe Boxx - Britni has some amazing recipes posted here. She has a great variety of recipes, great pictures of all of her culinary creations, and is always trying new things.

4. Craft Me This - Liz is another talented sewer. She is always coming up with great projects for her two little girls, and has so many fun posts.

5. Sisters, Sisters - This blog is a family effort to post fun projects, tutorials, and tips. It is great to see other sisters teaming up to share their talents and ideas.

So, if you are looking to do some blog hopping, you should check out these great blogs.

4 Day Weekend + 1,400 m = 3 National Parks

2012-01-25T20:52:00.002-07:00

I'm a foreigner in the blog world and I feel like I might need a tour guide. Don't get me wrong, I'm all for adventure and new frontiers, in fact you might say I thrive on it (see photo proof below). I just don't know if I'll ever have the cutest blog on the block or one hundred million followers.

I'm just a girl that likes to create. And I come from a family of creators. So we decided to share our creations, motivations, and our inspirations with a world wide audience.

Meet me, Michelle. And the biggest inspiration/motivation in my life, my husband Ben. He's really sweet and really good looking. I kinda like him.

We love to travel. We love to explore. We love to recreate in Mother Nature's playground. And recently we found a new love...

About 2 weeks ago, Ben brought home some longboards. After taking a few rickety painfully slow rides on a local nature trail, we started to get the hang of it. Sort of.

Well over MLK weekend, we found out it was free entry into the National Parks and knew we had to put our new skills to the test in the beauty of the desert. So we loaded the longboards up in the Subaru and headed south.

It was amazing. Breathtaking. Nature is the best inspiration around. We skated, explored, and just marinated in the beauty of the red rock. Ben took some footage of me longboarding and put together a little clip. If you can get past the beginner riding and lack of flashy tricks, you'll be able to appreciate a small taste of the beauty all around.

And if that didn't do it for you, some pics of the grandeur. Grand Canyon and Bryce Canyon (the best pics we had of Zion are not on the other computer and I'm too lazy to transfer them over or do any editing right now). Enjoy the snapshots!

So get out and enjoy the fresh air. Nothing like the great outdoors to give you the inspiration you need to create.

-Michelle

Easy Dresser Makeover

2012-01-24T17:36:00.000-07:00

When we first moved into our house we were given a lot of hand-me-down furniture. We didn't say no to anything because we didn't know exactly what we would need, and of course we didn't have money to go buy any new furniture.

This dresser came from my mother-in-law. She bought it used 35 or so years ago for $5 when they were living in Iowa going to dental school. It was passed down through her children over the years, and then it sat in their garage for a long time holding tools and a few odds and ends. It was pretty banged up, but I figured that a couple of fresh coats of paint would probably go a long way towards making it look good again.

Of course at one point over the years this dresser was my husband's, and he had written his name in one of the drawers.

To start off, I did a coat of light sanding with my Mouse sander, and then I primed it. I also wanted to add some decorative detail and had some of the Allen and Roth paintable wallpaper on hand. I chose a part of the pattern that I liked and cut out individual pieces to fit around the drawer pulls. I applied them like the wallpaper directions advised, waited 24 hours for them to dry, and then the painting began. I used Sherwin Williams Alabaster white, and did two coats, applying it with a small furniture roller. I also spray painted the drawer pulls with Oil Rubbed Bronze spray paint, because they were pretty scratched up as well.

I wanted to see if I liked the drawers better a little distressed, or as they were. Surprisingly, I liked them better not distressed, so I just left them how they were.

And here is the old brown dresser with some nice white paint and all put back together again. It turned out cute enough that I thought it would be a nice addition to my 2-year old's big girl room. It is far from perfect and there are still some dents and dings in it, but I am happy with it. It was free and I figured that in a toddler bedroom it would probably get many more dents and dings anyway, so not too bad for about 3 hours of work.

Here is a side by side comparison. It really is amazing what some elbow grease and some paint can do.

-Mandi

Linking here to Domestically Speaking's Power of Paint party.

Entertainment Center to Play Kitchen

2012-01-20T14:47:00.000-07:00

I am still a little girl at heart. It makes me laugh that now as an adult, I can still get excited over cute play dishes and food, despite the fact that I get to "play house" cooking and doing dishes everyday.

Three years ago, when Michelle and I were at IKEA, we just couldn't say no to buying all of the toy pots and pans that they had there. I was probably 3 months pregnant with my first baby, and Michelle wasn't even married yet. So, basically we were indulging ourselves as a tribute to our childhood, knowing that it would still be years before they would actually be played with.

(Source)

Then, I had my first baby girl. I was so excited to start giving her all of the fun things that I was imagining for her. Ana White posted plans for a cute play kitchen that I was ready to start building for my six-month old even though we were living in a tiny two-bedroom apartment at the time. Then reality set in, and I realized that there was no need to rush things. Over the next year or so, I started filing away all of the cute play kitchens that everyone in blogland was making for their children. I was particularly inspired by this cute kitchen that was built from Ana White's plans.

I also found inspiration from all of the re-purposed play kitchens that I saw. There are so many creative and resourceful people out there turning nightstands, cupboards, and old entertainment centers into toy kitchens. After all of that, I knew how I could create a play kitchen with the look and feel that I wanted in an economical and resourceful way.

In the spring of 2005, I was a newly wed and my parents' neighbors graciously gave us an old entertainment center that they were no longer using. Over the next six years, that little enertainment center was well-used. We handed it off to some friends when we moved, only to rescue it from the rain and weather when they abandoned it two years later. We used it again for awhile as an entertainment center until we upgraded to a television that wouldn't fit on it. Then it was used as storage for miscalleanous items until it was passed off to my younger brother to use in his college apartment. This time I told him that I wanted it back when he was done with it because I had a project idea for it. So, in May of 2010, when we bought our home, I ended up with the "little entertainment center that could" once again. This time it sat in my garage for a year until I was finally ready to give it the makeover that it deserved.

Unfortunately, I can't find a before picture of it, but the one below is pretty close to what it looked like, except that mine had doors on the long part of the L, a back, and was a little more dated. Also, the tall part of mine was one piece with adjustable shelves, and the long section didn't have a divider.

I really wanted to finish the play kitchen for my 2-year old's birthday and came pretty close, but I got stuck on trying to make the fridge doors work, so she received all of the IKEA dishes and felt food with no kitchen to play with it in. I kept planning on finishing it, but I was pregnant again so it kept getting moved lower on the priority list. By this time, it was almost Christmas (6 months past the birthday deadline) and I was super motivated to get it done for the holiday. With some help from my husband, we finished it just in time. It was actually kind of embarassing how close I had been all along, just letting it sit when it probably would have only taken 2-3 hours to finish it up. So I finally had an inexpensive (probably around $40 for supplies) homemade play kitchen for my girls.

My two-year old loves it, and has already spent hours baking cupcakes and making lunch. There are still just a few spots that need touch-up paint, and the right fridge door still doesn't close all the way, but overall I am pretty happy with the way that it turned out. I have been saving some random plastic containers here and there that I am in the process of making labels for so that she has more food for the refridgerator. I can do another post on some of the details later, but some of my favorite things are:

The faucet was salvaged from a family member who was getting new ones
The oven racks were only 50 cents each, a two-pack of cooling racks from the dollar store
The shelf to hold spoons and dishes
There is plenty of room to store dishes, food, and other treasures
The bright colored fabric in the curtain to cover the cupboard

-Mandi

Linking to this party at Design Dazzle.

Faux Tile Floor

2012-01-19T16:55:00.000-07:00

As we were deciding what to do with the floor in the studio our goal was a floor that would be durable, easy to clean, and inexpensive.

What we had to work with-

An unfinished basement floor- old, cracked, chipped, cement (sorry no before picture).

What we did-

Filled the major cracks and chips with cement filler purchased from a hardware store.

Hired a cement cutter to score the floor into 12in x 12in squares (a messy job).

Purchased 4 different pint jars of oil based wall paint in cream, sienna and brown hues.

Used a sponge to layer and blend the paints on the cement.

What we have now-

A floor (total cost under $200) that looks like tile and is great for all kinds of art projects. No worries when paint spills on the floor or when kids color on it with markers.

What I have learned-

The floor is durable. It has weathered several of years of use and abuse. The only real damage came when a pool table was drug across it while it was still curing. Other than that any little dings and chips are barely noticeable and seem to blend in with the paint colors used on the "tiles"

If we were to do this again we would have the cement scored just enough to see an impression rather than cutting down through it. Our cuts are deep enough for little things to fall into. It is also deep enough that it looks like the floor is in need of grout between the squares. Otherwise I have loved my faux tile studio floor.

-Joanne

The Studio

2012-01-18T16:07:00.002-07:00

When we moved into our home I staked claim to a large (20ft by 20ft) space in the unfinished basement for my studio. Almost 15 years later it became a reality. Although the walls could use a few finishing touches, this has become more than just my painting studio it's also a classroom, sewing room, meeting room and family project room. I love it!

Pretty much the entire project has been an exercise in reuse or D.I.Y. From the fake tile floor to the shelves and counter tops. Although these pictures are dark this room is actually very light.

I planned what I wanted and my handy husband made it happen.

The box on the left is a big light table- a free find. With the cover on top, it doubles as a fabric cutting table.

A few adjustments on this second hand table made it into perfect mat cutting area. The bag on the side holds small mat scraps.

The closet in front on the right is for art supplies that didn't fit on the cubby shelves. The other closet is...

a sewing area.

Later I'll do separate posts on some of the different areas in the studio.

-Joanne

Linking to Thrifty Decor Chick.

Subway Art

2012-01-12T17:30:00.000-07:00

(Source)

It was probably close to 2 years ago that I first saw this Pottery Barn picture and was inspired to try and create something with the same type of feel. I loved the ledge shelves, the photo arrangement, and the contrast of the black and white. I was especially inspired by the subway art. I really wanted to make something similar to hang in my living room that had some meaning for my family.

So, I went to my go to design program, PowerPoint. I had Photoshop at the time, but had never really learned how to use it. Let's just say that after a few hours of work, I had created something, but it wasn't quite what I wanted. PowerPoint was just too limited to do what I wanted with the subway art. This is what I was able to create the first go around, but I wanted to be able to manipulate the text more and add an aged, worn-out look to it.

I considered painting and distressing a wood sign to try and get the look I wanted, but had too many other things going on to worry about it. Ana White posted plans for building ledge shelves on her blog, which I was really excited to get started on. (More on that later) That is actually part of the whole creative process that I am continually learning about. Sometimes, there are hang-ups and frustrations that may keep you from completing something. It is okay to have multiple projects going on at once. It is okay to start something new even when you have been working on something else. I was really unable to create the subway art that I wanted to the way that I wanted to do it, so it was time to move onto something that I could make progress on.

Fast forward to the fall of 2011. I had a new baby and wanted to send out birth announcements. I had some free Shutterfly prints and so I needed non-traditional 4x6 sized announcements and really didn't know how to use one of the cute templates they offered to do that. So, after some Google searches, calls to my sister about her Photoshop knowledge I was able to create a birth announcement that I was happy with. That also gave me some confidence that Photoshop really wasn't some big scary program, but that with some patience, and lots of trial and error, I could use it to create many of the projects that I wanted to.

I was ready to pull out my old subway art project and try it again in Photoshop. I downloaded some new fonts from dafont.com to help create a washed out look, used some brushes within Photoshop to age the appearance even more, and within about an hour had something that I was ready to display. I printed it at Costco for about $3.00, and after almost two years, finally created something that I was happy with that also had some meaning for my family. I used dates that had special meaning such as birthdays and anniversaries, as well as places that we have lived.

Since this is clearly personalized for my family, I also decided to create a generic version as a free printable if anyone else is interested in using it. It looks like this:

Download

-Mandi

First Post

2012-01-11T18:15:00.000-07:00

This blog has been in the works for a long time. We have talked about it for years, finally finding the inspiration and motivation to get it started. All of us have the desire to create. We all have different talents, are at different stages in life, and sometimes create in different ways, but the desire is the same. We are trying to create homes and lives that inspire us and our families.

We find our inspiration from so many places. Pinterest and the blogs of so many other talented people have provided us with countless ideas for how and what we create. We also find inspiration from our families, friends, and from each other. We can brainstorm together, work through hang-ups together, and motivate each other to continue creating.

Our motivation for this blog is to have a place for us to share what we create, what inspires us, and to keep us motivated to keep doing what we love.