Valentine's Snapshot

This year Valentine's Day is going to be all about my little girl. Since my husband and I are going out to dinner and a play on Friday night, I'm going to make Thursday into a fun day for her. I'd like to make it special this year for her, last year she didn't really care, but this year she is really excited for it. She helped make valentines for her classmates and has been talking about the party all week when she'll get to pass them out.

Gotta love her "cheese" grin.

Her morning will start with a heart attack on her door.
via

For breakfast we'll have pink milk and muffins with strawberry jam hearts.
via

Then she'll head off to school, for a day of fun and a party at the end of the day.

Her teachers are getting hand hearts wrapped around lotion.
via

And her classmates are getting little packs of mini-M&M's with a little Bee Mine Love Kirsten valentine that she put together, which I'll show you tomorrow.  They are very simple, since I wanted her to be able to help glue and punch them out.

We'll have dinner (Kirsten's choice, likely spaghetti!) and strawberry fudge for dessert
via

Then we'll finish off the evening with snuggle time: A Charlie Brown Valentine and popcorn
via

I hope she loves it, I think she will. What are your plans for Valentine's Day?

Monday Musings - Shakespeare

via
for my daughter

Bookshelf

Earlier this month I shared the chairs I worked on for Kirsten's room. Then we started working on the bookshelf. Hubby built a really nice big sturdy bookshelf to my exact specifications, and it's perfect. He made it out of pine since I intend to paint it white. He put some nicer fronts on the shelves and a routed edge on the top.

I got the back primed in the evenings, intending to do the shelves over the weekend. And then it got hot, like unbearable to work in the garage for 2 hours at a time even with the garage door wide open hot. So, he and I managed to get 1 coat of primer on it one Friday afternoon about 2 weeks ago, and it has sat like that since then. The back is done, but the shelves top and side still sit paintless. This weekend is supposed to be all thunderstorms, but today... today is beautiful. So, as soon as I get home this afternoon, I will be putting the 2nd coat of primer on it. Hopefully, if all goes well it will be in her bedroom before next weekend. I'm anxious to move more of her stuff into her room, so it will feel more like her room to her.

We've been spending weekends at county fairs and the drive-in theatre and at birthday parties and a wedding. Enough fun though, I'm ready to get back to work and get her room finished up.

Children's Chairs

Since I was making over the rocking chair and had all the supplies and tools out to cover seats. I went ahead and covered two other seats at the same time.

We picked up two of these chairs at a garage for $5 for the pair.  They are wood, except the seats were cheap laminate with a plastic edging. Ick!

Kirsten loves the little chairs and will drag them up to the coffee table for puzzles or snack. I cringed every time I saw the seats.

So, they were treated to the same foam, polyfill sheet, white cotton fabric treatment as the rocking chair seat. It is highly probable that they'll be painted one day, but I need to get an accompanying table for them first.  Depending on what I find for a table may dictate how I handle these chairs.

I like the covered seat much better than the laminate and plastic that was there before.

So, she has two little chairs, now I just need a small table to go with them and she'll be all set for tea parties or arts and crafts.

Rocking Chair Makeover

I thought I should stop for a bit and actually share some of what's been going on around here. I've been working on all sorts of little projects for Kirsten's big girl room. The first project was a complete makeover of a rocking chair we bought at a garage sale.

It was only $13 and I knew I'd be painting it when I bought it. It was an old child's rocking chair that had been black at one point, then painted green.

Originally, I was going to try to salvage the seating, and just replace it one day when my daughter killed it. After turning it over though it looked as if it had sat in water possibly. So I decided to go ahead and replace it. A few minutes with a hammer and screwdriver later I was looking in between the caning and I'm so very glad I chose to replace the seat. It has definitely sat in water at some point. Ick!

So, left with just the bones of the chair I spent a few days sanding, priming, painting and hubby helped me build a new seat for it. I painted the chair in Valspar Signature Waverly Clean White in an eggshell finish. I wanted it to have very little sheen, but still be able to wipe it. 

Her name is painted in a blend of a pink and white I had on hand, so I don't have a paint name for it. I wanted a very pale pink, so it wasn't obvious unless you were within a few feet of the chair. It turned out exactly how I imagined.

We measured and cut a leftover piece of plywood we had in the garage to fit for a seat. I covered it with a piece of foam cut to fit and sheet of polyfil and finally white cotton. I covered the bottom with a piece of outdoor fabric cut to fit the size of the base of the seat. I didn't want threads or bits of fabric or foam or anything exposed that she might be tempted to pull at.

I absolutely LOVE the way it turned out! Most importantly though, Kirsten LOVES her rocking chair.

And the before and after again. This was the first little bit of furniture I've tackled, but I have a bunch more to share this week.  We've been busy here!

Big Girl Bed

My intent was to move Kirsten into a toddler bed for a couple of years and eventually into a twin back in what is the nursery after the next baby outgrows it.

You can see the initial plan in this post, toddler bump bed included. To recap with just the image and sources:

Image sources from top right: Bump Bed; Canopy; Side Table;
Doily Lamp; Toy Box; Table and Chairs; Bookshelves;
Shaker Pegs; Board and Batten; Fairy Lights

I absolutely fell in love with the bed we bought her when I saw it, and am reworking the room a little bit around the bed. Since the bed is twin sized, I have a round white ottoman I am putting at the foot of the bed. I can still do the canopy around it. I do have to come up with a solution for books.  Maybe a small basket next to the ottoman or under her nightstand.  She doesn't need a lot of books in her big girl room just a few to read each night, the family room and nursery both have wall to wall bookshelves with lots of room for the books.

Beautiful Rosemaling Bed by Hob Nob Artisan

Just a quick word about the bed, I got it from Hob Nob Artisan on etsy.  Jennifer is the seller and she was AMAZING! It's obviously a bigger item, so we were coordinating shipping and such and sent quite a few emails back and forth with each other by the end of the transaction. She was a dream to work with and I would definitely buy from her again as a seller. Plus, her rosemaling and attention to detail is absolutely beautiful! I also got a little matching shelf for her room which is hung above her bed right now, I'll get a nice picture of it once I style it.

Footboard Rosemaling detail

About four years ago, Meadowbrook moved from downtown to a mall area. When they did, they had a large sale of floor models and decor that they had used that hadn't been for sale, rugs, lighting, cabinets, etc. Well, I bought a rug for our family room, but I also bought some very nice linen Battenberg lace shelf liners, 2 for $5. I had no particular plan for the liners, I was thinking initially as a bit of a runner for a table by my kitchen window, but they were way too long and it just looked awkward trying to adjust it. I folded them up and tucked them away figuring I might fashion them into a valance or something eventually.

Well, I need a bed skirt for my daughter's bed and I've been looking online and white pretty ones aren't cheap.  Even a simple white twin bed skirt with no frills is about $20-$30. So, I decided to make one, something simple nothing fancy. Well, when I was trying to find a white bed sheet to use for a bed skirt and to cover some kids chair seats, I found these all folded up and tucked away. Perfect! I ironed and and ironed and ironed some more, they were terribly wrinkled. And they are a perfect fit for her bed! It really was fate. There are two shelf liners and they are the perfect size lengthwise for the length of the bed, and folded in half they perfectly fit the end of the bed.  I do need to adjust the length a tiny bit on the end, a bit of tucking and pulling will fix it. All in all though, I think it turned out perfectly!

The improvised shelf liner bed skirt, it needs a slight adjustment here

The improvised shelf liner bed skirt

 The most important part is that my daughter absolutely loves her big girl bed, although she hasn't slept in it yet. We're easing her in slowly, plus she'll like it more when she has more of "her stuff" in the room.

Bye Bye Library

Rosemaling Bed in Kirsten's Big Girl Room

So, last Thursday evening my daughter climbed up the side of her crib and fell out with a big thud. Her crib is fairly deep, deeper than average, it was one of the reasons I was smitten with her round crib. I've been planning to move her in to a big girl bed for potty training for a little while now, but first we had to clear room in the basement to move all of the bookcases out of my library/office. I also needed a new home for my office which was previously occupying the closet of the library.

I found a beautiful secretary desk on craigslist for only $375 and I think she is gorgeous, picture and details coming soon! All of my stationary, design/decor and artsy/craftsy project components will be completely housed in it. The only exception is my painting supplies, which I still have to figure out. Canvases and my portfolio are rather large.

I wanted to strip wallpaper, add board and batten with shaker pegs, replace light switches and lighting... however, after she fell out of the crib everything got fast-tracked. The library is now an empty room with a bed in it, the walls are still wallpapered and the lighting is still dated, as are the switches. I'm totally in love with her bed, though it is 3 inches wider than a standard twin? Not sure what that is supposed to be.  So hubby bought wood to cut slats, and we've made it work.

The wallpaper stripping, painting, board and batten and shaker pegs will just have to wait for a little later. I've spent the last few days organizing and PURGING. I think I've shrunk my office items by 50%. I got realistic about my scrapbooking, or rather lack thereof, a few months ago and gave most of my supplies to a friend of mine that actually scrapbooks and makes cards.  Well I found another stash for her, so I'll bring them to her this week.

I have a small yarn stash which I may have to get real about too. I was crocheting a bit before Kirsten was born, making booties and hats and scarves. I haven't touched any of it since then. If I don't touch it at all in the next 6 months, it needs to be donated to someone who will use it, like my aunt.  I've set a calendar reminder for December 31, 2012.

I have a decent number of blank stationary and thank you's, so I'm not permitted to buy more until what I have is used up (a year or two).  I have a bit of a pretty paper addiction. I want to be the sort of person who sits down and writes lovely notes to various friends and family members. But let's be real, if I have something to say, I will call or email or Facebook or think about calling or emailing or Facebooking (totally a word), but don't get around to it often enough. The days of beautiful penmanship on an envelope coming in the mail are mostly in the past. I've allowed my penmanship to get sloppy, more of a scrawl halfway between writing and printing with a few made up letterforms that hang on from when I was in middle school and expressing my creativity.

So, it's been a crazy week, but I've taken lots of pictures and I have a lot of little projects in the works to share. Not to mention the rest of the posts from Iceland.

Weekend Sewing Projects

So, once I started sewing little things for our Iceland trip with the I-Spy bag I posted yesterday, I didn't really want to stop. I also picked up some alphabet beads when I was at Michael's and I used them to make an alphabet I-Spy bag as well.

I'll be using this for letter recognition for now, then as she gets older she can use it for finding the alphabet, and when she is even older for finding words in the letters.  I put a little wrist strap on this one made of fold-over elastic (foe).  She carted it into the car with her this morning to take to school, so I consider that to be a success.  Nothing is supposed to go to school, but she wanted to keep it with her just for in the car.

I had stitched up a tiny bit of quilting 3x4 when I was like 16 for Girl Scouts.  I've held on to it in my little sewing basket for all these years.  This weekend I stitched it to a back and stuffed it to make a little pillow.  Then I stitched up a little sleeping bag with a sweet little ruffle for her dolly.  She was already in bed at this point so I put it on her chair for her to discover in the morning.

You should have seen her eyes!  They were so wide, she was so excited about this.  I have pictures, but she's just in underwear (potty training) so I don't want to put them online.  Here's a little close up of when she found them though.

Birthday Party Guest Book Idea

Oooooops! I mentioned in the post about Kirsten's first birthday party that I'd share the guestbook idea I used this year. I even took pictures of it, and somehow forgot to post about it. Susan reminded me yesterday, so here it is. I created a book with Shutterfly using the pictures from this past from her first birthday until about 2 weeks before her 2nd birthday. I had guests sign the liner pages and will be doing this every year. By the time she is 18 she'll have a great little collection of books full of pictures and things to remember about each year complete with greetings and well wishes from the people who love her.

Names blurred to protect the innocent

Big Girl Room Planning

My daughter, Kirsten, just turned 2 this weekend, so now that I'm done with her party I'm starting on the next big project. I'd really like to get her mostly potty trained before going to Iceland in a month, but I need to get her into a big girl bed so she can get up when she wakes up to go potty. At least, I think that is how it works. So, even if her room isn't even close to ready I really need to get her into her big girl bed.  I have a lot of ideas and inspiration also pinned on a Pinterest board just for her room, if you want to take a peek.

Ok, so for posterity, here is the before... the closet, aka my office:



And the room itself, note the seemingly tight crop... it's just because the room is small and there is no way to stand back far enough to get more of the room in the shot!  I'm actually standing in the closet for this picture. So, no pictures of the wallpaper, but I'll take some before pictures after we pull out all the bookcases.  The carpet is very light cream and while not the best choice for a toddler's room, it'll stay for a few years until we put hardwood down throughout the house.

k, so here is the plan, though the rugs will probably all go except for the one under the table and chairs:

Image sources from top right: Bump Bed; Canopy; Side Table;
Doily Lamp; Toy Box; Table and Chairs from bestpricetoys.com; Bookshelves;
Shaker Pegs; Board and Batten; Fairy Lights

We'll be turning the library/office into her big girl room.  The last step of the transformation will be replacing the door in the upper right corner with a hidden bookcase door that swings out into the family room, like the first three on my hidden door post. I envision putting face front book ledges on that door facing into her room for her to use, but I need to keep the door light enough for her to push open.  This will increase the usability of that corner slightly.  Currently the door is a glass paned door which lets a lot of light in that room; great for the day, terrible for summer nights. So, I'll have to think of something there. Suggestions?

via

Starting in the upper right corner, the bed is a photoshopped image of a toddler Bump Bed, I wanted the sleigh headboard area and Swedish footboard area and hubby was going to build it for me.  After awhile I got a little more realistic about what our time would allow and found a sweet rosemaled single bed from a seller on Etsy. She was great to work with and I highly recommend her if you love rosemaling.

This is actually the sellers photo, but I don't think she'll mind me using it to share.

Since the single bed is a bit longer than I was planning for, I may have to make adjustments for where I have the bookcase and canopy area, which brings me to the next picture. I really wanted to make her a round canopy with a hula hoop, white fabric, and white twinkle lights. I imagine it with a big pillow on the floor for us to snuggle in to read.

I'd like a small round bedside table for her, ideally with a little storage like the table in the lower right corner.

I have a whole bunch of white/cream doilies from my hubby's grandmother, that no one else wanted.  After I saw the doily lamp I thought that would be a sweet idea for them above the little table and chairs.

I'd like some enclosed toy storage, though I'm leaning more towards a closed cupboard with baskets now instead of a toy box. A small table and chairs on the one wall for coloring or tea parties; we already have two chairs just need a table.

For the bookshelf at the end of her bed, hubby is going to build it for me.  I'd like the top three shelves to be open to both sides with the back running down the middle, like two shallow bookcases back to back. Towards her bed I'm thinking of room for some bed time books and stuffed animals, nothing heavy. The bottom of the bookshelf would have deeper shelves opened to her reading nook with room for bigger heavier books and toys. The side of the bookshelf facing the room I'd like lined in cork for pinning up pictures and artwork.

Currently the whole room is wallpapered in a baby blue background with large cream magnolias!!!  It is pretty wallpaper, but not what I want for her room. So, I will be tearing it down and putting up board and batten.  Everywhere you look people are putting up board and batten, I know. Hers won't be white though, we'll do oak board and batten and I'll use the lightest stain (natural?) so it'll match the woodwork in the rest of the house. I also want to put shaker pegs right under the rail along the wall by the table and chairs. She can hang up her apron or a sweater or whatever that way. Ideally, the one closest to her closet will hold the outfit for the day that she'll pick out the night before.

We'll be installing a full closet organizing system in that closet like we did in the nursery and the master closet. I LOVE a good organized closet and it eliminates the need for a dresser!

I'm not even going to think about paint color until I see what tones we'll end up with in the board and batten and how the rest of the room comes together. I want to find all the furniture first, figure out what I can paint and what I have to "live with". I want the room to feel calm and peaceful, so I'll figure out what I have to "marry" with paint, then go from there. I will tell you though that the ceiling will be getting a soft blue gray paint definitely and will be stripped of it's texture. I painted the green in the closet, I pulled it from the darkest green in the magnolia leaves on the wallpaper.  Green is my favorite color, but I wouldn't use it elsewhere in the house (it just wouldn't coordinate well).  It's a fairly dark green, so covering it up with primer will be oodles of fun, I'm sure!

I want the room to have a very light feel to it, since it is so small. So, except for the bed I want the furniture and the bedding to all be very light. She'll be using the down comforter and pillow from Iceland that I had as a little girl and I have several sets, some hand embroidered, for her to use. I can't wait!

So, I have a bunch of spring projects, plus this bedroom to get working on. The three closets can get their coat of paint and shelving added at the same time as we are doing her closet system. The garage might get pushed off to the end of the month... oh wait, it is almost the end of the month. Hmmmmm... May? This is going to be a BUSY summer!

Kirsten's First Birthday ~ Pink Lemonade

So, I thought today I'd share some details from Kirsten's first birthday party and also some links to recipes that I used that I will definitely use again.  This post is link heavy, however none of them are affiliate links, just recipes or sources that I loved and will definitely use again and thought I would share.

I didn't want an overly themed party, more of a color scheme. I went with pink lemonade, everything in shades of yellow and pink. So, first to give inspiration credit where it is due... I found an amazing lemonade punch called Party Lemonade over at One Charming Party.  I absolutely LOVE that site for party inspiration.  I don't have a picture of my punch because I kept it in the kitchen to avoid messes in the dining room, so hers will have to do.

via

Her cake was a two tiered ruffled cake inspired by a cake by Sweetapolita, her cakes look amazing!  For a little eye candy and taste bud torture, take a look at her round up of her top posts of 2011... OH MY!  This was the inspiration cake for the decoration, but I wanted it in a pale pink.

via

For Kirsten's cake I went with two tiers, the top tier was lemon with lemon curd filling and the bottom was strawberry with strawberry jam filling by O' For Heaven's Cakes and more.  It turned out beautifully and it was sooooooo delicious!

For the sugar cookies, I once again turned to Sweetapolita for her Sugar Cookie recipe.  I used a basic corn syrup, powdered sugar, milk icing for the outline and filling and then while the pink was still wet I covered it with pink sanding sugar.  This is my go-to cookie recipe for sugar cookies now, it was so easy to work with and the cookies weren't too hard or so soft that they didn't hold their shape.

I made some pom-pom's out of the tissue paper from the gifts we got at her baby shower.  I thought it was a sweet touch to recycle all that tissue in a somewhat meaningful way.  We also got a helium tank for her 36" pink balloon and all the smaller pink and yellow balloons for the kids to take home.  What kid doesn't love a balloon?

The pink bags are filled with Caramel Corn, I use the recipe in Better Homes and Gardens Best Loved Community Recipes. Unfortunately, the book isn't readily available anymore, but you can occasionally find used copies on Amazon.  Volume I and II are my two favorite cookbooks ever, they're compilations of the best church/community cookbook recipes.

The jars are filled with jellybeans and personalized M & M's, I've gotten personalized M & M's for both birthdays so far and they are NOT cheap, but it's such a cute touch.

I made Lemon & Strawberry Marshmallows, then I put them on sticks and dipped the bottoms in white chocolate.  The kids loved these, my favorite were the lemon ones.

For party favors I bought large Whirlypops from Bulk Candy Store, they had the best prices I could find and I was so pleased with what I got last year that I used them again this year for Round-up pop favors.  I designed and printed out circles that say "Thank you for making my birthday so sweet!" on the outside of the yellow, then her name and the number 1. Then I ran them through a Xyron 510, with sticker paper in it.  I finished them off with a sweet pink bow.

Using similar fonts and patterns I made a banner that we printed out and I cut.  I adore Photoshop!  I glued each letter onto pink and white twine and hubby taped it up for me.

She had a big pink balloon last year, just like the red one this year.  Party Explosions on Amazon has been a good source for 36" large balloons with a good thick latex that holds the helium and lasts a while.

Again, using the same colors from the lollipop stickers and the banner I made a little bunting for her highchair, the balloon was tied to the back.  I just glued the little paper bunting flags onto pink and white twine, then taped it to her chair.  A small detail, but so cute.  I really limited her sugar intake until her second birthday, so for her first birthday I made a simple vanilla cupcake with very lightly sweetened whip cream for the top.  She loved it and made a mess and I didn't have a crabby sugar crashed baby girl.  Even now I scrape the frosting off her cake and cupcakes, probably because I scrape it off of my own.

I got a guest book with the intent of using it each year, but I had a better idea this year which I'll be using from now on.  I'll share my idea later this week.

Kirsten's Birthday

My little girl's 2nd birthday was this weekend, and she was totally amazed at a big party just for her with all her favorite things. I planned for outside time so we were lucky the weather cooperated, it rained on Friday and was SOOOOOO cold on Sunday, but Saturday... Saturday was perfect!

Every year I'll be taking a picture of her with a giant 36" balloon (I ordered it from Amazon), I think it'll be fun to watch her grow into the balloon's size.  Last year she couldn't hold it, and this year I tied it around her waist so she wouldn't lose it since it was so windy.  She ran around the backyard with it tied to her waist holding on to it for about 20 - 30 minutes.  She wasn't ready to let go of it when I finally took it inside so she could play more freely.  The wind was so strong that I made daddy stay within a few feet of her just outside the shot in case the balloon got around her neck.  Thankfully it never did, but her daddy sure got a workout.

We put pigtails in her hair for the first time, which lasted all of about 15 minutes. Then out came one side, then the other about 2 minutes later.  So I had to wet her hair down and just leave it, but hey, I got pictures at least!

Kirsten loves the Backyardigans, and I really love how it encourages playing outside and using your imagination. So, I loosely based her party around that, with the weather being iffy for the day of her birthday I had revamped to party games inside for the most part. We were still able to do some tin can shooting and a pull-string pinata outside.  We had 5 6" cakes that I ordered from a local baker, O' For Heaven's Cakes and More. I ordered her first birthday cake and her baptism cake from them as well.  I love baking and decorating cakes, so it seems like an odd thing for me to outsource.  However, with everything else I have to do, it just makes sense.  Plus, their cakes are DELICIOUS!

I ordered the Backyardigans cake toppers from The Sweets Fairy Bakeshop, Jeana was great to work with and they turned out adorable. We ordered a cake for each character in the Backyardigans, from left to right they are: Tyrone, dark chocolate cake with chocolate frosting; Austin, fun fetti cake with vanilla frosting; Tasha, Vanilla cake with lemon curd center and vanilla frosting; Pablo, vanilla cake with vanilla frosting; Uniqua, strawberry cake with strawberry jam center and vanilla frosting.  I fell in love with the lemon and strawberry cakes last year during her pink lemonade party, so I had to order those again.  However, I wanted some basic cakes that the kids were more likely to ask for as well.

This is our next door neighbor and Kirsten's babysitter whom Kirsten adores. She's trying to show her how to whistle, it was absolutely adorable. Of course, Kirsten couldn't blow hard enough so she would just put the whistle in her mouth and sort of shriek. Poor girl.

It was a fun day with lots of friends and family, we are truly blessed to have her and them in our lives.