Handmade Home

Easy Toddler Games

2011-09-07T09:09:00.000-07:00

As some of you may know, I stay home with our son and feel very blessed to be able to do so. I love to watch all the advancements he makes everyday, and how those challenges he overcomes become second nature to him within a week. He is starting to walk really well and I'm finding it even more difficult to keep up some days :) He has always been a child who wants to be entertained. I remember even as a little infant we would have to walk him around for hours it seemed like because if you sat down with him he gets bored and started to cry. We would do things like take him to Bass Pro just to overwhelm him for a while and make him sleep!! As he has gotten older, he wants even more interaction. We have seemingly thousands of toys but once he has figured out all the buttons he's bored and hardly will touch it again. Yet, a simple pot and spoon may entertain him for 30 minutes! It can be exhausting trying to keep him entertained and happy so I am so thankful my mother-in-law gave me this new book. It is called "The Toddlers Busy Book" by Trish Kuffner, and I have found all of the ideas work so far!! Bub loves to figure things out. He will watch me flip a switch and then mimic me by doing the same thing. This morning he found his toenail clippers and went to my feet and tried to clip my nails for me :) So one of the ideas she had in the book was to clean a milk gallon out and find assorted things to put in the gallon. Always making sure they can't be swallowed but can be placed through the neck of the carton. She recommended close pins ( which I couldn't find anywhere at the store) so we had some craft sticks and they seemed to work fine for him. You could also use scraps of colored fabric, or small toys for older children. He loved it!! He would put all the sticks in the carton one by one and tip it over to pour them out again. So simple but so fun :)

There are all kinds of great ideas in this book! Most are for an older child but here are some other good ideas.
Take an egg carton and turn it upside down. Poke holes where the eggs set and put in close pins. The child can have fun taking them out and putting them back in.

Yummy finger paints: make up a batch of vanilla pudding and color portions with different colors. Let the child finger paint with it on a plate or highchair tray....this one would be a mess but fun!! You can do the same thing with different flavors of jello!

Take small toys like bugs or frogs and hide them around the yard for a fun scavenger hunt.

Take small toys and tie a string around them. Tape them to a highchair and let baby pull up the toy and throw it back down again...Im going to use this one while im fixing dinner tonight :)

He also loved a game where we would tie a string around a stuffed animal and I would hide it in a couch cushion or under the couch but leaving the string out. He would pull and pull until the toy came loose and would pop free!

Take a long length of rope and place it on the ground in a squiggly line and let your child balance along the rope without falling off.

Just some fun ideas to keep the day busy. If you stay home you know that from 6am-8pm is a REALLY long time to keep a toddler entertained. I would highly recommend this book just to make play fun for both of you again!

All aboard the name train!!!

2011-06-22T15:28:00.000-07:00

I am so excited that my husband got a new job at the railroad! It is going to be such a blessing for our family. I have been trying to nail down a theme for my sons first birthday party and when we heard the news that Daddy is a railroad conductor it pretty much decided the theme for us....TRAINS! So I have begun searching the internet for great ideas. There are a bunch out there. I found a name train that I really wanted to get for him. But it was about $35 and I really just wanted it for a centerpiece....a little expensive. So me and my mom went to hobby lobby and put our brains together. I found all the items I needed for about $8 and then paint was another $2...so grand total...about $10!! And this train will perfectly match his birthday party!

Here is what I started with:

One wooden train premade from hobby lobby
2 wooden cutouts of each letter of Ethan's name.
Two packages of wheels
1 package of hub caps wooden
a package of small wooden dowels
paint colors needed

I painted up all of the parts. I even painted the insides of the wheels and hub caps. This took a little longer than expected so thank goodness Ethan took a longer nap :)

Then I measured up from the bottom of each letter 1/2" and drilled a hole that was slightly larger than my 1/8" dowel rods.

I ran the dowel through both letters making little cars out of each letter set. Then I added the wheels and glued the hub caps onto the ends of the dowels. I am so happy with this cute little train! I think it is going to look great as a centerpiece at his birthday party!

Living Room Evolution

2011-04-28T08:08:00.000-07:00

You know you are a designer when you have only lived in a home for 5 years and have changed your living room 228 times in that five years :) Our living room has changed many times with the same furniture but now we finally got NEW furniture!! Its so wonderful! It was time...the old stuff was falling apart! Here is a look at how the living room looked when we moved in

Notice the trim in the corner where we had replaced the windows in the house and didnt get around to replacing the trim for another year or two. Thats just how housing projects go it seems :) I used to make new pillows for every season and change the picture over the couch as well. Don't have time for that anymore!

Here is a picture of the living room for Fourth of July :) I went to my Aunts house and she supplied me with all these crafty items she made for the fourth...for free! So I came home and decked the house out. Boy I am not missing that 300 lb TV from these pictures. It was so bulky! I didn't want to buy a flat screen at the time but you have so many more options with one!

Now here is the picture we took for the relator. I went through and cleaned out a TON of my crap. I love my stuff but sometimes it just needs to go!

Now for the grand finale!! Here is our new furniture complete with a toy chest ottoman that is already almost packed full! I love this couch because it is comfy, you can clean it, and I don't worry too much about it getting ruined. I will probably redo the living room again when I dont have a child under the age of 10 and get something that tickles my design bone a little more but this works for our life now. Right now all we have to be concerned with is what works for the little man in the house!

You can see our new recessed lighting in this pic...I LOVE IT! Should have done that 5 years ago! And when life gives you a piano, it is the perfect height for a tv! :) This is my Granparents piano that has been handed down to me. It is one of those pieces of furniture that you have to hold onto for life, even if your living room is the size of a shoebox :) Ethan loves it when I play for him!

Here is a floral arrangement I made with flowers partially from the dollar store, and some from Martins 40% off!! I already had the chest which has been the dogs toy chest for years but decided it was time for it to serve a worthy purpose in the home.

Hope you had a good time in our living room! Sure is fun to look back and see how things change...hopefully for the better. Has your living room changed?

Spring time Update!

2011-03-21T08:02:00.000-07:00

As you probably know, we are still trying to sell our house. Any buyers out there???? PLEASE??? I have been going over all the rooms trying to figure out what would help sell it a little better. Since we have had such beautiful weather lately, we have been outside a bunch! I was looking at our back porch and noticing how sad it was looking.

I had some leftover foam from another project and had been looking for something to do with it. It was too small to make cushions with, or was it??? I decided to cut my foam up and see what happened! I cut the foam pieces in half longways and then pieced them together to make a large enough piece for a cushion.

I used my trusty hot glue gun to glue the pieces together.

Then I made the cushion covers and stuffed the foam inside. Are they prefect??? NOPE! Are they good enough for my dogs to get mud all over them this spring? YES!!!

I also made a flower arrangement with flowers from the dollar store. If they blow away, at least it was only about $5 to make it!!!

Heres just a funny picture of Missy under the blind looking outside. I love the shadows around her hair :)

Wiggleworm Baby

2011-01-15T09:13:00.000-08:00

Do you have a wiggly baby? Our little man has become more and more difficult to change the older he gets. Today I was changing his diaper and he almost completely flipped over on me when I raised his legs to wipe! I decided that I would quit fighting him and secure his changing pad! My changing pad came with the security belt....can't say I ever use it...ok-I admit-I cut it off :) I never walk away from him and if he was just secured to the pad what good does that do? It didn't come with any way to secure the pad to the dresser. Now we bought him a beautiful new bedroom set and I was really skeptical about making any marks to the top of his brand new dresser.

I had bought sticky Velcro and of course it never really sticks to what you want it to. It came apart within minutes and I knew that wasn't going to work. So I attached two straps to the backside of the changing pad with my sewing machine.

I used a leftover scrap of pleather...since I knew that stuff is strong! I then attached the straps to the backside of the dresser with two short screws. Yes I had to make holes but I didn't mind since they were on the backside no one will see.

It is SO much more secure now!! He can wiggle away and he won't get anywhere! The cover still fits on it since I put the straps towards the inside of the changing pad leaving plenty of room for the cover to attach to the corners of the pad. Hope this helps some of my new mom friends out there :)

Also I stole an idea from my cousin's nursery...I had an extra scrap of fabric, and instead of looking at the stark white mobile I covered it with matching fabric to the curtains! Looks so custom :)

Sheet Curtains

2011-01-13T14:00:00.000-08:00

My little baby has become such a better napper!!! When I first had him, I swore that people were lying when they said that babies slept all the time...mine didn't!! I am trying to get him used to taking a long nap in the afternoon. If you know us and our house, having too much light is not something you will ever hear me complain about. This is the darkest house I have ever lived in! We have enough windows, I just think that the way the house faces makes for poor natural lighting. But of course, Ethan's room is the brightest room in the entire house. That makes for not so great naps in there. He has really become accustomed to sleeping in his crib which is wonderful, but I just can't lay him down in there for naps because he doesn't get a full rest like he needs (and mom needs :). So I have been trying to think of a way to make inexpensive curtains. I wanted to keep the natural light in there for 98% of the day, but when he naps I wanted to have the option to close the curtains. So the closet searching began. We are not big users of the top sheet on our bed. Whats that for anyway? Its not thick enough to add warmth and its just one more thing that gets rumpled up at the end of the bed by morning. We usually just make the bed without it these days. So we have 5 unused sheets that are just sitting in the closet. I decided to make them into something useful! I took one queen size sheet, measured to both ways. It was longer one way than the other. I took the longest dimension and made that my top and bottom hem. I cut off the top of the sheet so you wouldn't see that.

Then I folded my sheet in half. I cut along that fold.

Then I took one of the pieces and folded it in half again. I also cut along that fold and did this again on my other piece of sheet.

This gave me four pieces. I will admit I would have liked to had more fullness and probably should have quit being stingy and just used one sheet per window...but stingy is how I do it! I then hemmed up any bare edges. For the edges that were already hemmed from the sheet, I just left those alone....less work the better! Then I tried to iron out the "sitting in the closet for 5 years" wrinkles....tried is the key term here. In a perfect world, I would have washed them first and then hung them but who has the time! I remember when I worked at the JCPenney Home Store, I had little old ladies come in and tell me they would wash and iron their sheets every week. WOW. I'm glad that is one tradition that hasn't stuck around. Anyway, I was able to finish one window in about 45 minutes and the next window is on tomorrows to do list.

They look really thin in the picture but actually it cuts the light in half when they are closed. I think this would be a great project if you really like a bedding set but can't afford the way.too.expensive.matching drapes. You could buy the matching sheets and make a set yourself! I almost made my curtains from a really cute stripe sheet set we have, but I couldn't bear to cut them up just yet. I know at places like Big Lots you can buy a queen size sheet set for around $20 or less. My cost for todays project...FARRREEEEEE!!!! I bet we are the only house on the block that has 350 thread count curtains!! Don't be jealous :)

Candlestick Potential

2011-01-04T08:14:00.000-08:00

I saw this candlestick and knew amidst the lovely green paint that this had potential to be cute!!

I spray painted it black to look more like rod iron and used some simple floral wire to tie on the wreath. I keep intending make things up and sell them but I keep liking them too much!! This is another project I think I'm going to end up hanging onto. I can see this sitting at the end of our piano as it is now, or on a fireplace hearth. Its about 2 ft tall so it adds great height! I love these projects that only take about 10 minutes to see the final result :)

Inexpensive picture wall

2011-01-01T14:52:00.000-08:00

Before we had our little bundle of joy, we hired a photographer to capture all of the moments from pregnancy to one year. We chose Amanda Solak because of her beautiful pictures but then once we met her we knew we made the right choice!

http://solak-photography.com/

She is so good with Ethan and has really captured his personality. Having all of these photos is wonderful but it also causes me some stress every time we have another photo shoot....WHERE DO I PUT THEM ALL!!! I have picture frames all over this house now, and I have been going through and changing out pictures each time we get new ones. I have a battle every time I do it though because the one in the frame is so cute, but the one in my hand is SO CUTE!! I wish I could have every one of them hanging up in our house at all times but it might be a touch overwhelming. I have always had a piece of art hanging over the couch in the living room but once we had little man the art became much less important :) I wanted to hang all these wonderful pictures quickly one day so I decided to raid our closet. We had three of the old poster frames with the piece of "plastic glass." I didn't want to go and pay to have mats made for these frames since I wasn't planning on keeping them so I started looking around the house for items. I have so many left over scraps of fabric that I found one that would match the living room decor. I taped it down with masking tape to the cardboard backing. I then framed out the picture with some left over poster board. I think for not spending a dime that the arrangement came out decently.

look at that sweet baby holding his head up at 1 week 5 days!

The shine off that plastic "glass" was terrible!! You can see how the picture looks distorted because you can see yourself in the "mirror." I would always stare at those glossy black plastic frames with a small bit of disgust. I debated spray painting them but didn't even want to spend the money on spray paint for a plastic frame. My mother in law took off this last week for vacation and we decided to go thrift shopping!! We went to a couple of thrift stores and I was keeping my watchful eye out for cute frames. I found 5 frames for $17. You should have seen the beautiful art??? from these puppies ha ha.!

I hurried them home and slapped them down on the garage floor the same day! I have a whole gallon of our trim color paint and started painting them up. I should have primered them since they took three coats and a "that's good enough" attitude from me :) I brought them in and it just happened to be Ethan's nap time!!! He laid down and I RAN!! He usually only sleeps for about 15-30 minutes which just isn't long enough... but today he slept for and hour and a half!! Thank You New Years Party!! I got all of my frames filled and glass cleaned (plus a nice glass cut on my hand) before he woke up. I was trying to hurry since I could tell he was starting to stir, and I broke the glass in one of my frames :( Well that will just have to wait for another day. I was going to splurge and buy matting for these frames but I really liked my fabric so I just kept it. I first tape up the long ends to the cardboard backing of the picture frame.

Then fold up the ends like a Christmas package and tape them down.

Then I taped down my poster board with my picture centered on the front. I may eventually splurge and buy a mat for this large picture frame....maybe :)

So anyway, I laid them all out on the floor and tried to decide on an arrangement. That is always so hard for me! My mother in law had a picture frame just like one I bought and I was trying to work it into the arrangement by substituting that black frame in there. I just couldn't make it work!!

I am such a symmetrical person. I really tried to have them asymmetrical but I just couldn't do it . This is the arrangement I decided on.

I got them all hung up and now I just have to clean up my mess!!

Before:

After +$17 !!

Seeing them like this I really do like them both!

Skating through life

2010-12-30T15:45:00.000-08:00

My mom had told me one day "if you ever see a pair of skates while your out and about, BUY THEM!" She had seen a skate decorated for the season and really wanted to make one for herself. Well I was at a thrift store one day and saw this brand new pair of skates for $7! I was so excited. I brought them home and decorated one for me and one for mom. I just used branches, pine needles and some berries. Mom had bought some jingle bells on a stick that we had to pry out of little man's hands but once we did they give a great jingle to my boot. Right now I have it hanging on a door knob but it will become a front door decoration once we move. I know its a little late for Christmas decorations but when you don't get around to a project until Christmas day that's what happens :)

I'm Distressing!!

2010-12-23T15:03:00.000-08:00

I was driving down the road the other day and saw a pile of junk by the side of the road. There was a free sign by it. JACKPOT!! I turned that car around so fast it would have made your head spin! :) I found a little wooden shelf in need of some help. But hey, it was FREE!!

I brought it home and began painting. The poor thing had been badly spray painted a goldish metallic horror. It was quite wobbly. I didn't imagine that just a coat of paint would fix that so I actually took it all apart, painted it, and put it back together with wood glue and screws. I painted it the same color as our trim, kinda creamy color. Then I did my first ever distressing job. That is really fun!! There is nothing like getting something all painted and taking a big ole piece of sandpaper to it! I couldn't be happier with how it turned out! I was actually planning on selling it until I dressed it up for the picture and fell in love with the idea of having all my cookbooks on it! I have always had them on the counter in a basket but this is so much tidier!

Shiny Helpful Hint

2010-12-02T12:27:00.000-08:00

I have really come around to loving a clean home! When I was younger, I remember my mother trying to get me to pick up my room. She would ask "don't you feel better when your room is clean?" I would always answer "no!" I was never a slob, but I was a typical teenager. As I have grown older, I have begun to see the mess that before was hidden from my eyes. It seems that once it is your own house you see the mess. When its someone else's house, you can walk by a mess and never see it. Now, I would never ever claim that I have a tidy house at all times. I find many days that I have the house completely spotless and one act, like cooking dinner, can completely undo a whole days work. My husband also has so many items that he brings home with him that land on the kitchen table every night like his hat, name tag, and keys. As you know, once items find a place to land they begin to multiply. More and more items seem to be drawn to that spot and before you know it the whole house is in shambles again. My new philosophy: have one- three rooms that you can keep up with and forget the rest!

About two years ago we remodeled our bathroom. This is one of my "clean rooms". Thank goodness (your thinking).

Before:
Yes I know you are loving the olive green counter top and the terrible green paint on the walls....
You may be wondering "why would you ruin such a masterpiece by remodeling???" haha this bathroom made you want to cry every time you walked into it!

AFTER!!!

Ahhh can you hear the angels singing? The best news was that we did this whole remodel with about $800....best $800 I have ever spent.

I was always cleaning that room because I wanted it to stay new FOREVER! I love that "new bathroom smell" :) After only about three weeks, I noticed the brand new faucet was showing water spots. It is a brushed nickel faucet that we splurged a little on. I wanted it to look brand new still!! I tried Windex...didn't touch the spots. I tried cleaner....didn't help at all. It would always look great when it was wet and when it dried it would be spotty. I hate spots!! I finally found the spot cure...Baby Oil! You just get a paper towel or rag, douse it in oil, and wipe it down. You would think it would leave the surface oily but it doesn't!

So for all of you out there with Christmas guests on their way, you don't have to fear any longer! They won't have to see your spotty faucet, and Christmas will be saved :)

New Chandelier and Christmas ideas

2010-11-26T08:48:00.000-08:00

Well I hope everyone had a wonderful Thanksgiving! It really seemed like the holidays snuck up on me this year. Usually I am prepared, but not this year! I have been thinking of hosting Christmas at my house for my side of the family, but it is always such a huge production I just am still not sure if im up to it with a 4 month old! I am so excited to have decorated for Christmas anyway!

With this being little mans first Christmas I knew, no matter what, we had to have a Christmas tree up in the house! Our living room has a shrinkage problem and there was NO place to put the tree this year, so the tree got ostracized to the dining room. It is a little cramped but still looks beautiful. I love walking by and seeing those sparkly lights. This year was the first year I have used decorators mesh. I LOVE that stuff!! It really fills the tree in without a whole bunch of ornaments. I love the color themed trees, but I have so many ornaments with memory attachments that I still have a somewhat miss matched tree. I love it though. We have an ornament from our honeymoon in Maui and one from our recent trip to Dixie Stampede and so many more. I love looking at the memories. This year I found the cutest candy ornaments from the dollar store. I may have to keep little man from trying to eat those next year!

Mom and I went to a cute gift shop that specializes in Christmas arrangements. We found one with this bird that we loved...but didnt love the price! So we looked it over and came home to make something similar. It is mounted on a big piece of hand-picked bark...thank you hunny!

I decked out my new dollar store arrangement for the holidays too :)

Its beginning to feel a lot more like the holidays around here. Possibly because you can't feel your toes when your outside now :) I decided to get one last project in before the winter weather hits. I went to the Habitat for Humanity restore and found the ugliest GOLD chandelier. I knew it had "good bones" as they say and it was only $5. So I searched around for some glass globes there in the restore and also even found black spray paint for $1. So I left with all my goodies and ran home to start painting. I hate how excited I get because I always forget to take before pictures!! About halfway through the project I remember.

Well you all have seen the brassy gold fixtures...this one was just that ugly. Now I love it! It really adds to the dining area. Heres the before picture with the light fixtures that are up close to the ceiling and yes....have the glass bowl with the wheat on it...ugh!

and After!

After this one went so well I also did the one in our adjoining laundry room to match

Loving it for $10!! I am becoming the $10 queen and thats ok by me :)

heres a little better picture..

2010-11-19T21:22:00.000-08:00

Stealing from the Dollar Store...ok it feels like stealing cuz its so cheap!

2010-11-19T15:42:00.000-08:00

So I have to admit, I stole this idea :) I have been reading Thrifty Decor Chicks blog and she mentioned these candle holders that she found at the Dollar Tree!! First of all, Dollar Tree is quite possibly the best dollar store around! This is where I have bought almost all of our Christmas decorations since "everything is just a dollar!" I remember when we were first married in our new home, I was dying to have the Christmas of the magazines on a college student budget (so thankful to be done with that part of my life by the way). I went to Dollar tree and was in LOVE. They have so many things that, with a personal added touch, look so good! Anyway... back to the candle holders. She said "run don't walk!" to get one of these glass candle holders and a glass candlestick to make a beautiful hurricane lamp! So that's exactly what I did. The next day despite a sore throat ( you have to go for deals no matter what!) I ran to the store and picked up THE LAST candle holder. I set it carefully in my cart and guarded my new possession (hands off!!!). Me and little man then went to the park where Aunt Debbie had found some great wild Missouri pecans. I picked up a whole bagful...little man just went right along with me each time I bent down. That's quite a workout now that he is getting so big. So we raced home (well after a quick stop down the road to get my cell phone from off the top of my car...oooops got lucky there!!) He decided to take a nap so I started to assemble my treasure. I had found the last large candle holder but there were many of the small candle holders of the same shape. All I did was hot glue the glass candlestick to the bottom of the large candle holder and wallah!! Beautiful arrangement for $9 silver tray included :) I made the mossy decorative balls also included in that price. I just am so happy every time I walk past this!!

I really wish I could figure out how to make the flash on my camera not make everything look ghostly.

Saving money is the name of the game, and I really enjoy doing it. Here lately I have started paying all our bills online. Saving that stamp is even exciting!

Next project may include a little more money. I need idea help if your willing! Our couch cushions have cracked and they basically drive me crazy!

Here is my inspiration:

The frame of our couch is in good condition and the arms are ok so I'm thinking of making large pillows for the back cushions?? Some kind of fabric that brings together the recliner, ughhh which I hate the look of but I sit in more that I would like to admit, and the "leather" of the frame. So do you think it would look weird if I left the seat cushions leather? Just trying to save myself some fabric cost...and time :) I am planning on using the stuffing from the existing cushions to stuff my new pillows to also save on cost a little. Let me know what you think!

Curtains anyone????

2010-11-07T13:20:00.000-08:00

Since I have graduated with my Bachelors degree in interior design, I have been itching to design! It truly is what I love to do. I am so blessed to be able to stay home with my son and have some time to create things for our own home. But as I was searching for things to decorate my nursery with, I discovered that there aren't very many styles of curtains out there for the little folk! I ended up making curtains for my sons room and was very happy with how they turned out. I got to thinking....maybe everyone else out there is also frustrated with the curtain market? So I made a few things, and we will see how much interest it generates. I would be glad to meet with you and create your own perfect curtain design for your child's room...or whatever room you would like help with. Sometimes you can't buy the perfect look, you must create it!

I understand now why little girls clothes and decorations are more abundant...they are just so much fun to make! First I made a balloon shade of hot pink fabric and a sweet rose print fabric for the ties. You can adjust this shade to whatever length you prefer. This is a light filtering shade meaning that it will not completely block out light like a blind would. The dimensions are 28-42" wide. You can adjust the width by either gathering it at the top or leaving it flat. The length is also adjustable by tying the bows either higher or lower. The longest length you could get would be about 48" still giving it a gather at the bottom. The balloon shade goes for $30.

The next design could be for a baby's room or it could also go for the teenage girl. I made these panels with a bright color block pattern at the bottom. The stripes are pink/orange/lime green. The pair of panels go for $40. If you are interested, I could repeat the stripes in a valance to accent the panels. The dimensions are 43" x 84" each panel.

I am selling on Craigslist for now and plan to get an Etsy account as well! If you are interested in one of these items, or in creating your own personal design just let me know!!

Notes that are fun to look at

2010-11-03T15:42:00.000-07:00

When I was remodeling our office, I was searching for extremely inexpensive items to decorate with. I could have gone out and spent a ton of money but it is almost more fun to have a challenge! I created the fabric boxes to hide our clutter and wanted something to match them for the wall decoration. Well Martha Stewart always has the answer! Martha is one of those people that you either love or hate. I personally LOVE her!! If I could spend just a summer with her, I would be so happy!! She does it all. She runs many businesses but still manages to keep her old fashioned ideas of keeping a happy home. I love that she even has the perfect way to wash a window. If I ever want a really great craft idea, I just open one of her books. There seems to be a great idea on every page! I found this note board in one of her books.

I adapted it so that I could do it a little more affordably. I simply purchased 1/4 yard of 4 colors of the cheapest fabric I could find. Then I purchased 1/2 yard of the "base" fabric (the color I wanted to see most). Then I purchased a piece of foam core. I simply ironed the hem into the top of each strip of fabric and overlapped them on the front of the foam core. I put pins into the foam core through each of the colors to hold them in place while I flipped the entire piece over. I hot glued the fabric to the back making sure to pull it tight. I hot glued some of the strips down on the front as well making fake pockets. I bought pieces of paper that matched my color theme and made cards to put on my note board. Since it is foam core you can put pins in it for real notes too. This probably cost me $5 all together!! A great cheap piece of art :)

Laughs and giggles

2010-10-28T20:55:00.000-07:00

There is just something special about a baby smile that immediately melts your heart. There have been many times that I have been rushing along at the grocery store and look down to see my baby just grinning from ear to ear!! I immediately go into that high pitched baby talk and try to make him squirm with laughs. He hasn't laughed out loud yet, but I am so looking forward to that day!! I don't think I could ever get tired of seeing him smile at me. There is also a certain joy of seeing how happy it makes other people when he smiles. I was in the grocery store and just talking away to Ethan like we do at home, when a lady passed by. I could feel that she had turned around to look at the baby in the carseat, and when she saw his big smile she started to laugh herself. What an effect!! To be able to make others happy with a simple expression is quite a gift. Family members love making Ethan smile, and you almost feel a sense of accomplishment when you get him to. I love to watch family members making the funniest faces at him trying to get that one little grin. What is it about a baby that makes you not care what you look like for that moment? I hear myself talking to him whenever we are out in public and think...wonder if this looks funny? But I really dont care. He is my world, and he likes to hear me talk to him so why would I care what that stranger thinks?

Since I have been home with him I have found that my stress level has decreased dramatically! Of course, there is some stress when he is having a crying time that I can't seem to fix immediately, but overall I feel like a much more sane person. I find myself being able to laugh so much easier these days! I will read a funny article and just laugh out loud! Before I was always guarded with my emotions and would only let out a proper chuckle, but now I just feel free to let loose a good laugh! I think baby smiles are the answer to lifes problems. Wouldnt it be a better world if we all could innocently smile? I think of little Ethan and how he thinks this world is so funny. I wish we all could look at the world through an infants eyes :)

Hiding life's unsightly truths

2010-10-27T10:03:00.000-07:00

We have been trying to sell our home since our new addition has arrived. We have three bedrooms but still the house doesnt seem to have enough room to support all of us. Before Ethan arrived we had "our bedroom," "my bedroom," and "Justin's bedroom." When I found out I was pregnant, we debated on who had to give up "their" room :) My room was bigger, and I knew that little person was going to require a ton of stuff! So we created the nursery in there. I was really happy with how it all turned out on the limited decorating budget. We decided to go with beautiful conversion furniture that cost more up front but should last him until he leaves our nest. His crib will convert into a full size bed and his dresser/changing table will become a storage place for all his goodies. When we moved into this house, I began taking it one room at a time as far as decorating goes. I was pretty happy with the kitchen, our room, bathrooms, and now nursery...but one bedroom remained. Our office was in shambles! It had collected all of the unsightly items thrown from the other rooms. I would walk in there and think....ugh what do I do?

We have limited furniture in the office. We have a desk that was given to us that I had painted. We also have two black $15 bookcases that were starting to overflow with junk! Yet, most of the junk we wanted to keep. I have a bunch of art supplies that will come in handy for rainy days with a toddler, and Justin has all of his fishing equipment. The bookcases looked terrible so I decided to inexpensively give them a face lift. I have seen fabric organizational boxes at stores but you usually have to spend at least $10-$20 per box/basket. I really didnt want to go out and drop $50-80 on baskets so I decided to make some! I bought 3 yards of fabric for about $17.. I also bought a roll of iron on hem tape that was about $2 and 5 sheets of posterboard $3. Now I decided to use poster board because I just needed a little bit of firmness for the sides of my boxes so they look pretty. If you really want these to hold up to use, I would use cardboard. If I would have had cardboard laying around, I probably would have used it!

First I cut out my piece of posterboard. To get the size I needed I measured the space I wanted to

fit the box in. One of my spaces was 11x9. I measured the height...about 8". So I made the middle piece 11x9 and the side pieces 8" high by either 11" or 9" all out of one piece of posterboard.

Next I laid out my fabric under the posterboard and pushed a pin down into the carpet to hold it while I cut around the posterboard. On the small sides I cut right to the poster board except for a 1" allowance at the top of the soon to be side. I left about 2" all the way around the large sides for hemming with.

Now I ironed the fabric and assembled the box with simple painters tape/masking tape. As you can see my poster board wasnt big enough so I added a piece and taped it on as well.

Now to add the fabric. I placed the box down on in the middle of the fabric and brought up the fabric on the sides. You cut a piece of hem tape the length of your box side and lay it on the inside rim of the box. You bring your fabric up and fold it over the edge of the box on top of the hem tape. Now iron that in place. Repeat this step on each of the four sides.

Now to finish the four corners of the box. I had cut extra fabric on the long sides of the box so you take that piece and fold it under to create a hemmed look. Take another piece of hem tape and place that under the folded edge and iron it down to the end of the box. Sorry my camera wouldnt take a very good picture of this. You can kind of see the edge of the fabric on this box corner. Repeat on all four corners and any loose fabric can be glued down with fabric glue.

These boxes only took me about 15 minutes to make and they really enhanced our bookcase by hiding our clutter!!

Heres the before picture..

and heres after!! No more takle boxes!!!

With the 3 yards of fabric I was able to make 4 large boxes. I didnt take the time to line them but it would be easy to do!

So here is my office makeover. I will be sharing how to make the note board next time. Now how to cover those unsightly computer cords??? But for now Ethan needs me to come rescue him from the swing :)

Its already beginning to look alot like Christmas!

2010-10-20T14:18:00.000-07:00

I wanted to begin a blog just to share thoughts about life and ideas for the home that I come across with family and friends. I am hoping that you find inspiration and maybe a smile or two from our experiences in the Gage home. We brought little Ethan Wayne home in August and life has taken a very busy but wonderful turn. I want him to have the most wonderful childhood that I can possibly give him. He has already made our lives so full of meaning, and I want him to always know that he was number 1 on my priority list. For the last two months, I have only been away from him for all of maybe 3 hours. During those hours, all I did was think about my little man. I had left him with Daddy so I could go to a Dr appointment. I saw all the women with their babies that never seemed to be around before I had my own child. I am amazed at how many kids I see now! I look at two year olds and wonder "is Ethan going to be that much of a handful?!" He already is proving to be somewhat of a handful. He is the most well tempered baby if you are holding him. The minute I set him down he seems to know that Mommy isn't as close as he needs me to be :) So usually I hold the little guy most of the day and the minute Daddy gets home he gives my shoulders and back a much needed break. That is when I try and have a little creative time just for me....along with getting the house picked up and doing the laundry that looms (least favorite chore).

This week I have really been getting into the holiday mood. I have been looking through cookbooks and planning new treats that I want to spoil my little family with. Whenever we get out, I love to look down all the holiday isles that are bursting with beautiful treasures. We were a lowes and I found these beautiful spiral topiaries that I could just imagine on either side of our front door. I flipped over the price tag and about flipped over myself! $118 each!!! Even if we were super rich, I cant imagine spending that kind of dough on a holiday decoration!! I decided to make my own version....so the shopping began. I price compared everywhere and found the best garland at lowes for $10 each. Then holiday ornaments at the dollar store amounted to $16. The base is a flower pot I found on clearance for $5 each at Walmart and spray painted them for about $4. The stick in the middle required a family outing to Me Maw and Paw Pa's woods and Daddy even climbed up a dead cedar tree for just the right stick :) He is such a good husband. I had the Christmas lights already so the total project cost about $55 for two topiaries...I can stand $27 a piece...much better!!!