They were serving as storage for random electronics and serving platters. Probably not stuff that you’d want a curious toddler getting into.

What’s also slightly concerning is that the paint inside the cabinets has been peeling away. Probably not good to have random paint chips floating around a playroom either. 

This was an easy fix. I picked up some “easy liner” from Lowes and cut out the appropriate shape to fit into the build-in shelf. After I got one shape the size I needed, I just used it as a template for the rest of the shelves. (Notice my little one engrossed in her new toys in the background?)

After all the lining had been placed, the toys were next! 

Adelyn was as excited as I was about the new toy organization.

It primarily serves as an office but will soon be transformed into a playroom. However, a playroom with hardwood floors is not very fun for babies learning to crawl and walk. I looked into getting a rug around 10×12 feet big and was floored by the cost of one. (No pun intended… ok, so maybe it was intended.) Anyway, I wasn’t about to shell out $500+ bucks for a rug. No way, Jose.

After gabbing on the phone with my mom about my floor dilemma, she suggested looking into getting a carpet remnant for the spot. Huh- hadn’t thought of that.

A few days later, Adelyn and I headed out to Stovers Carpet to check out the stock. I was floored (hehe) by the massive amount of remnants they had available!

After some major hunting, I found one that was 8×10 feet for close to $100.00. Score! There was an additional charge of $40 for binding up the edges so that it wouldn’t fray. This was optional but since my little lady wants to put anything and everything in her mouth right now, I didn’t think loose carpet pieces would be a good idea.

What’s even better is that my parents bought it for us as a Christmas present for Adelyn! Double Score!

So a few days later, this guy showed up at our house. It has cozied up the room so much.

We also installed these gates to 1) keep the dogs off our new rug and 2) to keep the child corralled when she starts moving around.

OK so maybe #1 isn’t fully implemented yet.

But we are oh-so-happy with our cozy playroom in the making.

When my blogging buddy, Rachel, offered me these decorative balls, I snatched them up with this idea in mind.

I used this vase that was recycled from an arrangement of flowers we received when Adelyn was born.

Here’s a snapshot of the final product. Quick. Easy. Thrifty. That’s my kind of Christmas decorating!

It’s been a process but I’ve gotten to know my friend, Photoshop, a bit more and more. What’s funny though is that I really didn’t know how to edit pictures. I could make fun graphics but if someone wanted me to actually edit a picture, I would head straight to iphoto and do my typical edits.

All this changed when I discovered a tool in Photoshop called “Actions.”

What are actions you may ask? Actions are simply a means to record all the commands used to generate an effect in Photoshop for re-application later.

What I discovered is that people who are skilled in the Photoshop have posted their “actions” online for downloading. So all I have to do is download them and with a click of a button, their edits are applied to my picture!

Here are some examples of actions I applied to a picture of Chauncey.

Here is the original picture I took of him a few days ago.

Here are some of the actions I applied.

All of these were done with one click!

I’m excited about the potential this brings to my photo editing.

It started with a plain, foam wreath that I got 40% off at Hobby Lobby. You only need a glue gun and lima beans after that! I started hot gluing one bean at a time on my wreath. It’s a great project to do in front of the TV or with in the midst of a crowd.

They might think you are a little crazy (like my husband did) by attempting to hot glue that many lima beans to a wreath but if you can handle the criticism, it’s fun to do around people.

It is a bit monotonous but it really didn’t take as long as I thought it would.

After all the beans were glued on, I primed it with my favorite spray paint primer (Kilz) and then gave it another coat of white spray paint.

Add a lovely Christmas ribbon and you’re done!

If I could go back and do this again, I would have spray painted the wreath before gluing the beans on. I don’t like how I can still see green underneath. I also would have taken more time to pick off the hot glue remnants. Those seemed to show up more when spray painted. From far away it didn’t look too bad though.

Overall, I like it… from far away. Just don’t look too close.

Now if only I could find a place to put it in my house!

I have found a new favorite sweet potato recipe. I stumbled on Tracey’s Culinary Adventures and this recipe caught my eye. Because it involved boiling balsamic vinegar, it started off really stinky. In fact, Austin vacated the kitchen. The stench was well worth it. I don’t think I will make sweet potatoes any other way for a while. Enjoy!

Roasted Balsamic Sweet Potatoes
from Bon Appetit, April 2007 (via Epicurious)

1/4 cup balsamic vinegar
1 tablespoon packed light brown sugar
4 tablespoons (1/2 stick) unsalted butter
1 teaspoon kosher salt
3 large sweet potatoes, peeled and cut into 1 1/4-inch pieces

Preheat oven to 400 F.

Set a large skillet over medium heat. Add the balsamic vinegar and brown sugar and bring to a boil, stirring to help the sugar dissolve. Reduce the heat and simmer until the vinegar thickens and is slightly syrupy. Add the butter and salt and stir until the butter is melted and incorporated. Add the potatoes to the pan and toss to coat them with the vinegar mixture. Season the potatoes with freshly ground black pepper then transfer them to a rimmed baking sheet. Spread in a single layer. Bake for 30-40 minutes, or until the potatoes are tender and golden, stirring occasionally.

Simple. Easy. Most likely unnecessary. But oh-so-cute!

I made a mad dash to Hobby Lobby to see what I could find. All of their Christmas decor is 50% off so I snagged this cute stocking for $5.00.

Using my new Silhouette machine, I was able to personalize it by using a heat transfer graphic. It was so easy… I just typed her name into the program, mirrored it,  and sent it to the Silhouette. It cut her name in to the fuzzy vinyl and I just ironed it on!

This was my first attempt at using the heat transfer tools and I couldn’t be more pleased with how it turned out!