Crafty/Organizational Attempt

Decorating has never been my strong point, which is obvious when you look at my bare walls. I have this odd, deep-rooted feeling that decor has to be functional. I've noticed a whole lotta numbers when I look through the Pottery Barn catalog, so after months of thinking about it, I finally decided to just go for it.

Here is what I did:

• I chose a font in photoshop, enlarged each number, then printed them *mirror-image* on some scrapbook paper.
• I cut the numbers out, then distressed the edges with walnut ink.
• I mod-podged the numbers onto the TRONES shoe storage from IKEA.

We use the shoe cabinets to hold the boys' backpacks because there just isn't any room in the closet. I use the shelf about the cubbies for library books because we recently lost a library book and had to purchase it. (Which kind of defeats the purpose of going to the library, doesn't it?)

Last Day of School 2010

For an entire 2.5 hours, Harrison will be celebrating his last day of school. . . at school. I'm not sure why he has had to go to school for the last 3 days, for half a day, unless all they needed were warm bodies in the building to mark off that last '180th' day checkmark. Either way, he is pretty excited. Harrison kept asking me, "Has summer started yet?" Meaning, summer vacation, of course.
Zane's last day was actually on Thursday. He had a nifty kindergarten graduation, complete with Pomp and Circumstance, along with B-I-N-G-O and a new song Who let the 'A' Out! A-A-A-A-A! (That song had 26 verses, if you catch my drift.) Here he is, pondering life as a 'cool' 1st Grader.
My Zaner, with his trademark Popeye wink, on his last day of Kindergarten.
On a crafty note, I made these boxes for the boys to give to their teachers on the last day of school. You can read the tutorial HERE. Amazingly clever idea! Both cute and functional.
The boxes were complete with hand sanitizer, office essentials, and chocolate! The boys made a great transition to their new school and I know their teachers did an amazing job making them feel welcome.

Crafty Attempt

How do you turn this

into this?

Believe it or not with permanent fabric paint and freezer paper! See the tutorial HERE.

Crafty Attempt

Thanks to a recent blog find, Crap I've Made, I have been introduced into the wonderful world of applique'. It is so much fun, so cute, and so easy!

Hey (whistle) Fancy Pants!

I saw a pair of these knit pants on Alissa's blog and instantly fell in love. She provided a link to a pattern, so I forwarded it to my mom to share the cuteness. My mom is a knitting phenom, whose skills must skip generations because I didn't inherit any of those genes. I just have vague memories of her trying to teach me to knit. I chose to knit a swimming suit for my Barbie. Surprisingly enough, it didn't turn out. (Seriously? Knit a swimming suit? What was my 9 year old brain thinking?) I put those needles down, hopped on my brother's BMX bike instead and so ended my knitting career.

Yesterday, these arrived in the mail.

These knit pants are so soft and cuddly. Who can resist that little diaper-bum? Abric loves them. I love watching him romp around the house because he is just so darn cute!
Just another plug for my mom. She crocheted this blessing gown for my niece, Gracie, who will be blessed this weekend in Utah. We wish we could be there and can't wait to see pictures of little Gracie in this darling dress.
Does anyone else think my mom needs to open an Etsy shop?

Decorating Easter Eggs

Harrison has been begging me all week to color Easter Eggs. Andy has been working a lot in order to catch up from our vacation, so he hasn't been home much. But, luckily, business seems to keep coming in, even with this crazy economy. We have definitely been watched over!!! Anyway, I decided to wing it by myself to help the boys color eggs. They actually did really well w/o any major messes!
Ewan showed off his blue egg. I think he must have a favorite color now and it must be blue because he wanted to color every egg blue. I tried directing him to yellow, red, purple, or green, but he wouldn't sway. This was the first year that Zane did a lot of the coloring by himself. I just helped him put a rubber band around his egg, if he wanted one. (Tip: those thick rubber bands that come on broccoli are GREAT for making a big stripe around the middle of your easter eggs.)
Here is Harrison showing off his striped egg. He was in egg-heaven and was so happy that we had finally gotten everything together to color the eggs.

Finally!

So, I'm either really late for Christmas 2007, or just very prepared for Christmas 2008. (I'll stick with the latter.)

I got this idea for an advent calendar from my friend, Rebecca's, blog. I thought it was so cute and so easy! Click HERE for the link to the instructions. The advent calendar is made out of the wedding favor tins by Wilton.

I'm so excited to use these for next year's Christmas and to put my own little surprises in each tin for the boys. I'm also so happy that I finally finished it.