The Weekend Review (or, What I Did On My Weekend Vacation)

After living here for two years, we finally decided to tackle our yard.  I mean TACKLE.  We aren't gardeners.  I have the opposite of a green thumb (a red one?).  But we were afraid our neighbors would call someone to report our disgraceful display of landscapery.  So we did a little planting.  (we're planning on just doing a bit at a time - we don't want to bite off more than we can chew.)  We thought the front bed would take us 1/2 day - tops.  So.  That's what our yard looked like on Saturday morning.  And it continued to look like that all weekend long, as we moved rocks, replaced ground cover, weeded, dug up the prickly bush and pruned that huge green monster there.  

mr used his muscles and helped me plant a bunch of bushy flowery things.  (Yep, very technical, I know.)  

Here's our itty bitty lilac.  It's a "tinkerbell".

That is my very first EVER plant that I have planted (minus the tomatoes last summer.  I don't know if that counts.  I had lots of help.  Thanks, Mom.)


We aren't even done yet.  So, this turned into a loooong project.  No surprise there.


On a side note, did you know that in order to get blue hydrangeas, you have to mix this into your soil?

I thought they just came like that.

Operation Organization, Take 6. (html, grumble, grumble...)

You’re probably thinking, “man.  She’s not organizing anything anymore.  Lame.” Or something of the sort.  Or maybe you’re thinking, “huh.  She fell off the organization bandwagon.” Or some such phrasing.  OR, you could be thinking, “She has no idea at all what I’m thinking, does she?”  Which is most likely more accurate than the first two, but oh well.

Truth is, I did not post my organization project from last week because I didn’t get it done last week.  I started it.  I had every intention of finishing it.  But it got away from me, as so many of my ideas do.

I did finish it today.  But, the pictures and post documenting it are, sadly, as yet unfinished.  (I’m really not whining here, but I HAVE been sick lately.  Sick, sick, sick.  Sinus, cold, allergies, etc.  So I’ve been sleeping a lot.  Which is why I feel like I’m behind on my self-appointed due dates.) 

BUT, I do have some organizational things to discuss, as quite a large portion of my waking moments this week have been devoted to organizing my blog a bit.  You’ll notice that I have an extra column over there on the left now.  I set that up so I could include a few more ideas, like my “inspiration board,” my “library,” and my “button jar.”  They are pretty self-explanatory, really, but you know I’ll explain them anyway.

On my inspiration board I plan on putting up a pretty little picture of something that inspires me at the beginning of each week.  This could be a link to a tutorial or crafty idea from someone else’s blog that I’d like to try (and just might) or something cute and homemade I came across via my friends or family.  Or maybe some other inspirational image I find provocative.  It’ll probably just depend on my mood.  The library right there below is, you guessed it, some good reads.  I’ve linked to some of my favorite bloggers and the top two images are books bug and I are currently reading (although maybe not together...).  If you want more info on them, they are actually links that will take you to amazon where you can read the synopsis and buy them.  I’m not affiliated with any of these blogs or amazon or anything... just trying to share some things I enjoy.  And below that you’ll find my button jar, and I’ll just let you look there at the fun buttons - which are also links to different blogs, but I’m sure you know that.  Just consider me an over-explainer.

I also added a linked button up there on the menu called “takin a crack craft at it.”  (ha ha...) because I realized I had pages for everything I do - cooking, sewing, scrapping, refurbishing - EXCEPT crafts.  I was finding that a lot of what I do didn’t fall into those other categories and should, perhaps, be easily found as well.  So my crafty items are now all in one place, like my other items.  I guess if I want to have a button for EVERYTHING I do, I should probably add some more.  Like “singing in the shower,” and “wiping lots of boogers,” and “stinky diaper clean-up.”  But I’m not at all convinced you’re interested in any of that.  

Anyway, that about does it for the explanation.  I also added some things to the pages so they are all updated now, and I redid the titles... you know, so they’re more personalized.  Hope you like it.  

And don’t worry, the real “Operation Organization” post for this week, AKA LAST week will be up soon, and boy - it’s a doozy.  You’ll either be laughing at my ridiculousness or wondering what the heck I was thinking while you shake your head and mark me down as an embarrassment to the craft community at large.  Or maybe you already HAVE done that, in which case, you won’t be surprised at ALL by what you read.  Either way, it’s a crazy one.

Oh, and PS.  I hate html.  Is anyone with me on this?  The slightest > or “ can change things from something like this 

(image here)

into something like this.  

(Image here)

I don’t understand it and I never will.  I’ve tried my hardest to make my blog into something pretty that I can be proud of... and sometimes that requires staying up until all hours trying to fix the stupid buttons you broke when you redesigned them.  Anyway, it’s all good now.  No thanks to html which apparently thinks that this kind of space is way different than this  kind of space.  Yeah.  I know.

Things my Two-Year-Old Taught Me: Part X

There is nothing funnier than hearing your two year old announce to the play date at the park: “Oh no!  I forgot it!  I forgot my wallet.  It in the spaceship.”  Unless it’s hearing your two year old announce to all of Walmart (while speaking of the female employee who helped you): “Where she going?  I like girls!”

Hugs should last at least two minutes and involve laying your head on a shoulder, sticky hands, and a big smile.

Hugs should also always end by placing your hands on the other persons cheeks, very softly and gently, and saying, “I love you.”

When you don’t want to do something, such as clean up your toys or sit on the potty, all you have to do is say, “I DON’T clean up.” or “I DON’T sit on potty.” VERY forcibly.  (It doesn’t usually work on moms, but sometimes on dads.)

Never - and I mean NEVER - put the garden hose right up to your face to see why it isn't working.

Reading books is super easy.  All you do is open them up at random, take a quick peek at the picture, say something like “a da ba da la da da!” and turn the page.  Repeat.  

Baths are super fun.  Until it comes time to actually clean yourself.

There is no need to remember manners or rules, unless someone else breaks them.  Then you must remind the other person, preferably loudly AND in public, “We don’t throw, Mommy!” or “You didden say pwease!”

Going potty in the potty should be followed by praise, the potty dance, more praise and high fives - in that order - no matter who just went potty or where you are (i.e. Mommy in the big stall at Target.)

Lip kisses are essential to bedtime well-being.

Mommy is ALWAYS the best.  Unless Oma (Grandma) is around.  

You can totally throw all of the clean clothes that were just folded into a pile on the floor while looking all sweet and innocent and call it “helping.”  This is one I am going to do more often.

Band-aids are absolutely NOT for when you are bleeding.  They are for when you bump your elbow, nick your finger, hit your head, scrape your leg SLIGHTLY or really, just when you want to look cool.

There is nothing cooler than a two year old who can sing all the words to “The Sun Song” by They Might Be Giants.  Unless it is a two year old who can quote Monty Python.

Apparently, all dogs say woof, all cats say meow, all sheep say baaaaa, but all elephants say (holds arm up to nose and waves it around, trunk-style).

Those small, round, chocolate candy coated things?  They are called numanums because they taste so good.

If I’m playing with it, it’s mine.  If you’re playing with it, it’s mine.  If it’s lying on the ground completely forgotten and then you pick it up, it’s mine.

Apparently, “We haffa be stuck” in our car seats so “we be safe.”

Kisses really can make everything all better.

Yipes, Stripes!

In keeping with the ode to paint this week that will hopefully boost my creativity and drive so that all of our painting wishes come true this summer, I present to you, my guest bath.  You saw it already in this post here about the lame curtain I made.  (Lame, but it does the trick and is the right colors.  So, I’m ok with lame for now.)

I feel I should tell you that this bathroom is by no means complete.  Last fall I painted.  And bought new towels (because nothing says bathroom redo like new towels do!).  Oh, and hung mr’s picture.  But that’s all I did.  

There’s more to come.  Someday there will be new fixtures and new lighting and seashell accessories and a fun mosaic frame around that ginormous mirror.  Someday.  Don’t you love someday?  It’s such a beautiful and perfect place... We are working on a shoestring budget here.  I'm sorry.  Did I say shoestring?  It's a lot more like a velcro budget.  

Not the best pictures, after all, it IS a bathroom.  It’s not all that big either, and no windows to boot.

I painted it all a satin creamy white color (something like English Cream or English Cottage or English Toffee... wait.  That last one doesn’t seem right.  Toffee?  Isn’t that brown?  Well you get the idea).  Then I taped off the lines and painted them some Caribbean sea inspired colors.  Something like Caribbean Sea and Lagoon Blue.  You know the ones.  I used glossy so they’d pop. 

The lines were hard.  I didn’t know what I was doing, I’ll admit.  (like I ever do...)  I had seen it on HGTV - of which I watch way too much and get way too many way too big ideas.  It’s how I get in over my head - and I knew I wanted it.  I used a level and a yard stick and drew straight lines.  I taped them meticulously.  (that part took forever) What I didn’t know was that you are supposed to peel off the tape when the stripes are still a little tacky.  Whoops.  AND it helps to go over the tape with the wall color and let it dry before you paint the lines within the tape parameters.  It seals the tape, see?  Well, I wish I’d known that then, so I wouldn’t have ended up with smuginess that I still, to this day, have not quite fixed.  It looks ok, it’s really not THAT bad - but it bugs me to no end.

I’m still happy with the colors and the stripe idea, though.

Oh, and that shower curtain?  Funny story.  That was one of the only things that mr and I agreed on right away without debate or persuasion when we were using those fun little scanner guns.   We found it at Bed Bath and Beyond and when no one got it off our registry, we were kind of disappointed and resolved to go and get ourselves.  Well, they didn't have it anymore.  So we asked if any other stores in the area had it.  They did not.  So we made them call corporate and ask if any stores in the COUNTRY had it.  (No, I'm not kidding.  That's how obsessed I can get.)  And they said no, it wasn't being carried anymore.  BUT, they DID have a solution.  They had a few in some warehouse somewhere so they could ship it to the our store.  When they called us weeks later to tell us it had come in, I was giddy.  With all the excitement of Christmas morning, I carried that precious, long-awaited box in my lap.  When we got home, I ripped the box open - envisioning the perfect, FUN shower curtain hanging in our small and drab basement level apartment (it already seemed so much cheerier just thinking about it) to discover THIS 

shower curtain.  So right then and there, I drove all the way back to the store, gave them the yucky plastic FISH curtain back and demanded my lovely calming island one that was reminiscent of our honeymoon.  Which wasn't calming, by any means, but was still special.  Anyway, they finally did find us the right one and we finally did hang it up in that little bathroom and it finally did make it cheerier.  

So, I really love the curtain but I hated the flowers on it.  So I took a scissors to it.  Yep.  Cut those suckers off.  

Somehow this

 looks like “Tween girl who loves Kris Allen and reads all the Twilight Books because the writing style is like, so deep” 

but THIS 

is like “Relaxing on the beach under a beautiful cabana swaying peacefully in my hammock.”  Right?  Well, I think it makes all the difference.  You can think I’m crazy if you want to.  Go on.  Think it.  I won’t even try to dissuade you.

So there you have it.  Stripes.  Not the most exciting redo, yet, but those stripes have inspired me with an idea for the family room... which will happen later on this summer.  mr doesn’t know it yet, but when he agreed that the family room needed to be painted, he agreed to stripes.  bwah-ha-ha-ha!

PS.  In looking over these photos I realized it's best to clean your bathroom before offering up "after" pictures to be filed throughout all time in the stores of blogistory.  Oops, sorry.

Watch it!

Here’s my second attempt at a toddler wrist watch, based on this post over at MADE.  (Those originals are sold in an etsy shop called Alice in LaLaLand, if you’re interested.) Before we start with my version, I’ve got a few thoughts.  First, you’ll notice that her watches are absolutely a.dor.a.ble.  Seriously.  I know mine aren’t quite up to that level, but I still think they are kind of cute for toddler play.  I mean, cuter than THIS watch, which came in a happy meal: 

 At least I think so.  Coincidentally, this watch was the first tip-off I had of bug’s watch obsession.  When the kid wanders around the family room, surrounded by cars, dinosaurs, blocks and an array of toy goodness, pleading only for you to find his “snail watch,” it’s not like, it’s love.  Second, you’ll also notice that hers are sewn - machine and hand.  Mine are not.  Kind of because I LOVE my glue gun, and kind of because I was lazy when I made them and MOSTLY because I know my limitations and I’m just not that good at sewing.  Thirdly, notice those little embroidery details.  Yeah, I know.  Too cute.  Fourth, um... well.  There isn’t really a fourth.  I just want to make completely sure that you know that I know that my watches certainly don’t hold a candle to hers.  It’s ok, I’m not going to start selling them or anything, I mean they’re just a little dress-up item for my kids.  If you want the adorable ones, you can go to her shop!  If you want to make my not quite so adorable ones for cheap minus the headache of sewing, then read on.

OK.  First, I picked out a button for the watch face.  It had to be big enough to say “watch” without overpowering the toddler-sized wrist it was to go on (remember what happens when we overpower the wrist?  Eeee (insert a face like THIS 

here) (he’s nothing if  not honest...))

So, choose a button.  For bug’s I went plain with a wooden one, but you’ll see in later pictures it looks good with a fun patterned button, too.  

Now, choose your felt.  You’ll probably want two different colors for contrast, but you could use the same color for both felt pieces if you wanted to as well.  It’s all just a matter of preference.  OK, lay your button on the felt to see how wide you’ll need to make the band and the inner piece.  Measure across and keep this number in mind.  Or, you know, write it down if you’ve got a memory like mine.  

To make the inner piece, you’ll want to cut a shape that looks kind of like this:

Make sure that at its widest point it will be just slightly larger than the button so you can see it with the button on top of it.

Now, cut a long-ish strip of the other color for the band.  You’ll want to make it slightly wider than the widest part of the inner felt piece.  OR, if you actually took measurements, unlike me, you won’t have to eyeball it, you can be much more specific.  So, now’s the time to remember that number.  Got it?  No?  Forgot to write it down?  Luckily it isn’t that hard to do this without measurements, huh?

So, now, find the middle part of the strip and hot glue the inner felt piece to the strip.

Pick out some embroidery floss that compliments or matches the colors you’ve already used.  Or just use black because most watch hands are black.  Or you could be all crazy and use a color that doesn’t match on purpose, just cause you’re like that.  I went the complimentary route.  Not because I’m not all rebelious, but because I just happened to be in that kind of mood.  Cut a length of floss.  Cut it a little longer than you think you will need to because you will be tying several knots, and that can get tricky with short floss.  Unless you’re just better at that kind of thing than I am.  Maybe my fingers just aren’t very nimble.  Anyway, now, take your button.  Thread the floss through the button holes, so it crosses them in the back.  Now tie a double knot in the front.  Take one end of the floss and tie another double knot so that the knot falls at about the outer edge of the button.  This is the long hand.  Now take the other end of the floss and tie a double knot closer to the center of the button.  This is the short hand.  

Fumble around a bit tying these knots because you didn’t make your floss long enough.  Get really frustrated and decide to cut the whole thing off and start over with a longer piece.  Try cutting off the floss, but because you don’t have embroidery scissors, use whatever is closest.  These happen to be your large shears.  Use them anyway, even though you are familiar with the phrase “use tools for their proper job."  While you are trying to slice the floss with the huge scissors, which have now begun to feel a lot like those gargantuan ones that Alice uses in the Disney animated version of Alice in Wonderland, jab at the button and floss again and again, until of course, your shears jerk off the button and lodge - small pointed end - squarely in your thumb.  Now here’s the tricky part, WITHOUT SWEARING - pull the scissors from your thumb and assess the damage.  Just a flesh wound?  Well, you’ll have to staunch the bleeding anyway, so go get yourself a band-aid.  And wash the wound while you’re at it.  You don’t want tetanus.

Actually, I recommend skipping that last step entirely, which is why I made sure to let you know you’ll want to cut the floss long the first time around.  Or just get some nimble fingers.  Either one.  (Maybe I should buy embroidery scissors?)

OK, with the bleeding stopped, we can proceed.  Trim the ends of the floss right after the knots.  You’ll see that the hands actually sit flat against the button - which was a happy discovery for me.  bug likes to move the hands around and tell me that it’s different times... although he doesn’t say “it’s 6 o’clock” or anything normal like that.  Usually it’s “Time to play cars,” “Time to go park,” or “Time for church.”  

Now, grab your trusty sharpie and write the numbers around the button.  If you’re afraid of botching this up - and at the rate I botch very simple things up, I was - actually LOOK at a clock while you do this.  Then the 12 will end up where it is supposed to be and not where the 9 is supposed to be.  No, that didn’t happen, but it probably would have if I hadn’t been looking at a clock face.

Now, glue your button to the middle of the inner felt piece.

Add any embellishments you want - I added two teeny tiny little buttons on either side of the watch face in a complimentary green color.  I took this idea from the original super cute watch idea.

Now, add your velcro.  I recomend using a long rectangle of velcro, because you won’t have to be so precise with placement.  I didn’t have any of that at the time, so I used two little circle velcros, and the watch ended up being just a little big.  Hindsight, right?  So hot glue those babies down, too.  Now, trim the felt band if you need to.

Slip it on a toddler wrist of some sort and I’m pretty sure the toddler will be thrilled.  

Just to make sure it wasn’t some weird obsession with just my toddler, I made one for K too, and she loved it just as much.  She couldn’t stop checking the time.  When Lise came to get her she kept saying, “A watch!” and holding her arm up.  

You’ll notice with K’s that I used the patterned button spoken of earlier.  And it’s just the right amount of pizzazz required for K, I think.

So if you want an easy little project for a cute “dress-up” that is boy appropriate (see mr?  He doesn’t JUST wear bracelets and wings) here you go!  Whip some up and “watch” out!

- Kimberly

Paleolith, revisited.

Remember this post?  The one where I was so inspired by a guest blogger on Dana’s blog, MADE who makes felt watches (they are so cute, you should look, really) that I went right downstairs and whipped up a felt watch of my own design for the little bug?  Don’t remember?  I’ll give you this as a refresher:

Yep.  There it is.  My very first foray into toddler watches.  I call them “paleoliths” (haha, get it?  That’s my nerdy side coming out...) and at first I thought it was pretty cute.  Then I got it on his miniscule wrist and it looked like a behemoth.  It was ridiculous.  

Really, I should have called it a failure, but I didn’t have the heart to scrap it since he liked it so much - and to be honest, I can’t bear to put another point up there on the scoreboard until I get at least one point for my own team.  Anyway... I’ve been meaning to fix it, and today I did!

It is not longer a gigantic wrist watch weighing bug’s arm down.  It is now: 

a pocket watch.

See, not only does bug love watches, but he is currently obsessed with pockets.  Every time he puts pants on (which is pretty much every day, I guess) the first thing he does is check for pockets.  When he finds them, he gets very excited and announces to anyone who cares, and everyone who doesn’t, that he has pockets.  Then he tries to cram his hands in them, and gets very disappointed if they are too tiny.  With his little sad face and a depressed shrug he says forlornly, “they too smawl.”  Sigh.  

I thought, what better way to make use out of my flub than to combine two things he likes.

Thus, my “paleolith pocket watch.”

Start out with the watch (which you can find here.)  Attach it to a hook and spring key holder (25 cents, Thrift Store) using floral wire threaded through a hole in the outer cardboard circle.  (I made the hole with the tiny side of a cropadile - gotta love that tool - and threaded the floral wire through the hole in the cardboard and the hole in the metal piece of the spring four times)  Then twist the ends of the wire, use a little hot glue to hold the wire down and in place and attach the watch accordingly.

Then watch as your two year old throws the watch into the air in order to study it while it bounces around on its spring.  When he throws it to the ground behind him and watches it drag along as he runs away, you’ll know you’ve got a winner on your hands.  This pocket watch can be so many things... a tool to teach about gravity and physics, a distraction to keep him busily occupied with his pockets (nothing he can hurt there), a way to help him learn what time it is (to which he will probably respond, “oh.  It time to play cars.” as he looks seriously at the felt hands pointing at 12 and 6), and probably MOST importantly, a tail.  A long, bouncy, squiggly tail that will follow behind him everywhere he goes as he speeds around the yard, kicking up grass and mulch.  Well, whatever keeps him entertained, right?

More watches tomorrow.  And a quick sneak peek at some playroom fun, which I am hoping to have totally done this weekend - curtains and all:

Yea, a complete and total mess!  Wonder what it's going to look like?

Check THIS out: a fun challenge

Ok, you may have noticed this:





on my last post.  I thought I'd offer an explanation and a little nudge.

I'm not sure how things work all over the "blogosphere," because I'll admit, I'm a bit narrow in my blogscope.  The majority of blogs I love are crafty, sewy blogs.  Now, in the craft/sewing blog circuit, "linky parties" are fairly popular.  Certain blog celebrities will host and everyone links up their crafts and things and you can find a lot of great inspiration you wouldn't have otherwise.  Anyway, The CSI Project was put together by three craft bloggy gals, and you can read all about that here.

I'm not always very "up" on the latest craft blog virtual gatherings, but when I found CSI I thought I'd give it a try.  Why not?  It looks like a lot of fun.  There's a new challenge theme every week, and while the challenge part is great (I mean, I'd be lying if I said winning some recognition wasn't motivation, if only a teensy bit) but what's really great is going to one spot for TONS of ideas.  I'm all about finding new ideas.  Unfortunately, I already have so many on my to do list, I'll never catch up.

Anyway, you should check it out.  Maybe post something of your own.  Go on.  It'll be fun.

blast off... to the safari!

mr and I are currently in the process of painting our whole house.  We have been in this process since we moved in, about two years ago.  Why are we paint our whole house?  Because the whole house looked like THIS when we got here:

Builder’s white.  And, lucky us, there’s a big bucket of it leftover in our basement - just in case we wanted to remain yawnably boring the entire time we live here.

I do not want to remain yawnably boring.  It’s not my style.  Fortunately, it’s not mr’s style either. Unfortunately, the similarities in our styles end there.  mr is a safe, somewhat contemporary, simple and clean, I’m a chemical engineer kind of style.  I am more of a crazy, colorful, anything unique and different, I’m an eclectic theatre girl kind of style.  So, it’s taken a while to get mr to jump on the bandwagon with the painting thing.  I wanted to whip out the brushes, sponges, cans, rollers, faux finishes, glazes and vinyl the second we moved in.  mr dragged his feet.  And since he has to live here too, I really didn’t want to just take it over and do it anyway.  So I have been patiently waiting until the bug bit him too.  And, lo and behold, this spring it did!  Needless to say I am very excited.  Our plans this summer include painting the rest of our house that I have not yet gotten my hands on - the main floor (kitchen, dining room, living room combo) the family room, two hallways, and the kids’ bathroom.  I know, ambitious!  Thank goodness we have a lot of family in the area who are so sweet and kind and always willing to lend a hand - right guys?  Right??

On Monday we started the playroom and it is ALMOST finished!  You can find the first official picture of it here, on yesterday’s post.  And here’s a sneak peek of what the 2’s and I did today:

I know, it’s going to be exciting.

See, the kids’ rooms are the places mr really lets me have my way.  I guess he figures that since he doesn’t have to live in them, he can let me go wild.  And I do, I really do.

To inspire our coming paint projects, I have decided to post the ones we’ve already tackled.  Because I just can’t wait to put these up, I’m starting with the crowning glory - in my opinion anyway.  They are bug’s bedroom and mini’s bedroom.

bug’s bedroom wasn’t finished until over a year after we moved here and he was almost 2.  It was inspired by this bedding:

It took forever to finish, but this is why:

mr went to Mexico on a business trip and when he came home, bug’s room was this nice “heliotrope” color.  He was a little surprised.  When I finished that, Lise came over and helped out by drawing chalk outlines of all the planets.  (I know, I know, planets are just circles, what’s so hard about that?  Well, have YOU ever tried drawing big old circles on your walls and ceiling freehand?  Didn’t think so.)  Then we primed all the shapes since the background color was so dark.  Anyway, Lise’s most amazing accomplishments were the Earth and the moon.  I made her do those because I was too afraid to attempt them and she’s the art teacher.  (and boy am I glad I did.  Can you believe that moon??)  She also did Venus and Mars.  

I did Saturn, Uranus,  Neptune, Jupiter, and Mercury.  Oh, and all those stars you see.  Ay-ay-ay!  I know, that part took forever.  I also did the satellite, which I kind of hate.  A lot.  It’s like this huge monstrosity orbiting the light fixture.  If I’d been thinking, I would have painted the ceiling fan silver and added some details and used that as the satellite because the fan panels look like the satellite panels.  Oh well.  I painted the comet and the meteor shower, too.

I just noticed I spelled handiwork wrong.  Oops.

There is no Pluto, because even though it was a planet when I was a kid, it was demoted.  So we didn’t technically put it up.  But we decided to call one of those really big white stars Pluto.

I spray painted a big Chinese lantern that I got at IKEA orange and yellow and hung it from the light as the sun.  You can see some smaller chinese lanterns I got at the dollar store hanging in the corner as stars.  The hanging rocket shelf is from IKEA, too, and is PER.FECT. for the space.  mr’s contribution?  The starship enterprise hanging above bug’s bed.  Sigh.  I couldn’t change his nerdy chemical engineer’s mind.  

Here's another picture of that moon.  Because it's just too cool not to put up.  (thanks, lise)

Since these photos were taken, I got some glow paint put up, and I’ll have to take a picture of that later so I can post it.  I love how it makes the room glow at night, and so does bug!

I know the blue paint makes his room VERY dark, and a lot of people wouldn’t like that, but I was going for a unique bedroom, and when I found this bedding on clearance for like $25, the whole concept was born.  I actually like how it’s dark in there, even during the day, because I don’t think he’d nap nearly was well if it were light!

mini’s bedroom, on the other hand, is VERY light!  mr actually came up with the idea for her room all by himself.  We saw this very sweet little yellow and brown giraffe after we found out we were having a girl, and mr announced:  “This is what I want her bedroom to be!”  

Yellow happens to be my favorite color, so even though I wanted a “fairy tale room,” I relented.

Her bedroom also took a while to finish, but this is what it looks like now:

I started by painting the whole room yellow.  mr wasn't in Mexico this time, so he helped.  bug wanted in on the action too.

Then I went around the bottom of the walls with brown.  I decided I wanted all of the details to be done in silhouette to play up the brown on yellow contrast.

My mom and sister came over to help draw some of the animals.  My sister drew the giraffes, the leopard in the tree and the small elephants.  My mom drew and painted the big elephant and the alligator in the watering hole.  I drew and painted the lions.  I also painted the varying degrees of tan and yellow in the background to add perspective.  I painted the background trees, the leopard, and the grass.  

Then mr and I painted the big tree in the corner, the focal point in the room.  It took FOR.EV.ER, but it didn’t feel like it, mostly because I love trees and yellow, so I was pretty much always happy when I was working on her room, despite having only a month or so to go until my due date!  I was also happy that mr seemed to be enjoying helping out with the tree.  Lastly, I added the leaves in the tree

 and the final touch (AND hardest part) the sun in the corner.  What, you say?  The hardest part was that little circle of light yellow?  Circles don’t want to be painted in corners.  The just don’t.  It’s incredibly difficult to get the perspective right and make sure it looks like an actual circle and not a weird, lumpy, lopsided oval.  But, mr and I agreed that the sun HAD to go in the corner.  When you draw a picture as a kid, you always put the sun in the corner, don’t you?  Well, we did, anyway.

I found her bedding for cheap on-line, and now I’m not sure I like it very much, but it does go with the theme!  I painted a dresser I found for a ridiculous price at St. Vinny’s and an old shelf from our apartment days.  I also painted the little bench chair in front of the window a distressed yellow and tan and reupholstered it with one of mini’s receiving blankets that she didn’t use.  It’s tan and cream stripes.  I couldn’t find fabric that I liked for a decent price, I had the blanket on hand AND it is soft, so I think it was a good choice.  

Don’t get me started about the ugly green carpet.  It was one of the biggest cons for buying this house.  We went with it anyway, because it’s cosmetic and can be changed.  But until we do change it, we have to live with it.  Unfortunately.  I don’t know why this color carpet even exists.

I know mr won’t let me do anything like this on our main floor, so it’s good I got it out of my system with the kids’ rooms.  I’m not a muralist, by any stretch of the imagination, and I know their rooms aren’t perfect.  But I hope that as they grow older they will look around and realize how much time and effort and LOVE was put into making their rooms personalized and one of a kind.  Although, as I get older, it’s not likely I’ll let them forget it... “do you know how much sweat, blood and tears went into that room?  I slaved and slaved for you...” especially when bug decides his is too babyish and wants to paint everything black and mini falls in love with her generations equivalent of The Backstreet Boys or N’Sync and plasters posters all over.


Have you heard of the new site, The CSI Project?  They are having a paint challenge this week, and I'm linking up!