Back at Christmastime, I was shopping for my kids and became incredibly discouraged to find so many cheaply made but expensive toys. I know, I should not be surprised by this anymore. After doing a lot of searching in stores and online for a well-made but not $300 dollhouse for my daughter, I gave up. I asked my hubby if he thought that maybe he could make one and I gave him some inspiration photos of ones I’d found online but, again, didn’t want to spend $300 on.

He said yes. Yes!

We went to the store to get the wood for it and spent a whopping $27. I can’t get a “cool” plastic piece of junk toy that was made in China for that at Target. I was a happy mama.

Then I did something that I never ever ever do and I didn’t boss hubby around on the project. I let him do it all himself without saying “oh, do it this way! Make more rooms! Make less rooms! Put stairs in! Put windows in!” I let him hide away in the shed and build his daughter a dollhouse. With the wood we bought, a scrap piece of beaded board we already had for the back and two small cans of oops paint for $2, we surprised our little girl with something she had no idea she even wanted but instantly fell in love with.

I don’t have a step-by-step tutorial and I do know that more went into it than just slapping wood together. I am trying to talk hubby into making another one so I can detail the process. And then he can sell it for $300.

The best part is that when she outgrows the dollhouse part, it can just be a bookshelf. We hope she gets many years of use out of it!

On a whim I decided to do a craft with my kids a couple of days ago. Doing a craft with my kids really ended up meaning I did the craft while they played outside then when I was done, they came in and showed off “their” craft to their daddy like they’d done all the work. The circle banner garland thingy was really fun and easy. Just paper circles sewn together to make a big long tangly twisted garland that I hung as best I could considering the tangly twisted part.

Such is life, you do one little project that takes a few minutes and suddenly another project emerges. With our mismatched stockings hung below the bright and cheerful banner, I realized that it was time to get some new, nicer, matching stockings. Off to the store we went only to find that they are all cheaply made and ugly and expensive. So I spent a few dollars on felt and made my own. Seriously, I spent $4.62 and made 4 stockings. Please don’t think I enjoyed it – in my head, sewing is way more fun than it ever is while I’m doing it. But when it’s over, I look at a finished product and first, I wonder how all that swearing and needle breaking and such turned into something useable and then I pat myself on the back for actually sticking with it and miraculously turning all the frustration into something my kids adore.

And now, we’re 3 days from Christmas and I’m feeling weary and ready to rest from the lists and chaos. I want to be done so I can sit and enjoy – breathe – for a few moments before the day arrives and is gone in a blink. I don’t want to feel like I missed it.

Each night, the 4 of us have snuggled up and watched another holiday movie on instant netflix while eating popcorn. We’ve baked cookies together, wrapped some gifts with stuff we’ve found around the house together and we’ve had moments of quiet and still to remember what the season means beyond the stuff and the lists.

May the coming days be merry and bright for you.

Merry Christmas, friends!

Sometimes I forget how fun it can be to be creative with my kids. I also remember as soon as I am 2 minutes into a project with them that they just like to make stuff. They don’t care about adult ideas of pretty. I love that so much and feel sometimes like I need more of that in my life. More creating and less caring what everything looks like at the end. I admit that when we started this project I said things like “Don’t mix the colors!” “Rinse your brush!” and “Why are you smooshing your gooey painted glittered hearts together?” But an hour after we’d been painting and glitter gluing, I found myself oohing and ahhing over their unpredictable creations. I loved the way the colors went together. And I loved every single unique heart that my kiddos painted and glittered because they were made with smiles, laughter and love.

We started with basic plain white cardstock and I printed a heart template onto 20 pages with 3 hearts on each page. Guess what I did most of the project? You guessed it – cut out lots of hearts. I took breaks to make sure I got to paint some hearts myself. Until I had kids, I never would’ve known how much I like doing things like painting little hearts on a Sunday afternoon. I’m not a big Valentine’s girl but any reason to sit at a table with my kids uninterrupted for over an hour is a good enough one for me. That I enjoyed the actual project made it all the better.

After painting and randomly glitter gluing for a while, my daughter finally realized that she could write things with the glue and that’s when it got really sweet. She started making hearts for all of us. Then my 3 year old son started making ones for her. They helped each other, told each other how pretty their hearts were, and just all around it felt like – well, one big love fest.

When all was said and done, we had 60 painted and glittered hearts setting out to dry while we enjoyed the rest of a gorgeous day outside. When we came back in, there were enough dry to hang them up. I will admit now that only today did I finally take down my Christmas card garland and the garland of cutout stocking shapes. And put my nutcrackers away. They didn’t really go with the hearts theme. I realized when I took them all down how easy it is for those things to settle into the background. I stopped noticing them at all. Makes me wonder what other clutter is right in plain view that I just don’t see.

For now, I have this above my kitchen window to look at each morning as I make my coffee as a gentle reminder of how I want my home to feel:

I thought I’d do a little recap all in one post for anyone looking for some ideas:

Holiday Decorating For Less Than $2

Holiday Shimmer Candles

Sweater Stocking

Pinecone Flower Wreath

Happy crafting. Or not crafting. Whatever you love.

For today, I have a little fall nesting for you.

I refuse to engage in conversations that involve anyone saying it is fall yet. It is not fall. It is still summer, and here in Florida we have the heat and I have the frizzy hair to prove it. But I know fall is just around the corner and most importantly I felt the need to do something. To busy myself with an itty bitty project that would brighten my still somewhat sour mood. I decided to make some covers for the throw pillows on my couch. The colors in our living room are yellow, turquoise and orange. I would’ve taken a full shot of the room but you know how it goes. It would’ve taken all afternoon to get the kids to pick up all the train tracks.

So, here are the pillows before:

I remembered a tutorial from a while back from one of my favorite cottage home bloggers, Cottage Magpie, so I went to her site to find it. Here is her tutorial on How To Sew a Throw Pillow Cover in 10 Easy Steps. It was truly easy. Even easier for me because I totally skipped some steps

And here is what I came up with:

I chose the white canvas first. It was in the clearance bin at Hobby Lobby for $2. I was able to make one full cover out of it and then the other one I backed with burlap since I didn’t have enough for two. Whatever. Makes it more imperfect and unique, I say. Off of that, I went with the orange and white swirl duck fabric since it coordinates with the room and the other covers but is fun and new and adds a little needed freshness in the space what with all the stripes and solids going on.

So, there you have it. A little fall nesting. Even though I refuse to say it’s fall.

What are you doing to get ready for the looming change of season?

I’m adding this to the Under $20 and Under 1 Hour party at 320 Sycamore. Check it out!!

We moved my daughter out of her old room recently. I have been wanting to make some changes in her new space for her, but was procrastinating because I wasn’t feeling inspired. I really couldn’t stand how pink her last room was, so this time I decided we’d leave the walls of her new room the boring beige and I’d just work with the stuff in the room to make it cute and girly but not over the top pink. We kept all of her furniture and bedding and I simply made a few small changes to make it feel special and girly for her.  Her bed, vanity, and bookshelf are all white. The built ins are white, the trim is white and the walls are beige. I was thinking I’d just paint the one thing that needed painting – her dresser – white also. Bo-ring! No wonder I was feeling uninspired.

I decided to pull colors from this DIY wall art that hangs on her wall and have a little fun in her room. I wanted it to feel punchy and whimsical.

She had this dresser that has been in my family for a long while and needed a little love. I am sure it would’ve looked lovely all white.

Instead, we dug into our paint stash and found a green we liked. I wasn’t going to play it safe. It’s a little girl’s room. What mattered most was how excited SHE was about it. She wanted it vibrant and fun. I was the silly one thinking I had to play it safe. As soon as I started putting the green paint on, I loved it. When I was ready to do the drawers, she asked if I would paint the drawers yellow. I was really hesitant but couldn’t resist her “PLEASE?!?! It will be so beautiful and I will love it more than anything!!” My sense of fun and whimsy was being tested. I had to remind myself it isn’t MY room. It’s her room and it’s what she wants. It’s who she is.

I probably don’t have to tell most of you that all while this project was going on, my husband was rolling his eyes and mumbling about how i ruin antiques. By the time it was done, even he was admitting it was really cute. He even told me I did a nice painting job. Then I died. I truly love it. I love that she saw through her 6 year old eyes something I couldn’t. I love that all she cared about was making a part of her room really her. And once I realized how her it was, it was easy to be inspired and continue to make the space fun for her.

I bought a small play table at Goodwill a few months back. I didn’t have the right space for the table, so I kept the bins and gave the table away. They were so easy and fun to make over with the green and yellow paint and some chalkboard paint on the fronts. Instead of a closet, she just has a wall of built in shelving in her room. The bins fit great in one section and are going to keep the wide open shelves from being cluttered and disorganized.

I have had the idea in my head since we moved her to this room to put a curtain up in the opening that connects her room to her little brother’s room.

Without knowing which way I was going to with her room in terms of colors, I hadn’t done it yet. Once the dresser was painted, it was easy to pick fabric, with her help of course.

For $21 (cost of fabric and the tension rod for the curtain), her room went from pretty blah to pretty cute. For the rest, I used things we already had and leftover paint all for a fun makeover that makes my little girl feel pretty special. It was so fun to do this with her input. I love when my kids teach me along the way. To be bold. Be you. Do what YOU want to do.

While going through all of our stuff and figuring out to donate, give away or throw away, I found the valances that I fleetingly had in the kitchen a few months ago above the sink. Simple white sailcloth originally from Target that I nabbed at Goodwill one day. They didn’t last long once I decided I’d rather have bamboo roman shades. They’ve been sitting unloved in a box ever since.

I figured better to use them for something I’ll love and use than to let them continue on in a state of such disgrace.

I cut them up, and concocted something that resembles a tote bag. Between the main fabric and the heavier strips that were on the bottom I had myself fabric for the tote and fabric for straps. I used fabric leftover from curtains I made in my daughter’s room (I’ll have a post on that another day) for the lining. It’s the perfect size for taking to the pool, errands or just throwing in a book and bottle of water for the park. I am calling it my everywhere tote. The all white was a little too plain even for me, a lover of all things bright and white. So, I seriously flailed my way through making some things that maybe resemble flowers to add to the outside.

Of course, this means my 6 year old daughter now wants flowers added to all of her handmade tote bags. That ought to keep me busy… right after I get brave enough to try to sew the straps to the inside of a bag. Wish me luck.

School starts here next week, which means that I have been doing a little back to school shopping. One of the rules at my daughter’s school is that kids in grades K through 3 have to use tote bags instead of backpacks – to save space. We added a tote bag to our list as we headed out over the weekend to pick up supplies. I checked thrift stores and found nothing that would work. And all the big box stores have are backpacks. We found one tote bag at Target that would’ve worked but it was $25 and made cheaply in China. I knew I could do better even though I have never before made anything of the sort. The number of sewing projects I have done is more than one and less than 10.

I raided my stash of fabric that was given to me earlier this year when a relative wasn’t going to do a project she had planned. Went online and found some tutorials to get the basic idea of what I should be doing. I ended up loving this Easy Tote Bag Tutorial and followed that with some modifications for my less than perfectionist self. I also loved this How To Make a Simple Reversible Tote Bag.

I made one for my daughter (the yellow one above) and had so much fun with it and found it simple enough, that I made one for me too (the blue one above). I have all but the straps done on another one for her just because. And I made myself this burlap one as well.

I may or may not have pranced around the house showing off my matching straps and lining to anyone who would listen. The dogs were most interested.

The whole process was so fun for me – to learn something new, enjoy doing it even though I came across a few snags. Thank goodness for the internet to pull me through with tutorials and support when I need it. And my daughter is over the moon excited that I made her a bag for school. There are few better feelings than when she tells me that she loves the things I make her way more than anything she could find at a store.

Total cost for 4 tote bags? $0.

When I saw this idea in a magazine recently, I had to add it to my collection of ideas for showing off my kid’s adorable mugs.

I grabbed some glass jars I had laying around and slid some photos in. Easy peasy and a fun new way to display the far too many pictures we have laying around. I love how easy it is and that it doesn’t involve buying one more picture frame.

And, would you please go visit her? She has a lot more than a set of posy pins to be congratulated on. Happy Sigh.