Followers? Yes Please

I'm really enjoying my new found love for blogging. I'm just starting to figure everything out and one thing I've figured out is having no followers is no fun! So well I was over checking out Making the World Cuter I seen she was hosting a follow along party. I just had to get in on it. I'd like to think someone is going to read this new love.  So how the party work is you be my friend and I'll be yours. Just leave a comment that you are a new follower as well as where I can find you and I'll return the favour. Can't wait to see all the new people I will meet.

Mantel Madness

I'm determined to get Spring decorated because I need some assurance it's on it's way. The weather we are having isn't very promising and I'm totally sick
of looking at SNOW!

I've been reading through a few blogs and seen this  beautiful spring mantel by Craftyland.

This is one of her pictures.
Too cute!

I thought this was such a clean crafty idea, I decided to incorporate some of her ideas in our decorating. So late last night when all the kids were sleeping and we finished up Earth hour, I got some materials together.

I didn't have all the materials so I improvised and here are my little love birds.

Maybe next will be the flowers. 

Don't forget to go check out all the fantastic projects Kimberly is doing at Craftland.



Thanks for stopping by.

Let the flowers Blossom

We may still have snow outside but in our home the flowers are blooming. This was a family effort and lots of fun!

Little Monkey did a great job painting the flowers with his craft paint. Daddy Bear drilled the holes in the centre of each flower and assisted me in the wire bending. We used some scrap wire around that was perfect for our flower stems. What a fun easy project… maybe a good Mothers day gift.

Put a check by the first of our four spring mantel projects. Now on to the next.

Worker Bee Project Starts

Spring is here and along with our spring cleaning I’ve starting planning out our next projects. I started a book with all of my ideas. From reorganizing the small as can be laundry room, our bedroom project, the creation of my craft room and a few little things here and there. Always something to do but the best feeling is checking each project off.  

 Who needs Real Flowers?

One of my small projects I have been working on with the kids is wooden flowers. I do not have a green thumb so I’ve decided I can’t kill the wooden ones.  I saw 10 wooden flowers at the dollar store so I picked them up.

They are still a work in progress but Monkey and I have had a wonderful time so far working on this together. This is one of our additions to the creation of our spring mantel. I’ve seen so many great ideas on my list of “Wish they were my friends”.

It’s wonderful we were able to start the flower project because it is a quick and easy one that should be done this week. I need these small successes because we are tackling The Dreaded Flower Bedroom. Here are some before pictures.

Since taking these pictures my Mother and family friend have come by and helped us take down all the wallpaper. Thank goodness for them because I think that was one of the jobs I was looking forward to the least! Now that it's all done, it’s really opened the room. Time to start with our blank canvas and get ready for some creativity.  Some ideas have been floated around in our house. One thing for sure is we are going to be painting the furniture a nice cream and possible glazing. The pieces are so big and bulky so I think that will tone them down a bit. I am torn because I think I’d like to do something a little different and do the bed a different colour to stand out. We are also thinking of some kind of accent wall possibly wallpaper, mural or stenciled. Not too sure. I can’t wait until the day I can blog the final project because in my head it’s going to be beautiful!

Back to the sketch book for more ideas. Enjoy the sunny day.

Bookcase Crazy

 Well I’m just thrilled how Monkey's project turned out. I was kind of nervous to tackle this one but thought it would be a good starter project because I would like to redo our bedroom furniture. So I started reading up on how to make my ideas reality. I think I found my new hobby!

We really needed storage for our little guy’s books in his room because the box he decorated just fell apart. I looked at getting him a few storage bins to put them in but wasn’t 100% about it. I’ve been checking out all these shabby chic blogs and hear my friend Ginny’s plans of greatness; I decided to check out our basement.  I found this old bookcase that was in a pile of furniture we haven’t seen since we moved in. So excited that I could make something special for Lucas room off to the store to get supplies I went.

I picked up a spray paint primer, orange spray paint, spray adhesive, wrapping paper and modge podge. My project starts with pictures, then washing down the bookcase and leaving it to dry. Once it was all dry out came the spray primer. Once the primer was all done I did about four coats of the orange spray paint and painted Lucas name on the top. I was a bit nervous about putting the paper at the back because I can’t even cut a straight line but it was easier than I thought. I used one of my Andrews scrapers and an exacto knife. I trimmed the wrapping paper closer to the size I needed and sprayed the adhesive as the instructions directed. Then lined up the top and one corner and used my scraper carefully to smooth out the paper and adhere it to the inside of the bookcase. Once all the paper was attached to where I wanted it. I just ran my exacto knife over the sides and cut of the excess.

For my first furniture project I think this turned out FANTASTIC!! I loved that I spent less than $10 on my materials to refinish this. The spray paints were on sale and the dollar store had perfect wrapping paper. I already had a big container of modge podge and the spray adhesive was about $3 at Wal-Mart. The blue paint is leftover from his room from our previous house. The best part of this project was Monkey's face when I gave him his bookcase… priceless. The first thing he did was run and put a few of his books on it right away. 

Can’t wait to tackle the bedroom furniture and experiment with glaze next. Plus I have some beautiful flowers to come.

Vinyl Wall Art Envy

I always loved the beautiful vinyl wall art but found it to be a bit pricey for the big pieces. I’m not an artist by any means. I don’t have the painting talent some people posses but I was determined to make the kids rooms as fun as can be. After lots of browsing through different tree wall art and seeing a fun design of a stick tree with cut out map leaves at a nearby shop. I decided to venture into painting a tree for Sweetpeas room.  I got out my pencil and ruler and started to make the outline of my stick tree. I cut out two different sized leaves and a flower and away I went. It was missing something so my simple little bird came in and here it is my version of wall art on a budget. All the paint I used was leftover from our previous house and a little of my sons craft paint for a few details.

Projects I’m working on now are some really fun things for Monkey's room. I can’t wait until it’s finished. I’ll be posting about it soon I’m sure.

Craft Attack for Sweetpea

When I was near the end of my pregnancy with my daughter I had a made craft attack. I wanted her to have a very cute winter hat but I couldn’t get on in time for her arrival. So not knowing how to crochet or knit and having a fail attempt at knitting I decided to try my hand at crochet.  On to Etsy I went to find an easy crochet pattern. There on LilyKniting I found it a beautiful pattern. She was very helpful and encouraged me to try. For the next week I made as many hats in as many shapes and sizes as I could. I used the internet and my friend Ginny to teach me my basic crochet. This crafty little project started off my crafting kick I hadn’t had since I was a young girl. I used to love all things crafty and glad to have found that fun again.