One Project Turns into 2!!

I had been looking for ages for something to hang in the big empty space above my daughter's bed. And then, one day, as I was walking through the "vintage" shop, I came across a circular piece that looked like plaster but weighed next to nothing. Right away I knew its scale and scrollwork were the perfect addition to girly's room.

I loved the little "fleur-de-lis" design, but I wasn't a big fan of the yellow-y, aged look, so.....
....of course, I hit it with a can of vintage white spray paint, and handsome hubby hung it on the wall.

For a few days, I popped in and out and admired my thrifty re-make. But the more I looked, the less satisfied I was with the overall look. Pretty, but also PRETTY BLAND!!

What to do.....colour is needed. But in what form??

Of course, I did what any creatively-blocked girl would do - I VISITED PINTEREST!

I knew there'd be a "pin" that would fill this colour gap. After glimpsing through just a few of my boards, I came across this:


Oh yeah! This is it! I'd been saving this tutorial for a rainy, colourless day just like this one.

http://juliacrossland.blogspot.com/2010/03/teeny-tiny-heart-bunting.html

So out came my crochet hook and 6 balls of yummy pastel yarn ( and an episode of "Downton Abbey) and I was off and running.

First came the inner parts of the hearts - I made a dozen.
Then I crocheted an accent coloured edging on each one. Aren't they pretty??
And another unnecessary photo ( but they are just so darn cute!)
I followed the tutorial and added a rope that strung each pretty heart onto the next. Easy peasey.

And up it went - fastened easily to the back of the spray-painted circle.
There we go! The perfect splash of colour. It's just what I needed during these gray January days.
I'll admit I take full-advantage of the fact that my only daughter is a real girly-girl, and I add every feminine detail I can. Look - she has a lime green bed, pink and white bedding , lace-y scroll work on the wall, heart-shaped bunting and tissue paper flowers hanging from the ceiling.

She loves it - AND SO DO I!

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A Snowy Wreath....

I found this wreath recently on a trip to the "vintage shop." That's what my sisters and I call "Value Village." "Vintage Shop" sounds more on trend, right? Hee, hee.

I fell in love with it because it reminded me of a similar wreath my mother had hung in our farmhouse for many years when I was a child. It was just like this - pinecones, a mix of real nuts, and little red berries. Very brown and very seventies.

I had to laugh, though, when I arrived home with it because the first thing my husband said was, " My mom had one just like that when I was growing up!"

Even though this brownish wreath brought back some fond memories, I knew I couldn't leave is AS IS - it was just TOO rustic for me. So off came the ugly plaid bows and out came the can of spray paint!
TA-DA!! Big change here. And I love it. It took about 3 layers of paint, each time spraying at a different angle so that I could get in behind the cones and nuts and paint all around them.
Once the paint was dry, I added a bit of sparkle by glue-gunning some shiny pearl beads amongst the cones and nuts.
Here it is on our front door. I like how it looks snow-covered and stands out clearly against our dark-blue door.
Now - does it need a bow? I have thought about this for several days now. I was thinking just a big white one. Hmm...what do you think?
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Keeping Her Pretty Little Neck Warm!

I had to buy my 5 year old daughter a new snowsuit this year. I had hoped the one I had bought extra big last year would last another season, but to no avail. So after a quick trip to a favourite kid's store, we came home with a chocolate brown coat, lined with pink,orange and white polka-dots.

So with a coat, comes the need for new matching accessories. I bought her some cozy, double-lined mitts, but I wanted to get my OWN knitting needles going in order to make her a matching hat and scarf.

I opted at the last minute to make her a neck-warmer ( or an old-fashioned "dickie") because it would be easier to put on herself and much safer on the playground. I used a pattern I had bought at a yard sale - printed in 1957!!- and knit up this basic turtle-necked cozy in a few days.

Although I thought the stitches looked pretty darling knit in plain pink, I, as usual, needed to jazz it up a bit! On went some orange crocheted flowers:

Hmmm...More texture needed here. How about some brown in the form of little button centres in the flowers??

Still not done. There is a lot of empty space in between those flowers. Time to embroider!

There. That's better. And it matches the lining of her coat to a tee!

I think she likes it too. In fact, I know she does. For the last few days, she has been wearing it around the house like it was a diamond necklace!!

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From Discount to Decor!

I have about 43 decorative pillows in my home. Well, maybe not THAT many! But lately, I haven't felt too fond of the ones I DO have. They need a refreshing - new shapes, new colours, new prints. I think little changes like this will be perfect for the New Year.

So today I began with the pillows on the master bedroom bed. I wanted something cozy ( and cheap!), so after perusing Pinterest, I hit the second hand store and bought these:A couple of woolly Irish Knit sweaters from the ladies department. I had come on the right day, too, because everything was an additional 50% off!
So I actually only paid half of this:
Not bad, eh? And because I was covering pillows I already had, this was my only cost!

Shopping done, ( I got some other really great second hand bargains - but I'll share those in another post!) now the pinning, cutting and stitching part of the project.

First I turned the sweater inside out and placed my pillow form inside. This allows me to find out exactly how much sweater to cut-off.
I then pinned the sweater snuggly around the pillow form. I made sure the cable designs were straight and balanced equally on the pillow shape. My pillow form fit perfectly into the sweater, right up to the turtleneck. I pinned across the lower-neckline of the sweater.
I am glad I had some sharp scissors for the next part. After removing the pillow form, I cut a 1/2 inch seam allowance around the pinned circumference.
Immediately my sweater began unravelling, so headed to the sewing machine and quickly zig-zag stitched around the whole edge. After, using the pins as a guide, I switched to a straight stitch and sewed around 3 of the 4 sides of the pillow cover. I left the bottom open so that I could slip my pillow form back into the cover. Then with matching thread, I hand-stitched the bottom of the pillow closed.
Ta-da!! Don't they look great? And I managed to sew 2 sweater pillows in less than an hour for a grand total of $6.00!!Ah the cozi-ness of it all - sweater pillows, the handmade cream-coloured quilt we received as a wedding -present from my aunt and the patchwork quilt I made for university dorm-room 16 years ago. Oooh -I could snuggle into that bed right now!
Our bedroom is slowly coming together - new wallpaper, new headboard, new pillows, and the new hot-water bottle and cover my hubby gave me for Christmas. Picture perfect!

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LEGO Cakes for My LEGO Boy

My oldest son just turned 7 years old. I can't believe it! It feels like only yesterday we surprised to find out we were pregnant after almost 3years of trying and several rounds of fertility drugs. Bryn is one of of our Miracles.

This year's birthday has been particularly joyful for us because shortly after Bryn's 6th birthday, we found out that he had developed a fist-sized brain tumour. To make a long story short, Bryn has had surgery and has recovered with flying colours. We are forever on "tumour watch" but are glad that everything has worked out so well.

So - when my sweet little Miracle Man asks for a LEGO- shaped birthday cake, I have to deliver! After googling this several times, I came across some easy instructions to create building-block cakes perfect for my LEGO-obsessed 7 year old.

By the way - I am by no means a cake-decorator. You'll find much better examples elsewhere on the web. : ) But you can tell my cakes were decorated with love!

1) Bake one 9x13 slab cake. Chocolate by my boy's request! I lined the pan with parchment paper so that I could easily remove the cake from the pan.

2) Cut the cake into "building-block" shapes - squares, rectangles and long strips.
3) To make the raised circles on each cake, cut a large marshmallow in half with sharp kitchen scissors.
4) Ice each cake in your choice of LEGO colour. Also, ice the marshmallow halves needed for each cake.
5) Apply the iced the marshmallows to the iced cake.
So what do you think? They aren't perfect (in fact, at the time, I was quite embarrassed by them. But now, looking at the pictures, they really aren't half bad!)
And my son- what did he think? He said they were "awesome" and couldn't wait to show all of his friends. So, after seeing "Puss in Boots" at the movie theatre, we returned home for slices of LEGO cake. And yes - they other kids thought they were cool too!
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Elf on a Shelf Antics

Our Elf, Cricket, did some crazy things leading up to Christmas Day. He arrived right after Hallowe'en and almost everyday he did something silly to entertain our 3 kids. (Thank goodness for Pinterest for whenever he ran out of his own ideas for adventures!)

A Sugar Angel:
His favourite perch - on the wreath in the TV room:
Cuddling with the pumpkins, right after Hallowe'en:Making a ju-jube pattern:Helping himself to a little snack:
Another cozy wreath:On Christmas Eve Day he arrived with this jar of cookie ingredients. What a lovely final gift!
Time for some art!
On your mark, get set - GO!
MMmmmm...candy canes.....Marshamllow initials:
And my favourite one - giving a concert for the members fo the Nativity!!


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