Which Foot?

Catina always seems to have a hard time figuring out which shoe goes on which foot. I heard about this tip where you can find stickers, cut them in half and then put one half in each shoe to make a picture. We found heart stickers at the dollar store and did just that. It was fun and super helpful! After doing this project I found out you can buy stickers just for this purpose. The Dollar Store is cheaper but if you are interested these look like a lot of fun!

Clothes Dividers

Catina tends to get bored during quiet time which is the two hours that June takes a nap. She's been playing on her own the first hour and then I have been coming up with projects she can help me with. We decided to make dividers to divide the girls clothes since they share a closet.

We took a cereal box and then covered in with scrapbook paper on both sides.

We then traced a CD and cut out the circles.

We used a child sized tea cup to make the hole in the middle.

We then googled images of the beginning letters of each girl's name, downloaded them and shrunk them to size in a Word document. We printed two copies, one for each side.

The finished product!

Garden Art

I made this with Greg's friend, Dan, as a surprise for Greg's birthday a couple of years ago!

Monogrammed Hot Pads

 

I made these as Christmas gifts this past year. I found these cork hot pads at Ikea and then painted the monogram. (by Ann)

P.S. Do you call them pot holders or hot pads? Or trivets? We disagreed. (But Jen won since she published the post.)

Girls' Room

For years now (10 to be exact), I've wanted to redo our bedroom. Ever since we knew Ada was coming along we had decided to switch bedrooms with the girls; the plan was to take the smaller room and give them the bigger one. Here is our before and afters of the girls' room. Our house was built in 1901 and I'm almost positive the wallpaper is from the original owner! Not really, but...well, just maybe.

BEFORE

 

So...I was waiting to take the "reveal pictures" on the day when we had completely redecorated and the room was perfectly clean, but since that only last seconds, the picture below is as close as I could get.

One thing I love is the curtains we ordered from Kohls. They block out light and sound and it really has helped the girls sleep better. Sleeping at the back of the house as helped, too, because they don't hear the neighbor leave at 6am which promptly wakes them up. I'm loving sleeping in until 6:45 am (insert sarcasm here)!

AFTER

 

I made these out of tiny canvases.

Greg built in these dressers and book shelves which really save space.

 

Some day the white beds will be bunk beds but the girls are a bit too young for that. Next year!

June checking out Ada's crib.

The girls holding hands in their sleep. TEARS!

Spring Decor

I made this as a spring decoration for my Mom. (by Ann)

Christmas Art Party

Dear Jen,

Four years ago we were invited to party by our friends, Jeff and Kim Russell. For almost 20 years they had been meeting with the same couples, exchanging handmade Christmas presents. They decided to mix the party up and invited us! We were, and still are, so honored to be included in this fun celebration.

This year I created earrings from the rocks found in front of the Russell’s cottage in the upper peninsula of Michigan.

Taraneh received my gift this year. Could someone tinier have sat next to me?! She is so enthusiastic about whatever you make so it’s a great person to pick your gift. You feel like you are an art genius.

I got Kim’s gifts this year! She made three different snow globes. I haven’t taken them out of their box yet because I know the girls will love them. I also know they love dropping glass snow globes so they are staying hidden for awhile.

I made this record purse last year with the help of my Mom.

I don’t sew so she helped create the purse part.

I know this picture is super blurry but wanted to show you Greg’s project. He made a decorative bowl out of sticks. I love how the women are all huggy about their projects and the guys are all business-like about their exchange. You can see Taraneh’s hand in this picture. Again, super-cheerleader telling Greg what a great job he did!

Ann

Lightbulb Art

Jen,

I really love this blog called Reduce, Reuse, UPcycle! I sent Rachel pictures of the sock animals my Mom sewed for your baby shower and she posted them on her blog. There are so many creative ideas she finds and I have started to bookmark the “some day” projects I may try!

Recently Rachel e-mailed and asked if we have any more projects to share, and since Greg and I are always trying to make things out of recycled items, in particular pallet wood, I sent her a few pictures.  In celebration of the season I wanted to share our Christmas light bulb project.

We took a piece of plywood and painted it black and then glued old Christmas light bulbs onto the board using JB Weld. We started at the top and laid the bulbs flush to the end of the board. We didn’t measure but used a bulb to help with spacing the next line.  I like this piece so much we keep it up all year round. Some day I think it might be fun to create different designs like flowers or swirls using the light bulbs.  Fun stuff!

Ann

Kate’s Shower

I’m really proud of my creation of both a chocolate chip cookie cake and the token gift given! My friend, Kendra, designed the colors and the cute pregnant girl image.

Pumpkin Creation

It took me forever to find the pumpkin seeds to make this.  Finally found them at the local gas station!  Who would’ve thought?  JEN!