Decorating with cards

 

This year I decided to add some picture frames to our creative room. I received many cards during this holiday and some were really neat. I wanted to do more with them with these cute holiday cards. 

I bought few frames form IKEA and the rest was fun. I needed to get them on the wall soon! It adds a bit of whimsy to the room!

Yard Sale - scores

Past weekend was the neighborhood yard sale. As I was heading towards the Y for my yoga classes. I could not help noticing the early buzz around the block. I scored few things from our neighborhood garage/yard sale. 

A beautiful vase, which I am looking forward to place some branches this fall. A brand new small rotary cutter in its original package and not even open. Two books to keep me company whenever I get a chance to read something fun! A beautiful wire/metal basket to hold eggs, or simply the garden bounty for us. 

At work by my sink in the classroom needed a bit of a lift. I am always looking ways to keep it clean, and organized for little ones. I had few plates that had interesting art work I would like to hang them but I did not have any of those neat plate wall brackets and I was able score one from our neighborhood yard sale. Final iteam was three (small, medium, and large) palm leaf pouches to store neat iteams, which I am sure I can find plenty at my sewing table!

All this goodies end up in a grand total of only $ 4.25 not too bad on neighborhood yard sales!

Dipped or Painted...

I wanted try out the modern dipped look or otherwise painted in two colors. I turned to Nicolette's room for inspiration. We had this basket from one of her showers. I used to put toys in it, clothing, and finally I used it to put books after reading. However this has gone through many jobs but still a survivor in our household.

I am currently using it store what ever on her bed goes to this basket at the end of the until we find the right place. We love cleaning up her room with this new two tone basket. It works well with all the furniture in her room and its finally coming together.

I really had fun creating this space for and little Nicolette loves to hang in her room by herself in the afternoons. Few more touch - ups and I am done for a while.

Quote of the day "Enhance your environment"

Enjoy!

Repurposing...

I have not spend much on my daughters room furniture. I simply use her older brother’s bed and painted it with white (swiss coffee) a beautiful shade of white. This was done last summer. 

This summer I painted his night stand and add a glass knob and slightly distressed it to go with the bed because I use the same technique. 

I finally was able to bring it up stairs. My neighbor offered us some peonies and mock orange blossoms. I arrange them in a milk glass vase I scored last year from a garage sale. It looks wonderful I love it and so is little Nicolette. 

I love how her room is coming together my next project is window treatments. I am looking for something simple that I can make I am thinking of ruffles and shades of white...

I think she can use a light on this night stand but not right now when she starts reading... Hopefully in couple of years...

Quote of the day “ be able to say I made it myself”

Enjoy!

Re-use...

I grew up in Sri Lanka a small independent country which is located close to southern tip of India. It is an island once call the pearl of the Indian ocean yet beautiful and surrounded by breath taking blue Indian ocean. 

We were very careful with the resources we had growing up in Sri Lanka. I try to preach the same concept at my home in the US. Mainly I wanted my children to understand poverty, and the uneven distribution of wealth, and the natural resources on our dear planet Earth. 

My recent visit to IKEA I purchased some votive candles named MATTFULL one cost .79 cents. I know you cannot miss this deal they were very cute and lightly scented with a floral scent.  I decided to stock up and bought six. I believe if I were to burn I can burn these for at least 2 days non stop. Well I did finished burning one. I could not recycle this tiny glass votive. I find it easier to clean these if I place them in the refrigerator and cut the wax with a sharp knife it will pop out easily. 

When it comes to healthy eating habits. I know the proportion control is the key factor. Now I found a new use for these wonderful votives. They are my newest serving dishes... wait a minutes did I called them dishes... Oh yes! I did they are ideal to serve one scoop if ice cream for those sugar rush hours. 

I know I went overboard to add the chocolate and the peanuts because little Nicolette has been really good for me so I could study the entire afternoon while she looked at books in her room quietly. 

Quote of the day “ 

Enjoy !

Our Harvest Wreath…

 
 
What do you do with your old silk flowers…? I am in the phase of retiring silk flowers that’s mean planning to bring in fresh flowers in more often. I always liked fresh flowers I take them to the temple, visit friends, family, and neighbors.

But I also owned some silk flowers that I have bought few years back and continuously blooms in my living room. I know they add color but after a while you get tired of the look. So I owned these still bright beautiful sunflowers. I am a sucker for sunflowers because I find them full of character. I do not own them in my garden yet… and the second reason I like them because my son was born in Midwest and you can see fields of sunflowers in the Midwest. I have not visited the sunflower fields during my stay in Midwest. However it brings back the memories of tiny Niegel… Since we are tired of these sunflowers I decided to make a harvest wreath using them…

What you need
Silk flowers sunflowers or any kind of flowers and leaves
Hay stack wreath
Glue gun
Wire cutters
and creativity…

It’s fun to see the second life of these big sunflower blooms… I got so many compliments from people passing our home.

Quote of the day “turn off TV and turn on life”

Enjoy!

Repurposing Older Brother’s Bed for a Little Sister…

 
 
 
We bought this bed way about may be 5-6 years back for my son… the reason behind was him to be an independent sleeper. I didn’t have much luck with that he use to sleep with us for the longest time. Yes, I was in the weird parent club, non Montessori club, wacko club… I cannot think of anything else because I let him sleep with us.

Finally it all changed when he decided to sleep by himself… He was ready. I hope Niegel won’t be mad at me when he decided to read this post one day. I was a young mother, I didn’t had many friends new to the country, job, married life, and raising a family without the support of my family members. I sure had some trick up in my sleeve it was determination, determination, and determination. So I did the best I can…

May be this is a strong impulse for me to sell topponcino’s for infant online… ha… ha… to encourage independence at a young age I wish I took my A to I training when I was young but it was not in my agenda…

Let’s get back to my repurposing I decided to paint the whole bed in white with a short time period I was able to achieve this task with. I sanded it re painted it looks gorgeous in her room… Nicolette is not sleeping on the crib mattress on the floor any more. She is in a big girl bed and she does a awesome job by sleeping all by herself very independent cannot ask for any more…

I am happy the old bed found a new place in our nest… I worked hard to add some depth to the bed by sanding and revealing the wood tones to keep it country looking… Currently I am looking ideas to give a makeover for her sheets… if you have any thoughts please add to your comments…

Quote of the day “Look for the best in new ideas”

Enjoy!

Room Makeover…

 
 
Nicolette being a two made me realized that she needs a room make over. We did together my husband did a great job in drawing a branch on the wall free hand. After watching the idea of having a decal on the wall I wanted to have a branch, some leaves and a bird nest.

It was very simple but did add a big impression to her room. Most of all she loves the painting very much as I did creating this space for her. For some reason if we were to move all we have to do is paint over it may be add some primer and it will be gone. I am glad that I can pain wall because it does come in handy so many ways.

I did add a small chair next to her basket of books so she can have some quiet time reading. Nicolette is a very loud reader with so much drama I love to hear her reading books to us.

It was so much fun creating her space with little changers. She was helping us throughout this process and I think it gave her some ownership in her newly created space with responsibilities of cleaning up after play is very vital now since the kitchen is in her room.

So in a nut shell creating her room cost $3.00 bucks only the paint… I thought it was a budget friendly way to add a little action to any one’s space. It does not have to be a huge thing even a small subtle changers can make a big impact.

Quote of the day “be in love with the world”

Enjoy!

Let your child’s favorite Book inspire…

 
 
Last year for my daughters B’day I got these picture frames from IKEA. I used them to show pictures of her in a timeline fashion on my mantel with some flowers. It was a great center piece also visitors had a chance to see her growth. I had the frames tucked in the closet and I wanted to reuse them.

My daughter loved and her favorite book was once We’re Going on a Bear Hunt by Michael Rosen and Helen Oxenbury. I have read this book many, many, many times.

So I decided to color copy the book and I brushed it with modge podge to give add a glossy effect. And simply framed the pagers… and hung them on the wall. Before I did this I took away the book from her as we introduce her to new books. She was so happy to see the framed pictures of her favorite book. To my amazement she started to act out and read the book and tell the story as she stood in front of the frames.

This also adds a new dimension to her story time and we have rearranged her room a little bit to acknowledge that she is growing. These frames lend beautiful illustrations to dazzle on the wall with very little cost. She loves her big girl room with toys. We are waiting to add one more piece and then we are done.

Quote of the day “lose yourself in a child’s world

Enjoy!