Stuffed Animals!

I think every parent (especially parents of girls) at some point in time says, "What can we do with all these stuffed animals?!" My girls are getting older but are still very attached to theirs. Especially the Webkinz. Oh the dreaded Webkinz! Ours normally end up all over their floors....and beds. I'm not sure how one can be comfortable sleeping with 20 animals but they seem to make it work.


For Ella's room I bought these totes from Pottery Barn. They were inexpensive and they sit by her bed so she can grab what she needs at night. Usually when her bed is made, I toss them all back in here.

Cracked me up how she put a bracelet on this dragon. I guess she's all ready for a dragon outing!

In Hailey's room I put a cradle to contain everything. This sweet cradle was a yard sale steal at $3! I grabbed it and ran before the lady could change her mind.

The stuffed animals drive me nuts but I'm just going to be happy they are somewhat contained and not all over the floors!

Good Monday Morning!

I hope everyone had a great weekend. Ours was really nice and today the sun is shining. I finished those frames I was working on. This is what I ended up with. I think I'm going to try to find a skeleton key to mount in the white frame. The little frame will be changed out with the seasons. I seem to be on a Valentine's Day kick lately. I'm not sure where I'll put them yet, most likely will wait to put them in our Everything Room.


I also wanted to show off something my mom made. When we were working on Hailey's room I put up this art line for her pictures. They were taking over my fridge and I figured she would want to enjoy some of her creations in her own space. My mom painted little bunny clothespins for me to put on there. Aren't they cute? She is really great at painting in miniature.

Hailey has a slight bunny theme going in her room. She has a stuffed bunny she received as a gift when she was a year old and that is her security object. She calls it "B" and she doesn't sleep without it.
Here's a close up so you can see the little bunny and hearts...

Snow Day!

This is the view from my front door today. I love how the freshly fallen snow looks. We are supposed to get more so today we plan on staying in our jammies and relaxing around the house. We went to the store yesterday for snacks so we are all prepared to have a nice day in our warm house. And maybe play outside later!

I've been busy crafting the last few days. I was inspired by the tassels and banners I've been seeing on blogs and etsy lately and decided to try some myself. I didn't have the supplies to make actual tassels so I just made them out of ribbon. I made this one for the kitchen in green, tan and black. That is a random drawer pull that I've had sitting around here and never had a use for....

Then I made one for Ella's room. Her room is lavender, pink and green. I strung little buttons for the top of hers and hung it from the wall lamp above her bed.

The tassel for Hailey's room is pink and green and frilly.

Then I tried my hand at a Valentine's Day banner. I don't have a cutter so I bought the precut chipboard letters. This project was so much fun! I have already bought supplies to make a spring one.

I had leftover supplies after making the banner so I figured why not make a big Valentine! This was a lot of glue and a glittery mess but I think it came out cute. I hung this one in my kitchen for some Valentine color.

While I was walking around the craft store (I'm telling you they probably know me by name at this point) I spied these adorable little signs. They are intended to be put on gift bags but I hung this one on a peg rack. That was another project this week, painting the rack. I painted and distressed it for my kitchen. My intention was to hang aprons from it, which I will probably do in the future, but it ended up being a nice resting place for little mirrors and this Love hanging.

What's on the agenda for this weekend? Well, I want to finish these frames I started last night. I'm still not 100% positive what I'm doing with them. I'm just going to see what hits me as I go along. A trip to Home Depot yesterday led to purchasing the supplies for that kitchen shelf I've been wanting! My husband is going to build it for me with some pine, brackets and decorative trim. I'll be sure to post when it is done. Now that I discovered the thrift store by my house has a large selection of milk glass, I'm going to need the extra shelf space! ;)

Take a walk with me down my memory lane.

http://restyledhome.blogspot.com/2009/01/its-smallget-over-it-part-one.html

Linda's post over at Restyled Home got me thinking about a place we called home two houses ago. She posted about the difference between "need" and "want" when it comes to homes and square footage. In 2002 we bought a sweet cape cod style home that we fell in love with instantly when we saw it. It needed a complete update but the two bay windows, cute staircase and large lot made it worth it. I wish I had the before pictures to show you but my scanner isn't working. It had mud brown walls, orange shag carpet and the kitchen had been redone in a blue floral wallpaper disaster. But we were up for the challenge!

We redid the entire house from top to bottom and sold it as we wrapped up the last project. At that time we decided to have a third child and felt the home was too small. I don't know what we were thinking, the home could have worked just fine. Hindsight really is 20/20!


I have what is probably an unhealthy sore spot for this home. I really loved it and admittedly, it is even a sad thing for me to look at the pictures. Silly? Maybe but I loved every nook and cranny of this little house. Come with me and I'll show you around!


We'll start with the front. I loved the red front door. In the bottom right hand corner you can see the edge of the mailbox covered in black eyed susan vine. It was so full that year. I planted hydrangeas under the bay windows and they are now huge. We drive by once in a while and although the current owner isn't too good at weeding, they are thriving and full of blue blooms beneath the weeds.

When you walked in the front door, you could turn left to the living room. I miss the fireplace. That is something on our wish list for our current home.

I stenciled the stairs for fun. These steps were adorable but not the easiest to walk down with a laundry basket in your hands. I fell a time (or maybe two) on the curved part.

The other end of the living room, through that door is the family room which was an addition they put on in the 60's. It was neat because they didn't cover over the back of the fireplace so we had the bricks exposed.

Here is the family room when we were working on it. You can sort of see the ceiling. We wallpapered it in a pinkish toile. What a job that was! Our arms were so sore after doing that ceiling, it's difficult to work above your head!

This is what you would see when you walked in the room from the living room....

And here is the other side. This was used as the girls' playroom. Keep in mind these pictures were taken right before an Open House when it was on the market, it wasn't always this clean and organized! ;)

Here are a couple kitchen pictures. We painted the cabinets in here, took down the terrible wallpaper, replaced counter tops and flooring, hardware, etc. We had a lot of fun with it.

And of course the dining room off the kitchen. The kitchen was long and narrow so not a lot of room for a table. We ate in this room all the time. My love of transferware started in this house and the beginnings of my collection hung on the walls.

This is the same hutch you see in my house now. I had always meant to paint it but never got to it until our current house. You can see I had painted the table that went with the set. Well, I did a horrible job and used tablecloths to cover the chipping paint. I guess we all have to learn somehow right? Now I know to do a good sanding job first!

Lets go upstairs......

This was Hailey's room. We painted her room yellow and stamped pink flowers all over the room. It was sweet and girly. I loved the dormers in the upstairs rooms and the cute slanted closet.

And our bedroom. It was small but we had built in drawers and cabinets in the walls. Classic Cape Cod charm! You can see in the reflection of the mirror the exposed brick. This was the second floor area of the 60's addition. You had to step down into the bedroom and it had such a cozy, nestlike feeling to it.

And last but not least, the bathroom. It was super tiny! I could barely get a picture in this room because there was nowhere to back up. I was backed up against the toilet trying to get a sink picture here. We had taken down ugly tile and replaced it with beadboard 3/4 up the wall. I used a lot of white in here to help with the size.

So that was the place we called home from 2002 until 2005. It was a great house and I always tell my husband if I ever have the opportunity to buy it back, I will. I'm not sure what I would do with it, maybe force one of the kids to live there when they get older?

Three little plates all in a row...

In another post I mentioned the little plates I found for above my stove. Here they are all hung. I have been searching for small, cream colored, saucer sized plates for here. It seemed the perfect spot to lighten up the stained beadboard. We were shopping in Kohls and I found these plates in the dinner size and thought they were so sweet. I said to the girls, "Oh if only these came in a saucer size." They went around the other side of the display and there were these three plates sitting on an otherwise empty shelf. Just meant for me to find them! They were a steal at $2 each. I think it is neat that the girls helped find them. I'm determined to get them into bargain shopping and yard sales! ;)

Jumpy Tucker

Just because I thought it was funny and cute......

I was taking "Before" pictures of our Everything Room and the dog was running around. I tried to get a picture of him but I couldn't get him to sit still! He kept jumping up at me trying to get the little rope loop on the side of the camera. So here is Tucker's jumpy picture. He was jumping straight up and down like Tigger!

In a crafting mood...

Yesterday was the first day we've gotten out as a family to return things and shop since Christmas. Everyone is finally feeling better and it was nice to get out! I ran into Michaels for some fake fruit, the rest of the family waited in the car. Can you believe they didn't want to come in?! Anyway, I decided I was in a crafting mood so I bought myself a little project for last night. I made some fun letters for the dining room above the french doors. They are just MDF type letters. I picked out a green patterned scrapbook paper for them.

Here they are a few hours later. I just rested them on the moulding so when I get tired of them, they can be taken down without leaving nail holes.

We went to Walmart as well. Man, that place was a madhouse! I took a quick stroll through the craft department like aways and was annoyed to see the lemons I just purchased at Michaels were half the price at Walmart. Darn! As I was heading toward the fabric section, this blue caught my eye. I ran right over and there was this gorgeous blue and beige toile. I had Ella with me and she humored me by getting just as excited as I was! Actually, she did get a sewing machine for Christmas so I may just put her to work!

This fabric is now the inspiration for our "Everything Room." It's perfect! I love toile and this shade of blue is just the pop of color the room will need. Now I have a starting point so I can really begin planning out the decor for the room. Isn't it great when you find that first piece to work from? Everything tends to just fall in place from there.

This sweet little sign was on clearance at Kohls. I'm afraid my house is getting a bit "wordy" so I need to cut back but I couldn't resist this one. I love the saying and the neutral colors were perfect for my house. I wish I could get a better picture but when I tried to use the flash, it glared on the words.

I also bought three small cream colored plates to hang above my stove. I'm out of plate hangers over here so Home Depot is on the list for today. When I get them hung I'll snap a pic.

I hope everyone is having a great day!