Mr. Giraffe's Wild Ride

A few months ago Rowan finally figured out how to ride his tricycle, and now that's about all he wants to do!  In fact, he's gotten so fast that for Christmas Walt got me a Razor scooter so I could keep up with me.

I'm not going to lie, that thing is really fun to ride! 

Now the problem we keep running in to is that Rowan likes to pick up "treasures" on his rides, but neither one of us has any place to keep them.  (By treasures I mean rocks, sticks, and pinecones.)  I decided he needed a basket to put his goodies in.

A least a year ago, I found this pin on Pinterest:

I knew it would come in handy down the road.  So I pulled it out and poured over it.  I decided it would be doable, all I needed to do was tweak the straps for the handle bars.

So yesterday I set out to get started.  Low and behold, I actually had all the supplies all I needed!  So I got busy, and sure enough, I managed to get it done by the end of the day.

I'm really pretty impressed that it works on his little trike!  And I think when he transitions to a bike, we can move it onto that.  The biggest plus, Mr. Giraffe (Rowan's lovey) fits in!

Rowan was one excited little boy when he realized Mr. Giraffe could come along with him now.  

I think I might appliqué Rowan's name in Red across the front.  It needs a little something yet…What do you think?

Hooked On You!

Rowan and I go to a Mommy and Me preschool every week and this last week we had our Valentine's Day party.  We're encouraged to bring Valentine's to pass out if we'd like to and I also like to do something a little different and crafty ;)

While stalking Pinterest, I found this pin:




I loved the idea, but obviously giving twenty different two year olds a BUCKET of worms isn't a good idea.

So I tweaked the printout a little bit and put 4 worms in a little baggie and stapled the printable to the top of it.  Super easy and quick!

I'm not sure about the other kids, but I know Rowan loves gummie worms!  Now to start scheming for next year's Valentines!

Craft Room Fix-up #2

As I've been working in my new Pretty Room, I've discovered that my closet was once again sub-par.  Funny how your needs and preferences change over time.  I found myself wanting more baskets to sort my fabric scraps better and more shelf space to just be more organized in general.

The baskets were easy enough, just a quick trip to Wal-Mart to take care of that.  The shelves looked a bit more complex.  Then it hit me:  I had extra shelves stashed in the back of Rowan's closet!  Not long after we moved into our house, my parents came out and helped us finish out the closets in the craft room and Rowan's room (both closets where completely bare).  We bought two Rubbermaid kits, but ended up having a few shelves left over.  I knew they'd come in handy down the road!

So one evening while Rowan was tricycling in the garage while Walt was working on some electrical work out there, I holed myself up the Pretty Room and ripped in to the closet.

Here's the before pic:

Note the old, yucky yellow paint above the closet.  Bleh!  

Here's the after pics:

I ditched that bottom bar and added more shelves which really opened things up.  I also just rearranged things in general.  Now I don't cringe when I open the doors!

I also made one other slight change.

I switched the order of the two boxes on the left and added the white frilly frame around the top one.  It's from IKEA and I had been using it in my living room, but since I redid the main wall in there, a whole bunch of frames opened up!  Not a big change, but adds a fun little pop!

Next up for the room, added the pom fringe to the valance and the lamp!

The BIG Valentine Craft

Last year around this time I came across a great tutorial for a Valentine's mailbox complete with mail on the great blog Imagine Our Life.  However, I thought Rowan was a bit too young, so I saved it for this year!

After quite a bit of prunching (that's a term my gramma used to use for messing around), and only having to rip out one little bit, I finished it in time for V-day!

There's canvas inside the mailbox to give it a little body.  The mailbox is stitched together with the blanket stitch.  After this project, I think I've finally mastered that stitch!

The stamps are removable with velcro.  The envelopes also seal with a dab of velcro.

The flag on the side of the mailbox actually moves up and down.  It's a little floppier than I'd like, but it works!  On the blog, she used fabric that goes through the printer to print off cute little letters with pictures that were stitched to the felt letters.  I cheated and just drew squiggles with some black puffy paint :)

My favorite piece is the cookie that slides into the heart envelope.  It's got seed bead 'sprinkles' and a little stuffing to make it look extra yummy.  Rowan loves to munch on it!  He informed me that Gramma Nin sent it to him.

Rowan and I are both really happy with how this one turned out!  Now on to finishing my valentines for his school party and maybe some creme filled cupcakes...

Living Room Wall Take 3

Ever since we moved in to our house, one of the main walls that has stumped me decorating-wise has been in my living room.

Here it is after the first time we painted it.  The entire house was originally this horrible shade of yellowish beige and I've been on a campaign to get rid of it, room by room.  I love the blue, but that's a lot of blank space that needed to be filled!

My first attempt to decorate was a supposed to be collage of family photos.  However, I couldn't find enough frames that I liked to fill it out and the ones I did have weren't big enough.

Bleh.  Just wasn't working, but I had no idea what else to do.  Then I found this pin on Pinterest:

Lightbulb!  Take away the yellow colors, and they might be on to something here.

First, I started searching for fabric.  Fabric.com is one of my favorite sites for browsing fabric.  I could spend hours there!  Then it was off to Home Depot for the shelves.

I'm much happier with this!  It fills the space way more than the picture frames did and I love how the gray ties in with the gray walls of the rest of the room.  I plan on stitching up some embroidered art to put in the medium sized frames.  I'm still looking for just the right pieces, though, and then it's going to take some time to get them finished!  I can live with the pictures of the random family for a bit until then ;)