holy moly!

Guess who has their very own post on Ana-White.com? That's right! I was face booked by an old friend and mutual admirer of Ana's site, telling me that I had my own post. So I checked it out. Sure enough. There were my pics and my bed .

Honestly. . . I want to build all of her plans. They're amazing.

I think the golfer wants to also.

Our little 1600 square foot home cannot physically accommodate all of the ideas in our minds. Someday. . . someday.

Now, I need to get my hands on a kreg jig ASAP. . . . Santa?

halloween 2010

The kids have been over-the-top excited about these costumes. Paige has been OBSESSED with How to Train Your Dragon, ever since we saw it in 3-D. Plus, she kind of looks like the girl from the movie "Astrid." Um, who names their kid that?

We collected random viking-like items from Goodwill and some fabric from Joanne. The skulls and spikes were made from lightweight sculpey clay. The skirt skulls and spikes were baked onto bolts and then bolted to the leather skirt. SO FUN to make! I hightly recommend lightweight sculpey clay, but don't forget your coupon. . . it's a little costly at full price.

In AZ, we don't wear furry boots. Especially my daughter, who is her own little space heater. I made a shoe cover out of felt and the fur just slips on like a leg warmer. His are the same, but he already had brown shoes, so he just wore those. His vest was one of the goodwill purchases, cut down to size. Then I added the tan leather, spikes and fur around the edges. We bought the hat and mask at a costume store.

"Astrid's" skirt was made from vinyl off of the clearance rack at Joanne. We made her shoulder armor from craft foam. Her axe is made from an old broom handle covered with some of the leftover leather and topped with the backside of cheerio boxes as the axe head. His is an old toy that he got from Medieval Times a year or so ago. we just painted the blade silver.

Costumes ready.

We headed out for their shoot in the "spooky trees."

Here's a scary dragon now! Watch out, she looks fierce!

wait! Don't hurt her. I hear that dragons can be trained.

They make great pets!

And apparantly they suck their thumbs. . who knew?

Happy Haunting!

Ginormous fork and spoon

I picked up this ginormous fork and spoon set months ago at Goodwill. I'm talkin' giant. Almost as tall as my 6 year old. I knew they would amount to something if I could figure out a way to change the handle. I'm not really into the whole tiki pole theme. I shoved them under my bed, waiting for inspiration.

Months passed. After we finished the girls bed, we had wood lying around, and I had a plan. Giant Fork and Spoon needed a makeover.

I don't have a BEFORE. I was in a hurry and forgot to take the picture. But, here are the handles that I chopped off. lovely huh?

Here is what they look like on my wall. Ahhh, much better.

Even the golfer likes them. He raised his eyebrows when I originally brought them home. He thinks I'm crazy.

Sometimes I am.

I left off with a trundle and the beginnings of a bed. We now have the finished project. Here is the headboard before the final paint job.

and, here it is all put together in the girls' room.

The Golfer did the building and I did the filling, sanding, priming, painting. We make a good team. I thought there would be arguing and stress. There really was none. The Golfer is already talking about building an entertainment center.

I wanted the head and footboards the same height so that when the bed is up against the wall like this, it feels like a daybed. I can just add some pillows along the wall to give it more of a daybed feel, or we can turn it the other way and it becomes a twin bed again.

The trundle fits nice and tight so no little limbs will be smashed in the night. I think we will end up getting a twin xl for the top mattress to fill in some of the extra space on both ends of the bed.
The girls both LOVE it! We've had no trouble transitioning from crib to big-girl bed. They're both so excited to crawl into their new beds every night.
She's a little scared of the height. . . which is great because she insists on sleeping on the trundle. Mission accomplished.

A huge shout out to Ana for her plans which can be found here. We LOVE our farmhouse bed!

juggling

Moms are jugglers by trade. I've been juggling for weeks now. Blogs just have to fall by the wayside when life gets crazy.

make lunches. . vacuum. . run the carpool . . throw in a load of laundry . . help with a scouting goal. . . start a school science project. . . change a diaper. . . think about dinner. . . shower and change. . . text a friend. . . play memory (and LOSE). . . take a few pictures. . . teach 3 piano lessons. . . break up a fight. . . listen to 15 minutes of reading. . . update the star chart. . . actually start fixing dinner. . . start a blog post. . . finish that load of laundry. . . scrub markers off of the 2 year old. . . clean the bathroom. . . kiss the baby. . . clean the living room. . . clean the kitchen. . . clean up the dinner. . . make the beds. . . make a grocery list. . . clip coupons. . chat with hubby about the day. . . organize coupons. . . and on and on and on.

I wouldn't know what to do if my day flowed with any kind of sane order.

It's all in order in my own chaotic brain.

Somewhere in the middle of this craziness. . . .
the Golfer and I have finally started a project together. After much coaxing, and some convincing plans from Ana at AnaWhite.com.

We priced out the beds at local furniture stores. $600-$800.00 for a twin bed with a trundle. Made of cheap composites and veneers. The floor models were trashed. That's when he caved. It may have also had something to do with the fact that this little stinker got INTO her bed all by herself. That means she'll find a way out. . . soon.

We are building the farmhouse bed with a trundle. The trundle is done. . . . it only took 2 hours to build and sand. It took me longer at the store to get all of the materials. . . all by myself. . . yup, that's right. I was nervous, but we organized before I left and when I got there. . . I actually knew what I was doing.

Now, onto the bed. I can't wait to post the finished photos.

Keep juggling. . . and smiling!

Once upon a time there was a queen that had a shirt that just didn't ever fit right. Let's be honest, it made the queen look pregnant when she was not, and she didn't want anyone asking her if she was. :) So, the queen refashioned it into a not-so-perfect-but-cute-anyway sundress for her little princess. The queen and the princess lived happily ever after even though the queen may be a tad bit addicted to refashioning. The end.

Birthday Bunting Tutorial

I made a birthday bunting for the golfer on his big day. It's made of paper and fabric. Stuff that I already had around the house. Here are some instructions on how to do it:

Step 1. Make a pattern for your scrapbook paper flags. Using this will assure that your flags are all the same size. Mine was about 8 inches long and 8 inches across the top.

Step 2: Find some bias tape that will be long enough to accommodate the letters you will be using.

Step 3: Cut flags out of scrapbook paper.

Step 4: Using a circle cutter, cut a center circle for each flag. I used all different colors for mine.

Step 5: Glue the circles on your flags.

Step 6: Peel backing off of self-stick chipboard letter. I had some around. I bought them a couple of years ago at Target.

Step 7: Center the chipboard letter on the circle

Step 8: Sew flags in between the 2 layers of the bias tape. Make sure to leave an inch or 2 of extra fabric at each end to hang the bunting with.