Getting Cozy: Being Creative

One of reasons that I love the cooler weather, is that I don't feel guilty if I want to stay inside and scrapbook or do something crafty. After my boys are in bed for a nap, I can pour myself a cup of coffee, pull out my scrapbooking supplies, turn on some music quietly and get crafty.

mini album

That being said, those moments don't happen as frequently as I would love. In fact, just recently, I told Jesse that I wish that I had more time to be creative.

Now that I am getting a good start on the Project Life style of scrapbooking (aka way easier), I am finding myself renewing that love for being creative. I am getting pictures into albums and even writing down memories. Success. 

You may not be into scrapbooking. That's fine! What do you do to be creative though? 

 via amy douglass

via craftyblossom

via jones design company

the heidi cowl

via chatelaine

You may look at those pictures and think that there is no way that you could do any of those crafts. Well what about baking? Revamp one of your favourite recipes. That's being creative. What about restoring furniture? That's being creative. Find something that you love to do where you can be creative and do it.

via poor and pretty

This is day 16 of our Getting Cozy series. 

To catch up on the series, click the button above. 

A Feather Banner {DIY}

The playroom is almost completed! Ish...

A few pillows and a rug is the only thing that I'm waiting on and the rug might be a while. And so might the pillows. Who knows though! 

I did make a little feather banner that adds some colour to the room. 
Enter Dollarama and a bagful of feathers for $1. 

I don't have any pictures of me making this banner because it was hard enough sticking the needle through the spines of the feathers and keeping Gavin away from throwing the feathers all over the room, without me trying to snap a picture during all that too. 

This wasn't the easiest little DIY project that I have done lately. It was really difficult to get the needle through the spine of the feathers! (And I know that sounds really gross.) Before giving up on my idea of a feather banner though, I decided to tap each spine with a hammer to crack it a little before sticking the needle through. And it worked! 

So lesson learned. If you decide to make your own feather banner with a bagful of colourful feathers from the dollar store, tap the spines with a hammer and you will be able to thread your needle through them perfectly. 

I am loving the brightness that it adds to the room!

{Playroom Progress} Easy Art Display

Gavin has been spending a lot of time in his playroom. He loves the chalkboard wall and drawing lines. Lots of lines. Although he has just started drawing circles. As he draws I can hear him say, "Aaaaa" as if he is starting to write the alphabet. Pretty cute. :)

When he's not drawing lines on the chalkboard wall or dumping all the chalk on the floor (fun times), he loves colouring on his Diego colouring sheets or on plain paper. As a proud mommy, I wanted to have a place to hang up his artwork. I had seen a couple of ideas floating around Pinterest, such as wire and clothespins, picture frames, and clipboards.

I headed off to the dollar store and bought three clipboards.

They would do their purpose, but they were too plain for my liking. I grabbed some scrapbooking paper and Modge Podge and got to work making them friendlier. (If it's possible for clipboards to be friendly...)

I don't have a step-by-step tutorial for you, because it is pretty self explanatory. I chose my paper, cut it to size, glued it on, and let them dry.

I am really happy how they turned out! I love the colours and the patterns. They are easy for me to interchange Gavin's many pieces of artwork. Just clip and go. 

One more project off my list. I still have plans to make a fun garland, find a rug, and make some pillows for the futon.

Slowly, but surely!

Toddler Busy Board

I actually have a tutorial for you today. The other day I was noticing that my youngest daughter has a thing for buckles, zippers, velcro, really anything that she can pull apart and put back together. She seemed content to play with her buckles on her highchair but I decided to make something a little more fun and portable for her. The idea is similar to a busy book, but less time consuming to make!

I grabbed some supplies from the dollar store and around the house and spent a grand total of $5. Awesome right??

To make your own for your little one you'll need:

- a canvas
- some paint and paintbrush
- a glue gun
- velcro (I got the kind that was already adhesive, not the kind you have to sew on)

The rest you can be creative with. I used, magnets, ribbon, string, a few beads, and pictures that are laminated.

I painted the canvas with three coats of acrylic paint just to make it a nicer colour. Than I decided where I wanted my items to be placed on the canvas. For some of the items (the pictures and the coin purse) I simply velcroed them to canvas. I wanted them to be removable. The string with the beads and the ribbon, I actually glued to the canvas with my glue gun. She's been playing with it for quite a while and it seems to be holding up quite well. If you have another more permanent idea, let me know!

My 3 year old loves the board too!

You can be as creative with this project as you want. I left some room on the canvas so I could add things as she gets a bit older and more hands on. You can also make it more appropriate for an older child. If you are using small items such as beads, please supervise them so they don't accidentally swallow one!

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Hits the Spot

I finally made a sweet little mobile for the kids' room. I decided to cut out arrows from the same pack of paper that I used to make the pendant banner that is hanging over the crib. Hence the title of this post. I am saving you from the many other puns that are floating around in my head...not enough space, not enough time. 

But back to the mobile... 

It is a little crooked. I know that. But the little arrows hanging down make up for the lopsidedness. So cute. And it really doesn't look that lopsided in person. 

I started with a plain embroidery hoop, string and arrows that I cut out using my Cricut. 

I plugged in my little pink hot glue gun and just glued the arrows to the string. Easy peasy. 

Then I hung it up over the change table. 

Cute right? 

Now all it needs is a little baby lying on that change table. Come on baby!

Happy weekend! 

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{DIY} Magnets

Operation Nesting is in full swing.

I am getting our house slowly organized and ready for the baby coming. Little projects here and there are the easiest for me to tackle with Gavin running around wanting to play hockey at every single moment of the day.

One project that I have had my eye on for a while is this disaster area (because the baby is going to really care if the front of the fridge is organized, right?):

Gavin loves to see his friend's faces on the fridge. I love the pictures too, but it was getting to be a mess, with pictures falling almost every time we opened the freezer door or breathed on the front of the fridge. (A little exaggeration). 

I decided to take the uglier magnets that we have received for free and some clothespins and whip up some nicer looking magnets that would keep those pictures of friends up on the fridge where they belong. 

I cleaned off the clothespins and picked pretty scrapbooking paper for the fronts of the magnets. 

I used Mod Podge to glue the paper to the front of the clothespins and advertisement magnets. I used a roll of craft magnets to attach to the back of the clothespins. 

 

Then it was up on the fridge they go! 

Things like bag tags and coupons went on the other side of the fridge so they are still accessible, but not in full view. Much better from the cluttered mess that was going on before!

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Banners, Cheap Frames, and Happy Art

Sloooowly but surely I am getting things checked off my mental list because this baby is coming in *here's hoping* five weeks. 

 Here we are, with the baby, as usual, leaning as far over to the right side of my stomach as possible.

I unpacked a small package of teeny tiny newborn diapers on Monday and put them away beside Gavin's huge diapers. That was a reality check! Gavin was even impressed by the small size of the diapers. 

On Monday, I made and hung up a pendant banner over the baby's crib, which is still Gavin's crib as of right now. What is it about banners that just make a room happier? 

 If you look closely, you can see my sweet, sick little baby settling down for a nap to get feeling better! Which is also why this picture is terrible quality. Sorry about that. 

I made the banner with scrapbook paper and threw in some pink tones too, since we don't know if this baby is a boy or a girl. 

Gavin and I also made a quick stop at one of my favourite thrift stores and found these two wooden frames for $1.69 each! Perfect for some happy art that will be hung up on Gavin's side of the room. 

 You can find the Baa, Baa, Black Sheep printable here and You are my sunshine printable here

I am still on the hunt for more frames for Gavin's side of the room, so I'll be doing that in the next couple of weeks, plus finding a couple of baby sleepers for the hospital, packing my bag, cleaning, making a mobile for over the change table, and oh ya...taking a nap or two. :) 

 (via) 

Winnie the Pooh is so wise...

Play Tool Box

I hope you all had a wonderful Christmas! We have been enjoying these past few days of just relaxing and not having a real big agenda. Jesse went back to work yesterday and Gavin and I puttered around the house, watching the snow fall. 

One thing I did do yesterday, something that a lot of parents are also probably doing or will be doing, is organized the toys. Even though Gavin didn't get a lot of toys for Christmas, (we decided to keep things simple with a few toy cars, some books and one of Jesse's old hockey sticks cut down to Gavin's height...best present ever), things were looking a little unorganized in the toy corner.

One present that Gavin got from his aunt and uncle was a big collection of Home Depot play tools. He loves "being like daddy" with his own tools. While tidying up Gavin's toys, I decided to give the tools their own little spot. 

I took the old crayon caddy, which was creating more throwing opportunities for Gavin than actual creativity and gave it a paint job. 

I then taped off the top so I could give the bottom a touch of gold. 

I have great help around here. 

Once it dried, I cut out some letters with my Cricut and glued them on with mod podge. Because the mod podge has a gloss to it, I didn't want just the words to be glossy, so I just gave the whole thing a light coat of mod podge. 

Now when Jesse is fixing little things around the house or building Gavin his new bed (which will hopefully be soon now that Jesse has a brand new drill from Christmas!), Gavin can bring along his little tool box and "help". 

Happy weekend!