Fun with maps and a playroom/den redo

It's been a slow makeover.  But it's mostly done.  Just a few details left.

Last summer we relaced the oh so lovely mauve carpet.

Here's the before pics.

Not sure what I wanna do with the old coffee table. 

 It's mostly there for when I sit and do some crafting at the couch.

The fireplace cover needs some paint love too.  And one day I'd love to have a mantle.

And I wanna make some fun pompom trim pillows too.

I redid all the bookshelves.

I bought 4 large maps off of eBay. 

Then I took off the shelves and used simple scotch tape and a blade to fit them and put them up.

When I got the nesting dolls I really intended to make them similiar to some arty type ones I saw last year in my cb2 catalog.

But with all the color going on, I kinda like the natural look for now.

  Here's the kids corner with my new bullentin board and the cool table I found thrifting last year.

(And in the top left corner of this pic you can see the beginning of my laudry closet makeover--orange!!)

This giant tv/entertainment center on the right was given to us.

Someone originally had it custom made and was later doing a new one and getting rid of this one.

It was missing some doors on the bottom which we were having made, but I think the guy who was gonna do it got distracted or something and never did.

When we had the carpet replaced last summer, he fixed this up for us and added molding and whatnot to make them look built in.

Our playroom is just off of our dining room. 

 The short wall in between I made a chalkboard wall and is where the kids ktichen is.

My giant happy bulletin board

Last month while I was at my sister's house, I went thifting one day and came across this glorious frame at a Goodwill.  Luckily I was able to fit it in the back of my hubby's Fusion to bring home.   I knew exactly what I wanted to do with it. 

First I pulled off the white part of the frame and wire hanger.

Then I spray painted the gold frame a gloss white.

After carefully measuring the inside of the frame I mounted cork tiles to fit the frame. 

Some I had to cut down to size with a sharp blade.

Then with 2 nails in the very top of the cork tiles and some command sticky strips along the other sides, I hung the frame on top.  My giant happy bullentin board.  :)

That makes me think of this fun REM song.   Talk about color explosion!  :)  And talk about dating myself!  ;)  My favorite REM song was Stand and I would stand in front of the tv copying all the moves.  lol  I was cool like that.

Stay tuned for the entire playroom makeover.

Party details: fishing poles and party hats

I made a bunch of party hats for Maressa's birthday party.

I used this template on Martha Stwewart.

I used the original size for the teddy bear hats and enlarged it to 125% for hats for the children.

For the fringe topper I took a few sheets of white tissue paper layered and cut into 1" strips.  Then I cut fringe on one side and then rolled a small section up and taped it to the inside top of the hat before taping the hats together.

Then I used a layer of super glue and tape to attach the elastic chin straps.

For the fishing game we did at the party (link to inspiration/fish template in party post) I made fishing poles with skinny dowel rods.  I used pretty printed masking tape to deocrate the ends.  ThenI tied bakers twine to the end securing the loop to the dowel with glue so they wouldn't slip off.

At the end of the bakers twine, I tied a wooden bead and super glued a strong tiny silver magnet (bought at Hobby Lobby) to the bead.

The girls loved loved loved fishing.  :)

It's a Teddy Bear Picnic Party!

Ok so here's the scoop on Maressa's 4 year old teddy bear picnic party.

Invitations and inspiration cupcake set in this post.

Also got the cute matching teddy bear garland.

We set up the picnic room in our fairly empty front room. 

 I hung tulle strips from the ceiling and a tissue flower.

Lots of bears came.  These particular ones are the in house bear collection.

I made party hats for all the little guests.

And I made some smaller ones for the teddy bears. 

The one on the end is Maressa's special hat.

Though the guests snacks are packed in small baskets, I had plenty of snacks and drinks for parents and siblings.  Also the cupcakes here too.

When party guests arrived I had some crafts set up in my dining room.

I printed some blank teddy bears for them to color.

And had little bowls of tiny wooden beads to make necklaces. 

A string for them and a shorter string for their bears.

I had their snacks packed in these inexpensive baskets I got at hobby Lobby.

I lined them with a light blue bandana.

I personalized each with a clothspin clip. 

 I used printed masking tape to cover them and glued a wooden teddy bear bead to the top.

Inside were peanutbutter and honey sandwiches cut with a heart sandwich cutter (sunbutter for the kids with peanut allergies), bottled water, pretzels and a fresh fruit cup.

 Each child took their baskets and we had a picnic on quilts in the floor of my front room.

 While they enjoyed their snack, I read the book, Teddy Bear Picnic.

In each basket was also a little fishing pole I made to go fisihing.

The kids had fun collecting fish.

The game came from this inspiration and template from Mini Eco.

After they caught their fish, they placed their fishing poles and fish in their basket to take home.

After the fishing game, we went on a bear hunt. 

 I made these simple binoculars by covering tp rolls with paper and hot glueing together. 

 Punched holes and tied on yarn.

They really got into the hunt.  I found small stuffed bears at Party City to hide all over the house.

After they found their bears we did a teddy bear toss with a small parachute.

Sorry I don't have a better picture.  I was leading the activities, taking pics and trying to vidoe tape some too! lol

Anyway, popping the bears off the parachute was a popular activity and included tons of giggles. :)

We played several other games with the parachute too.

Here are the cupcakes we made.  Maressa helped with the sprinkles.

Party favors were silicone bear cupcake liners from Hobby Lobby filled with Hershey kisses. 

This was definitely my favorite party we've had.

Maressa had so much fun with her friends she had a hard time with the wigglies at bedtime.  :)

I will post more about the party hats and my fishing poles next time. 

Now I've got a 4 month break til the next party.  :)

Belated Valentines

As like everything this year I was flying by the seat of my pants to get it all done.  Four sets of Valentines, 4 parties (last one ending today) and 2 birthdays and one friend birthday.

Here are the Valentine cookies I made for Micah's kindergarten class.  

Thirty-three to be exact.

Vanilla rolled cookies with royal icing, melted chocolate chip mouth and Wilton's candy eyes.

Third grade got these full size Laffy Taffy bars.  Simply bought a box at Sam's and stapled tag to them. 

According to Zachary they were a big hit.

Kalla made these little treat boxes for her first grade class.  I had a ton of these big matchboxes left over from parties.  We put in some dollar candy and stickers inside.  Then I let Kalla decorate with heart stickers I got at the Target dollar section.  Tied off with twine.  Super cute.

When I saw these last year I was determined that someone was going to take them for Valentines this year.

Sent these with Micah to his kindergarten class.

For all the teachers I made some mixed berry muffins (from a mix). 

 Thought they would be a nice change from candy.

Maressa gave these gunny bear tubes.  Skinny cellophane bags from here on etsy.

For my kids this year I admit I wasn't as into it as usual or prepared.

I had bought them all a book a couple of weeks ago.

Didn't really wanna give candy or sweets since they come home with bags of it from school. 

Not to mention we still had cupcakes and birthday cake.

But I remember as a kid this one year when me and my sisters came home from school on Valentines day and my mom decked out the kitchen and had special surprises for us.

It made us feel so special. 

 I don't recall all the details, but I remember it involving a mini heart shaped cake and new shoes.

So I figured, it didn't have to be fancy.  So I taped some heart doilies together and hung them from the ceiling.  Put a snack on special paper plates and water in fun colorful cups we hadn't used yet.

Picked out a couple of conversation hearts specially for them and a few kisses and popcorn.

Added it to their new books and a Valentine Charlie Brown video to share.

They were thrilled.  :)

Do you guys celebrate with your kids?  With your romantic Valentine?

Sit and eat chocolate alone?

I did 2 of them.....

Hubby and I are having a do over next week when our babysitters his parents are in town and we get to go out on a date night.  :)

What 4 looks like

Sweet, sassy, stubborn, energetic, fun, giggly, dramatic, smart.

Like everything glittery, twirly, makes music, chocolate and fruit.

Yesterday my number four turned 4.  I'm a day behind on everything (tomorrow will be about Valentines).

Party was a big hit on Saturday wtih 9 other energetic 3 and 4 year old girls (we invited both boys and girls from her preschool, but only girls came).

Thank Target for their wonderful, non itchy, non Disney princess dresses.  :)

Full post of party coming later this week.

For our birthday I made us cake.  Strawberry heart shaped cake with almond frosting and sprinkles. 

A friend gave me the recipe to a favorite local bakery's frosting...YUM YUM!  

Maybe I'll post the recipe soon.

I made the heart shape just like my mom did when I was a kid (use a square and round pan, assemble as show above).  She made me a heart shaped cake almost every birthday.  Once she didn't and it was a normal round one.  I was upset and she went back to the heart shape from there on out.  :)  And I wonder where Maressa get her princess-itis from.  lol