25 More Things

1. Two weekends ago I complained that I didn't have any projects to work on. This past weekend I could have worked on five different projects.... but I was too tired. Wah wah.

2. I watched 50 First Dates last night and then went to bed at 9:00 p.m. Livin' it up at my house! Woo woo!

3. I went to Homesense after work yesterday for some retail therapy. I ended up buying a new garbage can for the kitchen. I brought it home and told Alex it was a present for him. I think he liked it???

4. Yesterday I ordered a tea biscuit from Tim Hortons on my way home and attempted to butter it while driving. I dropped it on the stick shift and now there's butter and crumbs all over the car. I'm making a mental note to clean it all up before Alex sees it and freaks out. But knowing me I'll probably forget.

5. Now that we refinished the hardwood floors on our 2nd floor, it makes me really hate the yucky main floor floors. They look extra crusty now. Crus-ty.

6. I'm dreaming of the day (hopefully soon) when I can sit out on our back deck in the sunshine, with a t-shirt and an ice-cold pepsi.

7. I've been spending all of my time and energy worrying about and planning a cute baby room and cute baby outfits. Maybe I should start reading up on how to actually take care of a cute baby.

8. Sci-fi movies aren't my thing. Alex thinks I'm too judgemental that I won't even give one a chance. So I tried to watch a new release called In Time (mostly because Justin Timberlake was in it). But the characters exchanged time with their arms. I had to stop the movie. It was just so dumb!

9. I've been having the worst sleeps lately. It doesn't help that Lexie has decided that from now on she is going to sleep half on my pillow and half on my face.

10. I'm afraid to move this blog over to Wordpress. Alex thinks I can do it myself (with his help). I'm afraid everything will get lost and messed up. I know I should just go for it.

11. I actually like cleaning up the yard in the spring. Doesn't everything seem fun in the spring?

12. Yesterday at work we spent the better part of the afternoon learning what "tattling" is. Glamorous, yes I know.

13. Our basement is taking forever to finish. It's so hard to decide where lightswitches and outlets and potlights go. Drywall will be soooooooo nice. I heart drywall.

14. We almost purchased a second house (a street over from our house) for Alex's parents to rent. We had an offer ready but another one was accepted before ours. Sarah and Alex, Real Estate Moguls. Hmmm, sounds kind of good.

15. I tell myself every year that I'm going to go strawberry picking and blueberry picking. I always, always, always miss the time when they are in season.

16. I had an allergic reaction once and my lips swelled up about triple their regular size. Wow, did I ever look hideous for those few days!

17. A few months ago I was craving processed cheese and bologna. I ate them. Alex thought I was gross.

18. I almost ate a mushy grape yesterday. I spit it out just in time. It was disgusting.

19. Sometimes I listen to reggae, sometimes country, sometimes folk, sometimes pop, sometimes R&B, sometimes rap. NEVER classic rock. Shudder.

20. I mix my chocolate milk half and half with white milk, kid-style.

21. I love my iphone.

22. I want to start offering online design consultations through my blog but I'm afraid that no-one would take me up on it.

23. One day I want to be the kind of girl who has pretty necklaces and purses. I've been wearing the same heart necklace from American Eagle for the last five years.

24. When I was at my cousin's wedding on the weekend, I was reminded of how much I hate high-heels. I kicked those suckers off real fast.

25. Even though I've probably never met you, you feel like a real friend. True story.

Nursery Progress: A Chair and a Rug

A few posts ago I shared a few plans for our tiny little bedroom that we're turning into a nursery. 

But before I start working on all of the little details and projects, I need to get some of the basics in order.

And that meant making some big (for me) decisions. 

Decision #1: A rug.

Decision #2: A chair.

If you've gotten to know me at all over the last while, I am SO indecisive. I usually go back and forth a zillion times when I want to make a big-ish purchase and take at least months and months to make the final decision. 

Except I kind of have a two-month deadline (ahhh! panic!!!!) so I had to just go with my gut and pick some stuff.

For the rug, I knew I wanted a natural fibre rug for the colour and texture. Ikea has a large, regtangular, jute rug for $149 but I thought it would be slightly too big for the teeny tiny room. All the furniture in the room would probably have to have sat on the rug and then you wouldn't be able to see our newly refinished floors!

Tarnby Rug - Ikea

My other choice was a smaller, round jute rug from Pottery Barn for $188 (plus duties & shipping). I thought the round shape would soften up the boxy room and let a little bit of the floors show along the edges of the room.

Round Jute Rug Natural - Pottery Barn

I ended up choosing the round, Pottery Barn rug. And it got here yesterday (what! what!). I like the fact that it is fully reversible (I anticipate a lot of car crashes happening on this rug), it isn't kiddish, and I can potentially use the rug in any other room of the house later on since it will go just about anywhere with just about anything.

{I think the lady at the post office really liked it because she helped me carry and load it into my car. I also think she knows that I love online shopping since I am over-the-moon giddy every time I have a package to pick up.}

The next decision was for a chair. Everyone and their mother told us to get a rocker/glider. But, a) we don't really have room for one, b) I can't find any cute ones that I like, and c) rocking motions kind of make me queasy. Okay, they actually make me a lot queasy.

So we decided on a tiny, comfy, washable chair from Ikea.

Extorp Jennylund Armchair - Blekinge White - Ikea

It was only $229, it goes with all of the other furnishings in the house, it's not too kiddish, it's tiny, it's comfy, and we can use it anywhere in the house later on if we want to. Score. Alex stopped in at Ikea on the way home from his basketball game last weekend to pick it up. So now we have:

A rug AND a chair. Progress, baby, progress.

Here is how they're looking in the room so far:

It's a start, right?

A Wooden Box

Hey there. How are you doin' this week?

I'm doing reeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeal good. Four-day week this week, tomorrow's Friday, got my stencil in the mail today, fun rock concert with the hubs last night, and Alex is making me a surprise supper at this very moment.

Life is good. :)

So 'member I was on the hunt for some wooden crates to use as toy bins? Well I was a bit grumpy that the only ones I could find (and ended up buying) were coated with a shiny, orange-y varnish. My mom offered to strip the varnish off for me and she was able to finish one the other day.

She brought it over the other night so I took a few pictures to show you. I know you love old wooden boxes as much as I do.......

I still need to do a light sanding in some spots as well as add some casters to the bottom. I went looking at a local hardware store and most of the casters were plastic and really ugly. I'll have to check Lowe's and Home Depot this weekend.

I'm really loving the dovetailed corners. I also like how narrow the boxes are so they will fit all snug against the little wall in the bedroom.

Hopefully my mom will bring over the second one this weekend (hint, hint if you're reading this) so I can finish 'em both off and show you how they look in the room.

Oh yeah, here is another inspiration picture for you. I know you like those too.

Image: Pinterest
Original Source: Home Made Simple

Well that's it for me for tonight. I'm hoping to catch up on my lack-o-projects this weekend. See you soon!

Homemade Honey Oat Bread

I did it! I really and truly baked a real live loaf of bread. I feel like I should be wearing a superwoman cape right now. Because it even tastes good. Shocking, I know.

After my rock-hard non-rising attempt at bread-making yesterday, I decided not to give up. I drove to the grocery store, bought some fresh (not expired this time) yeast, and found a different recipe.

It's okay that the loaves came out of the oven at 11:00 p.m. last night, right? It's okay that the bread wasn't ready for breakfast, lunch, or dinner, right? At least we had a midnight snack of bread and butter and now I have two fresh loaves to get fat on munch on for the next few days. Yay!

Even though I secretly wanted to choose a thick, white, super fattening bread recipe, I decided to be healthy and found a recipe that had some oats in it. Oats always sound healthy.

So here is the recipe (with a few small changes that I made after reading the comments and reviews).

Honey Oat Bread

Adapted from: Bon Appetit (November 2001) found at Epicurious

Makes: 2 small loaves

Ingredients:

1 3/4 cups warm water (105°F to 110°F)

1 tablespoon dry yeast
3/4 cup quick-cooking oats
1/3 cup honey
3 tablespoons vegetable oil
2 1/2 teaspoons salt (I only used 1 1/2 tsps of salt)
5 cups (about) all purpose flour
1 large egg, beaten to blend
Additional quick-cooking oats

Directions:

1. Stir 1/4 cup warm water and yeast in large bowl. Let stand 10 minutes to dissolve yeast.

2. Stir in remaining 1 1/2 cups water, 3/4 cup oats, honey, oil, and salt. Stir in enough flour to form soft dough.

I used my kitchenaid stand mixer to mix the ingredients together. Once mixed, I kneaded the dough on speed 2 until the dough clung to the dough hook in a big clump.

3. Coat another large bowl with oil/butter. Transfer dough to greased bowl and turn to coat. Cover with plastic wrap, then kitchen towel and let rise at room temperature until doubled in volume, about 2 hours.

I turned my oven on to 150 degrees, turned it off, opened the door for 30 seconds, and then placed the bowl of dough inside to warm. The original recipe said to let rise for 1 hour but it took almost 2 full hours. 

4. Grease two 8 1/2x4 1/2x2 1/2-inch loaf pans. Punch down dough; shape into 2 loaves. Place 1 loaf in each pan. Cover and let rise in warm draft-free area until almost doubled in volume, about 45 minutes.

5. Preheat oven to 350°F. Brush tops of loaves with egg; sprinkle with additional oats. Bake until brown on top and tester inserted into center comes out clean, about 30 minutes. Cool completely.

P.S. When I first wrote about my mini-goal of learning how to bake bread, lots of you left some tips and recipes for me to try in the comments section. THANK YOU!!! I'm hoping to try all of your recipe suggestions as soon as I'm off work. Six more weeks, baby, six more weeks. :)

The Post Where I Complain About Being Unlucky

Warning: This post has no pictures and lots and lots of rambling. ;)

♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥

Well didn't I just have the unluckiest weekend ever in the get-stuff-done-for-the-baby's-room department. I did mention that I was feeling nervous and unprepared, right? In case you forgot, I'm feeling super-unprepared with an almost bare room and no baby gear yet. What if dude decides to drop in early? Uhhhhh, I'm in trouble. :S

Up here in Canada it's a 3-day weekend (yay!) since Monday is a holiday called Family Day. In my mind I was going to get sooooo many projects done. Was I wrong. Here's how it all went down:

Unlucky Event #1

After work on Friday I raced to the post office to make it there before it closed. I've been checking the mail obsessively in anticipation of the stencil I ordered a few weeks ago. (I mentioned the stencil I chose here.) I had a feeling it was going to arrive just before the weekend so that I could stencil the wall in the nursery. Alas, it did not arrive in time for the weekend. I was bummed. Way bummed. To make matters worse, Alex left at lunchtime on Friday for a boy's night in Toronto to see a Raptors game. I had to go home stencil-less and spend Friday night in my spooky house all by my lonesome. 

Unlucky Event #2

A few weeks ago I found some crown moulding ledges at Michaels to put up in the nursery. (I mentioned the plan for the ledges here.) Unfortunately, they only had two at the time and had to put in an order for two more. Since I was so bummed out about not getting the stencil, I figured that I could head to Michaels, pick up the third shelf, and then decide on the spacing and where to hang them. 'Cept when I called, the ledges hadn't arrived on the most recent truck delivery and the next truck delivery would be delayed because of the holiday. No ledges to install for another week. Boooooooooooooooooo.

Unlucky Event #3

I mentioned that I was heading on a little road trip on Saturday in the next city over to check out the first antique show of the season. I was super pumped and on the hunt for some wooden crates to use as toy bins. (I mentioned using wooden crates here.) We got to the first booth of the show and asked the price on the seller's only wooden crate. Not for sale. Huh. He pointed us in the direction of a different booth. The lady had only one crate and it was $75. Ouch.

We kept our eyes peeled and found a booth full of wooden crates just like I had dreamed about. Except the owner had put a shiny, icky varnish on every single box that made the wood practically orange. But the crates were significantly cheaper than the only other one we had seen. So, my mom agreed that if I bought some, she would take them home and strip the varnish off for me. Awwww, thanks mom. So the good news is that I did find two super cute "dynamite" boxes that I think will be the perfect size for the space. The unlucky part is that I couldn't take them home, put wheels on them, put them in Little Ninja's room, and pat myself on the back for getting a project done. All because of that nasty varnish. Oh well, at least I have a cool, crafty mom who is going to fix 'em up for me! 

Unlucky Event #4

I found the cutest fabric at one of the Fabricland locations last week. The fabric was white cotton and had large, subtle, white polka dots all over it. It was also discounted from $20 a metre to $4.50 a metre since it was a leftover summer fabric. I had taken a sample home and shown it to friends and family. They had all given me an enthusiastic go-ahead to purchase the fabric and sew up some curtain panels for the baby's room. (I mentioned the curtain panels here.) On the way home from my road trip I stopped in at the fabric store to make the big purchase. The lady unrolled the fabric and found a coffee stain that went through the whole bolt. It was also discoloured in places and definitely a no-go. I took down the product info and was determined to find the exact fabric at the other Fabricland location.

Unlucky Event #5

I drove to the other Fabricland location today in hopes that I could find my cute polka-dot fabric. Nope. Nada. Nothing. I tried to pick something else. I tried, I really did. But the choices sucked and I was grumpy. I went home fabric-less.

Unlucky Event #6

I woke up this morning determined to make the most of the weekend since I wouldn't be getting any projects done. I decided that I'd work on one of my mini-goals and attempt my first loaf of homemade bread. (I wrote about my mini-goals for the new year here.) I spent over an hour searching for a good bread recipe that I could make using my kitchenaid mixer. I followed the recipe exactly. I mixed, I kneaded, I covered the bread dough and set it in the warm oven to rise. It didn't rise. It was solid as a rock and when I tried to "punch the dough down" I nearly broke one of my knuckles. I couldn't figure out what I did wrong until I checked the expiry date on the yeast. I could've sworn I bought that recently. Doh. 

♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥

I do have to say that even though this hasn't been the most productive weekend ever, I can't really complain because I've gotten to sleep in, shop, putter in the kitchen, drink large mugs of coffee (decaf of course), surf Pinterest all day, and spend time with the fam. I guess I'm not that unlucky after all. :)

So, how was your weekend?

10 Just Cutes

I'm heading to bed early tonight so that I'll be ready for my little shopping / road trip adventure tomorrow. (Soooooo excited!)

Before I hit the sack I thought I'd share a fun little collection of photos from my "Just Cute" board on Pinterest. 

I think I like hearts or something. 

Felt hearts.
Image: Pinterest
Original Source: Etsy

Tea tin plant pots.
Image: Pinterest
Original Source: Flickr

Vintage alarm clocks.
Image: Pinterest
Original Source: Unknown

Dressed up brown paper bags.
Image: Pinterest
Original Source: The Party Studio Blog

Painted floors.
Image: Pinterest
Original Source: Unknown

Twine flowers.
Image: Pinterest
Original Source: Haikaranpesa Kodiksi

Built-in bunks.
Image: Pinterest
Original Source: Unknown

Burlap heart garland.
Image: Pinterest
Original Source: Etsy

Tiny rustic door.
Image: Pinterest
Original Source: Hannes Dagbok

Knitted socks. With hearts.
Image: Pinterest
Original Source: PetraO

Also, I just want to thank those of you who left sweet, encouraging comments on my last few posts. You're the ones who keep me motivated to keep on bloggin'. I really do appreciate your comments very, very much. I'm excited for my move over to Wordpress so that I'll finally be able to respond to them directly. Weeeeeeeeeeee!

Nursery Plan Part 2

So you can probably start calling me the nursery over-decorator right about now. I juuuuuust might be trying to cram too many things into one tiny little room. It is just a plan though, so if I need to eliminate an idea or two, I can always do that down the road......

I already shared my plan for one of the small, awkward walls in this post: Nursery Plan Part 1.

Now I'll share my plan for one of the other walls in the room: the window wall.

Again, there isn't room for much. But here's what I plan to cram in anyway:

1. Two white curtain panels, one for each window. (I found some ca-ute white-on-white polka dot fabric at my local fabric store that I'm thinking of using to make my own.)

Image: Pottery Barn

2. Rustic metal letters, possibly spelling out Little Ninja's real name, whatever that may end up being.

Image: Restoration Hardware Baby 

3. Bin pulls for the dresser, probably in pewter or brushed nickel.

Image: Unknown 

4. Chunky window hardware for each window. I'm only going to use one finial on the inside of each window - the other end of each rod will go right up against the walls and will be covered by each curtain panel.

Image: Pottery Barn

5. Two tiny book shelves underneath each window. Gotta promote reading early. I'm a teacher, remember?

Image: Pinterest

6. A tall, narrow 6-drawer dresser that I bought two years ago at the Christie Lake Antique Show. It will painted in white (and distressed of course). My awesome dad is currently in the process of stripping the 10 layers of paint off for me since I'm afraid of lead paint fumes and paint thinner creating third eyeballs on Ninja baby.

Image: Unknown

7. A round, natural fibre rug to soften up the square shape of the room and to add some texture. I actually ordered that exact rug yesterday. Yippee!

Image: Pottery Barn

And just for fun, here are both pictures one after the other so that you get an idea of how everything'll look together:

So, whattaya think? I love your input, yes I do.

I found an ad on Kijiiji yesterday for some wooden crates that said "dynamite" on them. How perfect would those be for a boys room? Except I emailed the seller and he wrote me back saying his wife changed her mind about selling them. Doh.

The good news is that there is an antique show in the next city over (only about an hour and a half away) coming up this weekend. I'm heading there on Saturday morning on the hunt for some wooden crates, a chippy bench, a stool, some metal letters, and something I can use for a change table. Fingers crossed that I find something good. Ooooh, the thrill of the hunt..... :)

{P.S. If you guessed Smith, you were right. Coolest name ever! Although there are a few others still in the running.....}

 

{P.S.S. Happy Valentine's Day!!! If you don't have time to leave a comment tonight I'll understand. I know it's because you're too busy smooching with someone special.}

A Name Clue + Linky Followers Thingie

In my last random post (25 Things), I hinted that one of our top 3 baby name picks was inspired by a character from Sex and the City. Thanks for humouring me with your guesses - that was fun. But you were alllllllllllll wrong. Hee hee!

Stanford? Seriously?!? Bahahaha.

Here's a hint:

Did you figure it out, did you figure it out?!?

I also mentioned in the same post that I am hoping to move this blog over to Wordpress within the next few months. (It's scary, but I'm gonna go for it. Wish me luck.)

Apparently the application that many of you use to follow this here blog, Google Friend Connect, will no longer be available for Wordpress blogs.

So in an attempt to be proactive, I installed a new blog follower thingie called Linky Followers that allows you to follow along and receive all of my nonsensical posts and ramblings just like the other application. Except this new one will work on both Blogger and Wordpress blogs so I won't lose you when I make the switch.

In other words, if you haven't already done so, sign up to be my online friend. Then I will be happy and you will be happy and we will hold hands and skip into the sunset together. Or something like that.

P.S. I have a sore throat tonight and will be going to bed at 8:00 p.m. Boooo to germs. Booooooooo.

Nursery Plan Part 1

We've decided to turn our tiny spare bedroom into Little Ninja's room. It's right across the hall from our bedroom and it's got lots of cozy potential.

I'm feeling a bit pressed for time to get this room done since I'm usually such a slow worker / decorator. 

So I thought I'd share my visions for a few areas in the room. Then I'll see if I can actually implement them before little dude's arrival.

There's this one awkward wall in the room that is in between the door to the room and the closet.

As you'll be able to tell from the next picture, the wall is an awkward spot because you can't really put any furniture on it. If you do, it will block sight of the window that is directly behind it. See if you can figure out what I mean:

The view of the window is already partially blocked off because it's in the little closet alcove. So whatever I choose to put on that wall will have to be super narrow.

Here's what I'm thinking:

1. Two or three long, white, crown moulding ledges, all the same length (for display).

Image: Pottery Barn

2. Two differently sized / shaped wooden boxes on castors (for toys).

Images: Pinterest & Pinterest

3. A round rug to soften the boxy-shaped room (and for some texture).

Image: Pottery Barn

4. Walls painted a soft greeny-grey (already done in Benjamin Moore's Old Prairie). 

Image: Benjamin Moore

Kind of with a layout like this:

I've got two inspiration pictures pinned on Pinterest with the 3-shelf look goin' on:

Image: Pinterest

Image: Pinterest

So, that's the first plan. Can you kind of picture it??? Any other suggestions??? :)

25 Things

1. I am amazed at how many of you dear readers took the time to wish our family congratulations on little Ninja Baby. I just LOVED reading through your comments, advice, and cute stories. You make me laugh. And you make me want to give you all a great big hug. Thank you.

2. Alex goes outside and starts my car for me every morning before work. The neighbour just mentioned to me that I have my very own car starter. I think I’m a bit spoiled.

3. Fruit and vegetables that have marks or bruises or mushy spots weird me right out. I always have to watch Alex when he’s making a sandwich or salad because I’m sure he tries to sneak the creepy veggies into my lunch and dinner.

4. I’ve watched all six seasons of Sex and the City four times already from start to finish. Enough time has passed that I’m ready for round #5. In fact, one of our top 3 baby names came from one of the characters on the show. Can you guess which one?

5. I went to Costco after work tonight and bought a few groceries: bread, lettuce, cherries, grapes, oranges. Then all of a sudden I popped a box of 16 gourmet cinnamon buns into my cart. SIXTEEN!?!?!? What was I thinking?

6. I’m not a fan of the colour red. I own one red t-shirt that has white hearts all over it. It’s for Valentine’s Day at school when everyone wears red and white.

7. Alex asked me to be his “girlfriend” on Valentine’s Day a bazillion years ago. It was only our second date. He liiiiiiked me. He wanted to daaaaaaaate me.

8. I am contemplating moving this blog over to Wordpress soon. The Blogger commenting system really bugs me. I want the fancy comments like some of the fancy blogs out there. I want a fancy blog, I want a fancy blog!

9. I hate wearing dresses. Hate.

10. My wedding dress was ordered online from J. Crew. It was cotton and cost less than $150. I loved it even though I hate wearing dresses. If you convince me I’ll post a picture of it. ;)

11. Roary’s nose has gone all pink except for one little black spot. I call it his Cindy Crawford mole and I always photoshop it out of pictures. He’s self-conscious about it. He told me.

12. I am NOT a morning person. It takes everything I’ve got in me to get myself out of bed every morning. I’m pretty grumpy until I’ve been up for at least an hour and have had a coffee.

13. Many of my work days are spent having conversations about why it’s not nice to call someone a “poo-poo head”.

14. I’ve been saving up for a new camera lense that is way expensive. I really just want to go and buy it on my credit card and use it in secret. Alex doesn’t need to know about everything I do, right?

15. I don’t like cartoon shows or movies (except The Little Mermaid). The characters voices are always super annoying.

16. I’ve been lucky enough to visit 10 countries so far: The States, Mexico, Jamaica, The Dominican Republic, England, France, The Netherlands, Germany, Switzerland, and Italy.

17. My old roommate had a cat that cuddled me to death during the day and then attacked my face when I was sleeping. I never knew when it was coming. I’m still traumatized.

18. I only ever buy vanilla or cookie scented candles. Mmmm, vanilla. Mmmmm, cookies.

19. Alex and I go shopping to Home Depot and Homesense pretty much weekly. He drops me off at Homesense, goes to Home Depot and gets reno stuff for the house, and then picks me up when he’s done. It’s a great system. Except I’m sure that the entire staff of Homesense thinks I’m a lunatic who stalks the store by herself at least once a week. I want to wear a sign that says: I’m not shopping by myself, I swear!

20. I’ve been trying to grow my hair long for the last 10 years. It’s so fine and grows so slow that it’s been the same length for the last...... 10 years. I secretly curse all my friends who all seem to have the thickest, fullest hair of all time.

21. I don’t want to be a teacher for the rest of my working days. I love the kids but the job is tough. I love when parents join me on a field trip and after 1 or 2 hours tell me they have no idea how I do it all day. My answer is usually, “I have no idea either, lady.” ;)

22. I miss sleeping on my stomach.

23. It surprises me when I chat with people about adoption and they tell me that they could never love a child that wasn’t “their own”. My little adopted baby will be “my own” and I’m going to love and smother that kiddo to death. Just sayin’.

24. Ryan Gosling and Ryan Reynolds are really good actors. I really admire their acting abilities. Wink, wink.

25. I’ve surprised myself with how much nonsense I was just able (and willing) to share. :)

Alright, your turn to share your 25 things. Let me know if you do, I'd love to read your version.

Then, link up here:

25 Things Linky Party @ Perfectly Imperfect

Big, Crazy, Exciting News

This girl has............................ a giant belly!

Even though I seriously dislike posting pictures of myself on the internet, I suppose it's a special occasion.

So here we go:

See? It's giant.

And apparently there's a little dude in there:

We're calling him Little Ninja 'cause he's a boy (oh yeah) and, well, he kicks me a lot. Hee hee.

{It's been sooooooo hard keeping this on the down-low for so long. But, as many of you know, we are also in the process of adoption. We've been in the process of updating all of our adoption-related documents for the last few months and wanted to make sure that they were all in order before making the big announcement. For anyone who is curious, our adoption file will be on hold for a little while as the province will not let us adopt at the same time as having a biological child. Rules schmules but I'll follow them if I have to.}

Anywayzzzzz, I dropped a few hints over the last few months 'cause I'm sneaky like that. I may have mentioned a sore back, clothes being too tight, and having a sudden urge to frame vintage toy cars. ;)

I can hardly even believe that SEVEN MONTHS has gone by already. Only a few months left to decorate the nursery, and, well, figure out what to do. Ahhhhhhhhhhh!

:)

Framed Vintage Cars for Kids Room or Nursery

It's about time I busted out a cute, simple DIY project. I have no idea how this idea popped into my head but once it did, I just had to see if I could do it.

First I spied some tiny shadow box frames at Homesense for $5.99 each. A set of three would have been nice but alas I had to settle for two since that's all they had.

Next I shopped on Etsy for some vintage tootsie toy cars. Many sellers sell them individually but the seller I found had a lot of eight of 'em. I paid $15.99 plus a bit of shipping. (Only 6 of them are shown in the photo below.)

I used one of the pictures that came with the frames to trace two rectangles from some lightly textured, white scrapbook paper from Michaels.

I glued the scrapbook paper to the cardboard back of the frame using a plain old gluestick.

That gave me a nice, crisp background for the little cars.

I figured out the spacing and decided on three cars per frame. That left two extra cars which I'm sure I'll use somewhere someday.

To adhere the metal cars to the scrapbook paper / cardboard I chose to use clear silicone. I applied it to the car tires and the car undersides using a toothpick.

I let the silicone dry for an hour (I probably should have waited longer but I'm impatient) and then popped them into the frames.

They are pretty freakin' adorable if you ask me. You could tweak this project by using toy airplanes or a larger shadowbox filled with nine or ten cars in neat, little rows. So many possibilities!

Perfect for a little boys room or nursery.

Do you have any unique kids room / nursery wall art ideas?

P.S. If you're like me and enjoy finding interesting things to frame, you might want to check out some of my other posts:

Framed Botanical Prints

Framed Postcards

Framed Door Plates

Framed Book Page Hearts

Sharing Here:

DIY Project Parade @ The DIY Show-Off, Weekend Wrap-Up Party @ Tatertots and Jello, Nifty Thrifty Sunday @ Nifty Thrifty Things, Strut Your Stuff Saturday @ Six Sisters' Stuff, Simply Klassic Sunday @ Simply Klassic Home, Making the World Cuter Monday @ Making the World Cuter, Get Your Craft On @ Today's Creative Blog, Tuesday's Treasures @ My Uncommon Slice of Suburbia, Frugal Friday @ The Shabby Nest

New Living Room / Dining Room Paint Colour

A month or so before Christmas I finally took the plunge and repainted all of the slightly-too-bright-always-bothered-me-yellow that was all over our main floor. I know I gave you a little snapshot of the new colour but I never took the time to take some nice, daylight photos of each of the rooms in their lovely new gray. 

So here's a little tour. Please keep in mind that the too-bright-yellow stifled my decorating and all of these rooms need some finishing up - whether it be with curtains or cushions or wall art or rugs. We've got most of the basics... now we just need the extra little details.

Living Room

Living Room

Living Room

Dining Room

Dining Room

Dining Room

Dining Room

Dining Room / Living Room

Sunroom

Front Entry

Front Entry

The yellow colour that we used to have in all of these rooms was called Sweet Buttercup and it was a CIL Smart colour from Home Depot. It was always on the too-bright side for my liking but it was the third yellow we had tried and at that point I had just said "good enough" (big mistake).

So here's a side-by-side photo of the old colour vs. the new colour.

The new colour is called Gray Owl by Benjamin Moore. Except I used the colour at a half-tint or half-strength so that it would be slightly lighter. I used a flat finish since we have textured plaster walls with lots of cracks and imperfections. It's definitely a calming colour that's for sure.

Well, do you like it, do you like it, do you like it!?!?!?!

Sharing here:

Saturday Nite Special @ Funky Junk Interiors, Frugal Friday @ The Shabby Nest, Show and Tell Friday @ My Romantic Home, Lovely Crafty Weekend @ Lovely Crafty Home, Weekend Wrap-Up Party @ Tatertots and Jello, Sundae Scoop Link Party @ I Heart Naptime, Strut Your Stuff Saturday @ Six Sisters' Stuff, Nifty Thrifty Sunday @ Nifty Thrifty Things, DIY Project Parade @ The DIY Show-Off, Metamorphosis Monday @ Between Naps on the Porch, Making the World Cuter Monday @ Making the World Cuter, February Before and After Party @ Thrifty Decor Chick, Frugal Friday @ The Shabby Nest