Plaid + Dots

little girl's dress up room

Miss N loves to play dress up (don't most little girls?!).  Within minutes she'll change from a serious doctor curing her toys' ailments (Doc McStuffins, anyone?) to a fluttery butterfly with magical powers.  It's simply adorable and I love seeing her creativity as she plays. As a result, we've acquired quite a collection of dress up clothes, accessories and trinkets.  To surprise her on her 3rd birthday, I turned a plain closet under our basement stairs into an adorable "Dress-Up Boutique".  As you can see by the "before" and "after" pics, it is quite an improvement to the space and my little girl now has her own little spot in the house to be creative and play.

I didn't really have a plan for this space - I knew that I wanted it to be a cute dress up room and I let the theme take shape as I went along.  

The first thing I did was pick out a paint color.  I chose this serene blue since it is more gender neutral (my hubby had an issue with another pink room - ha!) and I thought it would be cute to have bright colors as the accent.  I spent a weekend painting the main walls and and while I was painting I accidentally got a little bit of paint on the ceiling (oops! yikes!).  To correct my mistake, I covered up my blemish by painting the collection of butterflies going up the ceiling.  Aren't they cute?  

To create the butterflies, I found an image online of a butterfly and printed it out to create a template. I cut out the template and traced it on the wall to create the pattern you see below. Using an artists brush, I painted in the traced areas using different colors of blue wall paint (luckily, we have a few different blue tones in our house so I had a few cans of paint laying around that I could use).  I am really happy with the result and it was super easy to paint this mural.

Once the dress-up room was painted, it was time to decorate and accessorize!  I hit IKEA, Target and HomeGoods for the cute decorations and accents (shown below).

I found these great 3D Butterflies at Target and used them to add some dimension to my butterfly mural.  Aren't they cool?

Xhilaration(r) 3D Butterflies

Photo Credit: Target.com

At Target, I also found a simple white square mirror and some hooks.  These hooks were well priced (like maybe $2-$3 for a pack of 2) and are the perfect size to hold her dress up clothes (they especially work great for holding tutus).

Threshold(TM) 2-Pack Single Prong Robe Hook in White

Photo Credit: Target.com

I adore this little stool from IKEA and just had to have one in this room - it is perfect for kids and looks adorable too!

Mammut Children's Stool by IKEA

Photo Credit: IKEA.com

Finally, I found some great decorative accents at HomeGoods- pink polka dot baskets and a jewelry box were used for extra storage and helped complete the room. (Side note:  notice the stickers on the shoes?  The stickers are there to help my little Miss understand which shoe goes on which foot...)

Needless to say, my little miss was thrilled when she saw her new dress up room.. she LOVES this room and all of her little friends love to go down there and play dress up.  So happy I did this and I hope I inspired you to do something creative to decorate a teeny tiny space.

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february resolution: one project done!

Finally one thing to "check" off my February Resolution list.  I finished the artwork for Miss N's nursery and it's even hanging up in her room.  Hooray!  I am really happy with how it turned out and it adds a cute touch to her walls.

Here's a close up of the finished art....

And, here it is hanging in her room..  

 

diy valentines - toddler crafts

As you all know, I love Valentine's Day.  I also love teaching Miss N about crafts and how to make things on her own.  Although she's just a wee one (16 months and counting..) we still try to craft.  In reality, mom does everything with scissors and glue and Miss N does the rest (well, kind of).  So, today was our Valentine's craft day and I pulled out some colored paper, card stock, stamps, double stick tape, scissors and a lot of stickers and we went to town making some very cute Valentine's for our special people in our lives.  Here's the finished result...not bad for a toddler :-)!

My Heart Belongs To You (for daddy)

Whoooo Loves You?  (for the Gs)

valentine's day: felt heart banners

I love Valentine's Day and after making the simple felt heart bunting to hang by our double doors, I used the left over felt and ribbon to make this adorable felt heart banner to hang on our mantle.  The colors are bright and cheerful and it certainly helps me get in the mood for Valentine's Day!!!  

Happy (early) Heart Day!

 

 

valentine's day decorations

Miss N is taking a very long nap today... sigh...  a little "me" time is just what the doctor ordered.  My DVR is loaded with Martha Stewart and I am spending the afternoon catching up on Martha and crafting.  With all the Christmas decorations gone, the house feels a little bare- time to make some cute decorations for one of my favorite holidays, Valentine's Day.  The craft du jour is a simple heart banner made from felt...  you can use it as a mantle decoration or do what I did and hang over your glass doors.

It's very simple to make - all you need is a some felt in an array of colors (pinks, reds, white), scissors, picking shears, ribbon and glue.  Cut out a number of hearts in various shapes and sizes.  Layer them (if you choose) and arrange in the order that you'd like them to hang.  Glue them to the ribbon and hang when dry.  Viola, now you have your own Valentine's Day Heart Banner!!  You can use this to decorate a party or simply add a little "love" to your favorite room.  Enjoy!

caramels, caramels, caramels....

For the second time this week I decided to make homemade caramels.  The first batch are tasty but a little too hard.. I seriously worry that I'll pull out a tooth biting into them!  So tonight I decided to torture myself by standing in front of the stove for an hour stirring my second batch of caramels (thank goodness I had a nice glass of red wine in my other hand!).  I used a different recipe this time (thanks BHG.com) and pulled the caramels off the burner when the thermometer reached the "soft ball" stage.  They are cooling right now and I seriously hope they turn out okay.  If not, then I'll just rely on my sister to make them and hope she ships them out our way!

 

paper crafts: holiday snow scene

I just made these winter scenes out of paper to hang on the walls of our powder room.  The nice thing is that they aren't too Christmasy and I could probably keep the art up all winter long.

my favorite holiday things

For some reason the holidays really get me in the spirit to craft and bake.  I make my own decorations, cards, cookies / candies, and get inspired by new projects every day.  Plus we entertain quite a bit so there's always plenty of fun things to do with that too!  Over the next few weeks I'll be sharing a few of my favorite things from the season... enjoy and Happy Holidays!

pink + brown polka dot dress for toddlers

A couple weeks ago I decided to start a new sewing project - a shift dress for our little toddler, Miss N, to wear on Thanksgiving day.   The fabric is cute - a simple pink polka dot on brown thin whale corduroy and the trim consists of a simple pink button and pink ric rak.  Well, I finally finished it over the weekend and here's the finished result.  I have to admit it was a bit more challenging than I expected but it's not bad for my first dress!  Now on to making her Christmas dress!

More info on the dress style and pattern can be found on a previous posting - addicted to sewing.

homemade holidays :: ideas

I'd love to make some cool homemade gifts for folks this year and am looking for some new ideas.  I'd love to hear from you about things you're making for the holidays and any homemade gift ideas you may have.  Post in the comments for all to see!  Thanks!