Monday, February 09, 2009

valentine's




So this was the reason for our little "valentine's photoshoot" that we did a few weeks ago...to give away as the girls valentine's this year. It seems that one project has morphed into the next with these photos, and that's just fine by me! From the hanging valentine's, to the blog banner, to the valentine card I sent out to our families...now to these! Fun, fun!



Anyways, I just wanted to share these if you haven't done any valentine's with your kids yet. I did these up on the computer, printed the pics at costco and tied them to a heart sucker. Easy-peasy. And I figure the kids are young enough that they won't be embarrassed to give out valentine's with their faces on them. Haha!













Hope everyone had a great weekend. I turned 29 yesterday. AAaahhh! Feeling old. Graham took me out on Friday night and it was nice to eat, chat and see a movie without worrying about snacks, running kids to the potty, bathtimes, bedtimes, etc,etc,etc. A good enough birthday present for me! Oh, and my sister and niece took the girls after church yesterday, so I slept aaaaaallllllll afternoon. It was glorious, thank you!!



:)



Tal xo

Wednesday, February 04, 2009

a regular occurrence...




...at our house in the afternoon's.




Both of the girls on the couch with their blankies and milk. This is quiet time.



Yes, Gabby still has a bottle. What the heck. I am totally not a freak about kids and bottles...although, it IS time to get rid of it. She just has so much change going on right now with the new room and potty-training (did I mention we're attempting that?) and the baby coming soon...how much change can one little 2 year old take? So we'll see.



And a couple new scrapbook pages:















(pages inspired by this)




I am loving today. Beautiful weather. One child sleeping, the other one playing so nicely on her own. Just got up from a short nap. Maybe time to clean the kitchen, but we'll see if I get to it.



Have a happy afternoon!

Tal xo



P.S. I've answered a couple questions from the previous post in the "comments"!

Monday, February 02, 2009

hanging valentine's



As promised, here are my "hanging valentine's" that I made on Friday. I had the urge to make something "valentine-y" after looking at all the fun new valentine-themed products that are coming out. So this is what I did, and I loooove them! (of course the cute girls in the pictures help, too. wink!)



I love how they just slightly twirl and spin...so cute!





Here's a look at where I have them hanging...above our island in the kitchen. (Yes, I totally should have emptied off my fridge for the sake of this picture, but what do ya do?)

I got the idea to hang ornaments like this from Becky Higgins last year, but instead of just hanging some kind of ornament I decided to make use of these cute pictures of the girls. (and they are simply hanging from the ceiling with little hooks and clear thread.)




Here are the "fronts" of the valentine's...






and the "backs"...





So here's what you do to create these on your own:

1. Cut 4 pieces of chipboard to 4x6".
2. Cut 4 pieces of patterned paper to 4x6".
3. Using a glue stick, adhere patterned paper to one side of chipboard, and a 4x6" photo to the other side. Distress edges.
4. Embellish valentine's as desired. (I chose to just add glittered and chipboard hearts.)
5. Punch a small hole in the bottom of valentine and hang a dangly embellishment.
6. Punch a hole at the top and tie a ribbon and decorative pin to finish off your valentine.

(supplies: patterned paper: Heidi Swapp, Making Memories, Love, Elsie; pins: Making Memories; chipboard hearts, ghost hearts, chandelier crystals: Heidi Swapp; other: ribbon)



I am all about keeping things simple, and trust me, this project was very simple! If I was able to do it with my 2 year old and 4 year old running around me, then you can do it, too! Valentine's day is just around the corner...there's still lots of time to whip something cute up. And if you're looking for a couple other Valentine's day ideas then look here and here.



Happy Monday!



Tal xo



P.S. I made a mirror album of Payton this weekend, too. You can see the entire album here!


Just a few notes about the "mirror albums":
-they are made by Heidi Swapp
-you can find some here
-they measure 5x7"
-the only "mirror" on the album is the actual cover (I've slightly spray-painted both of mine)
-you can create your own inner pages, or use Heidi's clear inner pages like I did to embellish and layer you pages!

Friday, January 30, 2009

flower hats & scrapbook stuff




Man, this week is flying by (as usual). Today is the first day that I've been able to stay home without anywhere to be, so I thought I'd share some stuff. But before that, thanks for all the comments on the girls new room! They love it, and it has stayed quite organized thus far! We'll see how long that lasts...maybe another week if I'm lucky? Haha! Anyways, here are some pictures I took of the girls earlier this week. I was needing some "springy-ness" the other day, so I got out these hats and made my girls pose, once again. Haha!! (Oh, how nice it will be when we can go outside for pictures and playtime!)










And a scrapbook page I did the other night...it was so late and I was exhausted but I totally had the urge to scrapbook. (Having lots of new pictures gets the creative energy going, too.)

(supplies: patterned paper: Basic Grey; mask, stickers, letter stamps, journaling spot, chipboard hearts: Heidi Swapp; ribbon: Paper Source)



And I also forgot to share this little Heidi Swapp mirror album I made last weekend. I had a scrapbook night at my house and this is what I did...just simple and fun!




I love all the layering with clear elements that you can do with the clear inner pages that Heidi's created. So cute! (see the entire album here.)



There, that feels good to get some scrap stuff on the ole' blog again. Besides a couple little projects that I've been working on here and there I am just in full-on nesting mode. I cleaned out the pantry last week and have just been cleaning and organizing things everyday. Yesterday I totally gutted my closet and got rid of two huge garbage bags of clothes...that was awesome. (And the plan is to go shopping once I lose the pregnancy weight, right hubby? hehe.) Anyways, it just feels good to purge and only have what you need...not so much excess. I'm excited to dig in to the "baby stuff"...but I think I'll give myself a little more time till I tackle that job. This weekend is going to be pretty low-key, we have nothing planned and I'm liking that. Maybe I'll even catch a nap one day? I hope so.




Have a happy weekend and come back on Monday to see my "hanging valentine's" that I made this morning. Can't wait to share!




Tal:)

Monday, January 26, 2009

the new room!




So this weekend was busy as usual...we managed to get the girls all moved into their new room and I am sooo happy with how it turned out. Why don't I let you take a quick look around and then I'll share some details...







We bought these bunk beds from Ikea and Graham just painted them white. It was so much cheaper to paint them compared to some of the other bunk beds we looked at. Thank goodness my husband's a painter! For the duvet covers and sheets, I ordered these sheet sets from Pottery Barn Teen. I knew I wanted to do their room in pink and orange and couldn't find anything that I liked in fabric stores, and then I came across these on the PB Teen website...it was meant to be! (just a note...Pottery Barn doesn't ship to Canada. My sweet big sister ordered and shipped them here for me...thanks, Nik!) The large frames above the bed are from Ikea as well.



My mom used the flat sheets from the sheet sets for the tops of the duvet covers...it worked out so perfectly! She also sewed the cute accent pillows and the curtains (which you'll be seeing soon). Again, soooo lucky to have a mama who is an amazing seamstress. Thanks, mom!





Next up is the dresser and bulletin board. Remember this bulletin board that I did last year? I did the exact same thing this time, but I also spray painted it hot pink. So stinkin' cute! I figure this will be a good place for the girls to display artwork and any pictures they want up in their room. The fridge is running out of space! (both the dresser and bulletin board are from Ikea...are we seeing a pattern here?)






And here's a peek at the curtains and the big wooden "P". Again, the curtains were sewn from one of the flat sheets, and a good friend cut the girls initials for me. Also, the hot pink paint color is "Wazzup" by General Paint. It is the perfect color, exactly what I wanted. But I'm warning you, only use this on one wall...it's very intense and would be overwhelming on too many walls! (I think the light pink balances it out quite nicely.)






My mom also made these little bags with the girls initials on them from leftover fabric. So cute...my kids love to collect things and carry them from place to place, so these will get lots of use around here!





On the wall opposite the beds is the girls Barbie house from Santa and this storage shelf from (surprise) Ikea.






Above the toy storage I have these shadowboxes displayed with the girls blessing dresses in them. These dresses are very sentimental to me as they were blessed in them by their daddy when they were both around 6 weeks old. (and sewn by Nana) I did Payton's a looong time ago and I've been meaning to put Gabby's in a shadowbox as well and just finally got around to it. This is such a sweet reminder of their individual blessing days and you can do something like this with any kind of baby outfit that has sentimental value to you. I hope that when the girls get older they'll appreciate that I kept these safe for them!

(frames from Ikea)



It took me a while to decide what toys I wanted kept in their room and which ones were being banished to the basement. After watching the girls play, I saw that they love their dolls. So this shelf is jam-packed with barbies, polly pockets, groovy girls and little plastic people. I purposely left the top empty 'cause they love to have a surface for their dolls to play on. Already, it's been working like a charm...they are in barbie and polly pocket heaven. (and I am loving that everything is organized!!!)







And a quick look inside the closet:

Gabby's clothes on the top rack, Payton's on the bottom, dress-up clothes and laundry on the floor. Dress-up clothes are an absolute MUST for my kids...they both change about 5 times a day, so this stuff HAD to have a space in their room. (And since this picture was taken I've added 2 clear plastic bins on the top shelf for clothes that they out-grow.)



And last but not least, toy storage under the bed. The perfect spot for larger dolls and toys that need a place in the room, but that I want hidden when not being played with!





So there ya have it! I told you, it was a big job and definately a team effort. Graham painted the walls and put the beds together on Friday night, my mom did all the sewing (I helped a little!), Graham painted the furniture and I did all the "projects". It seems like that wouldn't be too hard on my part, but it took a long time to decide exactly what I wanted to do, where it was going to go, how it was going to work, etc. Then on Saturday Gray and I moved everything in and spent the day organizing all the clothes and toys and cleaning cleaning cleaning. Payton and Gabby were sooooo excited when they saw it for the first time. It was very worth it to see how happy they were!



Now it's time to start thinking about the baby's room. Oy.



Tal :)

Saturday, January 24, 2009

stay tuned...





...for a tour of Payton and Gabby's bedroom on Monday. As for now, just trust me when I say I did a WHOLE LOT of organizing little toys like this today. Whew. So glad that it's done.



I'm excited to share pictures, but for now I must get to bed. This pregnant mama is exhausted!


T:)