And Then There Were Two...

Hello all!

Most of my close friends and family know of the "new" addition to our family. He's not so new anymore. Almost five months old. But if you haven't heard, there are now two lil' Sprouts in my life and I couldn't be happier!

As you can imagine things have been pretty busy over here. I wouldn't have it any other way. One of the changes we've recently done was putting both boys in one room. If you remember, we converted lil' Sprout's closet into bunk beds a little while back. Once winter hit, I missed having a closet for his room so we added a small one. We also painted and simplified the room in terms of furniture. The room is almost finished. I'll post photos once the details are done.

In the mean time, here is my pinspiration for their room. I stumbled upon this colour palate to work with:

It looks great so far. Also, painting the room helped mark a distinct transition for lil' Sprout to "allow" the baby to come in and share the room. I chose the colour palate and let lil' Sprout pick which colour was for him and which was for the baby. The transition has been pretty smooth. But then again, the baby is still a baby and isn't moving around much. It'll be quite the adventure to watch these boys grow. Siblings are the best!

So tell me, did you share a room growing up? Or do your children share a room? How do you feel about kids sharing rooms?

September

Now that September is here, summer is winding down & fall is well on its way.
Kids are lined up outside waiting for the bus. The temperature is dropping. The trees are beginning to change colour. Pumpkin flavoured everything is popping up (YUM).

Today I'm really feeling the fall weather. It's rainy and cool outside. I decided to take Lil' Sprout out to get some craft supplies. I had the bright idea to start making his halloween costume this weekend. With inspiration from my sister, I decided on an easy costume that both Lil' Sprout and I can make together. This year, he will be an alien. I picked up some bright, fun fabric in the clearance section of our fabric store. We stopped at the dollar store to grab some colourful and simple decorations for the costume. On the way back, Lil' Sprout passed out.

Now I sit here, sipping tea, with a cat in my lap, conjuring ideas on cute little green aliens while Lil' Sprout takes a power nap.

So tell me, what are your little ones going to be for halloween this year?

I suppose it's time to wake up the blog. It seems to have hibernated through the summer and fall. Alas, I am back. So let's just get right into it.

In my last post (way back in the spring... whoa), I mentioned how I had a few projects on the go. Some birthday gifts and some home projects. As it turns out, the home projects aren't quite finished. I have come to the realization, that, we are a family who has all these great ideas, plans and intentions; however, we rarely finish anything. That's just how it is. And as a result, my craft room is not finished. In fact, it's barely even started. In the meantime, you can check out my pinspiration for the craft room here. I have also set up a temporary crafting corner in my guest room. I'll post some pictures once I vacuum. This place is a mess.

Another home project that we (haven't) finished was the bunk beds in lil' Sprout's room. I took some shots of the progress and figure, hey if it's good enough for us, it's good enough to show you. So here it is:

We essentially turned lil' Sprout's closet into bunk beds. Here is his closet.

And here is no closet. As it turned out, we had to completely tear down the existing closet and start from scratch. His existing closet was not big enough to house a mattress.

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The beginnings of a bunk.

Ta-da! The top bunk is a single bed and the bottom bunk is a double bed. Perfect for sleepovers.

We also added windows in one wall.

The bunks are great. Lil' Sprout still sleeps on the bottom bunk for now, but he does like to climb up every now and then to check things out up there.

The birthday gifts were much smaller projects, and so, they were actually completed. For my niece, I put together an apron and floppy chef's hat.  It turned out great!

If you remember, I mentioned in my last post that I made a headband for my sister in law. After a few prototypes, that is, once I got the fit right, it turned out beautiful. It's difficult to make a headband for someone when you have no exact measurements, and even more so if you want to keep it a surprise. Eventually I had to tell her about it so she could try it on and I could get a better idea of how it would fit. You can check out the pattern I followed over at Gleeful Things.

A few other things that I put together lately include: 

• two Frozen inspired apron style costumes for another nieces' birthday (a step-by-step tutorial can be found here)

• mini trick or treat bags for lil' Sprout and his cousins for this past Halloween (I just sorta winged it, but used this video tutorial for the words on the bags) 

• and a little dress as a Christmas gift for someone special. You'll have to stay tuned for that one. Hopefully sooner rather than later this time.

So tell me, what crafty things have you been up to lately?

Spring has Sprung!

Wow, it's been a while. Sorry about that, I've been quite busy. In all the commotion, spring has finally arrived! I, for one, am happy. The winter has been a very long, and snowy one. It's nice to start seeing some green again outside. I'm especially excited for the tulips to be popping up!

So, what have I been so busy with lately? Lots. The biggest one being the Great Cloth Diaper Change put forth by the Real Diaper Association. This is an event to help raise awareness of cloth diapering while trying to break a Guinness World Record by changing babies into cloth diapers.  This year, the event was held on April 26th. I was one of the organizers, which seemed to take up most of my time. Although, we didn't qualify to count towards the official world record breaking numbers (there needs to be a minimum of 25 participants, we had 14), we still had a great time.  I can't wait to do it all again next year!

Just before the change.

The change!

After the change.

I've also been working on a few birthday gifts. One for my sister-in-law, who was out of town on her birthday. That bought me some extra time. I made her a headband that I found on this crochet website: Gleeful Things. The site has some great patterns available, some for purchase and a few for free! I especially love the the Gumdrop Slouchy Hat which may very well be my next crochet project.

Both my sister and niece's birthdays came and went as well. I made something adorable for my niece but will have to post it later. She has not received the gift yet, so stay tuned.

My husband and I decided to change things up in lil' Sprout's room. We were thinking bunk beds. This is still a work in progress. Once it is finished though, I will have a full write up and tons of photos to go along with it. In the meantime, you can check out our inspiration here.

Last, but not least, my craft room is still under construction. It seems to be an ongoing saga. I can't wait for it to be completed and for all my crafty things to have a home.

We have lots of outside chores to do this year too. I attempted a garden in the backyard last spring, but I found out the hard way that it was in a low spot of our yard. With all the rain we had last summer nothing grew :( I was so discouraged to have a huge mud pit in the backyard, but my husband suggested we build up the garden. So that project is on the to-do list. We also have to finish staining our deck (again, too much rain last summer made it hard to find time to finish staining). We scored a paint sprayer on our yard saling expedition this past weekend which should help speed up the staining.

Speaking of yard sales, that is something we absolutely love scouring once the cold, icy winter melts away. There is nothing better than finding treasures for a steal of a deal. When I was a kid, we used to go yard saling almost every weekend. It certainly has helped me with my negotiating skills, thanks mom :)

So tell me, now that the nice weather is here, what are some of your favourite activities?

Less Mess

I'm excited to post about the DIY/Sewing project I did over the weekend. Lately, I've been watching a series of posts from IHeart Organizing, specifically the "One Month to a Cleaner Home" challenge. I was browsing through thinking how I should actually clean and/or organize a space of my own rather than sit in front of the computer just wishing my house was organized.

As I was looking around to see what I could wanted to organize, my eyes fell upon the top of my refrigerator. It was a mess! There were bottles, papers, old batteries, miscellaneous cat items and the list went on. Above the refrigerator were three small doorless cupboards. There was just more junk in there, and without doors to cover the mess up, it just added to the clutter on top of the fridge. I came up with the perfect idea to tidy the spot.

I purchased some fabric and made a small set of curtain panels. I already had a curtain rod somewhere in the basement. I figured, I would purge some of the mess and hide any remaining mess behind some curtains.

It was a success! The top of the fridge is now beautiful and clutter-free. The curtains give it an even cleaner look. I'm so happy with how it turned out. Here are the before and after photos:

Doesn't it look great? I'm so happy with it. I love the fabric too. Not only does it match my kitchen perfectly, but I got it for a steal of a deal because the fabric store is having a closing sale.

Curtains are a great way to cover exposed areas. They are also one of the easiest things to make. I'll show you how I made mine and hopefully, it will inspire you to make some for yourself.

First, measure the area you want to cover. Also, never assume that everything is equal when you are measuring. For example, the first two cubbies in my project were 14.25 inches long while the cubbie on the end was 15.5 inches. Once you have your measurements, add at least an extra 1/4 inch for the seam allowance (maybe more depending on how you finish the edge).  Also, you will need to add a few more inches to the top of the curtain panel. I added about 2 inches. This extra fabric will fold over to become the tunnel for the curtain rod to feed through. Depending on the size of the curtain, you may want to add more fabric.

Next, cut your pieces. In this project, I used a serger to serge the edges of the fabric to prevent it from fraying.

Now, we need to make the edges nice and neat. Fold the edge over, press, then sew it. I cheated a bit here. Ideally, you should fold the edge over twice so you don't see the serged edge. It just makes it for a nicer appearance. Since no one would see that side of the curtain panel, and I was working during a nap (with limited time), I just sewed the serged edge down. Finish three edges, leaving the top edge of the curtain unfinished. This will be done a little differently to incorporate the curtain rod.

This is how it should have been sewn.

 For the top, you will essentially do the same thing that was done for the other three edges, however, you will fold over a much larger amount of material. I folded about 2 inches.

Only sew the long edge and leave the ends open to allow the curtain rod to go through. Next, secure the hardware for your curtain rod. I put my curtain rod inside the cubbies. Feed the curtain panels onto the rod, then attach the rod to the hardware.

Voila! There you have it. Now your messes can be covered up and no one will be the wiser :)

I've learned a lot from my first DIY/Sewing post. In the future, I will take more pictures. I think everyone appreciates lots of pictures for step by step instructions. I also need to keep the lighting conditions in mind; especially since I'm only using a cheap camera. And finally, I feel that my sewing pictures will be better once my crafting room in complete. I'll post some pictures of it when it's finally done. It's a work in progress... a long work in progress.

So tell me, what areas in your home have you organized and how did you do it?