A "Little Bit of Finishing" required.....

When we first moved into our house it was, well, gross. Luckily my hubby and I could see the potential, but I think the glasses were sooooo rose colored that they were red. ;) 9 years later, we're now at the point where most things have been redone, some need to be re-redone, and many many (many) things need just a little bit of finishing.

I think lots of people are in this "little bit of finishing" spot. Why is it that projects get started all the time, but it is always the last little bit that isn't? 

So this week I made it my mission to finish up a project that literally drove me crazy every day. My laundry room. It's a pretty big room, and we walk through it every time we come into the house. Three years ago, when I was pregnant and not sleeping, I dreamed up this new built in storage design. I remember being in the laundry room at 3am with the tape measure drawing and sketching out a plan with all hope in the world it would actually be done BEFORE the baby came..... And that weekend construction began! The cabinets were completed, all except the doors. It was perfect--functional, with lots of space. Everything I hoped for. I couldn't wait for the doors to go on so it would all be hidden and look neat and clean every time we walked in the door.

.... fast forward two years. Still no doors. And now, a sneaky 19 month old who can reach everything. Literally, everything. I don't know how she does it. Every time we would walk in and out of the house she would stand at the "pantry" shelf and either cry that she wanted things, or just bring them to me. At least once a day I would end up cleaning up every single piece of food from the bottom shelf which had been carried out to my living room floor for fun. I was OVER it. 

Since I couldn't figure out how to build the cabinet doors myself, I did the next best thing. Went to JoAnn's and bought fabric and tension rods. I could fix this with $20 and 30 minutes of sewing! Here's how it turned out.....

Oh, and in case you were just dying to know what was back there... here's a picture of one of the sections.... 

I think for now, we'll call this project done. The best part is..... somehow, for this very minute at least, the baby has forgotten anything is back there and now she just walks right past! SCORE one for the Mom Team!

Parties! Winter ONEderland

Every once in a while I get a phone call from a friend who says "I know you are super busy, but my son/daughters birthday is coming up and I was wondering if you had time to help me make some stuff...... but no pressure, if it's too much, just say no." YEAH RIGHT!! Like I would ever turn down the opportunity to create something awesome for a birthday party-- or for any party for that matter!

Usually these calls end up with me agreeing to do whatever I can, spending at least an hour on Pinterest "researching," and then sitting in bed all night with ideas swirling around my head. Hundreds of ideas. Wayyyyyyy too many for a "normal" family party. 

I've had three of these calls in the last month, four if you count my phone call this morning that was really just a conversation but already has my head spinning with thoughts! (Thanks Kari!) ;) 

Since I haven't mailed all of the stuff away to the birthday girls, and some things are a surprise for an upcoming party, I can't share all 3 of them today, but here is one I did right before Christmas.

This was for a Winter ONEderland party-- What a super cute idea, right??!! (No, it wasn't my idea, it was the Mom's idea, I just created for it!) 

She bought the tutu, but I made her the shirt using heat-transfer vinyl, and then on the bottom photo these are a highchair banner (great idea if you are short on wall space to just have a small banner to hang across the front of your highchair tray!) and some little cupcake toppers (put on toothpicks and stuck into the tops of your cupcakes. Talk about simple and easy, but so pretty!)

What I love about all three of these things is that they are simple, classic, and took that little family party  and gave it that little extra touch of special! :)

Now, back to work on the bowling party I'm doing for a six year old girl..... 

Just Do It!

Ok. It's time. I've been sitting here for days stressing over what to write in the first blog post when I finally decided to JUST DO IT!! With so many ideas for future posts swirling around my head, I have to start getting them out so I can sleep! So here goes...

Blogging is something I never thought I would do. My friend Sheri has a blog, it's awesome. Every time she posts it's the highlight of my day... heck, sometimes of my week! She has this fabulous way with words that makes me laugh, makes me think, and at the same time assures me that there is someone else out there who is dealing with the same things as me. I do not have the same way with words that she does and would never claim to be as awesome as she is. 

So why start? Well, every time I am talking to someone about a project I am working on, or an idea I have in my head, they say "Where did you come up with that?" or "What would even make you think of that?" or "Can you share with me how you..." I finally decided I should just put those things out there for everyone. There have to be other crafty/Mommy/teachers out there who want to know the same things I do. I mean, every time I pin something on Pinterest a million other people "re-pin" it, so I must have something in common with the rest of the world. ;) 

My goal is not to become a rich and famous blogger.... but if I can get the ideas that are swirling in my head all the time out on "paper" and help other people who are feeling over inspired to try out some of their ideas, mission accomplished!