(Re)decorating the kids' rooms: Mason's Room

Like Avery's room, Mason's is also a work in progress.  I (sadly) agreed to buy a toddler bed for him to transition him from his crib to a regular bed (my little boy is growing up) near the end of November and that precipitated a number changes to his room.

Pretty Initial Wall Art

I've been busy over the last week!  Between refinishing a table & chairs (which is becoming a chore rather than something fun because I keep running into snags...) and four different wall art projects I've barely had time to take pictures along the way let alone tell you about it :)

I promised myself that I would get some, hopefully all, of them posted over the next week.

Here's the first one, a pretty initial for Avery's room.

I was inspired by this - it's made with quarters and I LOVE it: 

justinesmith.net

I thought about replicating it with the letter A for an 'art wall' that I'm working on in her room.  Unfortunately, lack of time got the upper hand and I resorted to creating something sparkly and simple instead.  I also thought the block letter might be a little too modern for her very pretty room that has a slightly vintage feel to it.

Father's Day Present: We {love} You

I've been trying to get this project done for 2 weeks now :s  Part of the delay was due to some experimentation...  I seem to be having some difficulty getting ideas out of my head and, in this case, onto canvas.  And the other part is that I've started a handful of other projects and am feeling a little scattered about what to do next.  Good thing I have a deadline (Father's Day) for this one!

Originally I wanted to do a series of kid-bit foot/hand prints shaped like hearts that could be framed for Daddy's office inspired  by a friend who did something similar as a craft with her kids for Valentine's Day.  Unfortunately, I wasn't overly impressed with my creations and felt that they'd look pretty silly - plus I know that DH is more inclined to like pictures of the kids rather than imprints of their bits.  So I moved onto the next option, try a tutorial I'd bookmarked a while ago that shows how to use tissue paper to create photo-printed canvases.

Lamb Wall Art

My lovely friend M recently announced that she and her husband are pregnant with their second child.

With an invitation to dinner last night, I wanted to bring something with me to celebrate this new addition to their family. For good reasons, they have an affinity for lambs and so I knew this would be my starting point.

Beautiful Easter Eggs

I was speaking with my mother yesterday and she mentioned how much she was looking forward to the long weekend coming up.  Somehow, I'd forgotten Easter was just around the corner!

Over a month ago I picked up an Easter Egg Decorating Kit but yesterday when the kids were having their nap I wondered if there were some other options that might be eggs-traordinary (sorry... had to!).  I had no idea how many wonderful ideas I would find.  It turns out that you don't have to settle for one or two colour sloppily dyed eggs.

Starting with the basics, as you may know there are two options for your eggs:
1) Hardboiled - if you plan to eat the eggs afterwards.
2) Blown (where the contents of a raw egg are removed so you're working on the hollow shell) - this allows you to keep your eggs indefinitely provided that they're stored properly each year.

If you're like me and have a hard time boiling eggs without them cracking - check out this guide from simplyrecipes.com.  Or, if you'd like to try blowing them out, here's a video from monkeysee.com that shows you how.

Egg Dyeing 101 (marthastewart.com) - These instructions are based on using blown eggs

Protect your work area with paper towels or newspaper. Mix 1 teaspoon of vinegar and 20 drops of food coloring (use more to intensify color) in 1 cup of hot water in a heatproof bowl, cup, or jar deep enough to let you submerge an egg completely.

To create different tints of a color, vary dipping times: Submerge eggs for less than 5 minutes for light colors, and leave the egg in for 10 minutes or more for deeper shades. Using tongs makes handling the eggs easy.

To make a two-color egg, dye the whole egg first in a light color, let dry for 15 minutes, and then submerge half into a darker color (this idea works best for hard-boiled eggs).

**Notice the egg drying rack! It's made of foam board (found at most dollar stores) & straight pins**