Ethan's New Room

 This has been a LONG time coming. We have been trying to get this redo done for the last 2 years. We have had many false starts, with a boy who struggles with making decisions. But we finally turned a corner and over the last couple of months he successfully picked some things out.
We started with bedding that Ethan liked. Then over Christmas he found the paint color he liked and a new bed. For Christmas Santa brought him a bean bag chair, a new floor lamp he wanted, and his Grommy got him a new desk. Things were really shaping up. The big thing was the new bed we found over New Years along with the matching night stand.
So this weekend while the boys were all gone on a Father/Son Camp in for Boy Scouts the girls and I had a HUGE project in Ethan's Room Redo!
The girls were so very excited about doing this. Ethan knew we were repainting his room but that was all he thought we were doing. Being girls who all love watching HGTV we had more in mind, like accessories!
We painted everything, walls, bookshelves, and wall shelves. We hung pictures, put up a new map, organized books, added new picture frames and lamps, and added a crafty touch. They even decorated the door with a sign. Its always a big deal when the kids get to redo their room but for Ethan we all celebrated in his new space.
So we went from the picture above to this.....

 Amazing! Girl Power!

 Desk area, map compliments of Grommy along with the new desk and lamp from Christmas.

 E for Erin and also Ethan!

 My little contribution was the wall E which he loved.

 His newly painted wall shelves. There is still one more to hang at the top.

 Newly painted bookshelf along with new light and art work Ethan did in Art class. All organized and arranged by the girls.

 I love the new lamp and night stand with the family pictures.

 New desk accessories from the girls complete with his favorite candy and new picture. We even got his little piece of Disney ownership hung up.

 Girls hard at work on their door sign and getting ready for the reveal.

 The reveal!!!

 And he LOVES it! And we loved doing it for him!

We worked hard and very happily I might add. The girls were so excited they were willing to do anything including clean and the not fun parts of the project. We are tired and need to have a relaxing day but we would do anything for the best big brother in the world! We love you Ethan!

Decorating For Valentines

I've been busy working on some new little things for Valentine's Day. The girls helped me with the new banner which came plain in white. We painted and decorated with glitter, embellishments, and ribbon. We're happy with the way it turned out.
Then I got a kit at the scrapbook store by Making Memories for cute little banners to hang on my doors. They look very festive!
We're slowly making valentines and more decorations. We have lots of upcoming events that require valentines so we are going to have to step it up this weekend!

A little dressed up chipboard with glitter and ribbon makes a sweet door hanging.

Home Sweet Home

Lindy's sugar cottage


We were going to make the Rice Krispie Treat Cottages for Valentine's Day until I saw these sugar cube houses on The Crafty Crow. Lindy, Paige, and Erin spent all afternoon making their sugar castles. Paige wanted to make a castle without a roof so that she could make furniture to go inside. Erin opted for the castle too but Lindy wanted a cottage with a roof. Not eating all the supplies was a challenge especially for Erin! They turned out cute and we now have a little Valentine decoration for the kitchen!



A pile of sugar



Our decorations



I made the meringue icing that was suggested on the Web Site.
Glad I did, it was like paste and held everything well.
















Lindy worked patiently on this roof. She had a vision and
saw it through to the end.

Erin's castle with a red hot walk way.

Paige's castle

Paige's interior complete with refrigerator, table and

chairs, bed, and a potty!

Erin also made a bed and table and chairs

Our completed village!



Paige and Lindy with their creations. Erin was off buzzing on her

sugar high!

Cranberry Candles

This has was my favorite new holiday decoration! My creative friend had these on the table at the kids piano recital and I liked them so much I made them for our Chrismas table. I love how simple and pretty they look!

Merry Christmas from our House to Yours

This is a belated post but I wanted to share our Christmas home with you! We all enjoy decorating. Here are some of our favorite things....

Our mantle and Erin's beloved

Nutcrackers that she carries all

over the house!

Our tree

Our advent calender that has ornaments to decorate

the little tree. The month starts with symbols of

Christmas, wreaths, Santa's,etc. Beginning December

12th our nativity ornaments start with Baby Jesus on

the 25th. Our little nativity set is in front.

Our office tree, we love theme trees! This

one has green, gold, and burgundy. There

are copper colored balls and lots of

musical instruments for Bill!

Our plant ledge usually looks like this, even has the

lights. We add the wreath for Christmas. I love this

little area of our home!

Our front hall table, I love these little

trees. They were one of those great

after Christmas deals one year!

Our Christmas angels sit on our dining room table.

Our village sits in the dining room and greets

our guests when they come to the door.

This is our fun kids tree that is on the loft.

We are having problems with the lights

this year (like where are half of them!).

The decorations are all brightly colored balls

and snowflakes, lime green, magenta, cobalt blue

silver, and fun fringe garland.

Our new addition this year! In our

recently remodeled play room that is

now equally a family room, we added our

beach tree. All of the treasures we collect

at the beach became our decorations.

The pictures on the tree are from 2004 and

2005 - had to start somewhere! I just mounted

them on cardstock and glued a ribbon on the back.

Easy and had everything I needed at home to do it all!

More pictures and some of the shells

we collected over the years. I hot glued

ribbon or embroidery floss onto the backs

and then we hung them up!

This is the view from the beach house

we go to each year. This was the view each

morning! We also have found some

ornaments that tied in with the beach like

these dolphins.

More shells and a scrapbook embellishment.

Lindy's seahorse ornament and a picture of

Erin her first year at the beach, 2005.

The kids made the glittered balls in the corner.

We used starfish that are normally on display

in a bathroom for our tree topper.

The other side of the room has our

little Santa display. I think one is

missing. I believe a little girl wandered

off with it!

I have so many ideas of things to add for next year, projects that we just got started and did not

have time to get done this year. Next year we need to start a little earlier, but with the girls really getting into crafts lately it may become a year round project.

Hope you enjoyed our Christmas cheer!