From Ugly to Elegant

So finally, I've gotten my act together and finished the project that's taken me a month (or more, I can't remember)...

My in-laws brought me this chair that they got (for $15!) and asked me to reupholster it for them. It seemed like every other chair I've done, so I said "of course!". Once I got the chance to tear off the old, I found I was in for a LONG project. There was a lot of hand sewing on this, more than I care to do. If I have the machine, I want to use the machine!

But alas, there were some parts that weren't able to be sewed until it was actually on the chair... hence the time consuming process of sewing by hand. In the end though, it was worth it. What once was ugly and stained (the old owners had pets... I had many sneezing attacks while working on this one), is now very elegant and clean! So I leave you with the "before" and "after", they speak for themselves:

I'm Still Here...

I feel like it's been a long time since I had the chance to post something on here, I've been working non-stop on a few projects, all at once. More on that hopefully in the coming week if I get my act together and actually pull the pictures off the camera. I've been lacking a very important trait in the past few weeks that has put a damper on the completion of these tasks.... motivation. I'm not sure what my problem is lately, it's hard for me to concentrate on anything.

And then this happened this week:

Aiden was bit on the face by a fellow student. Apparently according to his teacher (and Aiden himself), he was cleaning up the toys as he was told and the other boy didn't want Aiden to put once specific toy away. When Aiden wouldn't give it to him the toy because he was putting it away, he was bit. Luckily it didn't break the skin, but it did swell up and bruise for a few days. He told me it hurt a few days after, but he didn't seem to mind it otherwise. Hope it doesn't happen again, to anyone else in his class, and I'm glad it wasn't any worse.

We've also been preparing for Aiden's 4th birthday in a few weeks. I've been trying to make practice cakes and figure out exactly what we're serving. Not too easy without that motivation...

Damn motivation.

I did manage to pull a few pictures off my camera from this month, so I'll leave you with a few of those. They're a little Ava heavy since Aiden has been at school; however, some of those pictures are from waiting for Aiden to get home after school, Ava's new favorite time of the day.

Drinking from the sprinkler

Hanging out in Mom and Dad's bed watching a movie

While waiting for Aiden's bus

"I have a leaf!!"

First Week Down...

So Aiden's first week of school is done... and he is EXHAUSTED! He has been running so hard, and especially now since he doesn't get any naps, let alone quiet time, he is ready for bed by 6pm. Not too terrible considering his typical bedtime was 7pm, but lately dinner time has been a struggle. I'm totally waiting for him to fall asleep at the table.

 Anyways, he very much enjoyed his first week. He's been singing songs and showing me dances they've done; bringing home art projects, and even made me a Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What Do You See? necklace (adorable btw, he was so proud of it). I'm excited for what's to come this year, and I'm sure that he'll start adjusting as he continues to go so maybe he'll actually be able to play when he gets home, instead of crash right after dinner! Ava asks me every day when I get her up from her afternoon nap at 3/3:30 for Aiden, and LOVES waiting outside for his bus to bring him home (it also helps that Jacob comes home at about the same time - she gets a two for one deal!). I'll leave you with a few pictures we snapped on Monday as we waited for his bus to pick him up... you can see the excitement in his face!

He looks so little last year

Waiting

So much love

 

 

"Bye Bubba"

So tired when he came home...

Ready for School to Start...

Aiden and I were watching a Toy Story 3 today and I looked over at him during a particularly sad/scary part (where the toys were in the garbage dump, scared me to...) and he was crying... Nothing kills you more as a parent when your child is crying for some unknown reason. So I asked him what was wrong, thinking it was the movie, he says, "Mom, I miss my friend Olivia". Then he started to cry more... Then that made me cry...

A vicious cycle ensued.

He is SO ready to go back to school, asking me every day if school started yet. At bed time, I was trying to get him all excited for tomorrow, where we go to his new school for an open house to meet his classmates. He got very excited for the prospect of new toys, playground,  kids, etc, until he remembered he is going to go on the bus. And then he started crying again. What is he trying to do to me?!? He rode the bus all by himself last year, what makes this year any different? I'm hoping that he'll remember how much fun it is and soon forget what he's worried about.

Next hurdle? How is Ava going to cope with her "Bubba" leaving for a few hours? She was too young last year to realize he was gone....

Aiden's first day on the school bus last year... so little

And Finally...

I finished the wardrobe cabinet and the "pie safe", whatever it's called... Now they're storage for all my fabric and scrapbooking things that was all over the house and computer area. It's nice to have a little organization, even if it isn't always going to last.
Anyways... here was the before:

And now here's the after:

Excuse the poor lighting, we don't have the best camera...

Original hardware was cleaned up and reused

 We found a Behr Porch and Floor paint in this barn red at Home Depot for $7 in the mis-tint section. The paint was designed for heavy duty (foot) traffic, but we figured it would work just fine for the amount of use these would get. Can't beat $7! I covered the shelves in wrapping paper, using spray adhesive to tack it down.

DIY Shaped Crayons

As Aiden and I were coloring the other day, I noticed him struggling with his crayons; they were all too small for him to hold onto. When he colors, he's got a death grip on the crayons and ends up breaking them every.single.time...
So to solve that problem, I found many tutorials on how to melt down your existing crayons and create your own using you own choice of molds. Most people used candy molds like the ones you find at craft stores, but since we had some old silicone ice cube trays from Ikea that we've used maybe once, I thought they'd work too.

First I prepared all my crayons; peeling the paper off. Aiden had about 3-4 different types of crayons - crayola, rose art, etc. They were also slightly different shades of each color, so I just mixed them together.

After they were separated and peeled, I broke them all into smaller pieces. Some needed to be cut up/shredded a bit just to get them to fit into the molds. No biggie, just took a little longer than I expected.

I turned the oven to 230° and put the silicone molds on cookie sheets to line them (to make it easier to put in/out of the oven). I've seen directions telling you to keep them in from anywhere from 5 min - 30 min, so I just checked every 5 or so to see how they were doing. In the end, they ended up "baking" for 20 minutes total. Some were melted before the other ones, so I just took them out when they were melted all the way through. If you're impatient like me, you can pop them in the freezer for a few to help you get them out of the molds, or just let them sit on the counter... Now if you have a VERY impatient kid, like mine, you'll probably go the freezer route.

He thought they were "so cool Mom!" and has asked to play with them most of the day (except when Jacob brought out his old Micro Machines from when he was a kid, but that's a whole other story...). There were a few things I'd probably change if I did these again:

1. I'd try to stick with one brand of crayon... some brands were "waxier" than others and created a weird film on the one side of the new crayon. Made it a little difficult for Aiden to color with at times.

2. I'd fill the molds a lot more than I did - obviously when they melt, they fill the mold differently than as a solid (duh) and therefore, the crayons didn't get as big as I'd hoped.

3. I'd let Aiden help more next time... I started working on it when he was down for his nap/quiet time, and by the time he got up, there was nothing for him to do other than watch the wax melt... not his idea of a fun time. I wasn't even completely sure that it would work, so I was a little skeptical of him helping.

 He had fun with them - they do get messy though when you're using them, so I've made sure I had a box of wipes near by...

  

Of course he puts the puzzle pieces "together"

Birth Stat Canvases

I was on the lookout for new projects since I had no sewing needs at the moment, and am currently waiting for Jacob to customize the wardrobe cabinet (here), and found these adorable canvas prints of your child's birth stats (ie, weight, length, etc). Since canvas was on sale last week at Jo-Ann's, I picked up a few and decided to make my own. I've seen them on Etsy (did I just find my newest item to sell maybe??) going anywhere from $30-$80 each! I found one on Zulily for $90, some on Etsy, here, here, and here.

My practice hand-drawn one so I could figure out sizes...

  There are so many different ways you can do these, totally customizable. Most seemed to be painted on, but since I have no painting skills whatsoever, I decided to use the best tool at my disposal: the cricut. I ended up making 3 (no, I'm not pregnant...) because I messed up on Ava's and mod podge is really strong - I couldn't fix my mistake since it had dried, and had to do it all over again. Whoops... Now they're hanging on their bedroom doors, and Aiden "reads" his everyday! I used 12x12 canvas, and since they were half off, they were only $4.99 or so each... not bad!

Cute, huh?