House Tour - Ava's Room

Now that the house is finally done (is any house really ever done?) I'm excited to show it off to all of you! Ava's room is definitely one of my favorites; it's bright and cheery, and I just smile every time I walk in there. I think I had the most fun doing this room, mainly because it was the first time I got to do a little girl's room. Up until now Ava has always shared a room with us, so it was fun to do something different.

The focal point of this room (and what was the most time-consuming) is definitely the walls. I originally had it as just pink and cream, but I actually thought it was too girly and just lacking something, so I added the blue and green. I'm so glad I did because I love how it turned out!

I made these paintings when we were still living in the townhouse, and I reused some of Ava's birthday party decorations in her room.

 I found these cute vintage illustrations years ago and never knew where to put them, now I do!

My sister-in-law, Anne made this adorable barrette holder (and most of the barrettes too!) for Ava's birthday.

I love this rug from Target. It is so soft, and it's pretty darn adorable when I walk in to find Ava and Riley laying down on it reading books.

I like having a lot of Ava's toys out where she can easily get to them herself. This Ikea shelf is perfect because it's short enough that she can reach the stuff on top, and the cubes are great for hiding the smaller, messier toys. I also really like the totes because they make it easy to rotate her toys. She usually only plays with what she can see, so every once in awhile when it seems like she's getting bored with what's out, I put those toys in the totes and pull out other ones, and it's like she's got all new toys again!

 

So, there's Ava's room. I still want to make some drapes, and I'd love to find more cute little vintage treasures, but I'm really happy with it so far.

What I'm Digging - Pretty Valentine's Day Stuff

I've definitely got Valentine's Day on my mind, so I had some fun making this little wishlist - just in case Jack needs any hints.

Vintage Inspired Antiqued Sign by Chocolate Moose Home

Cottage Rose Necklace by Going Hollywood

Love Spell by Golden Section

Love at home by La Signora Bon Bon

Vintage Inspired Lace Shift Dress by Katie Jean Designs

Mini Poppies Altered Canvas Art by anycards

Sterling Silver Filigree Ring by Bunnycone Designs

Gray Circular Infinity Scarf by EcoShag

Paris Photography Set by little brown pen

Fine Art Photography by Libertad Leal Photograpy

What's on your wishlist?

Ava Turns Two!

Well, it has been absolutely insane around here lately! This little munchkin turned two last week! Which meant that we were running around crazy trying to get the house unpacked, painted, and decorated. Even though we've been here for over three months, when we sent the invitations out less than two weeks before the party the house still resembled an episode of Hoarders, but we somehow managed to get it all done (we've found that we work better with a deadline)!

Of course, during all of the craziness this little blog has been completely neglected. But, I have a ton of ideas for it, and now that Ava's birthday is over, and we're finally finished with the house I am so excited to get started on them. I hope to be making some changes around here including a much needed blog makeover, and some fun new features, including one that requires me to really step out of my comfort zone - eek!

But, before we get to all of that I wanted to give you a little peek of Miss Ava's birthday party. She is crazy about Sesame Street, so picking a theme was pretty easy. I had a lot of fun making the decorations - even if I was still finishing up an hour before everyone got here!

 

 

Happy Birthday Sweet Pea!

Ava's New Chair

Awhile ago (according to this post, it was back in August) I found this cute little chair at a a garage sale and knew it would be perfect for Ava. It was a in pretty rough shape and needed a new paint job, but that would be easy enough. So, instead of immediately gathering supplies and getting the job done, the chair got taken down to the basement in the townhouse and then moved to the new house, where it sat in the dining room until this past weekend when I finally got around to painting it!

It was pretty fast and easy, and I'm embarrassed by how long it took me to get around to doing it, but it's finally finished. And I think it's pretty darn cute too!

Do you have any projects that have been sitting in a corner for an embarrassingly long time? Have you started working on any of them? I'd love to see them, leave a link in the comments so I can come check them out!

Christmas and Catching Up

So, this post is a little late, it was supposed to go up yesterday (or a week ago), but we've been pretty lazy around here. It's been nice having Jack and Riley home all week. We did a lot of relaxing and playing with new toys. Ava and I have gotten used to them both being home, it's going to be hard when they go back to school (Jack has off until the 17th, but Riley went back today). So, we were just hanging out enjoying our time together.

We've gotten a few more things done around the house too. We finally got the dining room cleared out enough to actually put the table up because it looked like this for a very long time. Jack's been busy painting our room, and I've been trying to create some sort of organization in my studio. We're quickly running out of time though because Ava's birthday party (I can't believe she's going to be two already!) is at the end of the month, and we're trying to get the house finished by then.

I've also been trying to tackle my long list of to-do projects. Does anybody else have these? Apparently I can't walk out of a thrift store or garage sale without a pile of stuff that "would be really cool if I just painted this, and glued that back on, and then covered this part with fabric and then... etc." It seems as though I've accumulated quite a few of these projects, so I've vowed not to go to the thrift store again until I actually finish a few of them. I can check off a cute little chair for Ava off the list though! I'll be back later to show you the makeover.

But, I realized I haven't put any pictures from Christmas up yet! So, here's what Christmas looked like around here:

Every year we each paint an ornament for the tree - this was Ava's first year!

Much to Jack's dismay, Riley has decided to be a Packers fan, although he says he still likes the Vikings too. I would prefer we just didn't watch football.

Clearly, the dog is very excited it's Christmas morning.

I hope your holidays were happy and stress-free. Thanks to anyone who has made it through this long, rambling, fairly directionless post! Check back later to see Ava's cute new chair.

Happy New Year!

Source

I hope everyone had a safe and happy new year's eve!

What I'm Digging ~~ A Handmade Christmas

I can't believe Christmas is only a few days away! I've found so many amazing D.I.Y. projects that I wanted to try. I made a couple, but I ran out of time for most of them. Oh well, there's always next year! Here's some that were/are on my to-do list:

1. Paper-Mache Letters  2. Hanging Paper Trees  3. Baby's Handprint Ornament  4. Felt Rosette Wreath  5. Tinsel Tree  6. Cookie Cutter Ornament  7. Ornament Wreath  8. Tissue Paper Trees  9. Santa Belt Ornament  10. Ruffled Tree Skirt

Have you come across any cool tutorials or made any of your own?