achives: January 2010



Jan 26
2010
 

munchkin’s room is finished. yay!

So, now that I have more time, I have been determined to start crossing things off my to-do list (which has been compiling for YEARS – literally!) before I start any new projects. I have actually had to stop myself from buying new supplies with a promise to buy them later when I am ready.

One thing always hovering on my list was a pillow sham for munchkin’s room. When we moved into this house 3 years ago, I bought her a set of Ikea Hokus curtains. Which were really pretty and I still love. Then once she was out of the crib, I could no longer get the coordinating duvet cover. I ended up finding it on eBay gently used but without the matching sham. Because the cover was very white, I immediately had the idea to take the cover apart, line the back with a fun and bright fabric and then use the leftover Hokus fabric to make the sham.

ikea hokus set


Then I needed to find a bright and fun fabric that would go with the watercolor style of the Hokus print. That took more searching until I found this cupcake fabric at my local quilt store and this great striped fabric on etsy.com (love etsy for fabric!)

cupcake fabric from store


stripe fabric from etsy

So then once I painted and set up her room it looked ALMOST done.

her 'almost complete' room

But was still missing the sham. So the other day, I can happily say, I finally set up my sewing machines, cut and gathered some matching fabric. And here is her new sham! I love it. And it is now officially off the list.

the completed pillow sham

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Posted by Janet under create, decorate

Jan 16
2010
 

framed silhouettes

So I wanted to do some artwork for our t.v. room. It is painted a green colour but I really wanted to bring in some more blue (my house colours are ocean-y, greens, blues, greys, browns, etc).

After Christmas, I was just randomly taking pictures of my kids and happened to catch my daughter in front of the patio door. So I stood my son in front of the window to get the same style photo.

Once I brought the photos into Photoshop, I cropped them so the kids’ faces were the same size (they are the same size even though he is 2 years older). So they looked like this:

her silhouette (step 1)

his silhouette (step 1)

Next, I increased the contrast of both images until I could see most of their outline clearly. I had to make sure I did not increase it too mush where I would not be able to identify the sections of background I wanted to remove. They now looked like this:

her silhouette (step 2)

his silhouette (step 2)

I then printed out the images at the size I wanted and carefully cut them out of black bristol board. I laid them over some nice blue/grey scrapbook paper I had and simply framed them with Ikea’s Ribba frames. I love how they turned out. Now to just find a place to hang them.

finished silhouettes

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Posted by Janet under create, decorate
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Jan 09
2010
 

my first task

The one place in the house that both my husband and I came to hate was next to the phone. It is this small counter as you come into the kitchen that was the catch hold for everything.

kitchen phone - before

You can see that nothing was working here. I attempted some order by hanging our keys, and purchasing a paper holder from Ikea to hold his schedule and any other paperwork. But the space was awkward and once it got messy, it just kept getting messier and messier.

kitchen phone - after

I took the after picture from a different angle so you can see where we put the keys (which need to be out of reach of our 3 year old daughter). I also love that I was able to hang a little heart that I previously did not have a place for. On the counter I bought a desk file rack so that we can easily have papers on hand that we need to reference. I also put a file for shredding. Now my husband can put stuff in an area that is not piled on my desk and I can go shred happily every recycling day.

I also noticed that now that I have pride in this little area, I am determined to keep it clean and in order. Such a small change but the results don’t feel small at all.

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Posted by Janet under organize

Jan 09
2010
 

closing the lid

the end of an era

So this picture represents something HUGE in our household. This is the physical closing of an area that has been a focus of mine for the last 7 years. My freelance work. These two green boxes hold all my digital files of those years. You will notice on the black photo box next to it, I usually store my boxes sitting on their lids so they can act more like a drawer. Easy for me to reach up and pull out what I need. Well today when I looked up at those open green boxes and I realized I no longer will need to reach into those two, I decided to close the door. Or shut the lid. Maybe soon, as I stand more firmly in this new role of mine, I will move those boxes to the basement.

Baby steps.

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Posted by Janet under life
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Jan 08
2010
 

a missing piece

So last year, I decided to stop working from home. I had a very successful year when it came to working but it was at the expense of a lot of other things, time with my kids, time for myself, and pretty much my sanity. All in all, it was a great decision.

Now that I have more time with the kids and for myself, I find myself beginning little projects and changes around the house that are bringing me endless amounts of joy. Then I realized this was because in those years focused on the workload, I had lost a little piece of me. The creative me.

So I created this blog. This is me. I am just an ordinary mom, with 2 kids, some time on her hands, a love of organizing and a need to create.

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Posted by Janet under life
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