Just Add Stickers

We were very lucky that we didn't have to paint when we moved into our new house. The walls had been painted not too long ago in neutral tones, the colors are nice and they were just waiting for our personal touches. I don't love painting walls but I wanted some color.  I like the look of wallpaper but I have vivid memories of helping my Mom remove wallpaper. It was not an easy task.  I heard good things about peel and stick wallpaper, the prospect of just peeling it off was very appealing to me. There were 3 places in the house that I wanted an accent wall with the peel and stick wallpaper paper  the master bedroom, Little Misse's room and the laundry closet in the powder room.  Before starting I watched videos of people pitting up peel and stick wallpaper to get tops and tricks. It looked easy enough.I suggest wa5ching some videos, especially if you learn by watching others. I ordered two of the rolls of wallpaper from Amazon. For Little Misse's room we chose a lig...

The kids are starting new schools this year and I wanted to make the return to school special.  The day before school started Little Miss said "remember last year when we had a spa day the day before school?"  I got the hint and set up a spa afternoon to pamper Little Miss and her doll. I decided to do manicures and pedicures for our spa treatments complete with a footbath and then of course relaxing spa music and some spa snacks. We always have special snacks on our spa days and 'spa juice' which is usually fruit juice with some berries in it and our snacks are usually cut up fruit but call it a spa snack and that makes it fancy! We spent the afternoon enjoying our spa and getting manicures and pedicures. It was a nice way to end summer vacation and prepare for the new school year.  I always like to decorate for back to school, usually a chalk board sign, something simple but this year I went all out.  I like to decorate the middle shelf of our dinning room hutch. I...

This was not a special occasion Tea Party it was just a Tuesday afternoon tea party. I thought I would add it to the Blog and we could catch up over a cup of Strawberry Mandarin tea with milk and sugar (it's delicious!)  We are all moved and settling into our new house. July was very busy with the move and setting up and now for August we are trying to make the most of summer. Little Miss requested a Tea Party so I thought it would be fun to do an outdoor Tea Party. We have a little area of our backyard that is off to the side that has a little stone path leading to it and it is the perfect spot for a tea party. My long term plan for this section of the yard is to add an archway with vines and flowers, make it a little magical. So many plans and projects coming up!   We have these great cedar hedges around our backyard, they smell great and I thought it would be a good place to add these butterfly solar lights, they definitely add to the magical, whimsical feeling of this...

I love giving presents and I especially love making presents. I put a lot of thought into my going away presents and this time around I am going with a book theme, because that is very me and most of my friends too! For Little Misses friend and some family friends I found this book  "See You Later Croc-A-Gator"  by Imogen Shelton about a Crocodile and an Alligator who are best friends who grow up together and one day the Alligator family has to move away from the swamp. It is a very cute story with some tips on how to help the kids with being away from their friends. Inside we wrote notes to the kids. To go with the books we made some book marks. We chose some fun paper and used the self-laminating plastic sheets from the Dollar Store. I'm very happy with how they turned out. I love making book marks and I know that like me, my friends can never have enough bookmarks.  Happy Summer everyone and if you are moving, I hope everything goes smoothly!

Yup, it's that time for us again! We are packing up our gnome houses...and our real house and moving again, hopefully for the last time.  I am very excited for this new chapter and like all of our adventures I hope to keep on crafting with the kids and on my own, I will share ideas as we get settled and unpack all my craft supplies. Packing up my craft supplies has been a process...organizing and purging things we don't use any more.  One big thing I am looking forward to is sharing my  new Gnome garden set-up. I'm not sure where it's going to go yet but I can't wait to get it all set up! I have some ideas for going away presents that I am hoping to share. I have been thinking about these ideas for a few months but life is busy right now, so I hope to be sharing it very soon!

We all had the day off of work and school for the eclipse this year. It was the perfect time for a theme day, like we used to do when the kids were little.  We did an eclipse painting on black paper using white, yellow and gold paint. Little miss painted a face on her moon. Little Man made a moon in front of his sun. A theme day would not be complete without a themed snack. i made eclipse Oreo cookies (and blueberries!)  Happy eclipse day!

This craft is an Easter version of the Valentine surprise I made for the kids this year. We made this craft as a surprise for my Mom, when she came to our house for Easter this year and we wanted to decorate her door. What you need: ●Paper white and papperned paper (you could also use white paper and decorate it like Easter eggs) ●Colored markers ●Scissors, glue and tape What to do: 1. On a piece of the white paper, draw the shape of a basket. Cut out the basket shape.  2. Draw different sizes of eggs on the patterned paper and cut out the eggs.  3. On each egg, write a positive adjective or an Easter pun. 4. Decorate the basket. Choose a few eggs to glue in the basket.  5. Take the rest of the eggs to the door. This is a good surprise for Easter morning! Happy crafting and Happy Easter!