The Little's Rooms Got Some Love

Last week I was thinking about how much creating I do for custom orders or for volunteer jobs. I spend a lot of creative energy on people outside of my family and so I suggested to David that it would nice to spend some creative energy on the littles. I had some ideas brewing and when he gave me the thumbs up, I went into full design mode. We settled on a gallery wall for each room plus curtains, hooks for their towels, shelves for each bedside and an art hanger for each little. I made a list of elements I wanted to include in each room.

1. something sewn/fabric element
2. woodcut element
3. string art
4. monograms
5. photograph
6. printable art/quote
7. scripture verse

Then I narrowed down to specifics as to what that looked like. So for the girls' room it ended up like:

1. kite
2. heart (inspired by HEart by CC)
3. crown
4. cut out of foam board
5. siblings picture
6. "Dream Big" (source)
7. I will add a verse to the heart woodcut at a later time

The boys room:

1. deer head
2. arrow
3. sword
4. cut out of foam board
5. siblings picture
6. fox
7. I will add a verse to their arrow art later

David shopped, cut and stained wood during the daytime. He was in charge of the woodcuts, string art, shelves, towel hooks and art hangers. I painted the clothes pins (for the art hangers) and the frames plus rough cut out the fabric elements during the day. The rest of the projects were done in the evenings after the littles went to bed. That meant late bleary eyed nights, but I'm really happy with the results. Last night I planned the gallery walls, but putting them on the floor. I took pictures to give to David for hanging and while I took the children out on a playdate, David re-arranged the girls' room and hung all the elements we crafted. What a thrill it was to reveal it all to the littles!

The deer head was made from a pattern found here. I found the wood plaque at the thrift store and a with a bit of paint it made a great mount.

David cut this based on a few pictures I showed him on Pinterest. I didn't want to tell him exactly what to make, but I knew I wanted an arrow. It turned out great. His favourite piece.

Again, I asked for the sword, but I left David to do the style he wanted. He found a sword image on google, added a cross in the middle and enlarged it to make the template. Screws were an easier choice and he just went with it. I like it a lot!

The monogram "M"s I printed out on the computer, taped to foam board and cut out. I painted them and that's it! Super easy and a great and cheap monogram! We enlarged a photograph from our last family pictures in 2014. The same picture for both bedrooms. 

I thrifted and painted this cute frame and got the printable from here. 

Here's Malachi's art hanger in action (sorry for the dark picture). Just clothespins painted and glued to a board. Each little has one, though we haven't hung Hannah's yet. We are saving it until she is a bit older.

Michaels had these cutlery clothespins in a bin and I simply glued them onto this little board, also from Michaels. Cheap and funny, considering the boys are always thinking about food. This wasn't planned for, but added on a whim.

I found this wood pineapple at the thrift store. It was varnished and worn, but I saw its potential and snapped it up. I painted it and glued an oversized clothespin on it and it's adorable! My favourite piece in the girls' room!

David did the crown the same way as the sword and he did a great job!

The girls' monograms were done the same as the boys. I found the birdhouse and bird at Michaels and threw it in. 

The kite I made up as I went. I drew a pattern and did a basic quilting pattern on it. Then simply tied jersey bows onto a ribbon tail.

Each little got a shelf on their bed. They all needed a place to put water bottles and treasures etc. Here's Abby's in action. David made simply with two boards, painted white and attached right to the bed frames.

David made this based on a picture I showed him. Abby thinks it looks like a minecraft heart.

I used flat sheets from two of the littles' bed sets to make quick curtains. Not too difficult as I cut them in half, finished the two cut edges and voila! Curtains! I hate sewing curtains, but this wasn't too bad. We are exhausted, but happy with the results!

15 Favourites from 2015

I watched the cutest video blog this morning and was inspired to share my 15 favourite things from 2015. I'll spare you a video though as I have a cold and sound frog-ish and my computer microphone isn't working. Maybe someday. Let's get started (in no particular order):

1. My journaling Bible! I am so glad I stumbled across this two years ago. Abigail is getting her first journaling Bible for her birthday this month and I'm excited for her. It was on her Christmas list, but I was waiting for the NIV release (that's the version she does all her memory work from in school).

   

   one of my favourite pages

2. My Documented Faith journal. This is the most consistant I've EVER been in keeping a journal of any sorts and I think it's because of the art and faith components. I smile looking through it and my littles ask me regularly if they can look through it, too. 
   
3. Instagram. I signed up for IG several years back when we bought an iPad, but never really explored it until we got smart phones. I love the community, the inspiration... all of it! Username: mrsgingras
   
4. Microfibre dishcloths. I am not typically the kind of person that recommends recipes and cleaning products etc., but I really like the microfibre dishcloths with the mesh back. I bought mine at Sobeys and it's their house brand, but they're available pretty much anywhere now. I have all dark grey ones and that's great because they don't stain as easily.
5. Young Living essential oils. Everyone gets sick - that's life. Our quality of living while being sick greatly improved with the help of EOs. I would also say that we've chased away many colds that didn't have the chance to take hold thanks to EO use. My mom and my sister gave us the premium starter kit for Christmas in 2014 and even blended some little friendly oils. Those ones, the blends, are my all time favourites and I use them all the time.
   
6. I'm exploring art more and more and my favourite go-to supplies are: Staedtler Pigment Liner pen 0.1 in black, pencil and eraser, Martha Stewart multi-surface craft paint, watercolour pencils and my Heidi Swapp date stamp.
   
7. Mysterious Benedict Society books by Trenton Lee Stewart. David read to me the whole series this year and it was a great diversion from the everyday. It's a very imaginative series written for middle aged children, but they're so fun that we enjoyed them immensely. 
   
8. Rocky Mountain Soap. Not limited to 2015, they have been my only soap supplier for years. Completely chemical free and I can use them without flaring up any eczema spots. Just tried Vanilla Mint and hmmmm, it's so refreshing.
   
9. Pajama Van. This continues to be my favourite family outing. (Almost) weekly, after supper, we bathe the littles and put them into pjs and load everyone up into the van. We put on a movie using our portable DVD player, stop at Tim Hortons for tea and timbits and drive for as long as the movie is. David and I get to have a "date" in the front seat and we all love pj van! As a result of driving for a couple hours every week, our littles are seasoned and great travelers, which comes in handy when we drive to Alberta to see the family.
10. My kitchen table! David, with some help from one of his students, built me a GREAT kitchen table. It's huge and solid and will be a central gathering place for our family for many many years to come. He got the plans here and adapted them to suit our family needs. He has plans to build me some mission style furniture for my living room next. I love getting to receive his handiwork.
    
11. Sushi. Specifically the avocado and cucumber rice rolls (I don't know what they're really called other than "yummy") from Sobeys. Yes, grocery store sushi. I love it! David and I dip in caesar dressing.
12. Rend Collective. My favourite music discovery of last year was definitely these guys. I love how fun and catchy and well written their songs are. 
    
    
    
13. Serena Wilson Stubson. So, we met because our children are in the same school/class, but seriously, have you seen her art?! It's awesome. Serena gave my David one of her wood block mounted art pieces as a thank you Christmas gift (David is the parking lot patrol guy and the parents like him keeping everyone safe), anyway, I've stolen it. It's gorgeous.
14. Favourite movies of the year go to Jurassic World and Star Wars. Both nostalgic and both really well done. Plus, David I got to see both together in the theatre (a rare occurrence).
15. My favourite outing involves a body of water. I discovered just how much I LOVE to be by the water. We are fortunate to live in a city with rivers running through it and several lakes within driving distance. Beach combing for sea glass with the wind and the crisp air - LOVE!

Happy Yellow Day!

8 years ago, today, while washing laundry, I accidentally died our whites yellow. My David instantly declared that December 20 would forever be yellow day in honour of that boo boo. I laughed it off, but he was in ernest. So, I bring you this year's instalment of yellow.

I found various yellow shirts at the second hand stores (it is almost impossible to find yellow in the winter! we will shop for next year's yellow day in the spring) and made some iron on transfers for mine and the little's shirts. (Designs inspired by these.) It's a work day for my David, so I found him a dress shirt and did not ruin it with a t-shirt transfer.

I'm not sure if we'll get a family shot later or not, but two of my littles were ready to represent for the blog.

Checkin' In

{Though one may be overpowered,

two can defend themselves.

A cord of three strands is not quickly broken."

 Ecclesiastes 4:12}

Hope you are all having a great summer so far. I can hardly believe how amazing the weather has been, not to mention the fact that there have hardly been any mosquitos!!! Surprised? Me too, especially considering this link I found. I am usually covered in bites by this time of the year and I think I've only had a couple bites the whole summer!

I have some random things that I wanted to share, so let's get to it.

• SEVEN YEARS! That's how many David and I have been married! I am so blessed and so glad to say that I would choose him all over again if I had the choice. We read the scripture verse above during our wedding ceremony and it has been a foundational theme for our marriage. Without God, our marriage would easily fall apart. With God, I have an AWESOME marriage!
• I recently started wearing eyeliner on a semi-regular basis. I've worn make-up since I turned 16 years old, but haven't worn much. I vaguely remember trying eyeliner in the early make-up years and found it such a hassle to take off that I never continued to wear it. Well, I still find it a pain to take off and I've noticed just how much eye make-up remover I go through. Well, when I saw this tutorial linked on Pinterest, I knew I'd have to try it. It works even better than the expensive brand name remover I was using and it's super cheap (I had all the ingredients on hand already).
• I have been trying my hand at some re-fashion projects (pics coming next week). I "needed" a new outfit to wear on my anniversary date and dug in my closet for inspiration. I think I like what I've come up with and I'll share soon.
• I've also made an anniversary gift for my David and I'm excited to show you that, too.
• David and I have been taking a parenting class, boy oh boy! My recommendation: take a class before you have children, then you'll be ahead of the game. Having said that, there has been such great lessons and things we've been working on with Abigail, especially. It's hard WORK, but we are slowly seeing some fruit of our labours.
• Heaping burning coals work! If you are struggling with someone, try doing kind things for them that they don't deserve (face it, we all need that) and wait and see what God does to change their hearts and attitudes toward you. I don't want to go into details here, just trust me and try it. Persevere!

"Dear friends, never take revenge. Leave that to the righteous anger of God. For the Scriptures say,
   “I will take revenge;
      I will pay them back,”
      says the Lord.
  Instead,
   “If your enemies are hungry, feed them.
      If they are thirsty, give them something to drink.
   In doing this, you will heap
      burning coals of shame on their heads.”
 Don’t let evil conquer you, but conquer evil by doing good." Romans 12:19-21

•  I don't think I've blogged about it, but this summer we tried a new product to help reduce the insane heat in our apartment. We have a huge picture window in our living room that gets direct sunlight for 9 hours of the day. Last summer, with an air conditioner, we hit 30 degrees daily! Gila  Window Film has reduced the heat so much that on the days that I don't make it outside, I don't even realize that it's hot outside. So amazing!

Well, that's my random bits for now. I'll be back early next week to show you my latest projects, do a summer list check-in and perhaps share a bit about our anniversary. Have a great weekend!

Summer Fun

I know, I've been away for awhile. Thanks for your patience. Now that we are in the second trimester, I am finally feeling human again! I am happy to say that baby is growing well so far and we got to hear the little heartbeat just last week. We are thrilled to have the same midwife as we had with Abigail. I haven't been crafting at all lately... it's finally summer weather and we're enjoying it as much as we can! For now, I'll treat you with some pictures of our mini adventures!

our sorbet swirl (at the zoo)

a little walk to the store

on the ferris wheel

on the kangaroo ride

and fun on the carousel

Crayolas!

I wanted some non-permanent markers (the permanent ones go through paper and even card stock) for a little project this week. So, we picked up a small package of Crayolas and thanks to the washable features, I figured it was time for Abigail to have a go. This is her very first drawing. She had a lot of fun and only got a little bit of marker on me, on her and on the table. I cut a slice off to make a birthday card for a little friend. This also prompted me to pull out some crayons today and she had some time to color in a coloring book.

David and I have some scripture memory homework for our post-Encounter class. Here's the project that I wanted the markers for. (Romans 8:1-2, 6-9)

We took a family trip to the Forks on Wednesday. There is a little shop in the marketplace that sells t-shirts and inside the shop is this big stuffed bear. The store clerk said that most kids scream and cry when they see it, but not Abigail....

Her crying started when it was time to leave the bear behind. She hugged him for so long!

We've been elved!

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