A Cat, a Princess and a Shark

The Cat

Black sweatpants and black shirt - his closet

Tail - black dress sock of dads stuffed with grocery bags and pinned to pants

Mask - ears and eyes $1 at Michaels and nose egg carton with pipe cleaners left over from spiders

The Princess

Dress - mom's old flower girl dress

Belt - cardboard with jewels she glued on ($2 at Hobby Lobby)

Tiara - from her dress-up box

Wand - leftover trim from the kitchen cabinets decorated with tin foil star and other 

embellishments from the craft basket

The Shark

Sweater - hoodie from his closet

Teeth and Fin - $2 for felt squares at Michaels

Eyes - scraps and buttons

Lots of money left over to buy the important stuff....CANDY!

Egg Carton Spiders

Here's a project for the kids.  Mine (ages 4 and 5) actually picked out the book at the library, chose the project and then did most of it. My two-year-old just cut up extra egg cartons with scissors.

Here's how it works:

We used an old egg carton, some pipe cleaners and some markers or paint.  Cut out the individual egg sections and color or paint them. I don't recommend using markers as they (the kids and not the egg cartons) were covered in marker by the time we were done (also because we used styrofoam egg cartons), but we live and we learn!  Then cut two black pipe cleaners in half so that you have four short pieces.  Poke them through one side of the carton and back out through the other so that you have half sticking out one side and half sticking out the other.  Repeat with the other three until you have eight legs total.  Make a face on the front and then my daughter came up with the idea of putting "hats" on each of them....which works great if you want to hang them like we did!

These are really the only kind of spiders anyone would want in their house.  

Smiling spiders.  That never move.  

Cozy Kitchen

This is the story of a kitchen.  A sad, ill-fitted little kitchen that looked rather like an afterthought instead of the warm center of a home.  The slot for the fridge was too small for a fridge of today.  The counter space was lacking.  And with no pantry, the cabinet space was skimpy at best.  But most of all, the pale pink hue of both cabinets and counters, left a sickly feel to the room no matter how much her dwellers tried to disguise it.

notice the pink aura

After much research (and a tight budget) those dwellers decided it was time for the pale, sickly kitchen to become the warm gathering place that they knew was hidden underneath her pallid, cracked countertops.

notice the edge of the fridge to the left....it was in the middle of the floor

The fairy god(father)* was called and a weekend makeover was arranged.  He worked wonders fitting in cabinets that warmed her space and cutting countertops (with such confidence) that polished her edges. 

the fairy god(father) himself and his crew

getting there...isn't the space overwhelming?

More counterspace, more cabinets, a pantry and a space for the fridge!  All who entered her home remarked on her charm.  "Surely", they would say, "this is not the same bland, pink kitchen we knew before!"

the fridge in its proper place

and the endless counter space

complete with pantry

and butcher block

And her dwellers look at each other across the room and smile at the new life that she breathes into their home and the magic created there!

Cabinets - Craigslist
Counters - Lowes
Butcher Block - Lowes

*Thank you Tom!

Chair Redo

I bought these chairs at Goodwill about two years ago.  I love the cane and the different colors of wood and the different, but similar looks.  I also loved that they matched a chair that I already had from a dumpster dive about six years before that (the last one pictured)!

But the cane was a bit brittle and in a short time I realized that I was going to have to either get rid of them or do something to salvage what was left of them. One of them is missing because it broke into a million pieces when my dad sat on it!

Enter some old throw pillows, my scrap fabric stash, and wood from our old kitchen cabinets and VOILA!!

They are much sturdier

and more comfortable

...and (if I do say so myself) just as pretty!

Which is always important.
We now have enough dining room chairs for our family without having to bring in the lawn chairs!

-Jen

A new room for a "tween"

For my 10 year old daughter's birthday she wanted her room re-done, because pink is apparently far too "little girly" for a tween.  She requested green and blue.  It took me 3 months, but I'm done.  I do miss the pink, but I love the end result too.

Here are the before pics:

And the after:

The project breakdown:

-The dresser was found at an estate sale for $25.  I used leftover paint from another project to paint it.  Not pictured: the second drawer down is a desk when pulled out. :)

-The paint cost the most at $75 and took the most time.  I got a high quality paint because I had to cover all that bright pink.  It was well worth the cost.

-Fabric: $30.  I made the duvet cover, curtain, and yellow pillow.  When she gets her permanent bed (my daybed from when I was a kid) I'll have to make a bed skirt, but I have plenty of fabric left over.

-The Love wall art was made for her by her cousin.

-Storage baskets: $18 from HomeGoods, Target and Hobby Lobby.  Most were bought on clearance. 

-The lampshade was the shade from her nursery. 

The stuffed animals will go into a plastic bin under the bed when she gets her bed. She has agreed to keep out up to 6 at a time.  Her American Girl dolls now have their very own room on the floor of her closet.  Her reaction seeing it all put together for the first time was the best part.

Amy's orange catch-all

 

 So I have no idea how Stephen acquired this piece of furniture, but  it was not looking so good, so we made it better by painting it orange!