girl's room tour

Hey every buddy,

I know there are few of you out there ready to see pictures posted of the NEW place.

Well too darn bad.  I still haven't finished the "old" house tour!

Let me tell you what.  The first few days we settled in, the work went quickly - and the house came along nicely.  Things got put away with relative ease, and whatever didn't, we have an extra room to stick the boxes of books and craft supplies - to get to on our own time.  And, the house started to feel like ours almost immediately.  There is open space here, old windows, lots of sun coming in - all the things we associate with "home".

And then I went for a second trip back and grabbed the rest of what was left behind...  Oh you know - the stuff we either didn't truly NEED or care about enough to want to take on the first trip?  And now it's a mess again.  -_-  And my feet hurt.  And I feel like it's started back where we were last week.

So it's a process, but hopefully - this time next week, I will feel again where I felt this time last week.  And in this way we will move forward by moving backward.  See?

It's clear I'm delirious from hurt feet and heavy lifting and the first-day-homeschooling-jitters.  So let's get to the girl's room tour, because I have pretty pictures!  (And I truly hope to write more about moving in the near future, because I do have so much to write about).

Such a girl's Room.  Just about my favorite room in that house, even though it was the smallest.  It's oh so easy to fill a little girl's room with birdies and flowers, and lights, and sweet stuff.  So I did just what was easy.

Okay, so there's a door there behind that bed.  In my defense, if you'll scroll down, you will see that there are three doorways to this room.  (one doorway being this one, in which the picture is being taken FROM - I'm standing in it, but you don't really see a picture of it.)  We felt the room looked best with the beds facing this direction, and the kids wanted more room, so we just covered that doorway right up.  

The bed on the left was mine when I was a little girl, and my mum handed it down when I had a little girl of my own.  We purchased the bed on the right to match but not match.  I think it matches but not matches quite well, don't you?

The art is something I've been working on a while, and it's neeeeearly done, but we moved so I didn't get a chance to finish it for the girl's room tour photos - (which was, of course, the original plan).  I'll finish it one of these days.  I remember thinking and thinking about what I would want to paint for them.  What words would I want to convey to them that they would wake up in the morning and see, and read right before they went to bed at night.  Could it be "You are my sunshine"?  Would it be a Bible verse? But, it was the phrase "You are loved" that just seemed to keep popping back up in my mind.  As important as Bible verses are, this really is the whole message, isn't it?  So it just seemed to encompass it all.

This beautiful art of the girl looking up at the sky with the shield and the sword with the dragon silhouette in the clouds is from Elly McKay on Etsy.  I absolutely fell head over heels in love with her shop when coming across it months ago, and sat at my computer and "ooh"ed and "aah"ed at all the imagination and whimsy put into these prints.  She uses a unique method of creating her art, which you can find information about on her shop profile.

Can you see that the floors are purple?  This is actually a purple tinted stain, rather than a paint, and we just love it.  They, (and also the dragonfly clips clipped to the bed you see two photos up on the right) were actually inspired by Coraline's room in the movie, "Coraline".  Do you see the similarities?  The clothespin dragonflies are on the left, the purple stained floor on the right.

I know parents everywhere have differing opinions about the macabre aspects of this movie, but I've loved and respected the artistry of this movie and the attention to detail since the first popcorn inhaling, toe curling time watching it.  For me, it is breathtaking, and my all time favorite children's movie.  Yes, it's a little darker than most of the things I allow the girls to watch.  Other parents are probably right about this movie, but I just simply love it and love to share it with them, and sometimes that's all the excuse I need to bend the rules a little.  Suffice it to say, I have never offered myself to others as a parenting mentor.  :)

And here's this one again, just because it's my fave.   :)

All right.  I work for comments people.  Pay up.

Home Tour

Hello every buddy!

Recently Laura came over and did something I've been wanting to do for a very long time - took pictures of our home!

In the past I've shied away from this.  Even taking the "before" pictures so I could have "after" pictures just felt so pretentious to me.  Why?  I don't know - I'm overly cautious and sensitive at times.  I thought if I did this, it might act as some sort of shrine and testament to our work...  It might seem like I'm trying to boast in any "decorating skill" I have...  I didn't want to give people the wrong idea that I fancied myself some sort of house artist that was keeping a portfolio...

And then it came to me:  I needed to seriously take some sticks out of somewhere and lighten up.  It's just a silly house and some stupid pictures.

So here they are guys!  We'll start out with the living room.

Come on in - you can crank the old doorbell for fun, but it doesn't work anymore.

You saw that top picture yesterday.  (And to see before and after pictures, visit yesterday's post)  That is the view looking in from the window.  The color of this paint is "Pale Honey" - I have joked many times before that it is easy to remember because it reminds me of my husband - he is my pale honey.

If you can see it well enough in the picture, that hook below the mirror is a hand coming out of the wall.  I have been asked many times before where we got it - and it's from Urban Outfitters.

This mirror (above) was taken from my childhood dresser.  You do not want to know what kind of massacre is behind that mirror to get it up there.  It is very heavy, and thus, harder to mount.

I was teasing Laura that the collage up there is a shrine to her photography.  Every picture up there is one she took.  The painting is also from a dear DEAR friend, Holly.  The plaque that hangs from the shelf sat in my grandparents house for many years.  Needless to say, this is a very special and cherished collection to us.

If you're wondering, I'm not a huge fan of ALL the turquoise anymore.  The shelves used to be an olive green, and they really are worlds better than they used to be, but if we were staying in this house, I think I would have painted them white eventually.  I am always trying to strike that balance between having color and character but also class/minimalism.  I think if our walls were white, this turquoise would not have been an overkill, but so much yellow and so much turquoise together, I'm just not sure of.  For me, the white would have given it that more "classy/simple" look I am really searching for.  Minimalism is truly an art - one that I have yet to master.  For our new home, I have goals of making it a tad less romantic and girly, and a little more simple and classy.

But you know what?  It IS really easy for me to obsess over the details and the "should be"s and "coulda beens".  It IS really easy for me to look at Pinterest pins of houses and think about all the things other people thought of that I didn't, or want to emulate them precisely.  But this is us - these are the things that were given to us lovingly from other people, or the $1 finds I just happened on at the yard sales.  I've always loved French design, and that means to have curves in things and scrolls and chunky frames - and if that changes on Pinterest tomorrow, it will still remain true in this house.  And those are just a few of the things  that scratch the surface of what makes a house a home.  It's taken me a while, but I have peace with that now, and though things will almost always be in rotation, and I will continue to be inspired by other homes and Pinterest pins - some things will still remain with that special Wilson family seal on it that we have come to be comforted by.  "And that's"...(best Stuart Smalley voice) "O-kay."

Just be cool and pretend like that white slipcover doesn't have chocolate fingers all over it.  Thanks guys.

Do you see that green dragon above the large turquoise shelves?  It's one of my favorite things.  I saw it in a guy's yard as he was closing up his yard sale the day after.  I slammed on my brakes like a mad woman and shouted out my window if he would take a couple bucks for it.  He did and I've never regretted the way he backed away from me and his hands shook with fear as I ran up with money waving wildy and frothed at the mouth as I took his dragon and handed him the cash.

My precioussss....


Well, that's the living room area.  As I said before, tomorrow it's on to the kitchen!

Instagram, Mostly

Hi everybody!  /hihi

I talked about satiating an instagram lust here, and often post instagrammy type pictures, such as here.

Well, recently I got on instagram using our Kindle.  It's really quite exciting for me.  I love this resource for tracking memories, and I can just imagine at the end of the year, it will be a wonderful way to look back on the year, and ooh and ahh, and "Oh, I almost forgot about that..." at all the pictures.  Here are a few of the pictures taken over the past several weeks, in case you're interested.  (And if you're not interested, I recommend Ashley Ann for something interesting.)

This is a little bit of the work that's being done on the craft room. 

This guy is a robot I made for my nephew some time back.  He's been loved  enough that he needs some stitches.  I get to play doctor.

Installed a doggy door this week.  It started out very "girl power", ended...well, DUST...just, DUST.  But hey, it's in, and it is gloriously helpful.

The weather is nice here!  The girls and I started putting the old trampoline together.  Looking back, I see now that I probably should have put the camera down and disciplined the gladiators (or at least acquired some popcorn or something....)

I can take pictures, too, mom.

That's probably just about the best ones. If you would like to follow me I am...you guessed it, figmilkshakes.

A Quick Project and a Little Wiser

Hi guys!

Do you remember those little frames I picked up for one buck each and used in the Christmas mantle here?   Well, they were too pretty to put away with the Christmas stuff, so check out their ultimate destination:

1.  Cut out a white backing using the previous paper pinned to the fabric as a template:

 2.  Cut the felt into squares of the same size to get letters that are also comparable in size

 3.  Cut out the letters.  (originally I thought I would separate the word, thus the dash, but the whole word fit on the wall, as you'll see below.)

4.  I opted to use felt glue instead of taking the tedious time to sew it together.  I had this on hand, so I used it, but for a project like this where the felt won't be washed, regular Elmer's glue would even suffice.  (Just don't use too much or it will soak through to the top.)

And this is my first gray hair.  Sort of exciting in a way.  I did not expect to see it, as I haven't heard anyone else in my age group talk about gray hairs quite yet (although some people have mentioned it AFTER the fact - I'm kind of going, "How do I not know this already when I've been telling everybody I know three times each?").  To answer your question:  I do feel wiser.  The nickname "Gandalf" has even been thrown around.  /hmm

(This was a hard picture to get.  I had to endure mocking from my family as I sat in the sitting room and took 15 pictures of the top of my head.  Worth it, though - because I look deep in it, huh?)

Family Name Flash Card Dealie

HellOoOoo friends!

Do you like my new blog header?  Really - I'm not fishing for compliments, I'm not sure if it's too busy.  Is it too busy?

I guess I like it.  All my favorite blogs have these really eloquent, minimalist yet beautiful blog designs, and I was thinking I wanted the same thing - but when I sit to try to recreate that look, I just can't find anything that I feel strikes that balance between eloquent and expressing my personal sense of style.  Maybe I'm just not eloquent (I think I'm okay with it...)

Anyhow, I'd like to hear your input.  (And now that I have written that last paragraph and thought it out to convince myself that I do indeed like it...I am now just fishing for compliments.  :D)

Well, onto the next thing.

A friend gave us these GREAT flash cards.  We had no real use for them, since Maggie has already learned her letters in school, but I just adored the art work on them, don't you?

I thought of different things that could be done with them.  Really, I think they would make a great HUGE piece of art if I wanted to take the time to hang them all side by side, but motivated by the desire to not want to take on a huge project (motivated by laziness, if you will excuse my oxy moron), I remembered this project I had seen on Pinterest, this is how they ended up:

I also thought these would be really fun in a kid's room, with the letters to spell out, "Sisterz", or even in a play room, spelling out, "Have Fun".  They do just seem to lend themselves to fitting into a kid's area, but I opted to spell out our last name to put in the front room area, just for the sheer fact that it is a little bare in some areas and needs a little more to fill up the space.

Thanks for checking it out! I'm linking up at Sugar Bee Crafts, Tuesday Confessional, and  Handmade Tuesdays - all of which you can find buttons to in my Link Parties tab up top.

Thrift Store TV turned Frame

Hello, hello!  

Today I thought I'd share with you guys this old tv I turned into a picture frame. 

 A loooOOoooong time ago I found this old tv for $2 at a yard sale.  It was heavy and from the stone age.  I didn't even check to see if it worked, but I just loved the retro look of it, so I grabbed it up knowing I could eventually use it for something cool.

Although this ended up taking quite a bit more time than my usual projects, just because it took forever to properly "Hulk" this thing apart - the gist of it is really quite simple, and I'm sure it wouldn't take you nearly as long as it took me.

I started with this:

Time to perform delicate TV SURGERY.

                                                                      Scalpel, please....

                                                              Oh the HUMANITY!

                        Hey, this says "UHF"!  Do you guys remember that movie with Weird Al?

                                           I'm afraid this tv will never show PBS again.

 As you can see, I used whatever tools I saw came up that I needed.  For me, that ended up being a mallet, a chisel, a screwdriver, and pliers - but I'm sure each tv is different and might require different tools.

Then with the remaining front piece, I bounded indoors and started the crafting:

Instructions:

1.  Cut your glass to fit (leaving a little extra for hot gluing the sides down).  Take it from me, use a thick piece of glass.  I thought I could get away with buying a Dollar Store frame and using the glass from that (as pictured), but I went through EIGHT PIECES of glass this, and in the end, I got a 1/4" thick pane from Home Depot, and cut with help from this video it in one try! 

2.  Hot glue the glass to the inside of the tv frame - into the corners where it will not be visible from the other side of the frame.

3.  Cut your picture to fit and lay it on top of the glass.  I had to tape mine down a tad.

4.  Then I cut out a piece of poster board to fit the back, and tied a wire to hang it in the future, but you can do whatever suits you - maybe you just want it to sit on a shelf and don't need the wire, or maybe you don't need a backing because it doesn't bug you that there's no back, but here's what I did:

And here's one more peek - hope you like it:

I'm linking this project up at:

I Gotta Create for Wildly Original Bewitching Fall Link Party

 Sugar Bee Crafts for their Take-a-Look Tuesday

 &  Coastal Charm for Nifty Thrifty Tuesday 

& Funky Junk Interiors for her Saturday Night Special Party