Shared Bedrooms

I would love for my kids to share a bedroom while they are little. I know one day they will want their own since they are the opposite sex, but in another year or so we plan to move Karlie into a room with Will. Talking to sleep or listening to music or books on CD together...those are memories they will remember and can draw them closer together. Thinking about them sharing a room immediately gets my creative juices flowing. It will need to be fun and colorful...I love all the possibilities of all these colorful and creative shared bedroom spaces I have found across the web. A few of my favorites ideas I have found/ (pinned)... :)

{use paint to split sides}

{positioning head of beds together}


{eclectic and colorful}

{star gaze and hide-out bunks}

{fun for three (not that we are planning on it)...:)}

{this moment}

{this moment} - joining Soulemama for a a Friday ritual. A single photo - no words - capturing a moment from the week. A simple, special, extraordinary moment. A moment I want to pause, savor and remember...those cute little legs caught in the moment with only a diaper and boots. :)

Rainbow Organization

Creative Christmas Day 2-Tradition

hats and mittens advent calendar by garnet hill

A native Mexican plant, poinsettias were named after Joel R. Poinsett, U.S. ambassador to Mexico who brought the plant to America in 1828. Poinsettias were likely used by Mexican Franciscans in their 17th century Christmas celebrations. One legend has it that a young Mexican boy, on his way to visit the village Nativity scene, realized he had no gift for the Christ child. He gathered pretty green branches from along the road and brought them to the church. Though the other children mocked him, when the leaves were laid at the manger, a beautiful star-shaped flower appeared on each branch. The bright red petals, often mistaken for flowers, are actually the upper leaves of the plant. Tradition! I love it...Each family and culture has their own traditions each year for celebrating Christmas. I came across this idea of an advent calendar ( I can't remember where I heard of it, but it was not my idea so I can not take the credit). Instead of the traditional advent calendar this one has a little twist. Placed inside each pocket is a piece of paper with something to do that night as a family. I came up with a list of 25 ideas that could be incorporated into the advent calendar, or just used as an individual new tradition. Some of them are probably already traditions in your family, but especially for kids there is so much excitement waking up in themorning to open up the next pocket on the calendar to see how they will be celebrating that evening. 1-put up the Christmas tree and decorate! 2-make ornaments. 3-drink apple cider and listen to Christmas music. 4-play a board game 5-feed the homeless at a local shelter. 6-make festive garland. 7-go ice skating 8-make a table centerpiece 9-make Christmas cards. 10-donate extra clothing to a shelter 11-go caroling. 12-make a button wreath 13-make a pinecone bird feeder. 14-watch a Christmas movie. 15-invite friends over for a holiday dinner 16-make paper snowflakes 17-shop for family angel tree. 18-bake cookies. 19-deliver cookies. 20-look through old holiday photos while sipping hot chocolate. 21-look at Christmas lights. 22-wrap gifts. 23-read the Christmas Story. 24-go to church. 25-go around the table and share why each person in the family is a gift to you. What traditions does your family do to celebrate Christmas?Have a lovely day.

Creative Christmas Day 1- Decorate!

For most celebrations the first thing we need to do is DECORATE! Making my home feel warm and cozy and festive is a must! I was telling my husband the other day that I love the feeling when I walk into our warm cozy house during this season with the tree all lit up. It makes me so excited to be home with my family. Of course there is the traditional Christmas tree (which we put up each year)..but just for fun as you can see above are a few crazy alternatives to the traditional Christmas tree that I found at apartment theropy. Maybe one of these years I will get brave enough. :)

Below are a few simple tutorials of decorative projects I would like to try at some point whether that be this year or next. I just didn't want to forget about them, and thought maybe one of you would want to give them a try.

1- ice wreath by resurrection fern...we need to have a snow with freezing weather first.(but thats ok, I could hold off on this one until next year)... :)

2-beeswax candles... I may even do these after the holidays if I don't get around to it before. They look super easy.

3-Sweater Stocking by lifeingrace on blissfullydomestic.

And of course a few etsy finds below that I could not pass up sharing...

cute birdie ornaments -by sugarelf

tree centerpieces from vintage trims- by thelittleprints (she may have already sold this one!)

festive felt garland-by me! :)

Have a splendid Sunday!

Wordless Wednesday "Blessed"

ok...I'll add a few words...

This is my beautiful banner I made this week out of fun vintage ribbon, felt and paper. And you may ask....How did you get those letters so perfect?...It's not me, I love my cricuit!

So Embarrassing...

Maybe it is just me, but it seemed like when we take pictures of our house we like to take it of all the best, the most organized, the stylish..etc. Well, I decided that I needed to be more realistic and vulnerable to share with you the parts of my house that are popular, but popular with stuff...the most disorganized spots in our home. These are the places I always have intensions of sorting through but never seem to get a chance. I might need to make it my goal to figure out a way to organize these spaces and to keep it that way. Any suggestions?

shelf in kitchen(mail, cookbooks, towels, other randoms...)

Baby swing cluttered with coats, blankets, scarves...I don't know why they pile here, we have a place for these things, but for some reason they are more convenient here. (It's really kind of funny actually)

CDs never seem to go back into the CD case after listening to them.

My Creating Space

This is my favorite room in our house. Lots of space for artwork, a futon to hang out on, an area for Will to play...right now he likes laying on the futon...:)...and SO MUCH COLOR! Its too bad our landlady won't let us paint, but at least we have beautiful east side windows which makes for lots of sunlight in the mornings. Thad built these tables for me so I could have more space to lay out my work. I still have some pictures to hang, and to set a few things up, but I was to excited to start creating...

...and after I took these pictures I looked over at Will and noticed that he totally fell through the bouncy seat...haha, I don't think he understood why I was laughing so hard. :)

Our Nighttime Place

This is the first quilt I made a few years ago...I love waking up and seeing all the bright patterns every morning.

... and Will's side of the room...although he is currently sleeping with us still, but he likes to play in his crib. :)

This is my great-grandmothers rocking chair; my grandfather and father were both rocked in it.

... and Will hiding...for some reason he likes to put blankets over his head :)

Ciao!

A Glowing Welcome

Living Room Wall Art

This is a fun and easy project I found on www.ohdeedoh.com. Some of my favorite fabrics I stretched over embroidery hoops to make fun wall art in our living room. (sorry I think these pictures were a bit over exposed)

First Pictures

Ok, so I have been having a lot of fun with my new camera, but I can not wait to get outdoors and enjoy it. It has been super cold here (winters always are in the midwest), but this year it has been snowing everyday and is super gloomy. I can't wait for spring!!!...So I spent my Saturday afternoon taking pictures of our apartment. I still have a lot to learn(the lighting is not the best in some of these), but this is a good start. You can see me experimenting with my canon in the mirror. :) It is always fun to share the space that you live in. You can find the rest of my apartment pictures by clicking here.