Long overdue but hopefully worth the wait!  The next installment of the little girls room – the reading nook!

Read part 1 here.

What started in my mind as a reading nook has since turned into just a hideout cuddling corner because she keeps taking the books downstairs.

The canopy is from Ikea. Initially I had planned on DIY but knew it would cost way more then $20. It’s hard to see in the photos but I did add a little DIY touch to it by tying long strips of ribbon to the inside (on the hoop and center) and adding some yellow and green tulle. While putting away the Christmas decorations I thought she might like to have some twinkling lights added to the canopy and sure enough she loved it when I showed her that night.

The photo wall began with the name poster we got from my nephew. He’s only 9 and a great artist! I picked up the three bird prints on the right from JoAnn’s in the clearance section for a a little under $3 each. The two pics in the green frame are from Oohmoon.com. The smaller frames have photos from her 12 month photo session.

I would love to say that this fabric inspired the colors of the room but I actually found it way after we had painted the accent wall but knew it would fit in perfectly the moment I saw it.

The pouf (or floor cushion) in front was made using this tutorial from Living With Punks. I skipped the piping part partially because I was chicken to try it and partially because I couldn’t find the piping section in the store since I was in a hurry. Maybe next time!

The pouf in the back was made from this tutorial from Design*Sponge. The only thing I had trouble with was adding the tuft. I didn’t have a needle long enough and didn’t want to invest in one just for this. I attempted it with a knitting needle (the one to sew up seams) but it was difficult to push it through without loosing it inside!

Eventually I would love to add more pillows and a blanket to make it extra cozy.

I think she likes it!

Since the Christmas decorations came down our living room has looked a little naked. There’s one frame on our shelf that I’ve been filling with subway art for each holiday and thought I’d keep it going with a winter theme. And then what’s the point in making subway art if you don’t share it? I picked the perfect day to share- it’s currently 12 degrees in downtown Minneapolis. Hello winter!

Click the image to download or use the link below the image. It’s 8×10 to be printed on 8.5×11 paper. File is PDF.

Download – Winter Subway Art from embeshop

It was so hard to choose but this has to be my favorite taken just a few weeks ago… my little guy at 7 months.

PS. hope to get back to the weekly entries!

I’m a sucker for free downloads, but I especially love the calendars below. They’re fun and modern and a little bit of style to my otherwise boring office. Hard to believe I’ve been at my job for a year and the only decor I have is a few pics of the kids!

They are all free downloads (yay!) and while you’re visiting the sites check out all their other printables. So cute! So here we go…

Creative Mama Kokeshi Doll Calendar

*image from Creative Mama

These are so cute I squealed when I saw them. Which one is your favorite? I think I like July the best. All the pig tailed ones are adorable too though!

505 design monthly calendar with editable text

This calendar rocks because you can open it in Adobe Reader and add your own events… like birthdays and anniversaries.

Redstamp yearly calendar

The big “2012″ got me on this one.

Every year growing up our neighbor across the street would bring us a big box of homemade goodies. It was something we looked forward to and always remember when Christmas rolls around. My favorites were the gingerbread cookies.

While I never asked I always pictured her with her kids and grand kids baking away all day in the kitchen. Kids running around on a sugar high from eating too much frosting and sprinkles and flour strewn about. A tradition she’s been doing for at least 20 years. (That’s how long my parents have been in their home).

It’s those kind of memories that I want my kids (and the neighbor kids!) to have. So this morning we’ve been baking and just finished these little guys, Peanut Butter Reindeer!

Recipe from Bakergirl. They are delish and the only thing I had trouble with is the cracking in the tops of the cookies.

Up next are some Red Velvet Cake Balls and chocolate dipped candy canes. Hope to post more photos as we finish!

Cooking. Sometimes I love it sometimes I hate it. I’m more of a cook out of necessity person but I do enjoy a good cooking session now and then. Our old house had a great built in spice rack. Our new house… not so much. See..

I stuck them all in the cabinet and could never find anything. Plus look at all that wasted space at the top! A search for just the right one became futile and eventually I stopped looking. Little did I know all I had to do was look in the cabinet NEXT to the spices!

Add in a little tape, glue and cardstock and voila — spice rack.

Here’s how you can make your own.

Gather your materials:

-Tape (I used blue painters tape because that’s all we had)

-Glue (I used spray adhesive because again, that’s all I had)

- 12×12 cardstock. At least 2 pieces depending on the finished size of your rack.

-empty boxes (I found the ones with about a 2″ depth worked best for the sizes of the spice bottles)

-scissors

Determine how to stack the boxes to fit your spices.

I had a few of the shorter (2 inch?) spices so I laid one flat and stacked one on top to form an L shape. The red box goes under the blue one. It’s a little hard to see since I taped it up already in this picture.

Cut and tape the boxes together

Once you found the right combo, cut the boxes if needed and tape together. My boxes weren’t the same height so I had to cut one down. I taped a stabilizing piece to the open end so it wouldn’t collapse.

I also taped over the open end so nothing would accidentally slip in.

Unless you plan on moving the shelf around a little tape around the bottom will do.

Cover with cardstock

Measure the front and top sides of the shelf and fold your paper to size. Cut the width if needed. Sorry no photos of this step but here’s how it will look after.

I had to use two sheets. One to cover the top “shelf” and one to cover the front of the bottom “shelf.” You can see in the photo it wasn’t long enough. Oops! What’s the saying? Measure twice cut once? Once you get everything cut to size spray the underside of the cardstock with spray adhesive and stuck it on.

Tada! I didn’t do the sides because honestly who’s going to know besides me?

Here’s a close up. There is also a rack on the left but there was still pasta in the box so I didn’t want to cover it just yet.

Now cooking is a little bit less stressful!

Our new home has these great built in shelves that surround the fireplace in our living room. Coming from a tiny one bedroom condo we have few decorative items to display. I’ve been on the hunt for unique looking vases, pots, statues… not exactly sure what but I keep telling my husband I’ll know it when I see it! The problem is there are 6 selves. Only two of which are filled (one with photo books and the other is a charging station for our i-devices). Four of them have been sitting empty just waiting for the right item – which I’m reluctant to admit may never come.

Then last week it hit me. I can dress them up for the current season/holiday! We won’t be looking at the same items year round, it will keep my creative juices flowing and give me a great place to use all these free printables I keep downloading (is there a “download anonymous” group? I think I have a problem!)

It’s still a work in progress but I’m so proud I had to share what I’ve gotten done so far.

Shelf 1:

I’m in love with Oohmoon’s “One illustration a day, free for one day each day of the year” project and knew I had to incorporate one of the Fall Foliage illustrations. We had just done some pumpkin painting at Mary’s house so it was an obvious choice and a favorite of the Little Peanuts. The left side are scrapbook printables from Canon’s Creative Park site. The right side is  a cutout pumpkin with a 3-d paper twig. I think the brown backing on the pumpkin weighs that side down a little but I had already glued it on and was committed!

Shelf 2:

Can’t forget about the spooky side of Halloween so this shelf has a mini haunted house – another Canon Creative Park printout. The printable includes a cat, witch, zombie and ghost too but all the little pieces seemed so daunting!

The spider in the frame is made from some foam stickers I had picked up last year. You can’t tell but it’s sorta 3D-ish with the spider popping out. Hmm some real web action in the corners of the shelf would probably finish the look really well. I’m putting that on the list for next year!

The three mini vases were an impulse buy from the dollar bin at Micheals. With 3 for a dollar who could resist? They were a frosty yellow color, but I’ve jumped on the chalkboard paint bandwagon and gave them a good spray. It may look like a little alien on the first one but it’s really a skeleton. I’m not the best artist… I may have to get my nephew to do them for me next time. He’s a wonderful artist and he’s only 9! Anyway, I’m thinking of making some black roses to place in them.

So that’s two shelves down and two more to go! Do you decorate for Autumn/Halloween? I’d love to hear about them!

Apparently I have a thing for red and tops with hoods. One of our best sellers is the Little Red Riding Hood Poncho. I made the first one when my girl was only 2 weeks old! Grandma had come over for the day and spent most of it cuddling with her on the couch while I got to rest and knit. Fast forward three years [sidebar: oh wow 3 years already! how did she get so old?!] and with a need for some new fall outerwear I made her a new Little Red Riding Hood-esq jacket.

Oh how she’s grown!

In true “Cathy” fashion I completely winged it using only a old hoodie of hers as a template. It seemed daunting at first and I cut the pieces way to large fearing it would be too small. I now have tons of strips of fleece in my scrap box! There was a mis-cut for the length of the jacket but it turned out for the better. I added an extra 4 inches or so by making a bottom “trim” that goes around the whole jacket. I think it gives it a nice finishing touch. Yay for unintentional mistakes!

She was super excited to model it for me (or maybe just excited to be outside!?) and was a total ham for the camera.

Here’s a close up where you can see the ribbon trim around the front edge… that was added to cover up my wobbly seam. I may add the ribbon around the sleeve/cuff too but those seemed pretty straight.

The extra large buttons are great too. Within a few days of wearing the jacket she figured out how to unbutton it. Using fleece was a good choice because I didn’t have to worry about sewing button holes or how to manage the inside seams. Pinking sheers did the trick. I’m already planning the next one… this time in green. Her favorite color.

This idea was actually inspired by a trip to the doctor’s office. My son went in for his 3-year check up and one of the questions that was asked on the child development guide was something like “Can your child use scissors?” It had never dawned on me to let him try. So what a better way to start than with a craft day!

Knowing my son would have little patience, I prepped EVERYTHING ahead of time. I laid all of our crafting materials on the table and made sure to line with with a table cloth that I could wipe down later. We had everything from stickers, shape punch-outs to markers, glue and of course scissors! The first project was paper cutting. I drew out shapes for him to cut. This project not only got him using scissors but also learning the names of the shapes too.

For our photo album project, I picked up two albums (one for his little sister) and pre-cut design paper that would slide into the sleeve. I also picked out the pictures ahead of time and pre-cut the borders (it is a little time-consuming but SO worth it in the end or else we would have never finished the project ). What my son basically did was choose which picture he wanted on what paper and glued it on.

We then moved on to painting where I set up his easel and let him go to town with washable paint.

My son really enjoyed this experience! Not only did he get to play with new materials, he also learned new skills. The best part of it was that I got to spend some quality one-on-one time with him. Now that he’s started pre-school, these activities aren’t so foreign to him anymore.

We recently did some pumpkin decorating…now I can’t wait to plan a Christmas Craft Day!

Last month our boy was Baptized. My mom being the sentimental type saved my younger brothers baptismal outfit and has passed it down to us kids. I had intended on having our little guy wear it but when I tried on the onesie was way too large which kind of makes sense because my brother towers over the rest of our family. (We don’t know where he got it from! We’re all shorties.) It also only came with a vest, bonnet and shoes – no pants or some lost pants?!

Luckily I’m armed with a sewing machine and a few great online tutorials to whip up some last minute pants and bow-tie.

Initially I wanted to find fabric to match the vest but was unable to find the right shade and texture fabric and went with a cotton bottom-weight fabric in cream. I think it made a nice contrast to the white onesie and vest.

For the pants I turned to one of my favorite bloggers Prudent Baby who has a great tutorial for sewing pants (when are the tutorials not great?!). But because it’s been a steamy summer I made them shorts instead of pants. I also went with an elastic waist instead of drawstring.

Since this was a big occasion I added a cuff to the bottom of the shorts to make them a little “fancy.” I had to do quite a bit of seam ripping for the cuff because I made the legs too tapered, but love how it turned out.

I also had this bow-tie tutorial from Shwin&Shwin bookmarked in my “for the boy” folder and thought it would add a cute touch to the outfit. It was pretty quick to put together. Hubby thought it was a little big but I think it looks darling with the vest. For everyday wear I do agree that it’s a little big and would probably go smaller on the next ones.

So there he is our handsome little guy on his big day. We went without the bonnet because he kinda has an oily head and I didn’t want him to be smelly with all our family there!