Showing posts with label kids. Show all posts
Showing posts with label kids. Show all posts

Sunday, January 13, 2013

Sophia's Room

My Favourite Room in the House 

It didn't start out as my favourite room.  We bought our house when I was 8 months pregnant and the room that was to become the nursery was an in home nail salon...with brown shag carpet. (yuk)  So my first priority was to pull up the carpet, strip the wallpaper and set up the crib!  It turned out perfect and we loved it!! 

  
When Sophia came along, her room was a great fit!  However, as all kids seem to do, she started collecting "stuff", well, stuffies mostly and her small room seemed to get even smaller.  So it has evolved over the years.


I think we are at about maximum capacity for the storage/space balance now and it suits her perfectly. I LOVE it!  I sort of wish it was my room.  While yes, I did tidy up her room before taking pictures I did not "stage" her room so it's not perfect.  Her room is packed and a bit quirky but that's what I like about it!

Some of our favourite things and special items
We removed her closet door at one point and put her dresser inside, it was dark and cramped and didn't really work so we took it back out.  The curtains stayed.



Pile O-Stuffies

Favourite things on the wall...
Hanging a shoe holder from the ceiling over her bed to keep her tiny stuffies close at hand.

Some storage solutions.  Hanging the bookcase horizontally was a big one.  Her tights and unmentionables are within reach.
Links
 
  1.  Glow In The Dark Solar System Mobile that I had to paint and assemble myself.  I suggest you get a ready made one.
  2. This stuffed animal wall toy (as I like to call it) is from a local store-Ramakko's tackle world but you can order online from "Stuffed Animal House" directly. 
  3. Disney Store Online.
  4. Fairy made by a local artist, if you look close enough you can see her nipple.  Always makes me giggle.
  5. a.)  A dresser that I crackle painted.  I don't have a tutorial for this but there are many out there.  Here are two different techniques, one using a crackle effect paint and the other using wood glue between paint coats.  I used a mushroom colour for the base colour and an antique white for the top coat.   b.)  Ikea curtains.
  6. Ikea flower light.
  7. Awe, I just looked on the site and Stork Craft doesn't seem to sell the Jenny-Lind model anymore.  I liked the spindly bars.
  8. Name plate outside her door.
  9. a.) and b.) from You Name It Baby.  I have a confession...the book holder was constructed for me by a friend and I painted it to look like the one online that I couldn't afford.
  10. Twinkle lights make everything magical.
  11. The fairy again and pig wall decals to go along with my "This little Piggy..." art work.
  12. I pulled the inside "stamen" out of a artificial flower and stuck it onto the mini light.  Makes a beautiful shadow at night.
  13. I mounted an inexpensive bookcase horizontally onto the wall using L brackets.
  14. I just bought this great night stand at the Zellers closing out sale.  It closes magnetically and is also stackable if you buy more than one.
  15. This beautiful lamp that was a gift when Sophia was born.  The base is a Touch Lamp which is PERFECT for kids!  - Pottery Barn.  Also you can almost see her alarm clock...it's also the best!  Kids Sleep Clock keeps her in bed in the morning if she wakes up too early!
  16. Toy storage bins from Costco!  I love them...also a label maker is a must!!

Saturday, November 26, 2011

Frosty the Snowman!




Thumpaty thump thump.....



Here's an Easy winter cake that will make your kids smile!  
To make this cake, I used an 8" and a 6" round pan (I think, it doesn't have to be perfect) and a small 6" or 8" square pan.
Trim a bit off the top of the smaller round cake (snowman's head) so that his hat sits better.
After that, simply stack the smaller round cake above the larger round cake 
Cut the bottom 1/4 of the square cake off and then cut that in half, so that you have 2 equal parts to use as the brim of his hat:



Ice the cake with a pure white frosting, I used a Seven Minute Frosting which can also be called Boiled Icing:

Boiled Icing


2 Egg Whites

1 Cup Sugar

1/3 Cup Water

¼ tsp Cream of Tartar

Dash of salt

¼ tsp vanilla



1.  In a separate bowl, beat  egg whites until very stiff peaks.


2.  In a sauce pan, boil sugar, water, cream of tartar and salt until clear and completely dissolved.


3.  Slowly drizzle clear sugar mixture into eggs while beating continuously until completely combined.


4.  Add ¼ tsp of vanilla. 

I sprinkled Oreo cookie crumbs onto the hat to make it look black and added candies to make the eyes, nose and mouth.  I used blue chocolate Easy Melts for the buttons and red shoestring liquorice for his bow tie.

I added a little extra icing at the bottom of the cake board and sprinkled it with coconut to look like snow.

I  also found snowflake sprinkles at the Bulk Barn which added a nice touch.

To make the large snowflakes, use Royal Icing and with a small piping tip, pipe snowflake shapes onto parchment paper and allow to dry.  You can just freehand snowflakes so that they are all a little different, just as snowflakes are or, you can lay parchment paper over a snowflake image and trace it with the royal icing.
Make extras because they are very fragile and some will surely break.


I love snowflakes!


Friday, October 28, 2011

Well it's a Sunny Day....

Peep and The Big Wide World!


If you've never seen an episode of Peep and the Big Wide World, than you don't know what you're missing!  You don't have to have kids to appreciate this show...to LOVE this show!  Here's one of my favourite episodes!  

Peep of a Different Colour

Party Time!







 

Peep lives in a tin can and loves to explore the big wide world so I gave each child a tin can filled with a list of things to create a scavenger hunt as well as the items themselves.  I also crocheted a small peep for each can!

The scavenger hunt idea came from the Peep and the Big Wide World website: http://www.peepandthebigwideworld.com/printables/pdf/Peep_safari_childactivity.pdf


...and a cookie for the road





Sunday, October 16, 2011

The Very Hungry Caterpillar Birthday!




The Very Hungry Caterpillar Menu

 A fruit tray including of course...



A Meat Platter including




Main Dish


As well as a few extras


The Cake



Every Single food item in the book has been accounted for!!










Gifts



Thursday, September 29, 2011

Angry Cakes

Here they are....but why are they so angry?  I apologize  in advance for any spelling errors...this was a rush job and it's kind of late :0)

As always, I used my favourite Simple Buttercream recipe for these...for 24 cupcakes, you can half that recipe.