Phew! I can't believe a whole month has gone by since my last post. The whirlwind month of December flew right past me. We had a wonderful Christmas with my mom, grandma, Kim and Chad and their baby Paige. The kids had so much fun playing together. My sister and I are still cracking up at how the dollar spot necklaces and bracelets the kids found in their stockings were the big hit! They must have spent hours putting them on, taking them off, trying to get the bracelets onto their ankles, etc. It was hilarious to watch.
Two days before Christmas, I was looking at
Avery's room when I realized that she is almost three and the alphabet cards I used for artwork were feeling a bit too juvenile for her now. It's been about a year and a half, so it was time for a quick change. Since I really didn't want to brave the stores or go shopping since it was so busy with last minute shoppers, I searched the house for anything I could find that would coordinate with the robins egg blue walls and the red frames. Once I found a couple of fabrics from my fabric stash, and a single piece of scrapbook paper, I was starting to get inspired. Lastly, I remembered two pieces of white poster board from the dollar store that I had underneath my cutting mat. Here's the final result:
I used the dollar store poster board to make a simple matt. At 50 cents per picture, you can't beat the price. Then I just taped the fabric to the back of the matt and called it a day. For the "A" picture, I found a font on the computer that I liked, enlarged it to fit the scrapbook paper, taped it to the monitor, traced it, cut it out and then taped it to the fabric. Done. An hour later and Avery's room has turned a little more sophisticated.
And yes, that is her mattress still on the floor. That girl is one crazy sleeper. When we check on her after she's fallen asleep, we find her all over that bed. Sometimes half on and half off. She loves her little cozy bed in the corner as is, so for now, we're going to keep it this way.
Another update, the
green chaise has arrived. Franz's memory was 100% accurate. The chaise looks exactly like the one I posted with the exceptions I mentioned. It's a pretty cool style, I must admit. I'm on the hunt for a fabric that will do it justice, and when I find it, it will be off to the upholsterers. For anyone looking to ship a piece of furniture across the country, I have to give a huge shout out for Greyhound Shipping. I did not know they shipped freight. I got quotes from furniture movers, and they were anywhere from $325, all the way up to over $700. Greyhounds price: around $89.00. Yep, that chaise moved 3000 miles across the country for less than a hundred bucks. A huge thank you to Franz's dad for doing this for us.
Lastly, for those of you who think that us Californians don't really endure extreme weather conditions, let me show you a couple pictures:
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| Starting the clean-up process |
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| After |
This is my mom's house. A month ago, her area had some major winds blow through. They were strong enough to blow roof shingles off. A week later it rained. According to my mom, it was raining harder inside her house than it was outside. That's how much water was coming in. As you can see from the photos, the damage was extensive. The insurance company so far has been wonderful to her, and they are taking care of everything. In the coming months (yes, you read that right- months), as the contractors work to put her house back together for her, she will be picking new flooring, paint colors, furniture, etc. I thought it might be interesting to document the process here on my blog. I should probably ask her first if that's okay- mom, is it okay if I blog about your house? Let me know :)
In the meantime, Happy New Year! Welcome 2012!
