Holding the World in a Paper Cup

Showing posts with label children. Show all posts

Tuesday, January 31, 2012

Details in a Fun Space: Floor Lamp

Hi!

I would love to tell you guys about the floor lamp in Charley's room.

It began life a hat rack. Mom and Craig passed it onto us during our last visit.

There were a couple of broken hooks, but the structure was solid. At the time, we really needed coat storage but no matter where I set it up, it was in the way. After a couple of months, I decided it was time to move on. I couldn't make a coat rack out of a coat rack! How absurd!
I thought about what I really, really had a need for in the house.
And then it came to me.
Lighting for bedtime stories.

I didn't have a shade, but knew I would need something large so that the lamp would appear balanced. I went ahead and shifted things around a little so that the light bulb wouldn't hang beneath the shade.
That'd be embarrassing. (for the bulb)

After I removed the hooks and secured the support piece in the proper place,
I drilled a hole for the socket post.

Then I did something sinful.

I painted an antique, oak, coat rack HOT pink.

Then in not so sinful move, I wired it up.

While Ma and Sister were here visiting a thrift store, they spotted the perfect lamp shade!

So overscale. So Alice and Wonderland.

I just can't get it over it. I love it.

While wiring a lamp sounds intimidating, it's really not difficult at all.

Have you ever wired a lamp? You could do it.

4 Comments

Monday, January 30, 2012

A Fun Space

I've finally finished a room!

Charley's room was the first. You know....'cause they grow up so fast.

So! For the next few days, I plan to show you the room as a whole (today) and then follow up with room details.

I'll show you how to work what ya got!

Charley's Room!

It's very cheerful in here.

The room color was inspired by a boat with one thick, yellow stripe on a white background. It seemed like a happy stripe. Normally I give Charley the room color say in her own room but, I was ready to venture away from pink and purple, and I know one day soon she'll grow tired of the girly, girl colors as well.

She was very pleased with the color choice.

There's enough shots of pink in the room to make her happy.

Her bed has been a challenge.

Initially, I had it banked under the window with narrow walkways on both sides of the bed. But when we received the white, iron bed from my generous Aunt JoAnn, I was disappointed to find that the footboard blocked the closet door from opening. Turning the bed so that it rests against the wall lengthwise, creates a cozy cocoon-like space. Sure, the bed is really hard to makeup this way, but hey! Who makes up their bed anyways? Oh, you do? Well.

Lots of floor space to play. And that's what kids really want....

Room to play. Room to RUN!

Tins from thrift stores make excellent treasure boxes.

We have several.

The way Charley set her little animals up is one of my favorite things about the room. Wonder where they are all going?

Aren't kid's rooms the best?

What color are yours?

9 Comments

Monday, July 18, 2011

Travel Fun

I've been very, very, busy so that Charley will stay very, very busy, during our trip.

First we have a 4 hour flight (layover included) and then several days later,

we'll be trucking it 11 hours plus, back to Alabama.

Now, Charley is no stranger to road trips. In fact she's already traveled from here to California! Three solid days in the backseat of a car with two kids wasn't what I'd call fun, but we made it through without any damaged relationships or injuries.

During the trip, I learned a couple of things.

#1 Charley refuses to sleep while on the road. At all.

#2 She needs more than a few DVD's to keep her occupied.

So this trip, I wanted to give Charley little surprises along the way. She's been such a trooper through all of our adventures. She deserves some treats.

I have arranged to surprise her every hour of travel, with a little happiness.

Most everything I purchased was found either at Dollar Tree or the 97 cent bin at Wal-mart.

In fact, since Charley is with me practically 24/7, she came along while I picked the things out!

I made her close her eyes in the Dollar Tree. She hung on to my skirt and trailed behind me while I searched for little goodies that would keep her busy. It was the only way. In my defense, I only rammed her into a rack ONCE and it only hurt a little. Poor little obedient thing.

Next up, I included something I can totally get into myself!

ROAD TRIP BINGO!

I have to give every bit of the credit for these babies to Oopsey Daisy.

I printed them right off her site! For free!

I had them laminated at Office Max and the bingo stampers came from the Dollar Tree.

This next activity will keep her busy and fill her belly.

The idea came from Kara's Creative Place.

Kara created the M&M guessing game, and I switched up the wording a little to incorporate Skittles in another game, since that is Charley's favorite candy.

Kara's Creative Place helped me out again with this sticker/picture idea.

She'll use the stickers and crayons to create different scenes on paper.

Now this idea stemmed from this plastic ladybug.

At first I didn't know how I'd turn the bug into an actual activity, but it was only a dollar and really cute, so I bought it anyway. Later, I decided to create a blank book so that Charley could write a story inspired from the bug! I am looking forward to seeing what she comes up with.

I wrapped them all up separately and on the back of each package, I made a note

of what was inside, so that I could choose the right prize for the right time.

Then I decided Charley might get all sneaky and try to use her brain to sound the words out,

so I put a sticker over each note. I can still access it, and she knows she's not allowed to peek.

So, we've got about 4 hours of flight time and 11 hours of drive time ahead of us, and.....

22 packages.

I know. I'm crazy.

CRAZY fun!

And also a little mentally imbalanced too.

11 Comments

Thursday, June 30, 2011

Mama Reworks It!: Chalkboard Lap Desk

Over the past year, I've been treating Banana Fana Bo Bana's little friends' birthdays like challenges. I am usually most creative when there is a need to fill. Living temporarily without a house of my own to organize and decorate, birthday gifts are a great creative outlet for me.

This present was for a girl, who was turning 5. Her mother is a former teacher, whom I know always makes learning fun for her kids.

I imagined them practicing numbers and letters on this chalkboard.

And the best part about it is, it's also a lap desk!

I bought an old frame and painted it yellow about 6 or 11 times.
I painted tempered hardboard with chalkboard paint that I mixed myself, and secured it in place with the preexisting frame backing.

Then, I took another piece of tempered hardboard and glued foam to the back, wrapped a piece of fabric around it, and stapled it in place. I used gorilla glue to secure the whole thing onto the back of the frame.

It was very well received.

Banana Fana Bo Bana helped a lot.

I let her use the electric staple gun and gorilla glue.

I'm teaching her early that it isn't about the money you spend.

It's truly the thought that counts.

Join us Saturdays at tatertotsandjello.com for the weekend wrap
up party!

9 Comments

Sunday, January 2, 2011

Birthday Gift Idea

We had to prepare for a birthday party recently. The invitation said "no gifts". Now, normally I would find it tactful to respect the "no gifts" request, but this party was in honor of a little girl that came to Chrysanthemum's party with a gift. I didn't feel right showing up empty handed. I told her mother so. Her mother said if it would make us feel better then we should just make something.

I thought that was a grand idea.

So we took our recipe for crayons (crayons and a candy mold) and made 6 of those suckers.

We stacked them up and tied a pretty ribbon around them.

But we didn't think that was enough. So we made a coloring book.

I took 6 or 8 sheets of basic white paper and folded them in half. Then I punched a hole in the fold on each end as far as the hole punch would reach, and bound it with a ribbon. I reminded Chrysanthemum that the pictures needed to be outlined drawings and she made the pages. She really enjoyed it too. It was sweet to see her putting so much effort into it.