Canvas photos

My office recently moved to a new location, so I have been on the lookout for some decorations for my new office (actually, it’s a cube).  I knew I wanted to find a cute way to display pictures of Meg and the dogs, but didn’t want to use boring photo frames. 

Meg and I went to Michael’s for some supplies to create canvas prints.  I had originally planned on doing 5x7 prints, but found some 6x6 canvases and fell in love with them.  With a little scrapbook paper, mod podge and pictures, I was able to create some great canvas prints. 

***three canvases***

***one layer of mod podge***

***mod podge – matte***

***scrapbook paper and photo applied***

***mod podge starting to dry***

***the final product***

I love how the canvases turned out and think I will make some for the house.  Meme already asked me to create one for her with pictures of Megan and Luke. 

School Project

Megan had to decorate a feather for a school project this month.  One afternoon after school, we sat down at the table and gathered her supplies.  She chose to paint the feather brown first and then added some embellishments. 

Peace shirt & Zebra towel

Great Pumpkin Event at Michaels

Saturday after skating and the pumpkin patch, Meg, Lauren, Laura and I headed to Michael’s for the Great Pumpkin Event. 

Meg picked out the perfect pumpkin to paint and decorate as a purple bat.

 

She and Lauren got started painting their pumpkins purple. 

After they painted their pumpkins, they had to cut out the bat wings and ears from purple foam. 

After everything was put on their pumpkins, we headed to lunch at Chili’s. 

***Meg, me, Laura and Lauren with the girls pumpkins***

Feeling crafty

I bought this cute green dress, but felt it just needed something. 

A scrap of material, a template, a little heat n bond lite and some stiching….and here is the finished product.  I can’t wait to wear it :) 

 

Making Valentines & school V-day party

 

 

Megan picked out Puppy & Kitten Valentine’s Day cards for her classmates this year.  She was so excited about them because they had tattoos that came with them. 

She told me that all of her classmates would love them because they were for boys & girls.  Meg makes me so happy when she thinks about the “group” as a whole.  Meg has a heart of gold and always thinks about other people. 

She has grown up so much this year.  Once a child who could be selfish and bratty, she is now a very selfless child. 

 

Meg and I sat down one afternoon after school so she could start working on her Valentine’s Day cards.  As she was signing all of them, she decided to also add a heart.  So sweet

 

 

 

Because of the snow day, Meg’s school party was postponed to Tuesday after Valentine’s Day.  Megan was so worried that there wasn’t going to be a party.  After I told her it would just be rescheduled, she seemed ok with it.  The postponement of the party actually worked to our advantage since Meg was sick on Friday.  She would have had to miss the party if it weren’t for the snow day.  Funny how things work out sometimes. 

The school party was a huge success.  All the children had a great time giving out their Valentine’s day cards to all of their classmates.  I’m so thankful that I’m the room mom.  I love to watch Meg interact with her classmates.  She’s as goofy as ever, but doing really well in school.   

I decided to take her home with me after the party.  The only thing she would miss was free choice time, so I didn’t see the harm.  Plus, she couldn’t WAIT to get home to look thru all of her Valentine’s that she received from her classmates. 

 

 

Decor for the guest room

The guest room is coming together rather quickly.  Friday, I did some shopping for lamps and went out looking for some wall decor.  I was able to find a floor lamp and table lamp at Lowe’s.  I’m not excited about the shades, but love how the lamps look with the bed.  Now, I just have to find new shades. 

I couldn’t find any “art” that I liked, so I headed up to Michael’s and found some scrapbook paper and frames that I liked.  With a little help from Megan and my cricut machine, I was able to put together a few pieces of “art”.  I’m super excited with how it turned out. 

***Live, Laugh, Love***

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***on the wall***

We are loving the weather!

Last week we had some beautiful weather (if you subtract Wednesday night/Thursday, it was the perfect week). Wednesday afternoon, after I picked Megan up from school, I decided that it was too beautiful of a day to stay inside, so we grabbed the chalk and started coloring.

Life is too short for me to miss these moments. I know I should have probably been working, but I guess being able to spend an afternoon in the driveway with my beautiful, creative, energetic daughter is one of the many perks of working from home. (Believe me, there is also a downside).

I grabbed my camera and headed outside to capture the joys of being five. I drew hopscotch on the driveway and Meg hopped her way back and forth. I was amazed at how good she has gotten - she told me they play hopscotch at school.

***jump Meg, jump***

After a quick game of hopscotch, Meg decided she wanted to color again. I couldn't resist snapping a few pictures of her...her wild hair, her clothes and self covered in chalk. Priceless.

***wild hair***

***coloring a girl with wild hair***

***adding the eyes***

***smile beautiful***

Gingerbread house decorating

I don't want to forget this...better late than never :)

The Friday before Easter, Meg and I decorated a ginger bread house. Meg was so excited. Watching her anticipation as I opened the package with all of the wonderful goodies was adorable. With everything I pulled out, she would inquisitively ask me "what's that?" or "can I eat a piece of candy?" or "can I use the blue?".

To my surprise, she waited patiently while I read the instructions (this was my first time). She also decided to "read" the icing packaging as well. She was concentrating so hard, that I had to break away from the instruction reading to snap a few pics of her studying the icing package.
We started with seven pieces of "house" and slowly started the assembly. We put down the base (or floor as Meg would call it), then started with two pieces. Meg was a great helper. She grabbed the front and one of the sides and we went to work. I would put the icing on the base and she would squish the sides down. It took a while for her to figure it out, but I wanted her to do it by herself.


After only a few minutes, we had a house (complete with roof). Now the fun began. Meg went for the yellow icing first and went straight to decorating the roof. At first, she kept asking to see the picture from the packaging, but then decided her way was better. She started with the "point" of the roof and filled in the small gap.

Then, we were onto the "shingles". The first few minutes as she was squeezing the icing out, it was all going up instead of down. After being a little frustrated by this, she asked for help and I showed her that she needed to squeeze from the top of the lump, not directly in the middle. Problem solved!!!

After the "shingles" were in place, it was onto accessorizing. Meg was very particular about where I should put the icing for her duck candy. After all the dots were to her liking, she carefully placed each duck.

Next we moved onto accessorizing the roof. What roof isn't complete without jelly beans, candy ducks and candy bunnies.

I just couldn't resist posting this picture. She is growing up so fast. I can hardly believe what a sweet "big girl" she is turning into!

A few bunnies on the side and some blue icing....oh, wait - she didn't want that there. So, in come the fingers to get the blue icing off. You can imagine where this is going...

If you guessed into her mouth, you guessed right. The funny thing about this is that Megan doesn't like icing. When we are eating b-day cake or cup cakes (anything with icing, including glazed donuts) I am asked to scrape the icing off. So, I was surprised when she asked (after licking her fingers) if she could pour some into her mouth.

After eating some more blue icing, she decided to go back to finishing the roof.

Isn't this sweet? Meg's first gingerbread house.

On a side note, no one ate the ginger bread house. It met it's demise last night when I was cleaning out the fridge/pantry for the Tuesday trash run. Even if someone would have wanted some, I would have had to disclose to them that Meg may or may not have licked her fingers, then placed a few ducks and bunnies.