Wednesday, January 27, 2010

Creating Space

For those of us who live in the city, sometimes finding space to DO things can be really challenging.

I have quilted for years, but haven't for ages because my stuff is stored underneath the stairs, and each time I create I have to unload and pack it back up so that it remains unattractive to small hands and out of the way. For Christmas this year, Jason and I decided to gift ourselves with a creative space that we could both use (together! at the same time!), a place where we could leave projects at the drop of a hat and just SHUT THE DOOR! Trying to reduce, reuse and recycle as much as we can, we opted to scavenging around the house and Craigslist, selling some things and donating others to make room. Of course, the sunny yellow paint we bought was new! But everything else, not so much... We decided to repurpose the spare bedroom (which still has a bed, visitors welcome!) into a sewing/painting room for my sewing/knitting stuff and Jason's easel.

From this catastrophe...



To this!



I've already sewed up a few fun projects, but that is another post entirely!

Another nasty area was the downstairs 'workbench'. When we remodelled our kitchen, we moved the existing cabinetry downstairs for storage space and an indoor base from which to do household fix-its. I also dreamt of having my tomato and pepper seedlings under a proper grow light, instead of the Duplo/Ikea-lamp setup that monopolized my kitchen counters last year. So a trip to Rona to buy a florescent fixture ($18!) and some 'Gro-lux' wide-spectrum tubes, plus a ridiculous cleanup effort took this...



To this! Seedlings have never had it so good!




The last area we really needed to tackle was the girls' shared bedroom. I am merciless when it comes to toys in our house - they belong in the bedroom. I think having a few really good toys rather than a mountain of crazy toys is perfect, and I'm thankful that we have an extended family that (mostly - you know who you are!) supports this belief. Having limited storage space makes this necessity, so when we get new toys, older unused toys often make it to the Sally Ann...

Regardless, there are toys. Plenty of toys. So I wanted to open up the mostly-unused closet in their room into a 'toy nook' by cutting up an old Ikea bookshelf and stuffing it in there. I don't have a very good before picture, but many of you know the mess that used to exist! Check out the dark, toy-covered corner of these pictures.




And voila! The girls love it!



We also tackled the big girl bed issue. Kids furniture is EXPENSIVE. Instead of buying two captain's beds for the girls (to the tune of $1500!) we decided to buy a used mate's bed for Carmen ($200, phew!), reuse the toddler bed for Keira and make use of some under-bed storage ($4, thanks Ikea!) for sweaters and bigger dresses. Their old white dresser made it down to the creative space, to hold art supplies, yarn, fabric, etc.





And now we have two silly monkeys, jumping on the bed!



And yes, they've BOTH fallen off and bumped their heads!

Friday, January 15, 2010

Baby's Got the Blues!

Well it's been a while, but I'm back and feeling a little blue...

Like, turquoise blue.

I'll start off with possibly the world's ugliest sweater, but thankfully not one created for human consumption! I was inspired by the lovely Bamboletta dolls my girls were given for their birthdays last year - GAWD, but they are cute! They come with their own little clothes (and we even got more gifted to us, crafted by the lovely Tessa) as well as a handknit sweater. I'm making sweaters for the girls' birthdays in April and decided to copy the doll sweater pattern to make matching ones for the Bambolettas... but then I saw the sweater had actual seams in it and I HATE SEWING. So I made up a pattern - my very first pattern - knit in one piece from the neck down, sleeves in the round. Partially through Keira's doll sweater, I ran out of yarn. And so I perused the stash and emptied at least 5 bobbins of wool on this (ugly) beauty!



It really brings out the green in Penny's eyes, no? If you want the pattern I created, let me know...

I've also decided to become one of 'those people'... you know, the ones that you see walking down Main Street totally rocking some wild outfit and you just wish you had the guts to wear something so cool/weird and pull it off half as well? I'm stepping outside my fashion comfort zone and am starting to ACCESSORIZE, with the help of a few friends and Christmas gift cards! Crazy tights, scarves, baubles, pins, earrings... amazing how they can transform blah into FUN!!!





And lastly, my challenge to you, fellow bloggers and Facebookers... I recently found out my SIL is getting married this Spring (hurrah!) and was combing magazines for ideas on a new outfit for their afternoon/nighttime wedding. I've seen a lot of petite women in these cute little dresses, and was OH-SO-HAPPY to find this on sale at Aritzia where, behold - I had a gift card to spend! 10 minutes in the change room with two squirming children, and I emerged victorious! I don't know if I've ever owned a strapless dress... anyhew. Let the accessorizing begin!



Whaddya think? I can even eat a big dinner without having to suck it in! And POCKETS! Hello! (don't worry, I won't put anything in them)

I'm totally stuck on hosiery and shoes (please don't suggest bare legs for this skim-milk white, often-bruised mama). Would love to have color/metal suggestions for earrings and necklaces... bonus points if I can buy it at the Bay using another gift card I have stashed!

Help!

UPDATE:

Went to the Bay - found these brushed gold Nine West beauties on the clearance rack in a 5.5 (last pair!) for only $42! Then paired with this necklace (coincidentally Nine West as well) in brushed gold for $22, and some (not so shimmery) linen 'Shimmer' stockings. Hurrah for gift cards! Not sure about earrings... I've been further advised to keep it simple. Managed to leave my driver's license at the concierge counter though, when I borrowed the double (dreaded) 'fire engine stroller' to keep my kids happy! Gotta go back tomorrow!