Note tote

I made this note tote for a good friend's birthday today.

In fact, she is the original author of this blog!

Happy birthday, Tania.

:o)

I found a great tutorial at http://thecottagehome.blogspot.com/2011/06/fabric-portfolio-and-notepad-holder.html and thought I would give it a try, with a few of my own minor modifications...

The front cover, with a vintage button and elastic closure

The entire outside cover


The inside of the note tote -- lots of pockets to store bits of papers in, or business cards or coupons!

A close up of the left inside

All closed up again

With a pen and memo pad -- to write notes, shopping lists, whatever!

I had looked in one store this morning to find a good sized pad, but this plain one was the best I could come up with.

On the way to Tania's house, I stopped in at another store, and found the right size pad there... this note tote holds a 5 x 8 memo pad!

These would make great gifts for the ladies in your life -- use them for church, shopping, notes as you go!

If you are not a sewer, ask me to make one for you... I can make them smaller as well, to hold a 4 x 6 pad, or a 3 x 5. The choice is yours!

I plan on making some for Christmas for my kids to take to church for notes -- the boys will get manly material, of course. ;o)

So really, these totes are great for anyone!

Dino town

Look who I found in the backyard today...

I made him for a certain cutie who is turning three soon...

Hope 'B' loves him!

Aiden wanted it, so who knows -- maybe there will be another little dino around his birthday time!

:o)

Messenger bags for two...

Michael and Ryan are going to a double birthday party tomorrow, and I made these messenger bags for their two friends.

This one is for Jasper.
For those of you who are friends of Cloverdale Reporter on Facebook, he is also known as the comic strip kid.
This little black and white hero is Al Lando, the star of Jasper's latest series...



Levi loves owls, so I put one on his bag flap.

The boys can use these bags for anything -- a trip to the library, a spare change of clothes when they go somewhere, a place to put snacks and drinks while on a day trip, or a bag to store new found treasures in!

The sky is the limit -- hope they like them!!!

Big Room Reveal!

While Alyssa was away this week at her cousin's, I decided it was time to get her room redecorated!

We had planned it for a while, and Alyssa had even started to prime the bottom walls, but that was as far as we got when she left.

Here are some photos of her room before, mess and all:

Monday I painted the bottom half of the walls white, and started on the top half:

Bye bye blue!

What a beautiful grey!!!! The photos don't do it justice! I fell in love with it, but alas, it was only the primer.

Hello BLACK!!!!

More photos on that later....

I had also started on this little goody for Alyssa's room:

It was a freebie from someone I bought a bookshelf from!

I loved all the molding on it, and knew I could paint it and give it a new home...

All primed and painted:

I also put new handles on it, since it turned out to be cheaper (and quicker!) than buying spray paint for the old handles...

And since I was painting furniture anyways, why not paint the sleigh bed to match the rest of the room?

Primed and ready to go

As the paint dried, I began working on a bit of wall art I had in mind for the room.

I grabbed a large frame that I had sitting around, plus a bunch of little frames and a couple initials, and played around with them...

I nailed the frame to the wall...

and filled it with repainted and other goodies!

Alyssa can use the little frames to put her own photos in.

This is the new workstation -- a desk that fit perfectly into the space, with shelves for all Alyssa's little collectibles and a place for her bulletin board.

One day I hope to add a curtain to hide it all away...

Putting the room back together.... today!

Alyssa came home just before dinner.

This is a sneak peek at Alyssa's new quilt!

It is just the top, since I was busy in the room until 10 every night -- didn't leave much time for sewing!

How many kids can say they have a piano in their bedroom???

Sure beats a TV...

And does Alyssa like it?

The photo says it all...

:o)

The room is still not quite done, as it still needs baseboards, and a bit more artwork on the walls... I am thinking maybe a swirly decal or two?

Light Bright

I was given this night light lamp for Lauren, and I thought it was pretty cute.

The only problem was that it was a pale pink, a colour which she has none of in her room...

I was so eager to get this lamp in her room that I grabbed the first matching acrylic paint that I had in my cupboard, which happened to be this orange...

Not bad in itself, but it just didn't go with the rest of the decor in Lauren's room, so I considered it a fail. Bummer.

Today I was inspired to try and glue some twine all around the outside, so I scraped off the paint -- and it came off VERY easily -- another fail on my part! :oP

This is the original colour:

The pink is a nice colour, but definitely does not go with Lauren's room, so I got out the glue gun and my roll of twine and started gluing!

One year I will figure out how to use that silly gun without burning my fingers!!!

This was the finished product, and I quite liked it.

Lauren thought it was ugly. :oP

She said she didn't like the colour.

What am I to do?

I get out the paints again, and grabbed the fullest bottle of matching paint I could find, which happened to be a daffodil yellow.

I couldn't let it rest as is, so I decided to add a felt flower that also matches the material in Lauren's quilt, and this is how it ended up...

Now Lauren LOVES it and wants to keep it on all the time when she goes to bed!!!

Isn't that reason enough to give up the natural twine look for a kid's version?

:o)

Done!!!

It is finished!!!

I don't even remember when I started on this quilt, but I finally finished it off last night.

It was my first time making a quilt, and it was definitely a labour of love.

:o)

Lauren was so excited she wanted to wear it for the rest of the day!

Now all that is left is to change the paint colour on the walls... who knows how long that will take?
lol

Before and After of Madison's room FINALLY!

I can't believe Im FINALLY done Madison's room. I finished her quilt about a month ago but idea's of a complete transformation kept coming to my mind so I ended up painting her brass balls on her day bed brown, made 3 accent pillows, made new curtains and my mom had an old carpet that went perfectly. She has a magnet board that was white that was painted brown. She hasnt seen it yet shes out with my mom right now but she is just going to love it! Best part is the pillows were made out of extra material and free corduroy, the curtains are a twin flat sheet I just added the bottom to it. And the carpet was free. :) Im very happy with the outcome. Oh and the flowers on the wall is a craft Madison did all by herself. I picked the colors though without her knwing my idea ;0)

BEFORE ( she is always messy)

AFTER (im kinda giddy about it)