in an octopus' garden...under a new shade

Remember the art work BSD made for the Big Ballerina out of the old fence pickets? Well...we promised the Little Ballerina that she would get one too. We didn't want the same design so we asked her what she wanted. Her reply...

"a lavender octopus on a green background"

Alrighty then. 

A lavender octopus on a green background you shall get.

BSD is the bomb!

And you'll also get a new hanging lamp for some shade. 

A lamp that I originally bought on a whim for the Big Ballerina's bedroom from one of those online flash sales. I think it was Joss and Main. But BB vetoed it. Luckily, LB is not as picky. And she is happy with the cozy space it creates.

What I couldn't stomach was that nightstand. Splattered with Barbie stickers that don't simply peel off. And Daddy's cell phone number written on the side. 

While I would have loved to replace the nightstand with something a little bigger to fit the space better. I decided to just grab a can of paint I recently used on another piece in the house. That just so happened to be a shade farther down the paint strip from her wall color. (oh...which for the record. I still don't like. But it's staying. For now.) And went ahead and gave it a fresh coat of paint and some new glass knobs.

So we ever so slowwwwllllyy continue to work on the ballerinas' bedrooms. And every other room inside and outside our house. It's a process. Our motivation ebbs and flows. As do the funds to make it happen. But half the excitement is discovering what we can create for next to nothing. As in the case of the octopus art. It cost us nothing.

PS - The octopus is painted with all paints we had already. The green background is the minty green paint (mixed with a darker green) that I had Larry first paint the kitchen with. That made me want to cry. hehe...I like that it now has a happy ending.

The Dinner Table Gets a Make Over

Like everyone else out there, we've been pummeled by some oppressive heat this summer. So bad that we actually didn't even want to go outdoors a few days. And since I've been a little lacking on the creative home front. And my word this year IS create. I picked up some fun fabrics and made some summery place mats and napkins to cheer up the place.

It's been so nice to actually sit down as a family and eat a meal together. I swear this rarely happens during the school year. So we've been working on making the occasion a little more special.

With fresh cut flowers. From my neighbor's yard. shhh....

The new place mats and napkins.

And some food. That we actually cooked. On the stove.

Oh...and I know there's not a clear photo of the glasses. But these little glasses with the stars on them? Probably my all-time favorite Good Will score ever! They came in a set of 16. YES....SIXTEEN! When does Good Will have a set of SIXTEEN super cool glasses?!?! All for $4.25?! I had just returned some little vino glasses to Pottery Barn that cost more than that for one. And they weren't anywhere near as cool!

There's room at the table. Come on over and have dinner with us.

Paper or Cloth?

If you know me at all. You know that I am cheap thrifty. Sale signs make my heart beat faster. And I get a high when I bag a bargain. It's in my genes. Definitely passed down from my mom.

I also hate to spend money on things like deodorant and paper towels. Consumables are the anti-bargain. Total buzz kills.

So about a year ago, while BSD was away on one of his trips, I decided to switch to cloth napkins. I found some clearance (wheee!) fabric at Joann's and whipped up a set. I bought a vintage-looking wire basket from TJ Maxx (where else?). Put the napkins inside. Set it on the windowsill next to the table. And gave them a test drive.

The ballerinas were hesitant at first. Not wanting to get them dirty. But about two weeks later their default to the paper napkin drawer dissipated. And they were taking the few extra steps to the basket when they needed to wipe their mouths. Victory!

There were also no complaints when I packed cloth napkins in their lunch boxes. Even if the pattern I made them out of was a bit juvenile. It was the only way I was going to get away with using that adorable fabric.

I decided to take it one step further. And picked up some cute cloth dish cloths at Walmart.

These came in a pack of eight. Two each of green, red, blue, and yellow stripes. Only about $5 for the pack. And into the trash went the old, stinky consumable sponges.

Phase three was replacing the paper towels. This was the hardest hurdle. Paper towels and me. We go way back. Smear a dab of jelly on the counter? Grab a paper towel. Time to give the counter tops the once over? Grab 10 paper towels. Spill a glass of water on the floor? Throw down the whole roll.

Every time I reached for a paper towel, I had to wrestle my hand back off the roll. I was an addict. The withdrawal process was long and painful. But almost a year later. And I am still using the same 12 roll pack I had before the switch. And if weren't for BSD. Who uses two paper towels to dry an apple. I would probably still be using the same single roll.

It feels good to be using less. Helps with my crunchy-granola, chicken farmer image too. I'm trying to get BSD to hook me up with clothesline next. But I draw the line at reusable toilet paper. And the whole GladRags and Lunapanties idea. That's a whole other league.

So...what about you? Paper or cloth in your household?

goldilocks and her new shorts...this pair is just right.

It's no secret. It's actually pretty much the norm these days. But now that the Big Ballerina is getting close to moving out of kids' size clothing, it is becoming hit or miss. And it's always a miss. When you find a great deal. On a cute pair of shorts. That aren't too childish. Or worse yet. Trampy.

You know what I'm talking about. The adjustable waistband. That little strip of elastic sewn into the waistband that allows your kid to wear pants. Or shorts in this case. That are actually long enough.

That little piece of elastic is the first thing I check for. If it's missing, I pass it by. Until I happened upon this pair.

Not too childish. Not too short. Not too blingy. No rhinestones. No peace signs. No tie-dye. Just a nice soft, basic white denim. And less than $10. Perfect. Except for one thing.

No adjustable waistband. *crap*

I bought them anyway. Maybe. Just maybe. They would fit my 12 year old ruler. Yeah right. As always, they fell to the floor. But this time, instead of returning them, I decided to fight back.

I found this tutorial that taught me the secret. BUTTON HOLE ELASTIC! Who knew?

I hopped in my car. Made a quick trip to Joann's. Picked up a small package of this magic elastic. Unfortunately, they only had black, but nobody sees inside anyway. Raced back home. And went to town following this tutorial.

Twenty minutes later I was done. Not because I'm a great seamstress. As you can see from this photo. But because this is EASY people! Do NOT be afraid. Seriously. It's EASY!

But the Big Ballerina thinks I'm pretty darn impressive. "Hey Mom, you can take over for Miss Shonda as Wardrobe Mistress (at her ballet studio) when Brianna graduates now."

"ummm...not quite, BB. But at least I don't have to look at you digging your size 6X shorts out of your butt anymore. Here, have a sammich."

Shorts - Paper, Denim & Cloth reg. $38 

$9.99 at Marshall's

Now if I can just figure out how to make bikinis for skinny tweens that actually fit, THEN I'd finally make my fortune.

Before and After: The Little Ballerina's Book Shelf

It's still project central over here. Just downshifted into slow gear while BSD is away. But there is one project that is basically complete that I can't wait to share. So here goes.

One of the goals of our redecorating is to gain some sort of organization. As I've said a million times. I am not an organized person. Put that together with a young ballerina who loves to play with all-things-small-parts and you get one big-fat-mess. That mommy has to either clean up. Or shut the door so she can't see it.

Finally fed up with this chore, BSD and I decided both ballerinas needed a desk in their rooms. We were all set, thanks to a dear friend who took the ballerinas for the night, to drive four hours each way to IKEA to get each girl a desk. At the very last minute, BSD said, "I don't think a desk is the answer."

*crap*

So...we scrapped our overnight trip to DC and made it a local date night instead. Stopping off at a local furniture store along the way. Where I spotted this fun shelving piece.

I love this piece. But I have no space nor place for it. I just tucked it away in my head as FUN! And $2,000. And off we went to dinner.


Weeks passed. I cleaned up many toyswithmanyparts. Many times. Until BSD, pumped up by his recent hallway project success,  finally told me, "Find some baskets. And I'll build a storage unit for LB."


That was the plan. Until one day I stopped by my favorite Habitat for Humanity store. And I stopped short. In front of this.

Are you with me? Do you see where this is going?


If not, that's OK. BSD didn't either. He thought I was just dragging home another piece of junk to clutter up his precious garage.


Not this time. This time I had a clear vision. I was motivated. I got right to work. But still wound up needing BSD to bail me out on the finishing paint layers. Because I am a lousy painter. I don't know WHY I can't paint well. But I can't. And BSD thinks I am ridiculous for being paint-impaired.


ANYWAY...


That doo-doo brown, faux wood grain piece of ugliness became this oh-so-fun, Steven Shell inspired storage shelf for the Little Ballerina.

And the best part was all I had to buy was a second matching tote on the bottom right. Luckily Target still carries that pattern because these fit perfectly. And now house her American Girl doll clothes in one. And her Barbies in the other. The upper purple tote holds all her Barbie clothes. Although it's a bit overflowing.


And the VERY best part??! LB helped me organize it like this over a month ago. And I pinky swear that I did NOT clean it up before taking this picture today. She is keeping it clean HERSELF! *snoopy dance*

I still need to finish hanging the art on the wall above it. But I can't seem to locate the poster I bought over 3 years ago that I want to put there. hmmm...imagine that.


Oh, and I have to tell you about that drawing. I got it from my neighbor. It was a wedding gift from the artist to my friend's husband and his first wife (who sadly passed away). The artist now fetches a pretty penny for her works. Everyone in my family hates the picture. I love it. Before I hung it up in her room, LB told me, "That scares me." I thought perfect! It kind of looks like the person is in jail. Hopefully, it will scare her straight!

Oh Martha, you're so fine...

You're so fine. You blow my mind. Hey Martha. Hey Martha.

You may remember our little New Year's Eve party. Where we made resolutions. And posted them.

One of those resolution cards read "The person I want to be more like this year is..." I left this one blank for most of the night. And finally just scribbled down Martha Stewart. Not really giving it much thought.

Maybe it was because of that piece of paper that I picked up this magazine in January. Because any magazine with the word "organizing" in the title would normally send me running for the hills. I. am. not. an. organized. person.

But much to my surprise I found myself enjoying this magazine. And ultimately falling in love with this picture...

Since our entry way looked like this...

And because BSD is uber organized, (we've got that whole yin yang thing going on) it wasn't hard to get BSD on board with the project.

He quickly built the upper shelf. Using some cool old brackets I bought at an estate sale. But after that he started getting cold feet. The built-in bench was a little daunting to my new handyman's skill level. So we took the easy way out and bought a bench instead.

We lived with the space like this for a few weeks, but I could not get good ole Martha's bench out of my mind. Finally, after much begging, BSD agreed to give it a whirl. We had no instructions so we had to just wing it. And when we were done we ended up with this.

It probably took us ten times longer than someone with mad carpentry skills, but we got there. And I find myself wanting to hang out in this space now instead of shutting my eyes tight every time I walk in the front door.

My favorite parts? The red Euro license plate that was on my car when my parents picked it up for us at the factory. My dad's name is on the registration sticker on the back. And that little woven mail basket? A $1.25 Good Will score. *woot* I'm loving the ole G dubya lately.

Oh Martha, you're so fine. You're so fine. You blow my mind. Hey Martha. Hey Martha. 

Stay tuned. There's more Martha in the making over here.

Kerri...note the lack of window treatments on the side lights. ;)

Ten on Ten: April 2012

ahhh...Ten on Ten, my old friend. I'm sorry I haven't called in a few months. Things around here have been hectic. But in a good way. Lots of projects in progress. Lots of family time in action. Lots of good. And just a little ick that I work hard to shove way down deep. And cover with lots of dirt. Hoping that will be enough to make only good things emerge. If I ignore it for long enough.

It's Spring Break this week. We're sticking close to the old homestead. Enjoying the break from schedules. And homework. And carpools. It's a week of checking things off our To-Do list. But I keep adding new things to that list. And poor BSD is running on his hamster wheel as fast as he can trying to keep up. If we were independently wealthy there is no doubt that we would spend our days putzing around the house creating. When we get in the zone together, the hours fly by. And in the evening we are both tired and dirty. And content.

Yes. Life is good.

I'll be back soon with updates on our latest projects. Stay tuned. But in the meantime, check out what everyone else's Ten on Ten looked like here.

Old Wood, New Art, Happy Campers

I really should be working on my photo class project. But I don't want to go there. Too many missing pieces. And only two weeks of class left. Gives me a pit in my stomach. Need a photo of the Big Ballerina but the girl is never home when the sun is up. And trying to shoot without any source of natural light is worthless. 


Case in point.

Ack. 

So instead I'll share our latest house project. The painting is all done. Larry has moved out. The new bedroom carpet is installed. And most everything is back in place. There is still a long list of things I want to make happen. But it all takes time. And money. So we progress at a snail's pace.

The Big Ballerina's bedroom really needed something on the walls. Something fun. Something large. Something beachy. Nothing I found in the stores appealed to me. And if it did. The price tag sent me running.

Luckily, BSD still has some free time. And some power tools. And some of those old pickets we used this summer to make our fish sticks with.

And earlier this week he turned a few of the pickets into a new piece of art for BB's bedroom.

I love it! BSD loves it. BB loves it. And most importantly, sock monkey loves it too. Oh, and the best part? The whole project cost about $10 for paint and hanging hardware.


Now I'm dreaming of some trim around the window. A cute rug next to the bed. And a fun chandelier to hang in the corner over her nightstand. BSD's not on board with the chandelier idea just yet. What do you think?

Seeing the Light...

Living at the beach has its perks. What it doesn't have is good shopping. There is no IKEA. No Anthropologie. No Container Store. And I just discovered this week that Restoration Hardware packed up its fancy new showroom and beat feet too. All I'm left with is a lone Pottery Barn. And a Target.

Poor pitiful me.

But there is one shop in town that makes my heart go pitter patter. The Shades of Light store where we bought our new kitchen light fixture when the old one fried itself a few weeks ago. It's a place I need to add to my regular shopping rounds. Because not only have I wanted to replace all the light fixtures that came with our house when we moved in. But because they have little unadvertised goodies like this stashed away among their $5000 rare mineral chandeliers.

Can you see that little green price tag? Here's a better view.

Yup. That's right. It reads..."Was $189. Now $19.00." The bargain angels were really looking down on us that day because we needed two pendants. And there were only two left.

So now after BSD climbed up on our dining room chairs.

We've gone from contemporary boobie.

To beach casual.

Now that the new fixtures are up BSD is finally seeing the light. And he agrees that changing out the light fixtures and the ceiling fans makes a big difference. Be still my beating heart. Back to Shades of Light I go.

•••

We've also made big changes to the front entry space as you walk in the door. I will post about those soon.

tickled (not) pink...

Just a sneak peek at the Big Ballerina's bedroom. It's all painted out. I even channeled my inner Martha this weekend. And sewed a duvet cover for her bed. 

I haven't done that in years. But I got tired of trying to find "the perfect one" in stores and online. So I went back to Macy's where I bought her sheets. Grabbed a set of Martha's sheets in the perfect blue.

On clearance. With an extra 30% off. *woot*

Took the flat sheets from both sets. Cut them to size. Finished the bottom edges. And sewed them together. (Leaving an opening at the bottom, of course.)

An hour and $15 later. Her bed was made. And LB was asking me to do the same for her room.

I decided to use different sheets for each side of the cover so she'd have options. And so she could actually make her bed herself. Just pull the duvet up. Fold over the top. Done. Instant coordinated look.

There are still a bunch of changes to make in her room. But tonight she actually chose to go up to her room to read.

And LB couldn't resist ambushing her.

Pasta Angel Ornaments (aka...a crappy gift to give your friends)....

MERDE! That's what the ballerinas are supposed to say to each other for luck before a performance. Have you ever heard that word? I have. Plenty of times growing up. As the daughter of a French-speaking mother, that's what she always muttered under her breath when I'd walk back through the door telling her I just missed the bus.

So imagine the looks on our faces when my mom and I sat down in the theater for the Big Ballerina's first "real show" and saw the word printed in the Playbill. We were convinced these people were clueless. Why on earth would graceful ballerinas tell each other to take a crap?!?

Well...six years later, we have finally been told the story behind the strange expression. Here you go...

Never say “break a leg” for good luck to a dancer. It is always “merde”. For you French aficionados, it really does mean “poop.” The origin of “merde” has a colorful history. In the early days of ballet, companies would use live animals in their performances. When one of the animals would have an accident on stage, one would yell “merde” from the side stage to let the dancers know to watch out so they wouldn’t slip. No injury or slippage, good luck for the dancer! Additionally, those attending public ballets or theatre performances would arrive in horse coaches. When an event was successful, the carriages would have a traffic jam with horses waiting and, in turn, creating by-product. Obviously, the quantity of the by-product was proportional to the carriages that had visited the theatre, and was an indirect measure of the economic success of the evening. It was then related to “merde” meaning have a good theatre performance.

Along with the expression, the ballerinas exchange "Merde" gifts for luck. This year BB is dancing as a Big Angel and a China Ribbon dancer in the Nutcracker. To represent her part, BB made macaroni angels to give out as gifts.

I have been making these macaroni angels for over 15 years whenever I need a small gift for a large number of people. Or if we need a fundraiser around Christmas time. They are easy and cheap to make. And, um....adorable! And now that the ballerinas are both proficient with a glue gun, I was able to turn them loose with the supplies as I sat eating a box of candy cane Joe-Joe's. With milk. Yes, I've learned a little something about the benefits of child labor from reading Oliver Twist along with BB this semester. 

And after 15 years, I discovered an easier way of making these that I will share here with you in case you need a "crappy" gift of your own to pass along this holiday season. Instead of spray painting the pasta, get a couple of bottles of the small white acrylic paint at Michael's. Pour about 1/3 of the bottle into a cup. Add a little water to thin it out a bit.

Then just roll your pasta pieces around in the cup with a paint brush until they are covered. And stand them up to dry.

It's basically a paint and glue project. Easy peasy. Here's what you'll need:

bow tie pasta (wings)
rigatoni pasta (body)
elbow macaroni (arms...duh!)
wooden balls (heads) (they come in a pkg of about 30 at Michael's. I think they're about 3/4")
Spanish moss (hair)
small spool of very thin gauge wire (halos)
spools of thin ribbon (hangers)
white Folk Art type acrylic paint
black Sharpie (for drawing face)
blush (for giving them those glowing angelic cheeks)
hot glue gun
hot glue sticks

MERDE!