My Sunday Sparks {No. 40}

Happy Sunday everyone! I hope you are all enjoying your weekend! I have spent my weekend doing taxes.  They are due on Monday and I {of course!} have left them to the last minute.  I have also been dealing with computer issues as my computer officially died on Friday. It is currently off with a technician to see what they are able to recover off of it. Most of our pictures were backed up but there is a lot of other information that I would love to get back. All of my emails are also gone so I am really sorry if I did not get a chance to get back to you.  I really do LOVE your comments!

On the positive side of things, I have now set up my new computer that I got for Christmas.  Yes, Christmas!  I am not a big fan of changes {especially technical ones!} and have been putting this off for 4 months now.  Now I just have to figure it all out...

Okay, now on to some fun stuff!  There was another great week of link ups at The Creative Spark last week and I wanted to take some time to show you a few of the amazing ideas!

This gorgeous nursery from Cozy.Cottage.Cute almost makes me want to have another baby.  There are so many fabulous details you really need to check it out {even if you are done having babies!!}

These strawberry rhubarb pie cupcakes from A Cupcake Love Affair not only look delicious but are SO cute!

Diapered Knights created this lovely pallet potting table.  I love the varied stains on the top shelf - it adds so much character!

I love this kitchen makeover from Decorating Cents.  I usually go for the white kitchens but I am loving these dark cabinets against that backsplash!

A Lived in Home shared her beautiful living room design.  That carpet and all of the pretty pillows are fabulous {and the dog is pretty cute too!}

And since I am always a sucker for baker's twine, I thought I would end with this cute little gift idea from Give A Girl a Blog.  It would be fun to fill with candy too!

Oh, and here is one more Spark of my own - my two favorite guys.  They really are the best of friends {despite their fights!} and this photo just makes me melt...

{photo from maddiegray Photography}

Thank-you so much to all of you who took the time to share their projects and check out everyone's amazing creations.  If you were featured here or on my Facebook page, feel free to grab a featured button from my sidebar.  If you haven't had a chance to check out all of the links, head on over here. 

I also wanted to let you all know that I will be taking a small bloggy break. Don't worry... it won't be for too long!  Probably just a week or so.  I have a lot of projects around the house and at work that I really need to get caught up on and the only extra time that I can find is my blogging time.  Too many things on my To Do list just stress me out! :) 

I hope you all have a great week and please don't forget about me!  See you soon!

Teacher Appreciation Gift

Hey guys! Did you know teacher appreciation week is coming up May 7th to 11th? It's a great time to show your kids' teachers some love!

I came across this fabulous DVD coloring case from Handmade by Stacy Vaughn and thought that it would be a great idea for a little teacher gift.  

....... Teacher Gift Idea .......

And here's the inside:

If your kids are anything like mine, you will have a few empty DVD cases lying around from poor DVDs that have been scratched up beyond repair.  

The first thing you will need to do is cut away the raised circle that holds the DVD.  Place the DVD holder on a self healing mat and cut away the circle using an exacto knife.  Be careful!!  

Depending on your DVD case, you may need to leave a slight border on the outside edge of the circle. On my first attempt I cut the entire circle out and was left with a gap due to the little posts on the inside of the case.

So, after I cut out case number 2, it was time to make the pocket.  Cut out a cardboard piece that fits the inside of the case.  Take some material and cut out around the cardboard leaving approximately a 1 inch border.  Glue down with spray adhesive.  {I found it easiest to apply the spray adhesive to the cardboard rather than the material} 

 Fold in the edges just like you are wrapping a present and add a little more spray adhesive if needed.

For the pocket, cut another piece of material approximately 10 inches x 6 1/4 inches.  fold in half length wise to create your pocket {so you have a 5 x 6 1/4 inch fabric piece}  Attach again with spray adhesive.  {Sorry, I forgot to take a picture of this step}.  I then added another piece of paper over the back just to tidy things up a bit.  Attach the pocket card into your DVD case using spray adhesive.  Focus on the edges and around the circle.

I added a few pens and clips to the pocket and cut down some paper to fit on the other side.

And then I tucked in a little gift card.  I will be getting Matthew to write a note to his teacher to put on the front page as well.

Now close it up and have some fun decorating the cover.The paper and embellishments are all from Echo Park with the exception of the yellow paper on the bottom {from October Afternoon}.  I sprayed the back of the cardstock with the spray adhesive and stuck it underneath the plastic cover.  **Open up the case when you are sliding it in so the clear cover remains loose.**

If you are looking for other teacher appreciation gift ideas, here are a few other teacher gifts that could be easily adapted for teacher appreciation week.

"Thanks for Making Me Wiser" gift bag.

Teacher Treat Box

"100 Thank-Yous" Treat Jar.

Wishing you all a fabulous weekend!

I linked up with Sun Scholars, Oopsey Daisy, A Bowl Full of Lemons, My Uncommon Slice of Suburbia, Home Stories A to Z, Under the Table and Dreaming, Craft-O-Maniac, CRAFT, Simply Klassic Home, It's Overflowing and I Heart Naptime.

The Creative Spark {No. 40}

Welcome back to another week of The Creative Spark! This week has gone by so fast I almost forgot to post today! This has been one of those "really busy but don't get much done" days.  Anyone else have those or is it just me?  It is pouring rain right now so I have my fingers crossed that T-ball will be cancelled tonight and I can get a little bit more completed before going back to work tomorrow.

So now it is time to see what YOU have been up to!  I can't wait to see all of your creations! Feel free to link up anything that you have created - crafts, DIY, scrapbook projects, organization ideas, decorating, recipes - anything goes! 

Want to link up? 

• Link directly to your specific post {not the homepage}. 
• Please add The Creative Spark button to your post or blog {the code is in my sidebar}OR place a text link at the end of your post. I would love for you to help me spread the word! 
• Check out some of the other fabulous links. A few nice comments always inspires us to create more! 
• Follow along with Facebook to see if you have been featured throughout the week. I will also be back to showcase some of my favorite ideas for my Sunday Sparks.

Thanks so much to all of you for partying here!

My Disappointing Wall - Help Wanted!!

Happy Monday!!  I hope you all had a fabulous weekend!  Sadly, our Vancouver Canucks lost yesterday and are now out of the playoffs.  Boo!  We had such a fun time last year cheering them on to the finals and were hoping for a good run again this year.  Such a disappointment...

Speaking of disappointments, my last project in the master bedroom has turned out to be a major bust. Now, if you have been following along in this master bedroom makeover project that I have been working on, you know that the design plans have been constantly changing.   The one thing that I HAD to have was this paneled wall.

This wall is from the beautiful blog Mini Manor. Is it not fabulous? Really it was the whole motivating factor in getting going with our master bedroom makeover.  I couldn't wait to get it done!

We have quite a large master bedroom and the only lights that we had were {ugly} wall sconces mounted behind our bed.  

I wanted to get rid of the wall sconces, put a light in the center of the room and get some nice bedside lights that we can turn off from bed {yes, I am lazy and hate getting out of bed to go and turn off the light!}  We had a quote from an electrician and were all set to go.

And then the bad news.  The electrician discovered that they actually couldn't get the electrical boxes and wires out of the wall without tearing down the whole wall {this was definitely not in our budget}.  And, according to code, we were not allowed to cover up the boxes.  So in the end, we were left with two nice metal plates on our wall and no paneling.  **sigh**

So, after all of that, here is where things are at on my disappointing wall.

Starting on the positive, I LOVE the light fixture that I found.  10 stores later, hours of online searching and 3 light fixture trials later, I finally found one that I liked!  It was a bit of a pain to install {of course!} but I am smitten.

So back to that darn wall... I had to have something to put over the metal light covers.  I played around with some picture frames but ended up going with these candle sconces.  They are okay but really not what I wanted.  I moved the picture frame from the before picture to another wall and added the starburst above the center of the bed.

Now that it is done, I am still not totally loving the wall.  I don't like switching up plans so I am not sure if I really don't like the wall or if it is just because it wasn't the original plan.  I have thought about stenciling the wall using either this one from our master bathroom

or this one from my craft room.

Now the problem with stenciling is basically just the time involved.  Both of these rooms probably took me at least 8 hours to stencil and they are about half of the size of the bedroom wall.  Not really a project that I would look forward to but maybe I will suddenly get faster.  I am also very tired of painting and am a little nervous that I will stencil it and not like it.

The second option that I considered was doing a lower board and batten that would end just below the light boxes.  I would still need to cover the light boxes up with either the sconces or a frame of some sort though and just can't envision this looking too great.

The third option, obviously, is to just leave things be.  Maybe I will grow to love things a little more?  I sure would love to be done with that room!

What are your thoughts?   Any other ideas?  I'd sure love to know what you think!

Have a great week! 


I linked up to Oopsey Daisy, My Uncommon Slice of Suburbia, Under the Table and Dreaming, Craft-O-Maniac, CRAFT, Simply Klassic Home, It's Overflowing, I Heart Naptime, Whipperberry, At the Picket Fence, Crafty Scrappy Happy, The Shabby Creek Cottage, Somewhat Simple, Delightful Order, Reasons to Skip the Housework, Today's Creative Blog, Home Stories A to Z and A Bowl Full of Lemons.

My Sunday Sparks {No. 39}

Hello my friends! I hope you are all having a wonderful weekend! We took the big plunge yesterday and cleaned out our garage. Not pretty, let me tell you. Actually, it is still not pretty but it is now cleaned and organized! Now I have some space to paint!

It was another fun week of link ups at The Creative Spark last week.  Thanks to all of you who are able to take the time to come out and party with me!  There were lots of wonderful projects linked up but here are a few highlights...

I love these note holders from Papervine - so cute!  I need to go out and grab some of that paper!

You all know how much I love the Ikea Expedit units but the bins can really start to add to the price.  Rae Gun created these fabulous bins from cardboard boxes and material.  Great colors!

Our Pinteresting Family created this beautiful nursery for her daughter.  I love how it is still so sweet and girly without using the traditional "girl" colors.

I'm always a big fan of map art and Queen B Creative Me came up with the cutest wall hanging.  

And lastly, you really need to check out this rustic ice cream party from Life as a Thrifter.  So many gorgeous details!

If you haven't had a chance to check out the rest of the link ups you can find them here.  If you were featured here or on my Facebook page, please feel free to grab a featured button from my sidebar.  Thanks again to everyone who participated in the party and to those that were able to take some time to check out the  projects!  You are ALL fabulous! 

The sun is out here today and it is supposed to get up to 24 degrees this afternoon.   Looking forward to some time in the sun!  Have a wonderful Sunday!

My New Favorite Cleaning Tool

Happy Saturday!! I hope your weekend is off to a great start!  

{source}

We were supposed to be heading down to the tulip festival in La Conner today but I haven't been feeling too well and need to spend some time getting things organized around here.  Looks like it will be a morning of T-ball and skating lessons for us followed by a fun-filled afternoon of cleaning.  EXCITING!!!

 So since I am trying to get myself psyched up for some serious cleaning, I thought I would share my favorite cleaning product right now - these Norwex hand pads {the equivalent of the Mr. Clean magic erase pads} 

Last year, we purchased a glass top stove and I have been searching ever since for something that cleans it quickly and easily.  Although I have found a few things that work okay, they either require soaking time, some serious scrubbing, or leave a film that takes forever to remove.  

Now I have been using these hand pads on our walls for a while now to remove marks and whatever else happens to make it onto our walls.  Other than that, they have pretty much remained under the sink with the rest of the cleaning supplies.  BUT, last week, as I was trying to scrub some baked on, boiled over rice from the stove top, I decided to give one of my hand pads a try on the stove top.  I squirted on a little water, gave it a really quick scrub, and it came RIGHT off!!  

This was after about 10 seconds of cleaning.  Please excuse all of the scratches.  They are courtesy of our house sitter from when we were away in Hawaii.  They actually show up much more on the camera than they do in real life but still not good. :(

Anyways, I was pretty excited for the new discovery - the glass top has been so much easier to clean!  Has anyone else tried this?  I am assuming the Mr. Clean magic erase would be the same?

Now I also have to tell you the story of my new table runner.

Well, the table runner lasted about 10 minutes before Connor spilled an entire glass of milk on it {of course!} So into the washing machine it went.  The next day was my birthday and the boys got a little carried away with helping me blow out the candles {maybe there were a few too many candles on the cake??}.  Connor pulled a big candle out to lick it off and dumped the RED wax all over the runner.  Well I got the wax part off, but was left with a big, red stain.  I washed it and used every stain remover I had.  And I was still left with a big, red stain.

Since the glass top was so successful and I had no other options, I decided to try the hand pads on the cloth.  And the whole stain actually came out!  There was a very slight amount of color fading that also went with it, but it was MUCH better than the red alternative.

So there you have it!  Hopefully that wasn't too much excitement for you to handle.  Anyone else have any fabulous cleaning tricks to share?  I would love to hear them!

Hope your Saturday is a little more inspiring than mine!!

I linked up with Whipperberry, The Shabby Creek Cottage, Somewhat Simple, Delightful Order, Home Stories A to Z, A Bowl Full of Lemons, Under the Table and Dreaming, CRAFT, Simply Klassic Home and I Heart Naptime.

Our Reading Nook

Well, my friends, the reading nook is finally completed!!!  I was really supposed to start working on this area about a year ago but kept procrastinating {mostly because I just couldn't figure out what to do!}  Sometimes, there can be just too much inspiration out there and it kind of causes decorating paralysis.  Does anyone else experience this or is it just me?

So... I finally just decided that something was better than nothing and went for it!

I started with making some easy envelope pillow cases and then added some rain gutter bookshelves.

The bookshelves make it so much easier for the kids to pick out {AND put back!} their books.  I also really like the bins at the bottom for quick and easy clean up.   We have a lot of books so I plan on rotating the books from some of our other bookshelves into this space and have arranged all of our seasonal and themed books in sections.

I added the chalkboard vinyl {purchased from Superstore} to record our favorite books.  I also bought these photo frames from Superstore to hold some of the kids' drawings of books we have read.  The pictures load from the top so the frames don't need to be taking down every time we switch out the photos.

On the other side, I put up this magnetic board that we had lying around from Ikea and bought the little bin below it {also from Ikea} to hold Connor's magnetic letters for the Word Whammer.  It lost its home last year when we replaced our fridge with stainless steel and has been looking for a place to live ever since.  I seriously think that this has been one of the best educational toys that we have purchased. Both of the boys learned all of the letters and their sounds with this fun {but annoying toy!}  Connor is now using it to learn to spell {I'm not quite sure what FMB spells... I guess we have a little work to do}

The quilt was made by my sister-in-law when Connor was born and we have had lots of use out of it!

{Wasn't he a cute baby? I love this picture!!!}

I found the shelf with the quilt bar at Winners for $15 and knew it would be perfect for the space.  The letters are just paper mache covered with some scrapbooking paper.

So hopefully this little space will help to instill a love of reading for the boys.  It is also well used for Star Wars Jedi training.

So it may not look picture perfect, but it is done, functional, and the kids love it!  And I always love crossing something off my To Do list.

I think I might need to grab a book or two and curl up in here as well.

  If you would like to join in this week's link party, come on over and share your projects here.

Have a great day!

I linked up with Inspired by Charm, Oopsey Daisy, My Uncommon Slice of Suburbia, It's Overflowing, At the Picket Fence, Crafty Scrappy Happy, The Shabby Creek Cottage, Somewhat Simple, Delightful Order, Reasons to Skip the Housework, Today's Creative Blog, Home Stories A to Z, A Bowl Full of Lemons, Craft-O-Maniac, Under the Table and Dreaming, CRAFT, Simply Klassic Home, I Heart Naptime, Funky Junk Interiors, Lolly Jane, Whipperberry, Kitchen Fun With My 3 Sons, Tidy Mom, Chic on a Shoestring, Gluesticks and The 36th Avenue.