Rebekah's New Pink Room

It has taken quite a while but my daughter's room is now pretty and pink. The upper part and ceiling are Pink Bean and the main walls are Pinto Bean both Sico colours. 

For now a few pics from my phone will have to do.  There is still some organizing to do and the closet to paint. It's good to have her out of the guest room though and back happily in her own room. 

I replaced the large pink cabinet with a much needed workspace. The desk is an old plywood one that was given to us a while back. I gave it a fresh coat of paint and made a shelf using another piece of plywood. I painted the shelf and secured mason jar lids to the underside ends. I took our shell collection and placed them in the jars. With the jars in place I then added decorative craft tape around the edges. A perfect spot for all those Warrior books she loves so much.  Above I hung a magnet board that we livened up with a few stickers.

Removing the large cabinet meant loosing storage space. To make up for this I repurposed some old drawers by attaching wheels to the bottom and adding a new coat of paint. One of the drawers didn't have a handle space so a decorative knob was added.

It has been a lot of work but well worth it.  I wasn't sure of the light pink at first, thinking it was to bright and babyish but it looks great.  I'm very happy with it and Rebekah loves it so it's a job well done. I will post more detailed pictures once the closet is done. 

For now I have a renewed passion for old books. I made the mobile above the bed and have been interested ever since. The creative wheels are turning, watch out!

Update

Just a quick update to say that I haven't forgotten about this blogging thing. I think about things to write all the time but don't actually write them. . . hmmm . . . I'll have to try harder.

So know I haven't finished my projects but I have been working on them. I've been a little sidetracked by cooking meals for my family. Not that I haven't done this before but I'm trying to be more mindful of the things I make and try to make them from scratch. I'm happy to report that the number of boxes of processed food in the pantry is shrinking. Yay!

So I took a few cookbooks out of the local library to help with this. One that has caught my interest is Quinoa Cuisine by Jessica Harlan & Kelley Sparwasser.

This book has opened my eyes to things like quinoa flour and flakes. I had no idea! So I checked out my local grocery store and there it is quinoa flour, just sitting on the self! Of course I bought some to try it out.

I love baking . . . because I love deserts. How else does one develop a fondness for sugar? So of course the first thing I decide to make from the cookbook is the Maple Cake on page 163. It has a bit of a nutty flavour but as long as you don't talk about it, the kids love it!

When I make this again I'm going to try using my bunt pan as the centre of this cake sank a bit after I touched it to see if it was done. Not an issue though as it still tastes good. It's a very moist cake and we liked it when it was still warm even though the recipe says to wait until it is completely cooled. I see no harm in having it warm with some vanilla ice cream. Yummy!

Also, I've been distracted by a parcel that arrived yesterday. It's some lovely yarn from a local alpaca farm, Prairie Wind Alpacas. I've been searching patterns trying to decide what to make from these lovely yarns. I just got a few balls to try it out so I'm thinking hat, mittens, cowl, something small. I'll let you know how it turns out.

Projects

Have you ever misplaced something? You know that you had it not long ago but can't seem to find it no matter how hard or how many places you look?

This was me. Our family has a vacation booked for the end of February that will require us all to have our passports. Yesterday was the girls first day back to school so I thought it was a good time to look for my passport. I hadn't seen it for a while but I knew it couldn't be too far. Although in the back of my mind over the holidays I had wondered where it had gotten off to.

So I tried all the usual places that I put things, all the places that I had seen it before, even started to look to my husband's things thinking that maybe I had given it to him. I didn't know where his passport was either so thought that maybe they were hanging out together. No such luck. I looked through everything but eventually had to turn my attention to making dinner. It wasn't until after dinner when I was doing the dishes that I remembered my earlier anxiety. I told the family that the vacation might not happen if I couldn't find the passports. My husband did a quick look while I cleaned up the kitchen. No passports but he said not to worry, 'they'll turn up."

Feeling good about having made a good meal for the family and a good cleaning of the kitchen, I decided to start again to look for the passports (I'm looking for my husbands now as well). I started back in the office and what do you know, found them both all cozy in a drawer. Sure they were hidden under lots of junk but they were there. Oh so happy!

So today I'm having a hard time getting started on my projects. I should have lots of energy giving the relief of finding the passports but alias, that's not the case.  I think part of the problem is that I have too many things that need to get done. So I'm going to focus on one (or two) things at a time. Take things slow and report on my progress here.

So first up is my daughter's bedroom. This room is in need of a new paint job and a bit of decorating. My daughter wanted a purple room but we have had a hard time of it trying to find the perfect colour. Before the holidays I suggested that she have a pink room instead. I even bought a litre and tried it on the wall. She didn't like it at first but has come around to the pink.

This is the room that is to become pink.

Next up is to make a laptop case from an old wool sweater. I received a new laptop for Christmas (well my first one) and it needs a protective case.  I've had the idea for a while but just need to get off my butt and do it.

I will report back with any progress.

Another Year Over

Wow, I really suck at blogging! The year is over and I haven't done anything. Well as far as blogging goes, I haven't done anything. As far as being busy, I've done plenty!

When I first started this blog it was something of a fallback plan in case we might end up moving sometime in the future. Well, sometime in the future ended up being now. Although I made a few things, taking pictures of them and writing about it took a back seat to buying a car, finishing renovations on our house, selling said house, buying a new house, training someone to take over my job, spending four weeks working at a family camp and then trying to settle in to a new house, new town and new province. It's been a whirl wind to say the least.

So now we are somewhat settled in Saskatchewan. Our girls are making friends and doing well at school.  My husband has settled into his new job and is liking it. The boxes are mostly unpacked and the house is sort of organized and decorated. So now what? I've promised my girls that I would be home for them whenever they need me, as moving is tough on all of us. So that being said, there is to be no work for me outside the house. At least for the short term.

So, I'm going to take another stab at this blogging thing. Instead of focusing on making things, I will let you know what I'm up too. So far I have done many painting projects around the house and have many more planned. The gardens here are in need of much love. I did what I could in the fall but come spring there will be lots to do outside. We live close to a National Park that I plan to spend more time in for both fun and exercise. Speaking of exercise, I will be trying to do more of this because the stress of moving has caused me to go crazy eating. Yes I have gained a few extra pounds over the last six months or so that will take some effort to get rid of (this should be interesting). There is always something happening in our house. Most of it good!

Please join me on this new adventure. 

The Year Ahead

I have been quite busy the last two years, too busy per say to do much in the way of creative pursuits. So I am declaring 2013 to be the year I make more time for creative endeavours. I am hoping that keeping track of what I am up to with this blog will keep me on the right track.

I have recently been interested in publishing my own pattern. I have had two ideas floating around my head this past month in regards to this. I spent the day yesterday going through my yarn stash and trying to come up with something cute that I wouldn't mind making a bunch of to get it right (and using up all those bits of left over yarn would be a bonus!). So I've come up with a cute little owl.

The first attempt didn't come out quite right but I didn't give up.

After stuffing him and putting his face on this morning I'm quite happy with him.

For now I'm calling him Hootie and hope to make some more over the next month or so. This will help me perfect the pattern which I hope to share.

Please be patient as I try to figure out this blogging thing. It has taken me way to long to try to get these pics uploaded. It's going to take a while for me to figure this out.