Where I've Been Lately...

Supper is in the oven, the girls are playing animal doctors in their room, so I thought I'd steal away for a minute to post some pictures of our new home. My husband and his brother are busy working on the finish trim. I've helped when I could by filling nail holes or taping windows in preparation for painting.

Top Picture: The doors into the den and a little peak of the front door.
Bottom Picture: The stairs. The wainscoting will be painted trim color (creamy white). The posts on the bottom will be wrapped in maple and stained. The railing is still to come! The other side of the stairs look the same, as well as some surrounding walls. The side of the stairs you see is the dining room. I'm still working on all the paint colors...

Time to get the Shepard's Pie out of the oven...have a good evening!

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Click here to download the cutest meal planner evah! If you didn't plan your meals out before...maybe this will motivate you to start!

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Decisions...

We are in the final months of building a house. My husband has done a great deal of the work. Pretty much everything after drywall has been done by my husband and his brother. They are doing a GREAT job. My husband built houses to support us through 7 years of college...so he does know what he is doing. Trim around windows and doors is getting finished up and then we will paint! The trim will be painted, and picking out just the right shade of white has been harder then I thought! I went to the paint store and picked up all their "whites" on one card so I could compare them all at once. I think I nailed it down...not stark white, but not too cream either. I'll take it over to the house before making the final decision. I am also figuring out wall colors...or should I say shades. I knew what colors I wanted everywhere, but finding the right shade has been the trick! The other thing that has been hard is the fact we have a very open 1st floor. So it all needs to flow...the fireplace stone, wall color, floor color and backsplash has all been taken into consideration. I also have some swatches from some furniture I have been looking at...plus a blanket that is my "color combo inspiration". The first floor conains a Great Room, Dining Room, Kitchen, Mudroom, Powder Room and Den. The Great Room, Dining, Kitchen and Mudroom will probably be painted the same color-Camelback from Sherwin Williams. The Powder Room will probably get the shade darker on the color card. The den will be red! I am going with warm tans, creams, chocolate (in the leather and wood) and red (mostly in my accents) throughout the main floor (oh...and some black accents). The picture above also has the backsplash that I am thinking about for the kitchen. Kitchen cabinets will be painted the white trim color. Countertops will be a sand/tan concrete (we're doing those overselves). Knobs and plumbing and lights are Oil Rubbed Bronze:

The top picture is the island lights and the bottom is the great room fan/light. I lucked out and got these on sale plus had a coupon code for 10% off...which was a blessing because they were the most expensive lights in my house, and I couldn't find any similar/that cost less. I look forward to sharing more pictures with you as the house gets closer to completion!

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The Coffee Table...

One of the hardest things about having kids...decorating wise...is the lack of cute coffee table decor. Gone are the candles and choking hazards...and replaced by....nothing...emptiness...nada. Until one day I had the realization that I could have coffee table "pretties"...they just needed to be kid friendly...really kid friendly! Oh and don't forget cute...always cute. That's when I replaced the traditional coffee table books with kids books. I change them out monthly and always try to have "seasonal" ones. So this month I dug out our Leprachaun books. Another item on the coffee table this month is this memory/matching game I made.


I found the Irish themed memory game at the Toy Makers site. I printed out 2 copies of the game. I used some green gingham paper and some wood rectangles from the craft shop. Modge Podged it all together to make this cute memory game. My girls love memory games...and since it's only put out for less than one month a year, they don't get bored with it. All that's left is to find a pretty box or tin to put the pieces in.

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Spring Is In The Air...

I'm a list maker...usually...it helps me free up valuable brain space. Sometimes there is so much to remember I think my head is going to spin right off of my neck...but if I can write it down, I don't have to worry about remembering! And a pretty piece of paper to write that list on... pretty and useful...it couldn't get much better...oh but it can...add free to the list!

Click here for the free download of the Spring Is In The Air list!

now I'm off to make a list of the lists I need to make! :)

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Daisy Scout Journal and Pen

I am the leader for my oldest daughters Daisy Scout Troop. This is the project I have planned for this months meeting. It's a daisy pen and journal with the Daisy Scout Logo on it.

I bought:
1 composition notebook for each girl (with heavy cardboard front)
1 piece of paper per notebook
Paper for each of the Daisy Petals (see list below)
Modge Podge
1 disposable foam brush and cup per girl
1 pen per girl
1 roll floral tape
Silk Daisy Flowers

I cut the paper to size for the notebook fronts. The girls will then modge podge the paper to the front. Put a piece of wax paper inside the front cover, so the cover doesn't get glued to the paper inside.

Then they will modge podge the daisy petals on the front, which I used Word to print the Daisy Scout "values". Also, I cut these out ahead of time. Here's the list of the colors you'll need:

(1) Blue Center (promise) I will have the girls write their names here. (2) Light Blue-Honest & Fair. (3) Yellow-Friendly & Helpful. (4) Spring Green-Considerate & Caring. (5) Red-Courageous & Strong. (6) Orange-Responsible for What I Say and Do. (7) Purple-Respect Myself & Others. (8) Magenta-Respect Authority. (9) Green-Use resources wisely. (10) Rose-Make the world a better place. (11) Violet-Be A Sister To Every Girl Scout.

Cover everything in a coat of Modge Podge. This will eventually dry clear and serve as a protective coat over the whole journal cover.

For the Daisy Pen. I hot glued a flower stem to the side of the pen. The girls will then take the floral tape and wrap the whole pen (not the actual writing part of course ;)).

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Welcome March...

March has arrived...and like a lamb in these parts. The first day of March always gives me such hope...it is the month that winter turns to SPRING! Lovely, warm Spring. March holds a fun, but a bit mischievous of a holiday...St. Patricks Day! As a kid, I remember planning ways to catch a leprechaun! I've got some fun things planned for my family this month...above is a project we did today, courtesy of the Toy Maker. (we'll be making a few more things from her this month) In March leprechauns and fairies always seem to be leaving their gold and coins around...so here's a box to stash all those treasures in!

Box Pattern

Fairy Coin 10

Note: for younger children this will require quite a bit of "assistance" from a grown-up. I had to help my 7 year old a little and my 4 year old A LOT... And my 1 1/2 year old from destroying the boxes within the first 5 minutes :)

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