home made finger paint

I've seen this recipe for home made finger paint all over Pinterest and thought Nohl and I would give it a whirl today.  Luckily, we had all the ingredients already on hand, so we were good to go!  It was extremely easy to make.  This recipe is especially perfect for toddlers as the ingredients are all natural, so if those little fingers find their little mouths ... no problemo! 

RECIPE

3 tbsp sugar

1/2 tsp salt

1/2 cup cornstarch

2 cups water

On medium low temp, warm all ingredients in a small saucepan stirring fairly constantly until paint thickens.  Transfer to jars and mix in food colouring.  This recipe makes enough to fill approximately 6 baby food jars.

Overall, this was a great recipe.  Nohl was thrilled that he got to mix the food dye in to make his own colours.  The only thing is that he doesn't like to have gooey hands..so he ended up using paint brushes to paint in an over-sized colouring book.  This is finger paint, so the colours look much brighter in the jar than it did in the colouring book, but he still loved it!

I am now complete with a kitchen window full of his most beautiful artwork.  BTW, he put price tags on all his art for when people come over ahahah so cute!

homemade notepads

The kids wanted to make their teachers a little gift this year.  So I searched online for something that was practical, affordable and meaningful....homemade personalized notepads

I'm not sure what's been going through my mind lately, but I've gotten some really cool ideas from other blogs and have completely forgotten to jot down the actual site...so please if you've seen this around, let me know so that I can give credit where credit is due!

And I also realize this is coming to you AFTER school is out for the holidays...but the kids now want to make some for their friends too...BEST FRIENDS A & L etc....get creative and personalize it how you'd like! 

Here we go:

1. Find a font {for the teachers...mine is Life Lessons from DaFont}.

2. In WordPerfect, I typed "A note from Mrs. Teacher" and fit it 4 times to one sheet of regular printer paper.  I printed this out 5 times all together to make the notepad 20 pages. 

3. Fold the paper perfectly in half one way, open and fold in half the other way.  I made tiny pencil marks on the end of each fold to line up on my cutter. 

4. Place folded sheet on top of all your pages and carefully use your cutter to divide the paper into 4 equal pieces that will make up the notepad.                      

   



5. I had pretty cardstock from my "wannabe scrapbooking" days, so I also cut a front and back to make the notepad a little sturdier.

6. Next, assemble your notepad together. Use butterfly clips to keep everything together for glueing...oh and VERY IMPORTANT...be sure to use a piece of scrap paper {mine are old recipe cards} on either side so as not to get glue on your finished booklet.

7. Once your booklet is secured, apply Rubber Cement {Michaels $5}  across the top.  The scrap paper will allow you to not worry about any overglueing mess.  Apply a few coats, allowing for drying time in between.

8. Lastly, the kids were each given a white piece of cardstock cut out slightly smaller than the front cover to make their title page.  Use mounting adhesives, or double sided tape to stick title page onto finished notepad.  

I thought they turned out really sweet!  and I was very surprised how easy it was to use the rubber cement.  I just hope they hold up and don't fall apart! : )

I was just thinking...maybe I should make one up for my husband to take to work and have it read "Stacey rocks my world" hahhaha! 

enjoy your holidays



Jaime Coyle Photography

Babies are the world's most precious of teeny creatures.  They have the ability to make even the coldest heart thump warmth, the power to make a grown woman weep with overwhelming emotion and ensure, at the very least, a smile from random strangers.  

   "A new baby is like the beginning of all things, hope, a dream of possibilities."

"When you become a mother, you stop being the picture and start being the frame."

Pure

Sweet 

Angels

Time for bragging rights....meet Jack.  He's my new little nephew.  Isn't he just a little peanut for sure???  Oh and the teeny tiny toes poking out just melts my heart.

Aren't these photos fabulous? They were taken by a very talented photographer and family friend, Jaime, of Jaime Coyle Photography.  She magnificently captures the very essence of newborns with such grace. Her photos bring me sooo much joy. I can only imagine how happy the parents must be to have these beautiful portraits of their little ones...what an amazing gift, a timeless treasure.

Not only is she an amazing photographer, but she knits all her props too! From the booties~ to the hats ~to the little peanut knits...this is all hand crafted by none other than Jaime herself.  She is a brand new mommy too! and while she was on bedrest...she knit and knit and knit like no tomorrow  until she was "buried in hats" and decided to start selling them on her blog, Life Through a Lens .

Jaime came out to do some photos of my family two years ago to help start up her website...she definatley worked her magic on me in this one : ) She is such a blast to work with. Check out her entire photo gallery and other information.

 Jaime Coyle Photography

Have a Safe & Happy Halloween! : )

map lovin'

I am in ♥ with old school maps. This one of Europe measures 4.5 feet x 3.5 feet and has the most wonderful colouring. It is quite old and not in mint condition, but I love it nonetheless.

When re-doing Nohl's room a few months ago, I knew I wanted a large school map for the dead space above the side of his bed. I looked long and hard for a pull down that didn't cost me a fortune and finally found one on Kijiji.

I used to play the trumpet in highschool... which surely trained me to be the highly skilled conch player that I am today....pffft. Seriously though, I really think it looks cool in Nohl's room. Mr. vG and I have had it stored in the bottom of a cupboard forever... I don't even know where it came from really???

In my long time past post about Nohl's bedroom makeover, I had the framed atlas pages just leaning on the ledge. But they are very lightweight, and one would always fly off whenever we'd open up the windows. So, I painted up an old shelf for some extra ummphhh atop the pictures. I left one picture leaning and hung the other 3 using 3m sticky tabs...so much easier to get them perfectly straight and no extra holes in my walls!

How many times can I blog about this room??? I really need to forget the kids' rooms and focus on mine next! Yes, it's my turn!!! I'll have my bedroom post for you in about a years time. It's the turtle in me....

Nohl's Bedroom

A couple of months ago, I blogged about how I was going to makeover Nohl's room. Don't ask me why it took two months...I'm just slow that way. Mostly I think I kept making up my mind on a paint colour, then change it an hour later. Two weeks ago, I put my own foot down. Now it's almost complete. To see more of the before go here.

I'm waiting on a 1960's pull down map of Europe to hang on the wall in the picture below.

One of the first things I did was paint his bed frame out in Benjamin Moore's Hudson Bay Blue. Sorry some of the pictures are dark. The final wall paint, Gray Mist, is also from Benjamin Moore, and the wainscotting is Cloud White. I really love how bright and fresh his room feels now!

I found this hutchy thing and it was the most hideous bright blue I'd ever seen. Whoever painted it, just kept painting right over the hinges and latches. I scraped off the hinge/latch paint and sprayed them with flat black. I gave the whole thing a coat of paint and voila....something a little different than your typical bookshelf, and still low enough so he can access all his belongings.

I'd been saving this road atlas for years thinking I'd someday do something with it in one of the boys rooms. And so I tore some places of meaning for me out of the atlas and repurposed his old Ikea frames. Mr. vG and I honeymooned in Hawaii. Now everytime I see that map it's a reminder of one of the most special times in my life.

Hmmm well that's kinda creepy? and yet even this looked better than that builder glass plate that was there!

I'm not normally a huge ceiling fan fan, but despite having A/C, Nohl's room can get pretty stinkin hot in the summer. I thought this fixture from Rona was perfect. Doesnt' it almost looked like a little boat propeller?

Me and my Nohlly burger

Willem's Room

So today I finally picked out all my colours for Nohl's new bedroom! I tell you I was a basket case over it! Decorating the kids rooms to me is like picking baby names....I had a million girl names that I absolutely adored - and less than a handfull of boy names that I remotely could imagine calling them for the rest of their lives. I have such a hard time decorating boy rooms arghh!

Nohl's room won't be done for a time...so I thought I'd give you a glimpse into Willem's. Yes, pretty original here with the airplanes, but daddy flies, so I went with it.




What boys room would be complete without a set of these chompers? Oooohhh the day we found these while on a hike was a thrill. Willem begged to keep them....so on his shelf they sit.


If you've read my post on Ava's bedroom, you'll know that I had a little breakdown on the paint colour. Likewise, while Frank was painting the stripes I started second guessing myself. I thought it was going to look like a circus room. I'm no longer allowed to watch while Frank's painting.

Ava's Bedroom

When I look at this room, I don't see the furniture. I still see me, slowly trying to sneak out, crawling on my hands and knees, all the while praying to God that my knees don't crack and wake baby Ava! As a babe, she didn't sleep often, so when she did, I did what I could to keep her that way! That was almost 8 years ago now, but as we all know, they never stop being our babies!

I still remember when I painted this room Tea Rose yellow by Martha Stewart. It was a gray day outside and the paint was seriously glowing with a life force of it's own! I thought I was going to cry, hmmm yes I think I did cry being all hormonal and all. I wanted a soft yellow for a baby's room, not some neon from the 80's. Frank calmed me down and said to wait till tomorrow, and sure enough, it wasn't that bad and indeed I liked it.

We added true wainscotting, which was a score from a friend who worked in a woodyard!


When we walked through the model home, we knew instantly that this would be our baby girl's room. We both thought that the window space was screaming for a built in bench. Turns out that was our first project when we moved in.


The hutch was from Ikea and I just adored it because it actually came with the rose petal knobs!

The hatbox and hats were from Ava's third birthday party. The theme was a tea party, so I made all our guests their tea hats. I put our hats above her armoire for a keepsake.

I feel a happy, cheerful feeling every time I walk into this room, well when it's clean that is!

Oh yeah, did I mention she wants her room RED now!!!!!!!!