Our Playroom

I must have the kindest hearted blog readers anywhere around! You ladies sure know how to give a compliment! Thank you, sincerely, for the sweet comments. : )

I had planned on showing you all the Christmas cards we received this year with pictures of all of my updated scrapbook pages. However, I'm not entirely sure you want to spend five minutes of your life looking at my ridiculously cute friends and family whom you probably don't know any of! Who knows though... seven degrees of separation, right? Maybe you would know someone... a long lost cousin?

Anywho, I think the year 2011 finished off my Holiday Album fo sho! It just can't handle another page. That means 2012 will be starting with a brand new album.

Lucky for 2012, it's already been purchased.

I would really love to document all of my cards from this year, so don't be disturbed if you see a post about it, oh, you know.. this Spring! Ha! : )

With Christmas down, I put together a winter mantle.

Okay.. a Spring mantle. You caught me!

I figured it wouldn't hurt to you know, push things along.

I need to choose and develop a picture for this cute frame. One of my best friends, Brandy, bought it for me this past September as a birthday present when I traveled home to Arkansas.

It is clean, simple, and uncomplicated.

It feels just right for this time of year, especially since I am still finding Christmas glitter in the carpet.

Anyone else in that boat?  : )

Speaking of finding grime on the floor, I was totally serious when I said Harbor loves to vacuum. He really, truly does. If he even hears me utter the words "dirt" or "glitter", he is after that vacuum like wet on water. : )

It really is the sweetest gesture.

Whatever Christmas glitter remains in cracks and crevices isn't for lack of trying!

 

After all his hard work, he likes to slip on a pair of knee boots and stroll the house, you know, to stretch his legs and such.

{I think I will show the above picture in Harbor's senior slideshow and title it,

"Mama's Little Wooden Soldier." What do you think? : )

A few of you have asked in recent weeks about how I keep my living room picked up and how we store toys. We have two systems at work.

We keep a lot of toys in the living room, actually, but they are stored in baskets and on a wire shelving system that is Harbor's height. I found it at Target and it has been a great tool for every item having a place. I promise to take some photos and really show you how I organize those areas. Let's face it, between birthdays, Christmas, Valentine's Day, Easter, and "just because", kids naturally have a LOT of STUFF! It is a job to keep it organized.

Our second system is our basement playroom.

We feel really blessed to have three full stories in this precious old cape cod of ours. We have really utilized the basement. A guestroom, bathroom, laundry room, storage area with long aisles {David built these}, craft room, and playroom are all down there. It is just one huge open room, the entire size of our main floor.

But, we have worked hard to create separation.

I know I'm not likely to stumble across these images on Pinterest any day soon, but we are thankful for this space. By hanging colorful curtains, we have been able to create a fun space for Harbor to spend some of his days. It is perfect for when I want to get some laundry done or craft a bit.

We have a few rules about toys when they become too much clutter.

We either: store it, donate it, or move it to the playroom.

By the way, I did see a few pictures from my blog on pinterest a few days ago and got so tickled! I told David my detergent had been "pinned" and he gave me the, "Why are you going on and on about this?" look! Obviously, he doesn't have a clue, right? Haha!  : )

Happy Organizing!

You Asked!

{* Lynn, I'll answer your question from the comments here. : ) To hang the wreath you made, I just used a piece of blue painter's tape and stuck the ribbon to the back of the picture. I hope that helps!}

Thank you for all the kind messages regarding the house! It has been fun to share this journey with so many of you, friends and family alike.

I've received a few emails and Facebook messages regarding several projects, so I thought I'd do a short post since you asked.

I didn't take very many pictures of my Christmas card holders as I assembled them, but I do have a few. Some of you asked about them. I bought the trees at Hobby Lobby marked down to a few dollars a piece. The tag on them is actually a sail boat picture, so I'm assuming they were meant to be boat crafts.

I used paper and Mod Podge to cover them.

I had help, of course. : )

I then covered lots and lots of clothespins using double stick tape.

I made a hole in the bottom layer of paper for the tree and covered the stand, as well.

I plugged up my glue gun and glued the clips to the backside.

I made circle tags that told what they were and put that they were from the McCash Family. These I clipped right at the top. I avoided using gift bags or having to wrap them.

With the little tags, I just directly passed them out.

They won't hold all of your cards, but it is a fun way to showcase a few favorites. : )

I had lots of questions about the Christmas tree swags David made a few years ago, so when I took all of our Christmas decor down, I made sure to take a few pictures of them.

David used these long beaded garlands to zip tie the ornaments to. If you can't find these, just use deco mesh or even greenery type garland.

We have a few extra that I use in other decorations, but you can see a side by side comparision.

They are a good 2-3 feet long.

David used zipties to arrange the ornaments.

Moving down the graland, he ziptied them in a cascade.

They look great draped on the tree- easy to put up and take down!

I blogged briefly about my tree skirt some three years ago, but I wanted to tell you about it again, just because it is such a cheap way to get a great skirt!

This is the bottom of an old foo-foo prom dress, ripped off at the seams!

Because of the tulle and layering, it makes a great rounded tree skirt!

So, the next time you see a big ol' white wedding dress with a great skirt at a thrift store for like $20.00, snag it up, take it home, and rip that big skirt off! : )

Cheap and pretty! One of a kind!

{Can you see the ornament garland swags?}

We have been pretty low key around here for the last week or so. In fact, yesterday was the first day Harbor and I had left the house in about a week. We went to a thrift store, out to eat for lunch just the two of us, to the library, to the park by the pier, and then met David after work for Chinese.

We are still enjoying new Christmas toys and having lots of fun playing games and reading new books. I've been baking a lof of goodies {blueberry muffins for David to take to work and thumprint cookies with grape jelly. Thanks for the recipe, Liz!}

I have, however finished my Valentine's Day shelves! Harbor knows when I take one holiday down that another is coming and he says, "Mommy, what we doing up there next time?"  : )

We work on them together, so it is a fun activity for us both!

A little preview...

Have you started any Valentine crafts yet?