Some Creativity...

Well, we've been up to some creativity around our casa last year... we've just not shared any of it.  Remember this post from two years ago?  Well now you can see more of Brandon's handiwork.

Capri's crib.  Gosh, its so weird to think we didn't even have a real crib for Shiloh.  Its true.  She has a little mini pack and play that fit in our closet by our bedside.  She went from that tiny thing straight into a twin bed once we moved to our larger apartment.  Now we have so much room that a full sized crib AND her bed fit.  We scoured craigslist waiting for the right crib to show up, for the right price.  These older styled cribs are the kind I was hoping to find.  They have gone through so many recalls for their movable parts, so we dismantled all the pieces, replaced it with new, safe hardware, and ordered fixed-side kits that are used for carpenters who built custom cribs.  Now its safe, up to the latest crib standards, and yet it retains that vintage design I so love.  :)  We sanded it down and refinished it on our own.  Previously it was a natural wood color, but I wanted to paint it white so that it would work with Capri and then any future babies we are blessed with.

Indoor Wreaths.  They are for the girl's room.  I wanted something to hang on the girl's room door so that Shiloh could brag that it was her room... so before she is old enough to write signs like "Keep out.  No boys allowed.  Or no-parental zone."  I have hung a pretty little homemade wreath.  I bought some pretty yellow yarn and then used some scraps and other things I found lying around to decorate it.  Actually those flowers are from Brandon and my engagement party.  The other little green one is hung on their closet door.  I just used some scrap fuzzy yarn I had stashed away, and cut up some scrap felt pieces into little flowers.

Growth Ruler.  This is a pinterest inspired project.  I found it a long time ago on a blog, pinned it, and never did anything about it.  Until finally we were walking through Home Depot and I remembered the ruler project, so we came home that day with a 6x8.  Brandon helped me stain it, and I painted on the inch marks.  We have yet to hang it.  But soon soon!

Travel Signs.  Not sure what else to call these puppies.  But I saw a photo one day of a tall sign with all these places around the world and their corresponding distances... and had the inspiration to turn that idea into a piece of art for our wall.  We used scrap wood, and decided to pick places that God has sent us...  I love it.  I have a feeling it will make a great 'conversation piece'.  For now we have it leaning against our hallway wall, but we need to get it safely hung asap.

We have some more that still need photos taken, so check back later!

DIY Play Kitchen

This might just be the most fun thing we have ever made together.  I think we had more fun making it than Shiloh has had playing with it.... well, maybe not entirely true... she hasn't stopped cooking food since opening it.

Our inspiration came from this kitchen, and then Ana's plans.  We initially were going to go the whole up-cycled old night stand route, however since we were traveling up to Oregon for Christmas and therefore wanted Shiloh to be able to open her present up there... we had to think about how to transport it.  So instead, Brandon used the plans from Ana's website to come up with a kitchen that he could build, disassemble, then reassemble in Oregon, and disassemble again to bring back home.  Complicated.  We know.  But in the end, it was worth it.

We started out with a loose drawing so that Brandon could buy the right amount of plywood, and cut it down to the necessary size pieces.

He found cabinet-grade quality plywood, from Home Depot.  1 sheet was enough, plus we already had scraps at home to make the face frame and oven door.

Then he build the "box" of the kitchen.  Next he built the face frame for the front of the kitchen, and the oven door.

At this point, we had to disassemble everything so that it could pack in our car and be taken to Oregon for Christmas.  So once there, we painted it.  We swear by Rustoleum's spray paints.  We use them for almost everything.

So we sprayed on 2 coats of primer, and let that dry overnight.  This is what it looked like with only primer on it.  We were trying to see how the stovetop would look, spacing and what not.

We found an old faucet, knobs, and towel bar from our local Habitat For Humanity Re-Store.  We had hoped to find the tall kitchen faucet... but they have any in stock, so we found one that looked really cute, even though it was smaller.

The bowl was from our local Goodwill store.  It was the perfect size, and white which was great.  The pattern on the side was, well, retro.  But it didn't matter because that would be hidden anyway.

4 old cds made great stovetop burners... we just spray painted them with 3 coats of black paint.

After painting the whole thing the final color, and letting it set overnight, we then attached the oven door, and began decorating it with the chalkboard, the towel bar, the faux window, sink, faucet, and stove top.  We still need to add the shelf next to the window and plexi glass for the oven front, and a pull for the oven door... but that will have to happen once back home.

Shiloh opened it up on Christmas morning and began playing immediately!  Its a hit!  And on the plus side, it only cost us 70 bucks, and we figure that Shiloh will play with it for years, and then Capri will too.... so you can't beat that!

Cost breakdown:

plywood          $30.00
other wood      free scraps
bowl                $0.89
faucet               $10.00
knobs               $1.00
towel bar          $3.00
cds                    free (already had)
curtains             free (already had fabric)
paints               $12.00 (already owned primer, white spray paint, & chalkboard paint)
trim                  $7.50
hindges            $2.00
velcro              $3.00
screws             free
photo               free (printed from computer)
TOTAL:         $69.39  (so once we buy the pull & plexiglass, likely it will be $75.00)

(Would cost a little more if you didn't already have some of these things on hand, or bought some of it brand new, or less if you found a night stand free and didn't have to buy the plywood.)

An "A" for Effort

Last year we began a family tradition of Advent... celebrating the 25 days leading up to Christmas by doing certain things together as a family each day.  It was so much fun.  This year we planned to repeat our Advent calendar, we even changed up some of the things with new ideas.

Then.
We had a baby.

They don't lie when they say 'a baby changes everything'.  And a baby born 2 days before the 1st of December can change the entire Advent fun that was planned.  As in going out to do things was no longer easy... or at times even fun.  So some of our Advent activities were no longer realistic.

We're okay with it.  We give ourselves an "A" for effort.  Out of our 25 planned activities, we managed to do almost all of them.  The crossed through ones are the ones that we didn't get to do... some ended up happening accidentally at a later time...


1. Attend DTS Christmas party.

2. Set up Christmas decorations.

3. Decorate our tiny Christmas tree.

4. Attend YWAM staff Christmas party.

5. Set up nativity.

6. Make holiday crispies and give them to neighbors and friends.

7. Sing Christmas carols.

8. Date night with Daddy.

9. Make a Christmas craft.

10. Wrap Christmas presents. (finally got to it on Christmas eve)

11. Make family Christmas stockings. (maybe next year)

12. Drink peppermint hot chocolate in our pjs.

13. Read the Christmas story. (Grandpa did on Christmas morning)

14. Donate $ to the Salvation Army bucket.

15. Visit Santa Claus. (I was pretty sad this didn't happen...)

16. Pick out and donate a toy.

17. Go on a family walk.

18. Road trip to Grandpa's and RooRoo's house.

19. Build a snowman.

20. Make a gingerbread house. (well we did gingerbread men instead)

21. Go sledding.

22. Make and decorate Christmas cookies.

23. Watch a Christmas movie. (How the Grinch Stole Christmas, the old cartoon version, and Elf)

24. Put out milk and cookies for Santa.

25. Christmas Day!

Next year maybe we'll be able to stick with it better.  Hope everyone's Christmas was Merry and full of joy, love, and hope.

Advent {Days 14-20}

First I want to reveal our Advent calendar:

Its made from matchstick boxes.  It might be one of my favorite new things.  We just slide out a box for each day, and inside is the activity.

Then second, we got super busy this past week, and some of our activities did not end up working out as planned, so we improvised.

Day 14 {Wednesday} Set up the nativity.

We did not have time between our work and Shiloh's nap schedule to go see Santa.

Instead we let Shiloh set up her little nativity set.

I figure, Christmas is all about Jesus anyways, not Santa. 

She seems to love the donkeys.

And she sometimes points out baby Jesus.

Sometimes she points to the sheep.

Kinda ironic.

Day 15 {Thursday} Read the Christmas story.

Brandon read us the story of Jesus out of Luke.

Its amazing how humble God is.

Day 16 {Friday}  Make our Christmas cookies in a jar.

We were tight on time.

And trying to pinch our pennies some, so we opted out of the delicious peppermint hot cocoa.

Instead we finished making our mason jar cookies.  

Yum.

This is such a fun and easy gift to make.

And the cookies are some kind of serious deliciousness.
You have to really pack down each layer otherwise they won't all fit.
Brandon found his knack in packing flower.
And eating m&m's.
Shiloh found her knack in stacking the completed jars.
I personally enjoyed how pretty they looked.

Day 17 {Saturday}  Visit Grammy Roo & Gpa.

9+ hours in the car.

We left at 5:45am.

It made the trip feel shorter.

We do road trips well.  

Shiloh does too... only the last hour of the trip was rough.

We ate a lot of goldfish.

And took naps.  :)

Day 18 {Sunday}  Attend Christmas play & make sugar cookies.

Brandon's brother was starring in the Scrooge musical.
We especially loved the scenes he was a part of.
"God bless us, every one." Is my favorite line.
We didn't have all the gingerbread house ingredients, so we only made sugar cookies.

We always eat too much dough.

The stars were our favorite to make.

Cookies are just so Christmas-y

Day 19 {Monday}  Deliver gifts to family and friends.

We took some of our cookies in a jar to people in town.

Shiloh got to enjoy the fun chair at our cousins work.

Then the fun snow mobile at our uncle and aunts business.

Day 20 {Tuesday}  Go on a walk as a family.

God didn't deliver the usual Christmas snow yet.

No snow means no snowman or snow angel.

We took a walk instead.

Up the hill behind Brandon's parents house.

To the tree with a swing under it.