Goodbye Carpet! Hello Bamboo!

April 14, 2012

I have disliked the carpet in our house since we moved in two years ago.  


Note the interesting design.  My favorite part...

Despite the disappointing state of the flooring, I simply wasn't ready to upgrade to hardwoods for two reasons:

1.  I was pregnant when we moved in and I thought it would be best for Miss Ella to learn to crawl and walk on carpet.  I didn't want my soon-to-be sweetness bonking her little head too bad as little ones are bound to do.

2.  New flooring is quite the investment.  There are tons of things I want to update in this home and since there was nothing technically wrong with the carpet I just wasn't ready to bump it to the top of the list.

Well folks, two years later, flooring has been bumped to the top of the list for {once again} two reasons:

1.  Ella bonks her pretty little bean on anything and everything even now as a professional walker {the carpet doesn't appear to be doing her any favors}.

2.  I can't keep it clean enough anymore!  Ella drops her cereal bowl, throws her spoon, puts food on the floor for the dog, the dog sheds, Maia spills juice, Clinton forgets to take his dirty shoes off and so on and so forth {you have kids, pets and husbands so I know you get it}.

One day I had had enough and I told Clinton I was ready.  He had been waiting for this moment!

We went out, took a look, brought home a few samples and BAM!  Spent thousands of dollars!  Wooo {choke, tear} hooo!



Now the really scary part.  My husband, my darling husband, my wonderful, completely UNhandy husband wants to install our bamboo floors.

My husband, the man who despises Ikea {yea, I know right?} because he cannot put their furniture together {he claims it is because he doesn't want  to put it together}.

My husband, the man who fixed the leaky kitchen faucet two days ago resulting in a faucet that you had to turn off by pushing on the base of the handle instead of the handle and still leaked.

My husband, the man who fixed said faucet again yesterday resulting in a faucet that you can once again turn off using the handle {phew} but still leaks and now the hot is cold and the cold is hot.

He is going to install our thousands of dollars of beautiful strand woven cobra bamboo flooring.

My stomach hurts.

Sigh.

Pray for me.

If you don't see a flooring reveal on Monday, something has gone wrong... terribly wrong.

A Girl and Her Shoes

April 13, 2012

Funny how I can take 50 pictures {in 10 minutes} of my littles playing together outside and manage to fall in love with the shots of their shoes.



You can tell a lot about a girl by her shoes.

Enjoy the little things today {especially little feet}.

Happy Friday.


Felt Hogwarts' Ties {Tutorial}

April 11, 2012

I fell behind on the Harry Potter craftathon, but I am back on schedule; and boy, do I feel good!




The invitations are nearly finished too.  I've decided to add one more little embellishment {typical}.  Can't wait!  I really can't.

In the meantime...

{A Very Harry Tutorial}

Step 1.  Draw a tie shape in Silhouette Design Studio and cut.  I made mine about 3 inches across at it's widest point and about 9 inches long.  I'd be happy to e-mail the design to you, but it was super easy to do {I know you can do it!}.

Step 2.  Trace your stencil repeatedly on the felt of your choice {I used red, green, blue and yellow - Hogwarts' house colors} and cut {duh}.

Step 3.  Cut 1/4 - 1/2 inch strips of felt in the corresponding colors {I used gold, silver, bronze and black to keep with the Hogwarts' theme}.  I just eyeballed it when I was cutting so there are minor imperfections here and there and not all the stripes are the same width.

Step 4.  Using hot glue, attach brooch pins to the back of the tie's top {I used 1 inch pins found on Etsy HERE}.

Step 5.  Use craft glue to adhere the strips of felt to the tie at about a 45 degree angle {roughly, of course}.

Step 6.  The glue should set for 24 hours to ensure the strongest hold.  Since I didn't do this project at the last minute I was able to abide by that rule {kind of proud, not gonna lie}, but if you are short on time you will be okay.  I would let it set for at least 8 hours.

Step 7.  Beam with pride.

I've got 40 of these super cute ties burnin' a hole in my Harry Potter supply stash.

How excited am I to see the kids wearing these at Maia's 6th birthday soiree?

Very excited.  I am very excited.

I've still got a bunch of felt to use for bunting and/or table runners.  What to do... what to do?

Love them, but don't want to do the work?  These ties are now available in my Etsy shop!



Check out the rest of my Harry Potter party posts!




Linking up to these fabulous parties:
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