AR's Room Redo

I've been thinking about painting AR's room for a while now, gathering ideas from magazines and pinterest, and I finally just bought the paint and decided to start working on it last weekend.  I bought some pale blue paint from Wal-Mart, read a bunch of painting tips from the internet (this is my very first painting project), and set to work clearing out the room, cleaning the walls, filling in holes, etc.  I was able to get the whole room ready for painting on Friday, and then I painted Saturday morning.  Saturday night I then painted on the tree and the leaves.  I had found a picture in a Pottery Barn Kids magazine of a cherry blossom tree decal (for $175--no way!!) that I loved, so I decided to try to paint one myself.  Here is a picture of my inspiration:

On Monday and Tuesday, I did finishing touches like painting more flowers on the tree, hanging things on the wall, putting up new hooks and decorations, and figuring out the final layout of the furniture.  Unfortunately, I do not have any "before" pictures, but just imagine a plain white, boring room, without much prettiness at all.  Here's the pictures I took today (keeping in mind, I am still looking for a cute curtain rod and curtains):

view from the door--
the tree and leaves I free-handed, the flowers are stenciled, and the butterflies are stick-on decals

other side of the room--
2 hooks I got from the thrift store and repainted, her closet, her dresser
and cute necklace hanger that happens to go perfectly

bookcase right by the door with a cute hand-me-down lamp from cousins, horse calendar,
and pretty framed verse handmade by Aunt Carol

close-up of the initials hanging from the tree branch--these I had from her nursery decorations,
but they were lavender gingham with purple ribbon that didn't quite match,
so I repainted them with the extra pink paint, and added blue ribbon from my stash

looking straight at the tree (the butterfly decals I found at Dollar Tree!)

I added the pretty scrapbook paper to this verse that was in her room previously so it would coordinate--Psalm 78:4

I am so excited about how well everything turned out, and the best part is seeing how excited she is about her new room!  How do you like it?!

DIY Fabric-Covered Bins

I have lots of diaper boxes around here, so when I saw the idea of covering them with fabric, I jumped at that.  I love bins, but they are fairly expensive, so I rarely buy them.  But now I have lots of bins around my house that are cute and very cheap and easy to make!  I love being able to use things I would normally throw away to make something useful.  For this particular project I covered one diaper box and one plastic basket that I got from Dollar Tree.  I found the fabric on the clearance rack at Hancock's, so it was less than $5 for all of it.  I just cut the fabric to a size that would cover the box, sponge-brushed on some glue (spray adhesive would probably work better, though), and carefully pressed on the fabric.  I just sort of folded and cut to make it work around the corners and edges.  See how it turned out!

what I started with...

the transformation begins...

how it looks on the bookshelf

I made the bottom pretty with some of the extra fabric.

the plastic basket looks nice on my front counter

Pumpkin Butter

To celebrate the season, I always like to make something with pumpkin in it.  After seeing a recipe for pumpkin butter on skinny taste, I decided to give it a try.  It was super easy, smelled wonderful cooking, and was so yummy especially on my homemade English muffin bread (which I will post the recipe for soon).  I also put some of this in jars, and gave it as gifts.  Here's a link to the recipe.  Here is a picture of some of the jars.

I cut some scrapbook paper and put in under the rim to make it look prettier as a gift.

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New Beginnings

Sometimes updating the blog helps me get back into the habit of writing more.  That's what I'm trying to do this time.  Do you like the new look and theme?  We'll see if I can be a bit more faithful in posting this time around.  There is much to write about, but very little time.  But I think it is important to write these things down so that I can remember them later.  So, here's to a new beginning with the blog.  The story of our life moves on, and hopefully, I can write it down.  I will post updates and pictures about the children--cute quotes, milestones, achievements, activities, etc.
Another new beginning is the school year!  On Monday, King's Dominion Academy (what we named our homeschool) will be starting it's second year.  Anna Ruth will be in 1st grade, and James will be in K-4.  I am excited to watch them learn so many new things, and I'm glad I can spend all this time with them.  I am having to make a pretty tight schedule for our day, but I think it's a good thing to be more purposeful with the way we use our time.  I may post about what we're doing and learning in school, and maybe some cool science experiments, too!
A third new beginning is our plan to get out of debt.  The only debt we have at the moment is Rich's student loan and the house, so we are trying to really attack the student loan debt in order to get that paid off in the next couple years.  I am having to be more careful with the budget and cut back on unnecessary expenses for a while, so I may post about good deals I find or thrifty projects and gifts I'm able to make.
I hope that you will check back often to keep up with our story, and please write a little something to encourage me to continue the updates.  You know I need it! ;)