Calendar Blocks

I am heading to Home Depot today to stock up on pieces of lumber, and I for sure will be making these blocks this week. Perfect little shelf sitters. Check out this project at Brown Paper Packages!

Back Again!! And a New Favorite Site

I have always been the type who would rather receive a big gift certificate to a place like Home Depot, rather than any other store. I love the sound of a power saw and I love the smell of sawdust. Most of my childhood Saturdays were spent watching my Dad build or repair something. I loved waking up on those mornings to the roar of one of his many power tools coming from the garage.

It's been on my to-do list to clean out our garage and create a work space for building things. I do most of my projects in our unfinished basement, but since we have plans to finish off parts of it in the near future, my current workspace will be no more. I have a million projects running through my brain on a daily basis of things I'd like to build and create. One of my favorite things to do is inventory our house, see what items we are in need of for our growing family (most of them are always furniture of some sort) and hit the second hand stores to see what I can find. I think I have a good eye when I find something that I can make something else out of. It's kind of a passion of mine.

I was elated when I came across this website that has a hundreds of different plans for building toys, furniture, shelves, and many other things from wood. I am a huge fan of the store Pottery Barn, but not a huge fan of the price tag on anything. I am attracted to their stuff because of the clean lines and simple designs, but we'd have to take out another mortgage to afford the furnishings that I drool over. www.ana-white.com is a site that has many "knock-off" design plans from expensive places such as Pottery Barn. She has everything laid out for even the most inexperienced builders. Do yourself a favor and check it out!! Her designs are absolutely amazing. Now my motivation for cleaning out the garage has sky rocketed!

I have been eyeing the retro style play kitchen from PBK for years, ever since Hailey was a toddler. But the entire set costs about $800 and who in their right mind would pay that?? When I was in kindergarten my class had an amazing little wooden kitchen in the class and I always wanted one. I came across these plans for this kitchen on www.ana-white.com and about died. I have it in the works to make this for the girls for NEXT Christmas, but I think I may do more or a retro red, black, and chrome color scheme. We'd likely keep it in the basement family room and I'd like the little boys to be able to use it also as they get older.

We have been in dire need of a new dining table and chair set for a long time. We have for sure outgrown the tiny one we still use, but anything that seats eight people comfortably is super expensive...at least in the rustic style we like. I came across the above table on her site and aside from it being a SUPER easy design, I love how it looks! Just my style. I think we may have found our dining table. And again, it is a complete PB knock off, along with the bench below it. We would likely do the bench and then shop around for the perfect 5 chairs to surround the rest of the table. I love it!

And again, another PB knock off. This looks exactly like the Mason headboard from PB which costs $700-800 dollars. Yikes!! This plan is very very easy and very very awesome. We have been in the market for a headboard for years but it's one of those things that is expensive and not really a "necessity". But I think we may just have to build this baby. And I'd love it to be rustic black to match the rest of our bedroom.

Ethan's 6th Invites

Ethan has been dying to have his birthday party at the arcade. How totally 80s! I was a little inspired by Prince and we ran with it. The colors are much more neon and bright in real life, but you get the idea. Radical!

Hailey's 4th Invites

Wow, it has been 345 days since I posted last! Not that I haven't been up to anything creative, but finding the time to blog about it is the trick. Hailey's birthday is coming up and a few weeks ago she decided she wanted a rainbow party. A rainbow party? Huh? I was a little worried about coming up with ideas for it, but after I found this scrapbook paper the ideas began to flow! Now I am super excited about it. Does this invite not just scream Rainbow Brite? It is going to be such a cute party! Perfect for a 4 year old girl.