Sunday, January 23, 2011

Karlys Preschool Bag


So Karly needed a bag for preschool that was NOT a back pack - teachers rules. We could buy one from her for $10 but I was for sure I could create something for free. So I went home and dug under by bed to see what bags I had collected. I found one with a logo on it, so I grabbed some old material and created a square and tied the ends to make knots of fringe. Then I found a old iron on patch I had never used (got from the dollar store) and sewed it to the center!
Easy Squeezy! She felt like she was unique and her teacher loved her new bag! And the best part was I paid $0!!!!!!

TREATS FROM THE GARDEN...


I didn't get to blog about my garden this year, sadly it slipped away from me. Mike used cinderblock to create a huge 40 foot by 6 foot strip for me - and I loved it! Each year we are getting better at this HOME EC thing. For sure we ruined our lettuce and beans, but my carrots, and tomatoes rocked the house!


Sunday, January 16, 2011

Its finished!!!



After four months - it is finally competed. Well, sort of. Enough for her to start playing with it. I still have lights, decor, and little things I will add along the way - but for now she gets it!
I stayed up until 3 am getting it finally ready and when she saw it in the morning she didn't know what to expect. She just said "Oh! How Cute!!!". But we aren't really girly in our house so none of us knew what to do then! All the boys had sooo much fun helping with it all these months and were thrilled to watch her play in it. Now - each day I hear her quietly in her room just playing for hours with her dolls. I just love that princess...


The top was the idea of the boys, to keep it flat and add a playground there. SO its hard to see but there is grass, a playground, and garden for her to play in. This room matches her own room, the same paint, colors and fabrics. The doggy resembles our little KC that we lost last month and the fence is just like the one she has over her bed.





This bathroom is not quite finished. Mikey picked out all the colors here. We couldn't find the shower but are still searching every store to get it! I tried to build one myself but just couldn't make it happen.

This is the library. We made a bean bag to match the ones in our library, found some mini ABC blocks to decorate with and refinished the rocking chair I found at Di and sewed pillows for it! After getting tired of so much staining, my friend Nina helped me pick out lanolium for the floor - and that was soooo much easier!

The sled was from DI too and when I found it I just had to have it all the wall - it is so cute!


My mom helped me do this room and made the bed spread, pillows and curtains. I found the dresser at DI and built the lamp myself. Karly loves this room.




The living room was so fun to do. NOONE sells couches unless they are for Barbies or of plastic. The real miniatures were just too small. So with a box, small knobs, material and foam - Mike and I went to work! The fireplace was so fun and we used a picture of our family for the mantel. One of my cute 13 year old neighbors helped me with the piano! We have lots more to do to fill up the entertainment center, but that will come in time...



My mother in law made this chair for the living room and it matches perfectly!



I think the kitchen is my favorite place. Probably cause it has the most details. I had to do all of it from scratch - so it took the most time. Used pebble spray paint for the granite counter tops, shelf knobs for the legs and wheels for the seats. Found an old box of glued in dishes from the DI and cleaned them up for the cute dishes in the cupboards. She loves playing with them!




Ruby (my 13 year old friend) hand made all of this food! You can not even begin to see all the detail, but she does it all with clay and then bakes it. We have pizza, milk, cupcakes, cookies, banana's and veggies - all the right size! They are so amazing, its one of Karly's favorite things about the dollhouse.



The best part about doing this huge project for me was that it really helped me feel more love for my daughter. The whole family had a such a great time over the last few months doing this for her. Everyone knew she could never go in the garage and it became of family obsession of finding ways to keep her out. The boys were amazing! Thanks to Nina and Ruby and Steph for being such great friends and helping me so much in this journey. Mike - couldn't have done any of it with out you - thanks for being the head engineer babe.

Enjoy Karly - for many years to come