She's Sixy and She Knows It

For Charley's 5th birthday she got a surprise bedroom makeover. Her room used to be a lovely aqua color, but for some reason one day I painted polka dots on to the walls and immediately hated it. So needless to say I had been planning this makeover for a long time.

In my wildest dreams I  would never have imagined having a girly girl, but that she is. Charley walks better in high heels then I ever have.  I was that girl who hated pink, with a passion. It was the family joke, how to get a reaction out of Erica? Threaten her with anything pink, walls, clothes...did I mention I have 2 brothers?

  So I was as shocked as anyone else when I decided to paint the walls pink. The softest lightest babiest pink in town. Originally the back wall was going to be dark magenta like the darkest color in the quilt, but as we gathering materials at Home Depot I found this wallpaper and loved it. Did I also mention that I would never have imagined using orange freaking wallpaper? But it works. I think it balances the pink and...I love it all, I'm glad I don't sleep in here but it suits Charley to a tee.

These walls don't look very pink in these pictures, I just couldn't get the true color. I also don't have a paint swatch for this room because we ended up mixing our own. The pink we had mixed was too pink, as per usual from what I've read elsewhere, so we added some leftover blue paint from Aiden's room  to dull it down. That worked perfectly , it greyed it down enough to stop the pink from screaming at us.

Every little girly girl deserves a chandelier. And crocheted curtains. 

This hutch was given to me by my Aunt, she had it in her kitchen for as long as I can remember and I have always loved its smaller size. It worked out fairly well in Charley's room, but my girl is a hoarder. So this hutch has since been replaced by 2 bookshelves that hold much more of her stuff. Oh yeah once again full disclosure, I cleaned and prettied up this room too. And just for fun here is the after photo. 

The Best Series of the Summer.

Stop In The Name of Love!

Oh my Charley.

This is my lovely lady.

She also has many nicknames, Missy Mae, Muppet, Bubba, Chuck, and most importantly Chug A Long Charley. She hasn't stayed this still since this picture was taken on the day she was born.

This is more like it. Head strong, independent, so sure of herself and fearless.

One of my all time favorite pictures. This picture tells what a day in the life of Chugs is like. Run around as fast as you can, empty every toy bin, and change your clothes at least 3 times a day, more if the laundry has just been done. 

She is cheeky. And should never be given lip gloss.

Add Monkey to the list.

She is 5 now, and in love with school and all her friends. She is one of the busiest children I have ever met. Her father calls her the death of him. She can wrap any grown man around her finger within minutes. We are in awe of this smart, beautiful little girl. 

I'll Get You Anything My Friend if it Makes You Feel Alright

I love Aiden's room. It's suits him and he loves it. But...there is always a but isn't there? Like everything in this house there is always going to be something I want to change.

This picture drives me  B A N A N A S.

 Do you see the missing baseboard? How about the nasty old windows? The lack of window coverings? Ooh, even better the blah blah boring old carpets. All things that will be changed in the magical fantastical reno to come. We could not see the point of replacing the baseboards when we will be tearing down walls and replacing all the floors in two years. So we are doing our best at just living with it. I think the hubby is a little bit better at that then I am.

So lets talk about what we can change in the near future. 

The boy needs light, it gets awfully dark in the desk area. This lovely from Home Depot is just right. Nice and masculine, and the color should help to break up all the red and blue going on.

Speaking of his desk, do you think he might like chair? Perhaps...I would love to get him these.

But they don't deliver to Canada, and Target won't be opening here until 2013. I'm pretty sure Aiden will need a chair before then, so the search is still on for a chair.

Winter is coming! I know I am the only one even remotely excited about that and I'm okay with it. Everybody needs flannel sheets, especially plaid ones.

I think it is time to change some of the art in The boy-o's room. I believe he has grown out of Nemo.

How awesome is this?

And this one? It's Zombie without being too Zombie.

This one might be my favorite though, simply because I would have to make it! 

Speaking of making, I have had the fabric to make this quilt for longer then I would like to admit. 

He would/will love it.

And of course le hubby wants a Donkey Kong quilt once I'm done.

I Just Hope You've Found Some Comfort Here...

I love the looking back on the things  I've done. I didn't quite realize how much I had made for the kids over the years. I love to be busy. I love to make things. I love to sew more then anything. Besides the mural in Aiden's room I have also made him many crafty lovely things.

This quilt, I love. The bazillions of blues are my fave, and did you know how hard it is to find boyish red fabric? I also designed this quilt for him, it is a pretty basic brick layout with the red fabrics in a specific layout.

I was a little bit ambitious with the quilting. It is simply straight line quilting, but the width of my presser foot, it took a really long time. I do love the texture it gives the quilt and am so glad I did it this way. I quilted it with a red variegated thread  that looks fantastic on the front, but a little pink at times on the solid red backing.

This is my version of Archie. I made each of the kids their own doll and accessories for Xmas one year, I even wrote my own stories and made some board books for them. Keener. 

Beside Aiden is a throw pillow I made from one of his all time favorite shirts. Somehow little boys keep growing and their shirts don't, odd I know. There was also a lego batman shirt ready to be cut up, then a certain little boy caught me in the act and kindly gave said shirt to his little sister.

Next comes the Voodoo Vince pillow. We tend to sit around the table drawing pictures, one day one of the Uncle's , same one as the mural, was over and he drew Aiden a picture of his beloved video game character. Truth be told I love him too, we played that game together forever. It's not bad if we do it together right? The picture hung on our fridge for months until I looked at it and realized it was perfect for an embroidery project. Long story for a pillow.

There is so much detail in this tiny pillow. Buttons, fabric, I even colored this sucker with crayons. And oh stitches and stitches and stitches....

This is a Kidlet Bag a fun quick project which has come in so handy. Aiden can keep his latest book, comic  or his DS in here and not lose it in his bed. Oh and he won't forget how to start spelling his name. 

There are many more little things around the house that I have made for this boy, but these are the things that get used and loved on the most. And they make his room so perfectly cozy.

Hey Ho Let's Go!

One problem with our house is that the bedrooms are tiny. Aiden's room measures in at a whopping 11 x 8.5. It is so small I couldn't get a picture of it all from the doorway. It's made us get creative with furniture. The poor kid only has two pieces. His bed and a dresser. Lucky for him, Gramma bought him a loft bed.

This bed is great for this space, and has an unusually large desk space for a loft bed. The shelves would be better if they had some kind of back to them, our cats are constantly knocking things behind the desk. It is perfect for our 8 year old boy, we'll see how he feels about it in a few years though.

I totally cleaned his room for these pictures, I've never seen this bed made unless I do it. And I can see why, it is not an easy thing to do ! This is my favorite part of his room, it is so cozy up here. He's got all his favorite pillows, quilts and stuffies.

Every night , the boy and his cat read before bed, that's Arlo by the way one of our 3 cats. Have you ever seen a cat climb a ladder? It is awesome.

Straight across from his bed is the dresser. It was part of a set my Grandparents bought after their wedding oh, I think it was 55 years ago! I painted it this nice blue color (which I can't get a good picture of, it is not this dark) 6 years ago and am amazed that the paint job has held up this long.

I painted the spiderman mural along with my sister in law and brother for Aiden's third birthday.  We used a projector to you guessed it project the image , traced it then painted it all in. We managed to get it all done in one night! I have a feeling it will be going soon , the boy keeps talking about wanting to paint his room red. I will be sad to see this blue go.

It is a Behr color, I originally used it in the nursery at our old house and decided to use it again. It is such a fresh clean color and it makes me so happy, I'm even thinking of using it in our living spaces when we do the big reno . We'll see!

This is his little art wall. The stop sign was given to me after my grandparents sold their house, it belonged to one of my uncles, not quite sure how he got it ! It makes a great magnetic board for all of Aiden's school work etc...And that is Potter, Peter Potter sitting in the window, he is Arlo's brother.

The tiger print (tiger is always said with an Australian accent in my head)  was made by my brother for Aiden. These are his many Star Wars costumes hanging up for easy access.

Where Do You Think Your Going so Fast

This is the first born, Mr. Aiden, Pudge, Ollie, he has acquired a few names since this picture was taken minutes after his birth. He came into this world just like his personality, relaxed, a little slow, and full of surprises.

This picture of him at a 1 kind of explains where Pudge comes from.

Aiden and his sister Charley are the bestest friends, sure they bicker constantly, but at the end of the day they always ask for a sleep over in one of their rooms.

He's so cute.

He is silly, he is serious, he is compassionate, he is sensitive, he is left handed

he is growing up to fast, 8 years old already, him and Charley have decided that they are 

buying the house next door and living as close as they can forever. Oh and he wants to be a kindergarten teacher, movie director, and lego fanatic for life.

We are made for each other!