the little things

adventures in hair colour

I spent about an hour trying to do a switcheroo with my profile pic on Facebook earlier today.. seriously, they were making it sooooo tough! lol  I tried everything, and it kept telling me to 'try again'.. well, sure enough... about 5 million 'try agains' later, it worked. ha!

 

I figured since I haven't actually been blonde like I am in that picture over there on the left for like.. almost a year! ..it was time to do a profile picture update! lol  The lighter colour went bye bye in stages, first just the underneath part was dark, then more of the top with blonde streaks.. then I got cheap and quit going to the salon and after many many failed attempts (and making James run to the store about a month ago for an emergency hair dye to fix a big oooooops! haha ...he really is the best! lol) this is where it is at.  Actually, it was darker than this, and needs a root touch up.. but I am really digging this faded out shade! lol  I was going for more red.. but my 'oooops' didn't help that situation any! ha ha!

Ohhh the adventures of hair colouring! ha ha! I really should have taken a picture of the oops.. looking back it is pretty funny!  It was so bad.. like so so so bad.  Like there really are no words.  I wish I could even pinpoint a single colour, but definitely not the case.. it had so many different shades and hues... and it was really quite frightening! ha!  I think I will stick with the Loreal Preference Dark Mahogany Brown for a little while at least! hee heeee!  Must resist the urge to attempt something crazy next time I am in the hair dye aisle.. yep, never ever again will I do that. ha ha ha!  It is like being a kid in a candy store though.. so many pretty colours! heeee!

OK, there are my ramblings for the day.  Hair dye.  Yep yep yep! :)

Later!

my baby girl turned 8 yesterday..

And it went a little somthin' like this..

Early 7 am morning, which may have been made a wee bit better with a yummy stack of pancakes (with butter layered on each and every one.. oh yes, my girl loves her butter! ha ha).. she looks like she is still sleeping in this photo though doesn't she?  I don't blame her really.. it was very early after all.

 

Since it was her Birthday, when she asked "can I put on as much syrup as I want?".. I said yes.  This woke her up instantly! ha!

 

See? hee heee!

Then my poor birthday girl had to go to school.  I think it should be a rule that you get the day off on your birthday.. don't you think?

When she got home later in the day, you could tell all she wanted to do was open presents!  Who wouldn't? lol  It was tooooooorture waiting for her daddy to get home so she could open presents.. absolute torture I tell you!  Maybe more so for me even lol!  So I let her open one (I cave really easily.. considering she didn't even really have to ask ha ha!).. I knew there was a DS game in this one from Grama (along with a nice rose plant for her room), I figured that haaaad to keep her busy for a while! lol  

 

 

I have instructions to post these pictures, so they can see her reaction.. ;)  That was her jumping up and down.. I must get better at capturing the jumping part that is actually in the air! ha ha!  Look at Piper looking at her wondering 'what the heck!'  Yes, I am quoting my dog.. but really, it is what her look said! lol

And an hour or so later.. I caved again! ha!  Sucker! 

 

 

A fashion book.. look at her already planning! heee!  She loves it uncle Ty and auntie Lucy! ;)  She has officially set up her 'fashion craft station' and has started making dresses already!  Gosh I love those Klutz books, I would have loved these fashion ones as a kid!

This is what Harley was doing while Laine was planning and setting up craft world..

 

Now, those balloons.. that was his torture for the day/evening.  You could tell he just wanted to grab em and rip through the house, banging the balloons off the walls! ha!  Why oh why didn't I think to get a balloon blown up just for him?  He is 2.. of course he was going to want them all! ahhhh!

Finally.. daddy got home with KFC! yum!  Her choice.  She chose KFC, but requested corn on the cob as well.  So, seeing as we gave her her own choice to have anything she wanted for dinner.. I cooked up some corn on the cob to go with the Kentucky Fried Chicken. lol  ..and of course she had to have some butter. ;)

But first.. she haaaad to open our gift.  Like I mean, it was enough torture making her wait all day right?  Who needs to eat!?

 

 

Dance Dance Revolution.  She looks pretty excited right? hee!  In that last shot, she was telling us that she really had no clue what Dance Dance Revolution was.. ha ha ha!  Awesome.  We could tell by her reaction, so when James asked "do you know what it is?" and she looked at us and said "um no" I couldn't help but laughing (and laughing some more).. So funny!  

It sure didn't take her long to figure it out though! 

 

She seriously whooped my butt.  I tried once, and have never in my life felt so uncoordinated! ha!  I really don't even understand how it is possible to do it! lol  So I took pictures instead. hee!  How is it that kids have the ability to catch onto things sooo quickly!?  Not fair! lol

A little 'robot' action..

 

 

 

Apparently she likes doing the robot.. who knew! ha!  This next one CRACKS me up!  Love the look on her face!  

 

heeeeee!

Very cool game.. I would have to say it was a success, even if she didn't know what it was before last night (I was worried there for awhile). lol  

 

I grabbed a caramel chocolate cheesecake from the grocery store for her 'birthday day cake' ..I felt bad, since her party isn't until the weekend... every kid needs their 'birthday day' to be special too right?  Seriously though, I think it was the best cheesecake I have ever had, and we all ate waaaaay too much of it! lol

Here is the invitation I made for her party on Saturday.. it is a 'dance party' (definitely had that on our minds when we chose her gift), so the invitations were made to look like records! heee!  We had so much fun coming up with these!  

 

I used my circle cutter to cut out the black for the record, and then layered on the yellow print out with the text (also cut with the circle cutter), then I used the Slice machine to cut out 'dance dance' (from the wedding cartridge), and a Martha Stewart punch for the stars!  It would have been less time consuming had the blade not broke in the machine.. or had I figured out that the blade had broke a lot sooner than I did.. instead of repeatedly trying to cut out the words and wondering whhhyyyyyy they weren't cutting proper! lol  Also, if my missing glue pen had of shown up.. that would have helped a wee bit too. lol

Anyhoo.. a lot of pictures... if you made it this far, woweeee! hee!  It was a fun day (and a late night of dancing).. I can't wait until Saturday!  I really want to rent a disco ball, but that might be going a bit far.. and I really don't know where I would hang it! ha ha!

Later! :)

the pallet beds are done!

Hooray!  Operation playroom/guest room is complete!  Took a weeee bit longer than expected, but it was soooo worth it!  We ended up building our own heavy duty pallets.. well, I should say JAMES ended up building the heavy duty pallets! hee heee!  We hunted and hunted, and the place that said we could have some 'heavy duty' ones for free.. well, I can see why! ha!  They were, shall we say 'not very nice' lol!  I am sure we would have made out just fine with them, but another thing we found, was the average pallet is quite a bit bigger than a single mattress.. and with the amount of available room already being an issue, this was just the best way to go.  The most expensive part was definitely the casters.. other than that, the cost of the wood wasn't all that bad.. cheaper than 2 new beds would have been that is for sure!

OK.. here are some pictures of the pallet beds! (I am so excited to share these finally!)

 

They filled up pretty much the entire wall.. one HUGE long sofa for the kids, and 2 beds for guests... either keeping them long, or pulling them together for a gigantic guest bed.  LOVING how this turned out!  

 

 

All of the bedding was super cheap.. the comforters are from Walmart and were under $20 a piece.. throw pillows were found on clearance at various stores around Grande Prairie.  Sort of 'hodge podge' looking, but I am really digging the mix!  At the end of the day, when I got in the truck and looked in the backseat at the collection of colours and patterns, all I could think was 'what the heck am I doing' ha ha!  But I had a vision, and stuck with it.. looked for colours and patterns that I wanted and this was how it worked out!  The sheets underneath the bedding are turquoise.. of course! heee! ;)

I made these pillows (the little ones made with Heather Bailey fabric) this morning (with stuffing from an old flattened pillow)..

 

Oh my gosh, the lighting was soooo bad in there!  Ahhhhh! lol

My roller skates from when I was a kid (they sit in the window)..

 

Random shots from around the room..

 

A collection of some things on a shelf.. print and owl are from Etsy... and the music box is another childhood treasure. :)

 

Here is the new repurposed desk area.. the legs I found at Home Depot and painted them a teal colour... love this new little space!  The 'nook' was the perfect size for the shelves and the desk!  Much better use of space for this little room!

One last shot from the doorway.. I wish I had a wide angle so I could have got the whole wall in one shot!  It really is huge! lol  But the best part is, with the furniture that we took out gone.. the addition of the 2 new bed doesn't really make the room feel all that more cramped at all!  

 

Please excuse the photos.. I was having a heck of a time with the lighting in there... it is suuuuuuuper gloomy here today, definitely not ideal for photos of a dark room! ahhh!  Oh well. :)

We loooove the pallet beds, they turned out so perfectly for the room!  Gosh, what would I do without the internet and the abundance of inspiration that can be found?  Because I can guarantee you.. if I hadn't seen this bed floating around blog land, I most certainly wouldn't have thought of using pallets for a bed!  And now that they are in there.. I seriously can't picture anything else!  If you are thinking of doing one of these up.. do it!  You will love the result, I promise!!  

OK, I gotta run for now!  We all slept in this morning.. Laine missed the bus, and the day has felt like chaos ever since! ha!  

Later! :)

operation playroom/guest room is underway..

So.. I think the whole office 'kid corner' re-do lit a fire in me... 'cause I have moved over a room, and we are totally revamping the playroom! ahhh!  I am nutso.. just a wee bit anyway! ha ha!  

We have always had plans to turn the playroom into a playroom/guest room, right now.. if guests spend the night, we blow up the air mattress and place it somewhere around the house... not very fun huh!?  Well.. that was until it got a hole in it... so my Grandpa (our last overnight guest) ended up sleeping on the couch when he was here.  Definitely not ideal! 

Yesterday morning.. I got an urge... emptied the playroom right out, toys.. furniture... everything!  Like I said NUTS!  We permanently took out the big old 32" 500 pound TV, and equally large TV stand that was holding it, AND Laine's desk area as well.  BUT, we are re-purposing some wall mount shelves and Ikea desk top that we already had.. and making a new desk area that fits into a little nook of the playroom that really had no other purpose.  I am on a mission today to find some desk legs.. some sort of fun DIY solutions! hee!  So, she will still have a desk.. honestly, with more storage on shelves than before too, so gooood stuff!  I also repurposed a small 13" TV that we had in the storage room, instead of the mammoth beast that was in there! ha ha!

Toy boxes, train table and most toys went back in as well.  We did end up clearing out some older toys.. to make way for Christmas, ones that haven't been touched in months and months!  ALSO, now that Harley is older (now that we don't have to be QUITE as worried that he is going to try and eat a Barbie shoe).. we moved Laine's Barbies and Littlest Pet Shop toys back in, so she can play and be around us (the playroom is right next to the family room and my office, both of which are downstairs and her bedroom is upstairs.. which makes her not play with them all that much, since she likes being close).. sooooo, we had to make room for all of that as well!

Now, onto the guest room part of the room.  We are adding 2 (yes TWO) beds to the room!  Quite the challenge!  Inspiration is coming 100% from this room and bed that has been floating around blog land lately, originally created by the talented Ashley Ann.. the bed is part of the totally gorgeous room that she created for her baby girl.

Here is an image of her inspiring bed project..

 

Isn't it gorgeous!?  We are also on the hunt for some pallets today (we may end up building our own, we'll see).. James pre-phoned around a bit yesterday, and we found some free 'heavy duty' ones.. so we are going to go check them out today.

I left one whole wall empty, and we are putting the 2 beds end to end.. so, for normal day to day usage it will be like a super long sofa.  Lots of pillows and some throws.. perfect spot for the kids to snuggle up and read or watch TV.  THEN, if guests choose, we can slide the 2 beds together, hook the pallets so the don't separate, lots of comfy blankets and we have a big bed in the middle of the room!  Should work out good!  OR, we can just keep them end to end.. or do whatever!  The best part is going to be actually having somewhere for guests to sleep.. period!

I just looooove the industrial look of this bed, it is just the perfect amount of quirky!  I can't wait to put it all together!  The playroom is ready and waiting.. hopefully we make out ok today and come home with some treasures! heee!

Thank you all for the sweet comments about my room.. I loved sharing my space, I think mostly because I LOVE seeing other peoples spaces, where they get creative!  One of my favourite things about the internet!  

My mission for the weekend (other than this playroom adventure) is to catch up on my overflowing inbox and respond to comments and stuff.. just 'catch up' in general!!  Wish me luck! hee!  I really really need to improve on this, I am horrible at replying to emails.. just horrible, and I know it (and I am sorry)... and I will get better!  PROMISE!!  

OK.. MUST go get ready to go treasure hunting! hee!  Running out of time already! ahhhh!

Later! 

my most favourite room in the entire house :)

Today, I got playing around.. finishing up the kids corner of the art room.  The bulletin board and chalk board were there already, and a few weeks ago, I picked up the cube thingies from Michaels to hold Laine's scrapbook/craft stuff and her Klutz books etc.  When I went and organized my cabinets to make them 'functional' (meaning, no more 'shove it in anywhere' type of organizing).. I found piles of stuff on the floor that wasn't going to fit back in! ha ha!  So, more storage was needed.  Then, I decided to make that corner.. the 'kid corner' ..like I originally intended to waaay back when! lol

Here are a few pictures of the 'new and improved' kid corner..

 

(my inspiration board)..

 

The butterflies are acrylic and I bought them at a close out sale for next to nothing (I wish they would have had more!) and the hanging star was mine as a baby.. it winds up and plays 'twinkle twinkle little star.. and I loooove it! :) ..and the pom poms are Martha Stewart from Michaels. 

 

I snagged various things from around the house this morning, to style up the corner! hee!  Nobody will notice the missing pillow, or rug will they? lol  The flower light was in the storage room.. waiting for the perfect spot to put it... works for me!  

Now the mirror might become an issue.. it was bought because I loooved it, and it just needed to come home with me (super steal of a deal on it at Winners.. the frame has a hairline crack in it, so I got it at 50% off the already discounted price.. I paid $25... compared to $100 yeee haaaa!).. then we decided it would be the vanity mirror above the sink in the downstairs bathroom when we finish it.. might have to look for another now! ..I kind of like it in here! hee! ;)  The way I look at.. we aren't doing the bathroom in the near future anyway.. might as well enjoy it right!?

So, that is the new corner.. BUT when I do things like this.. one thing usually leads to another (typical huh?)... so I ended up cleaning and moving things around the entire room.. and taking pictures along the way of course! hee!  Since I haven't shared pictures of my space on here in quite awhile.. I figure now is as good a time as any! :)

This is the opposite side of the room..

 

My little sewing table.. both it and the stool are from Ikea.  The words were from a local store in Grande Prairie.. but is has since closed down.  I know you can find them elsewhere though, I bought Laine one in Saskatoon when we were visiting.. so they are around.. :)

Laine and I made these little paper pinwheels last week.. such a fun and easy (and beautiful) little craft!!

 

The cross stitch patterns (butterfly and deer) are from here.  Love how they turned out!!  Oh how I missed cross stitching!

 

Apparently I forgot to dust this shelf.. and the photo is blurry... which should really make me wonder why I am posting it, but I mean.. really, this is how my shelves usually look, all dusty.. this is normal!  And the blurry, well, it is dark now and I can't re-take it! hee!  If you look close.. most of these pictures probably have dusty/finger print covered surfaces (ha ha).. oh well... ;)

 

My desk area.. where I spend waaaay too much time surfing the internet! ha ha!

 

OK, I did clean the desk.. it had coffee mess all over it, and that was just too much.. dust I can handle in photos (barely) but coffee mess.. nuh uh! hee!

 

If you are looking at my desk.. this area in the picture below is to the right of it, right in front of those cabinets (in the above picture)...

 

My mom's polaroid treasures.. which I raided and brought home with me last time I was there visiting! heee!  Seriously, one has never ever been used.. strap is still all wrapped up as if it was just opened!  They look so pretty all together. :)

 

Um.. layouts waiting to be put into albums... again. :)

 

My scrapping desk..

 

Bowls of treasures are a good thing. :)

When you are at the doorway looking in, the work desks are in the middle of the room, with the computer desk opposite the scrapping desk.. against the wall, then there are shelves on the right and the left (on either sides of the desks)... kids corner is to the immediate right, and sewing table to the immediate left.. running out of space, but I kind of like it all cluttered up like this!  Maybe that is why it is my favourite room.. nice and cozy with a little bit of clutter! heee!

There you have it.. a tour of my srapbook room/crafting room/office/studio/ whatever you want to call it.  Oh, and I forgot to mention that all framed art work in here is either from Etsy, made using 2 Peas digital kits (for personal purposes only) or made by me (the ones by the sewing table). :)  I think that covered everything!  How long do you think it will stay that clean? ha ha!  By tomorrow it will be back to it's normal state of messiness I am sure! lol

Later!