day 313: chicken wire frame for photos

the finished chicken wire photo frame :)

day 313 and i am making use of an A2 frame that the glass broke in.  i absolutely love this chicken wire frame from the 36th avenue.  such a cool idea for hanging photos in a kids room especially as they have the ability to change them around as much as they want without needing to take the frame apart.  today's creation of a chicken wire frame is headed to pollyanna's room for just that reason.  she LOVES change, she is forever changing her room around and redoing parts of her room so a board where she can change photos around at will is ideal for her!

you need a frame, chicken wire, staple gun, wire cutters, some backing card (polly wanted pink ... go figure!) and that's it.  steve helped me with this project as the floor is still a little far down for my healing back.  we cut the chicken wire to about 1" larger than the frames measurements.  steve then stapled it down at one end only.  he then used the backing board to bend the chicken wire into the frame.  once the backing board had done its work bending the chicken wire in, steve folded the chicken wire over again into the middle of the frame so we could then use masking tape to cover the chicken wire.  we did this so the walls behind the frame wouldn't be damaged by the rough texture of the wire.  once that was done it was ready to hang and be decorated with mini pegs and photos!

the materials

cut the wire to about 1" larger than the frame

use the base board to force the wire to bend into the frame

then bend the wire over towards the middle of the frame

use masking tape or something similar to tape over the wire so your walls are protected

the completed frame ready for polly to "organise" as often as she likes!

outcome:  one very happy mummy and daughter .... this is one piece of decor that is definitely worth having, especially if you have a daughter that likes changing things!  what i love most about this, however, is that it's different, it's cool looking and it is REALLY usable!

my sincere thanks to the 36th avenue for the awesome idea and the fabulous tutorial you provide readers.  fantastic inspiration for all the holidays, crafts, recipes, everything i need ... i will definitely be following this website for more inspiration :)

day 232: i love you because ....

my first try out of my latest creation!

day 232 and today's creation is something i think everybody should have in their house if their are multiple of you.  the peeps and my awesome husband have been doing so much for me this past week and i have been too grumpy with myself for getting this injury to thank them for it.  i am hoping if today's little creation was sitting on the side table i might be reminded to be more vocal or even write how grateful i am for the things my family does for me and for others in the family.

the inspiration comes from  and is pinned to my kids bedrooms board on pinterest.  i originally thought i would put one in each of the peeps bedrooms but decided this is something the whole family could take part in.  as such, the one i am making today is going to sit in the kitchen.

i simple typeset the words in my memories and then printed it out on already patterned paper.  popped it into a frame and then i couldn't help but try it out :)

what you need :)

the typesetting ;)

the finished creation ... simple but totally awesome

outcome:  for me this is genius because it's sitting their reminding me (and my family) to thank them for the things they do ... hopefully it will brush off on everybody and we will all feel recognised for keeping the cogs of this house turning.

i have seen lots of these on pinterest and wish i could find the original creative person to thank for the inspiration.  whoever you are, thank you, it's something simple like this that could make someone's day, and i love that :)

see you all in a couple of days, the creating will continue on the road camping, but the posting will have to wait until we return as their is no telecommunications coverage where we are heading! have a great weekend everyone, and if you are from auckland .... enjoy the long weekend :)

day 228: time zone clocks

the world is entering our classroom :)

day 228 and we are back in the classroom today.  i pinned these map and clock ideas from iheart organizing's eldest sons room ... what a great space and i really wanted to re-create some of the effect in our classroom.  the time zone clocks are pinned to my kids bedrooms board.  you will notice i have LOTS of map decor ideas pinned to my kids bedrooms board on pinterest as ben wants a room full of maps and travel when we move :)  

both my peeps love to travel to new places and i wanted to really help pollyanna understand this year how big the world is, but how small it can be.  it is somewhat of a theme for our learning this year as we are doing ancient civilisations, exploring cultures through language, and making the most of the london olympics, not to mention planning a trip to explore more of south east asia ... yes, the world is definitely our focus!

i figured some time zone clocks would be a good addition to the classroom with the maps we already have on the wall.  i went shopping for this project over the weekend and found this COOL clock.  i figured rather than buy multiple clocks this would totally work!

who needs three clocks when you can have one!

then while looking for so cheap canvases for my artist and inventor in focus, i found two awesome canvases that totally sealed the deal with regards to the theme for my classroom walls!

such cool canvases for "our world" themed classroom!

tonight steve and i decided we should carry out this creation and after some debating about how they should be arranged on the wall, we ended up with this layout.

our latest wall in the classroom ... it's getting much closer to being finished :)

outcome: i totally LOVE it!  and when we move i am definitely going to re-create it in ben's room because he is absolutely taken with the canvases and clock ... seriously though, who doesn't need to know the time in london when the olympics are there this year ;)

my sincere gratitute to iheart organising's jen.  she has made the most of her home, the decor is simply beautiful.  it's not the world's biggest home (a lot like mine) but i love how every space is beautifully decorated and organised to make the most of what's on offer.  the wall paints are so vibrant and set the mood for the rest of the room.  needless to say i was so taken with the blog, i became it's latest follower :)

day 204: garden storage for the boy's bedroom and a lego minifig storage update!

today's storage solution from pinterest, the bhg idea
for garden planters as storage!

if you are new or a treasured follower to my blog, WELCOME and THANKS for stopping by.  one of my creations is getting a lot of traffic at the moment and thats the lego minifig storage frames from day seventy ... if you haven't seen them you can see how to make them here.  they were such a favourite with my niece and nephew i made some for my own peeps when we returned to singapore.  below are a couple of photo's of ben's as today's pinterest creation is hanging right next to it as you can see above!

day 204 and i am in FULL post-christmas, pre-new year sorting mode (and my husband thought he was on holiday ... ha!).  i am firstly tackling the peeps bedrooms because after christmas it became obvious they needed some serious cleaning.  i had pinned these garden flower planters to my kids bedrooms board on pinterest ages ago and really wanted to give it a go.  the idea comes from bhg! i went round and round in circles trying to find the original source but couldn't but am pretty sure they are the guys behind it!

in ben's room i needed to add some additional storage solutions, the planter idea seemed perfect because it would provide off the floor storage in a place i couldn't put any drawer or bookcases because of the door.  i found the planters at nz's big red sheds for $13 each ... brilliant as this wasn't a pricey option either.

the planters ready to hang

the hung planter ready to fill

the first one is filled with caps that no longer live on
the FLOOR ;)

the second one is stuffed with toys :)

a closer look

ben's lego minifigs that are removable
thanks to the white bricks that are
adhered to the frame glass

outcome:  cool, they work well with the colour scheme in his room and are perfect for the larger things that lived on the floor or his bed.  so easy to hang and they work so well i am going to find some cream ones (or spray some black ones) for her room.

my thanks to bhg for this awesome, cost effective storage idea that brings thinking outside the square to a whole new level ... and that saying bringing the outside in, never rang so true ;)

in other news i have a BIG, HUGE give away for the first week of the new year from my memories

and a newly designed blog to bring in the new year :)  see you tomorrow for the last day of 2011!

day 105: inspiration always comes from books!

happiness is in a book :)

day 105 and today we are back to loving books ... for those who don't ... i'm sorry, for those that do or have kids that inhale them, you will love these sentiments!  i couldn't decide which one i wanted to put up on ben's wall so while i was picking up a frame for a creation i intend to make next week, i decided the same frame format would be perfect for today!

the frame holds eight 6" x 4" photos ... for this creation it is holding the following seven sentiments:

i was the kid that got into trouble reading past my bedtime

sentiment pinned from bookfessions

KEEP CALM and READ A BOOK

pinned from marta writes

you are MY sunshine

sentiment pinned from jack cards

reading is cool

pinned from saying images

his books are some of his very best friends

sentiment pinned from cowboy boots and pearls

my favourite thing is to go where i've never been

pinned from fairy tale wishes and dreams

i can't clean my room because i get distracted by the cool stuff i find

sentiment pinned from we heart it

and a giraffe holding a pile of books pinned from we heart it. below are some photos up close of the finished product!

outcome:  i am really happy with this, some of the sentiments i wanted to use are from etsy shops, so those i will buy in canvas!  these ones i couldn't find owners for so figured they would be ok to use or typeset for my own needs ... the boy is VERY happy, well as happy as a boy who currently has a nose in a book and actually didn't notice the new artwork adorning his walls ... guess it was me that was VERY happy ... hehe :)

right, time to head back to the broken peep ... it's like caring for a baby again!  have a great day everyone :)

day 102: roald dahl inspiration

the quote that is framed and now sits
next to her bed ... 

day 102 and today's quote comes from one of my favourite authors ... roald dahl ... love his books and so do my peeps, i mean, really, what's not to love about the bfg :)  i repinned the quote below onto my kids bedrooms board and the original pin was from jen fernie's blog.  the quote is from the minpins book written by roald dahl and published posthumously and i think it is so inspiring especially in today's world where we need to find a little more magic in the everyday given how fast we now live our lives.

the quote is:

And above all watch with glittering

eyes the whole world around you because

the greatest secrets are always 

hidden in the most unlikely places.

Those who don’t believe in magic

will never find it.

Roald Dahl

my daughter is as passionate about fairies as ben is about books.  for pollyanna the world is perfect, there are fairies and rainbows, sugared candy and ribbons, there are princes and princesses, and most definitely happily ever afters.  she sees the cup as always full, even when its full of air, and the world is most definitely full of fairies and elves doing wonderful things.  it could be her age, it could be her beliefs, it could be she sees things i don't see, but whatever it is i hope she never loses it.  so i have chosen to put this in her room to remind us all life doesn't have to be without magic, you just have to make the choice to believe in it and find it :)

i typeset the quote in powerpoint and printed it at home on photo paper ... i like the glossy look for something like this!  i then framed it and put it next to her bed.

i hope i spend more time with glittering eyes watching the
world's magic now ;)

outcome: my little girl peep has always inspired me to see things with open eyes and while this is in her bedroom i think it will do more for me seeing it each night when i tuck her in and kiss her goodnight than it will for her.  but if she ever needs reminding it will be there for her too :)

day 101: reading is dreaming with open eyes :)

for ben with love

day 101 and some of my favourite time spent on pinterest is reading the inspirational, challenging, fun, thought provoking, and/or endearing quotes and sayings pinned to peoples boards.  i have many that are pinned to my boards that resonate with me for one reason or another.  this week i am going to spend a whole week dedicated to these quotes and sayings and use them in different ways, shapes, and forms!

today's creation uses this saying:

reading is dreaming with open eyes

it can be found on my kids bedrooms board and was originally pinned from the piccsy website and i loved it as soon as i saw it because it reminds me of my son ... my son reads and that's an understatement. he reads with passion like no one i know.  his best friends are books, once he finished hockey practice yesterday his best friend was a famous five omnibus.  he reads really fast, faster than his mum or dad because he needs to know the story once it has started and i love that.  even though he reads fast he never misses the details because that's what best friends do.  i dream when i listen to sport, for him it is books.

for that reason this saying is being made into a pillow for his bed ... just in case anyone forgets what books mean to him and why they are so important to him ... like me when i find him sitting by his door with his pillow using the hall light to finish reading a book at 9pm ... his aunt was just the same and luckily she turned out awesome (i'm not biased at all)!

the actual creation is really easy, i typed it up in word and then printed it out on fabric, sewed it into a cushion, and threw it on his bed!  if you haven't printed on fabric before, YOU SHOULD ... it's just so cool and the tutorial i did on day 28 from the pickled pepper patch gives you all the info you need to do it yourself :)

the printed saying on fabric

it's resting place :)

outcome:  a neat pillow with something special on it that reminds me how ben sees the world through books ... now that's a cool creation and what's more he loves it too :)

day seventy: lego minifig storage :)



the solution for storing lego minifigs and
as a bonus they look fantastic on the wall!

day seventy and i know four little peeps that love LEGO ... and at some stage they take over the dresser and everything that was on the dresser goes on the floor.  its time to take some pinterest action and find a new storage solution for these little lego people :)

   

a bunch of eager volunteers loitering about!

pinned to my kids bedroom board is this wonderful idea for lego minifigs in the form of some wall art from felix on mi muller.  how cool is this, we needed a more movable option given i have my house on the market and my sister is in singapore and who knows where next!  so it was off to ikea for some frames to suit each child's minifig collection (the frames at ikea are SO cheap i got some for ben and polly so i can do their's when we return!)  it was then off to the local lego store for a heap of 2 x 2 lego blocks, and then to the stationers for coloured backing paper.

 

materials organised

today i made the frames for isla and sam's minifigs.  isla's one we decided to have a non-structured approach with white backing paper and for sam's green backing paper to match his room and a structured approach to the blocks.  the actual blocks are then super glued to the glass and you are good to go :)

 

outcome:  LOVE THESE SO MUCH! i love that they are a hangable storage solution, they look fantastic in their rooms as art, but the minifigs are SO easy to put off and on even for our littliest peep when they want to play with them ... this may even be a new favourite pinterest creation, the photo's just don't do it justice :)

structured version - green background added to match the boys room

this picture shows the effect brilliantly



unstructured version - the finished article looks

really cool!

minifigs can be easily removed/replaced to

refresh the wall art

a huge thanks to felix on mi muller for this fantastic idea, i am absolutely certain whether you attach them straight to the wall or do the frame option you will love this way of storing lego minifigs!