This post was most recently updated on September 23rd, 2019If you’ve been following my blog awhile, you may have seen…
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Parenting Tips, Fails + Humour!
Parenting tips, fails and humour. Life raising three kids. Twin mom stories and fun.
Red & Turquoise Fundraiser Tree {Christmas Tree Decorating Ideas}
Today, my sister and I were busy with our decorating gig, pretty-ing up a Christmas tree at my daughter’s school for a PTA fundraiser. This is the second year we’ve created a tree for this event. The tree and the funds for decorations are donated by some other generous parents, and we donate our time to pull it together. Basically, we decide on the Christmas tree decorating idea / concept, then select the decorations, and decorate it. Last year, our ‘theme’ for the fundraiser was a Winter Wonderland tree. Everything was very white, translucent and sparkly; and, we imagined it ending up in a more formal living room.
This year, we changed things up, and went a totally different route. We wanted to create a happy, cottage-y tree with lots of fun color – something that kids could enjoy as much as their parents, in a more casual setting like a playroom or TV room. We chose the cheerful combo of red and aqua / turquoise, just like the Canadian Tire Christmas tablescape I revealed here the other day.
Kids’ Art Station Inspiration: 20 Fun Ideas
This post was most recently updated on January 1st, 2020Do your kids love arts and craft projects as much as…
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How to Make a Photo Booth (Cheaply + Easily)
It’s been a crazy ride around here lately, but I finally had a chance to pull together a little tutorial on how to make a diy photo booth like the one at my daughter’s Broadway themed birthday party.
It was really quite easy and inexpensive, and Miss G was so happy with how it all turned out.
Photo booths are pretty trendy right now, so I knew I couldn’t be the only one crazy enough to think I could make one on my own! I did some research, and then came up with a plan for creating a diy photo booth that met our particular needs – i.e., one that could withstand the acrobatics of 10 tween-aged girls!
Here’s what I used (the important stuff, anyway):
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- Backdrop material: 3 cute plastic tablecloths from the Dollar Store!
- Props: a basket of masks, mustaches, hats, etc.
- Camera: my DSLR mounted on a tripod, with a shutter release remote.
- Photo booth decor – string lights, cardboard chandelier, etc.
- Poster board for the ‘Photo Booth Rules’
- A bench
Party Theme Ideas: Throw a Broadway Party!
If you have an 8-10 year old girl, then you probably know by now that they are all about having party theme ideas. This year, our little starlet decided on a Broadway themed birthday party as she loves anything to do with acting and performing.
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The Broadway party theme idea was eventually broadened to include Hollywood because Hollywood party decorations were so much easier to find! To be honest, I couldn’t find much inspiration on the web for an Acting party theme so I ended up having to ‘diy’ (do-it-youself) a lot of the party decor. I thought I’d share some pics of the party decor I came up with for anybody thinking about having a similar kind of party!
For the highlight of the party, we decided on a photo booth with lots of fun Broadway / Hollywood photo props! After a bunch of research, I devised a plan to put one together on my own. I’ll talk about how to make a photo booth in my next blog post! It really wasn’t all that hard or expensive to make. The girls had a blast taking photos together.
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Basement Decorating Ideas {Some Room Edits!}
I’m still here! It’s been forever (2+ weeks?) since I last blogged. I’ve had some ‘life stuff’ going on, but that doesn’t mean I haven’t been decorating (or, I should say redecorating). Last Spring I posted a tour of our basement family room (which was later featured on Apartment Therapy Family). Back then, I shared my basement decorating ideas which included the use of colorful accents – like toss pillows and wall art – that helped made the space feel playful and fun. I chose those bright and cheerful accessories at the time because our twins were just babies when we developed the basement, and I hung out with them in our basement family room much more often than the playroom.
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But, as our boys have grown from babies to toddlers and become more independent, they’re now more comfortable using the basement playroom just down the hall. That’s not to say they still don’t hang in the family room with their toys (we left the train table here), but the toy chaos is so much better than it used to be!
Since the basement family room is now used more for TV watching and hanging out than playing, I wanted to scale back on the bright accent colors, and add a bit more ‘polish’ to the space. Our 10-year old leather furniture won’t be changed any time soon (if ever, if my husband had the choice, lol), and we only recently painted the space, so I was limited with what I could change.
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Some day when I can get better shots (natural light is such a problem in basements!), maybe I’ll update my basement room tour. For now, here’s a little look at some of the small edits that helped change the look of the room. I bought very little; I just “shopped the house” for things I could use differently.
