(Seriously folks... If I don't start coming up with more creative titles for my posts I think the bloggy police may shut me down... Now back to your originally scheduled thought...)
My world is blahhh... Not my life, no, my life is in techno-color... It's the world outside my window... We have had very, very little snow this year. It has been unseasonably warm, like 35-45 degrees every day except the one to two days a week it drops into the teens or low 20s to remind us it's winter. I know a lot of people are really liking the mild temperatures, but what the lack of snow means to me is a world full of grey and brown... When it snows, the landscape is magically transformed into a glittery wonderland. We complain about shoveling it, but there is nothing like getting out there together and clearing our driveway together, lobing the occasional snow ball, our breaths coming out in little puffs of smoke... As we near completion, I head inside to get the cocoa going and usually a nice big breakfast of pancakes or waffles... We've earned them! Then we all hunker down in the living-room and usually start some DVD marathon... Sometimes it's a movie series like Lord of the Rings (extended versions, of course) or Harry Potter or the Pirates movies, or even the Bourne movies... Anything we have at least three of... Sometimes we whip out one of those nifty little boxes that contain a whole season of some show... Firefly is my personal favorite, but we have quite a few "seasons" of a wide variety of shows that have been purchased when spotted on sale just for this kind of day... But not this year... Oh, no... The shrink wrap remains on the movies I got for Christmas... If we can't commit to eight hours of viewing they shall remain hermetically sealed until we can! This year we have had no blizzards... We have had two "snow days" but they were mostly because it was too icy for the buses to run... Not the same... Nope, my world remains brown and grey... Yuck...
So last night I decided... enough! Yep, I'd had it with disappointing winter and I am declaring it Spring in our household! I took down the post Christmas, winter shower curtain and put up the early spring one I had in reserve...
Wait, did you know I change my shower curtains all the time? No, well you really should be doing this folks! Shower curtains are relatively cheap (most are under $40) and can make the room feel fresh and different in seconds. I keep my bathroom decor pretty neutral so I can go crazy, but even if you are locked into a color scheme, I bet you can fine new curtains out there to match it... I have a whole bin of shower curtains I pick from. Whenever I see one I love either on clearance or at least cheaply priced I pick it up and add it to the bin. I limit myself to 24, so occasionally I weed out the ones I haven't used in a few years to make way for new ones. I find if I own bath rugs in chocolate brown, red, medium blue, and beige I can match almost every shower curtain on the market. I also pick up cute window valances from time to time in those colors, but find that the beige and brown ones tend to go with everything I add... I like change and for things to look and feel new and fresh, and the shower curtain thing tends to cheer me right up...
On another subject, back in January a friend of mine asked me to help her plan her son's first birthday party... I was thrilled to be asked. I never get to do little boy parties, but the downside was we had four days... Aghhh... Sparky and I went over for lunch and presented her with our ideas... I guess you could say Sarah became our first "client"...
(here she is with the birthday boy)
She jumped at our first idea (so we wasted several hours coming up with three doable choices...) which was sock monkeys. It turns out she made a sock monkey for her then boyfriend (now husband) for their first valentines together and have exchanged several over the years as they spy them in stores. They even bought a huge one for their son for his first Christmas just a month before, so sock monkeys it was!
(here is the banner we made)
She wanted something memorable, because her husband's mom always did big theme parties for her husband and his siblings growing up. We have very little time and money to pull this off, so we stuck to the things that would have the greatest impact.
Like water bottle labels...
I designed this little guy up for the labels and banner... For some reason my computer would not let me place the nostrils where I wanted them, so I did the next best thing... We printed everything then took a sharpie marker and drew them in... On each one... Ok, it wasn't the "next best thing" but at 12 midnight the night before she was picking the stuff up, it was the best I could come up with.
I didn't go to this party so thing were not set up the way I would have... But I still think it turned out pretty cute.
This was the first sock monkey she made and he was supposed to be part of the "candy bar" but she decided not to do a candy bar and spread the candy jars throughout the room. I personally prefer the impact of all of it together, but it was her party to set up however worked best for her.
Here is the birthday boy...
He had a blast and that is what matters!
I bow to your superior crafty creative coolness. I just may change my shower curtain today.
ReplyDelete