Valentine Invites

It's getting very late here, and I just spent the evening watching some of the Top Chef: Texas episodes that have been building up on my PVR.  Before that, however, I did come up with this little baby that I wanted to share with you - Invites for Cecelia's Valentine's Day Party.

Okay, I'm sorry, but is this not the cutest thing ever?  I'm not usually one to sing my own praises, but I am so excited about these (is that bad?).  I'm going to pick up some pink envelopes tomorrow to finish it all off, and C will be sooo excited to give them to her friends. (Secretly, so will I.  I think I am getting more excited than she is!)

I made them in GIMP, and if any of you want to start using graphics more but don't want to pay for photoshop, GIMP is a great program that is a lot like Photoshop and has many of the same functions.  It's great for someone like me, who designs things mostly for personal use.

Anyway, like I said, it's late and I must head to bed.  Oh and don't worry, none of the details on the invite are real - but I do live on a bird name street, which adds perfectly to our theme :)

Have a great night!

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Valentine's Wreath

Well, even though my craft room isn't totally finished, that hasn't stopped me from working in it!  Like I said before, all I need is to install light fixtures and hang a pegboard.  I can't wait to show it to you.  But anyway, I decided to make a wreath for Valentine's Day - we are having a party here for my daughter and a few of her friends, and I have never done a Valentine's party before, so I am super excited!

I have been seeing so many felt flower wreaths around lately -

Our Best Bites

JoAnn's

Design Sponge

But to be honest, I really hate cutting all of those circles out of felt.  I really do!  (Does a silhouette cut felt?  Life would be so much easier if it did!)  My favorite felt flowers are these, and I learned from the wonderful Beckie over at Infarrantly Creative:

Aren't they gorgeous?  I find these much easier and less patience draining than cutting a million circles.  They are very easy - head over and learn how to make them if you don't know how, she gives an awesome tutorial with lots of variations.  Anyway... I planned to make an all red one, but after about 8 flowers, I realized I would run out of red.  I made some white, soft grey, and pink to go along with it, and I ended up loving the color combo.

I started with a embroidery hoop which I wrapped with a foam insulation pipe (that's my secret to making them stay round - at 50 cents a pipe tube, and $3 a hoop - which makes two rings, it's still less than $2 and it doesn't sag like just the insulation pipe.  The hoop makes it hold it's shape.)  I wrapped the form in a muslin type cloth.  (My husband is a chef so he brings me home big bolts of what they use for cheesecloth - it's a very tight weaved one though, so I use it all the time for wrapping wreath forms.)  Then, I started placing the flowers on - I started with a pattern but then some colors got too close together on the outside and inside, so I mixed it up.  To make them stick, I dipped a dress pin in glue and then pinned it through the center of the flower.  Voilà!  Gorgeous!

And there it is, being modelled on my door.   Pretty, huh?  And best of all, it's pretty easy :)

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Sneak Peek + A Thank You

First, let me say a big hello and thank you to all of my new followers- Becoming Martha hit the triple digits today!  Wahoo!  Thank you so much for following my little life, and it makes me happy to know that you enjoy reading along with my journey.  And don't forget to enter our giveaway for a free household organizer!

Now, I told you that my crafts would be a little sparse for a few weeks because we are making a craft room - or shall I say a craft closet.  It was the walk in closet that was in our guest bedroom (It's a 5x9.5 foot space) and it was crammed with all sorts of stuff.  I wish I took a picture before I cleared it out, but just imagine a closet stocked full of junk.  Clothes that were too small for my girls, old winter coats, books, you name it.  It took about a week to dig out of that.

The left hand side.  These two rods were once stuffed with clothes, coats, C's dress
up clothes, and who knows what else.

The right hand side.  Ahh, yes, more junk.

Nice green, eh?  Not!  It took two coats of primer and two coats of paint to get it to a soft grey colour.  It was my first time using primer, and let me say this - I don't like it at all.  It's so stinky and sticky and impossible to get off.  But none the less, I would have had to paint 18 coats to get rid of that green, so prime it was.

Like I said, I have never primed before, so I
had no idea how much was enough.  The wall
on the left got 3 coats!  I was two tired to do
that for every wall though.  I got annoyed
and only did two coats on those.

It's not ready for a full reveal yet, so I will save all of the details, which should be coming in less than a week.  All I need to do is frame and hang my pegboard, and patch a couple of massive holes that were left when I removed the bottom half of the shelf tracking.

Apparently the last owners had a little trouble getting it in the right spot... there are three sets of holes.  The walls were actually in pretty rough shape - holes everywhere!  But other than that, it s all ready to go.  I still have bare bulb light fixtures, but my husband's schedule is pretty hectic for the next couple of weeks, and I am definitely not waiting until he has time to show you my great space!

For now, here's a little tease of what's to come.

Yep, that's right - Santa (and by Santa, I mean myself my husband) brought me a Silhouette Cameo for Christmas!  I just opened it today - I was dying to try it out, but I wanted to wait until it had a proper home to go to.  Now my baby has a gorgeous home that's just waiting for a little pegboard... and some patching :)  Stay tuned to see the final reveal.

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Art for the Living Room

A long time ago, we put board and batten up in our living room - which was quite the process.  After we completed that and put our furniture, curtains, and rug in the room, I think we were mentally exhausted.  This was our first big major overhaul.   And today, over three months later, I added my first piece of art... and I made it myself.  It was the first piece of art I ever made, and I got to tell you, I was so scared.  Trust me though, it's totally nothing to be scared of.  If you screw it up (as I did do) you just paint over and start again. Easy!

It was Monday morning when I decided to make something for the walls.  Boo was asleep, and C was at school, and I needed a naptime project.  Since my craft room and supplies are under construction, it had to have a relatively simple and basic supply list.  I did a search for wall art to see what I could discover, and I saw the pottery barn number piece that so many people have knocked off.   You know it, this one:

I read a couple of tutorials quickly and I thought, hey, I can do that quick and easy.  I had a canvas - two actually.  I had paint.  I had glaze.  Voila!  I could make art.  So I set off on a mission.  I typed a bunch of numbers in various sizes (font: Century Schoolbook - I dabbled with a bunch but ultimately this was my fave and I used it for all of them).  I cut them out by hand, even though I have a brand new Silhouette Cameo sitting on my floor begging to be opened.  (I am waiting for my craft room to be done so that it has a proper home!)

Now here is where I screwed up, even though my screw up may have been a blessing.  I tried to glue the numbers on to the canvas.  I tried white glue, spray adhesive, glue stick... nothing stuck.  I ended up using a ton of glue.  My plan was to spray paint over it, and then peel the numbers off and have white canvas showing through which I would glaze.  I got one canvas done and glued on, and it took almost all of naptime.  I spray painted it, and then started peeling the numbers off.  I liked it, but didn't love it, because it looked a lot like a print and I really wanted it to look like a painting with all of the texture.  It didn't matter because Boo woke up screaming, and I had to drop it.  When I came back, the glue was too hard, and the numbers peeled the paint off.  Back to square one.  I spray painted the entire thing brown.  (I really wish I took pictures of all of this, I didn't think it was going to turn out so nice so I didn't even plan to share it!)

The back up was to use the numbers like stencils and trace them with a white crayon and then paint them white and then glaze them (like shown on aka design's tutorial).  This seems like more work, but honestly, with how hard it was to get the glue to stick to the canvas, it was actually easier and quicker.  I painted two coats of white with a dab of brown, and then glazed with Martha Stewart Antiquing Glaze mixed with a dab of brown.  And here they are:

I liked the sideways look, so I didn't add all of my numbers in straight lines like the PB version.  It was weird because as I was painting it, it reminded me of Salvador Dali's painting with the melting clocks for some strange reason.  My husband saw me working on it and I said "Do you know where this idea came from?" and I was going to tell him it was Pottery Barn piece and he said "That painting with the melting clocks?"

Here it is in our living room:

I am wondering if I need something more on the sides of it... we have such long, uninterrupted walls.  It hard to dress them.

We added a mirror to the other wall right before Christmas, which I showed with Christmas decorations...

This mirror is right in the center of that wall, so I have the same amount of blue space on the other side of the mirror.  I am thinking it needs a little something else on the sides, what do you think?  Does it look a little bare?

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Household Organizer, Part II

This post was all ready to go last nigh, but then Blogger wouldn't let me publish.  Did anyone else have that problem?  I couldn't even load some of my favorite blogs, and I had to login 4x for it to work.  It kept freezing up.  Maybe it was my old junky computer (why haven't I got my Mac yet?).  Either way, here it is now.

In my last post, I showed you the first 3 sections of my organizer.  Today, you will get to see the last three sections, and also some shots of mine in use.  (I wanted to show you more, but unfortunately, a lot of the info is pretty private and I might not want it floating around the blogosphere.)

This section includes:
Daily, Weekly, Monthly, and
Seasonal Chore Lists

This section includes:
Family Information
Medical Log
Babysitter Information

This section includes contact lists for:
School, Work, and Activities
Emergency & Medical
Family Members
Friends
& and a blank customizable contact list

Don't forget that I am giving away 5 of these organizers to some of my lucky followers.  Head over to this post to enter.

I also said I would show you some pictures of how my family binder looks in use.

This is my weekly planner.  In the divider pocket
for this section, I keep any notes from school
or extracurricular activities about upcoming events.

Here's my weekly meal plan at a glance.
I keep two copies of these in my binder so I
can plan two weeks at a time without erasing.
In the pocket divider, I keep recipes that I want to try.
(Once recipes are tried, if I decide if it's a keeper or not.
If not, it goes in the trash, but if we like it, it gets
written on an index card and placed in my index card
holder that I use to keep all of my recipes in.)

An example of our freezer inventory.  I need to
print a blank page to write all the extras on (we had
a lot of stuff that we don't usually have thanks to Christmas).

An example of our spending tracker.  I track
our spending and then put the totals in the budget
consolidation sheet each month.  If we end up
overspending, it easily helps me see patterns and
where it is occuring.  In the pocket divider for this
section, we keep the recent bills and statements.

This is the personal information section, which
is used for pretty straightforward reasons.  In
the pocket divider, I keep art that my daughter
has made that is waiting to be filed, and anything
else that isn't bills or money related but needs keeping.

Oops.  That brochure from my hair
dresser should be in the contact divider!

At the back, in the very last divider, I have another
set of small dividers.  These do not stick out past the other ones,
and are only big enough to divide paper.  I have a small divider
for each room that we are working on in the house, and
this is where I keep plans, measurements, and shopping
lists for each of the rooms.  It has done an amazing job of
keeping all of those little pieces of paper off my table!

So there you have it!  That's my system for keeping us all organized!  Don't forget to enter to win a copy of this organizer for yourself, and check out the first three sections here.

How do you keep it all together?

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Giveaway + Household Organizer, Part I

It's that time of the year again - no, not Christmas, that's gone by... the fun time that follows Christmas - the time of organizing!  Okay, so maybe it isn't THAT fun for many of you, but personally I find nothing more relaxing and refreshing than knowing that everything is where it should be.  What a great way to start the year!

One thing I noticed when I started blogging was that a lot of people had Home Organization Binders, or Household Notebooks, or House Management Books, or whatever other name you wanted to call them.  It is basically like a central command station for the house - finances, meals, calendars, activities, etc.  All in one spot.  And I knew I needed to get me one of 'dem.  So I naturally went where any slightly crazy normal person would go - Pinterest.

I found some great inspiration - and the best was over at I Heart Organizing (Ahhh... so do I!)

She really gave you great examples of the types of things that are important to include in your family binder.  After reading her posts, I got to work and created my own house binder.

I created 6 sections: Calendars & Agendas, Meal Planning, Finances, Chores & Cleaning, Family Information, and Contacts.  Here is a sneak peek of the first three sections:

This section includes:
Daily Planner, Weekly Planner, and Monthly Planner*

This section includes:
Weekly Meal Plan with Ingredient List
Favourite Meals & Quick Fixes Sheets
Grocery & Freezer Inventory

This section includes:
Monthly Bill Checklist for Year
Account and Policy Information
Budget & Consolidation Sheets
Spending Trackers

I put them in a binder with a clear sleeve, so that I could put a pretty picture in the front.  I will show you my actual binder in work tomorrow - my daughter scribbled on it tonight with sharpie, and I have to transfer it to a new binder.  (Tip #1:  Do not leave sharpies, the household binder, and a 20 month old in the same vicinty.)  I printed my pages with text in them, but I found it more useful to just have blank space to write in as things changed.  Like for instance, my grocery inventory changes with what is in season, so I found the blank boxes more useful than a set list so that I could easily change it.  I put every sheet inside a page protector, and then wrote on them with a marker like this:

Then I just use a baby wipe to wash it off whenever I need to change something or reuse a sheet at the start of a new week.  It works awesome!  I also used page dividers with pockets on both sides, which are super handy.  I keep recipes, newsletters from school, bills, etc, all in the pockets that match up with the corresponding section.  I found my dividers at the dollar store, and I was so happy with them because often, when things are in page protectors, they are the same width as the dividers, but these are super wide, so you can use the tabs even if you have dividers.

Tomorrow I will show you my next three sections and show you some pictures of my household binder in use.  But, I wanted to show you some of my household organizer so that you could see what you could win.  I will be giving away 5 copies of my organizer to my followers once we reach 200 followers.  If you would like to enter, comment below.  You may enter up to three times.

(1) Follow Becoming Martha and leave a comment saying that you do.
(2) Blog about this giveaway and leave a comment with the blog link.
(3) Place my button somewhere on your page and comment with the link.

You MUST be a Becoming Martha follower/subscriber to win.

The organizer will come in a PDF file, ready for you to print (it is sized on a 8.5x11 inch paper, full bleed).

*The calendar section does not have a monthly planner because I always print the monthly planners at Anything but Perfect - they are simply too cute not to.  However, if you win and you would like a monthly planner that coordinates with the rest of the calendar section, I would be happy to make one up for you.

Enjoy, and happy organizing!

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What I've Been Up To

I haven't posted since before the New Year, so I thought I better say HAPPY NEW YEAR!  (Even if it is about 8 days late!)  That's how I roll... late.  As my husband says, If I wasn't late, I probably wouldn't show up at all.  Anyway, just before New Years Eve, I started thinking about what to put on my door for a winter wreath.  I made the mistake of mentioning this to my husband.

"A winter wreath?  What's wrong with the wreath that's on the door now?"

"But that's a Christmas wreath."

"What's the difference between a Christmas wreath and a winter wreath?"

"Well, that one says Merry Christmas.  I can't leave that up all winter."

"Then get a pair of scissors and cut that little chaulkboard off and then it doesn't say Merry Christmas anymore."

"But it's red and green.  Those are the colours of Christmas."

"Says who?  The wreath police?"

"Yes, dear.  The wreath police."

He sighed a big heavy sigh, as I took out my crafting supplies and spread them all over our clean dining room table, just hours before we were to host a New Years Eve party.  "That's it," he said.  "You need a space for all of your crap."

Now I normally would have taken offense to him calling my stuff crap, but the first half of the sentence was too good to be angry.  I did need a space for all of my crap stuff.  So we agreed to change the walk in closet in the guest bedroom (its about 5x9 feet) into a crafting space for me!  Yipee!

That's what I have been doing the past few days - planning, arranging the space, priming, more priming (it was a dark forest green color), and just this morning I finished painting it a soft grey.  We are about two hours from any decent shopping, so I have to make sure I know exactly what I need and want and where to get it, and we are driving in next week.  I am so excited!  However, until then, all of my stuff in in boxes and tucked away so that I know exactly what I have and where it needs to go in when I am ready - so this week will be pretty low for the crafts - never mind the fact that its back to school for my daughter and back to work for my husband tomorrow.... back to swimming lessons and girl guides and making suppers on a deadline and playgroup... I will be so excited to have my crafting space where I can go and relax!

Now, I have something very exciting to tell you... I was featured on the Top 50 of 2011 over at I (Heart) Naptime!  They featured my Ice Cream Kit that I made for my neighbours.   Thank you so much, Jamielyn!  If you haven't checked it out, head on over to her blog - it's amazing!

Til next time... or whenever this craft room gets done...

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