IKEA, Urban Barn, Home Decor...

Today was such a beautiful warm sunny day. I love this weather but nothing warmer than this. I wish it would be spring all the time. Anyway, today my husband, daughter, and I dropped by IKEA for a bit. I've always loved IKEA for the beautiful rooms and neat home organization ideas they have. I hope one day I can have a place that will be neatly decorated like that or better. My daughter seemed to really enjoy the trip there too as it was very family friendly. There were play area booths throughout the showroom area for kids to play in and my daughter absolutely loved exploring each room and kept saying "next room" after she pretended to wash her hands and dry off in every sink she found. I ended up picking up 2 different fabrics from the clearance section. I'm hoping I can learn to sew and use them somehow, some way. We also picked up some children plates and bowls-plates (only $1.99 for 6! or $4.99 for 3 sturdier ones).  I gotta love their low pricing.

Another home decor store that my family really liked but requires a lot more supervision for my daughter is Urban Barn. We just came upon it after eating out one night at Nando's (tasty chicken with your choice of spiciness...too bad my daughter wasn't really into even the non spicy, lemon herb flavoured chicken). Anyway, I really liked Urban Barn's home decor. There's lots of interesting ideas and I especially liked the pastel brown/gray coffee table accented with white plant pots. I hope I can get a coffee table like that.

My husband and I were saying how when we have our own place, we're most likely going to find and refinish furniture pieces from Goodwill type stores. It'd be better for the environment and we'll also have some unique pieces at our place. We'll see :)

Carol Baicker-McKee

I went to the library with my daughter today and I was quite surprised that she didn't mind returning her favourite Toopy and Binoo CD. Maybe it's because I told her that we're going to borrow new ones and she can choose them. Anyway, I came upon a book that my daughter seemed quite fond of and I really liked because of its 3D illustrations using mixed media of fabric, clay, wood, and other materials.

Carol Baicker-McKee's website is under construction right now so I'm unable to provide more pictures but I'll add to this post later on. I'm hoping to get a hold of her other books that she's illustrated including Cheep! Cheep!

Anyway, my daughter seems to like this book so much that I am thinking of recreating little stuffed animals of these characters for her....we'll see if that happens as I have so many art/craft ideas that are never materialized right now.

Apparently, Baicker-McKee also holds a PHD in a clinical child psychology and has written a few parenting books with strategies for preschooler days. This might be worth a look at since my daughter will soon be creeping up to that age.

Buttermilk Pancakes

This morning I got up a little before my daughter woke up and made buttermilk pancakes for the first time (with the help of my hubby of course). It was delicious! so fluffy and light :9 It definitely takes a few more steps than the quick breakfasts that I usually make but if there's someone there helping, it was not too bad and well worth it. We made so much that we can now freeze it and use it for another breakfast. Yay :)

Button Bracelet

I've always had an obsession for buttons and I found the buttons I bought ages ago from the dollar store.

I decided to make a bracelet out of it. Just take some stretchy beading string and string away until you get the length and pattern or colours you'd like. At the end, tie knot and a loop-that way you can use the the loop to go around the buttons and adjust the length. I hope this makes sense. I don't have pictures of the steps but I figured all the crafty people out there can probably figure it out.

I let my daughter try it out (under super close supervision of course!) Sorry about the blurred pics-it's what I was able to take late that evening.

Dr Suess Face Painting

Today I tried my hand at face painting for the second time. Apparently I have quite the skill for face painting. Maybe b/c it's like painting but the face is the canvas. Anyway, I wish I could post the pictures but just to make sure I can post them first (since it involves children), I'll have to post my inspiration pictures for now.

Today I painted lots of Grinches, a Cat in the Hat, some truffula trees, 2 red fish (from One Fish, Two Fish, Red Fish, Blue Fish), and lots of Lorax.

Some of my inspiration linked to its original source...

The truffula trees were the simplest and the Cat in the Hat + Grinch took quite some time. If only I can get paid as a real face paint artist, that would be nice :)