Valentine Cookie fun!

I volunteered to make some heart shaped cookies for J's 4th grade Valentine's Day Party.  Apparently the 4th grade goes all out!  It was fun making them this evening (although I am beginning to think i have a hard time saying "no"!!)

the royal icing in just a tad of water so it doesn't dry up. 

the cookies after piping the border.

and the final product!  I have a lot of fun working with royal icing. :)  Good thing my darling husband is working on the laundry though, these took a while!

Happy Valentine's Day Dear Blogger Friends!

some snapshots of what we've been up to!

Just like most of the East Coast, we are buried under LOTS of snow (although to answer Lori's question, no I am not personally buried), and actually it is currently snowing again.  (sticking my tongue out and making raspberries).
Here are some snapshots of what we've been doing...
My dad helped me make a headboard for the Master Bedroom.  Plates make a great tool for creating that perfect curve!

getting ready to measure...

the finished product!  LOVE.  now I just need to tear down the wallpaper.  sigh.

 The boys have been having fun playing in the snow!

our back deck.

this is from before we got completely dumped on!

we have been skiing a lot!

And I have been doing a lot of this:

But really, would much rather be doing this...

I hope you are all surviving the winter, enjoying the first signs of spring (if you are lucky enough to live where that is happening) and I am hoping that this post will get me back to blogging!  Time to get the camera out again.  All these photos were taken with my iphone.

My office/studio take 3!!

The crazy fall updating continues here at Casa Tickled Pink.  You can see my old studio (the first one in this house) here and my inspiration for my studio here and here!  Phew!  Here is the room before:

  Here is MY finished product...

installed the chandelier!  yippee!!

the wall that was behind the bulletin board was very damaged, so I covered it with paper!

this is a trundle bed, so we can still accommodate guests.

close up of my ribbon/paint center (and the wrapping paper covered wall!!)

another one of my grandmother's dining chairs, and a desk I got at a rummage sale for $5!  fabric for the chair is from a shower curtain purchased at T@rget.

storage bins from bath section at T@rget.  hence the shower curtain..  Bins handy for tools etc!

Well, this is my space!  Oh, I will add a picture of the chandelier before once I get it on to my computer (it currently resides in my phone!)

All I want for Christmas...

Is my 2 front teeth!!!

How cute is he??  So excited!  The second one came out around 2:00 in the morning.  I sure hope he wasn't wiggling it all night....

Our Family Room makeover

You can go here to see the family room before before, and then our first after.  Here are pictures from our most recent after...
I had slip covers made for the striped couch and the two chairs, after being inspired by this and then TOTALLY lucked out by finding an existing slipcover for my other couch for $100.  That's right, $100!!!
I happened to have the curtains (from Target) on hand already, they used to hang in our attic in our old house, so all in all this was a fairly budget friendly makeover!

I still REALLY want to paint the brick, but John does not....sigh.

some fall decoration

love this whale!  A friend gave it to me for my birthday.

notice the leftover fabric from J's room???

this is my $100 slipcover!  Yippee!!

What I've been up to!! ***UPDATED***

Oh my, it has been quite a while!  I have been a busy bee recently updating our second floor.  (among a miriad of other things!!)  It seems that while most people get spring fever and do major overhauls in the spring, I like to make changes in the fall.  Coinciding with school starting perhaps??  heehee

After 5 years of sharing a room, J decided he wanted his own room.  We are fortunate to have 5 bedrooms, but John and I each had one of the rooms as office space, and the other room was being used as a small guest room (often referred to as my niece's room).  Let the switch a roo begin!  John moved his office into the guest room,  I moved my studio/craft room to his old office and my studio became J's room.  Here are the before and afters of J's new "big kid" room.  Pictures of the other spaces coming....

this was my studio, but we had already moved my stuff into another room.

another view before.  I painted this desk glossy black.  Will be seen later!

I really loved having pink and green walls, but J wanted nothing to do with them!

here is the after!  Our inspiration for the room came from the curtain fabric.  Not sure if you remember my valances in my studio, but I re-purposed them to be the green and white pillows.

I have 2 skateboards to mount as shelves above the desk.  They are just not up yet.

The bedroom set was my dad's!  Love that! Oh, and we have a mirror to add above the dresser.

I also got my grandmother's dining room chairs out of storage and painted one for J's desk chair.

before...

And AFTER!!  I am SO loving glossy black right now!!

FINALLY hung the prints...  Curtain fabric is from Jo-Ann Fabrics

love how the colors totally match :)

and added the skateboard shelves too. 

I got these 2 skateboards at Target for $10 each!  Just mounted them with "L" brackets

just a close up of the pillows on the bed.

So I think I have achieved a room which J loves, has a subtle skateboard theme, and will be a room he can be in for quite some time!

 I am also going to re do 2 more of the chairs.  One for my desk, and one for my vanity.  I may use the 4th for my SMALL desk in my kitchen, but it is REALLY small.  Not sure the chair will fit well...

I am planning to post some more before and after's once I have them finished!
xoxo

First Day of School (finally!!!)

I can't get this one in the right place...

J's first day of Kinder (I hadn't started doing the signs yet)

C's first day of nursery! (OMW how cute is he???)

Someone not being very cooperative!!

ok, that's better!

out take

Oh my word! They get big SO fast!!!  Here are this years photos: (taken very quickly before the downpour happened!  so much for walking to school...)

C was very excited to start his first day, and was very cooperative with picture taking as well (notice that wasn't so much the case way back on the first day of kinder)

I cannot believe how big J is getting!  sheesh!  But he still humors his mama and lets me take the pictures with the sign :)

and the two brothers!  They wanted to take a picture in their sweatshirts, because as I mentioned last year, you may see a theme throughout the years.  This year the sweatshirts are actually new ones....

It's the most wonderful time of the year......