Diy: Framed gallery for kids room

( Illustration credits go to Emily W. Martin of The Black Apple and Ashley Goldberg for most of the art used in these pictures.)

I have been collecting various frames for Mia's wall for a while now. Whenever I saw one with a good shape at the thrift store or garage sale i'd pick it up and save it for this project. I went into more depth on how to create a wall gallery in one of my very first posts if you'd like some tips. Some ideas suggested by my readers as an alternative to buying prints would be:

- frame your childs favorite creations and drawings.
- carefully cut out illustrations from old childrens books and wall calendars.
- frame an old map or parts of one.
- use old postcards.
- frame some interesting wallpaper or wrapping paper.
- create some special artwork of your own for your child.
- make a silhouette of your child
- photograph some of your childs favorite places and objects (like favorite stuffed animal or figurine)  give them a nice vintage look using Phixr or Rollip or Photoshop and print them.

Mia's room has been kind of changing and evolving as she grows, so it is never really 100% finished. I finally feel like I do have it to an "almost finished" point though and Mia seems happy with it. Her room is kind of a 50/50 mashup of vintage and new stuff. I plan on doing a more in depth room tour in the near future where i'll go into more details on our toy storage solution, her closet,  and where everything is from, so stay tuned!

Found it for less - Sure "wood" look good boot

Okay let me first state that I do love Modcloth for their extensive selection of hard to find retro, vintage and pin up styled modern clothing. I think they are a great business and i'm impressed by how far they have come in a short period of time. Modcloth does however, have kind of a reputation for jacking up the prices considerably on the same items that other retailers also carry from the same manufacturers. It's not always obvious since Modcloth rarely states the brand or manufacturer that their items are made by, unless it's a big name brand.

In this case we have the Sure 'Wood' Look Good Boot from Modcloth on the left for $74.99
and
the Gabby Boot at Alloy marked down to $14.99 from $49.90 on the right.

I am not an expert but I do believe those are the same boots in both stores. Reviews say they run big, so size down if you do end up purchasing them for that amazingly low price of $14.99.

Happy Valentine

 It's been a while so let me fill you in on what's been going on around here. My dad had his surgery and it was successful. The first few days with him in the hospital were rough. Everyone kinda took turns waiting in ICU and kept watch over him, then he was moved to a regular room where he spent another week recovering and he returned home last week where he has been continuing his recovery. His cancer was all taken out as far as we know, pathology results from the lab showed that no cancer had spread to anywhere else in his body, so removing his esophagus pretty much took care of it. I know you'd rather be reading about other things but I felt an update on that was in order and I didn't want to leave anyone hanging.

So, onto happier subjects.
Mia and I made strawberry cupcakes with pink frosting for Valentine's Day. She was a bit heavy handed on the sprinkles because of course that's the best part of making cupcakes. She wanted to give one to everyone she loved (so cute it makes my heart melt) and so we did. We printed out some of these lovely illustrated valentines, cut them out and taped them to the top of each container of cupcakes that she gave out. Mia is a big fan of Emily Martin's art (actually, so am I) we sit in front of the computer browsing through her illustrations from time to time and Mia has some of the titles of the art memorized...she's a smartie my kid, I swear. 

Resolutions and To Do Lists

I know January is coming to an end and I've made one post the whole month. My reasoning for this is simple...I've been trying to accomplish a few of my New Year's Resolutions while also trying to ignore the life-threatening surgery my dad will be having in a few short days. Some people like to make one big goal to accomplish as their resolution, me on the other hand...I like to make a To Do List of sorts of a lot of little things that are very attainable and for some reason, hard for me to acomplish due to some kind of adult ADD and lack of focus. I find that making lists greatly helps me stay focused and keep my head straight, also having music playing in the background really helps me stay focused on whatever task i'm trying to complete. Another trick i've picked up over the years is to set my kitchen timer for 20 minutes and to run around the house doing things without stopping until the timer goes off. Then reset and repeat and you'll be amazed at how much can actually get done in 20 minutes when you stay in the zone during these little 20 minute intervals.

 Items with red checkmarks have been accomplished. I am currently tackling  the "re-organize studio/office" section of my list and it's been 3 days into it and i'm close to finishing. I will post a studio tour once it's complete. So here is my 2012 To Do List in all of it's mundane glory.

I'd love to know what you guys do for your new year's resolutions along with how you keep track of your to do lists. Any tips or tricks to staying focused and completing tasks?

A peek into my world - On turning 30

That is probably the first bathroom mirror shot I have taken since I was in my early 20's. Ironically I took that picture on my 30th birthday as I was getting ready to go out to a bar to celebrate mine and my mister's 30th birthday. (we are less than 2 days apart.) Why did I take that ridiculous photo you might ask? Well it seems that just the act of turning 30 has caused me all sorts of insecurities that I never had before. Who knew that a number could hold so much power. I must have spent a good 2 hours getting ready that night, I meticulously did my makeup, did the black cateye with the liquid eyeliner, painted my nails some kind of reverse french manicure, and purposely gave my limp, flat, hair those waves that most girls have naturally. The whole time I was getting ready I kept asking myself if I was too old to be wearing what I was planning to wear that night, and if I had too many frown lines and eye wrinkles to wear my makeup that way. Never mind the constant checking of my body in the full length mirror in my bedroom to see if my ass looked 30 years old. So I took this photo to kind of see what the camera would tell me about myself. To see myself through someone else's eyes, and do you know what this picture told me? It told me that age is just a number and you are only as old as you feel. Well folks, I still feel about 25 so i'm not gonna let this new decade in my life get me down. I'm still going to wear what I want and not what society tells me I should be wearing simply because I am a mama in my 30's.

Dear Santa: I Want the Chocolate + Vanilla Blythe dolls

I'm going to start this post off by stating that this is a "here's what not to do" list for any Mama out there who can't afford to buy her kid Blythe dolls. These are the step by step mistakes that I made this past year, which led to me having to part with $180 for my not quite 4 year old's christmas present. It's kinda like the book If You Give A Mouse A Cookie in the sense that what seems innocent at first turns into a snowball effect.

Mistake #1: If you buy your kid any of the Littlest Pet Shop Blythe dolls she's going to fall in love with them and ask you questions about them.

Mistake #2: This will lead to you stupidly going to Ebay and showing your child pictures of the original 1972 Kenner Blythe dolls, which of course she falls in love with. After you explain to her that these vintage Blythe dolls go for $1500 - $3000 and they are not for 3 year olds to play with, she will start to cry "because she really, really likes them."

Mistake #3: Of course you feel bad, so you decide to go on Flickr to show her pretty pictures of all of the Neo Blythe dolls by Takara Tomy in Japan and you tell her that these ones cost less money but are still expensive. You sit together at bedtime looking at all the pretty pictures of the Blythe dolls instead of reading a storybook, and with each picture that you look at together, she gets more excited about them and more obsessed. You start to realize that you've opened up a can of worms, but it's too late. You decide to go to Ebay once more to see what's the lowest price a Neo Blythe doll goes for.

Mistake #4: Lo and behold, you can "buy it now" a set of 2 Blythe dolls called Simply Vanilla + Simply Chocolate for the price of one. They cost $150 plus $30 for shipping and you get kinda excited and forget who you're talking to and go "look Mia, these two come together." and then it's all over for you, at that point you've already put your own foot in your mouth and there is nothing left to do except listen to your daughter talk about "the chocolate and vanilla Blythe dolls" for the next 6 months. And she is a smart little one, she knows that if all she ever asks for is those dolls when anybody asks her what she wants for christmas that she is bound to get them. She even words it right so that you feel obligated to get them because you don't want to break her little heart. She says "all I want for christmas is the chocolate and vanilla blythe dolls, I'm not going to ask santa for anything else because those are what I really want the most." She even asked me to write a letter to Santa for her and on the letter she drew a picture of the dolls. Here is what she asked me to write:
"Dear Santa,
Please bring me the chocolate + vanilla Blythe dolls for christmas and please make sure you go to the right house. I've been trying to be a good girl so you will bring them. Make sure you drink the milk and cookies.
love, Mia"

Mistake #5: The dolls arrived today. Both my parents, the mister and I all chipped in to pay for them together. I don't know if it's a mistake or not but I couldn't bare the thought of my little girl being dissapointed that santa ignored her letter and got her something else instead. So, that will be all she's getting for christmas in the toy department. I did also get her 2 sweater dresses, 2 pairs of knit tights from H+M, and a cozy pair of slippers but that's it...i'm done.
What would you have done if you put yourself in the same situation? do you think i'm crazy? i'd like to know and won't be offended, I have a sense of humor I swear.

Found it for less - Jeffrey Campbell Litas

Well it's that time again, time for me to help you save your hard earned money by purchasing a look-a-like version of those Litas everyone on the internet seems to have on their feet. While I know some people are all "Oh my gaawwwd! Jeffrey Campbell is the best!" I'm sure there are others like me, who like some ( I mean it when I say some, holy crap some of his shoes are just so ridiculous i'm sorry, they are, just admit it.)of his designs, but don't require his name to be on the shoe, for it to be enjoyed.

So for the "OMG Jeffrey!" fashionistas we have the original Jeffrey campbell Lita boots on the left for $159
and for the thrifty chicas we have HotTopics look-a-like version for $44.50 on the right.

With just a slightly different heel and less platform in the front, the cheap version actually appeals to my aesthetics a bit more. I feel they are less "clown shoe" and more sophisticated but to each her own. Which ones would you pick?