Time to catch up!

I seem to be a little slow at keeping up with my blog. A habit I don't want to get into. Life has been busy these last couple months, with summer day trips, a lot of birthdays and just simply keeping up with the rising activity level of my nearly one year old. I have only 5 days left with an infant son, if I can even call him that before he hits toddlerhood. This coming Saturday is his first birthday. There will be lots of celebrating and good times with family friends gifts and cake. Thank goodness it's an outdoor party as I'm sure things are going to get VERY messy!

I have been finding it somewhat difficult to keep up with my DIY projects. Whether I'm too busy running up the stairs after Hans or just exhausted from interupted sleep but I have worked on a couple of items. For example, I refurbished a kitchen coffee corner unit. After visiting some friends of ours, my husband, Fritz, and I saw this unit laying on the side of the road with a big FREE sign on it. We drove past it simply because, well, where in my small house will I fit another piece of furniture? About 10 minuutes down the road I made my husband turn around and pick up my next project. Together we sanded it down, and painted it a rustic willow green. we removed the glass from the top cupboard door and replaced it with wire mesh, replaced the bottom cupboard doors with a curtain that matches the other curtains in my kitchen. It now houses our hot beverages, and mugs and Keurig.

We also replaced two of our kitchen chairs with a storage bench. This bench couldn't get any better with the exception of different fabric and a new colour. But in terms of functionality, it's perfect. The top opens to store mitts, scarves and what-nots, while the bottom has room for shoes. Also we can push our table into the corner over the bench and pull it out when needed. This has added so much space to our tiny kitchen!

In our basement, I have been working on a play corner for Hans. I bought 2 IKEA lac tables, a square one and a rectangular one, painted them a citrus green, used metallic duct tape to create a dipped leg look and used chalkboard paint (self made) on the top. I added three 3M hooks on the end to hang cans for crayons, markers etc. and I plan to still add velcro pieces to semi-permenently add a lego base, as well I would like to add the IKEA paper roll to one end. But Hans eats paper, so I cannot do that yet.I set this table on top of a road map rug and purchased 3

storage stools for only $7 each to store duplo/lego/trains/other toys.

At the end of June, Fritz and I celebrated our 5 year wedding anniversary. We have been trying to keep up with the traditional themed anniversary gifts. But we both agreed that obligatory gifts seem somewhat less meaningful. So this year, since the theme was wood, we worked on a pinterest project together instead and made this:

I have also been busy working on diapers for the upcoming mom to mom sale to advertise my custom baby gear and crafts "business" which is coming up in less than 2 months!