Sunday, December 22, 2013

Dress Up Station for Christmas!

We, I mean I, decided way back this summer that The Kid was going to get a dress-up-trunk for Christmas.  I knew that I could score some deals on clearance Halloween costumes the day after Halloween and make it really special without spending a whole lot of money.  What is it with me and big Christmas projects... did you see the play kitchen I made last year?  If you missed it you can check that out Here.

I put out an APB on Facebook and some swap-buy-sell pages that I was looking for a dresser to refurnish, I mean SOMEBODY has to have a beat up dresser they want rid of right? No. I had like two hits on my posts, and they weren't the size or make I was looking for, I mean beggars can't be choosers but if I'm going to re-purpose it I don't want to spend $80 on a used dresser just to tear it apart.  I figured something would come along or I'd scrap the idea for another year. *Just* as I was about to give up my friend Jamie came to the rescue when I posted this link from Pinterest to show what I was looking to do: http://www.pinterest.com/pin/10836855322982382/

She had made one for her girls, and they've pretty much outgrown it.  And like the "awesome" blogger that I am... forgot to take a good before picture.  Anyway it was perfect, it already had all but the bottom drawer taken out, so all I had to do was cut a board to make a shelf above the drawer (Which turned into a bigger project than I intended, and had to get The King to help with that)  

So I've had this in my possession since probably early September, you know, when it was warm enough to paint it outside?  Yeah, procrastinator is my middle name, so here it is, the weekend before Christmas and I'm finally ready to paint, even though I had already purchased spray paint for the project I went and bought wall paint, figured I could kill two birds with one stone and use it to paint The Kid #2's dresser (another post for another time) Anyway enough of me talking, you're here for pictures. 
So here we go, starting to paint.
Inside, coat one (Ignore the room... The Kid's playroom is a disaster at the moment because it's turned into storage for a bunch of stuff (I"m working on that!)



Yeah, I told you the room was a mess... Anyway, coat 1 done, let it dry overnight


After coat #2, let it dry overnight again...

Next step, frosted lace contact paper on the back and shelf 
(it's so pretty, this picture kind of sucks)

Smooth out all the bubbles (I used a pampered chef pan scraper, I did one long sheet down the back, across the "shelf" and down over the lip.  I used packing tape to further seal off the edge on the inside of the lip (where the drawer goes) as the wood on that part was kind of uneven and it wouldn't stick well 

Add a tension rod & some hangers

I bought a drawer pull... dummy me didn't measure it and bought a 3" pull, I need a 4" which I'll pick up tomorrow when I go to town.

I added a key rack on the side to hang necklaces, and will be picking up a small mirror, I picked up a full length one, but it's way too big for the side, so I'm going to see what else I can find.  

It's all ready for Santa to come!  I covered with a blanket, turned it around backwards towards the wall, and am going to hope the 2 year old doesn't notice since it's actually been in plain sight since we got the thing I don't think she'll pay too much attention to it.  We wrapped up all the costumes and dress up accessories we bought so we'll put it all together on Christmas Morning and I'll share her reaction :)  Thanks for stopping by!!



Sunday, December 15, 2013

Polar Express filled weekend!

We had such a great time this weekend!  What a Winter Wonderland our home has turned into :)

First we bought tickets to the Momentum Arooostook & Wintergreen Arts Center Polar Express ride on Mollly the Trolley for The King, The Kid & I and The King's parents for Saturday 12/14.

 I then went to the IGA and gathered up the biggest boxes they had on hand...
And with a utility knife, and some packing tape, made a train engine:




A couple more big boxes we have some train cars...

Add some wrapping paper, paper plates and sign, and we have a CHOO CHOO!

The Polar Express all ready to go!  We hid it away, for now.  



Saturday Evening we headed up to UMPI to go on the trolley ride,
While we waited we played around in the gym a little:



It was finally time for "All Aboard!!!" She was pretty proud of her golden ticket

She was watching the conductor, he was coming to punch her ticket!




He played the part very well!

We rode the trolley around town and looked at the Christmas lights, then went to the "North Pole" at Wintergreen Arts Center.

First we got to decorate a cookie...

Except, it's way more fun to eat just the frosting, and drink the cocoa



We got to meet some of Santa's elves!

And then Santa stopped by for a visit!

Waiting 'patiently'

There's SANTA!

He gave The Kid a bell from his sleigh!

She really was excited, we just didn't get a very good picture!

She at first wanted to go see Santa, but when we got up to him was quite freaked, so he snuck behind us for a photo, and our camera decided to error out at that exact moment. I'll snag it from the Art Center when they post the photos from the event.  
We then got back on the trolley and headed back to UMPI. It was a pretty good night, which set the tone for today (Sunday)

Today has turned out to be a very snowy, stay-in-your-pj's-all-day kind of day, which is perfect for what we had in mind.



This is our driveway, after The King had already shoveled once!  

The Kid helped me make cookies: 





...and make a mess.

Then it was off to naptime for her!

When she woke up "Santa" had stopped by from the north pole and brought her her very own Polar Express!  She was so excited about the "Choo Choo" she must have said it over and over and over!





You can read her lips here : Choo! Choo!

We let her open her gift of the day (We do a Christmas book or movie every night in December before bed, today she got to open it a bit early)


Choo Choo Movie!

We waited a little bit for our friends to get here to join us, They, too were very excited about the choo choo!





We all enjoyed homemade hot cocoa, loaded potato pinwheels, and potato bacon soup, ate lots and watched the movie, then we decorated cookies!









And I my friends, am one tired mama!  
I hope you enjoy the pics from our whirlwind couple days... while I sleep it off and spend time getting my house back in order!