Stinkerpants

Charlie’s City Livin’ Big Girl Room

September 25, 2011 in Parenthood & Life • Projects & Tips for Babies & Kids • Personal Projects • Our Home

Hi all! I know I said that I'd be sharing our office next, but after waiting literally MONTHS for my darling husband (hi dearest!) to clear off his desk so I'm not mortified to take photos, I've given up and am moving on (for the time being).

Instead, I'm going to share C's big girl room, which I finished right around her first birthday.

Why redecorate her room, you might ask? Well, two reasons: 1) I was irrationally annoyed by how trendy the pompom lantern I made was, and 2) I wanted her room to fit her personality, and this is a very adventurous little girl. I wanted to create a "big girl room" for her that was her size - everything within her reach - and that had a theme befitting a tiny explorer.

Ironically, the room was inspired by a rug I bought from Ikea that we no longer have - Elvis Purrsley peed on it and ruined it (I love him, but he can be obnoxious, that cat). I always wanted a rug with roads on it for my matchbox cars when I was a kid, so when I found the super affordable ($15!) rug, I had to buy it. But it didn't match the rest of her room! What to do?

Over time, the perfect theme came to mind - a city. And when I thought about creating a little reading nook for her, I decided to create a park-themed reading area in a modern city.

How about a little tour?

This is the view from the door. The hot air balloons are made by Travels Light, and were a gift from my friend Reichel over at Copy Cat Chic (she bought them for her daughter's gorgeous nursery and didn't end up using them!). I think they look perfect above C's crib. And because I don't want you guys to think I've got it all together (as if you thought that anyway, ha!), here's the full disclosure: I was totally planning to DIY hot air balloons using paper mâché, but the project was really frustrating and I gave up. I'm glad I did - these are so much better!

Here's a view of the "park" reading nook. I love these LOVA leaf canopies from IKEA, and I've been surprised that more people online aren't using them in their kids' rooms. Sitting under them makes you feel like you're in a secret spot - they're awesome!

Underneath, she has "grass" (two little rugs, also from IKEA) and a cushy place to hang out. My mom made the big gumdrop pillows; you may recognize the one in the back from her original nursery, and the two new ones are made with tree fabric to fit the park theme. The pattern is Amy Butler's Gum Drop Pillows, if you're curious.

C also has three pillows with Stinkerpants animals on them - a deer, a squirrel and a skunk.

Here are a few close-ups of the reading nook. The bookshelves were taken from a post on Ohdeedoh - those are IKEA spice racks - $3 each! I love a good - and cheap - idea!

Next we move over to the changing table area. There's not much on the changing table itself, because C likes to throw things (haha). All of her changing supplies (wipes, etc) are in the bookshelf next to the dresser.

Over her changing area are two wooden biplanes with a special purpose. I am super proud of this idea - it was a stroke of genius in the dead of the night. ;) I needed a place to hang her barrettes - so I created little banners for these planes (thick floral wire inside white ribbon), and clipped her barrettes on them.

The planes are hung using fishing wire, which you can barely see when you're in the room. The planes themselves are actually part of a plane mobile, which I bought at a toy store in Berkeley.

Here's her Expedit, now filled out with more toys and fun stuff than the last time you saw it. ;)

A few more photos of some of the details...

The shelves on the wall are RIBBA photo shelves (from IKEA, of course). Behind them, I painted clouds directly on the wall (I was inspired by these shelves, but wanted something a little more handmade looking). Her original nursery included a lot of artwork, and I was sad that a photo wall didn't exactly fit in with the new theme - it looked weird floating in the "sky." There were a couple of pieces of artwork that I really wanted to display, though, so I put them on the shelves.

Here, the "Springtime" print, which is one of three I scanned from one of Y's favorite baby books.

And, the wish tree print, which Y and I spent a lot of time filling out and means a lot to us.

I also have toys and books from Y's and my childhood in C's room...

My grandfather (who C was named after) gave me this Felix the cat stuffed animal, for example:

And a little shadow box I made using the onesie she wore when she came home from the hospital (and various other "the day you were born" knick-knacks):

More of the artwork I couldn't part with (this one I drew for C with all of her animals) from the original nursery, plus my childhood toys & a toy left over from her circus birthday party:

There you have it! I am happy to say that C really seems to enjoy her room, especially the little reading nook. It's a lot of fun to watch her play!

Charlie’s Circus First Birthday

August 17, 2011 in Parenthood & Life • Projects & Tips for Babies & Kids • Personal Projects • DIY and Crafts • Holidays

I’m beginning to realize that party planning is not for me. While I enjoy the coming-up-with-ideas part, the actual execution part stresses me out. Somehow, things never end up going as planned.

In summary, I should have known better than to plan Charlie's first birthday party outdoors in the hills of the San Francisco Bay Area in the summer. It was very cold for most of the party, and the fog/wind wrecked a few of my DIY projects. Oh well. I like to keep it real here at Stinkerpants.com, so it wouldn’t have been me if I had an array of stunningly perfect first birthday photos, now would it?! ;)

Also, I’m convinced that people who have beautiful parties for babies either have a professional photographer, or they have a lot of help. Or maybe everything in their lives goes as planned? I'm not sure - whatever it is, the parties I looked at for inspiration were perfect. I don’t believe in photoshopping myself for this blog, and birthday parties are no different...so these photos have cars in the background, Charlie isn’t smiling (why is that?!), and I don’t look perfect (mostly because I was cold and had my jeans on under my dress - otherwise I usually look perfect, right? HA!).

Despite the weather, the carnival birthday party ended up being fun for all (even Charlie, who is going through a shy stage right now). And although my favorite DIY project didn’t work out, I let it go and had a good time anyway.

Because we live in a condo and don't have a back yard, we decided to hold Charlie's party at a local park, near a carousel. I had grand visions of tons of balloons (which Charlie loves), a very cute display of her weekly photos, and a warm, sunny day. The reality was a bit less than that, but I still think things turned out well. How about some photos?

Inspired by a post on Hostess with the Mostess,I bought a few tin circus toys on Etsy and displayed them on painted, upside-down terracotta pots. I also used rolls of tickets to create displays. Some of the ticket displays were actual ticket rolls, and others were 9" round foam discs (which I got from our local flower mart), with tickets glued on. The other centerpieces were cheap plastic wild animal toys, which I spray-painted gold, and ticket flowers, which I made using the various colors of tickets I bought. It was Y's genius idea to cut out the "one" from the "admit one" tickets for the center of each flower. Perfect for a first birthday!

On Pinterest (which, by the way, you should follow me on! Or, if you want an invite, comment below and I'll send you one!), I found this awesome beverages display and was totally inspired. I circus-ified a sign, and used a tin beverages container we've had for ages. Izze makes the perfect party drink - it's tasty and oh-so-pretty. It's also not cheap, so I wanted to prevent people abandoning their half-finished drinks when they lost track of whose was whose. I made little flags for people to write their names on for the stripey straws (leftover from our baby shower), and displayed them in a vase I made from one of the ticket rolls.

Another photo of one of the tables...notice Charlie's weekly photos, laid out on the tables? Those weren't supposed to be there. This is the only project that didn't work out that I was truly sad about. These were supposed to be hanging up as part of a "step right up and see the cutest baby on earth!" display (which you'll see in a minute).

For food, we served hot dogs, pulled pork sandwiches and various delicious sides from Best in Show (Y got a great groupon!). I must say, the food was really good.

Because it was so cold, the birthday girl's adorable outfit (handmade by her Grammie) was covered up for most of the day. She was wearing a mish-mash of various warm add-ons, none of which matched (haha). Y and I also dressed up to be a little circus-y, but I think Y's outfit (completed by an awesome moustache) looked way better than mine!

Y and I bought a birthday hat from a seller on etsy, which would have been awesome (if she'd sent the one we ordered). My mom and I took it apart and made the hat a million kinds of awesome using glitter and a feather boa (thanks Mom!).

Both of Charlie's grandfathers got rainbow suspenders - my dad already has a moustache, but Yeh Yeh needed one (like how it matches his hair?).

Clown noses were provided for the guests (of course).

See this display? I still think it was a genius idea. I bought cheap umbrella stands from Amazon (yay for Amazon Prime!), and wooden dowels from Home Depot. Then I hand-lettered a sign that said, "Step Right Up & See the...cutest baby on earth!" The idea was to string all of her weekly photos between the two dowels. Sadly, the moisture in the air from the fog combined with the breeze ripped the strings and the photos were flying all over the place. Sad. That was my favorite idea. I would have set it up at home, but somehow the sign got ripped and part of it was missing. Oh well. As it was, it became a cute backdrop for people to take photos with their babies.

I didn't want to go over-the-top with cake. Fondant isn't really my thing - it's a little too fancy for a first birthday party in my opinion, and it isn't the best taste-wise. I really wanted simple and relatively inexpensive cakes from a local bakery (they make the best Red Velvet cake!). We reused cake stands from our wedding, and I bought cake bunting from a seller on Etsy (even though these are super trendy right now, bunting is just soooo circus-y! I had to do it!).

I really expected Charlie to freak out and do a face plant into her tasty cupcake, but she didn't eat ANY OF IT, even after I put some of the frosting in her mouth! Behind Charlie, you can see more bunting (from the same Etsy seller). I strung the bunting between two dowels, much like the beverages sign & the weekly photos display (my dad got the fun job of getting the dowels in the rock-hard ground. Still not sure how he did it!). You can also see Charlie's cute oufit a bit better here.

The cakes came in three flavors: chocolate, white, and red velvet (the red velvet was the biggest, of course!). People seemed to enjoy them - I know I did!

So that's it for Charlie's first birthday party! I still can't believe she's a year old. Next year's party will be a lot less involved (unless I get carried away again...)!

C’s Baby Announcements

June 7, 2011 in Parenthood & Life • Personal Projects • DIY and Crafts

I realized the other day that I completely forgot to show you guys C's baby announcements!

You might remember that (during the luckiest year of my life) I won a newborn photography shoot with the fabulous Nancy of Bug & Bean Photography. She took many gorgeous photos of C at a week old, and it was difficult to choose just one for the announcement! Somehow I managed it. :-D The photos on the front were taken by the wonderful Kim of Jennifer Kloss Photography, from our engagement shoot & wedding.

Without further ado..here's the outside:

and the inside:

and the printed envelopes (love the peacock color...swoon!) (yes, I just said swoon, Y!):

a close-up of C's little illustrated face on the envelope:

I had a lot of fun making these - it's obviously a totally different style than I normally do (photos? what? haha), and it was a fun little vacation! ;)

A Blurb book for every year

May 25, 2011 in Personal Projects • Displaying Memories • DIY and Crafts • How To

Sometimes when I tell people about the things I do -- my little projects and such -- I realize that I sound like a complete and total crazy person. Normal people have better things to do with their time than think up ways to redecorate their not-even-a-year-old baby's room.

Our House: Living Room

April 20, 2011 in Personal Projects • Our Home

Our living room is kind of weird. It has an awesome marble fireplace, but it's not in the center of the room, meaning everything felt a little bit lopsided. We had a hard time figuring out how to position our furniture and where to put the television. We spent a bunch of time moving furniture in our minds and trying to figure out what kind of couch we'd need to fit the space right.

Ultimately, we decided to hire a professional to mount the television on top of the fireplace. We've gotten some strange looks from people, but we are super happy with how it looks. 

Before photos...this is the living room as viewed from the hallway. The sliding door leads to a (very dirty) balcony, and the door on the left is the office.  Overall, it was very WHITE, and it had ZERO overhead lighting. Our main changes were paint color, lighting and crown moulding (which is everywhere but the bathrooms in the house, but seems to make a lot of impact in this room).

This railing is a logistical nightmare to baby-proof. To be honest, we're still a little clueless. Thus far our ideas include giant pieces of plexiglass, or a LOT of bubble wrap. ;)

View of the dining room from the living room:

After, same view.  We think the TV looks pretty slick. ;) Another big thing we did was have speakers mounted into the walls and ceiling. This was Y's idea, and I'm so glad we did it. Baby proofing is much easier now that we don't have to worry about speaker cables, and it looks great.

We bought the coffee table and bookshelves on Craigslist a few years ago. Allegedly they were overstock from Crate & Barrel, but they aren't very good quality, so I'm not sure if I buy it. ;) The fireplace set is also from Craigslist (what a find! It's super modern looking). The couch is custom made. Now, before you go thinking we have oodles of money, get this: the couch was cheaper than everything we found at Macy's. We had it custom-made from Home Plate Furnishings, and it cost $899. Not bad for a couch, huh?! The accent chairs are from World Market, and the rug is from Macy's. The rug has been a royal pain in my tuchas. As much as I love it, it bunches everywhere, even after I nailed it - yes, NAILED IT - to the floor.  Stupid thing. That's what you get for not wanting to spend $3k on a rug, I guess.  Note our Aimée Hoover painting of Lulu in its new home, too!

These walls are our second shade of gray (the first was in the hallway). My easel (which isn't used nearly as often now) and our second card catalog are in the corner. This card catalog is used for Stinkerpants' business samples and craft supplies.

That's it for the living room! Next stop is the office!