A Forest-Themed Toddler Room...it's a work in progress.

Butterflies

I ordered these butterflies from a shop on Etsy. Check out the collection HERE. Normally they come with magnets on the back, but I had the artist leave the magnets off so that I could stick them directly onto the wall. I already had the antique oval frame which created this whimsical look.

Storage

I wanted as many of Babe's toys as possible to be out of sight so they don't take over from the simple forest theme of the room. I started with the above unit with the pink pull out tubs from Ikea (wish it had come in plain white or green) to store most of her loose toys. I bought some pretty little labels and applied them to the front of each tote. And then I bought the shelving unit below for inside her closet to hide all her books but still keep them accessible for her. I wanted to keep her old crib rails safe in case I sell the crib later so I stashed them in the closet and am currently using them for shoe storage. I also hung hooks from her slatted closet doors for extra hanging abilities and traded out the old seventies knobs for some pretty little glass ones from Home Depot.

  

Lighting

Babe still has the old wall-mounted light that I featured in my old post on her nursery. It still fits as it has a monkeys on a vine theme. But I am loving this new squirrel lamp which was a gift from Babe's grandmother. The mushroom nightlight was purchased from Canadian Target before it closed shop and vanished from the Land of the North. It's convenient that the nightlight can plug in or run on batteries.

Here's the old lighting that we still use that was featured in the Nursery post.

Cushions

I'm still looking for the perfect forest-themed bedspread so for now we are using an inexpensive Ikea option. I might have to end up buying a fabric that I like and sewing my own. The fox and deer cushions were purchased from Home Sense.

More Forest

I have had my eye on a gorgeous, realistic forest mural wallpaper for Babe's room ever since I got pregnant. But we are always renting and I haven't wanted to commit to the cost of it or the application and eventual tear down. But last spring we grabbed this three panel forest screen at a fundraising auction. It goes great with the grass-like shag rug we got from Ikea and the adorable fawn wall decal I ordered from THIS SHOP on Etsy. The mini grand piano is from Chapters/Indigo. The carpet and screen combo create a temporary little forested corner until I can get her a room where I'm happy to commit to a full wallpaper/mural effect.

Mounted Stuffy

This was featured in our trip to Calgary post but I'm still loving it and it still fits the theme. It was purchased at the Calgary Airport.

Sky/Ceiling

Babe has one of those little stuffies that projects stars onto the ceiling at night and plays ambient noise. But I wanted a touch of nature on the ceiling in the daytime too. Enter THIS TUTORIAL VIDEO on making a cloud with lights and I thought I could do that, but with a mobile twist. It's kind of still a work in progress as I wanted to use clear fishing line instead of basic thread. But the fishing line of course has a lot of curl to it. I discovered I could get about 75 per cent of the curl out by using my hair straightener on a low heat setting and pulling the line through quickly (a hint that also works for quickly ironing your boxing hand wraps) but some of the kinks still remain. I'm hoping they will straighten out over time otherwise I guess I will re-string all the beads with plain thread. The cloud is made with paper lanterns and synthetic batting. In the video they use a glue gun to attach the batting to the lanterns but I found spray glue worked much faster. Stinks a bit though so the cloud spent a couple nights outside. The video peeps hung little curtain lights from their cloud but Babe and I wanted rain drops so I bought the blue and clear beads from Michaels. I may still put a battery-powered light inside the cloud at a later date - a nice perk to the cloud shell being made out of lanterns and not a paper mache ball or something is that you can still reach inside of it.

Cozy Robots.

Made some fuzzy little buddies for some friends on Valentine's Day. 

I love these little robots and have wanted to make one for along time. You can buy them from various makers online but I found a pattern on Etsy and made my own. 

Cute huh?

Keepsakes: Explosion Boxes.

I just thought I'd share some pics of my first attempt at making explosion boxes. Back at Christmas I made each of my parents one and J one as well. They turned out to be nice little keepsakes
of Babe's first year. 

I also made these adorable little sewing kits for all the women in my family. Each recycled baby food jar has needles, thread, a thimble, a measuring tape, pins, little fabric patches and some buttons. To make them extra special I turned the lid into a pin cushion and put a personalized label on each one. They are the perfect size for traveling or keeping at an office, summer cabin or in a guest room.

Inside each box is photos from Babe's first year as well as her ultrasound image, footprint and little embellishments.

Lesser-Known Rainy Day Activities in Vancouver.

"April showers bring May flowers." 

Yes, it's true, spring is finally here, but it's still raining a lot. It'll warm up soon enough but if you're like me, you (and your kids) must be getting pretty antsy for the warmer wether by now. Especially after the taste we got last weekend.

However we likely still have a few weeks of rain left before our days of sunshine begin. So in case you've used up all your aquarium and Telus World of Science passes and you don't know what to do in these last rainy days, here are a few lesser-known kid-friendly indoor activities in Vancouver.

6Pack Beach back in October.

6Pack Indoor Beach

115-13180 Mitchell Road

Richmond

Kids: $7.00

Miss the beach? Me too. But did you know we have an indoor beach located inside a warehouse under the Knight Street Bridge? I didn’t know either.

Its main purpose is to provide beach volleyballers with somewhere to play in the off-season but it doubles as the Grand Poobah of sandboxes for kids. You won’t find any waves, seashells or hot dog vendors at 6Pack Beach. But you also won’t find any cigarette butts, cherry pits, broken glass or seagull poop either. So you won’t have to comb through your spot like a cat in a litter box for five minutes before you put the baby down. It’s a perfectly safe place for the little ones to put their beach toys to good use year round. There are lawn chairs for parents or bring some friends and play a game of volleyball or badminton while the kids make a sandcastle!

Urban Source

3126 Main Street

Vancouver

$6.50-$20.00 per bag

If the kids like crafts there is no place in town quite like the Urban Source. Imagine if you could fill a whole store with the items from your junk drawer. The place is awesome for anyone creative.

Essentially it’s an art supply shop and it does have a selection of paper, foil, stickers etc. But what it’s really known for is its eclectic collection of odds and ends. Half the store contains barrels filled with anything from old photographs and puzzle pieces to tiles and test tubes.

This is exactly the weird stuff that inspires kids. Not only is Urban Source fun, it’s a great recycling lesson too. Most of their inventory is scraps from local businesses that are being resold here instead of thrown in the trash.

The Crystal Ark

1496 Cartwright Street

Granville Island

$3.00-$10.00 per bag

The Crystal Ark is a fun side trip when you’re visiting Granville Island. Located behind the Kids Market (which is a blast all on its own) the Ark is a gemstone store.

That doesn’t sound like fun for the kids you say? Wait for it...

Attached to the shop is a dome with a pit of polished stones. Kids can take off their shoes and sift through the gems in the cave while you shop. And for a few bucks you can buy a (very small) baggie and the kids can take their favorite stones home.

Remember all those times your kid has found a pebble at the park and given it to you with as much enthusiasm as if it were a gold nugget? Well at least when they give you a rock from here for Mother's Day it'll actually be pretty.

They used to have a cool little cave at the back of the store that housed the rock pit. I preferred that to the new dome they built, which is a little damp and chilly in the winter - but kids probably won't care

The Bloedel Conservatory

Queen Elizabeth Park

Vancouver

Adults: $6.50, Child: $3.25, Preschoolers: Free, Family: $15.00

A lot of parents don’t know of, or have forgotten about this rainy day haven. Perched atop Queen Elizabeth Park the conservatory is a year-round tropical oasis and the perfect place for little ones to go on an adventure. Because ankle-biters won’t stop to smell the flowers it takes them only a few minutes to make a full lap around the dome. But they can stay for as long as they want. It’s warm, it’s dry and best of all it looks just like a jungle! Complete with tropical birds and koi fish.


UPDATE!!


Extreme Air Park
14380 Triangle Road
Richmond
$14.00 per hour

This article (HERE) just came out today in the Richmond Review newspaper. I wasn't aware of the Extreme Air Park before and I have never taken Babe there, but I bet it would be tons of fun for toddlers and older kids. Comment below if you've been and let us know what you thought.

Flowers, Bows and Pom Poms!

It's no secret that I like DIY projects, arts and crafts. I'm always making something. I haven't had as much time to be creative since Babe came along (I did get three Christmas eggs made this year) but I have had enough time to make the odd thing.

I was seeing adorable baby headbands everywhere but I never came across any. I found a couple of cute ones at Target in the states but I wanted more, more, MORE! But when I got home I couldn't find them here and I'm too impatient to wait for orders from Etsy - but FYI there are adorable baby headbands on Etsy - so I did what I usually do when I want something that I can't find or afford. I make it. If it's makable. By me. That's how I ended up with my kitchen table, cat scratching post, sock monkeys, wall art etc...

So here are some pics of what I have so far. I'm not going to include how-to's here because there are a million places online that you can go to if you want to make these yourself. There are tutorials on YouTube, blogs and websites. I just googled "how to make..." and whatever I was looking for and then scrolled through everything until I saw something I liked.

Anyway, here are some of the highlights:

I started with these pom pom headbands.

I made two different kinds. One kind with fabric and one kind with felt.

Then I moved on to these rolled fabric flowers (top black and white and lower peach).

Then I tried this weird fabric flower which involves twisting and pinning (top multi-coloured) but it took a realllly long time. So I only made the one.

Next I moved onto felt roses. You can see a few others in above pics.

Then I decided that I wanted to make bows. So I started with fabric because I really liked the anchor material above.

But then I found a tutorial on these felt bows and I've been addicted to making them ever since.  

Cream.

White, blue, black. I can't stop.

 Bows without bands yet.

Babe and her pretty little roses.

Every night after Babe goes to bed I have been sitting on the floor in front of the TV with a glass of wine and my sewing kit.

Every baby girl I know is getting one.

Easter and Firsts.

I'm trying to train Babe to fall asleep without the boob (starting tonight) so I'm just going to do a little post about our Easter while she works things out on her own in the other room. She went to sleep fine this evening but I can hear her semi-waking in there so I might not have much time.

Once again I really wanted to make something to mark the holiday but finding the time is so hard now. J is not home during the days and is busy many evenings and Babe hates to be put down so I haven't had much time to be crafty. I wanted to make some pretty Easter eggs but it didn't pan out. However I did see a cute idea on Pinterest (which I cruise at night while breastfeeding) and I managed to not only shop for the ingredients but I actually found time to make it for Babe's room. Now all I need is a frame. I changed it up from the one I saw by using pink buttons for the cherry blossoms and then I added wool for the grass at the bottom.

Our Easter was pretty low key. My Dad has been dying to give Babe a turkey drumstick (just the bone) to suck on since pretty much the day she came out of the womb. Apparently he gave me one when I was a baby and I loved it. Anyway, he was so disappointed that I wouldn't let him give Babe the drumstick at Christmas (when she was six weeks old) and he has been talking about it ever since. So I told him that if they made a turkey dinner for Easter he could give Babe her first turkey bone to suck on. He took the bait and my parents made a turkey feast on Saturday afternoon. Babe seemed to briefly like the taste of the turkey and then quickly lost interest which was probably a little anti-climactic for Grandpa. Anyway the only reason I even allowed it was because our doctor told me to start Babe on rice cereal a month earlier than I had planned, so Easter weekend also marked the first day that Babe had solids!!!

Here is Babe enjoying her first bites...and getting in some practice with the spoon too!

Easter was also another chance for the grandparents to spoil Babe with presents. She got a new amber teething necklace which is good because the anklet I bought her keeps slipping off her little foot. She also got an adorable little felted purse and gold ballerina flats and some bubbles (which I blew for her and she loved). And of course any chance to make the baby look ridiculous for the camera can't be passed up. Grandma bought her some bunny ears which Babe actually didn't mind wearing for awhile.

I had bought Babe the sweetest little party dress from Old Navy for Easter but unfortunately it was still a little too big to wear to Easter dinner. But she looks so cute in it I had to take some pics anyway. It should fit in another month or so.

It reminded me of Gwen Stefani's wedding dress in 2002 which I loved. Now Babe has the mini version.

Anyway, Easter weekend was really a weekend of firsts. Babe's first solids, her first time in the swings at the park, the first time she rode in her stroller facing forward (without car seat) and her first trip across the border with her new passport! We went down to La Conner for the night with my parents. My next post will be about how that trip went. I'll tell ya one thing though, I packed a lot lighter for this trip than I did for the last one.

First time in the swings. Babe was screaming when we arrived and managed to clear the park so we had the place to ourselves. Naughty baby.

Seashell Slide Decoration.

One of my favorite things to do in the summer is low tide walks on Hornby Island. I like finding Moon Snail shells at the edge of the water. The broken ones are cool because the inside spiral is so smooth and shiny. I imagine they are tiny slides for tiny sea creatures. When I was pregnant I put one aside to make an ornament for Babe.

I was originally going to use Guatemalan Worry Dolls for the children on the ornament but while hunting for some in my favorite antique/junk store I also found these little white angels.

I had envisioned a mexican style ornament with the worry dolls. But I couldn't find any dolls that had outfits that resembled bathing suits so I decided to just paint the angels. And rip off their wings. I hope breaking the wings off plastic angels isn't terrible karma.

I painted bathing suits on the no-longer-angels and painted water down the middle of the slide (inside of the shell).

I then painted some flat toothpicks brown and broke them into tiny pieces to make the ladder, which I glued on the side.

I finished it up by threading some string through the center, gluing the children onto the slide and hanging a teardrop bead off the bottom.

It's a cute ornament for Babe's bedroom, Christmas tree or whatever and it was super easy to make.