Best girls book I have seen in a while, Smile by Raina Telgemeier

My daughters discovered this book at their last book fair, but it was sold out before their class went. We finally checked it out at our library and neither could put it down. In one day each, both girls plowed through it every spare minute they had. Several times they even stopped to tell me a funny scene... "that sounds just like daddy", "that's just like us". I truly hope she is writing more books soon. Just so you know it is a graphic novel but looks like comics not anime, and it is thicker. Cute story about a girl and a tooth incident. Anyway, here's a link on amazon, very inexpensive for a book your daughter will LOVE. Mine are 12 and 9 for your reference.

Smile at Amazon

Easy Adorable Waves!

My girls LOVE to do their hair in different ways, so one day I picked up a triple barrel curler to give it a try.  After a brief reading of the instructions, it looked this cute after the first attempt!

This is what we used...it's by Conair and ceramic.

Conair Three Barrell Wave Curler

This has to be the easiest way to do dramatic wave curls I have ever tried.  Literally just take a strand about 1 inch wide, close it "flat-iron style" over the hair at the scalp, then move down the strand (overlaping to keep it neat).  Even did it on myself very easily (you do need a mirror to see where to place it next). The application reminds me of the way you krimped way back when.

I immediately told my friends with girls about this one!

One way to elevate the height of your windows

So we all know we are supposed to hang our drapes to the ceiling now, but what if you already had your drapes hung lower? Why not add a piece of iron or a wall plaque over the window to help make it look higher. Then you don't have to buy new drapes or add a piece of fabric to the ones you have now AND you don't have to move the rod and patch wall holes!

This is in my master.  I only used one panel because the windows flank my bed.

These pieces came from my old house where I had half-round windows over my windows in my living room. Had to use them somewhere :) 

There is a space between the rod and the piece.  Jut couldn't capture it with the glare from the window.  Wait until you hear what I made the curtain rod out of (that's another post).

Hanging iron pieces in windows

Like a lot of people, I have numerous windows in my home that are over doors or other windows or just in an odd place that can't be treated with drapes. Why not fill them with an iron piece to help make them more decorative. Just take your measurements and account for any odd shapes.  They can be set in the opening or hung.  It depends on how much of a ledge you have or if you have a lot of movement in the wall (doors closing, etc.)

This is an odd modern-shaped octagon window I have in my non-modern house. I used a bold graphic circle piece to try to draw the eye away from the shape of the window.  It was a frame to a broken mirror in an as-is section.  It is hung with a single hook using the mirror's original hanging hole.

This is over my front door and is an eyebrow window. I needed a cascading piece to account for the arch.  This is just leaned in the window (it is lighter and has never even moved no matter how much the door has been opened and closed).

This is over my study doors and was originally filled with a "lovely" etched glass piece. After I replaced the glass myself (that will be another post), I hung this piece to give the blank area some interest. Double duty because it can be seen from both the study and the master bedroom.

Hall closet organizers

These are dollar store pocket organizers I found. Staple gunned them to the inside of my coat closet. Super inexpensive storage solution for gloves, scarves, hats, earmuffs, etc. $4 later and we are no longer hunting for our cold weather accessories. We use an armoire for our stuff, but it would work just as well on a real closet door (you could fit more than I did :)

Adorable kids bouquet

Just came from a friends house, and her daughter had this adorable bouquet delivered. Real gerber daisies with googley eyes and pipe cleaner mouths put on them. So cute.

Using iron wall art as a ceiling medallion

You can probably tell I'm a fan of ceiling medallions. In this instance, this is my living room. I have high, valuted ceilings with absolutely no detail (I know ceilings usually don't have anything on them :), but in this case it's almost overwhelming to have so much space when you walk in that looks just plain vanilla.

I wasn't 100% in love with the fan, but it wasn't the finish that was bothering me (at least black with dark wood blades is neutral and goes with my decor). I immediately thought wood beams (a huge trend in my area), but that was way out of my budget. So, then I thought, why not another ceiling medallion. With so much ceiling, I knew that it was going to have to be big, but not super heavy, visually. That's what led me to iron scrollwork. Large but airy. This is what I found:

I happened upon this piece at Kirklands and hoped it would work. It was round, very large (almost four feet), and it even had a hole in the middle. That's a rarity, though many of the round pieces I have or have seen do have a center medallion that can be removed or at least knocked out. The best part was that it was only $29.99. Now came the test, was the hole big enough to accommodate the fan.

I borrowed an high A-frame ladder (it needed to be 10 or 12 feet, and the highest I have is 6). A few calls to friends with high ceilings, and I had one (always borrow when you can). Now the fun part, taking the fan down. I've done this before so I knew how, just not that high in the air :). After carefully and slowly getting that heavy, long-poled thing to the ground, it was time to see if the medallion would even work. Luckily this style of fan had a ceiling plate that mounted to the box, and then the cap screwed onto it from the side.

Like This

                      Vs. this which I'm used to (but trust me, I would have made it work if it was like this)


So I headed up with the ceiling medallion and plate. It wasn't easy but I managed to get the ceiling medallion flat against the ceiling with my left forearm, then the plate under it with my left hand and start one screw with the right hand so it would hold. Luckily the iron is hollow, so it wasn't so heavy that there was no way I was going to do it. Next I started the second screw, then began the process of raising every thing by screwing each one in a little at a time. Once it was up, I truly couldn't believe it. Just a matter of bringing the fan back up, hooking it in, rewiring, putting the cap on, then back down to admire my HARD work.

I was afraid the fan would be unbalanced when all was said and done, but it must be a good fan, because it wasn't. I adore the results, even though I still want beams! Most importantly, I think this was the project that made me realize, I probably could do anything around my house if I just put my mind to it!