Easter 2011

Some pictures from our Easter celebration this year:

I might or might not have stayed up until 1:30 in the morning the night before Easter to get these outfits finished.

Hudson wasn't excited about sitting on Shae's lap for these photos but once we let him decide where to sit, he was just fine...for about 10 seconds.

Dyeing Easter Eggs

Last week, I boiled a dozen eggs for each kid and let them go to town with crayons and pots of dye. This is the first year I've let Hudson join in and he had a blast.

...but, it wasn't long before we could see it would be better if he wore a paint shirt.

...although he didn't keep it on for long.

Photoediting

It's been a while since I played around with my PhotoShop actions to edit some photos. I don't know why, it's so much fun. Here are a couple I worked on this afternoon:

BEFORE:

AFTER:

BEFORE:

AFTER:

Daddy Daughter Night

Maira recently got to bring Jess to her playschool for a Dad's night. She got to show him around her class, play with him, make a craft, and of course, eat a snack. She was so excited, she was counting down the days beforehand and she had a really fun time.

Monster Faces

The other night, the kids were hamming it up for the camera, making their best monster faces and I thought the lighting was pretty interesting in these shots:

I love the colour of Hudson's eyes in this shot, the light seems to go right through them. Such cute little monsters they are...

More Winter Fun Pictures

It's been a while since I posted so I've got some catching up to do. Spring has finally arrived but I've got some cute winter pictures to post before I get to spring stuff.

The glacier that used to be our front lawn:

Before and After: My Craft Room

I was lucky enough to get my very own craft/sewing room a few years ago when we finished the basement in our new house. I have loved having my very own space to work in. But, it has been feeling very cramped and uninspiring lately, especially with my two newest additions: my Silhouette and Madge - both absolutely lovely but both space hogs. (Madge is what I named my dressform that I got for my birthday. Madonna's nickname in London is Madge and she's a Material Girl - get it??) So, I got the very exciting idea to renovate my room. I envisioned something with a much better use of space and where only pretty and inspiring things were allowed. If it wasn't pretty, it had to go. At the same time, I had a limited budge (I wanted to keep it under $500) so I couldn't just make up a wishlist and buy whatever I wanted.

After sketching out what size of desks I wanted and searching Kijiji for them but coming up empty, I headed over to Ikea and totally scored in the As Is section - I got 2 desks exactly the size I wanted and a big dresser for less than $400! They all have a few scratches here and there but they are still definitely pretty so I'm thrilled.

Here are some before pictures of what my space looked like to start with:

It's hard to spot, but I kept my Silhouette on the floor because I had nowhere else to put it.

Messy, right? Cluttered, crowded, cramped.

Now, here's my beautiful new space:

Notice the pillow on the floor under the desk? It's covered with the same fabric as the new curtains and it's a bed for Howie - even the dog's bed is pretty!!!

I even put a new light fixture on the ceiling to cover the plain lightbulb:

Now, I should really paint the ceiling one of these days...