Off Boulevard

For the past week, we’ve been in the Internet challenged mountains of West Virginia on a ski trip with Brian’s family.   It was torture and heaven at the same time (no Internet that is, not the vacation part…).   But no Internet meant a lot of QT with the fam…and a lot of time to pass in a little condo with the nugget.   To help keep her amused, we decided to make her a latch board to take with us.  I picked up a board from a craft store and Brian gave it a couple quick coats of polyurethane to make the board a little more smooth and prevent splinters.  Then we picked up a bunch of latches from the hardware store and screwed them on the board.

And note to anyone making a latch board – make sure you’re screws aren’t longer than the board is thick.  We weren’t paying attention and a couple went through the board so we had to use the dremel saw to grind them down.  Juice seems to like the board so far, even though at 20 months she still has a little work to do in the dexterity department.

Oh, and our big plan for using the board to keep Olivia occupied on our trip?  Yeah, we completely forgot to bring it.  Fail.

Oh Yeah! Fall Pinterest Challenge Time! Oh Yeah!  (said in my best Pauly D voice).  Bust out your mod podge, sewing machines, and power tools, it’s Pinterest Challenge time over at Young House Love.  I’ve been eyeing my pins for weeks, just waiting for this moment to come.  I had some good contenders waiting for their opportunity, all screaming “Pick me!  Pick me!” -

But alas, I settled on another project for Juice like I did with the last couple challenges (here and here).  This time my inspiration was this guy -

This project was awesome for three reasons: (1) look at it, it’s a pillow bed! (2) I already had the fabric and the pillows cost $4.04 each for a project grand total of $16.16 and (3) it was super easy.  For the fabric, I used an old duvet cover that used to be in our master bedroom.  We recently replaced it when we made our annual pilgrimage to IKEA, but I just couldn’t bear to part with the old one because I loved the pattern.  What’s even better is that using the duvet cut back on a ton of sewing.

To start the project, the first thing I did was use the pillows as a measuring stick.  Four pillow fit perfectly on one side of the duvet so the only cut I had to make was about 5 inches past the pillows.

Next, I ripped the seams on each side of the pocket about 8 inches.  Then I folded the fabric on one side of the opening over about 4 inches and sewed the side seems back together (this will make sense in a minute).  Using the pillows as a measuring stick again, I marked three lines that I needed to sew to create individual pockets for the pillows, making sure I sewed over the 4 inches of fabric that I folded over in the last step.  Now I had 4 sections for the pillows and the 4 inches of fabric that I folded over made a pocket for the pillow.

This way I can take the pillows out and wash the cover.  The last step was to hem the other side of the opening and put the pillows in.  Done and done.

Livie seems to like it so far -

Although she was more concerned with finding her bellybutton than enjoying her new bed-

And she’s going to have to fight off Riley who apparently thinks this will make the perfect dog bed -

And in a few weeks I’m sure she’ll be fighting Brian off too.  OK, and maybe me…

So speaking of all things Pinterest, I made this cake for Brian’s birthday this weekend and Oh…My…God…it’s probably the most fantastic thing I’ve ever eaten.  If you’re looking for a good cake recipe, you have got to try this one!

It’s official, I’ve found my dream home.  It’s a charming three story house with a cute front porch.  It has a huge living room with a fireplace, four bedrooms (no bathrooms but we can work with that) and beautiful floors.  The best part is, it’s already in our neighborhood.  Actually, it’s already in our house.  Welcome to Livie’s new doll house!

Brian’s mom surprised us with this little gem a couple months ago when she found it at a flea market.  Juice might be a couple years from fully appreciating the glory of this present, but until then the house will be patiently waiting for her in the play room.  What playroom you might ask?  Yeah, we don’t have one yet, but we’ve got grand plans my friend…grand plans…

But back to the doll house.  The only down side to the doll house is the fact that it weighs 10,000 lbs.  In order to enjoy 360 degrees of the house, you’d either have to place the house in the middle of the room or have some serious muscles.  To fix this, I bought this guy -

It’s a swivel wheel meant for computers or TV screens, but it was the perfect thing to make the doll house more functional.  Since the house is rectangular and the wheel is circular (oh yeah, I just dropped a little kindergarten lesson on you), the house was a little too tippy for our liking when we just used the wheel.  To make it more level, we nailed a 1/2″ piece of plywood on both ends of the house -

 And then put furniture pads on the bottom of the wood -

This way the house will still move smoothly when you turn it, but not scratch the floor.

Now we can enjoy the doll house from every angle.  From the outside, you could play on the front porch -

Or look through the windows -

Even the roof is charming -

On the inside Livie will be able to play on the first floor -

Or the second floor -

And I might have to steal some decorating ideas, I love the floors and the wallpaper -

I can’t wait to explain to Olivia some day where her fake family goes to the bathroom…

The day I made Livie her set of fabric blocks, I knew it was only a matter of time before Riley decided they would be her toy as well.  That day arrived recently when I came home from work to discover the blocks strewn about the living room and Riley looking up at me innocently.  The blocks only had a couple little bite marks and small tears, nothing horrible but enough for Riley to have made her point.  It was a good excuse to jazz up the first version of the block, this time trying more of a sensory block.  On two sides I used minky dot fabric, on another two sides I used a crinkle material, and the last two sides were just fabric.  For the crinkle, I used one of Juice’s empty baby wipe bags.  She love’s to play with the wipes when we change her, so I already know she loves the noise.

Instead of cutting 6 4.5″x4.5″ squares for the blocks like I did the first go around, I used 10 blocks this time (6 exterior squares, 2 crinkle squares, 2 muslin squares).  To keep the crinkle material in place, I sandwiched it between the exterior fabric and muslin.

After sewing the blocks with the wrong sides out, I left a small opening to squeeze in the foam block, hand stitching it closed.

Fabric Block v.2 = Success!