Camera Update {aka I have the BEST friends in the World!!!}

I always seem to be complaining about the {poor} quality of my camera. The camera I've been using for the last year is a 5 year old Canon point & shoot that's probably been dropped one too many times and is now all blurry. 

One of my friends {and also an avid & talented photographer who took our gorgeous family photos here, here  here, here, and here too!} made me an AMAZING offer.

She got a new camera, but still has her old Canon Rebel XTi DSLR with an awesomely upgraded lens. She offered to let me borrow it! So that's why my photos look awesome lately, in case you're wondering. It's all the fancy camera!

Having a trustworthy camera to take wonderful photos of my family is such a blessing since we cannot really afford to fork out the cash for a new camera right now. I'm so lucky to have such great friends!

I am also having fun perusing the internet looking for chic & functional camera bags. 

I think I've settled on this one from Jo Totes! 

In YELLOW of course!

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Year of Epic Makeovers: The Best of 2011

So many amazing transformations took place in our home in 2011! From simple projects to entire room makeovers, 2011 was a year of FUN & Budget-friendly DIY transformations.

Here are the highlights from our 2011 DIY Adventures in Home Improvement & Decorating!

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The Dining Room & Conversation Area

This Transformation post is from May 2011 - more has since been added {like the painted mirror,  West Elm curtains and the reupholstered bergere chairs - see below too!}.

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The Amazing Chevron Wall

This was an amazing project because I truly realized the power of paint. We had originally wanted to wallpaper the wall, but it was too expensive. My beloved zig-zags added the perfect punch to a dull white box of a room!

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The Kitchen Transformation

For details of this amazing transformation, click here for the full post! We've also recently added under-cabinet lighting - what a HUGE difference that makes too! I'm so thankful for a handy and talented hubby!

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Little A's Room: Modern Nursery Chic

I am IN LOVE with Little A's fun & girly {without being baby-ish!} nursery. If we move, I'm going to have to re-create this room! Here's a link to the original post and a follow up post where I did some Dollar Store DIY art!

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Spray Painted Door Knobs

I love this project because it's SO easy & fast and creates a HIGH IMPACT for little effort! It's spray paint. And it's AWESOME. Click here for the full post/tutorial.

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Modern Moroccan Master Bedroom Updates

It didn't take much beyond paint, light linens & a vision to create this relaxing Master Bedroom Retreat! The furniture, rug & even the West Elm sofette was found through Kijiji - so this room is chic and VERY budget-friendly!

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The Family Room

We turned our 4th bedroom into an upstairs family room! Click here & here for how we did it!

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Simple Chair Transformation

This was a simple DIY project - my 1st attempt @ upholstery. Click here for the full post!

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EZ's Room: Modern Zoom Zoom Zoom!

EZ's room is very kid-friendly, but not too childish. The wall treatment was done by Big A - and he did an AMAZING job! It adds a lot of architectural interest to an otherwise builder's box of a room :)

The DIY Alphabet Wall was done with letters from the dollar store! Click here for the tutorial!

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Bergere Chairs

We're *almost* finished this now-gorgeous chairs, but this was indeed an epic transformation that completed the conversation area in our dining room!

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The Entry Way

Our entry way went from being EMPTY to several changes itself this year. We added a bench & a large rug, framed photos, a new light fixture, drapes, painted the door black, then changed the bench to a console table -- I love to have a flat surface at the front entry!

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Spice Organization

This was an easy little project, but I LOVED it because it made my spices so accessible which comes in handy since I'm cooking more since becoming vegan.

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Bulletin Board Upgrade

Click here for the tutorial!

 Whew! We've had a busy DIY-ing year! I've probably missed a few, but I hope you've enjoyed our Year of Epic Makeovers!

Thank you so much for following along in our DIY adventures & madness! Thank you for the blog love and all your comments mean A LOT to us. 

Linking up to:

Southern Hospitality's Top Projects of 2011

Passionately Perfect's Coffee & a Conversation #19

It's Overflowing's Overflowing with Creativity #2

Space 46's Best of 2011 Made Up & Loved Linky Party

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StickyGrams for my Instagram Obsession

It feels like I'm constantly using Instagram for all the photos I take with my iPhone. I love how the filters make the simplest photos special.

I currently have an iPhone 3G so the quality of the photos is not so great, but Instagram manages to instantly improve the look of the photos from grainy to hip & grainy on purpose :)

I tried to print the photos before but they turned out bad, so I was always wondering how I could get tangible copies of my cool Instagram photos. 

Enter StickyGram!

I happened upon this website StickyGram that prints out a sheet of 14 1 x 1 magnets of your favourite Instagram images. I got two and gave them to Big A for Christmas! 

Aren't they cool? It's like our fave images from 2011 all in magnets :)

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Bergere Chairs are {almost!} DONE - a Sneak Peek!

So...remember way back in March, I posted about the tedious and arduous task of stripping our Bergere chairs, and I never really followed up on it? 

If you need a reminder, the bergere chairs used to look like this:

I absolutely ADORE the upholstery fabrics - especially the bird one. It was from my Sarah Richardson moment from this post!

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Well, it took *AGES* to finish the stripping of the old upholstery, then spray the chairs glossy white. 

We were able to get the chairs to my friend later in the summer who was able to reupholster them {for the most part}. 

 

We still have to finish the nail heads or get the double piping done to finish the edges, but I could NOT resist posting them.  

Because I am in LOVE with them!

So what do you think? Do you love them? {YES is the only acceptable answer.}

Linking up to:


Beneath My Heart's Best DIY Projects of December

 

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EZ's Room Reveal!

I've been meaning to post this for quite some time. I've been waiting until it's perfect, but a well-decorated room is one that is layered over time. And this decorating process could go on for ages, so I thought I'd just post where we are NOW with EZ's room.

{Click here for my inspiration post; 
here for the tutorial on the wall treatment; 
here for the DIY Alphabet wall tutorial}

EZ LOVES his room. Anyone that comes over must venture up to his room so he can show off his space. 

The room is kind of awkward for photo taking -- it's hard to fit everything in. This is the view from the door.

Here are some Before & After pics so you can see how far this room as come!

A close-up of the wall art. A friend sent these jpegs to me - and they are a perfect match! They are from www.oohmoon.com -- she offers one free digital art design every day. So my wonderful friend saw these and saved them for me :) Am I lucky or what? So yes, they were FREE -- all I had to do was print & frame them.

EZ loves his orange club chair. It's perfect for reading stories. He also ADORES his globe with the plane on top, which I picked up a couple months ago at HomeSense for $30. Sometimes, even now, when I tuck him into bed, he'll stop and say thank you for getting him the plane. He says, "Thanks mum. That's my plane."

Of course, the awesome and easy DIY alphabet wall. EZ loves looking at this. He "helped" put it up, which he likes to tell everyone too! 

I picked up these round bath mats a few years ago at Ikea for $6 a pop. I love how they add a pop of colour, without totally covering the floor like an area rug. They are fun & durable too!

 I hope you enjoyed the little tour of EZ's new room. I still have a few projects planned for his room, but all our DIY projects are on hold for a bit until we sort out our BIG PLANS for 2012!

Linking up to:

Not Just a Housewife's Best DIY Project of 2011 Contest

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Christmas Eve 2011 Magic

After dinner on Christmas Eve, we decided to take a drive to look at the festive Christmas lights. It's a tradition in my family, as I'm sure it's a tradition in others too. It makes me feel nostalgic for my childhood Christmases, especially because I'm away from my family this year...*sniff* :(

We found this really cool place near our town where this business owner goes ALL OUT with his light & diorama displays. EZ was totally in his element! {Little A slept through all the fun!}.

We also started a new tradition of opening one present {NEW PJS!} on Christmas Eve too. The kidlets looked so cute in their festive jim-jams!

The top L photo needs explanation. I asked EZ to put his head closer to the cookies so I could take a better photo. This is what we ended up with and wouldn't change his position -- so we just rolled with it!

We got home pretty late after looking at the lights, so we quickly put out cookies & milk for Santa {Santa is NOT a vegan, by the way!}, then laid out the reindeer food {oats & a carrot!} on the porch because everybody knows that reindeer don't come in the house.

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Merry Christmas!

Merry Christmas from our Family to Yours!

I couldn't resist the chevrons - since 2011 was the Year of the Chevrons in our home!

Thank you for following my adventures in mummyhood, decorating & DIY. I really appreciate all of you who take the time to read our blog and stay in touch with us.

There's so much more to come in 2012! Stay tuned!

 

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Christmas Mantel 2011

Better late than never, I *finally* finished our Christmas mantel and decorations - 3 days before Christmas. Yay! 

I decided to keep it somewhat simple, and let the festive bright colour and sparkle speak for itself!

Linking up to these fun parties:

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EZ's 1st trip to the Dentist!

Earlier this week, EZ had his first trip to the dentist. 

This was preceded by my first trip to the dentist...in more than 5 years. 

I *hate* going to the dentist. I get uncharacteristically anxious and shaken by trips to the dentist. The poor hygienist I had was very patient with my drama, although I'm sure she thought I was being ridiculous. 

On a side note, my dentist when I was growing up was named Dr. PAIN {not spelled like that, but that's all I thought about when I heard the drilling noises}. Now our dentist is named Dr. SORE-es {not spelled like that, but you get the picture}. 

PAIN + SORE = my dental experiences.

Anyway, back to EZ. He was very good, especially for his first time. The nice hygienist explained what was going to happen and he seemed ok with it. At first.

He opened his mouth nice and wide.

He was calm and cool when he was leaned back in the chair when she counted his teeth.  Then when it came to cleaning his teeth, that's when the freak-out started. He leaped out of that chair into my arms so fast when "Mr. Thirsty" - the vacuum-y thing - came out. He would NOT let go of me. We finally convinced him to get back in the chair long enough for the dentist to count his teeth, but that's it. Good enough.

He was delighted to also get a rocket ship toothbrush - a reward for his valiant efforts. He's only two years old, after all. Overall, it was a good experience and we'll be back in 6 months for another check-up!

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