Monday, December 28, 2009

Barbie Room News

Well, the much anticipated Barbie Room is almost finished.
What a great husband I have!
I have loved Barbies since I was little and played with them on up through high school (embarrassing fact, I know).
In high school my love for playing Barbies began to mature into a love of collecting them.
I knew one day my home would have a Barbie room in it.
When we bought this house, I immediately picked out which room I'd want.
I choose the "coal chute" room.
I wonder what Marcus's great-grandparents would think of their coal chute now. :)

Below is the process:

After the boiler/furnace was put in several decades ago, the coal room was no longer needed. Marcus's great aunt and uncle put in shelves and used the room for storage. They even kept some coal in a jar for sentimental value. :) But, by the time we bought the house, the coal room was spic and span and looked like this:

That there is some prime Barbie display space, wouldn't you say?
Well, turns out those shelves are a little too short to actually house any Barbies. :(
So, we took them out and started painting.
Way back during the summer (oh, it seems so long ago!) I participated in Glidden's free paint giveaway. I ordered up myself three FREE quarts of a lovely paint color called SEXY PINK. I couldn't resist. It was nearly back-breaking (at least quite the ab workout) to paint these porous surfaces (which varied from brick to plaster to cinder block throughout the room), but we managed.

First, a little spackling to rescue the crumbly plaster...




Then, the paint makes its glorious debut!




Next, we added some light pink for the window and the door. It adds such a cute touch!


Meanwhile, the boxes of Barbies and Barbie memorabilia were sitting outside the door, just waiting to be set up!


Once the paint had dried, I measured out and selected my favorite calendar pages from years of collecting Barbie calendars. First, I tried using some wallpaper glue to adhere the pages. After that didn't work, I went to Lowe's to get some 3M spray glue, which worked like a charm! First, I put my all-time fave Barbie on the door.

In The Pink Barbie (my license plate's namesake)


I'm going to frame it with some ribbon, but I didn't get that far this time around...






Marcus had the great idea of choosing some of my favorites to put in the window. I love it!





Next came the carpet. 
Remember this lovely upstairs bedroom?


We measured the floor of the Barbie room and cut a piece of this purple carpet to fit in the Barbie room...

It looks great in there! :)

Next came the shelves.
We got them from IKEA for $14.99!
Some of my Barbie boxes are really tall, so we took out one of the shelves so we'd have one that is really tall...


Next came the setup!
There is a little area on the floor with Barbies that can be played with (for all the little girls in my life)
and then back on the shelves are the collectibles!













The last step will be curtains....which I have at our apartment, but I didn't bring them to the house this Christmas because I never imagined we'd get this far! I also have this chandelier from IKEA, which unfortunately is not going to work, so I need to go plan B for the lighting.

But for now, I am so giddy with the results of the Barbie room. It's everything I ever dreamed of!

Who wants to come over and play?

Tuesday, December 22, 2009

One last onesie and a burp cloth to boot!

I had one more onesie to make and I decided to go for the "Winter Onesieland" theme. :)
I also had some extra fabric so I spit out a quickie burp cloth.

That's all the crafts (that I'm posting) for this Christmas, we're leaving town in T-minus 10 minutes!
Merry Christmas, everyone! :)


Sunday, December 20, 2009

Crafty Gifts

(Sing to the tune of "I've Been Workin' On the Railroad")...

I've been workin' on some onesies
All the live-long day!
Joni gave me some plain white ones
Just to see what I could make!

Can't you see the fun I'm having
Making these cute little clothes?
Maybe I will make some more soon?
I guess nobody knows!

haha. Okay, that was fun...now, here they are:



Tuesday, December 15, 2009

It's just a "thing"

So...
I know it's only a "thing" and I shouldn't be so upset.
At least it's not a human or something that "really matters."
Plus, I shouldn't have had "it" out and about like I did because it is supposed to stay at school.
But still.
I am upset.
I am frustrated.
I am sad.
I am a bit panicky.
:(
:(

I LOST my camera. :(
...except, it's the school's camera...not mine.

Please pray for it to be found.
Are you allowed to pray for things like that?

And I had good holiday pics on it that I haven't downloaded yet!
I was going to post them on the blog!
Humph! *sitting with arms crossed with a pouty face*

Saturday, December 12, 2009

Meeting Kennedi for the first time

This weekend we made a speedy (we were there for...oh...18 hours?) trip to Moline to meet Kennedi.
She was born November 30.
It was so great to meet her and so fun to see my best friend as a mom!! :)


Friday, December 11, 2009

4th Annual Christmas Girls Weekend

Each December my CBFs (College Best Friends) and I meet up to do some Christmas shopping. The traditions differ a bit year to year, but this year we went to Oakbrook, stayed in a hotel, and shopped till we dropped! It was great!

Can you believe we only took ONE picture!!!???
We were too busy having fun. :)


Tuesday, December 8, 2009

Just because

It's been awhile!!
Here I am!
Just a fun little pic from Thanksgiving...

Updates:
Our kitchen floor was replaced today!
I had a superbly fun girls weekend in Oakbrook.
All of my Christmas shopping is done!
Now that our apartment is put back together, I can decorate for Christmas!
I started two new grad classes this week and am already loving them.

Have a wonderful day!
Stay tuned for a "real post" soon.


Tuesday, December 1, 2009

Life.

Just a few little tidbits.

1. When we came home from Moline after Thanksgiving, our kitchen looked like this:


...mind you, when we left, it was spic and span. :) Hmm...weird things happen when you leave for five days. The maintenance folks are still trying to figure it out. Here's to eating out for a few days!

2. Then today at work my eye turned pink, I went to the doctor and he says I have pink eye.



3. My bestest best friend forever had her baby!!! I haven't got to meet her yet (much to my dismay, she went in to labor as we were driving out of Moline!!) I'm so happy, regardless!! Can't wait to meet her!
These are pics I stole from her facebook:



Congrats!! I love you guys!!! Can't wait to come meet the little babe. Doesn't Joni look good in that gown!? ;)

Sunday, November 29, 2009

Family Photo Shoot

Every Thanksgiving we do a little family photo shoot with the timer on my parents' camera. This year, my brother took some shots...and we also did some of the timer thing...we had a fun time outside in the freezing cold, as we do every year. :) Stay tuned to see which ones come in the family Christmas cards! :)


Not sure why we felt the need to be so ghetto, but it was fun. In one, we're holding up a "M" and a "C" for Merry Christmas. :)