Ruler of the Elves

As promised, here are some photos to recap one of the projects from this past week. We are gearing up for a weekend out of town, so I will make this snappy!
#1 – Bulletin Board Makeover
Several months ago, my wonderful father passed along to us some of the items that I still had at home from my younger years. One was a bulletin board that I had in my bedroom since I was probably in jr. high school and was up through my early college years. Sadly, you can see from the before photo below my poor taste in bedroom décor, minus the family pictures. So with the bulletin board sitting in my garage for the past month or two, I decided to free up some space and give it a makeover to make it more cohesive with our home.

First, I started by pulling off the trim around the edges, with a little help from Chris. Next, I measured some burlap (which on got for $2/yard), cut it to fit and stapled it to the back of the bulletin board with my new heavy duty staple gun. Sheer excitement, really. Then, to finish it off, I added decorative nails, i.e nail head trim, to give it a little oomph. And that’s it. I finished it in less than a half an hour and now I have a nice area to hang photos, magazine inspiration pics, fabric swatches, design stuff, and of course, Pinky’s sweet handmade projects.

Speaking of Pinky, I was going through some photos today and found this cutie in the birthday/Halloween folder. She does look awfully cute in little Alice in Wonderland costume.

Have a great weekend!

This has been an interesting week, full of some fun home projects that I can’t wait to share. Actually, I just finished up a bulletin board makeover. The bulletin board was one I had in high school, but it needed a little revamping to bring it into the 21st century. The project was super easy and fairly inexpensive and I have yet to hang it up, but I’ll be back tomorrow with some photos, etc. Also on the list of things from this past week and weekend, which was fairly laid back…

Patio design. Classes. Fabulous dinners. Micro test. Playing outside. Emailing. Pillow shopping. Studying. Dress up. Monsters vs. Aliens. Intense study of upper limbs. Good wine. Twittering. Barbie fun. Study group. “New” patio chairs. Reading flash cards. Online fabric browsing. Switch plate installation. Planting. Did I mention studying?

In honor of Earth Day, I decided that I wanted to do a series of GREEN posts, several which will continue. Over the past couple of years, we have become conscientious of our family’s use of many things and have gradually tried to be more green and Earth friendly. There are so many approaches that everyone can take to reduce the amount of waste they contribute to landfills and these are some of our favorite little ways to try to make the world a smidgen better.

Reduce

1. Water is one of the earth’s most vital resources, yet it is something that so many people take for granted. A great way to reduce the amount of water you use is to turn it off while brushing your teeth, take shorter showers, and consider buying a low-flow shower head. Or try filling a ½ gallon milk or juice container with water and putting it in your toilet tank to minimize the amount of water used during flushing. One less item in the recycling and it’s going towards a greener purpose! We currently practice all of these water saving techniques and have noticed our water bill to be significantly lower than it would be usually.

Photo fromThe Daily Green

2. Composting is a great way to get rid of those yucky left over kitchen and yard wastes, all while reducing the amount of garbage going into landfills. Plus, it produces nutrient rich compost which is the perfect fertilizer for gardens and plants. A small compost container can be tucked away in a cabinet and emptied into a larger bin when full. If you have a yard, an area can be set aside for composting. There are also now great alternatives for apartment dwellers or those of us who just don’t want to look at a pile of garbage out in the open. This composter would work great in almost anyone’s dwelling, but its hefty price tag would may make some people think twice. A more economical idea is to make your own out of an old trash can or plastic tub. (See how I worked that earth friendly option in there!) If you are really adventurous, you could try vermi-composting, which is what we’ve been considering. Imagine all of those red wiggler worms taking care of your waste, all while you sit back and feel good about your positive, earth friendly decisions. Ahhhh.

Photo from looseends

You can find out more about com vermi-composting here, here and here.

To be continued…

Somehow we found the time this past weekend to go out and see some great bands play, plus we got in quality bonding with awesome friends/relatives. (Thanks Cat & Geno!) While Chris and I were taking in the tunes, Pinky was fortunate enough to spend some time with the ever entertaining Brittany & Jardy. Lucky for her, they took her to OSU’s skating rink for her first ice skating adventure. They said that it went really well, but Pinky seemed to believe her ice skating skills were way above that of the other contenders. She claims that she was able to glide on one foot and pull off a waltz jump, but I think that her nose may have grown slightly longer at the moment those words came out of her mouth.

Photo courtesy Brittany & Jardy

(You may notice that Pinky’s hair is a tad bit shorter. Many thanks to ATM for that!)