that's a wrap

This week the wrapping paper is on the wall!  I found this adorable sheet of wrapping paper on my last trip to Ireland.  I wasn't sure what I was going to use it for until recently I decided it might look really cute in a frame.  I hung the one pictured above on the wall in the kids play room.  I also framed another one with different cakes on it for my studio.  I was telling someone about this project when they were visiting recently and she told me that she collects vintage scraps of wrapping paper.    I thought she should frame them and hang them all on the same wall for a wonderful display.   I may have to start keeping my eyes open for vintage wrapping paper now too!

where in the world

Since my dad is a former geography teacher we seem to have a lot of globes around our house.  I saw a chalkboard globe once in a magazine or online and thought it would be fun to make one of my own.  I took one of our old globes and used chalkboard paint, the kind that comes in a spray can to cover it entirely.  It took no time to make and came out pretty cute.  I love how you can still see and feel the images and crevices that define all of the continents.  A fun and simple project that will bring us lots of entertainment.

play room

We have been working on this project for a few months.  This was a room on the first floor that was essentially underused and I imagined it would be a perfect place to store all of the children's toys and to hang their coats.  Since we live in an old house there isn't a lot of closet space.  We only have one small coat closet on the entire first floor so I keep having to find creative ways to store all of our things!  We emptied the room first, painted it a neutral color, and organized all of the toys into categories. When we put them back in to the space we used a designated shelf or bin for each category as you can see from the picture of the bookcase above. For example, one shelf has games another trucks.  This makes it easy to clean up since everything now has a specific place.  I moved the red frames from my office in there as well to display the children's art work.  We put a train table in the corner that besides providing endless entertainment was used as a table to eat dinner on when we had some friends over this past weekend.  I'm very happy with the results and, besides finding some decorative things to hang on the walls, it's finished!