Clemyjontri

This doesn't have anything to do with my creativity, but every time we visit Fairfax County's Clemyjontri park I am just blown away by the creativity and vision of those that put this park together.

Clemyjontri Park was created to be a place "Where Every Child Can Play..." and truly, it is.

They say it better than I can:

This park is a place where children who use wheelchairs, walkers or braces, or who have sensory or developmental disabilities, can have a parallel playground experience of fun and exploration. At CLEMYJONTRI....

• Ramps connect structures
• Swings have high backs, arm rests and special safety features
• Rubber surfacing allows wheelchairs to roll easily
• Lowered monkey bars provide easy access
• Equipment is designed to be sensory rich so all children can participate with peers
• Wider openings allows easy access to play structures

But the the photos from their website don't do it justice. To see this park filled with kids, the looks on their faces, the sounds of their play. It is amazing... 

Notice how the carousel is level with the surface around it, making it easier to board.

And the maze (above) is so easy for kids to move around in, and all the surfaces are level, even and yet still soft for all those trips and spills.

Each of the play spaces has so many ways to experience it. Most have at least one ramp entrance, the surfaces promote all kinds of engagement from tactile to visual and beyond.

So if you find yourself in the DC area, don't miss Clemyjontri park.

6317 Georgetown Pike

McLean, Virginia 22101

A monster is born

I did it. I camped out at Walmart for the Cricut Expression.

Behold... bask in its glory.

I'm in the process of plotting all kinds of project for the holidays and beyond. 

He won't eat cake...

There are times when if I hadn't been so aware of things when my son was born, I wouldn't believe he was my child.

He won't eat cake.

How can a child of mine not eat cake. My daughter at least eats frosting... but son, won't touch frosting if it is attached to cake. A cookie, well that is another story.

So last year, for his 2nd birthday - I decided that even though it broke with every childhood tradition. We would skip the cake and go for something that he would like, a tower of cookies.

Not sure what we'll do this year... I've got a couple of weeks to figure it out. 

Gingerbread Houses

We started this tradition last year, and I'm hoping to continue it this year... Decorating Gingerbread houses. Note: I say "decorating," not "making..." I'm sorry, I don't have time to "make" a gingerbread house from scratch. We go easy by buying one of these delightful kits:

Seriously, for $8-$15 you can get a premade gingerbread house, with all the goodies to decorate it. Someday, maybe we'll make one from scratch, but for now, this will do just fine.

So here is some of our fun from last year...

 

 

To Cricut or not to Cricut, that is the question.

So - the Cricut.

Do I want one?

Do I need one?

Decisions, decisions. I've heard there are going to be some pretty good black Friday deals on the Cricut
Expression. I've been tempted by this machine and what I've seen people do with it for years. But couldn't justify the money. But at what seems like be almost half price, and knowing what it can do... I'm tempted.


Very tempted.


Stay tuned.

A painting projects bestfriend is

Photoshop.

Or something similar.

While planning some of the rooms in our house - I've loved turning to photoshop to test out what was going to work best for our space.

Take my son's room for example. We took this staged picture:

 And brought it into photoshop where I played with the color choices that we were playing with.

This is what we thought going in was going to be the winning choice:

Or maybe it was this:

Hmmmm... what about this:

Or...

But then this, began growing on us more and more:

Yes... the last option was perfect. So we broke out the paint and here is how close our mock up came to what we ended up with.

I'm trilled that we were able to experiment so much in photoshop before actually painting a stroke.

If you haven't seen it, here is the finished nursery.

Pretty Flower

This is another project that I'm afraid I don't have step by step instructions for, but I can walk you through it pretty easily.

I made these flower canvas pieces for my daughters room.

 

These were insanely easy...

I just purchased 2 faux gerber daisies, 2 canvases and 2 colors of pink.

Painted each of the canvases. (Am I spelling that right? I can't spell and that doesn't feel right to me... but then again, I can't spell so what do I know.)

Cut the stem off the flower.

Cut an "x" in the center of the canvas. And then hot glued the flower to the canvas pushing the back of the flower through the canvas to allow it to sit more flush with the canvas.

Then I glued the stem onto the canvas and that was it. You could do it with any flower you want, any color and any other embellishment. At some point, I might like to go back and wrap the edge of the canvas with a piece of ribbon, or paint it with a complimenting color...

Or I just might leave them alone.

You can see them here on top of her my daughter's quilt shelf.

Check out more of Bug's Room.

Toy Storage

Toys. We've got a million toys. Perhaps a billion.

But we don't like the house looking like we've got a quite that many and have found some pretty creative toy storage solutions.

1st, in the playroom: The Ikea shelf unit known throughout the world. We've got it too. Only we didn't use the bins and boxes that they have at Ikea. We went with a couple of different solutions from Land of Nod, I was trilled to find such perfect bins in the exact colors we wanted.

Also in the playroom we've got  two sets of the ever popular bins found at Target, you can see one of the sets pictured here on the left as well as the classic toy box.

What I like about our solutions - is that they are just that, solutionS. I don't think there is a one size fits all solution to storage. There are some things that won't work in a bin or a box, but they'll work on a shelf. And some things that you just plain don't want seen and can put in the toy box.

And what we love about the bins, is the majority of the toys can live in the play room, but at any given point in time, the kids can grab a bin and take it to anyplace in the house that they want to be.

(I need to update my pictures of the playroom, we don't even have that kitchen anymore...)

But of course, our toys aren't limited to the play room. We also have a "healthy" collection in the family room on the main level of our house. And for this, we turned to Ikea and Land of Nod again...

The toys are there for the kids, but in a way that we can live with. The colors that match our space and our decor. I love using this piece a a HUGE sofa table. It really has the presence and weight needed to balance out our large red sectional.

Sigh.... Our large red section. One of my other favorite pieces of furniture of all time... But that is another post.

Wedding Quilt

This is another post that I have nothing to do with... we'll except for the fact that the piece hangs in my home.

This beautiful quilt was a wedding gift from my father's sister, my Aunt Rusty:

There is so much symbolism in this quilt. The pattern is the "Ohio Star" - representing my Aunt and her family who've lived in Ohio for many years. The fabric in the center of each star, hydrangea, the flower I used on our invitation and throughout our wedding (though amazingly my Aunt didn't know it when she picked it, she theorized it must have been my father's hand guiding her to pick it.)

The quilt now hangs in the staircase, someday it might be on our bed, but I just can't bear to hide it away in our bedroom.

They Never End

Circles that its... they have no beginning and no end. And while adding circles to our master bedroom wasn't something we planned to do, they were on two of the first elements that I found to reinvent it a couple of months back.

As the room was coming together I remember the minister who performed out wedding referencing our wedding rings and how they had no beginning and no end and it clicked... circles were something I wanted to bring into the room. It isn't an overt romantic gesture, like the dreams sign, but they bring a smile to my face as I look at them.