Daily Gnome: Design | Home | Family

Bat Wing Paper Airplanes + Lollipop Valentines

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We got our craft on family-style yesterday morning, gathering around the dining room table to bust out the annual class Valentines. Carson opted for paper airplanes, and thanks to Jason’s mad skills the planes were designed for optimum flying power:

Carson diligently pasted on the paper hearts, carefully writing his name on the back side:
It came as no surprise that Hadley chose a lollipop theme. With Popsicle sticks, a circle punch and no shortage of heart and glittery stickers, we almost had all the materials on hand.

She took her job of Sticker Placement Supervisor and Stamp Director quite seriously:

Happy Heart Day everyone! Hope your day is full of sugary sweetness and lots of love.

XOXO

Dresser Makeover for a Little Girls Room

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Since last fall I’d been scouting thrift stores and garage sales for an old chest of drawers for Hadley’s room. Poor girl was storing her clothes in laundry baskets. I came across this neglected piece with good bones in need of a little love:

A fresh coat of paint, new hardware and an afternoon later:

And I swear I found these little tweets on etsy before all the bird hoopla

How To Build A Play Kitchen

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Last Christmas we searched around for a play kitchen for Hadley and not finding one we liked (under $200) Jason set out to make one himself. The entire project came in under $25.

Start with an end table or nightstand picked up at your local thrift shop or yard sale. We found this one at Goodwill for around $10:

We also found a set of coasters perfect for burners and a stainless steel bowl for the sink. The knobs we already had on hand. At The Rebuilding Center we picked up the oven handle along with a faucet.

Jason spray painted it, cut out a hole for the sink, and attached the coasters and knobs.  For the oven door he connected the fronts of the two bottom drawers and attached hinges to the bottom:

Jason finished it over the weekend and Hadley’s been cooking up a storm:

Dreamweaver

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Sweet dreams, I told him as we said our goodnights.

No thank you. I don’t want to have any dreams.

Only good dreams, I told him and flipped off the light.

Flip. He turned it back on.

How do I make that happen? he asked.

I stayed a few more minutes and told him the story of the dreamcatcher.

Mom, can we get one of those catchers tomorrow?

Okay.

On a walk to the park we found what we needed: 
– A long flexible stick
– Evergreen (just for decoration)
– Feathery white plumes

The rest we had on hand:
– Twine to secure the stick
– Colorful beads
– Stretchy string for the web

Twenty minutes later we had our homemade dreamcatcher to hang in the window.

Sweet dreams.

The next morning I asked him what kind of dreams he had.

No bad ones!

Then he raced to see if there was a fire breathing dragon or other scary animal caught in its web.

They’re not there. I think a magic spider must have come and eaten them already, he determined.

{ daily quotes }

As long as you embrace struggle and mistakes, you can learn anything.
–Salman Kahn

Go confidently in the direction of your dreams. Live the life you've imagined.
– Henry David Thoreau

There are two lasting bequests we can give our children. One is roots. The other is wings.
– Hodding Carter, Jr.

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