REVolution

build a tree. in a room. why not.

it's been 3 years already since i had this genius idea of building a tree. in Sanne's room. and i finally figured out i never showed it here. that is, i THINK i didn't. with a bit of an instruction and some step-by-step pictures. horrible pictures. it has been 3 years you know. i'm more tidy now. seriously.

here we go.

what you'll need:
- 2 big pieces of MDF (wood). mine were 1 meter wide, and 1,5 meter height. but just get the size you think you need. 
- lots of green (scrapbooking) papers
- lots of brown (scrapbooking) papers
- felt & fabric (*)(for the hearts :), red, white, pink (whatever colors YOU love) enough to make a gazzillion hearts  (*: it's fun to use 'special' fabric, like old favorite clothes that don't fit anymore)
- embroidery thread
- doll stuffing
- scissors & glue
- one mcGyver

it all starts with a lovely sketch of what i have in mind. to explain to McGyver what i NEED.

the trunk of the tree is cut out of one mdf plate. the top (the 'leaves') are cut from the second plate. (if you look closely you'll see the line where they 'touch' eachother). so i sketch. and sketch. and sigh. and sketch. and curse. but make it exactly the way i wanted.

and then McGyver comes into the action! ofcourse i try to saw it myself, but for my McGyver only the look of me handling an electronical device gives him the creeps. hehe. so he saws. i watch. and man are those little people little or what?!

so with a lovely jig saw he creates the top of the tree (and the bottom).

half way done.

how cool is that? simply create your own home decor. saves a lot of $$$ i tell ya!

now. seriously. we are changing rooms and getting rid of this carpet. hallelujah. we get light/grey 'wooden' floors and i could not be more happy. it looks so clean & nice & clean & full of space!

now get all your brown scrapbookpaper or other paper you can find and cover the bottom. i used strips of various sizes. and just glued it on the bottom half of the tree. also known as the trunk.

ahhh my old scrapbook room. it's our bedroom now. but it was so lovely to create in. when my new room is finished, i promise, i'll do a tour. all the new rooms looks delightful!

here's the trunk of the tree. ready.

ready to create some leaves? get all your greenish paper and cover the leaves / branches the way you think would be lovely.

keep moving / changing and getting it the way you want. man what an ugly room. ha.

i choose stripes.

but it just wasn't working for me. so i changed it up to circles. be free peeps. change whenever you want to change. it does not have to be perfect. NOT in a million years.

get a crazy amount of felt. see the white fabric with the small red/pink on it? that's fabric from one of Sanne's oncies (bodysuit?). i LOVED to re-use some of her babycloth that were most favorite to me. i can't get myself to giving those away. but keeping them in boxes in the attic wasn't working for me either. so working with them in my projects feels so good!

so get felt, fabric etc, and create hearts. mine are about 15 cm wide. i closed them with a simple blanket stitch (feston steek) and filled them with doll stuffing. on some i added an application. some i kept plane.

working my ass off that evening i still remember. the hearts i already made earlier. so i think you should plan at least 2 nights for the tree and a few nights (let's say 2 hearts a night) for creating the hearts. plan it. then do it.

ahhh i LOVE it when i walk outside on the sidewalk, look up and see the tree shining through her window :)

and now we are changing rooms. i asked Sanne what to do with her tree. she almost fell of her chair. what to do with it? it HAS to come into my new room mom {insert compelling eyes}. sigh. love her.

and the small dude needs 'something' too now. i've been brainstorming and had some crazy ideas. told him what i was thinking and he came up with even a better idea! awesome. i promise to take step-by-step pictures of that proces also and show you how i did it. love it that my little people come up with ideas and i can create it. with my own hands. and a bit of McGyvers.

on the agenda today: i wanted to have a REVolution day, but that's just not happening today. no fear, i'll manage to sneak it in this weak, gambling on thursday. today the office needs me because there are some big orders & even bigger clients i need to take care of. i will. i'll put on my big girl pants and play nice. today. tomorrow is an all different kind of ball game. gna.

life is good. let's make a tree.
rev

canvas love.

remember Corinne took some uber fabulous pictures of my muppets for Arjans 40th birthday? well. these canvasses are hanging quiet a while now and it was about time to show them off. they are sooo gorgeous. everybody who walks into our home is immediately drawn to them. gotta love that!

sorry i couldn't get a better shot. love it that my little clumsy muppet is in the shot there too though :). he's doing great by the way. he's totally used to this heavy arm with the plaster on it. hopefully tomorrow he will be released of the bugger and everything goes back to normal. if everything was normal in this house. ha.

life is good. show it.
rev

what's on my table now...

working on a new canvas. time to get some new fresh ones in the house and switch things up. and aqua never bores anyway.

working on some different projects at a time. sewing, crocheting, scrapbooking, art journaling and in between making up some plans for how to's and what not's. i've struggled for some time cause i LOVE all those crafts. but sometimes i get this urge that i need to choose one of them and commit. which sounds so strange but still, never ignore those strange voices. i simply answer them. 'no, i DO NOT have to choose', 'who sais i can't do it all?' and than the sneaky bitchy lady comes up saying 'no you can't do it all, you are not getting real good at one thing if you keep doing it all...'. well. listen. bitchy lady. i believe i can, so i do. 

FUN NOTE: today i paid a speedy visit to my sweet friend Liesbeth to pick up my rad January kit from Studio Calico and my uber funny boy Ruben was having a blast in the backseat. singing and moving as best as he could, being strapped in the carseat (you would be amazed about his moves even making well strapped in tightly). i moved past a huge truck and Ruben suddenly yelled "GO MOMMY GO!" (Hup, mama, Hup!) and he cheered loudly when i past the truck. than asking me to 'join his speedracing team for horses', cause he thought i was fat cool (vette shit). crazy bean.

life is good. i believe it is.
rev 

she's getting her rainbow. fi-nal-ly

i promised her a rainbow long time ago but life is just too busy to quietly paint her room. it's dark early, so at night is not an option either. yesterday we finally found ourselfs in the paintstore (hey look, we are here, we finally made it :D), and she got to choose the colors. bright & happy. my little sunshine.

so i simply draw a rainbowish thingie on her wall (which is not flat/smooth so painting IS HARD). and we both started. first me alone cause i was kinda anal about the thought she would be painting on THE WALL. which is not typical me actually. but after the purple row was on i thought WHY NOT :D, and gave her some room to breath. i did the outlines, she colored in between the lines. and i have to admit she did a pretty amazing job for a 7 year old getting LOOSE ON THE WALLS. Ruben helped in also a bit, but he was more scary than a man holding a gun to my head. RUBEN + PAINT + WALLS equals SCREAMS from mommy. so i really needed to guide him, which he actually let me do. i guess he figured out: moms way or the highway. smart boy.

it took us about 2 hours. i love the result. we are not finished yet. there need to be sewn up 2 lovely cute clouds for the bottom left & right of the rainbow. noooo not only to cover up my crooked rainbow, but i like the cute look of it. ahum.

life is good. COLOR IT with some love please!
rev

BIG PS FOR MISTER & MISS FLU... PLEASE LEAVE OUR HOUSE NOW. we've all had 'fun' with you but it's freaking time TO MOVE ON will ya?