Gilmore Girls Party

Where you lead, I will follow.... 

Of course a theme party was in order for the Gilmore Girls revival series release!  I had so much fun creating cupcake toppers of each of the main characters, a BINGO card with all of the basics from the series (such as la-la-la music in the background, Michele complaining, a town meeting etc.) and a few important Gilmore Girls quotes.  If one was to truly stick to the theme, the menu would consist of pop-tarts, ice cream, tacos, cupcakes, donuts, red-vines, pizza and lots and lots of coffee :) To save everyone's waistline, I limited our menu to pizza, popcorn, cupcakes and of course, coffee! So before I get into my dissection of the four episodes, here are some pictures of the decorations.

***Spoiler Alert***

On to the good stuff!  I know there is a lot of raw, mixed emotions floating around out there over the final four words of the Fall episode.  However, in my humble opinion, it worked.  Don't get me wrong, I went through the emotional roller coaster like the rest of the viewing world: "Mom, I'm pregnant"  What?!?!?!?!?! I sat there, not moving, stunned on the couch.  My mouth was agape and it took me a minute to collect my thoughts.  But then I did.  And, I am ok.  It is ok.  Everything will be ok.

Lorelai has pulled her life together and she is happy- truly happy.  The world feels a bit more "right" with her and Luke officially together.  I felt an unexplainable level of peace with where her relationship with her mom, Emily Gilmore, has evolved to- they are in a good place.  My only gripe there is that I wish Emily was at the wedding.  I know, I know, sometimes I ask for too much!

There were two scenes that made the whole revival perfect for me:  
1) Lorelai's monologue about "her best day" with her dad: "I went to the mall. And I was sitting in the food court, wishing I had some money to buy a pretzel because I was starving. And I looked up and there was Dad standing in front of me at the mall. He never came to the mall. That day he went to the mall and he was furious. 'Why aren't you in school?' he asked, 'Tell me right now Lorelai, why aren't you in school,' and I tried to think of something, some lie that would make sense. But I couldn't. All I could think was that yesterday I had a boyfriend who loved me and today I didn't and I started to cry. I just sat there like an idiot bawling. And finally after what seemed like forever I managed to control myself for a little bit I calmed down and I waited. I waited for him to yell at me to punish me to ground me forever, to tell me how disappointed her was in me. And nothing came. And I finally got up enough courage to look up at him and he was standing there with a pretzel." This may be Lauren Graham's best performance of her career.  I admit it, I was crying!

2) When Dean runs into Rory in town.  He is married with three kids and one on the way.  He is happy.  Rory asks him if she can write about him in her book and when he asks what she would write, she replies: "That you were the greatest boyfriend alive. That you were, um, generous and protective and kind and strong. That as much as I wish we'd met when I was older and more mature, I know that if I hadn't have had you with me when I did, I wouldn't be the person I am today. That you taught me what safe feels like."  This might be what we can now find in the dictionary under Bittersweet.

Sooooooo, how can we not predict the future?  We are left to assume that this is Logan's baby.  Her awkward, and in my opinion, unfulfilling meeting with her dad, helped her to make the decision about if she should include Logan in the baby's life.  Jess is still secretly pining for her (we saw him looking at her lovingly through the window).  As a very dedicated member of #TeamJess, I can only hope that they end up together just as Luke and Lorelai end up together.  Yes, let's just leave it at that.  That is how this whole thing ends: Rory has the baby, she takes over the Stars Hollow newspaper and she and Jess end up together. Happily. Ever. After.  Right??

What did you think of the four episodes??


Sheila Boysen-Rotelli

Superhero Room

Is it a bird? Is it a plane?  No....It's a superhero room!  Sorry, I couldn't help myself!

We had so much fun designing Finn's bedroom.  I am a theme girl to the core.  I am a firm believer that every party needs a solid, well adhered to theme.  I applied this practice to my kids' rooms as well!  As Finn approached 2, it was time to start thinking about his "big boy" room, and superheros seemed like a a great fit.  Don't get me wrong, this kid appreciates a good princess toy or TV show...but he had an affinity for a good cape and mask as well!

His room is fun but has a few more "mature elements" as well.  For example, we used some of my dad's actual comic books from when he was a kid to create the name letters for the wall.  We also integrated a collection of superhero figurines that includes some of my brother's antique superhero action figures.

It was so much fun to make many of the pieces for his room such as the picture frames, bed accessories, wall letters and curtain valances.  It has been exciting to collect additional toys and decorations that contribute to the superhero theme! 

Bed Sheets // Sling Bookshelf // Superhero pillows // Spiderman Pillow case

Bed Sheets // Action figures // Superhero pillows // Spiderman Pillow case

Bed Sheets // Action figures // Superhero pillows // Spiderman Pillow case

Bed Sheets // Sling Bookshelf // Spiderman Pillow case

Disney Story time Projector

Bed Sheets // Sling Bookshelf // Spiderman Pillow case

xxoo,
Sheila
Sheila Boysen-Rotelli
Sheila Boysen-Rotelli

Playroom

After moving in to our house, one of the first rooms that we wanted to get in order was the kids' playroom.  One of the biggest draws of this house was a dedicated space that we could use as a playroom!  In our previous house, we did not have the space for dedicated toy and play storage so the dining room became a playroom, the kitchen became a playroom, the family room became a playroom....you get the picture: TOYS EVERYWHERE!

 

So, needless to say my we were ecstatic to start over and have one place for all things toys and play!  We started by inventorying what the kids had and cleaning out a bit.  The cleaning out consisted of throwing away anything that was broken or missing pieces and donating some of the things that the kiddos no longer played with.  After that we could actually see what we had, and come up with a storage and organization plan.

The two biggest priorities were organizing all of the toy categories and all of the books.  For the toys we found some awesome Ikea shelves that used bright colored bins.  For the books, we actually spray painted and re-purposed Ikea spice racks and hung two of the Ikea Ekorre chairs...what did we do before Ikea?!?!?!  I love how they turned out!  To enable kids be able to put away their own toys, I played around with Microsoft Word and some clipart to create some bin labels.  If you are interested in them, here is a free link to my labels.

Both kids love art and coloring so we set up a little space with a table, chairs and plenty of paper (thanks to a handy craft paper and roll) for the kids to make all the art that their little hearts desire.  We even created a gallery wall to display their masterpieces.  If you are interested in how we made that check out: this post.

Fun are to make art and then display it!

Awesome Ikea storage with bright orange bins

Easy to see labels to help the kiddos put away their own toys

Ikea spice racks for the win!

Seating in the reading nook

Imaginary play area!

Gallery Wall

Keeping the stuffed animals in check

The cleanest it will ever be!

The finished playroom

Big comfy chair!

We are super happy with how the play room turned out and kids have already spent LOTS of time in this space!

What are your favorite ways to organize all of your toys?

xxoo,
Sheila

Sheila Boysen-Rotelli

Kid's Gallery Wall

A fun project that we took on in the playroom was creating a gallery wall for our little artists to proudly display their masterpieces.  This was very simple to do and it really adds a decorative and fun element to the playroom.

The frames were purchased on amazon: here and then spray painted white to match our playroom color scheme.  The quality of these frames were great and they were very easy to install.  Next, in order to be able to change out the artwork and to display the most recent creations, I used command clips.  I added one in each frame.

Each frame was hung with two nails

The Command clips were placed at the very top center of each frame

Lastly, I used my Cricut die cutting machine to create the vinyl letters that went above the frames.  There are also lots of Etsy shops that can do this for you if you do not have a die cutting machine.  However, if you are a craft lover, I recommend you look into a Cricut machine.  I have made countless projects with mine and could not love it more!

Showing off all of those priceless masterpieces!

What are your favorite kiddo art projects?

xxoo,
Sheila
Sheila Boysen-Rotelli

Moving Announcements

We moved into our dream house this summer!  We are in the process of getting all settled and un-boxed but we are enjoying making it feel like home.  However, the conclusion that I have come to, is that moving is NO JOKE.  I do the whole Fit Bit thing, and to be honest, I break into a celebratory happy dance whenever I actually reach my 10,000 step goal. #dontjudge  However, here was my daily summary on moving day:

My Fit Bit Tracker on Moving Day

I repeat, moving is no joke!  I am now the most empathetic human being alive whenever anyone tells me they are going through the ordeal of moving.

Anyway, now that we are getting settled in the new house, it is time to share our new address with friends and family!  I got the idea in my head that it would be super cute to use a paint chip as a moving announcement card.  As soon as we decided that we were moving paint color selection was one of the top items on the to-do list, so it just seemed so fitting.

Well, I tried everything...EVEREEEE....THIIIIING.... to print on a paint chip: I tried my home printer, I tried and industrial printer, I tried the office store laser printers...it turns out that the surface is too slick and shape just too odd to work with any printers.

The Behr representative said thy were flattered that I would use the paint chips for the project!

I was not ready to give up so I tried one more thing!  I purchased clear sticker paper and... Ta-Da!!!! It worked!  I was able to print four per 8.5 by 11 sheet of sticker paper.  I used my paper cutter to trim them to shape and then suck one to each paint chip.  From there it was as simple as addressing and stamping the envelopes.

I loved how they turned out! What do you think?

The finished project ready to mail

Happy DIYing!!!

xxoo,

Sheila 

Sheila Boysen-Rotelli