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What I Wore Wednesday

I am so bad about taking pictures of my outfits (not that it's something I need to feel guilty about) but I do like being able to look back at combos of things I've come up with from my closet so when I'm feeling stumped, I can just come back here... so here I am, with a sparse WIWW.

90% of my wardrobe comes from the thrift store. I love to find unique items there, and it's definitely easier on the budget! These great wide-leg trouser jeans are from there, and this top was a recent find. I love the little details on it! 

These platform sandals were bought at a tent sale at a local shop. I've discovered that a platform sandal is a perfect way to dress up an outfit comfortably. 

One of my other favorite places to shop is GroopDealz.  It's a daily deals site, and most of their items come from cute online boutiques. I'd been looking for a tiered maxi skirt like this for a while, so when this one showed up for $15 on there, I snagged it. It's super comfy! 

That's all I got this week. :) 

A salon...for free. ;)

This week has been all about celebrating motherhood... whether as a mom ourselves, our own moms, or another mom in our lives. I had a lot of different options I could have used as a jumping off point, but then I was surprised yesterday afternoon by my daughters with a "Salon... for Free!" in my backyard, so I couldn't resist documenting this sweet memory. 

I chose to purposefully leave my phone inside, so I could focus on remembering the details and just experiencing the moment, so I didn't take any pictures- but I DID have this wonderful sign my oldest made for the "salon," so I used that as the focal point for my layout. 

There was ample room to decorate and lots of feminine details from the Country Lane kit, so I just played and embellished to my heart's content. Then I added my journaling inside of one of the cute frames in the kit. 

It was such a sweet memory that I wanted to make sure was saved, so even though it doesn't have any photos, it's definitely going into my scrapbook! 

****Don't forget- this would make a GREAT Mother's Day gift!!!*****

Fly Away With Me

The Country Lane kit arrived at my house yesterday and I whipped up a quick card with it and my Silhouette machine. 

I used the Silhouette machine to make the card itself, and then pieced together the backing to make it "pop." 

Some of the fun things you can find in the Country Lane kit: 

-star pins

-glitter glaze

-ephemera tickets

-sheer tape

and that doesn't even touch the surface of the kit! 

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8 is Great

My oldest turned 8 a couple of weeks ago. I've been a mama for 8 years! It's a little unbelievable to me. This sweet girl has grown up a lot in the last year, and while in the past I would have used copious amounts of cotton candy pink and lavender to scrap a page about her, I loved the navy and gold combo that was in the NoelMignon Melrose kit... thrown in with a dash of minty green, and it reflects the fun but maturing tastes of my big girl. 

I used Julie's sketch  but flipped it on its side instead. Remember that awesome Heidi Swapp fringe trim in the Soda Shoppe kit? I wanted to mimic it and added some fringe to the edge of my layers with my scissors. 

I love a simple garland of tags. It's one of my favorite accents to a layout! 

The embellishments in the Melrose kit add so much variety to a cluster of decor- lots of fun texture. 

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Thoughts on Room Sharing with Three Sisters

I've mentioned our home here a time or two ;) - we live in an old Southern house, built in 1924. I love its screened in front porch, the tongue-in-groove walls, the big old wooden doors. It's got an interesting layout... but what I don't particular love is the way the rooms are portioned off. I am grateful for our home. And I believe that small homes create close families. 

Right?

Sometimes teaching that philosophy doesn't go over so well with  my kiddos. Especially my three girlies who share a room. As we discover in the world pretty quickly, not everyone is like us! My three girls are no exception. I have a super tidy, neat, minimalist daughter, who likes a place for everything and everything in its place. I have a magpie daughter, who gathers up tiny bits of paper and everything is sentimental to her. And I have a silly three year old, whose personality lends itself to chattering into the night and snuggling up close to whoever is her favorite at the moment. 

Providing space for all of them to flourish and for them to learn to get along and respect each other is challenging, to say the least. I'm a "researcher" by nature (I get it from my sweet Grams)- I like to look up how other people have done things, read about different strategies, and learn from others' trials and errors. I have discovered that in looking up info on the WWW about siblings sharing rooms, most of what I can find is either super functional or super extravagant. There's not much middle man out there.

So this post is for you, whoever you might be, looking for cute but affordable rooms for little girls that are sharing the space. :) You're not alone! 

This is the girls' closet. It's the one room in the house with a big closet. The right side of it has a closet bar hanging from the other bar, so we have two rows of clothes: one for my big girl and one for the two little girls. We also have hanging shoe storage on that side. The left side has a three drawer plastic cart with pjs in it, and a basket of socks on the top. Storage for sleeping bags, swim stuff, and other odds and ends is on the left. On the top shelf, I have a rubbermaid bin for each girl with clothes for the next season in it. 

The shelves are backed with wrapping paper. Each girl has her own shelf, and the two big girls also have a bin on the very bottom. Ariana (the littlest) doesn't really care so much about that yet, so all of her stuff is consolidated to one shelf. 

This is our real life, not magazine-worthy sleep situation at the moment. I can't tell you how many times the girls have traded spots, so who knows how long this current arrangement will last! The top bunk is Emerson's (my oldest). She gets really frustrated when her bed gets messy, so I suggested she move up top so no one would mess with her bed. It's working for now! The butterflies were cut with my Silhouette machine. 

The bottom bunk is currently being shared (SHARED!!) by the two little girls. If you'll notice, there's actually a trundle bed below, which is technically Ariana's bed. But at the moment, they wanted to share a bunk and since they are so little, it's fine by me. Sabby is my "magpie" and likes to collect things, so her bed is always full of stuffed animals and notebooks and hidden snacks (that I have to confiscate). We have white twinkle lights woven through the slats above the bed and it makes story time at night quite dreamy. We added some glow in the dark stars this weekend as well which the girlies love when the lights go out. 

The girls share this dresser (that is in desperate need for paint and a knob upgrade... when I have some "spare" time- haha!). The bottom drawer is Sabby's, the middle is Ariana's, and Emerson opted for the baskets and mini suitcase for hers. 

It works for us right now. We keep toys in the playroom and the girls feel a sense of ownership of their room without being overwhelmed. 

And I hope that it will help draw them closer. My prayer is that my girls love each other for their differences, and that I can help their bonds grow strong.