New Room and Bed For Princess Five

I shared with you a few posts ago how Princess Five decided to move into her sisters old room. She had a little help moving things down to her room and I walked in the other day to take pictures of her room and she was actually "Dancing" in her room. 


The picture to the right is her twirling in her room. I laughed that I got this picture.

As you can see by the dancing and the sign I showed you in yesterdays post that I put on here as well, that she "Loves" her room. 

She got rid of some of the stuff her sister left and decided to keep some of the stuffed animals but got rid of most of the pillows on the bed and the chest at the bottom of her bed. 


She mostly has jewelry holders around her room. She organized all the books and things in her closet and she really loves her room.

The box at the bottom on the bed had pink fur on it. She wanted the same fabric from the cork board to cover the chest. 
 
I think it looks really nice and the room is really cute and, I LOVE the smile that Princess Five has on her face in the top photo.

I think she likes the full sized bed and isn't missing the bunk bed so much. 

Covering a Cork Board with Fabric, Paper or Wall Paper

While Princess Five was changing her room around, she asked me if I could change out the pink paper off the cork board and put some fabric on it. 

I purchased the cork board at a second hand store and someone painted their name on the front with paint. I have never liked the look of cork boards so I usually cover them with fabric or paper. 

I used paper on it years ago because it is easier to have the edges even but I do think the fabric looks better. I have used wall paper on them as well so it matched the wall the board was on.

There isn't a way to take the board out of the frame as they are set into the middle of the wood similar to a window. 

I first used thumb tacks to "tack" the fabric on and make sure I had it even. I then used a stapler to staple the fabric into the cork board. 


I did figure something out once I started, but since I was almost finished, I kept doing it the way I started. 

I thought that I should have used a flat scraper for scraping paint to slide the fabric in under the frame edge. I opened up the stapler so I could staple flat and just stapled around the edges of the board and then I was able to  remove the thumb tacks. 

She was SO excited when I got it finished. I didn't have it finished for more than a few minutes before she had things on it. 


As you can see by the finished product, she "LOVES her room" as she wrote on her white board. 

I think the fabric really added to the room. The pink paper was really faded and it needed updating. I'll show you her full room tomorrow. 

Mexican Train - Thoughful Gift

I got a WONDERFUL gift this Christmas. I posted a blog post a few months back about my Step-mother making these cool "Mexican Train" Domino tile holders. Here is a link to this post.

I thought they were great. She is in a group that plays weekly. She knew I liked them and for Christmas, she made me four. I LOVE them. She was so thoughtful that she spent so much time to make them for us. 

We haven't played "Mexican Train" in awhile since the girls haven't all been together until recently. 

Over the holiday, we got to use out new holders and try them out. It was nice to be able to stack them and not have them falling. It is funny how they will "domino" down when you knock one. 

I am so blessed that I have such a wonderful "mother" in my life. She is such a blessing to our family. 

Over Christmas, she planned three parties on the same day. She did our skating party and lunch. Then lunch for the teens for their bowling party and then a full sit down AMAZING pork loin roast dinner for my siblings and their spouses. 
 
She is so wonderful and it means so much to me that she spent so much time on a gift for us. She is so busy doing good things that I appreciate even more the time she spent on us. 

Thanks Grandma for the wonderful and thoughtful gift!

A Foot Off the Head and Highlights for Princess

Princess Four was ready for a change. I posted in my last post about how she wanted to get her hair cut after taking senior pictures. She asked me to cut it and I suggested that we do some highlights. 

I didn't want to take the time to cut it before as I do better when the hair is wet. If it is wet, it is hard to pull through a cap so I cut about 12 inches off the bottom and figured I could trim it up after the highlights were done.
 
I bought two boxed highlight kits for about $7 each. With her hair being so long, I figured I would need two bottles which I did. I should have just gone to a beauty supply shop and purchased a large bottle and powder but I was in a hurry and it was a holiday. 
 
I put the cap on her and started pulling the hair through. I didn't want it to be really dramatic or stand out much as this is a big change for her. I used every other hole and only left the bleach on for about 40 minutes. I just wanted the highlights to look like she has been in the sun. 

She was very nervous about her new look as some of her identity is linked to having such long hair. 
 
Most of her sisters have cried when I cut off their long hair. She was good and didn't have any problems with the cut. She was actually excited to see how it looked. 

She left a braid section that she didn't want cut so she could show everyone how much hair was actually cut off. 

I think it is cute and did like that she had a smile on her face after it was over. Princess Five freaked out when she saw the highlighted section before it was combed in with the rest of the hair. After we combed it out, she said she liked it but couldn't believe how light it was before and then how much it hardly showed after. 
 
We washed it and combed it out and then I trimmed it up and she put it in a pony tail and I think it looks great. 

I can't wait to see how it looks once she has it curled or straightened.  

I probably should have taken the pictures in better light so you can see the highlights. 

When I put her hair next to Princess Five's, you can really see the difference. I asked Princess Five if she wanted highlights before and after I did Princess Fours and she said "no" both times. 

Princess Four did say she wasn't sure she thought it was worth it to sit for that length of time and have her hair pulled through a cap. I figure it took a lot less time than doing the foil layered thing. We'll see if she decides she likes it enough to have it done again. 
 
Most of my girls are not that much into getting their hair cut or done. They just like to be able to pull it up quickly and easily. I have regularly highlighted my hair since high school so it is weird that only one of my girls in the past has highlighted their hair only once. They do have gorgeous hair and really don't need much to look beautiful.       

Princess Four Photo Shoot - Before Cutting her Hair - Part 1

Princess Four is graduating this year. She wanted to get some cute Senior pictures but she wanted to curl her hair for the photo shoot. 

She also wants to get her hair cut and do some photo shoots with her hair shorter.

We were going to do this photo shoot in October when we did the family photo shoot but the weather got bad and then we got busy and we didn't have time to get her hair curled and get it done. We did do some photos then which I never did get posted but will probably post when I cut her hair.


While all the girls were home, two of them spent a few hours curling Princess Four's hair so she could get it cute for the pictures. By the time she got her hair curled, it was getting dark. 

This was on the day when I was sick with the headache so Princess Two and Three drove Princess Four around town and took some cute candid photos of her in different locations and she picked a few different outfits to wear.

As you can see, she likes the blue as it makes her eyes pop but it was a bit overcast and towards dusk so I think they did a great job with the weather and time they had. 


I was glad she was able to get it done as she has been wanting to cut her hair for some time but didn't want to do that before she got some pictures with long curls.

She is excited to get her hair cut now so I will have to show you what she looks like after that event. 

Her hair is so long that it is hard to deal with sometimes. I think she is going to like having it cut again. It has been awhile. Here is a post showing a picture of her last time we cut off a long piece to donate.

 
 Doesn't she look beautiful? I am constantly amazed at how different my girls are and yet how similar they look. 

I think the long hair makes people think they look more alike than they do but it seems like one looks like another and that other looks like another so there is some similarity but not necessarily with all.

Moving In and Out and In

Over the Christmas break, the girls decided to move bedrooms around. Princess Five decided to move her room to Princess Three's room. Princess Three has been off at college for two years now so her room has been the guest room. 


Princess Five decided that she wanted to move into the bedroom with a "real" bed rather than a bunk. To make the move, Princess Three had to go through her room and decide what to keep and what to get rid of. I was impressed with how much she was willing to let go of. She got rid of all of her trophies and medals and many other things. She kept only a few bins of items and some were things she has for an apartment when she moves out of student housing.


It took her one evening to go through it all. 

Princess Five then started sorting her things and she also got rid of lots of stuff. Between the two of them, they got three garbage bags of clothes that we took up to my niece. 

I couldn't believe how much stuff we got out of the two rooms. 

Princess Five spent the next day moving her stuff into the "Bigger" room and pulled out some of the stuff her sister has left. All of the girls helped move things from room to room and helped her sort through her things to decide what to keep and what to get rid of as she sorted. 

We ended up with about five boxes of items to get rid of as well as the clothes we took to my niece. The girls just kept sorting and sorting. Princess Two got into the act and sorted all the bins she has stored in the garage and went through the closets in her room as well. 


As you can see by the mess in her old room, and the mess in the family room, there was LOTS of stuff getting discarded. 

Princess Two was happy to clean out her stuff and then we all moved on into Princess Fours room. 


She decided she wanted to have a regular bed instead of bunk beds so the next night, we started moving out her bunk beds and took the bed out of Princess Two's room so she can have a regular bed. 

We moved the bunks into Princess Two's old room as I am not sure I am ready to get rid of them yet. 

It is nice to have extra beds when family and friends come to visit. I'll post some pictures of the girls and their new rooms. They are enjoying them.

Happy Birthday Eve - Shadow Box of Memories

My older sister has her birthday on New Years Eve. Not the best birthday as it is so close to Christmas, but I wanted to give her something that reflects memories that I have with her.

I found a shadow box a few weeks ago and it had some cute things in it that reminded me of her life. I got an idea to make a shadow box of many of our memories together. 

I pulled some things off the box and then added other things. I went through all of the notions I had and found some others that reminded me of some of our trips and memories.

Our trip to Peru to do service is one of the boxes. The shell is how the natives call the town together, the hat and mittens are things we purchased there and the rest are reminders of our trip. Here is a link to a post about that.

We have gone on two cruises together. One to the Mexican Rivera and the other to the Caribbean.


My sister and I worked at movie theaters and she was working at one when she met her husband who was the manager there at the time. 

They got married over Valentines week and her husband drove a white sports car when they met. 

My sister is a big gardener. I have a few posts about her love of gardening. I couldn't make a shadow box without including that in there somewhere. Our Great-grandmother was a big gardener and we grew up in an antique home that had rose gardens. Here is the main post about that.  
Here is another post about her new garden.

Another square has to do with our New Years sledding party we used to have at our family cabin for years. 

One year, it was getting dark and we decided to take "one ride" down the hill together and I guess the two of us gave it enough weight to get some speed. We went down the hill, hit the barrier at the bottom and went up and over it and landed on the ice on the road. We both broke our backsides and ended up at the ER. They asked if we were expecting as you don't want x-rays if you are pregnant. She thought she could be so they did a pregnancy test and we found out she was expecting that night at the ER. 

I have gotten my sister a few sewing machines over the years. Here is post one about the industrial sewing machine and here is the post about the industrial serger I found for her here. 
 
I laughed when I saw the mouse square. It had a mouse and two mouse traps. Funny story - we went camping and I guess when they unpacked the camping gear, a few mice got into the house. My sister was sleeping in her bed when she felt a mouse crawling on her. 

It was a nightmare and I can't even imagine what that would be like but she slept in the car for a few days until they caught the offending mouse. Her husband killed it with a broom. I had to find a broom to put in that square so she could hopefully laugh about it.

I was excited to find the little printers drawer in the top right corner. We lived in the East for years and I found some old antique printer drawers and we both put them in our kids rooms with little items in them. I couldn't believe I found a miniature one.

I also loved the little sewing embroidery thread box I found. I couldn't believe I found it. It was a great find. The game square was fun. I found a full deck of miniature cards. I also found mini dice which I included as we both started Bunko groups in our neighborhood years ago and we play it for family parties and reunions. Here is a post about that here.


Her kids, for years, have been active in "knights of freedom" and they play sword games and have "battles" with padded swords. I included the swords in the "game" box. 

I included "chicks and eggs" as she has some chickens. Here is post one about that. Here is post two about that. 


There are a few other squares that are fun. My sister taught us how to knit the fun scarves last year that helped Princess four head to Thailand. Here is one of the posts about that.  My sister never knit before a few years ago when she found out she was going to be a grandma. Here is a post about that. There are several squares about knitting.

My sister bakes and is into canning and food storage so there were a few squares about that. 

I gave it to her at the family skating party we have every year after Christmas. Here is a tradition post about that. Here is another post about that here.

I wanted to actually print out little pictures of her and the family to put in the squares of the actual event but my printer wasn't working so I had to go with what I had. 

She seemed to enjoy the trip down memory lane. Her husband commented on it as well and thanked me for making it.
I had fun making it and hope she enjoys it. Happy Birthday Sis. It has been a fun life making memories with you!