Spruce Up Your Front Door With Your Child's Art

Artwork by Quin & Mama

Every year in June, our local library has a children's art show. It is a lot of fun for everyone involved. Last year, Quin and Andre made a painting and dropped it off together while I was at home with a brand new babe :). We all made it to the show's opening, including a two week old, Emmanuelle. When the show was over, we decided to hang the painting on our front door. Ever since then we have showcased Quin's art there (and all over the house). It makes me smile every time I come home. And people who stop by for a visit always comment. We decided to put some new work on the door a couple of weeks ago, right before I hosted a spring clothing swap. It really brought a touch of spring to our entrance. You can do the same, in a few easy steps, using recycled cardboard and yarn or ribbon. Yippee for kiddo art!


How to Showcase Your Child's Art on Your Front Door
By Tiffany Teske

What You will Need
~ Your child's art
~ Poster board
~ Cardboard
~ Hole Punch
~ Yarn or ribbon

1. Cut either your child's art to fit on the poster board or the poster board to be larger than your child's art. I like a 1" - 2" border. Glue the art on the poster board using white glue. Smooth out with your hands, making sure everything is well attached.


2. Cut cardboard to a bit smaller than the poster board and glue them together using white glue. Smooth out and make sure they are well attached.

3. Punch two holes at the top of the poster board, a couple of inches in from each side, using your hole punch. Here I used a regular round punch but I have used shaped punches for a more decorative hole.

4. Thread your yarn or ribbon through each hole from front to back, then knot each end. Voila! It is ready to hang on your door and make people, especially your little one, smile.


I love this photograph of Quin diligently photographing her art...


A view of some of the items for offer at the clothing/book/housewares swap my friend, Kim, & I hosted. Here is a post I wrote in the fall about how to host a clothing swap. It is a great way to socialize with friends and meet new people, Plus you keep your old items out of the landfill while finding some new used items for yourself.


Aren't these tulips a lovely springy hostess gift?! Thanks, Amelie!

Making an Old Sweater New Again

I love hand knit sweaters, especially for kiddos. The bright colors, fun motifs, and love that go into the creation of them make me happy. The only issue I sometimes have are with the buttons; I never seem to like the ones the knitter chose and they often seem to be smaller than then the button holes so they pop open all the time. One UFO (Un-Finished Object) that has been in my sewing pile for a LONG time is this adorable sweater. Quin is now the perfect size for it but it was unwearable with the present buttons.


I started thinking about what kind of buttons I wanted a couple of weeks ago, then while in line at the local fabric store, Sugar Pine, I found them.


These yellow hearts are super cute and the orange embroidery floss makes them sing. Sweater - $6 + Buttons $3.25 = $9.25. I challenge you to take an item of clothing that you don't like and to change things about it that might make you love it. I tend to like anything I have personalized better then something I haven't. Now I have one more project down, and a delighted daughter to boot.

Need Some New Clothes? Consider Hosting a Clothing Swap....

Last night I had the pleasure of meeting a great bunch of women and then riffling though their clothes!! I have been into the idea of hosting a clothing swap for quite sometime, but was thrilled to receive an invite from a friend of mine, whose friend had gone ahead and planned one. It has been a long time since I participated in a clothing swap and it was so much fun! In addition to clothes, there was food and drink, but since Kim and I were the only ones with nursing little ones we were only able to stay long enough to swap some clothes. In the end I brought a bag of clothes and accessories and came home with the bag full of new clothes!! And I got to meet about 12 other ladies, from all over Canada, Australia, the UK, Belgium, and The Ukraine. I love that the evening was environmentally responsible to boot. What a way to reduce, reuse, and recycle! And since only one of my friends was there I could still go ahead and host my own swap sometime soon. My goal would be to attend a swap for each new clothing season.

Hosting a Clothing Swap
Here are a few off the cuff tips on how to host a clothing swap that I gleaned from attending one. I think the less rules the better is the number one rule...

* Invite lots of lovely ladies via an email invite such as Evite. Invite everyone to invite their friends. The more, the merrier, and the best selection.
* Invite people to bring wine or other bevies and nibblies.
* Ask everyone to bring clothes that still have some wear left to them. No garage sale or thrift store bound items (nothing against these places since I LOVE them but sometimes the clothes are not in the best shape...).
* Encourage attendees to also bring shoes, accessories, whatever is clothing related. I brought a bunch of plastic hangers to share. And some women even brought paperback books.
* Do not make it mandatory for people attending to bring items. There will be lots of things to chose from anyway and usually someone who has not brought something will wait until the people who have have made their selections.
* As each person arrives lay out their clothes on the floor in rows so that things are folded but easily seen. As more and more people arrive you can hold up the items for all to view while organizing them.
* The only rule at the swap I attended was that if two women were "fighting" over the same piece of clothing that the person who brought the most clothes to offer to the swap could have the item.
* My rule was that I wanted to try on each item I was interested in so that someone else could have it if it didn't fit me.
* At the end of the evening whatever is left over can be bagged up for the local thrift store. You can ask attendees to help with this.
* Consider variations on this theme, such as a male/female event or even a kiddo event.


And if you and a close friend are both bringing items to the same swap and you are around the same size, consider looking at each others items BEFORE the swap. In the end, I think I ended up with four items from the friend I arrived with. One of them is this sexy little number above! I scored the perfect black cardigan to go over it and I can't wait to wear it on our 6th wedding anniversary this month!

Fuzzy Gaiters, YEAH!!

I miss one of my bestest, most creative, funest friends, Karina, pretty much daily. She and I have spent much time together, empathizing about the joys and challenges of being full time artists. She is in Ottawa, I am in Banff. She has come to visit, I go there to visit, we have met up in San Miguel de Allende. We have worked on projects together in her studio, and she brought delectable delights over to my home on her motorcycle when I first had Quin, and we would kick back and chat and drink tea. She and I have traded work. And bought each other gifts, like the adorable teeny turquoise and red satin Mary Janes she brought Quin back from Amsterdam. We send each other show cards for our lastest exhibits. It is hard to not think of her, since many corners of my home include her work. She inspires me, and I hope I do the same for her. ANYWAY... we keep up on what the other is doing with the help of our blogs. So, when my reader showed this link the other night, I was thrilled to see she has finally put some of her clothing and accessory line online!! This certainly helps me, being on the other end of Canada. Anyway, K, has the most wonderful and adorable gaiters for sale, and what does a pregnant woman in Banff need this winter more than anything? That's right, FUZZY GAITERS!! I went immediately to her shop, got my hand on the only pink and orange pair, made with fur she bought on a recent trip to New York. I love this color combo ever since I had my daughter. I found out the next day I was K's first online sale EVER! Yippee! WhoooooooWhoooooo! Now, I just sit back and wait for my new fashion accessory. It was all so easy and I am so happy. I think Quin needs a pair...