Quick Pillow Update (and other news)

I wanted to write a quick post to show you the update I made to our couch yesterday.  Last summer (or spring) I discovered the joys of pillow cover-making.  Once I learned the super simple-no-zipper technique to make a pillow cover I whipped up five of them in record time.  I put a few of them in the kids playroom and a couple on our front porch.  I haven't made much since, though, until yesterday.

Awhile back, my friend gave me an oversized pillow form and it's been sitting around our house for months, waiting for a little love.  Finally, finally, I hauled the kiddos down to Jo Ann fabrics (has anyone else noticed how their selection of fabric has gotten soooo much better over the last few years?) and we chose a fabric for our pillow.

I won't bore you with the details on how to make a cover using this technique -- there are dozens of excellent tutorials online -- but I will tell you that it is very easy.  And quick.  I made this guy in under an hour, during nap time, including measuring and cutting the fabric.

So, here's a before pic:

   

I really like all the pillows that are on the couch still, but I'm a little bored with them.  Ready to add in something new.  I wanted something kind of spring-ish, something with some color, and something that would blend nicely with what's already there.  Nat Nat helped me choose the fabric.  Sort of.  She really wanted a purple one, but mama won out.

Here's what we came up with:

Let's get a little closer:

 I really like the pattern and I love the colors: light blue, light green, and grey.  It really does make a big change -- adding in some much needed color and light.

In other news, we were supposed to be celebrating Nat Nat's birthday today, but my little Daniel came down with a 102 fever yesterday and was diagnosed with a sinus infection.  :(  I feel sad for both of my little guys.  Daniel really is a little sickie, and Natalie was so looking forward to her birthday party.  She's okay with the idea of postponing for a couple weeks, I think, but it still makes me sad.  We'll do a smaller, family only thing on Monday, her actual birthday.  I'll post pictures.

But, here they were yesterday, before Daniel showed any symptoms of getting sick.  I rearranged the furniture in the playroom the other day and moved their art table to the middle of the room.  Now it's much more user-friendly; they can both actually get to it pretty easily.  And what makes me even happier is that they are both now really using it!  Yay -- success!

Do you see the shelf in the background, to the right in the picture?  It's empty now, but my plan is to turn it into a craft-supply shelf, with supplies that are safe for them to get to, only (crayons, paper, stickers -- that sort of thing).  I also want to add some sort of a chore chart because we think that Natalie is getting old enough to do some simple chores around the house now that she's 3.  We bought her a piggy bank for her birthday, and we're also going to start teaching her some simple money concepts.  Long story short, I'm kind of excited about this area and I have some plans mind, so I'll keep you guys posted about how it all goes down.

Thanks for reading!
Sarah