Ivy's Green and Blue Room Tour

We live in a tiny cottage that used to be one of my parents' Vacation Rental units here in Hawaii. Even though it's small, I love making it into a fun little home for Kit, Ivy and I. Especially for Ivy. Let me take you on a "tour" of her green and blue room. 

First of all, all of the dark blue furniture was mine. My dad built me this bed when I turned 15. I got to design it when I finally had permission to stop sleeping in my canopy princess bed I'd had since I was 3. :) When I was 21 and moved home after college and living abroad, I painted it blue, and added the dark blue side table and bookshelf, which my dad also built for me. I was so excited when Ivy transitioned out of the crib, so I could let her sleep in my old bed. I like that kind of thing.

This mobile hangs above her bed. It's made out of a 3-prong metal plant hanger. I made it when we moved into this house when Ivy was 6 months old. The butterflies were a gift a student gave me, and Cailin had tied that blue ribbon around our dog Godiva's neck when we brought Ivy home from the hospital. Such a special moment. 

 I made the bunting in the window, as well as that heart garland (click here to see that post). Kit made the "Kulia" plaque (that's Ivy's middle name, meaning 'fortunate'). 

The doll on Ivy's bed is named "Amy" and she's 29 years old. 

My late aunt Sara made her for me when I was born. 

I wore her dress home from the hospital. 

On the right is a little side table. I got it at a garage sale 7 years ago. 

Sitting on the table is a fabric bucket I made, in the same fabric as her chair cushions. It contains some of the only pink decor in the entire room...! I have nothing against pink, but the child is named "Ivy." I think it's only appropriate that her room match her namesake, at least a little. We are also super into the ocean, so I think she should be surrounded by blue too. There will be plenty of time for tons of pink and purple things in her life. :) 

The fabric bucket also matches this hat box I recovered the other day, which now holds her Barbie's. Tutorial on that coming soon. :) For other fabric bucket tutorials and posts, click here, here and here.

If you've been following me for a while, you will recognize the Kids' Pottery Barn table and chair re-do. There's 4 chairs in the set, but I keep one next door at my parent's house. Ivy's room is just too small! For the full post on this re-do, click here. It holds her coffee maker and tea set. The placemat is from Cailin... Urban Outfitters! (I have it in orange, too.) The rug is also from UO. I made the chair cushions. Click here for that post. 

 Like any good room designed in 2009 or later, Ivy's got a gallery wall. It contains the letters of her name (of course), torn out pages from a vintage book (of course), maternity shots of Ivy in my tummy (of course) and family photos (of course). PS: the fabric in the long frame is one of my absolute favorite fabrics of all time.

 Photos are by:

Ajja Photography (family)

Naomi Wong Photography (maternity)

Noah Hamilton Photography (maternity)

Sears (the family portrait down below that looks like we're from the 1970's)

I LOVE this picture/book page/illustration:

Here' the view looking "out" of Ivy's room. I use shoe storage on the back of her door to give a home to random toys. 

And of course, the bunting. My reason for starting this blog. I love to make bunting. Want some? Give me a color scheme, style and length and we can do a transaction via my Etsy shop. 

Oh, and these awesome floor-length curtains are from Pier 1. I LOVE them. They're kind of the reason I did this room tour. I felt like her room was finished once they were up. 

Thanks for taking the tour!

Aloha, Rebecca

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Cinderella Princess Party - Ivy is 3!

Ivy turned 3 earlier this month! I'm not the type to say, "Oh, my baby is getting so big! :(" I think each stage gets better and better and we have more and more fun together. 

Being the decisive child that she is, she began telling everyone that she was having a Cinderella party. Taking that as my cue, I started a Pinterest board for a Cinderella party and got to work. 

Her Actual Birthday:

Her birthday fell on the Friday of Fall Break, so she was enrolled in Princess Camp at my work. (At Princess Camp, they get to wear princess dresses and learn ballet and make crafts and read about Princesses). So on her actual birthday she woke up and opened a present-- a Cinderella Princess dress and Crown, and then got to wear it for the day at Camp!. I made her hair all pretty, like Cinderella's.

Two days later we had her party.
We've had all her birthday parties in my parents yard next door to our house:

Age 1- Ladybug Garden party

Age 2- Elmo Sesame Street party

Age 3- Cinderella Princess Party

Attire:

Originally she was going to wear the Cinderella dress for her party, but about an hour before the party, my friend Katie came over to give her a present: a Rapunzel Dress and long braided hair/crown. She immediately put it on, and I didn't even try to tell her to put on the Cinderella dress because, quite frankly, she'd been wearing it for 2 days straight (it was a little dirty), and this Rapunzel hair with the long braid was just too adorable. 

Decor & Ambience:

 I basically set up a 12'x12' white tent I got at Walmart for $125, and set up a bunch of our furniture onto my parent's lawn. I read a post from Sawdust & Embryo's about how she hosted a baby shower, but her living room was in the middle of a renovation, so she just brought her living room furniture out onto the lawn and it turned out great! Click here to read their post.

I bought a few yards of blue tulle and brought some bunting and garland's that normally hang in Ivy's room. I strung them around the inside of the tent. Blew up silver and white balloons, bought some candy corns (the green ones are candy apple), pumpkins, and a Fall flower bouquet from Safeway. I downloaded Disney's Cinderella soundtrack and had it playing throughout the party.

Food:

raspberries stuffed with chocolate chips and chocolate covered acai/blueberries!

The party guests were encouraged to wear Princess attire. They arrived bearing gifts, and Ivy decided (on the spot) that she would open each one as the princess gave it to her. 

Activities:

I bought a Cinderella Party Pack from Walmart which had all these Cinderella stickers, mazes, wands, keychains, rings and plastic Cinderella bags. Rather then put the fun stuff in the bags, I just put it out at the party for the kids to color and play with. Later we used the bags for the piñata!

I also found a 12-pack of crowns at Salvation Army last month for $2. I picked up some foam stickers and some princess stickers so that the Princesses could make a crown. 

 I asked my friend from church, Jessica, to come do face painting. This is top-of-the-line face painting... If you live in the area and want to book her, let me know!

I made up two games. You read that correctly. I made them up. That's just how I roll.

#1- Sweep the Pumpkin into the Bucket 

(this is Cinderella "pre-ball" and fancy dress)

#2 - Where did Cinderella lose her glass slipper?!

(this is Cinderella "post-ball")

I had all the princesses close their eyes (hiding behind the fountain under the watchful eye of my mom... mom, you weren't supposed to close your eyes! You were supposed to make sure the kids closed their's!) Then we hid the shoe. On this particular round, she apparently lost in the roof of the tent. How is that even possible, you ask? Um... that's not the point.

Last activity of the day: Piñata! I wasn't going to get one, but I called Kit and he told me we should... just cause its fun. The Disney Princess piñata was $21 at Walmart. The generic Princess castle (which I purchased) was $9. Score! 

Cupcakes and Cake:

Ivy and I have been eyeing this cake at Safeway for a few months. They have all the princesses and they're only $8.99! When I turned 5, I had a cake like this, but it was a random girl, not Cinderella.

I had my mom make funfetti cupcakes with food coloring blue frosting. 

And that was Ivy's Cinderella Party. Fun fun fun. 

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