Dress Giveaway by Twinkie Jacks Boutique!

Now is a great time to become a fan of Twinkie Jacks Boutique over on facebook!  :)  

Twinkie Jacks Boutique is my small home business of children's clothing and accessories.  All of my handmade garments are made by yours truly in my home with great care and pride!  I started out sewing dresses for my twin baby (now toddler) girls and it expanded into this business.  I now offer some items for boys as well (one of my best sellers is my super hero capes) and I also sell my hand knit baby hats as well.

I started my business in the beginning of March and it's already grown leaps and bounds!  I've recently reached 222 fans on my facebook page and to celebrate I am hosting a giveaway.  The lucky winner will receive a Cupcake Cutie peasant dress in their choice of size (6 months - 5T).  To enter, simply "like" my facebook page and leave me a comment on the dress giveaway post. You can also earn bonus entries by referring friends to my page (see post for details). Contest is open until Thursday at 9:00 pm CST. Please go check out my page!

Also, if you like to order/shop on etsy, I also have a store on there which you can visit here. I take orders on etsy as well as via facebook/paypal. If you've never browsed etsy before, definitely go check it out! There are tons of unique items there, all are handmade, and make fabulous gifts!

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Our New Play Room

This month I finally accomplished a project that I've been working on for a while now! I converted our formal dining room into a play room for the children with an office/sewing area for myself. I drew inspiration from Play at Home Mom, as usual, to create a bright, open, and inviting play area for the kids where materials were displayed in inviting and accessible ways. You can see the incredible play rooms of AK here and RL here. I also found some great ideas on Pinterest and came up with a few of my own too.

Here is a before picture of our dining room... beautiful but not the best use for the space since it was only used a few times a year. Our house is on the small side, and with 3 kids we need to make the most out of all the space we have!

 

And here is our new playroom! I was able to incorporate pretty much everything that I wanted. There is a space for our light table, magnetic dry erase board/felt board, a way to display the kid's artwork, a table for art projects and play, an area for dress up/dramatic play, an art supply area, a toy storage area, and space for my twinkie jacks boutique sewing projects along with an office area.



This area of our playroom houses a large magnetic white erase board for drawing and playing with magnets (animals, letters, numbers, etc).  I have it resting on top of 2 itso storage bins from Target (I LOVE how you can customize these bins with different sized shelves and storage buckets to suit your needs) and mounted to the wall with super strong 3M velcro strips... I'm pretty much obsessed with those things and use them for hanging/mounting lots of items. Next to the bin I have a strip that I cut off a plastic shoe organizer to hold an eraser and washable dry erase crayons and markers. I also have a magnetic felt board that we can put right on top of our dry erase board for felt story play. I love that I can get two uses out of this board and when we're not using it for felt play, I can just roll it up and put it away. In the itso cubes, I have our various magnets, felt stories and a few of our light table supplies (wedgits and soon-to-be magna-tiles that our son is getting for his birthday).



Right next to our dry erase board/felt board, is our light table. The table was a DIY project where I converted our old train table into a light table; you can read about how I did it here. The sides of the light table hold our various train tracks and we store our trains in a bin underneath it. Right behind the light table I mounted a mirror to the wall so it could reflect the light and various objects that the kids play with on the light table. They can also check out their dress-up play in it. Lily LOVES looking at her reflection right now and gets a huge kick out of this mirror! I also stuck some circular mirror decals on the wall around it to catch some more of the light and reflections.



Next to the train table is a large cabinet that holds my printer and some of my craft/art supplies, as well as some of the kid's overflow craft supplies. We actually already had this cabinet (2 of them in fact) and it was out in the garage and worked out perfectly for this room.



In between the cabinet and light table, I hung some peg board up to hang some of the light table and craft supplies. It's at the perfect accessible height for my oldest, but just out of reach of my 15 month old twins which, right now, is a good thing! I used plastic paint cans that I purchased from Michaels (another great PAHM idea) to hold the supplies. In this area I have translucent colored gems, googly eyes, shells, cotton balls, craft sticks, pom poms, pipe cleaners, feathers, translucent shot glasses in a variety of colors and shapes purchased from the Dollar Store (great on the light table) and brightly colored straws.

 


On this wall I made a space for the kid's artwork to be displayed. I hung two dignitet curtain wires from IKEA and used mini wooden clothes pins to hang the artwork. I love how it came out and Jackson has been so proud to see his work displayed prominently like this.




I purchased the table and chairs set (Sansad table and Kritter chairs) from IKEA for the kids to play and do art projects at. I love the Sansad table! It's long rectangular shape makes it larger than most kid's standard square tables, which was a must for me with 3 kids working at it! And it also has legs that adjust to 3 heights so it can grow with the children. So far it's working out wonderfully and I love seeing them all play at it. Underneath the table is a splat mat to keep the carpet safe from messy art projects. I made it myself using an adorable owl print in a laminated cotton.




I wanted Jackson to have something living to take care of, so I created a "natural area" by one of the windows. I have an African Violet that he waters with his little watering can, and some rocks and twigs here (can be used in art projects or play). I may move our shells over here as well. 



On the table I put this very cool terrarium that I found that Jackson also takes care of. I love it! I just need to find the perfect little plastic gnome or something to put inside it.

 


On the other window sill I have the children's crayons set up. They are set up in old, repurposed baby food jars that can be easily picked up and put on the table. I also have some "baby crayons" here but my girls seem to prefer the real ones!

 


Over by this window I have some hooks (more 3M!) for dress-up and dramatic play items. We have Jackson's super hero cape and mask here, along with his fire fighter costume from last Halloween, some animal masks (a tiger mask from the zoo and 3 super cute woodland creature masks made by my friend Stephanie), a baseball helmet, Jackson's light saber and pirate sword, and a baby doll and doll items (bottle, cup, bib, etc). I plan to add some dress-up costumes/princess gowns for the girls as they get older. Jackson is getting a real doctor's kit for his birthday and that will also go in this area.  



Right next to that is the toy storage and art supply storage area. The toy storage is created simply from turning a Closetmaid 8 cubby system on its side to make it easy for the kids to get their items out (and put them away!). I purchased a few storage bins for it also. This doesn't house all of our kids' toys (they still have some in the living room - the play kitchen and work bench) and some toys in their rooms. But, I wanted a place for some of their educational/imaginative toys. So, it holds things like puzzles, little plastic animals and trucks (great to use in sensory bins), Mr. Potato Head, blocks, some toddler toys, etc. On top of the shelf I have the Play Doh tools and a little container that holds stamps and post-cards to use for mailing activities.



Above the toy storage, is the art supply storage. I used the Bygel rail system from IKEA and love it!! I hung 2 Bygel rails and used a bunch of the plastic storage cups that go with this system to hold our various art supplies. I also used S-hooks to hang our scissors and some hanging wire baskets to hold some of the larger supplies (paint, glue, Play Doh, glitter). This system was very inexpensive and is so functional! Jackson can easily take one of the cups off the rail and bring it to the table to use it and then put it away himself when he's done. Everything is organized and it makes clean up easy. In the plastic cups you'll find: window crayons, paint brushes, water color paints, finger paints, washable markers, colored pencils, homemade heart shaped crayons, stamp pads and stamps. As with the light table supply/craft supply peg board area, Jackson can reach the Bygel rails but they're still out of the girls' reach. 




Above this area I have some more artwork and some photos displayed, and a little white board with my to do list.



Last, but not least, is my little area! Before the make over I had been working on my sewing projects on the dining room table and also had my desk in the dining room to work on my computer. We rearranged and moved the furniture to other locations, and I got a new desk (Micke from IKEA) that was long enough to function as a work area for both my sewing and my computer. I love the huge drawers (one side houses sewing supplies and the other office supplies) and the work surface is great and plenty big! I got a matching little set of drawers to extend the surface a bit and it also has a filing cabinet to hold my patterns and documents for my business - perfect! The only thing that I couldn't fit into this room/area was (all of) my fabric and yarn. But I have those stored elsewhere since I really don't need to take up space holding all of that when I only need to actually USE very little at a time. So there is room in the white cabinet to hold supplies for my CURRENT project(s) and I just swap it out when needed!







So there you have it! Our new room of play, creation, art, learning and fun! The kids LOVE this space and so do I. I cant' believe how different the room looks after this transformation. It's lighter and brighter, and I love how organized it is! I know you must be thinking, surely with 3 kids (2 of which are 15 months old) it must never stay this clean with everything being so open for them to get into. But really, it's very easy to clean up! There is a place for everything so it's very easy to put everything back in its place. This organization has made a huge difference! And my almost 4 year old is pretty good about helping to clean it all up. He likes knowing where everything goes and it makes a big difference in his willingness to help!



Here are a few pics of the kids enjoying the playroom!


Jackson creating a 4th of July craft.



Sophia and Lily playing with Dr. Seuss characters at the felt board.

Jackson building with wedgits at the light table.



My next (current work in progress) project is making over Jackson's grown-out-of baby/toddler room into a big boy room. We're doing a Star Wars theme. It's almost done! I have one more (somewhat big) DIY project to complete, a pillow to sew and some artwork to hang and it'll be finished. I hope to have it done by his 4th birthday party coming up in 2 weeks!

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Trip to the U.S. Space & Rocket Center

Back in early June we made the trip down to Huntsville, Alabama to visit the U.S. Space & Rocket Center as one of our space themed week activities. Other things we did that week were making planet pizzas, painting light-up planets and visiting the Adventure Science Center.





While we were at the Nashville's local science museum, we learned the U.S. Space & Rocket Center was a reciprocal museum, meaning that we'd get free admittance to the Space Center with an Adventure Science Center membership.  That, combined with how awesome our trip to Adventure Science Center was, sold us and we purchased a family membership that day.  We were able to apply the cost of our tickets from that day's visit to the membership, so it's pretty much already paid for itself and we still have a whole year to use it!


We left mid-morning on a Saturday for our trip to the Space Center and it was a 2 hour drive exactly. It was a nice sunny day and pretty uneventful trip down there. When we got there the kids were all pretty hungry, so we got lunch out of the way first! They have a cafe to eat at there or you can also bring your own picnic lunch.





After lunch, we walked around the first inside building and checked out some of the model rockets, international space center, and an astronaut manned maneuvering unit (space chair).

















Then we headed outside to look at all of the HUGE rockets!  There were tons and they were very impressive! 














Outside they also have a kid's area with a little playground, a G-Force Accelerator/Simulator and a Space Shot.


In the next building we checked out a huge model space ship, astronaut suits, a real moon rock, space gear, a space capsule that John and Jackson climbed inside of, and more!























The Space & Rocket Center was a very cool place and we all had a great time exploring it! There are so many neat things to check out there and lots of hands on activities as well. The outdoor rides (for bigger kids) looked really cool too and and we'll definitely have to check them out when Jackson is a bit older (they are even included in your admission!). There is also an IMAX theater and hold various space camps there every summer which would definitely be cool to try in the future! That trip concluded our space week... I can't wait to show you what else we've been up to lately. We just turned our dining room into a playroom/craft room for the kids and they are loving. I'll share more on that soon!

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DIY Light Table

There is something gravitating and fascinating about light to children. Seeing brightly lit colors adds a whole new dimension to creative and exploratory play. As a big fan of Play at Home Mom, I knew that a light panel or table was something I wanted to add to our new playroom/office.

There are a few purchasing options, but neither seemed to work for us. Most light panels are pretty small for 3 children to use at the same time... and large light tables are extraordinarily expensive, like in the $500 range! So, we decided to turn our train table into a light table!







Following Play at Home Mom's tutorial, we were able to put one together ourselves pretty easily. We even lucked out that Jackson already had the same train table. And to think, I had actually been considering getting rid of the thing since it's so big and often just becomes a dumping ground for toys. I'm glad I held on to it!


Second only to the lights, the plexiglass used in the light table is very important. I contacted several local plastic/glass companies here in Nashville to get quotes for white plexiglass cut to the size I needed. I ended up going with Regal Plastic. They had what I was looking for in stock and were very friendly to work with, they even carried the plexiglass out to the car for me when I came to pick it up since I had all 3 kiddos in the car - talk about service!  :)  What I got, specifically, was a piece of #2447 white plexiglass in 3/16" thickness. This color allows plenty of light to come through and is thick enough to be very durable. A lot of companies only had #7328 white in stock, but I did my research and #2447 is the better choice for a light table. The plexiglass cost me $85 including having it cut to the custom size I needed, before tax.

For my light fixtures, I bought four 18" GE fluorescent lights. I got the plug-in variety because I am not handy enough electrically to hard-wire them. I also purchased a surge protector so I could plug all the light fixtures into that, so I would only have one plug to plug into the wall instead of four. I laid them all on top of a piece of plywood that I had cut to size (my train table has little side cubbies built in, so I was able to play my plywood across those). 

Here is a picture of what our set-up looks like underneath the plexiglass.

And here is the train table with our cut-to-size plexiglass laid on top. The table can also still be used as a train table, we simply lay the wooden train table top right back on top of the plexiglass.

We did follow Play at Home Mom's advice, and swapped out the standard fluorescent light bulbs that came with the fixtures, with new daylight light bulbs. I wasn't sure how big of a difference it would make or if it would be worth the extra money, but it really was worth it! The standard bulbs that come with the fixtures are no where near as bright and have more of a yellow tinge to them.

This is a picture our light table with the standard bulbs.

And here our light table with the daylight bulbs. As you can see, it is much brighter and whiter and no longer yellowy. The extra bulbs were only about $28 total.

The kids LOVE playing at the light table and it holds their attention for quite a while. So far we've played with feathers, translucent gems and little brightly colored translucent cups for stacking/building/dumping/pouring. The possibilities are endless. Eventually I'd like to get some translucent blocks, letters, shapes, etc. I have some water beads that I've been saving and those will be fun to explore in a bin on top of the table as well. I'm very excited for this to be a part of our playroom!

If you're don't have a train table to start with, you can probably score a pretty cheap one on Craigslist, or at a yard sale or consignment sale. Or if you're really handy you might be able to build a table to house the plexiglass yourself? If you're not a DIY'er, don't fret... this light panel from Constructive Playthings is a pretty good deal and would be a good start at introducing your child to playing with light. Or you could even look on Craigslist for an old x-ray viewing box, which would work as a light box! Lots of options and ideas for playing with light.

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