Going a bit nutty

So, I have this wonderful new job.  It is challenging and rewarding and best of all, actually happens between the hours of 8-5 (okay, 8:30 if we're being honest) with very little noise outside of that.  And it's at the same place - every day!  It has taken the pace at which I was running and slammed on the brakes...hard.  I love that.  Problem is I'm just not very good at going slow.

Enter:  My sister is having a baby and I am not having any more babies.  This has translated to a fall full of projects.  Projects which have been over-complicated by my tendencies towards OCD and self-inflicted psychosis.  The list is as follows:

A big girl room for my Hannah, now 18 months and an avid climber - not a good combination.

Starting with this...

We made this...

Note that we are still avoiding transitioning her until absolutely necessary.  A monkey with that kind of freedom is not my idea of a good time.

Shortly after this came "Operation Decorate My Future Niece/Nephew's Nursery".  After some gentle persuasion, my little sister (future mommy to aforementioned future niece/nephew), went with this adorable set from Land of Nod:

While this set is great (I mean, the walrus alone was enough to sell me), it is lacking in coordinating decor.  I have now set out to over-complicate design the perfect wall decor, furniture, lamp, etc. combo for this precious baby's quarters.  Armed with fabric swatches from the set, I have visited 3 fabric stores, Home Depot and even had some Craiglist adventures - all this in the very early stages of this mission.  More to follow on this topic to be sure.

Meanwhile, I happen to love indulging my own children with my crazy craft ideas as well.  We've done a little upgrading in Megan's room - finally completing the theme of her own pink polka-dotted living space with a few ice cream/cupcake touches on the walls.

I also repurposed the fabric previously thrown on a plain corkboard into a french memo board for her room:

While pleased with the results, it unfortunately resulted in the below injury to my thumb (WARNING: beware seam rippers - they are not nearly as innocent as they appear)...

Latest in the series of my bad ideas creative undertakings is an attempt to try my hand at painting furniture.  The eventual goal here is to repaint our oak colored changing table to a burnt orange color for use in my future niece/nephew's nursery.  Prior to ruining anything, however, I experimented with an oak shelf from inside Megan's hope chest (if all goes to plan I will eventually change this whole thing into a pink addition to her bedroom).

Before

After (still drying)

In the midst of all this redecorating nonsense, it happens to be Halloween around these parts.  Let us not forget about the school pumpkin contest.  The theme was your child's favorite book.  We used little pumpkins (2 for $1 at Meijer), some acrylic paint and a little red felt to create these:

Pinkalicious Cupcake Pumpkins

A Very Hungry Caterpillar

As I couldn't even secure my own children's votes for the contest, not sure how well we'll fare amongst the preschool crowd, but Megan and I had a lot of fun working on them together, and I was very happy with the results.

Anyway, just a glimpse of the madness I've created for myself (all since Labor Day, I might add).  I am hoping that my adjustment to a slower pace will come eventually... this little urge to craft/construct is even scaring me a little bit.  Yikes!