Happy Easter everyone.

I hope you've all had a nice long weekend. I had loads of fun yesterday sewing some things for this year's Easter display. We were having cupcakes today (for my birthday) so we didn't have a lot of candy but I still wanted to do a cute set up.


We've had a garland above our kitchen windows all winter but I wanted to change it up for the spring. This one owes inspirational credits to soulemama (just like the first one) and Martha Stewart Living (April 2007 I think). I made a paper garland like the one in the magazine a couple of years ago and it was really cute but it was really easy to tear the bunnies and it seemed like a lot of work for something that I was throwing away so I decided to make a sturdier version for this year. The bunnies and eggs are backed with Wonderunder and just ironed onto the rectangles. I love the way it turned out.


The boxes were my own idea and I love them too. They just came out so cute! I'm sure I've seen things like this around but at the moment I can't remember where. I might do up a tutorial if people are interested; they went together quickly and the dimensions would be easy to customize. The whole time I was working on these I was trying to decide what the outside fabric was. It's a canvas from my stash and felt like it might contain some linen - it's very soft and fluid and ironed really well.


The embroideries were a last thought before I started sewing. The weave of the canvas seemed the right size for some cross stitch and I had printed out some vintage patterns (which I can't seem to find anymore) just a few weeks ago so they were still in my mind. It was really nice to do some embroidery - I haven't in a while - and I like the way they look on the boxes.

Today is my birthday so I'm not at work (yes - I checked with my boss first). Above is what I spent my morning working on and below is my afternoon but right now I'm heading outside to walk Abby in the sunshine. Later this evening we have plansfor sushi and a movie. I hope everyone else is having a lovely day too.

Rob was able to pick up some boxes yesterday afternoon and I spent the evening deciphering pictograms. Here's what we ended up with:





Vital Statistics:
Hemnes Linen Cupboard from IKEA
Number of boxes: 2 (+ a duvet and pillows for the spare bed)
Hours to put together: 2.5
Days spent trying to get boxes from trucking company after they arrived in town: 8
Pencils consumed by Abby: 2 (+ the cover for my awl)
Hours spent rearranging living room to be just right: 2 (and still not completely happy with it)
Number of alan keys I now own: millions? (at least 12 anyway)


I really like our new cupboard. I love the yellow. I love the striped backing and drawer liners. I especially love that it locks with an old fashioned key (Rob gave me such a funny look when I exclaimed over the key - he thought I meant the allan key - you know - the one that comes with every IKEA thing you've ever bought). It makes the living room look so grown up. It holds our table linens and lots of our fancy dishes that don't otherwise have cupboard space. I need to get a few dividers to let me store tea cups and tumblers a little more efficiently though. It was so much fun unpacking everything into the cupboard. I rediscovered so many lovely things we were given for our wedding. Now that they're out we'll actually get to use them.


Special thanks go to Rob for playing with Abby for the whole evening (after we discovered she could snitch and eat a pencil in under three seconds even while I was keeping track of her) so that I could put the cupboard together.