Well Hello Yellow

Yay! The sun decided to come out today! It has been very dreary and chilly the past few days here in Dallas.  Here are some cute rooms to give you some sunny inspiration. Enjoy! 

photo via mee and wee

photo via morning's light

photo via lil magoolie

photo via hiccupings

photo via spearmint baby

photo via ohdeedoh

photo via decor pad

shop dirtsa

I came across the Etsy shop- shop dirtsa- while I was searching for ways to decorate with board games. Her scrabble-like pillows came up and I couldn't help but look at all the other items in her shop.  Her items have really inspired me to start making some of my own stuff.  Hope her things inspire you too! 

Penmanship pillow- A to Zzzz

Chalkboard United States Map 

 Letter Pillows 

Bored? Get Inspired by Board Games

I had never thought of using board games as art before until I saw the first picture below. After I found the below picture I thought- why didn't I think of that? What a great way to add color and interest to a room! AND could be a completely free project just by rummaging through the closest. 

The below picture shows vintage game boards used as wall art.  This is a great way to show off a collection of game boards and add character to a room. Have a favorite board game but are missing all the pieces? Turn the game board into art.

photo via ohdeedoh

Board games are used as wall art in the below playroom. Going to yard sales and thrift stores would be great places to find cheap game boards to display in your home.  

photo via myhomeideas

How cute is this? I love this idea! This could be a great DIY project. Find or have wood squares cut out and then stencil letters and numbers onto the squares.

photo via coochicoos

These scrabble pillows would be awesome to have in a room! The pillows below are from durtsa studio.

What would you spell with scrabble pillows? I think it would be cute to spell kids' names with the pillows.

photo via durtsastudio

Can you guess what board game inspired the room below?

photo via momblognetwork

The mom who designed this room was inspired by Candy Land. Those brightly colored shapes on the wall are actually removable wall decals from Wallcandy Arts. I really like the way the mom incorporated Candy Land into her daughter's room in a creative and subtle way.

photo via momblognetwork

What was your favorite childhood board game? Mine would have to be Candy Land or Clue. 

Have you used a board game as inspiration for a room? Tell me about it!

ashlee@izzyshare.com 

Spotlight On- TheOrganizedClassroomBlog

What a great site for teachers!

Teachers always have so much going on and having a messy classroom doesn't make matters any easier. Charity, the creator of TheOrganizedClassroomBlog, has done a great job of helping teachers clear out the chaos in their classrooms by compiling many great resources and ideas.  If you are looking for ways to improve your classroom organization skills than this is the place for you!

Charity also has several helpful you tube videos to help out teachers. Click here to view all of her videos. Below is a video Charity created called Super Easy Bulletin Board. Great idea and time saver for teachers.

Thanks for creating an awesome resource for teachers Charity! 

Spring is in the Air

It is a beautiful morning here in Texas! The sun is out, the windows are open, and I am listening to some sweet little birds chirping away.  That is certainly what has inspired this post. Here are some images of children's spaces that have an airy and spring feel to them.  

I'm in love with the white twin beds in the above image. Many times we think if the furniture is white the walls surely can't remain white. This picture shows that with enough interesting accents- wall art, colorful bedding, and rug- a white room can be colorful and inviting. 

This is a great room to work on homework or study for a test. I love the pops of color the bright green chairs and turquoise ottoman give this room. This room definitely says spring to me.

This is so lovely! My favorite thing about this space is the use of the perfect shade of orange. The orange handles on the desk look great. The floral lamp shade adds the perfect touch!

The seasons tend to have an affect on the way I decorate my home. Do you change any of your home's decor to correspond with the seasons?

Social Parade

I just joined the Social Parade! Follow me, like izzyshare on facebook, and follow izzyshare on twitter and I will do the same for you! 

Happy Friday!

Weekend Inspiration

This project was created for an adult space but could easily be adapted to suite a children's room. I hope this can give you some inspiration to tackle a project this weekend! Happy Friday!   

This was not something I had planned to do this past weekend. I really don’t know what got into me, but as I was walking my dogs I spotted two chairs lying on the curb by a few bags of trash. As soon as my eyes focused on them my mind instantly started thinking, what could I do with those chairs?

When I got back to the apartment to tell Mark about the wonderful chairs that I had found, I got the “you’ve gotta be kidding me” face. Okay, it was 8:30 in the morning so I understood his lack of enthusiasm for wanting to jump out of the bed and go rescue a couple of chairs that had certainly seen better days.

I decided to hop in the car and go get my “new” chairs. After carefully making sure the chairs were intended to be thrown away, I left all my pride in the car, grabbed the chairs, and put them in the backseat (pics of the chairs coming soon).

But wait there’s more! When I went back for the chairs there was a shelf sitting out by the pile. The shelf was covered in dust, leafs, and dirt. The back paneling was coming apart from the actual shelf. I decided the shelf had good enough bones (Mark always makes fun of me when I say something has good bones) and figured with some TLC the shelf could be turned into something useful.

After I took the chairs to their new home (for now), our covered outside patio, I went back to pick up the shelf.

I wanted to take some time determining what to do with the chairs and decided to start on the shelf first. I knew exactly what I wanted to do with the shelf. I remembered seeing a picture of gorgeous built-ins from young house love and knew that was the direction I wanted to take with my shelf.

photo via young house love

Mark and I took the shelf to our friends’ house to perform the makeover since our small patio wasn’t exactly the most ideal space to complete the job.

After it had been cleaned, we painted white primer on the entire shelf.  Oh and that’s Carlos, our friends’ dog, monitoring the progress. 

Two coats of white and forest teal paint later, the shelf was all finished.

I headed out to Marshalls and the Dollar Tree (yes, that’s right I said Dollar Tree) to find a few things to put in the shelf. I had some items of my own to place in the shelf but I needed a few more pieces.

Here’s what I bought from the Dollar Tree:
• Three hardcover books
• One paperback book
• Small white horse

From Marshalls:

• White fish
• Blue vase

What I already had:
• Lamp
• Plant
• Two white frames
• Map art in the frames (made by Mark)
• Magazines
• Wine bottle
• Framed fabric print
• White box
• Green paperback book

After spending about 20 minutes arranging and rearranging the objects in the shelf I was in love with the results.

A shelf that was sitting on a curb awaiting its journey to the dumpster can now bask in its new glory. I LOVE it! AND Mark doesn’t think I’m totally crazy now!

So this is my trash to treasure story.

Do you have a trash to treasure story?

Spotlight On- Classified: Mom

A couple of weeks ago I stumbled upon Classified: Mom. I found so many good art/craft activities that I wanted to share the site with you.


Classified: Mom is a place where you can find art and crafts for moms and kids, tutorials on technology for women, Top Ten Tuesdays where you can obtain a list of something that's on the Classified: Mom's mind, Website Spotlights, views on parenting, and occasional reviews and/or giveaways.


Here is a picture of the mom behind Classified: Mom and her family. Aren't they precious?





The mom behind Classified: Mom has a Bachelor’s in Art Education; a Master’s in Computer Education; and says she has a PH.Nothing in Parenting. She has taught children from preschool to 12^th grade and beyond in both art and computer education.


You can find great craft ideas like this marbling paper craft that's best suited for ages 7 and up.
Click here to see the materials needed and instructions for this fun craft.



I love this spring flower color wheel! Click here for directions to make this lovely art.
This makes me think of Eric Carle. This would be a great activity to tie in with Eric Carle's The Tiny Seed.



This is one of the cutest art activities I have ever seen! Isn't it adorable?
Click here for directions for the above baby foot print art.


I am so glad that I found Classified: Mom! There are tons of great art activities on the site that would be lovely adorning the walls in your home.


Hope you can take a moment and stop by The Classified: Mom! If you find a craft idea that you like and try it, let me know! Send me pictures and I will put it right here on little izzy!

Turn A Book Into A Room

photo via Los Angeles Times

I LOVE the fun and bright colors on The Lorax cover that inspired the mood board below.  I had been wanting to design a room around this book for a while and the mood finally struck yesterday. This design began with the diamond pattern rug, and after changing my mind quite a few times, ended with the teal lantern at the top.

I think it’s important to point out that you don’t have to be too literal when designing a room around something, in this case a children’s book.  For example, you don’t have to do a mural on the wall with the characters of the book and buy all Dr. Seuss items to fill up the space to say, “Hey! Look! I designed this room around this book! Can you tell?”

Find the elements that inspire you and search for things that bring that element into the room in a creative way.  But hey it’s design (and yourhouse), you can do whatever floats your boat!

The colors of The Lorax inspired this mood board so I searched for items that fit the color scheme I was going for- pink, yellow, blue, and black.  Are there any children’s books that give you inspiration? 

I made this mood board on olioboard!

Do you have a favorite children’s book that you would like to see turned into a room? Tell me about it and I will design a room around your book! ashlee@izzyshare.com 

It's time for a little spring cleaning 101. Make it fun for the whole family.

I have been bitten by the spring cleaning bug!  The weather has been quite spring-esque in Dallas and with all the dogwoods in bloom, I cannot help but welcome in the new season and start to think about cleaning.  While searching for some spring cleaning tips and strategies, (yes I am a dork) I ran across some explanations as to why we spring clean in the first place. No need to reinvent the wheel, so if your curious, click here to read up on some spring cleaning history.

I know how difficult it can be trying to spring clean with little ones running about. I want to share with you some ways that you can make spring cleaning a bit fun and include the whole family.  

                               

                                                  photo via Muppet Wiki

I am not kidding when I tell you that this was absolutely one of my favorite books as a child.  So much, my Dad keeps the book in a special drawer, along with the book Don’t Forget the Oatmeal, another childhood favorite of mine. Sweet, I know! Read a book to your kiddos about cleaning to help get them motivated. Here’s a list of kid books on the topic of spring cleaning. 

         

                                                  photo via MamaRobot  

                   Loving this vacuum ABC card from MamaRobot by the way. 

Be creative with your spring cleaning endeavors.  

• Make a funny to-do list
• Make up games 
• Turn on some music-make a cleaning playlist 
• Make up a song 
• Make a team spring cleaning name
• Create a treasure hunt
• Have your kids take inventory of different items- make list’s and count

                                          Make Your Spring Greener

                                           

                                                       photo via eHow

This year I am making an effort to make my cleaning more eco friendly. I picked up the book Quick Fixes For Eco Conscious Cleaning for $3.99 atHalf Price Books.  The book has some good info and tips and has really inspired me to make a better green effort when it comes to cleaning. I also love the modern illustrations inside of the book.

                                

                                                      photo via amazon 

Here is a resource on the web for making cleaning products from items in your own home. Find out how to make:

• Furniture polish
• Glass cleaner
• Disinfectant 
• Carpet cleaner
• Bathroom cleaner   

This would be a good time to teach your kids about the three R’s- reduce, reuse, recycle. Here is a great book to help explain the concept to your children.               

                               

                                                            photo via amazon 

Book description from amazon: 

It describes the ways in which kids and their families can avoid waste and be environmentally conscious. Four pages presenting activities for children appear at the back of the book, followed by a two-page section for parents, with tips on explaining the subject in more detail.

Are you ready to roll up your sleeves yet? I won’t lie, I am! Getting ready to open the windows, turn on some good music, and start cleaning!  Do you have any fun spring cleaning ideas or traditions!? Let me know!  I would love to see some before and after pictures too!  E-mail me: ashlee@izzyshare.com 

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