The Ikea Experience

We are in the midst of furnishing our new house so we thought a trip down to KL's Ikea would be a great idea.
We were prepared...or so we thought. We'd pored over the catalogue, ear-marked the pieces we liked, measured out the rooms...it was going to be a breeze. I had visions of finally getting the house together before the new year...
What an experience! The store was huge, and because the furniture is built in modular units ( those of you familiar with Ikea will know what I mean), there are endless possible ways of putting them together. We discovered that there was much much more available in the store than was featured in the catalogue, and many more inventive and practical ways of making the most out of small spaces!
We spent about 5 hours in the store ( with a break for lunch). The girls tried out every sofa, Andrew tried out a few beds, we made copious notes, took many photos, but in the end... we walked out empty handed. It was just too bewildering, and we realised that we had a lot more planning to do before we could make any purchases.
So... our house is still not furnished, we have another trip to make in the near future, but it was a great eye-opening experience, and I have photos that are worthy of at least a couple of pages in my scrapbook, which is always good.

My Card Organiser/Planner

I like to make cards with the scraps left over from a scrapbook project, but I hadn't found a way to organise them...they just ended up in a folder. Until now, that is.
I dug out a 'Lunch Pail' Album from Basic Grey which I've had for ages, but hadn't found the perfect use for yet, and set to work.
I covered the tabbed index cards with paper scraps, and labeled them by occasions. This means that I can now pull out a card appropriate for any occasion without having to rummage through the entire pile!
I also created mini month planners, one for each month, and filled the dates with important events to remember, like birthdays, anniversaries, holidays, etc. I can now refer to the relevant planner at the beginning of each month and make sure I don't forget anyone's birthday!
I then covered the tin with pretty patterned paper and ribbon, and made a label with Ki's Alphabet Soup ( I just love the alphabet soup, the colours are really yummy!)
The girls love it too, and it's easy for them to fill in their friends' birthdays into the planners, and they can dig into the tin for cards or tags when the need arises.

The Tree We Nearly Didn't Have

This year we very nearly didn't have a Christmas tree...
After much thought, we decided that putting up our 6 foot tree would be just inviting disaster. It would be too much to expect Andrew not to pull at the tinsel, lights, and other baubles. I already spend every waking moment trying to keep him from touching and eating things he shouldn't, that the thought of keeping him away from a tree covered in sparkly, shiny objects was just too daunting!
But amidst cries of horror from the girls ( they had never NOT had a tree, and were too young to be destructive on their first Christmases), we caved in and decided to get a small tree that would sit on the table, well out of Andrew's reach.
Sooo...here it is, our little tree. Safely perched on a table, just large enough for presents to go under, and best of all...it only took us half an hour to put it up AND decorate it! ( Taking it down will be a BREEZE!)