The first - a little stool for the dining room corner that Matt loved.  Not sure what to put on it yet, but the good thing is that it can be put higher and act as another seat at the table, and eventually I will probably put a planter on it to add some green growing things to the dining room - something that does not need too much light.

The second - a round mirror for the living room corner.  Wanted something on that wall some rounded edges and I thought this mirror was so pretty!

The cupboards need some updating - they are starting to yellow which really stands out now that the trim is whiter, and everything is cleaner.  Also still have to do a bit of decor, of course.

Once I finished the grout colouring, I noticed that a lot of caulking between the counter and tile was peeling away, and in the corners as well.  Despite knowing this, I had to finish the kitchen painting, and then forgot about it for a while.  Luckily Matt surprised me this past week by removing the old caulking and redoing it!  Gotta love that guy!

To do this job, you need rubbing alcohol to remove the old caulking, and maybe an exacto-knife and sandpaper, some painters tape to line the edges (crucial in getting a nice even line), and of course a caulking gun.  It doesn't take a lot of work to remove it - the alcohol makes it nice and soft and easy to peel away, and then just clean the area, scraping away any excess and smoothing it out, plus wiping it clean and dry.  Line both the top and the bottom with painters tape, caulk the lines, and immediately remove the tape before it hardens.  Let it sit 24 hours before getting it wet (although the caulking says it will be ready in 2 hours), and voila!

For my dad's retirement party this past weekend, I decided to get crafty and make some decorations.  I am in love with all the bunting pictures gracing the party scene lately, so I wanted to make it myself.  You can do it with fabric, but since I am pretty much useless at sewing anything but buttons on shirts, I decided that was out.  I went the paper route with ribbon.  So I dared to enter Michael's on Friday and get supplies.  As with Ikea, I have a love-hate relationship with Michael's.  I walk in there and I see it is where Pinterest was born, but at the same time, it is so hard to navigate and there is so much selection that I feel overwhelmed.  I managed to find some primary colour scrapbook paper and some ribbon, all with fun polka-dots, and was out of there after only a half hour of wandering around, haha.  They seriously need some of those Lowe's panic buttons where you just hit the button, stand still and weep uncontrollably until someone comes points you in the right direction.

The first step in the bunting process is deciding on triangle size and shape.  Most sites I went to go for the "perfect triangle" which I grew up as knowing as an equilateral triangle, but whatever.  That would be all angles 60 degrees and all lengths the same for those geometry-challenged.  I thought I would go for the isoceles (2 angles and lengths the same) as I wanted them a bit longer and more pennant shaped, but not TOO pointy.  I whipped out my trusty ruler and protractor and went to work.  After doing a few rough designs, I decided on 2 angles of 65 degrees and the other 50, and the top length 13 cm (because I love 13, I know, weird).  I also have a paper cutter to make sure my lines were straight (way back from the scrapbook days).

I cut my triangle out on heavy cardstock, so it would be easy to trace.  And then traced them onto the back of pretty polka-dot scrapbook paper.

I could get 6 on a page and used 2 pages of 4 different colours.  That left me with 48 triangles and I ended up fitting 38 to my ribbon.

I got this paper cutter from the dollar store about 10 years ago.  A DOLLAR, and the original cutting blade is still great (and it came with a second one that has not yet been used).  I do not have steady hands, so cutting by hand was not an option for me when it comes to cut and paste projects.  By the way, the dollar store usually has lots of fun scrapbook paper and accessories too, so no need to always head to Michael's and spend the big bucks (although my sister in law is a pro Michael's coupon shopper, haha).  

Then when all my triangles were cut, I had to decide on spacing and pattern.  I went in typical rainbow pattern, of course.

Each space was 4 cm from the top of the last triangle.  I made a little pencil mark, and then pulled out the trusty hot glue gun (again, $5 purchase - it's just a mini-one - a must for any crafty person), and went to town.  I wasn't too picky with exact spacing and height, but I tried to have the triangle tops just below the top of the ribbon.

A note of caution - if you want the bunting to go back and forth, you need to first measure you length, because when you reach one end and want it to go back in the other direction, you need to twist your ribbon or glue your triangles in the other direction.  If not, they will be coloured one way, and you will see the white backs the other.  I didn't really know the size of the space I was working with, so I just decided to one long chain, and either cut it and use two or space it all between one section.  I brought scissors and duct tape to the party with me just in case, haha.

Finished product - looks pretty good and the glue held up well.  I folded the entire chain back and forth to keep the paper from creasing while we were bringing it over to the venue.

All hung up between two large pillars at Mill Street.  My brother bought balloons, and I also got a memory box and I (well Matt) added a slot to the top for people to write messages to my dad.  We had a pictures for everyone to sign too.