Redecorating the Kitchen

Maybe I should say "decorating" instead of "redecorating", as before, it wasn't really decorated at all!

A while ago, I found the cutest vintage canisters at the Goodwill. They are from the 70s. It's pieces of two different sets mixed together, they both have cute brown and orange mushrooms on them. I immediately fell in love with them! I have kind of been hiding them, because I didn't have a good spot where they would look pretty. This is what my pantry used to look like:

(This picture from Kade's 6th birthday is the only one I could find with our little bamboo-blinds covered bookshelf pantry in it!)

I decided it was time to make things a bit cuter, so I reorganized the pantry, displaying my vintage mushroom canisters on the top shelf.


I bought some fabric that I found on an amazing sale, and whipped up some cutrains. I used a tension rod to hang them under the first shelf. The cutrains can be opened in the middle, pushed to the sides, and quickly held back with some little white cup hooks.


Much better! I'm trying to think of some other little projects I can do around the kitchen to make it cuter. Maybe some cafe window curtains for the big mirror above the sink? Some matching mushroom decor (Jer already found me a lovely mushroom cutting board) like a wall clock, trivets, or salt and pepper shakers? Although, my little kissing frogs shakers from my sister look quite at home amongst the mushrooms, don't they? :)

The Venus Flytrap

A few weeks ago, Kade had a school assignment to choose a plant and make a project about it. He chose the Venus Flytrap, of course, because "Mom, it eats MEAT!!"


I love them too, in fact, I used to have one! But it died. I tried to catch some small bugs, but failed, so I fed it little pieces of meat, as a gardener at the nursery I bought it from told me to. However, it seemed to just spit the meat out. Doing research with Kade, I found out why- when a bug gets trapped inside, it wiggles to try and free itself. There are small sensor hairs inside the "mouth", and when the bug wiggles, that tells the plant that it has caught a live animal, not a piece of dirt or something. If what the plant catches does not wiggle, the plant opens and lets whatever it is fall out.


Kade chose to create a diorama of a Venus Flytrap habitat. Did you know they only grow in the wild in North and South Carolina? Pretty amazing! We also found out some other cool facts. Each leaf can only eat three times! After that, it turns black and dies, and new leafs grow. Also, it takes ten days to eat a fly! It also eats ants, spiders, other small bugs, and even tiny frogs!!

I have hundreds of bottlecaps that I use for making magnets. We decided they make the perfect little venus flytraps! Kade painted them green, and I helped him make tiny white hairs that we glued around the edges. I cut out red felt circles and Kade glued them to the inside. I hot glued green craft foam onto pipe cleaners to make the stems.


We had some plastic flies leftover from some Halloween project, so we used some of those in the diorama too! Kade even had the idea to tie invisible thread around one and hang it from the top, so it looks like the fly is hovering over the flowers.


It was a really fun project, although I have to say it was difficult for me to step back and let Kade do most of the work! haha. He wants to get a real Venus Flytrap, now that he has learned so much about them and finds them so interesting. Maybe we'll try again, I'll let you know how it goes, if we do!

Mini Monkeys

February is always a big month for mini sock monkeys. They make the perfect Valentine gift- I've sold them as presents to children, girlfriends, husbands, and more! I am on the hunt right now for more cute baby socks suitable for next year. I haven't found anything perfect yet, but I'll keep looking!

Here are the Mini Monkeys of this past Valentines Day:



Kade was kind enough to lend his cute hands for the photo shoot. They are the perfect size to cuddle these minis, and it helps to give an idea of how small they really are- about 6" tall on average!