Little Peanut spent a lot of time in the kitchen at our old house (due to lack of play space) and we invested in quite a few magnetic toys to keep her entertained. The new basement playroom has plenty of room but no magnetic surfaces. Inspired by this popular Pinterest pin I set out to find something similar and came up with this:

With little luck finding the right oil pan I stopped by Home Depot and asked for metal sheets. For some reason I kept thinking they came as large as plywood and wasn’t sure how I’d cut it down (much less bring it home!), but sure enough they come in nice manageable sizes in the plumbing section. I got the largest one I saw – 24×36 inches for $10.

Once home I realized we’d have to cover the edges to prevent little fingers from getting cut. First I thought about duct taping around the edges and then covering with fabric but that idea was scratched when wasn’t sure how to make the fabric taut. Then one day (about a month later!) while browsing Michaels I saw their large poster frames and it hit me- duh, frame it! Of course I had to make an additional trip since I didn’t know the exact dimensions of the metal sheet. There are quite a few styles to choose from but I went with the basic Michaels frame – $15 on sale!

I brought it home and took out the glass. If you’re careful you can remove it with out breaking it. There is a little double sided tape on all 4 sides to hold the glass on. You guessed it, I was not careful, it broke all over and startled both kids and hubby! I had no plans for the glass but it would have been nice to keep for later. The metal sheet turned out to be a wee too big for the frame but a pair of decent scissors fixed that problem. Less then 1/4 inch was cut off the width and height. It is easy to cut, just don’t use the good scissors!

It still needs to be hung but I’m thinking it might survive propped up as long as they don’t get too rough with it. It was also intended for the Little Peanut but the Little Guy seems to be enjoying it more (I guess he is the right age for the toys we have. Oh and don’t mind the little scar on his nose. He’s been feverishly trying to crawl, got a little rambunctious and bumped his nose on the ground. Good news is he is now crawling, bad news is he is now crawling. Hah! )

Hours of fun for under $25!

One more DIY playroom accessory crossed of the list. Infinite amount more to go.

In honor of Earth Day, I took a couple of my husband’s old button down shirts and turned them into aprons for my kids. It was a great way to reuse stuff we already had and as an added bonus, it was a super quick project! For my girl’s apron, the neck was too large so I simply cut down the center of the collar and overlapped it. I used an old belt for the waist ties (the apron ended up looking much like a halter dress!). For my boy’s apron, I cut two strips from the shirt sleeves to make the ties and for a more “boyish” look, I used an old tie – as a result, aprons also make great dress up clothes!

My workplace has had a baby boom lately (and everyone has stopped drinking the water!) A few weeks ago we welcomed three little ones to the world. But before doing so we had to have a little party! The ladies of the Interactive Services department put our heads together for this a spring themed baby shower.

Initially we were going for pink and blue but a few of the baked goods wanted to be green (something about the chemistry of the foods and coloring. I’m sure I’d know more if I had actually paid attention in chem and color theory!) so we went with it. It all ended up matching pretty well with the table cloth and other decorations.

Here’s a look a the full table spread. Being interactive geeks we had to include the <h1> tags. And oops, it’s been a long time since I actually programmed anything and forgot to add the closing slash.

It was a lot of fun to put together. Everything except for the Peeps and fruit were made by us. I made the cake balls/pops and diaper cakes. It was the first time making them into pops and plan on making more in the future. The chocolate covers so much smoother and doesn’t leave the small puddle of chocolate at the bottom.

The diaper cakes were inspired by Pinterest. I love the swirl look and it was an easy last minute diy project. You can learn to make your own at Creative Diaper Cake Ideas!

I used these cupcake toppers to decorate the cakes:

- Baby shower printables by chickabug (via U-Create)

- Baby girl cupcake toppers

- Baby boy toppers were made by me. I hope to post the pdf soon. Download the PDF here!

It was a big hit and I had a lot of fun with the planning, baking and decorations.

Special thanks to one of my co-workers for taking the photos!