B&W CONTRAST PICTURES

When my baby girl was born, I went crazy looking for ways to stimulate her (yes, the teacher in me just had to!).  Upon research, I came across black and white contrast pictures.  As newborns, babies do not have the visual acuity to see the things around them.  What stimulates them are high contrast colors, like black and white. (I have a free printable at the bottom of the page!)

ORGANIZING WINTER ACCESSORIES

About 2 weeks ago, I got a hanging shoe organizer from Target for $5 on sale.  I figured, "I'll buy it and I'll find a place for it".  And I did! It has been a very very brutal winter here in NY so our scarves, hats, gloves and earmuffs had to be easily accessible.  I re-purposed the shoe organizer to an accessory organizer --

BABY MONTESSORI PLAY AREA

All done! Loren now has her own play area! She is now 5 months old and I can no longer keep her on the sofa or let alone the bed.  She's at the stage of rolling over and going in circles.  I wanted a Montessori based play area for Loren and though her current play area is not as Montessori as I want it to be, I am very happy with the results. 

DIY FRAME FOR IKEA NYTTJA

This is a very easy DIY and so inexpensive.  One wall in our bedroom is painted dark chocolate brown but I had a hard time finding an art that would go above the bed. 

This is a before picture (what was I thinking?):

I searched Pinterest for an ideal art to go on a dark wall and in one of my searches, I came upon an Ikea RIBBA white frame with a black and white photo.  It was very simple and I knew it would complement our brown wall.  However, the cost of the RIBBA frame was $20 and I needed 2 of them, so that will be $40 and I could get a finished frame for that cost.  I stumbled upon the NYTJJA frame which was only $8 but it didn't have a mat but I figured I could make one.

I bought a poster board for $2 and made my own mat.  I then used our engagement photos to go into the frames.   The total cost for the whole project was around $22 including the pictures.

This is how the brown wall looks now.  It is not the best picture with the sun reflecting back but overall, it came out the way I wanted it to be.  Much much better actually.  The frames pop on the wall and the best thing about the frames is that its about me and my husband. 

MAKING A MONTESSORI PLAY AREA

My baby just turned 4 months last week and I can no longer keep her by the sofa because she has realized that she can now move around by rolling over or pushing her legs on the sofa arm rest.  I've decided to make her a play area in the living room to give her the space that she needs where she could explore her environment.  Upon research and consideration, I've decided to adapt the Montessori approach in making her play area.

I am more familiar with the Creative Curriculum being that it is what I use in my classroom, but I am gearing towards the Montessori approach because I like the idea of less is more.  Here are some inspiration pictures to get me started, these websites offer invaluable information on using the Montessori approach at home and I am very excited to learn even more. 

The Imagination Tree

Itty Bitty Love

Montessori on a Budget

I am so excited to do this project.  It will be a challenge being that we're short on space but I really want this space for Loren and I know it will be really worth it. Wish me luck!

DIAPER CADDY

 

When I started organizing the nursery, I knew that a changing table was out of the question because of the limited space that we had.  As an alternative, I opted for a diaper caddy that I could bring from the bedroom to the living room and vice versa.