March 11, 2010

March break is almost here – which means my anxiety level is just about through the roof. You see while some parents out there are looking forward to vacations away or just plain not having to make lunches for a week, I am staring down 5 straight days of my kids – ages almost 8, 5, 3 and 2 in each others faces. Arrggghhh!

But DIY Network Canada’s does have a solution for you for when your kids start yelling ‘Mom, I’m bored!!!!’. Their show Fresh Coat has playful themes for any child’s room using just paint that will help any parent give their child the room of their dreams simply by applying some simple painting techniques. Think this sounds great but not sure what the heck I’m talking about? Here are some of their tips on how to create the look & feel of a Tropical Paradise:

Start by painting tropical blue walls:
1. Mix latex glazing liquid with bright blue base paint color: 3 parts glaze to 1 part paint.
2. Apply base coat glaze, using a brush for the trim and a roller for large wall surfaces
3. Use a ragging technique to create a “broken color" finish to mimic the sky. While paint is still wet use cheesecloth to "pounce" across the surface to remove small amounts of paint.

Next add a palm tree and vines:
1. Paint a trunk first, then lightly wipe from top to bottom using cheesecloth for a textured effect.
2. Pull a leaf from base to point in an arc using a smaller, flat brush. Then use the full width of the brush to create texture. Pull a leaf again using a thin side of the brush. Using the flat edge will help you create the leaf fronds, while the thinner edge will help you create thinner, more-pointed leaves and center stems.
3. Use chalk to draw vines, and then paint over chalk lines using an artist's brush and green paint. Dip brush in green then lightly dip in white. Paint leaf.
4. Paint flower petals in the colours of your choice by giving the artist's brush a little twist

Add accents to enhance the tropical feel:
Finish off the look by adding bright tropical accents: paint a ceiling fan yellow to mimic the sun, use stencils to paint tropical birds or animals or paint a mural of a beach or jungle scene. Be creative!

So if you’re like me and dreading the week at home with the kids you can tune into DIY Network for even more easy painting ideas for your kids rooms! AND DIY Network Canada is on free preview for the month of March, so you even if you don’t subscribe you can check out their great ideas! Fresh Coat airs weekdays at 4:30pm ET/1:30pm PT on DIY Network Canada.

Scene and Heard
Confessions from a Pop Culture Mummy
 

Labels/Tags: Kelli Daisy, Scene and Heard, Pop Culture, March Break Ideas, DIY Network Canada

Posted by KelliD at 21:22:34 View Comments | Click Here to Comment

March 09, 2010

What do you get when you cross a room full of Yummy Mummies, a Cocktail Deeva, a Party Mummy, a professional photographer, some fantastic ‘Uppetizers’, a red carpet and of course a fully stocked bar? Well you get the best damn Oscar party you could ever ask for! On Sunday night a group of some pretty awesome women, along with a twitterverse full of incredible people hosted the best Oscar party I have ever attended (OK, only Oscar party I have ever attended, but that’s a technicality) complete with red carpet, press and of course The Academy Awards!

The evening started out with a bang with guests arriving at Yummy Mummy founder Erica Ehm’s house in their glammest attire. There were lots of feather boas and stilettos showing that Mummies like to dress up too! Our very own Party Mummy Lisa along with Cocktail Deeva extraordinaire Dee Brun Gow ensured that every guest had a delectable libation (if you don’t know what a libation is, Dee can fill you in) in their hands within minutes of their arrival (and like good hosts there was an equally delish non-alcoholic punch available to those who were driving). Once all of the guests had arrived, we mixed and mingled – some watching the eTalk preshow while others walked the red carpet and were interviewed by none other than yours truly (I believed I rivalled Kathy Ireland in her red carpet interview skills) all while having our very own Paparazzi in the room!

Now first of all let me tell you that when you attend an Oscar party with a room full of fabulous women you don’t really get to watch the Oscars! We were very excited to see each other and talk and gossip and eat and drink and enjoy a night out without the kids so while we did attempt to watch the entire broadcast – we were more interested in just checking out what everyone was wearing and catching the major winners. So if you ask me what I thought of Steve Martin and Alec Baldwin as hosts I really don’t have an opinion because I was too busy Skype-ing with Candace and drinking champagne and debating the finer points of The Hurt Locker with Erica to really notice. I did notice that Sarah Jessica Parker looked like Hell, that Miley Cyrus makes me afraid for our youth, and Sandra Bullock made me love her even more after her acceptance speech.

No real surprises in the big category winners, except that The Hurt Locker took home the big prize over the box office juggernaut Avatar (which I still don’t understand but was still very happy for Kathryn Bigalow). And how fitting that our room full of women went silent for the one and only moment in the evening, waiting to hear if the Academy would finally crown its first female as best director – which it did, to a thunderous applause from our group. Mo’Nique won the most deserved Oscar of the night for her breathtaking performance in Precious and Jeff Bridges was this year’s ‘feel good’ winner.

I had a fantastic time tweeting with people across the country on Oscar night and am so thankful to everyone who used our party hashtag #YMCOscars for making us the NUMBER ONE trending topic in Canada!! AND, Toronto News 24 came by as well to film our little soiree – how cool is that! So while the Oscars were a bit boring this year our party was everything but! And I can’t wait to do it again next year!

Scene and Heard
Confessions from a Pop Culture Mummy

Thanks to our incredible paparazzi Cherie-Lynn Buchanan for her incredible photography!

Labels/Tags: Kelli Daisy, Scene and Heard, Academy Awards, Oscar Party, #YMCOscars

Posted by KelliD at 22:24:28 View Comments | Click Here to Comment

• PAGE
• 1
• 2
• 3
• 4
• 5
• 6
• 7
• 8
• 9
• 10
• 11
• 12
• 13
• 14
• 15
• 16
• 17
• 18
• 19
• 20
• 21
• 22
• 23