Hello everyone! Happy Friday to you all.......and I am so late posting this! We've been running around trying to get so much done that I ran out of steam this week. I managed to get about two thirds of my room painted over the weekend before I ran out of paint. We tried a new brand and it does not cover as well as my beloved Behr paint, so stay tuned for an update! You know, once I buy more paint, find a day to send the kids out to their grandparents and have time to finish the last wall. But it will happen soon because I cannot stand looking at two different paint colours in one room.
Anyway, with March here it's time to start thinking about Easter. I know most people are getting ready for St. Patrick's Day and I'm not going to lie to you guys... I completely forgot about it. I was thinking that Easter was the next big thing to decorate for, oh well.
I made a quick Easter sign up to pop onto a table upstairs, just to add a little pop of colour to celebrate that spring is on the way. Which it is, even if it goes from summer to winter in two days. I used some leftover particle board and craft paint from my stash. I have used the oak veneered particle board all over the house (kid-friendly coffee table inserts; triforce tray update; bathroom drain cover), and my love for it is not running out.
I gave the whole thing a quick sand and painted the whole board with my tester of Irish Mist by Behr. I figured the layout and then I traced out the letters and pictures with pencil, though I would have liked the board to have been a bit shorter looking back. (Sorry the pencil is so hard to see in these pictures!!)
Then I used my craft brushes to paint the letter and pictures in blocks of colour, starting and finishing each colour in turn. You can see above that I started out with the bunny in yellow, then remembered that I don't really like yellow and changed it in the end. The craft paints were either used straight from the bottle or mixed with the Irish Mist to make them lighter.
I like to have all of my supplies out and available, and I use little condiment containers with lids (purchased from a local store) to help keep the paint from drying out in case I need to use more. No matter how good you think you are or how much you measure, you will probably never get the colours to match when mixing different batches. It's better to waste a bit and have some leftover than repaint everything because you can't get the colours to match later.
I probably repainted things at least twice before I was happy with the lettering and the bunny. Not going to lie, I gave up with the eggs. They were so hard to paint and really do look much better in person. It wasn't until I started editing the pictures that I realized the eggs look a little off. Again, oh well.
Sorry for the short and sweet post guys, this was planned for Tuesday and I just remembered that I forgot to write it. I wish I could say that big things are getting done, but it's pretty much all maintenance stuff that we have slacked on lately.
But at least I have an Easter sign, right? It's more Easter decor that I usually have, and bonus points because Braxton thinks it's pretty cool. I'm sure Kaley would like it if I would let her chew on it, which I won't. Have you guys started to put up any spring or Easter decor?
Kerby
Hi guys, please excuse the cheesy title. This was a hard one to come up with, and "family heart tree" sounds just as silly, so might as well go cheesy or go home I guess. I don't know guys, I'm kinda just winging it here.
In the spirit of trying to decorate for each holiday, even a little bit, I decided that I wanted to have a tree of sorts that expressed our family. I had a bunch of salt dough hearts leftover from the magnets that I made, and really didn't need another two dozen magnets so I thought these would work perfectly for the tree (these were the ones that I put string holes into before baking).
I choose most of the small hearts, a few medium hearts and two large hearts. Then I painted them various shades of pink and one heart I painted gold. I used plain old acrylic paint for this, but I can't tell you the colours because I mixed them all except the gold. And using my handy-dandy paint pens (if you can't tell already I love these things) I added initials and dates to some of the hearts. Once I was happy with how they looked I did a coat of Mod Podge on both sides and used fishing line to hang them up.
I used the large hearts for Luis and I's initials, the medium hearts are the kids initials and birth years. The one gold heart is the year that we got married, which was another medium heart. And the smallest hearts are the animals initials, because they are a part of our family too. There are a few hearts without anything on them too, just to balance the tree and make it not so busy.
Ideally I would have liked the branches to be a little fuller but these were off of our rose of Sharon bush in the backyard because we have no other trees with small branches around. They worked great and were the perfect size, I also used fishing line to attach these together in the vase.
Can you imagine having your kids help you paint these hearts and add things that they love to it? This is a great family craft to do together so that you can teach your kids that Valentine's Day (even though it's commercialized) is about love, not candy and valentines.
You don't even need to use salt dough for the hearts, you could use clay from a craft store or even card stock. This is as easy as you want to make it. This would also be great for a thankful tree around Thanksgiving using things that the kids are thankful for on leaves.
I can't wait to add to our tree as the kids get older and can add their own things to it, even if they are silly. Right now it just shows off special dates and initials of some very important people in this house.
That's it for today guys, come back soon and check out what else is new and what I'm actually getting accomplished. If you guys do make these I'd love to see them.
Kerby
Linking to:
Two Chicks and a Mom - Funtastic Friday #113
Ginger Snap Crafts - Wow Me Wednesday #286
Hello everyone, and what a beautiful Monday. Yes, I just said that but it's true because every Monday that passes gets us a little closer to spring. I love the winter for myself (in a way), but hate it for the kids. They just get so stir crazy, I cannot wait until we can start to go play outside again.
Today I want to share my Valentine's day shelf, which I have never done before. I usually decorate this shelf that we have in the living room for most seasons and always forget to share it with you guys. So I decided it was time to start showing you little things like this so that maybe you can be inspired. You don't need to decorate your whole house from top to bottom every holiday, a shelf or table can make you feel festive without overdoing it.
My shelf is pretty simple, and some of the items stay year round because I like how they look. Usually the candle holder, books and frames stay in some variation on the shelf and I add new elements for the upcoming holiday or season.
I used red bead garland inside the candle holder (with a pink candle) and a red and gold flower ornament to add some pops of red. Both of which are from my Christmas decor, showing that you can reuse elements in different seasons! I made this printable to pop in the frame, which is nice and simple. I have to ease myself into the holiday guys. Plus, it's something that Luis and I signed our notes with in high school. Memories. I will share this at the bottom in case you would like it as well.
The dried roses are actually from our first anniversary and stay out somewhere all year round. I love looking at them and remembering that they were from a special day. This makes the shelf feel more like Valentine's day to me because it's showing off things that are what this holiday is about. Then I added some heart garland to my empty frame, which was leftover paper from the heart alphabet matching game from a few weeks ago.
I used my trusty paint pens to make some arrow art on card stock to put in a smaller frame to finish the shelf. I love how this turned out, and will probably add it somewhere else in the house. I just drew what would fit into my frame and what I thought looked nice. Anyone can make a little art for a frame this way, don't be afraid to try.
A few simple accents to help add a little Valentine's day to our household, and all of it contained on a shelf. Not too shabby, definitely something that can be done anywhere by anyone. And you can see I didn't go too over the top with the colours, just some pops of bright red and gold.
And here's the printable for anyone who's interested.
Well that's it for today. Thanks for dropping by again and come back because I have some great stuff coming up.
Kerby
Linking to:
eighteen25 - Show & Tell #13
Ginger Snap Crafts - Wow Me Wednesday #285
Two Chicks and a Mom - Funtastic Friday #113
Hello everyone and happy new year! I can't believe it's already 2017, and how little I got done in 2016. Hopefully this year I can pull my socks up and get some things accomplished, since my project list is about four pages long now! I guess that's what happens when you have a baby and a toddler, life gets in the way.
Anyway! Back in early 2015 I shared an updated gallery wall on the wall connecting our living and dining room, you can see the original post here. But as a reminder, here is a picture where I left it at the "in progress" stage.
It seemed like the perfect spot and solution to our giant 22 foot wall, but after living with it for almost two years we decided that it was a terrible spot. The pictures closest to our dining room table kept getting knocked off the walls when people would walk around the table. The poor picture frame with Motley in it has been hot glued back together more than once.
So it was time to move the gallery wall, and after much discussion and furniture rearranging we decided to move the couch from in front of our window to this wall. We kept it in the living room portion of the wall, and it was a great decision. Not only does the room flow better, but the Braxton was able to look out the window without sitting on the top of the couch (and sometimes falling into the window).
Once we had the location picked out, I measured and got working on the frame arrangement. Earlier in the summer I had spray painted all the frames that I had waiting to be added to this gallery wall, so I was able to make a much larger display.
Don't mind the terrible picture, I had to do this after the kids went to bed when it was extremely dark out. I didn't want them "helping" me with this because I really didn't feel like replacing frames. And the beautiful tent in the background, don't mind that either. Real life people.
Once I was happy with the placement, I bought enough command strips for an army and conscripted Luis into helping me as well as sending the kids to my parents house for the afternoon. This is definitely a two person job because you need to use multiple levels and measure spacing, all of which I am terrible at. Thank goodness I have a husband who puts up with my decorating decisions.
And there is the final product! I didn't take any pictures of the process since there are many tutorials all over the internet, but it took us about 3 hours in total to get all the frames onto the wall. I love how this turned out! It still has a little tweaking to be done, but for now I am happy with how this turned out.
And we are loving the living room the way it is now, it's so spacious and there is an amazing amount of room for the kids to play. Which is probably the most important thing to us right now, since we both hate tripping over toys. It will probably stay this way for the foreseeable future.
You can see that I did not include the quote in this new gallery wall, and there were a few reasons. First was that the vinyl was in terrible shape and stopped sticking to the wall, and the second was that I am planning on making a sign that has our last name and an established date on it. This will probably go directly below the shelf and I will move that frame to the right to replace the frame at the top right. I am also planning on either buying or making a marquee letter to go on the shelf, we will see what happens there.
Well, that's it for today! It's a small post but a huge update to us, and I thought that I would share how plans change all the time. What I see in my head doesn't always translate well in real life, or might not always be ideal. You just need to try new things and be willing to adjust and adapt. Feel free to share your gallery walls or suggestions, I love to see and hear them.
Kerby
Hello again everyone and welcome back. See, I told you I was doing stuff. It just gets so hard to get on the computer anymore without having a child in my lap "helping" me type things. It's better to just not play that game.
I don't think I ever mentioned it here, but anyone who knows us can tell you that we are a gaming family. Luis is a gamer, he enjoys playing video games of all types. I am a part-time gamer, I will play or watch Luis play a game that I am interested in. We have games that we play together, and games that we play individually. It's not for everyone, but it's what we like to do. Everyone likes different things, this is our thing that we do together.
A few years ago we had a gaming related incident that involved a broken controller and a broken tray that I used in the basement to coral the remotes and controllers. These incidents are completely related.
The broken tray has been sitting in our crawlspace for years while I tried to figure out how to fix it or what I was going to do with it. I decided it would be nice to use this tray on the couch when we are having a snack so that we don't have to lean over to the coffee table. I know, first world problems. And since we have redone the basement with gaming related decor, I thought it would add a nice touch to incorporate this with the tray as well.
I thought long and hard about what I was going to put on the tray, whether it was going to be a recognizable symbol from a game or from a show. We love having game related things in our basement that most people will think is just nice decor, but people who play the game will get what it is about and appreciate it more. In the end I chose this triforce symbol because it was easy and is from a game that I love and have played many times myself. I like easy crafts, makes it that much more satisfying when you finish it quickly.
First I sanded the tray lightly, then I did a few coats of spray-paint in a glossy white to cover the finish. I was hoping that I could cover the crack with paint and not have to do anything else. Unfortunately the crack was extremely noticeable, so we had to come up with another plan.
I couldn't really get a good picture of the crack with the white paint, so I took a picture of the bottom to show you the crack and the previous finish. I couldn't find my before picture of the top of the tray, and don't mind the toddler foot. Though Braxton's foot makes this tray look huge if you thought that was my foot.
We decided to use the same kind of wood that we used for our coffee table update, but the oak instead of MDF. This stuff is fairly inexpensive and is easy to work with. I think this sheet, which we only used about two thirds of, was roughly $8.
Luis cut it to fit inside the tray and used clear paintable caulking to fill in any gaps. The inside of the tray is angled, so cutting the wood to fit perfectly was almost impossible.
Once the caulking set for a few days, I gave the tray another few coats with a semi gloss white paint. I did the whole tray, not just the wood insert and this helped blend the two paints together. The spray paint acted as a primer for the old stain colour, so it worked out perfectly.
Once the base paint was finished I traced the triforce shape onto roughly the middle of the tray. I cut out a cardboard triangle to use as a stencil, and the triforce is just four triangles. Easy peasy. I used a Martha Stewart gold paint to fill in the triforce and it took about 5 light coats to get good coverage.
The finish of the gold paint isn't flat, I chose to let the gold paint have different tones so that the triforce looked a little more metallic. It would have taken another 5 coats for the gold to be the same flatness, and I think it would have made it look a little boring. This way, it has more depth. And once I was happy with how the gold paint looked I gave the whole tray a coat of semi gloss Mod Podge. This will seal the tray against any spills or condensation from drinks.
I am so happy with how this turned out. It's nice to have the option to use a tray for snacks and drinks after the kids go to bed. Or even for entertaining, not that we do that a lot anymore. Kids are exhausting.
Hopefully this gives you guys some inspiration to update things the way you want to. It doesn't have to be the latest trend or look a certain way as long as you like it and it functions for your family. For the longest time I struggled with what I thought I should do and what I wanted to do. In the end, I need to let what makes us happy be what's in our house. We have to live with it, not anyone else.
Kerby
Linking to:
Tatertots & Jello - Link Party Palooza 12/16/16
Ginger Snap Crafts - Wow Me Wednesday #288
Hello everyone and welcome back! I have been busy getting things done, now comes the hard part of actually being able to edit the pictures and write a post. You'll have to bear with me, as you have been all year. The busy season is about to be upon me, and I don't know what I'll be able to get done or show you guys.
But today I have a kid friendly update to solve the "what to do with the glass inserts" in your coffee table problem. We struggled after Braxton was born with whether to buy a new coffee table or not. Ours was in great shape still, but had four glass inserts that we KNEW were destined to be broken if left in the table. We just couldn't justify spending upwards of $300 to replace a perfectly good coffee table.
Enter a cheap piece of wood and some paint.
Luis found a solution with thin MDF boards that he cut to size to fit in the inserts. It didn't look too bad, but after two years they looked like they were super dirty all the time. There were tons of food and water spills that you could plainly see, and they couldn't really be cleaned. I decided to paint them white and add some fun kid elements to each section.
In the above picture I had painted three of the four inserts with a white outdoor door paint. I know it's unconventional, but I needed something that would repel liquids and I had it on hand. I'll save myself $20 whenever I can, and this paint worked perfectly. You can see some of the staining on the unpainted insert.
Once these were painted and ready I headed to Micheals and grabbed these paint pens and a set of stencils. These paint pens are so much cheaper than the Sharpie versions, and actually worked much better in my experience. And I chose this stencil because it had letters, numbers and shapes. Perfect for kids.
I chose to use each section as it's own learning tool, four sections with four things to learn. Letters, Numbers, Shapes and Colours. I used pencil with the stencils first and just eyeballed everything. It's not perfect, but it works. I wasn't too concerned because it's such a temporary solution, the glass will come back once the kids are old enough. I just wanted something that would look nicer than stained wood.
I struggled at first with how to do the colours section. Big shapes with the colours written on it in a different colour? Try to incorporate shapes and colours together? In the end I decided to spell the colour out with the actual colour. I think this worked out the best because know they can associate the word (and spelling) with the actual colour.
I think it turned out great and more importantly the kids love it. I did the shapes first, and I wish I waited as I don't like how they turned out. But honestly, Braxton doesn't care and it's not worth the sanding, painting and re stenciling.
After the paint pens had cured for a few days I just put a thin layer of glossy mod podge over each board to make sure that the paint doesn't run when water gets dumped all over it. It's going to happen, let's not kid ourselves people.
And that's it! I know my coffee table looks amazing with bumper pads all over it, but those things are life savers. And eventually the plan will be to paint the actual coffee table because it is so beat up now. The stain is almost gone in some places, and the pads are ripping the rest up. Once we are ready to put the glass back in the table, I will start that update.
Hopefully this gave you guys some ideas for saving a glass insert coffee table for when your kids are a little bigger. Is wasn't too hard and took a small amount of effort, and it's a great way to incorporate learning tools into a room without making it a playroom.
Kerby
Linking to:
Ginger Snap Crafts - Wow Me Wednesday #284
Naptime Creations - Great Things to Make for Kids 1/31/17
eighteen25 - Show and Tell #14
Hello everyone and welcome back! Summer is almost over and I am desperately trying to get some last minute crafts done before the crazy seasons start to happen. We have Thanksgiving, Halloween, Christmas and two birthdays in the next four months! I think we may just be crazy people.
Anyway, I have had this on my to do list for some time now, and I finally found the wood I was looking for to get it done. I love the idea of having door signs on kids rooms for a few reasons: 1. Kids get used to seeing their names and start to associate it with themselves; 2. Other people (and kids) know whose room it is because they can see it on the door; and 3. If there was ever an emergency it is easy to identify where the children's rooms are located.
I would love to use vinyl down the road when we replace our doors, but who know when that will be. Doors are expensive people, I had no idea. But for now, these cute little signs will do the trick.
You will need a few things, so head to the craft store to grab them.
You will need:
- Balsa wood (found at craft stores)
- White spray paint
- Name printed in font choice
- Pencil
- Paint (in colour of your choosing)
Here is what the balsa wood looks like when you grab it at the craft store. I can't remember the size that I chose, but there are a few so choose the one that fits your door the best.
Lightly sand the top and all edges of the wood to remove any rough spots. Next give one side about four coats of spray paint. I chose to hand paint the sides of the wood to save myself some spray paint for another project. You can do this either way, just wait the full curing time as per the spray paint to be safe.
Once your wood is dry and ready to be painted you will want to choose a font for your child's name. I choose Waltograph because who doesn't love Disney letters?
Print this on regular paper and shade the back of the names with the side of you pencil. Make sure you have an even coating and cover each letter.
Tape this bad boy to your wood in the center and trace the letters with your pencil. You will want to press really hard so you can transfer the pencil on the back of the paper to the wood. Once you are happy with your letters grab your paint and start carefully filling them in.
I felt that they needed a little more detail than just the names, so I added some pretty flowers to the edge of Kaley's sign and a masculine edge to Braxton's sign. Here's a better picture of each sign.
Then I grabbed my trusty command strips and put them on the kids doors. I wanted them high enough that the kids couldn't take them down but still low enough for them to see their names. I think I could have lowered them just a touch, but not enough that I'm willing to waste command strips over it.
I love that these signs now define the kids spaces and lets other people know what each room is. And it's great for Braxton to see his name every day as well as see that it marks this room as "his". He was a little confused because he used to be in Kaley's room, and now it's not his space anymore. Hopefully as time goes on he will learn how to associate his name with his things.
These are so easy to make, and you know how I love an easy craft. You don't even need to do this for your kids rooms. These could be made for your laundry room, or even a bathroom. Imagine no longer having to tell people where your bathroom is, just follow the signs people. You're welcome for making your life a little easier.
Kerby
Linking to:
Ginger Snap Crafts - Wow Me Wednesday #284
Two Chicks and a Mom - Funtastic Friday #112
