Gallery wall projects

I made three wood plaques for my gallery wall. I used three fairly inexpensive wood plaques from Hobby Lobby some plum, antique white and sage green paint, plus mod podge , sand paper some pictures and a Dremel tool. Step one, simply paint your plaque then sand the edges after it has dried well to make it look a bit worn a vintage. Step two, brush a layer of mod podge on to the back of your photo then slide your photo around to center it on the plaque, once centered then wipe any excess mod podge with a paper towel from the edges of the picture, it will dry clear anyways so don't worry if it looks messy. Step three, Dremel a hole in the back of the plaque for hanging, your husband can probably better do this for you, mine are butchered back there because my Bright Eyes is not home yet. And that's it! I am going to add our Monogram in the middle and call the wall done. Under the pictures I plan on having a wood crate bookshelf, the crates are waiting to be stained and put together by Bright Eyes when he gets home.

Drop cloth curtains

Ok so I thought it would be nifty to try my hand atdrop-cloth curtains, I purchased a stencil and some paint but apparently not enough paint. I am going to head to the store for a gallon of plum paint hoping they can match my swatch since I already stenciled a row on one of my curtains. So far the stenciled paint looks really amazing on the cloth. I laid down a plastic drop-cloth on the floor to protect the floor from paint seeping through the cloth onto the carpet beneath. I purchased a morrocan wall stencil from hobby lobby and it is quite fetching. Bright is coming home soon so I need to get these done, I have one set trimmed and no sew taped to make a pocket for the rod, the taping , trimming and ironing really isn't too hard, the hard part was getting into work mode and then being stopped abruptly because I did not calculate the paint amount needed properly. Here is a pic of what I have so far. Tomorrow one gallon of flat matte latex paint should help me get my project going again. One gallon of latex paint should cover six panels, and six panels is what I need done. Then I am moving on to dying my drop-cloth curtains for the bedroom. Making some pallet art for above the fireplace mantel and perfecting the bedroom a bit. I finished my wood plaque mod podge pictures for the gallery wall and they look amazing. I will post a quick tutorial on how to do those as well.

Leaving Home To Go Home

The last year has been hectic, hence the no blogging for a long time. We have had a colicky baby, a move, and a deployment, so it has been rocky for us. I will soon be leaving my childhood home to head back to Washington where my husband is stationed. And after nine long months I will be welcoming  him home from the Sandbox. I am so grateful to my family for allowing me to stay with them for  the nine months of deployment. I would have surely been heartbroken and lonely without them. I am sad to leave them behind because they have become a big part of Gage's life, but I am also thrilled to introduce the fun new toddler Gage to his father. I am excited to see how they will grow to love one another and interact with each other. Gage really is a miniature of Bright Eyes, so I do not see how they would not hit it off right away. I have twenty days until I leave home to go home. Today I will wish time to go faster so I can see my husband but I know I will wish I had more time with my family after heading back. So for now I will relish in the moment.

Pinterest Fall Wreath

I did it!! It was only up for one week. But it was a great accomplishment considering the fact that I rarely get any time to myself. My sweet baby boy seems to think that his job is to monopolize all my time. Here are a few pics  of the Fall Wreath. I made it so that the flowers and decorations can be removed and replaced with Christmas colors, such as red and white roses with green holly leaves made out of felt. I was goin to convert it into a Christmas wreath but because of our upcoming move I will not have the time, so it will have to go into storage and next year it will be ready for fall and hopefully Christmas.

I was just playing with the color effects on my camera... Highlighting green.

Yay .... finished!!! Ready for next season.

A Little Bit More!

It came without tags! "It came without packages, boxes or bags!" And he puzzled three hours, `till his puzzler was sore. Then the Grinch thought of something he hadn't before! "Maybe Christmas," he thought, "doesn't come from a store. "Maybe Christmas...perhaps...means a little bit more!"

                                                                                                                 - Dr. Seuss

I am throwing a Dr. Seuss themed dinner for Christmas and I just love this quote from the book "How The Grinch Stole Christmas!", I know it doesn't refer to the birth of our Savior but it does remind me that Christmas is not about just a little bit more but a lot more!!! Christmas means so much more than gifts and goodies, it is a time to remember the birth of our Savior, a blessed time for sure. Even though he was not born at this exact time of year, we can still rejoice in the fact that he was a gift unto us. If Christmas means the gift of a savior then be sure to spread that gift far and wide this Christmas don't be a Grinch and steal the only true gift from some lost soul by keeping your gift of the Savior hidden!!! On another note I am truly excited , because this Christmas is Gage's first Christmas, and a little sad since the coming of this year will be quite a bit different for the three of us as a family. But the Lord has been good to us and I am excited to see what He will do in the new year.

Pinterest Project Fall Yarn Wreath

 

 

 

So I am still working on the yarn wrapped letters from my previous post, but I needed to finish my fall wreath before fall is up! Gage takes up much of my time so this has been a work in progress. I have accomplished making all of the felt flowers. The flowers are actually pretty, I am surprised I made them so well. I used a tutorial from another blog to make them, so if you are interested here is the link http://papernstitchblog.com/2011/12/14/diy-felt-flowers-five-ways/ . All my flowers are sewn together and ready to be attached to the wreath. Now all I have to do is finish covering the wreath with brown yard and then accenting it with ribbon. I also felted a cardboard letter "B" for our last name to attach to the wreath. I plan on securely pinning the flowers on my wreath so that I can interchange the flowers for Christmas. I want to make some red roses and holly leaves out of felt to replace some of the yellow and brown flowers with during the Christmas season. Plus with my leftover felt I am going to make some hair pretties for a few of the baby girls at church.

 

 

 

If you use a hay wreath, leave the wrapping on, this makes it easier to yarn wrap.

  

To make the flowers I rolled them all then pinned them together.
Once they were all assembled then I sat down and sewed them together.
 

                                                  

Pinccessful Project #1

We all love pinterest, it is full of the most awesome "why didn't I think of that" ideas, tips, tricks, and projects. Most of us have accounts and multiple boards of yummy food, decor, and DIY projects. But boards are all I have right now, I pin but never use the pins. So I am going to vow to complete one pin idea a month, at least one anyways. This month I am going to try to attempt two, my first two projects involve yarn art. So yarn letters and a yarn wreath or on my list. These are the two pins that inspired me.

Source: evie-s.com via Elizabeth on Pinterest

 

Source: tipjunkie.com via Laura on Pinterest

I will be posting finished  pics soon since I have gathered all of the supplies needed for both projects. But here is what I have so far. I am going to do a monogram for our picture wall in the living room.

Our living room is light green tan and plum, so I am working with those colors.
Wood letters and yarn are all that I needed for this project.