Our Growing Family

A friend and I put together crafts for a craft group that meets once a month.  The craft that we have put together for May is a growth chart. There are many out there in the blogland. We compiled what we liked of each and created this:

We bought a 1"x8"x6' board. I bought Oops paint at Home Depot. Oops paint is paint that has been mixed, but was the wrong color, so it is way cheap. You may have to ask the guys at the counter if they have any. Each store handles it differently. Some have it out so you can see it other stores keep it under a counter and have to open the cupboard for you. The quart I bought was only $2.00. It was the eggshell finish that I like. Plus the color is close enough to the color of my walls, that it will blend in, which is what I wanted. 

I have all girls, so the flowers work for my family. I cut all the lettering, the hash marks as well as the first layer of the flower out of vinyl using my Cricut. 

  

I then cut the 2nd and 3rd layer of the flowers out of scrapbook paper. I used 3 different, coordinating papers and layered them. I used gem brads that I already had. I wish the centers were a little bit bigger, but I didn't want to go buy bigger gems.

It looks good without the flowers too if you have boys or don't care for the flowers:

 

I hope it measures up and inspires you to be creative!

Holly

The Tour Continues...

Since I showed you two of my daughter's rooms, I thought I would give you a tour of my home, starting with the master bedroom.

When we moved into the house over 8 years ago, we painted the walls Macadamia by Sherwin Williams. My bedding was from Ikea. It was a deep red that had color-on-color embroidery across the top. As I shared previously, I have grown tired of the darker colors in my home. So the change truly started with the master bedroom.

First, we up-sized our bed to a California King. This means I HAVE to redo the entire room, right?!?! My hubby knows me too well and knew this would happen, so when he got the bed, he also gave me a gift card so that I can buy all new bedding.

I pulled the main color of the duvet for the walls. So now the walls art Celtic Gray by Behr and the ceiling is Delicate Mist also by Behr. I went with one shade lighter on the ceiling to help make the ceilings feel higher.

We added crown molding. Then I painted all our furniture, which is from Ikea, the same brown from the duvet.  I don't have the color name - sorry!

I also "built" my headboard. I used three 28" primed hollow-core doors. I painted them the same dark chocolate brown of  the furniture.   They are just leaning up against the wall and the bed holds them in place.

I found the prints at Ikea. I couldn't find canvases sized to fit the prints. So I made my own. I used 1x2's and stretched muslin fabric across. I then Mod Podged the prints on to my canvases. I attached ribbons to the back and hung them on adhesive hooks.


The opposite wall is all windows. We have black-out honeycomb blinds. I want to add long curtain panels, but it is been low on my priority list, so I haven't done anything about it yet.

A few weeks ago, I found some awesome lamps at a garage sale. I've spray painted them and once I find the right lamp shades, I will show you the finished project.  Their new home will be here in the bedroom.

I hope you have been inspired!

Holly

DIY Signs

When my kitchen had an empty space, I decided that I wanted to create a sign. My hubby brought home a couple of old pallets from work. One was really beat up, which was perfect!  It had the wear and tear on the wood to give my sign that aged look that I wanted.

First I tore the pallet apart. Then I cut the wood down to the length I needed for my sign. Since I wanted the sign to look like it was an actual sign from an old coastal resort, I made it quite large. Then my little helper sanded it just a little so that we wouldn't get splinters. 

I used my Cricut to create stencils. I traced them on the wood to figure out the placement and how large of an area I needed to paint for the background. Taped it off and painted it Antique White. Because I was looking for the aged look, I wasn't worried about covering the wood. I let the wood grain show through.

Then stencil the letters. Once I had all the letters stenciled, I free handed shadows and highlights to each of the letters to give them dimension. Then I used tracing paper to trace the nautical compass in the middle. Using the tracing, I painted the compass. Once all the paint was dry, I lightly sanded.

Finished product

In it's new home.

As you can see, we have lights on top of our cabinets. After putting them up there around the nutcrackers at Christmas, we decided we really like it being lit up, so we left them.

I hope you like and that it inspires you to go create!
Thanks,
Holly

Off To The Coast...

I WISH!!!

Instead, I am attempting to bring the coast to Arizona.  I love beachy/nautical items. In an attempt to "lighten up" my kitchen, I have decided to bring in a beach cottage feel. My husband and I were on a trip to Cabo San Lucas a few years ago and I fell in love with the Mexican pottery. I bought a platter with the plans to redo my kitchen in yellow with the blue from the pottery as an accent color. Once I actually got started, I decided I didn't necessarily want to change my wall color. It is Honeydew SW6428 by Sherwin Williams. So I decided to stick with blues, aquas, turquoises and light greens-colors from the ocean.

Most of the stuff I have had collecting dust in a closet or in other parts of the house. Eventually it will be a entire kitchen makeover, but it has to be done little by little - due to the money lack of money issue. 

Here I spray painted a vase with Rust-Oleum satin Aqua and added greenery that I was already using in the kitchen. The blue bottle was pulled out of box in the closet. You can kind of see in the picture, that it has imprints of seashells. The art is by an artist from California, Sally Huss. I really like her work and have a few  of her prints. This particular one is of the San Diego coast line. 

 The lantern is from Ikea-it was originally black. I had purchased two of them for my patio table, but decided I needed a lantern in the kitchen. So I spray painted both of them white. (The other, I use on my ledge with holiday decor.) The plate is from Pier 1. The nautilus shell I have had for many years. The white pillar I bought last year at an antique store in Seattle as well as the blue vase. The white candle holder is from Big Lots about five years ago.

The bottles are from garage sales or were given to me by my sister. The charger and plate are both from Pier 1. The basket in this picture and the next were from Goodwill last year. 

The little lantern is another from Ikea. I found the green vase at TJMaxx. It already had the jute and shell on it.  The shells inside I have had for many years.  This is the platter that inspired the transformation. 

I then decided that I wanted a sign. I liked ones that are geared towards the kitchen, like EAT. But I didn't feel that it would flow with the beach feel. So I was inspired by this one

I liked the weathered look of it, like it came off an old resort. So I made my own.  

(Details of how I did it to follow.)

I hope you are inspired by what you see.

Holly

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Spring has Sprung

Last week was spring break from my kids, so my youngest was around to be "helpful". She gets just as excited to decorate for holidays as I do, so she actually was a lot of help when we boxed up the St Patty's day decor and brought out the Easter and Spring decor. 

I started by updating my specimen art and seasonal art for my piano. I used my Cricut to cut everything out, used markers to ink the edges and then attached it all to subtle patterned papers with dimensionals.

       

I also updated the banner above the t.v. I debated whether to have flowers and butterflies or to spell out a word-either Easter or Spring. I ended up spelling out Spring (just so I can keep it up after Easter). I did the same thing as I did on my St Patty's day banner-book page with stitching.  

Once I hung it up I just wasn't loving it. So I went back to the drawing board and thanks to my friend, Cadi,  we came up with this version which I like a lot more. 

Paper lantern Eggs - my mom gave these to me a couple of years ago. I believe she bought them at TaiPan in Utah.  Great store for inexpensive decorating items. I hung the smaller ones above the kitchen peninsula then set the large ones on top of the kitchen cabinets.

Couple of items on top of an armoire. 

Egg Lights - I have lights for quite a few of the holidays. My youngest daughter loves having them on.

And last but not least, my Easter vignette. 

I created the subway art on picnik.com. 

I bought the green plate and the eggs in the vase at Dollar Tree. I am planning on adding vinyl to the plate, but I'm not sure what design I want on it yet.  

The button egg picture is a printable from Funky Polka Dot Giraffe. She has it on black or white. I bought the purple mercury glass vase at Marshall's a few weeks ago.  

I hope you enjoy the beauty of Spring and have a wonderful Easter holiday.

 Holly