Oh How We Grow

I've always liked the idea of having some kind of

measuring device to mark our kids growth

over the years - something that can move

with us, if that were ever the case

I have been seeing the DIY life size rulers

all over pinterest and knew it would be perfect

One 1 x 6, some stain, paint/stencils & a sharpie later

this is what we have to happily record how

much we grow

I made it so we could hang it a little higher

because when your husband is 6'7" you need a BIG ruler 

So far I think we have measured the girl's height every day since it

has gone up :)



DIY Free Bedroom Decorations

Free decoration #1

We are still putting some finishing touches

on our bedroom renovation

and of course we are trying to do them

on a tight if not non-existent budget

So while browsing the web for inspiration

I found this

Via Craftberry Bush

and thought Perfect!

I want a coastal/beachy feel to the room

and I just fell in love with this

I love the color and the way the

sayings make me feel

So I went out to the garage and rummaged

through some leftover door casing

from our dining/reading room

board and batten project

and I had just enough

Next I printed off my words

and grabbed my supply of craft paints

After painting my boards a mixture of colors

I white washed the dark ones

and glazed the lighter ones

then lightly distressed them all

to give them that old worn look

(instead of the I bought them at HD 2 months ago look)

I played with the different pieces

to come up with a grouping that I liked

Then I painted on my words

hot glued the boards together

and added some twine to hang it with

and ended up with this

I love that it looks old

and that it adds just a few more pops of color

to the room

Free Decoration #2

While in the garage I also spied
and old oar that my husband has had forever
It was broke in two
so I glued it back together
slapped on some paint
and hung it on our plank wall
with some hooks

Free Decoration #3

Next I found some tongue & groove

boards that were leftover from a previous project

I glued the two pieces together

with liquid nails

Added some paint

I mixed two blues I had together to obtain

the beachy blue that was in my head

then I white washed it

and painted on my letters

And now it hangs above the oar

Total cost for these 3 mini projects - nada :).

Another Way to Make Easy Signs

I saw a new way to make signs online the other day

(for the life of me I can't find where now)

and I decided I had to give it a try

It's even easier than the method I used on my EAT sign

I printed out my phrase in Word in the font & size I wanted

Grabbed a board I had sitting out in the garage

(after I spray painted two coats of white on it)

Then I turned the letters around and used a pencil

to shade all over the back of the them 

Then I flipped my letters back over

placee them where I wanted on my board

(still wondering if this would work on walls too...)

and traced/outlined my letter on the paper with the pencil

When I was done and lifted my paper up

I had an outline of my letters

(if you enlarge the picture you can see it better)

Then I just filled in the letters with my paint

And then I sanded it down gently to mask any mistakes I made :)

And that's it!

I know this has probably been around for ages

but it's new to me and I'm so happy I found it

since a Sillhoutte is probably not in my near future :)

Oh and this is what we saw outside our back window last night

Ugh 

Yup that's hail/sleet/rain mixture

Come on Spring - please hurry up!!

Friday Nights

I remember when I was younger

and didn't have kids

we used to whoop it up on the weekends

We'd have people over, go to the bar

stay up until 3 in the morning

and feel like crap by Sunday

Now this is what my Friday evenings look like

My 1 glass of wine

An old picture frame mat and craft paint

Some yummy cheese cake to go with the wine

Hey it's in the cheese family!

Some scrapbook paper

and my absolute favorite Winnie the Pooh quote

(Well actually it's Christopher Robin who said it)

Put them together and I have a new piece of "art" for Nolee's room

And I felt great the next morning at 6:30

when I woke up to Lilly's face 2 inches from mine

and she asked me if it was morning yet

How can you not smile when you are woke up like that :).

Don't miss those old days at all!

Some Drink to go with our Eat

I took my EAT sign into work to get an idea if people liked it

and yes I was probably fishing for compliments

so sue me if I like hearing that people like things I make

it never gets old to me :).

Anyway one of my coworkers, and good friend

loved it and wanted one of her own

but she wanted DRINK instead

to go into her kitchen

she loves wine (so do I...one of the many reasons we get along so well)

and is thinking she will add some corks somewhere on the sign

So while doing laundry and spray painting some other projects

I made this...

I love the font on this one even more than the EAT sign

It's just curvy enough to add a little extra character

 and for some reason seems somewhat Irish to me

 Maybe it's just because St. Patty's day is around the corner

and I have been thinking of doing a "lucky" sign as well

I used the same glue stick technique as on the EAT sign

The hubby thought the sign was awesome

I think he was thinking of his a bar area in his man cave downstairs

neither of which are finished or even on the docket to be finished anytime soon

but if  I could get a peek in his head I think that's what was running through it

He actually looked a bit disappointed when I told him it wasn't for us

Don't worry honey - I will gladly make more :)!

I grabbed some awesome magnetic bottle caps we got as a gift from our favorite cousin in FL

and set them on it just to see how they looked

kind of works I think

but since she wanted corks I didn't actually glue them down or anything

If I make one for our house I may have to look more into this idea though

They are just so darn cute!

I have linked to

         

Simple Sign

I have been wanting to make this EAT sign for weeks now

but I was stuck on how to do the letters

I am in no way artistic enough to hand paint them

and I didn't want to use vinyl if I was just going to rip it off

to get the effect I wanted - seemed like a waste

So yesterday I happened to come across this idea

print out the letters on a regular printer

cut them out with an exacto knife

and glue them on your board with a glue stick.

Say what!?!  It couldn't be that simple could it?

I figured it was totally worth a try

especially since I actually had all the materials lying around at home

I don't know why but I have always wanted to say that

maybe that is why I can't resist picking up junk treasures

here and there and apparently starting a

collection of spray paint (and wall paint and craft paint)

see honey I did it all for a reason!

Anyway I had this board out in the garage

So I brought it in, cleaned it up and glued on my letters

and started my painting process

I put a few layers on each section to get the look I wanted

there was no ryhme or reason to how I went about it

just kind of made it up as I went

Then I peeled off the letters (and they came off so easy!)

and holy crow it worked!

I then sanded it to get the look I wanted and that's it

A handmade sign in under 30 min

I think I gotta get a fork...that knife just isn't doing it for me...

So easy!!  The wheels are already turning on other ones I could do!