Category — Creative Juices

The sun finally came out today! And it gave me a good opportunity to take some pictures of the boy’s rooms. I love how our upstairs looks now and Will LOVES to play in his room and “work room.”

Thomas’ room is “airplane” themed with green and brown as the main colors. I really like how warm and cozy it feels. There are only a couple of small things left to do in there – hang the cross stitch that his Nonny has been making for him and find a star to hang in the blank spot above the dresser.

PepperAnn decided she needed to pose for a picture

A closer look at the artwork above the crib. I cut the airplanes out using my Silhouette machine.

The dresser/ changing table just waiting for Thomas to arrive. The bottom shelf has 4 baby food jars full of penny’s – that my great-grandfather Earl collected.

Will’s room is “car” themed with blue and brown as the main colors. He has plenty of room to play and he thinks it’s really fun when we have overnight guests and they sleep in “Will’s room.”

Artwork from Target.

Can you tell which corner Will decorated? The car stickers are from Target, Bill and I painted the black stripe with chalkboard paint and the white lines are vinyl cut with the Silhouette.

Easy artwork! Simply framed several of the stickers with white scrapbook paper.

Bookcase with essentials and family “treasures.”

Last week I was a really “bad” mom. It was one of Will’s CCC teachers birthday and I completely forgot. I might have been the only mom who didn’t bring a gift, flowers or something. I felt bad but I did have an idea for a gift. Next week is his other teacher’s birthday so one teacher is getting her gift a week late and the other is getting it a week early

I had seen this idea on several blogs and thought it would make a really cute birthday gift. I don’t have step-by-step pictures but it was super easy to put together. It’s a personalized post-it note holder – perfect for in the kitchen, lists, or beside the telephone.

Supplies Needed:

Clear, plastic 4X6 picture frame ($1 at Wal-Mart)

Post-It Notes (I got a 4 pack for $2 at Target)

Ribbon ($1 at Dollar Tree)

Scrapbook Paper

All you do is glue/stick the scrapbook paper in the frame where the picture would go. Then, tie a ribbon around the top to make it look pretty. I glued my ribbon to the back of the frame so it wouldn’t slip down. Glue/Tape the post-it note under the ribbon. Add embellishment. For Will’s teachers I added their names to a tag made out of scrapbook paper. Put it in a cute bag (or in my case a clear bag with a ribbon around the top) and you have a great gift!

I have been feeling a bit crafty lately. And I have finally made time to do a few small projects (at the expense of my house looking like a tornado hit!)

First up, my Mom is hosting a table at her church’s Christmas dinner and she wanted me to make some “name plates” to match her table decor. I have to mail them to her so they aren’t completely put together yet – but here is the main part.

I made 10 boxes with Christmas tree cut outs in 4 different colors (2 color of green, red & white). And I am also sending rectangle tags for my Mom to write the names on. And to finish it off she just has to glue the name tags to the boxes. I thought they turned out really cute.

Second, I wanted to make a small gift for the ladies at my MOPS table. I stole the idea got my inspiration from the gift my friend Elaine gave me last year.

I made a quick run to the Dollar Tree and Michael’s and came home with $8 worth of picture frames, $2 worth of craft paper and a $3 can of brown spray paint.

This is what the frames looked like before I painted them. Not a horrible color but they were all slightly different tones.

One coat of spray paint later and they were all a nice “satin espresso” color.

I chose simple paper – red and cream for the background and a textured cream for the nativity scene. I cut out the nativity scene using my Silhouette machine and then wrote Matthew 1:23 below.

The finished product! I really like the way it turned out and I think the ladies at my table liked it too. Oh, and if you get one of these for Christmas just pretend like you haven’t seen it before

Do you have any favorite Christmas crafts or something new you’re going to try this year?

Bill and I really like this wall of frames that has been featured in the Pottery Barn magazine and website for a while now. But it is literally a couple of thousand of dollars worth of picture frames. And I don’t know about you – but we don’t have that kind of cash to drop on picture frames. Nor would we because we are super cheap, super cheap!

While browsing Michael’s when Will was out of town last weekend we discovered that picture frames were 40% off and I had a coupon for an extra 25% off. Whoo-hoo! We decided to try and recreate the mix of sizes, colors and textures for our entryway hall. Our entryway hall is long and skinny and has been completely bare since we moved in over 2 years ago. Now, I can’t stop looking at it

This is looking at the frames from the front door.

A closer look from the opposite angle. We didn’t include as many frames as the PB wall because we didn’t have enough space.

This is the best “straight on” shot I could get. The hallway is too skinny to get a better one. Our frames are black, white & brown and include everything from sleek metal to wood grain. Now I just have to find the perfect pictures to put in the frames (and probably a super cool PBish bench to put under the frames).

I am linking up to Homebody’s Pottery Barn Knock-Off Party!

On Friday, before Halloween, our MOPS group went trick-or-treating at NHC Place Nursing H0me. It was a lot of fun to see how much the residents enjoyed seeing all the kids dressed up. The residents were sitting in a big circle in their living room and the kids went around to each person and got a piece of candy. Will went to the man with the suckers several times! Will dressed up as a scarecrow and was the cutest scarecrow I’ve ever seen

Will getting ANOTHER sucker.

Can you see the crow on his hat? I cut it using my Sihouette machine and hot glued it to his hat!

Heidi reading a fall book to all the kids.

Will eating a sucker and listening to the story.

Scarecrow Will and Farmer Mom

It feels like we (and by we I mean mostly Bill) have been working on the playroom forever! Really it’s been a couple of months of Bill working really hard framing, dry walling, taping, mudding and sanding. And then a week or so of me helping with paint and flooring. Then about an hour to move up all the  toys and organize them. And I can already tell that all the time and effort is going to be SO worth it. Will loves his room. Last night Dana and Jonathan were here and they said, “Will show us your playroom.” Will ran up the stairs and into the room where he proceeded to take out most of his toys and show them off! So, here are a few pictures of the completed room.

View: Looking into playroom from Will’s new bedroom through the closet.

View: Looking into playroom from entrance

View: Right side of playroom

View: Left side of playroom (where train table will go)

View: Looking at the entrance from the back wall.

Come and play!

Does my desk area look a little different from the first update? It’s still not “there” but I’m making good progress!

I got some storage drawers from Michael’s and put them to the left of the desk. They hold ALL of my scrapbooks, scrap paper, and whatever little craft I am working on at the moment (right now candles for my MOPS group). On top of the storage drawers is where my Silhouette machine sits (love it)!

I (Bill) hung the white board just about an inch above the desk top. And underneath the desk I have the printer, a couple of notebooks, 2 baskets (1 for stamps & 1 for photo albums). Sitting on the floor under the support bar are 4 boxes full of pens, stickers, note cards and pictures. I feel so organized! I hope I don’t find anything else upstairs that needs to fit down here

Just ignore the pile of “stuff” to the right of the desk – some of it I need to list on ebay and I need to find new homes for a couple of my picture frames.

This is a piece of “art” that I created for the desk area. I used a pattern that my friend Katie found online and used in her house. I used some paint we had in the garage and painted a piece of poster board! I wasn’t too sure of my artistic ability (even using a pattern) so I didn’t want to spend money on a canvas just to ruin it. I think it turned out pretty good. I put the poster board in a picture frame that I broke a few weeks ago.

There are still a couple of things on my “wish list.” I ordered a shelf to go above the whiteboard yesterday. It should be delivered sometime this week! I’m going to put my art on the shelf along with a few decorative things. I am looking for a magnetic mail sorter that will stick to the whiteboard and I think it would be really cool to recover the chair in fabric that matches our bedroom. We’ll see!

I guess when we put up the shelf I’ll have the “final reveal!”

Last week a blog a read, Nesting Place, had a day where you could show off your fall mantel (or fantel).  Well my mantel has looked exactly the same since the day we moved in and I was inspired! I started dreaming of a mantel for every season At least I knew I wanted to change it up for the fall.

I thought about what I wanted and scoured the Pottery Barn catalog for ideas. I also looked at A LOT of decorating and craft blogs for thrifty ideas. Then I went window shopping – mostly at Micheal’s. Last I ran my ideas by Bill because we all know he is the decorating genius in this household! He kept me from making any catastrophic mistakes.

Really, I am not too good at following through on my ideas. I usually do something half way or settle for something less than what I had wanted.  Bill gave me the biggest compliment when he said, “You did a really great job – actually doing what you had envisioned!”

Are you ready for the big reveal?!?!

Ignore the lines on the mirror – I don’t know what caused that, the flash maybe? Notice I found the perfect place for my “Dollar Store” wreath!

The best part? I got everything (except the mirror) at Micheal’s. This weekend they had all of their fall decor 40% off and I had a coupon for an additional 20% off your entire purchase!

I also spruced up the leather chair for fall. I bought the tan corduroy pillow cover last year at West Elm for $6! I stuffed it with some old t-shirts And I picked up the orange pillow from Target last week.

I could look at my fantel all day, ya’ll! Do you do anything to decorate your house for fall?