Up on the Wall

 Remember this?  Well, I got it up on the wall!  (See Dari?! It didn't take 6 months! lol)
Where?  In the master bedroom, of course.  On that big blank wall by the bathroom.

 

I found I already had some photos printed, so I was able to make a nice little grouping on the wall.

PS - the hangers on the back of those frames drove my husband nuts when hanging them.  Not only are they each not quite placed in the same spot in the back, but the little hooks flip up and down so it was a real pain trying to get them on the wall.  We ended up with our faces pressed against the wall and a flashlight trying to see behind it to make sure we caught the hooks right.  I think it took us as long to hang these as it did to do the entire monogram photo wall in Tyler's room.

I'm starting to get excited about this room coming together.  I can count on one hand the number of projects I still want to do in the room - yay!  Next up is reupholstering a chair.  The fabric I ordered for it arrived the day before yesterday.  EEEEK!

One Little Word for March

Well we're a full week into March and I'm pretty proud of myself for jumping right into my One Little Word prompts for the month.  I've found that I look forward to the first of the month and the opportunity to explore my word and my goals in a different way. 

I'm wondering if I need bigger cards for the reflections lol.  These are only baseball card sized and I'm finding myself struggling to put everything down in the small space.  But maybe that's a good thing - makes me focus and pare it down to just the important parts.

 

My reflections for February read: 

The overall feeling for the month was calm happy progression.  I'm getting things done and I've taken some steps toward a healthier lifestyle (including signing us up for the Color Run in May!).  Places I feel I could use more:
-giving the kids my full attention.  Following thru on what I want to do/teach them
-judgment/gossip/negativity.  redirect convo/thoughts
-and in everything - show love.

 

The "assignment" for March was to make a vision board.  It didn't necessarily have to be about or include my Word, just things that call to me.  And I have to admit, it's not really my "thing" to create like this.  I love words and I love making things, but the collage-type look isn't my style.  Once I found some magazines (thanks Jeannette!) and started clipping it actually came together pretty quickly.

 I know a lot of people in the group plan on displaying their boards somewhere in their home but I don't have an appropriate space for that right now (my focus is on getting photos out and displayed - more on that tomorrow!) so I designed mine as a two page layout for my OLW album.  I really tried to keep it simple.  Just paper and a glue stick.  Sure, the big pieces ended up bubbling a little bit, but I'm ok with that.

 I think the big Intention (it's vinyl) was what it needed to pull it together.

 

 find your healthy happy mom place

 I used mostly titles cut from magazines but I did pull in a couple of quotes I had printed from Pinterest like this one from Nike and the quote pictured at the beginning of this post.

 And there it is all happily a part of my OLW album.  Right now the back side of the first page is blank so I'll probably end up printing up another quote on full size paper and adding it in there later.
We'll see.  The whole point of this project for me is to let it evolve as I go along.  My plan for the rest of the month is to spend some more time journaling and putting into practice more of my intentions...

Bring on the Green

How many days 'til St. Patrick's day?  Around 10?  Yeah, I've been thinking about it.  I've been gathering a few ideas for things like lunchbox jokes and leprechaun pranks.  In fact I even let Kaitlyn pick out shirts for herself and her brother when we were out shopping the weekend before last.  But it's not usually something I decorate for.  However, with so many cute ideas out there I decided I wanted to create at least a couple small things before the holiday was over.  So I invited a friend over last Friday and we got a little crafty.

 First up - 2x4 Leprechaun Hats.  Pretty simple right?  And basically free.  I already had the scrap wood, the paint, the ribbon, and the shamrock was from a few floral pics I had grabbed to use on my front door wreath.
 

 I went a slightly different direction for the front door than my typical wreath.  This time around I cut a Leprechaun Hat shape out of scrap bead board.  I didn't even have to paint it, just sanded down the edges a bit.  Then added the ribbon hat band, the Luck medallion and the cute little owl (all the glittery stuff was at AC Moore a few weeks back).

I had bought also picked up a little package of tiny glitter hats that I hat originally planned to use on a wreath.  I didn't want such tiny cuteness to go to waste so I turned one of them into a hair bow for Miss Kate by adding some feathers and a gold bow.

 And my last little project was this fun You are My Pot of Gold sign.  I have a small stack of wood cut into 12x12 squares (originally intended for craft show items until I found out I wasn't cut out to do the craft show circuit) so I grabbed one of those and painted the edges white.  If I had wanted to take more time I would have stained it, but I didn't want to wait overnight for the stain to dry.  I grabbed some green scrapbook paper from my stash (I have to say, it's really nice to have a big stockpile of craft supplies.  I don't know how I'd manage to pull together "quick crafts" without it), cut vinyl for the lettering and viola!

I thought the Pot of Gold sign needed a sidekick and I've had this frame sitting around empty.  So I grabbed a spare photo.  It just happens to be some extras from last year's Christmas cards.  I'll try to remember to take a cute photo of the kids to print out for next year but for now, it works (again with one of my new mantras Done is Better Than Perfect, right?)

 

Now I just need to put away the Valentines décor and find these guys a home on the shelf by the stairs.

Tyler's Monogram Wall

I finished it!!  Tyler's Monogram wall, which has been in the works since I did Kaitlyn's wall shortly after we moved in (3 years ago!), is finally DONE!

This is what his room looked like yesterday morning:

 And after the husband so nicely helped me hang everything up (without one swear word! A couple of eye rolls, yes, but no swear words lol  I point this out only because he had just spent some time wresting with hanging other photos in our bedroom and they weren't exactly cooperative.  I might be banned from buying frames with that type of hanger ever again.):

I'm so excited to have this one on the wall.  I put it together a couple of years ago and Tyler was not happy when he found out I had glued the cars on there and he could never have them back.  Didn't matter that he never played with those particular cars ;)  I'm pretty happy with the overall car theme for the room - kind of subtle so it doesn't scream CARS and not too toddler-esque so hopefully it will last him a few years.  But with enough bits here and there to be fun and personalized.  Look! I even managed to match the colors of the bedspread with most of the photos (that wasn't exactly intentional lol).

When we showed Tyler the finished wall last night he looked at it for a minute with no expression then as he started looking closely at it he got pretty excited.  I'm very happy with it and also very happy to cross another project off the list that has been on there for so long.  I'm feeling very productive lately.  You'll see what I mean as soon as I get the chance to work on a few more blog posts (and a few of the bigger things I am realizing I never got posted - like Tyler's birthday party from December!).  For now, one last look at the wall while I breath a sigh of relief to have it not only finished, but shared with everyone in Blogland (or at least the few friends that I know of that consistently read my blog).

Linking to:
Link Party Palooza
The Party Bunch Linky Party
Kelly's Korner

What a Difference a Day Makes

I was able to finish up a few smaller projects over the weekend and thought I'd share this one before February is over.  I've loved the idea of displaying some of the special dates in our lives and have pinned three or four versions in the last year or so.  And in the interest of my new goal to follow through on things, when I found that good sale on frames a few weeks ago I decided to go back and get one for this project.

 

The dates are:  the day we started dating (in Disney World), the day we got engaged, our wedding date, Kaitlyn's birthday, and Tyler's birthday.

 

 I got it to this point around Valentines Day and then it sat there.  It was just a little too plain with that white background and I wasn't sure what I wanted to use for the backing.

 But I was on a roll the other day at the craft store.  Not only did I find some scrapbook paper that I think works really well in the frame, but I also got a new clock kit so I could fix the clock (that I made a few years ago) that had quick keeping the correct time.  (yay for checking things off the list!)

So there we have the finished product.  I love it!  And the husband was pretty complimentary about it too (I think guys are just as sentimental as we are, they just won't admit it).

 

 

Any bets on how long it takes me to get it up on the wall in the bedroom?? ;)

One Little Word - February Prompts

In contrast to last month, it only took me a week to put together my One Little Word prompts for February.  Somehow though, it felt harder.  Maybe because we're getting past the exploring stage and into something more tangible and active?  I haven't felt as if I've kept my word as present in my mind this month either, though that's probably due in large part to how the month has gone, with our 2nd big snowstorm (remember, NC doesn't get snow so it shuts down life for days and days) and catching a nasty cold at the same time - not fun.  Which is why this post has sat unfinished in my drafts folder for the last 10 days. So before I get interrupted or distracted again...


The first part of our OLW prompts was a quick summary of what we thought of the last month.  I kept mine pretty simple by just printing out the journaling cards provided and putting them in the page protector.  The colors work pretty well with what I used for accents in the previous pages, so why not?

 By the end of the year I'll be a pro about not catching the glare off the page protectors in the photos.  Maybe?

One of the few places you will see my handwriting - at least on something I want to look good.  I've never been a fan of it and even in college when I had to practice it over and over for my drafting class it really didn't get any prettier.  I'm sure there's a lesson about my personality or something in there.  (or my family - my brother and sister both have very similar handwriting)  Doesn't really bother me - typing is much faster and easier most of the time.  But in this case it seemed like the best approach for having all the cards prepped and ready to fill out at the end of each month.

 

The second part of the workshop for February was to create Action Cards based on our intentions for living with our word this year.  It took me a few days to figure out how I wanted to interpret that.  I ended up with 8 for now, though I left some space to add a few more later if inspiration strikes.

One of the trends I've been noticing in my thought processes when I think about living my life with intention is how often I think about/crave the positive.  Quotes.  Blog articles.  Happy ideas.  Music.  Laughter.  It's all reaching out for me right now.  And I think that's reflected in my Action Cards.  They read:

1.  SEARCH OUT THE POSITIVE.  good input/inspiration, recognize happy moments, keep your (good) perspective

2.  Do something SILLY.  Every. Day.

3.  JUST DO IT (this is my reminder to not procrastinate or overthink things.  Just dive in and get it done)

4.  Give them your attention  The kids, Sam, the task at hand - whatever it is, FOCUS.

5.  Sign up for another Color Run 5k and run the whole way

6.  HEAHTY HABITS:  daily exercise/activity, healthy snacks/meals, drink water, cut back on sugar, limit screen time

7.  DANCE (see?  I told you it's calling to me.  I've really been feeling the need to make my life lighter, not so much about going and doing.  So literally and figuratively I want to remember to dance.)

8.  Show Love  (more all-encompassing than "be nice" or "be patient" - plus it works well for Feb, eh?)

 

Can't wait for next month!

Prepping for Valentines

I collect ideas.  All.  The. Time.  And sometimes they stay tucked away in my collection in a notebook or on a Pinterest board.  But, especially when it comes to the holidays, I do like to put a few of them into practice.  So I thought I'd share what I've picked so far.
I really loved the idea of doing a "heart attack" on the kids' bedroom doors.  To drag it out a little bit (and cut down on the Valentines Eve prep) I cut out a bunch of hearts (with my trusty Silhouette) and have been writing a compliment/loving thought or two on them every day since Feb 1st.  By the 14th they should have quite a collection.  I did a set for the husband too.  The kids have noticed and I've overheard them discussing their latest hearts, and Kaitlyn even reminded me one day that I hadn't added a heart yet.  The husband hasn't said anything LOL.

 The school does a fundraiser every year where they deliver candy grams to the kids.  This is Kaitlyn's order form - I was so happy to see that she was sending one to her brother (without any prompting from me!).  The forms have been filled out and turned in - cross it off the list! ;)

 The kids' Valentines for their classmates are all finished and waiting to take to school next week.

 Another idea from Pinterest - cute, right?  (link to inspiration post here)

 And finally, a little lunchbox love all ready to go.  (You can find the printable here)  I was happy to find enough red and pink candy in the leftovers from the New Years Pinata so I didn't have to go out and buy any - score!

I'm still not sure what I want to do for Valentines Day itself.  I have gifts and candy for the kids and a vague idea for a small gift for the husband but I'm not feeling like turning it into a huge event.  Maybe dinner out and a simple dessert like those giant Hershey Kisses made out of Rice Krispie Treats (link for that idea here).  I still have a week to think about it.  Hmm...