y'all

Once upon a time, Liz found a really cute shirt on Pinterest that she just had to have.  I've been wanting to try freezer paper stenciling for a long time now, so why not, right?

Inspiration (or should I say Pinspiration?)

Design your template on the computer (or by free-hand if you're talented like that)

Trace it onto the freezer paper, drawing on the paper side (not the slick side).  Next cut out the design with a razor or box knife.  If any of the design has an inside (like the triangle inside the A be sure to cut it out also).

Next iron the stencil in place on the shirt.  Be sure to iron on any of the letter insides (like the triangle in the A). Then use fabric paint to fill in the stencil. 

Take the stencil off when the paint is still wet. 

That's it.  It really is that easy.

The end.

glitter glue

On Saturday morning I surprised Addi with some glitter glue pens.  She was SO super excited to use them and I told her she could paint her pumpkin however she wanted.

Let's get this party started!

She didn't waste any time...

Pretty, huh?

Ta-da! Nice work Addi-girl!

fall to do's

Obviously we are well in to fall, but here's a little sneaky peek at what's on our fall to-do list. Fall is my absolutely MOST favorite time of the year!  We've had fun checking a few things off our list and can't wait to do even more!

Happy Fall Y'all!

summer list

Well summer is over half way over and I'm just getting around to posting about our summer list!  Oh well.  I made this list long ago but just printed it last week and posted in our kitchen.  Since it's been posted, we've been able to check several things off our list, but here it is before our checks!

We're having a great summer...how about you?

what will grow?

On the day before Easter, Addi and I had a fun little project...we planted Jelly Beans!

We started with an Easter tin and filled it with some soil.

Then she sprinkled in some Jelly Beans...

and covered them up with dirt.

Add water...

and wait with anticipation for something to grow!!!

What will it be??? 

in progress

There are actually TONS of projects that I have right now that are "in progress"...maybe I should start a new blog series...ha!

One project in particular is in our bedroom.  My parents just brought up this old armoire that was in my grandmother's house.  It's been in storage for a few years and I decided I could put it to good use!  Here are the before pictures.  Guess what?  I don't have any after pictures yet because nothing has been done to it.  I thought if I posted pictures it would encourage me to get this done and checked off my list!

The white armoire that's in Addi's room was in pretty rough shape too when I got it.  I simply covered the inside with batting and then some fun fabric and that's my plan with this one as well.  I already bought my fabric so it's just a matter of finding time to empty everything out (I already have it loaded down with goodies), disassembling the tracks, stapeling the batting and fabric to the inside, reinstalling the tracks and reloading all of my stuff.  Sounds easy enough, right?

The inside has one very quick coat of white paint but it will all be covered with fabric... 

Except the floor. I need to find some pain to put on the bottom and we'll be set! 

Wish me luck!  I promise to post after pictures, if after ever happens!

padding

So I've been in to padding lately...you know, making notepads.

I'm a pretty picky person and sometimes its hard to find the right notepad and it's easier just to make your own!  It's so easy!

First you need some heavy books,

and Mod Podge,

and what you want to pad.

Simply print out pages that you want to make into a pad and cut them to size.  For example, this particular day I made pads out of my menu form, a to do list that I made and a weekly blog list (because my other one ran out).  They are as big as a piece of letter paper cut in half.  Be sure that they are all exactly the same size...use a paper cutter if you can. 

You also need to cut cardboard backs for them too.  You can either keep the backs of old notepads or you can purchase chipboard at most any mailing supply store.  I bought mine at Office Depot for a quarter for a big sheet.

Next lay out some foil or wax paper so you don't get your table messy.

Stack your pads so the tops are perfectly in line. 

Be very careful when doing this...they really need to be exact. 

Place your heavy books on top of the pads as close to the top as you can.  You need to leave a little bit of room so you don't Mod Podge the books to the paper. 

Use a foam brush to paint very thin strips of Mod Podge on the tops of the pads.  Let dry completely (just a few minutes) between coats.  I typically do 5-7 coats...just eyeball it. 

I've found that 40 is a good number of pages to do in a pad; anything more than that is just a little too thick.  Be sure to add an extra page or two on top though, because the top few get a little icky at the top.

Ta-da! 

The bottom pad in this stack got a little warped because I didn't have the cookbook close enough to the edge.  You really need something very heavy close to the edge. 

I've also added magnetic strips to the back of some of my pads so they can hang on the side of the fridge!

Happy Padding!!

magnet board

Before Christmas, Trevor built this awesome magnet board for Addison's bedroom.  I always have these "great ideas" but can't ever make them happen because I'm either not handy enough, not strong enough or a combination of the two.  Well Uncle Trevor is both handy and strong, so he helped me out!

I just bought roof flashing at our local lumber yard and Trev mounted it to wood and finished it off with white molding.  Now, it was a little more involved than that, but that's the gist of it!

So here's the finished product!

It's great for displaying her school art projects and for playing with her magnet letters. 

The edge needed to be finished off and I took the lazy way out.  Instead of painting it, I just hot glued some ribbon on it.  It looks great and was easy on my part!

Thanks Uncle Trevor!!