DIY Painted Twig Letters

Lately I have been a color enthusiast. I'm having a hard time reigning in my thoughts on how I can bring more color into every room of our house, specifically the dining room. Our living room has curtains with lots of color, our kitchen is a hodge-podge of blues, yellows, greens, and reds...but our dining room has been a dull mix of gray, green, white, black and gold.
First, I took down the curtains (which I still love) and replaced them with the curtains in Finn's nursery which are a white sheer with jute strung through.
This helped...there was now a lot more light coming through the windows, and I got rid of color boundaries and opened the room up to endless possibilities.


The At Table sign I created a while ago definitely started looking drab to me, so after seeing an idea on Pinterest and in the newest Parenting magazine that magically arrived out of the hands of our postman, I got to work. By the way, I love that the postman walk in our neighborhood to deliver mail!


First, I took the dogs out back and let them prance around while I collected sticks...this didn't take long, since we have a 10 foot pile of limbs and branches sitting at the back of our lot waiting for the city to (hopefully) pick up.

I took my coffee and grabbed my hot glue gun, breaking pieces of twigs apart and arranging them into letters. By this time Finn was up from his morning nap and out to join us.

After arranging and glueing, I set up the words on a window ledge on our little shanty shed (that is soon to be a spiffy garage!) and admired.

Then, I took a break and gave Finn another outdoor bath in the rubbermaid...in the back this time at least! The dogs might have drank out of his bathwater. I still maintain that this is old-fashioned rather than redneck.

After Finn was down for his afternoon nap, I pulled up the rest of a really ridiculous movie called Lost in Austen and got to work painting the sticks.

First, Green Tea(Americana), then Blue Sky(Martha Stewart), followed by a thin line of Deep Sea(Martha Stewart), and to finish it off, Love Bird(Martha Stewart) at the tips.

And there you have it! New life for the words that hold so much meaning in our dining room.

Am I becoming an old lady? This table runner was purchased Wednesday....it is the second embroidered item I've bought recently, and I have countless plans for more embroidery, doilies, etc....woops!

They remind me of what you would create during craft time at a kid's summer camp. And I love that about them. I kind of want my house to look be that, a place where creating happens. Even in a dry macaroni and Elmer's glue sort of way...

Here's a comparison:

These letters would be a fantastic baby shower gift...and SO cheap to make! Just takes a little time and creativity. I want to make a huge one for our back patio that says HOME or something ridiculously sentimental like that.

Read more about the meaning of these words here.

Have a fun weekend!

Allison

Talented Friends|Beautiful Gifts

I wanted to share these amazing gifts we received from great friends with you all...and while you're reading you should listen to this.

Peter created a leafless birch tree to bring to the hospital with us so each guest could add a thumb print leaf to the branches. I am so thrilled with how it turned out with the bright green leaves added. It looks like something straight out of a children's book. The type of children's book that adults enjoy just as much, if not more. Know what I mean?

We got this idea from our friends Chris and Christie's wedding...they did this instead of a guest book. Isn't it lovely?!

Then Kristin created a pair of paintings with verses from Psalm 127 across each.

These foxes are my favorite!

And here they are together, side by side. I love how the trees match Peter's birch!

These pictures really don't do this artwork justice. We have such amazingly talented friends and are so blessed that they wanted to create something for Finn!

All in favor of these two opening up Etsy shops?

And just for kicks...Finn is already practicing to be a superhero. Check out how he busts out of his swaddle flexing his muscles:

And there's a first for everything...

And Finn slept for nine hours straight last night. Can I get a heck yeah?! He gets 4 oz. of Dr. Pepper through a bottle nipple for that one! ...only kidding.

Free Alphabet Print

I have so much fun creating text prints for decoration! I completed another one that I want to share with you...I used Zierinitialen2 font from dafont.

  

8X10

5X7

Remember, just righ click, save, and print!
I pulled colors from the quilt and other items that will fill the nursery. My idea for this print is to cover a frame in pieces of broken twigs.
Alphabet prints are so popular right now for nurseries and children's rooms. The best part is that they are so simple and you can create your own for free using any font style and colors you want!
If you download this print, let me know where you'll use it! And be sure, if you haven't already, to check out my other free prints here and here!
Hope you're having a great week!

Another Use for a Calendar

I stumbled upon this beautiful paper calendar from Three Square Design...I love the subtle colors and patterns used.

Wouldn't these look awesome framed on a bare wall?

At $24.00 there's no way I'd scribble weekend plans on these, but ideas for other uses are endless!



Here's another great calendar from etsy seller pinkroses1220

It's such a simple idea to use any kind of print that catches your eye (pages from books, cards, scrapbook paper, etc.) in decorating that big blank wall you have absolutely no idea what to do with! 

Keep it structured with matching frames & straight rows, or mix it up with a hodgepodge of styles and levels.
Check out Home Made Simple for an article about framing up old calendars.

A Lesson in Late-Night Perfection

After seeing this creative DIY project on Remodelaholic I decided to give it a try.

One inch cut paper squares, a canvas, some Mod Podge. Easy right? 

View Remodelaholic's link for detailed instruction.

Still looking pretty good...

And here's the finished project!

Can you see the mistake?

Project win FAIL! After slaving away on meticulously gluing down each square I soon realized that there was a horrid mistake! By this time it was 1:20am, I was tired, but I had vowed to finish that night. Steven counted and solemnly made me aware that the squares were uneven on the sides. There might have been a few tears...I felt like I used to when I was a kid and I'd stay up late drawing. I'd get so tired and frustrated when I couldn't get the foxes' ears level and my Mom would advise that I go to bed.

I think this finished project looks so neat, and I was super excited, BUT if you take this on, make sure you COUNT! And, make sure you take time to remind yourself that you are not aiming for perfection. I refuse to not use this somewhere in the house-we'll just have to tweak it to cover up the mishap!

Biarritz.-Effel de Vagues.-LL.

Since our wedding in April I have spent a large majority of my time thinking up great ideas for our new home together. Acting in these ideas? Now that has been another story. There just never seems to be enough time.
I've found the more I document these ideas, the more motivated I am to make those ideas become realities.

With all that said, here are my ideas for our (hopefully soon to be) guest room:

The fabric in the background is the pillow sham from the bedding I bought months ago from Target. The paint swatch is Martha Stewart Living's Calabash(MSL099), and the post card is a little French treasure that I found at the most wonderful store Adkins Architectural Antiques & Treasures in Houston:

Adkins Architectural Antiques &Treasures

This store is one of my favorites. It is 4 stories of  everything you could think of, from thousands of old door knobs to beautiful stained glass and more old wooden doors and pieces of iron fencing than you could imagine.
If you're ever in Houston, you have to stop in. And then eat at Niko Niko's !
Anyways, back to this French post card..
A while back I saw an idea to take an old postcard in and get it blown up on both sides frame each one, and hang them on a wall for some truly unique artwork.
It didn't take long at Adkins to find the perfect postcard.

Postcard reads: "240 BIARRITZ.-Effel de Vagues.-LL."

Anyone know French?

I love the sense of mystery and nostalgia that an old handwritten postcard gives. 

I can't wait to see this guy blown up and framed, donning our guest room walls! I'll post an update, don't worry!