Treasury Fun

Trying to figure out how I've missed out on this fun for so long! Creating a treasury is SO fun, but very time consuming- probably why I've stayed away for this long. Here's what I came up with...



You can see the real thing here.

And by the way thanks for all your input on the Sunshine Print! I'm leaning towards 2 or 5.  I've printed them both on the home computer and am headed to the store to try them each out in a frame.  We'll go from there. :)  Can't wait to show you what I pull together for the rest of her room- fun fun fun!

You are my sunshine print

On a whim while on our Mommy-daughter "date" this evening at our only local super store, Wal-Mart, (and by local I mean a 20 minute drive- have I mentioned I live in the boonies!?) we bought an adorable new spring quilt for Hallie's bed. Despite all of my attempts at persuasion to get her to pick the one I originally spotted, she insisted on the "girly" quilt which consisted of pink, green, orange, and yellow. Luckily it fit in with the color scheme I was going for. So with another project for her bed in the works, this quilt was the extra push I needed to really get her room done started.

She has no artwork in her room at this point and while sitting here this evening I came up with a fun idea. And now have 6 variations which I can't decide between! So the 2 of you :) who actually read this blog consistently (hi!) any thoughts? Which print is your fav?
1.

 2.

 3.

 4.

 5.

 6.

Can I get a witness!?

I just got an enthusiastic, "ok" from the hubster when I told him I would like to build a table like this. 

It makes my heart flutter! Now off to find some salvaged 2x6's...

Spring Tiered Dress... Everything looks better at the beach!

With spring just around the corner, I've been sewing away for the little Halster.  So many fun dresses and skirts!  But sadly since moving to the PNW, it's not so springy out and I haven't been able to get very many photos of her fancy new attire.  Insert vacay to California and hooray! This is just how all of her dresses should be photographed, if only I had known we would have done a little fashion show on the beach.  :)

So done with the rambling, here's the dress...

Made using another dress as a guide and some simple math.  I used great spring fabric from the quilter's showcase line at JoAnn's with the awesome price tag of $2.50 a yard. :)

It's bound to put a bounce in anyone's step!

Perfect for hunting on the beach...

dancing...

following daaad around...

Cuddling with mom...

And all other kinds of beach fun...

So get springy and make your own!

3-D Photo Cards

What?! You've already moved on to St. Patty's day? Easter? Well I'm still stuck on Valentine's Day. :)

I discovered the brilliance of 3-D cards at Craft-O-Maniac which she found here.  And the "snickers" idea Jen shared at Craft-O-Maniac was brilliant as well.  And since we needed fun easy Valentine's we decided to do some of our own.  Here's our versions...

The kids had a great time posing for the pictures and they were seriously SO easy! Took pictures, edited on picnik, sent to Costco, picked up 2 hours later, candy bought, candy glued and tucked.  So simple!

Growth Chart Tutorial

Better late than never! I've had this little idea in my head for 3 whole years! I'm tellin' ya- I'm a world class procrastinator! :) So sad since it was such an easy project to do, but like I said better late than never!

So here we go..

Supplies:
The simplest growth chart vinyl you can find. 
6' 1x6
Paint
Cute paper numbers
Modge Podge or spray adhesive

Start with finding your supplies...
Make yours or the one I ordered was from here, but I don't think she's selling the actual vinyl anymore, you can find more here, here, or here. It can be difficult to find a basic chart since there are so many with cute embellishments, in fact I didn't find any... I had one with just numbers and the ruler and cut the numbers off.  (anyone want my vinyl numbers!?)  With the links I provided, I would try to contact the seller and see if they would do a custom one for you- it may be cheaper that way too. :) Wow... that was a novel on something that was supposedly simple ;) That's probably the hardest part. :)

The rest should be pretty self-explanatory. :)

1.  Paint your board and let it completely dry.  You don't have to wait the 6 months or use your board to help you pick blackberries and then repaint it and wait another month like I did.  :) It will probably dry in a couple hours.

2. Line up your tape measure next to your board.  (Hopefully your carpet isn't as horrible as mine... dis-gust-ing!) Ignore the vinyl on there- we'll get to that part soon.  For now, just put your tape measure next to your board.

You can decide for yourself but I started mine at 1' to allow my board to be tall enough for my bound-to-be tall children.

See... not joking, my board goes up to 7' not that I'm expecting my children to be that tall, but since I measure up at 5'10" and the hubby at 6'5" I figured we'd better leave enough room just in case. :)

3.  Apply the vinyl

Find something within arm reach to make sure the first dash on your vinyl lines up straight.  A ruler would suffice.

Begin applying the vinyl like so...

Peel off the transfer tape which can be a little tricky.  I found the best method was to pull up to the next dash and use my bone folder to press the dash to the board.


Continue until all of your vinyl is applied. 

4.  Add the numbers

I used 7 different coordinating papers from my stash and fed them through the cricut machine.  I used Plantin Schoolbook "Shadow" for my numbers.  They ranged anywhere from 3 1/4" to 5" I wanted them to be odd sizes, just play with it until you think it looks great! If you don't have a fancy die cutting machine you could easily freehand it or print numbers and use them as a stencil.   

Here's a closer look at the numbers...

5.  Glue numbers on. 

I attempted to use spray adhesive, but wasn't a huge fan.  I will most likely used modge podge to fix them. 

And that's it you're done! Stand back and admire your work. :)

Almost forgot logistics...

1.  Hanging the board. 
To hang your board I will attach a ribbon to the back with heavy duty staples and to prevent it from swinging I will use command strips along the board.  Make sure you hang the board at the correct height, the bottom of mine will be 1' off the ground.

2.  Charting Growth
If you use a darker color as I did, I will be using cute circle stickers to mark height.  You could simply change the paint color so you could write directly on the board. 

Enjoy!

Children's Train Wall Art

To say my son LOVES trains is a serious understatement.  His life revolves around them.  Here's my attempt at some digital artwork for his room. 

I love it! It's fun, whimsical, and just what I pictured!