Signs for My Boys {Day 3}

I remember just the other day I was convinced I needed to hang my baby's name in his room. We weren't telling what his name was until he was born, so I took lots of pictures of his room to share with our families, then I hung the carefully sanded and stained wooden letters I got at JoAnn.

It really did complete his room.

When we moved out to the country when this baby was a 18 months old, the letters were one of the first things I hung in his big boy room.

We didn't find out the gender of our 2nd baby before he was born. I bought letters for both the girl name and the boy name. Don't do that--just wait. When our baby was born, I carefully hung his name letters over his crib. I loved it!

When baby #3 came along, I knew better than to buy two names worth of letters again. Besides, his room was fancy and I thought I'd just write it on a board in his nursery collage. I never got around to it and something was always missing from that very popular nursery!

I moved the older two boys into a room together and painted both of their names a bright color to go with their room. When they moved rooms again because Mommy likes to switch things up, their names went with them.

We moved into transitional housing when the youngest was 1. Who needs names on the walls when you're only living somewhere for a few months? But after a year of that, we unpacked again in Ohio and this time the youngest two were sharing a room and it became increasingly obvious that middle brother had a name and little brother didn't.

And big brother had a name in his room.. But we had no JoAnn store there.

Let's just cut this pathetic narration short and tell you that finally, at the tender age of 3 years, 5 months, my youngest son now has his name proudly displayed in his room.

It's not above his bed, but it's directly across from it. His bed looks like this.

His is the middle bed in their long, narrow room. At the time his bedspread didn't match (it was the one hanging on the wall now) so that was the only way Momma felt balanced.

On the left is middle brother's bed.

And on the right is big brother's bed.

 Ah. Finally!

Are there things on your mental to-do list that have been sitting there for YEARS! I confess, I have another one. In our bathroom are two portraits of two laughing babies each playing in a tin washtub at 9 months old. Um, I have THREE sons....

Get on that already!

Something Blue

You know when you see something and totally want to buy it but then you look at it and think, "I could make that"? And then you do, and it turns out better than you thought it would?

We've all seen Stacy's amazing Mason Jar Planter Wall Board. I've always loved it and wanted to make one.

Stacy's Mason Jar Planter Board

Then a few weeks ago while at Target, I saw this cute little number by their Threshold line.

Target's Wall Plaque with Jars

I almost bought it. Twice.

The first time I talked myself out of it because I wasn't planning to spend $25 on something not "necessary". The next time I had mentioned it to my husband who said, "Why don't you just make one?" He also said I should buy it if I wanted to, so later in the week I went back to get it.

It really is adorable, Target's version. But I kinda wanted blue jars. and I wanted the board part to be longer and narrower. And I wanted jars that said Ball or Mason... It all added up to me buying a 6-pack of blue pint sized jars and leaving the wall board at Target.

I searched our wood pile and found a piece the right size, painted it white and distressed it with a sander. I added a little stain to make the distressed edges nice and dark and weathered.

I made a trip to Lowe's and browsed for something that might work to hold the jars in place. I found u-bolts and hoped they would work!

Gary had to spread the u-bolts a little so they would go around the jars. He also cut the ends of the bolts because they stuck out about an inch on the back of the board. Just so you know.

All in all, I'm thrilled with how the board turned out! The jars are so pretty, and I've been able to find good uses for them.

You know how when you change one thing you change something else in this domino effect? I just that, and that awkward space between the super-high medicine cabinet and the backsplash is a little happier.

The jar board kicked the little square mirror out of his home, so I hung him below my clock. I actually take that mirror off its nail to check the back of my head when I do my hair, as the bathroom has no other way to see back there!

Of course there's more I would do to the bathroom if the house was ours, but it's not. In the meanwhile my pretty blue jar board will keep me focused on what works rather than what doesn't!

If you'd like a pretty blue canning jar trio to hang on your wall, you can visit my Etsy shop!

Have a great weekend!

Thankful Tree (DIY Art)

Well, maybe it's more like a branch.

Whatever it is, I like it. 

This is not an original idea. We've all seen different versions of thankful trees on blogs or Pinterest. 

For some reason the area behind our house has stacks of branches. On a walk last week I chose a likely victim, not too big, not too branchy. I asked the boys to collect rocks to help the branch stand upright and keep the watering can weighed down.

 

I had some tags on hand, something I found at Walmart in the office supply section. I jotted down a few things I'm thankful for and hung the tags on the tree.

Jonathan was super excited to add a few of his own tags, so I helped him write "mommy" and "daddy" and "my guardian angel". Love that kid!

There are so many ways you could personalize this idea! You could glam it up by using a beautiful vase and spray-painting your branch a bright color, then hanging tags with glitter or by using small Christmas tree ornaments to add a little bling. Mine is a little natural, a little rustic, a little neutral and, since I had the tags already, completely free! 

This might be a stretch, but I'm totally counting this as art. It's architectural, sculptural and organic. Definitely my idea of art! Not to mention I'm wrapping up this series a good 20 days late, so I'll take what I can get!

Day 28. Boom!

Make Your Own Dry-Erase Board {DIY Art}

 

You know how when you're singing and there's no time to breathe and you justrunoutofbreath before the line is over?

No? Hmm.

How about when you think that flight of stairs is a piece of cake, you'll just run up it... only by the time you're half way up you're slowing and after a couple more steps you're regretting that piece of cake you ate for lunch.

Or when you jump in with both feet and you're excited and fired up about, say, a blog topic, and you realize that it's a lot to write on the same topic for a month and instead of motivating you to finish up the last spaces in your new home, it overwhelms you to the point that by the end of the month you're hardly blogging at all...

Guilty.

I'm the kind of girl who has a hard time letting go. I want things done the way I want them done, so I stink at delegating. My oldest is getting fairly decent at washing dishes and he likes to do it, yet I usually am the one standing at the sink because they need to be done the right way. Gag. My husband is awesome at cleaning bathrooms but I usually do it because he works outside the home and chores around the home are my half of the bargain. Sigh. 

Anyway, I'm not trying to throw a "Biggest Loser" party, just using a little humor to excuse myself from my October promise of 31 Days of DIY Art. It's mid November. I. Will. Finish. 

Ok, so about the Dry-Erase Boards. I have two because they are that easy. My menu board and my calendar are based on the same idea. They've been around for several years now, finding themselves at home in our kitchen in Iowa, our dining room in Ohio and back in the kitchen in Nebraska.

Here's the basic how-to: Find a large framed picture with glass that you no longer like or never did like in the first place. Or look for a large frame with glass at a thrift store. Take it all apart. Paint the frame the color you wish it to be. Toss the picture, or just add burlap or another fabric of your choice under the glass. For the menu board, I added circles with letter stickers to spell out "MENU" and small tags with letters for the day of the week. In the calendar frame, I included a large white piece of paper so my calendar doodles would show up.

*I've successfully used permanent marker (aka: Sharpie) to write on my boards for years, it's just harder to scrub off. Windex helps. Dry-erase markers are easier to erase, sometimes to a fault.

You could use one of these boards for a Christmas count-down, for a grocery list, or an on-going to-do list. They're super fun and easy to do!

Well, I made it, limping, to Day 27. The race may be over, but I'm still running, baby!

Wedding Anniversary Sign {DIY Art}

Two of my closest friends from my life in Las Vegas got married this weekend. That's two weddings, two happy brides, and of course their happy husbands.

For one of the lucky-in-love ladies, I made an anniversary sign. I posted this sneakpeak on Facebook when I finished it and she swooned. Swooned!

I have to admit, I love how it turned out. Kinda awesome when that happens! 

I started by sanding my section of 1X6. It's about 10" long. No, the pen, chapstick and nail clippers are not the tools I used--ha! I was using those to put the font in perspective. It happened to be one of the only pictures I took of the sign, and with my cell phone late at night... It was such a busy week I completely neglected to take real pictures!

Anyway, after the sanding, I planned to paste down some pretty patterned paper. I had asked the bride what her wedding colors were and she said black, white and champagne. Fancy! I ended up not liking the plain paper, pattern and all, so I ripped it in strips and mod-podged it on. Then I sanded the edges of the paper to make everything nice and smooth.

Next, I cut out 5" letters of the couple's last name with my Cricut in white vinyl. This font is super skinny and really hard to get the letters to lay straight, but I think they ended up being pretty straight. I then cut the wedding anniversary date in 1 1/2" letters from black vinyl using a straighter font which was much easier to work with!  

 I'm so pleased with how this turned out that I listed it as an example of customized signs in my Etsy shop. You can order one if you don't have the inclination to make one yourself!

We might be 7 days into November, but it's Day 26 of my 31-Day Series for October. We'll get there!