Crafty Family Plaque

The original inspiration for this delightful bit of recent craftiness came from a bloggy friend of mine, BJ_Mama.  Truly, I hope to meet her IRL someday.  She's such a fun and crafty lady, and I envy so many of her wonderful projects ... every now and then I just have to try one out myself.

When I saw this way back in December, I immediately thought of my younger sister and my good friend, who just moved into a new home - within a month of having a baby!  Of course, I also had to make one for myself :)

And so, here's my attempt at BJ_Mama's Family Plaque.  

The entire project was done with materials I already had at home.  First, I had a bunch of 8 x 10 frames stashed away in the attic ... they were hideous gold and kind of marbleized.  I quickly neutralized them with black paint.

I printed the large letters and then traced and cut them from black scrapbook paper.  I had some "document" paper on hand from a project I did with 5th graders years ago, but I think BJ_Mama's paper is much better than mine.  I just typed up the names of the family members with a dash in between and printed it on the paper.

 

 

Happy Valentine's Day!

A bit of craftiness ... and a continued love of all things owl ...

 Gifts for the grandparents ... mailed late but made with love :)

NHV and I also baked "special Valentine's Day cookies" on Friday ... complete with red 'prinkles.

CPV is making his incredibly delicious crepes for breakfast ... yummy!

If we can get all four of us ready, we're on our way to a party at the local kid's museum.

How are YOU celebrating this holiday-o-hearts?

WW: Owl-dorable Big Girl Room

It's finally finished, and I am loving the end result!  More importantly, NHV is loving her new big girl room!

This was a big transition for a little girl.  We moved her out of her crib and into a twin-size bed.  We also moved her into an entirely new room; the nursery is being prepped for BGV 2.0, our second daughter.  (Read about that transition here, here, and here.)

The Big Girl Room Reveal ...

Bedding: Circo Love & Nature Collection from Target

My NHV loves owls, and I love color.  This bedding is the perfect combination of both.  It's cute and appropriate for a two-year old, but I think it will easily grow with her.

Throw Pillow:  Custom-made by the very talented LadyBeez Designs

Wall Color: Summer Harvest by Behr

The bedding is plenty busy, so I went with a neutral yellow.  Yellow also happens to be one of my favorite colors :)

Bed and Dresser: Handcrafted by CPV

Inspired by Pottery Barn and Land of Nod, both pieces were designed and handcrafted by my super talented husband.  They are incredibly sturdy with no shortage of tiny details.  The bed includes a handmade guardrail; you'll see it in the last photo :)

Underbed Storage: Floor Bins by West Elm

This was such a lucky find, especially since they are apparently no longer available.  I needed flat bins - no more than 9 inches high - with large dimensions.  I found 2 sets of 2 - on clearance - for about $50 total.   Found what I was looking for and discovered a great design store! For now, they are filled with books and dolls and assorted toys.  I have plan to make photo tags of the contents to keep things organized :) 

Curtains: Chocolate Brown tab-top with accent ribbon added by me :)

NHV likes a dark room, and she's a good sleeper ... so I had to go with a curtain that would be dark - on the occasional sunny morning here in the NW.  I pulled the brown from the bedding and added the colorful ribbon stripes to make them more girlie.  I am working on a "tutorial" for this NO-sew project.  These curtains are my favorite contribution to the room.

 

Decor: Circo Love & Nature Wall Mural Appliques

I originally thought these were kind of cheesy, but I really like them now.  It was so easy (and cheap) to apply, and the owls are so adorable!  Besides, as CPV pointed out, it is a two-year old's room :)

Canvases: Owl-Inspired Storybook Art

I am working on a "tutorial" for this one.  I am so happy with the way these turned out :)  My friend Tammy also surprised NHV with an owl-dorable square canvas - that she painted! (It's propped on the dresser right now, but it will hung on the door to Natalie's new big girl room!

Name: Wooden Letters and scrapbook paper from Michael's

Here's my "tutorial" - ridiculously easy with a big impact :)  (The letters look crooked in this photo, but trust me they are very straight - thanks to my meticulous husband!)

 

This has been a work-in-progress for about 8 weeks ... with many, many other projects and life things getting in the way ... my husband and I are left wondering how Trading Spaces pulls together a room in one weekend?!

You can see more great photos and Word-less-ful Wednesday
posts here and here.

Crafty Name Project - Tutorial

I am calling this a "tutorial" - and using the term very loosely - only because several of you asked for more details.  I am not crafty and I am in no way, shape or form an expert ... but I'd be happy to be your tutor :)

First, I bought the letters at Michael's for like $2.99 each.  If you're a little loco thrifty, you could amass a bunch of 40% coupons and make multiple trips to the store and get each letter for like $1.80!  I was not impressed by the plain white primer paint.  I knew I'd either have to paint them - dread, dread, dread - or come up with another way to cover them.

It just so happens that I've recently discovered Mod Podge ... and used scrapbook paper to create this and this.  And those nursery letters became the inspiration for these letters, too.  I waddled myself over to the scrapbook paper aisle ... and aisle I love but don't frequent because I do not "scrap."  I found a series of papers with colors that coordinate to NHV's new bedding - but don't match.  I am not a big fan of matchy-matchy.  I liked that this paper had some prints with white backgrounds and others with brown - and I alternated them in the final product.

Got it all home ... and first pondered attaching the paper to the letter and then using an exacto-knife to trim it off.  Decided that my lack of brain cells and somewhat shaky hands (from the doses of Terb I've been taking) would not be a good combination with an exacto-knife in hand.  So Plan B was hatched.

Trace the letters, cut out just inside the pencil line and then attach using the Mod Podge.  I only used the glue between the paper and the wood. and gave the edges a little "special attention."  I did not cover the entire thing with Mod Podge, but you could because it dries completely clear.  In fact, I may do that before we hang them ...

This worked great ... except for the pencil marks left behind on the lower edges of the white letters.  I used an eraser, a damp cloth, and some fine sandpaper to make sure that yuckiness wouldn't show once I hang them on the wall.  You could also paint the edges of the letters with a coordinating color, but that seemed like too much work for me, and I like the white against the wall color.

It really is that easy.  I plan to hang them - this weekend - using just the nail holes on the back (and a good level and lots of help from my handy husband).  I think hanging them from ribbon would be really cute, too.


Noticed that BJ_Mama - queen of craftiness - linked up over at Today's Creative Blog ... and I decided to be a copycat ... mainly in the hopes that this will keep me motivated to be crafty :)

Craft-Tastic: I'm at it again!

Spoiler Alert: If you are Laurie or Debbie and your package hasn't arrived yet and you don't want to see your surprise for the first time here in blog-world, .... Look Away! Run! Don't come back here until the postman does his job!

Yes, I got crafty again. Well, first I got super procrastinatey and then I finally broke down, made several repeat trips to Michael's, busted out the scissors and gluestick ... and got myself a little crafty! All in the name of L-O-V-E for my dear friends and their adorable bambinos :)

This is the scrapbook page I made for my dear friend Debbie's Book of Love for her triplets: Hayden, Morgan, and Landon. If you don't already know Debbie and her fantastic story, you should hop on over to The Growing Cunninghams and get to know her and her adorable, newly-one-year-old triplets. The page has this great polka-dot background in fun, bright colors. I used adhesive letters to spell out "Love from the NW" across the top. A reminder of the fact that many miles separate us, but we are sending H, M, and L lots of love everyday :) I also included two photos - one from our visit last August and another from our recent visit in April. I then attempted to "introduce" myself and tell the triplets "how I met their mother" and express in some small way how incredible I think their mommy is ... no easy task, especially with limited space for text. Down the side is a little scrapbook doo-dad that just called out to me at the store - its bright colors matched perfectly and the animals/botanicals seems "naturey" just like the NW. I hope this page is a delightful addition to the Book of Love!

Now, on to the canvas. Just 8 inches square but when blank very intimidating. And I have no one to blame but myself. See this little project was originally conceived in my pregnant mind when I needed a way to decorate a nursery for a baby who would remain "gender anonymous" until arrival. My friend Laurie, also pregnant at the time, loved the idea and decided to do the same thing for her little-boy-on-the-way ... except she used two specific shades of blue and an off-white. Now, pregnant with her second - a little girl this time - she decided to do it again. She asked friends and family from all over the country to paint a letter on canvas - this time using pink, green, and cream. Well, the idea of painting another letter just wasn't inspiring. I set out to find scrapbook paper that I could decoupage to the canvas. Initially, I envisioned myself wielding an exact-o knife and saying lots of curse words ... all in the name of love. Instead, I fell in love - thanks to my friend Carrie, who introduced me to the Cricut, a freakin' incredible, ingenious, very addictive machine that all scrapbooker/crafty-type person really should own. I brought my paper to her, she helped me select a fun, girly font, and that darn machine went right to work cutting these beautiful V's from the fun, girly paper - the paper that was exactly the right colors for Laurie's nursery. How fabulous is that? I got the V's home and got around to putting it all together. First, I painted the entire canvas the darkest pink color. Then, I cut strips of what was left of the piece of striped paper. I spaced out the strips so the color showed through. Laid the V's on top - the larger V is "the back" of the cute paper and the smaller cursive V is the cute paper itself. Oh, and as the final - very fun - step, I used MOD PODGE to glue it all in place; it dried totally clear and everything was firmly in place. Now, I am just looking for excuses to use the Mod Podge! Anyway, here's the finished letter V ... for Valentine or Vivacious or Vivid or Vagina ... no, not vagina - definitely not vagina :) Love you, Laurie and Baby Girl T!