playroom decor

I've had some colorful crafty fun lately. Using this tutorial as my inspiration, the first is a rainbow-colored list of playroom rules. My canvas is 16x20 instead of 24x20, and I cut the paper instead of tearing it, but the idea is the same. I had a hard time deciding what to write, and I wish I would have thought to use the cricut instead of my handwriting (duh, why didn't I think of that?), but it was fun anyway!

I decided to paint the edges multi-colored too, so sponging a bit of white paint on the edges seemed to give it a more finished look.

Then, I did one of those fun crayon melts with the hair dyer that you've probably seen on pinterest. It was fun and a bit messy, too:)

More crafty fun to come. What have you been crafting?!

pumpkins

I read somewhere the other day that pumpkins are canvases from God. Decorating pumpkins is a fall favorite for me. I carved pumpkins as a child and continued the tradition with college roommates and with my students when I taught first grade. When I found out my friend Kaye had never carved a pumpkin, I got even more excited to dig in with her, though she wasn't a huge fan of pumpkin inards:), and to my disappointment, neither was Carson. He wanted nothing to do with the slimy pulp and seeds. Silly boy wouldn't even give it a try. Maybe next year:)

This year, pinterest inspired me to try out a couple new techniques.

Instead of carving a face, I used a drill and made a polkadot-o-lantern.

I painted thumb tacks black to embellished this pumpkin.

I was able to do this in early October and it wasn't shrivled by Halloween.

I also LOVE baking, smelling, and eating anything with pumpkin, but I normally let Libby do the hard part for me. Maybe this year I'll attempt making pumpkin bread with an actual pumpkin. We'll see...

gettin' my craft on: memo boards

With inspiration from around the web at my fingertips, thanks to pinterest, I've been feeling crafty the last few weeks. Memo boards are my most recent craft of choice. They're cute, practical, simple, and inexpensive to make. What's not to love? Find an old picture frame, give it new life with some spray paint, and add one of the following:

• chicken wire and clothes pins
• leave the glass and back with cute paper or fabric
• chalkboard paint
• tin or magnetic paint
• cork
• mini clothes line

I painted this one purple and glued chicken wire to the back. Then, glued scrapbook paper pieces to clothes pins and sanded their edges.

I painted this one and added scrapbook paper and a dry erase marker. Lots more fun than a plain ol' dry erase board, and you can always change out the paper for a quick new look.

Now for my favorite, the chalkboard! I've been wanting to paint a chalkboard wall in the kitchen and/or playroom, but I decided a big framed chalkboard was a better option for now. Someday, when Carson is older, I want to create an interactive playroom wall with chalkboard, dry erase, magnet, and cork! Anyway, back to my chalkboard:) The thrift store near my house had lots and lots of various sized frames. I was excited to find a couple of really big ones.

Here it is before: a picture of a family eating dinner with Jesus behind them and gangster-looking men peeking through the windows. Alrighty.

First, I tossed the broken glass, cleaned it up, and spray painted the frame. Then, I sanded down the picture a bit, and spray painted it with a couple coats of chalkboard paint, waited 24 hours and primed it with chalk. TaDa!

I still haven't settled on a final home for it, and since it's framed and not permanent, I can try it in various spots before settling on a home!

I still haven't decided what to do with this beauty...we'll see where the crafty wind blows:)

What have you been crafting lately?

Spring Break 2008

We had a wonderful spring break! We had a good combination of playing and relaxing, with a few chores mixed in here and there.

We got to go visit Jacquie, Spruce, and precious Lynlee for a few days. We had a great time hanging out, talking, playing games, eating lots of good food, visiting their church, going to a church picnic, painting pottery (Keith, Spruce, and Lynlee didn't participate in that:)), and playing with sweet Lynlee! She is growing and learning so much! Jacquie and Spruce are wonderful parents!

When we came home I cleaned out our closets, packed up sweaters and unpacked tanks tops and bermuda shorts!!!! I'm excited that spring is here! I made a pretty decent sized stack of stuff to get rid of and am considering having a garage sale when school is out. I also pulled out all of Keith's college t-shirts so that I can make him a t-shirt quilt for graduation! (This will be a new project for me, and I have no clue what I'm doing, but I've already had tutorial number one with my mom, since she's already make one for my sister and I both!)

I spent a lot of time hanging out in my pj's with the kids from Tree Hill High and the girls from the sisterhood of the traveling pants...I'm sure the target audience for this TV show and book series is MUCH younger than me, but that's okay, I had fun anyway:)

Then, I got to hang out with my sweet sister-in-law, Laura. We had fun getting pedicures (umm...it really doesn't get any better than a good foot massage for me:)), playing at Target, and visiting PYOP (Paint Your Own Pottery). We didn't have time to paint, but we are most definitely going back...it is SUCH a cool place--yay Abilene for having a cool place like that:) Laura is lots of fun and we enjoyed doing girly stuff together!

I did other exciting stuff like getting my hair cut and going to the dentist...and yes, I have two cavities:(

Then, our sweet friends Mark and Tara came to visit. We always have fun spending time with them and enjoy a yummy Q basket at Harold's!

Sunday was a happy Easter for us with worship at Highland and family get-together with sammies and an egg hunt at my parent's house.