Ornaments Inspired by Land of Nod

Land of Nod has the most adorable ornaments out this year. I wanted to buy a few for the kids, but then decided that the one simple ornament that I liked could easily be recreated at home for the fraction of the cost. I purchased wooden letters at Michaels. They have more modern looking fonts available, but I was unable to find the letters I need in those types of letters there. So, I grabbed the next best option.  They were around $1 a piece, and considering the Land of Nod Version is $4 on sale a piece this was a huge savings.

I simply used painters tape to seal off an edge, and then used craft paint to cover the unpainted wood.  It took less than three minutes to do all four letters.

I did these between when everyone was going down for a nap and cleaning all the stuff that was around my house. We have had a couple of crazy days lately, and I needed to spend more time cleaning than crafting. This gave me my creative time, and still left me plenty of time to do other things. They dried fairly quickly and I plan on attaching some bakers twine to hang them from the tree for the kids.

Here they are on the larger tree to show you what they look like. When Wynn came home from school she hung them on everyone's smaller trees in their rooms.  This would be a super simple kids craft as well.

Thanks so much for stopping by as always! Do not forget to enter the giveaway on the post from earlier this week that gets you a fun gift from UncommonGoods. Thanks!

Christmas Gift Giving With UncommonGoods

The holidays are fast approaching, and I know there are people on your gift giving list that that seem to have everything. I have several people that I love to find something unique for each holiday season.  UncommonGoods has always been a place that I go to in order to do just that. They provide products that are made by artisans and creators who did not always have access to a larger marketplace. UncommonGoods is where these individuals can thrive and provide their amazing products to the world.  UncommonGoods works tirelessly to do all of this while making sure that they are making minimal on our environment.  They even give customers the ability to donate $1 of their order to a non-profit organization. This allows you as the customer to make a positive impact with your purchases.

My dad and husband always say that they cannot think of anything that they wants or even needs. When I found the section on the UncommonGoods site specifically geared to dads it made my search even easier. One of the gifts that made it into my cart was the Bluetooth Tracking Tag.   The Bluetooth Tracking Tag is an essential tool for anyone truly, but in our household where items are lost at a drop of a hat this could prove to be the most helpful tool we could own.  It will help you locate a lost item with the help of an app, and it even works in reverse if you lose your phone where you are using the app for the tag itself.  This definitely made it on my list for several people in my family, and it makes me wonder if our forgetful nature is one of our finer genetic traits.

Whenever I search for gifts I am always enamored by the personalized gift options available.  I always want to go above and beyond the typical personalized item, and there are many options here. Grandparents are especially important in our family as they are the care givers to our children while we head out to our workplaces each day.  There are always new stories that they share, and we would love for them to be remembered for generations to come. The My Life Story - So Far Journal is a great place for grandparents to share those treasured stories, and the grandchildren will love to re-read the stories over and over. This is truly a special gift for many family members.

Giving one gift to an entire family can seem like a difficult feat. However, there are many options that UncommonGoods has put together in one spot.  Here are some of the extraordinary ideas that they have curated for you. The Rory Story Cubes can be used to spark a lively discussion at dinner, and I know because we have begun to use them with my five year old recently while eating dinner. My twin two year olds are also very interested in these as well, and often times try to imitate what their older sister is doing while we create our new stories as a family. They can even be used while waiting in the airport while traveling to holiday destinations.   The perfect stocking stuffer indeed!  Comment below and I will personally send you a set of Rory's Story Cubes for your family. I love them so much, and I think you will too. 

Gift giving does not have to be a chore any more. Shopping at UncommonGoods will allow you to ensure that you are giving a special and thoughtful gift to any recipient. 

PBK Inspired Christmas Decoration

I saw these beautiful wooden signs in the PBK catalog a few weeks back. I wanted to make wooden ones, and have Rob cut them out. I am sure you can do that, but it was too far down on the to do list, and he was busy building playroom storage. Much more important to me. ;)

I painted over a canvas I no longer was using the I had purchased on clearance at Home Goods years back. You could always purchase an inexpensive canvas at Michaels. I also picked up a wooden ornament shape at Michaels for $3 on sale.

I cut out lettering on my Silhouette machine with vinyl adhesive, and used the transfer vinyl to ensure all my words stays spaced correctly and there were no tears.  I hope you enjoyed this holiday project. I still think Rob may give them wooden shapes a whirl and I could make some more of them.  He just picked up a new saw from the tech education teacher who upgraded his equipment, and he says that circles will be easy to make.  

Chevron Ornament Christmas Decor

I was inspired by a recent pin I saw to create my own oversized ornaments for Christmas.  These are simple to make and honestly do not take that long at all.  I purchased foam board and used leftover foam board from birthday backdrops I had in the basement. I purchased chevron burlap, tiny greenery, wooden ornaments, and ribbon all from Michaels.

I first cut out the shapes out of the foam board. They do not have to be perfect because they will be covered. Then I used hot glue to attach the burlap.  Once it was all attached I made a simple bow and wrapped the end of the greenery around it.  Then I added various other items to make them look even better.

I like that they are light weight and do not take up a lot of room when storing away. My coworker suggested using then as a pin board. I love that idea. You could use pins to attach Christmas cards even. I loved these so much I ended up making some in the shape of presents. It was way past my bedtime and I did not want to use an exacto knife, and so I settled for simpler cuts and do rectangles instead. 

Thanks so much for checking out my project today. Hope you have a great Thanksgiving.

Hand Print Art

I saw this adorable project by Creatively Living Blog when I was perusing Pinterest early one morning with the baby.  I immediately began the search for a long and narrow frame in a gray color.  I found a frame at Kohls for around $10. It was the perfect size for this project.  This would also make a great holiday gift as well.


I mixed up some black and white finger paint to get a dark gray, and painted all of the kids hands when they woke up from their naps. Have some baby wipes nearby because they make for easy clean up. Then I simply wrote their names with a Sharpie, and put them in order from youngest to oldest. Such a simple project, and I absolutely adore how tiny the baby's hand is in this project.

Now it is hanging up right next to the newly painted fireplace.  Thanks for stopping by!

Bathroom Vanities Into A Playroom Desk

You may have remembered us sharing our playroom progress a few months ago.  If you are new to our blog you can check it out here.  Rob had made a small space to eventually put into place a desk space for our daughter to do her artwork or homework. We exhausted our budget and decided that the desk could wait. There was definitely a good reason to wait to start this project.  

Fast forward five months or so, and my mother in law messaged us asking if we wanted cabinets that her neighbor was planning on throwing out.  Rob sent immediately said we would take them, and it also included a counter which was exactly what we needed as well.  

We did not need the entire cabinet though, and we only needed the side with the drawers. Rob took the back of the vanity off, and the door on the front. The left side of the vanity was removed as was the bottom.  Then he took apart the front of the cabinet that surrounded the main door. He trimmed the wood between the main cabinet and the drawers to match the width of the other side of the drawers.

After this was done the back and bottom panels were also trimmed. The side panel on the left was reattached. Too bad the cabinets were spray painted from their original cherry fronts. Therefore, we decided to have Rob use the Wagoner power sprayer to use the leftover Sherwin Williams Anonymous Gray to paint the vanity. The drawer fronts were distressed, and then clear semi-gloss polyurethane was sprayed on them.  

The counter top was originally six feet long, and was cut down to fit in the space. First a few inches was cut off of the back of the counter.  Then it was cut down length wise to fit into the space. Then L-brackets were used to attach it to the wall.

At Target we purchased an easy to assemble counter height stool that fits perfectly underneath the desk. I also purchased new simple hardware for the four drawers that open.

Golf Themed Birthday Party

We celebrated the second birthday of our twins a bit early this year. I wanted to get a chance to enjoy the outdoors instead of being stuck inside. I decided I would do a quick post to share some of the ideas we incorporated into the party. Many were inspired by all the amazing parties on Kara's Party site.

The best part of this party was that we were given probably almost a thousand golf balls a few years ago from our family member. They had collected them in their yard on the golf course they live on.  They helped to make an instant decoration for our party. They finally served a purpose because Rob is not playing too much golf nowadays. I filled buckets from Oriental Trading and Dollar Tree with golf balls and made signs from Scrapbook paper and skewers for the food and announcement signs.

I set up a spot by the front door with a book I purchased from Amazon called "P is for Putt", which is an adorable book with a ton of information. I asked guests to sign the book as a memory for the boys in as they grow up. I made the sign on a wooden cutout from Michaels, paint, scrapbook paper and my Silhouette Cameo.

I made golf ball white chocolate lollipops from Wilton Candy Melts and a plastic golf ball pop mold I purchased on Amazon. Then I added them to the bags I had leftover from their first birthday party, and attached a thank you tag that I had made from an Etsy vendor.

 A Pro Shop was set up for our little party guests complete with golf bags from Walmart for the toddler and older kids. The Sassy golf club set for our youngest guest was found on Amazon.  I also bought foam blue visors from Amazon as well. The table was decorated with some tissue decorations from Oriental Trading and a homemade Pro Shop banner. I made it using scrapbook paper and my Silhouette Cameo.

Here is some of the food that we served at the party. We kept it very basic. I do sort of have my hands full right now as you may know. I ordered Subway Subs and Chick-fil-A nuggets. We had oranges, watermelon, chips and cupcakes. I also made some Party Burgers from the recipe shared here by Kevin and Amanda.  Just for fun I put tees in the sandwiches. I borrowed an idea from Delightfully Noted to place the toy golf carts I bought on Amazon on my Boon Drying Racks that resemble grass.

At the 19th hole we served Water Hazards, Beer Birdies, Arnold Palmers and Amateur Apple Juice.

 The cupcakes were store bought, and then I cut out golfer silhouettes on my Cameo. I simply glued them to toothpicks to make instant cupcake toppers.

 Best picture of the whole group enjoying the party. We were so happy to have beautiful weather and everyone had a blast. These two boys are a trip and we enjoy their joyful spirits.

The Fireplace That Took Years To Paint

When we first moved into our house I swore I wanted to paint the fireplace right away. Fast forward seven plus years later and it still sat in the original red brick glory.  Now it is also four kids later, and I get an itch to paint it after seeing a 40% off sale email from Sherwin Williams in my inbox at a 3am feeding.

Here is a picture of the fireplace prior to painting. 

We first wiped down the fireplace with Simple Green, and then dried it off with a towel.  I purchased the masonry primer from Sherwin-Williams that was approximately $54 a gallon prior to the sale discount. It took a half a gallon for the size fireplace we have.  You must wait 24 hours prior to painting. I assumed we wouldn't tackle this project any time soon, but Rob got started as soon as Wynn and I got home with the paint.  The new paint job is Davis approved.

Then we used the same colors we have in our master bedroom to paint our family room.  The fireplace was painted with Sherwin-Williams Amazing Gray along with three walls. The wall adjacent to the fireplace and behind our bookcases was painted with Anonymous Gray.  It took approximately one coat on top of the primer using a roller. We used a brush to get any deeper sections of brick that needed to be coated better.  We used their Harmony line with no VOC's in the paint.  

Now the mantel really stands out and does not blend into the brick.  I was so happy that Rob did this project and painted all the walls in this room in a day and a half.  The next weekend he even took out our ugly florescent box lights and put in some recessed lighting.    Who knew you could get more done in the house with four kids versus zero?

Fall Wreath and the New Addition

I have been missing in action over the past several weeks. I did actually have a really good reason to be. On August 12th, I gave birth to our fourth child. Our newest addition is our sweet little boy who weighed close to ten pounds. My biggest baby by far. I'm not quite sure how he got that big considering I moved more and had most of my meals eaten by two growing one year olds. It feels like he has already been a part of the family. I am sharing a cute little picture of him at the bottom of this post. 

Well, I really wanted to incorporate a new color scheme to my fall decor. I picked up some navy chevron burlap ribbon from Michaels. Using a straw wreath with the plastic covering still in place I wrapped the wreath with the burlap ribbon. Then I took the fall themed arrangement from Michaels and attached it to the wreath with floral wire. 

I made a simple bow from burlap ribbon and brown satin ribbon to top off the wreath. I wanted simple and sweet, and something I could make between feeding the baby. Although, this one was also made with the twins hovering at my feet wondering what I was doing and asking all sorts of questions.

Glad to have something on our front door that says we are ready for the change in season. Even though this week we are still going to be in the low nineties and high eighties temperature wise. Have a great week!

Now here is the picture I promised I would share of our sweet boy.

Playroom Rug Pad Review

I had purchased an indoor/outdoor rug for the playroom for several reasons. It is usually quite less expensive than a traditional rug for the size I needed, and it seems to be a lot easier to clean.  Plus, if the kiddos destroy it down the road I will not cry over it. The only issue we have had with it so far is that it moves around when they run. It sits directly on the laminate floor Rob installed, which is extremely slippery with just the rug itself sitting on the floor.  I had a rug pad sitting in my cart  on Amazon for a few months.   It just seemed to be something I never remembered to actually purchase.

I was approached by a client care specialist from RugPadUSA and they offered to send us a rug pad for us for a review. We were provided with a rug pad that was specifically cut to the dimensions of our rug.  I needed a rug pad that was 7 feet by 11 feet, and they cut it down an inch all away around to ensure it would fit properly.

We were able to navigate their site very easily, and it was quite nice that they have everything separated based on the type of flooring you will need the pad to be placed upon.  We chose the the Premium Lock rug pad because it was rated a 5 out of 5 on their site based on cushion, durability and grip. All three major considerations for us when choosing a pad for the playroom especially.

The rug pads are all made in the USA, and this particular rubber backing is guaranteed not to break apart. There is a 20 year warranty, and I am quite sure that this may out last the use of the playroom.

When we received the rug pad we were able to unroll it and put in in place quickly. Then the the kiddos ran all over it. It did not budge, and it was quite evident under our bare feet that the 1/3" thickness added quite a bit of cushion. Before the rug really did not have much comfort due to it being an indoor/outdoor rug.  Here is additional proof that this rug is actually more comfortable now with the pad from RugPadUSA.  A sleeping dog while the kids are running around the room throwing blocks.

Thank you RugPadUSA for providing us with this great addition to the playroom. Sometimes it is the things you do not actually see that are the most helpful and useful in the space. We highly recommend this company for their product and their customer service if you are in the market for a great rug pad for any area rug in your home. 

Updated Nursery Gallery Wall

It has been a month since my last post. I will go ahead and blame it on the fun I am having this summer with the kiddos. We are preparing for the arrival of baby #4, and thankfully he is going to be eventually sharing a room with the boys. That means that there is a essentially no nursery to do for him alone. However, there are a few updates I am making to the room we did for the twins in order to make room for this little guy.

I had some wall art that I purchased from Etsy on the wall above the PB Knock Off Bed that Rob built for the nursery. However, now that bed will be moved out to make room for the third crib in the room. I have a vinyl decal to put above the crib, and so then I needed to move the art to a different wall in the room.

I had previously purchased two birth announcement printables from Etsy, and they had been the only two lonely pieces of wall decor on this larger wall that you see when you enter the room.

 I purchased a third similar frame from Amazon to place the new baby's announcement in it when that is ordered. I took the three frames and assembled them along with the other three Etsy pieces I had on the wall rather quickly. I had to go and pick up the kiddos, and so this project took me approximately 10 minutes to pull together.

I cut out some bow tie shapes in turquoise adhesive vinyl and randomly placed them on the wall after I hung up all the artwork.

I am happy with the finished product, and if I ever need to change it it should be very easy to do. The turquoise of the bow ties coordinate with the mobile I made for the boys two years ago. Thanks so much for stopping by!

Fireworks in a Jar

We are on a patriotic theme kids activities kick at our house. This one is super easy to pull off with items you probably already have on hand. This idea was originally shared on I Can Teach My Child

You will need the following:  

Warm Water

Vegetable Oil

Food Coloring

Plastic or Glass Clear Container

Bowl 

Fork

Fill your container with warm water approximately three quarters full.  Pour three to four tablespoons of oil into a bowl. Then add several drops of food coloring to the bowl.  Take a fork and gently blend the food coloring and the oil.

Gently pour the food coloring and oil mixture into the warm water. 

As soon as the food coloring and oil mixture hits the warm water it starts to make "fireworks" in the water. We actually tried this several times, and everyone seemed to enjoy it. This was very easy to set up before lunch or dinner time, and it entertained the kids while I put their meals together.  Hooray for pre-meal entertainment that actually does not involve a screen for once.  Thanks so much for stopping by as always!