.nothing like the smell of wood stain on a sunday.

Truth.

Just wanted to share a cute little home project I did a couple weeks ago.

Like many others I have fallen in love with instagram style photos. The filters, the ease, the cute little 4x4 print outs! I have been searching for a way to showcase these quick, candid shots of my little family without breaking the bank. I found a great picture frame last year, on Amazon, that could fit 12 square pictures and bought two. One, however, quickly broke and I realized at $30 each I didn't want to spend the money replacing it.


A picture frame also makes it less convenient to switch the pictures out frequently, which with this style of photography I wanted to be able to easily remove old ones and add new ones as the kids grow.

Then about two months ago I stumbled upon Command spring clips. I am a command strip junkie, I use them for everything! As soon as I saw these clips I knew what I wanted to do. All you need is a piece of wood, wood stain, a brush, and you're ready to go!

A quick and inexpensive trip to Home Depot had me coming home with an 8 foot 1x4 board (that Home Depot can cut into quarters for you!) and an 8-ounce can of Polyshades Bombay Mahogany gloss stain and polyurethane. I already had a small paint brush.


I did one coat of stain on each board, let dry overnight, then attached the Command clips on the front, Command strips on the back, and they were ready to go! I'm not kidding when I say this is an easy project! I decided to add some art boards to my photo boards, so I also have a great place to showcase the adorable artwork my daughters make as well!

XO

.diy hair bow holder.

It has been so long since I shared anything on here! I've definitely done a few projects here and there over the last few months but I've also been focusing on family time and other fun things. I'm super excited to share this project I just completed though. A hair bow holder for Little T!

I found my inspiration, of course, on Pinterest. The pin was from Pretty Prudent and you can find her tutorial here.

My plan of attack was essentially the same, with a few additions of my own. The wood I used was actually the front of an old drawer. You can find some like this to up cycle, or simply buy a piece of plywood in whatever dimensions you desire. The fabric I used was brown and white gingham from JoAnn's, half a yard. This was the perfect amount for my drawer front, but depending on what you use you may need more or less. I also got quilt batting, brown ribbon, pink buttons, furniture tacks and a staple gun.  I already had a glue gun, scissors, etc.

From there, I simply went with it! I put the batting on the wood, covered the fabric over it and made sure it was smooth on the front. Flip the wood over and get ready to feel tough. Something about handling a staple gun just made me feel like a badass. I put a few staples on each long side, making sure the front of the fabric remained smooth. Then it got a little tricky handling the short edges and the corners. I used this tutorial on youtube to figure out how to maneuver the corners.

From there I arranged the ribbon how I wanted it and placed a furniture tack in the cross sections. I then flipped it and tacked the edges of the ribbon down, checking with each ribbon that it looked good on the front. I then used to glue gun to glue the buttons to the front tacks.

Then it was ready to be hung up and filled with bows! I used Command hanging strips to hang it but you can attach hardware to hang it with nails, if so desired.

So, the whole thing was really super easy. And I love how it turned out! I managed to get it done at the tail end of nap time and then as Tyler was eating lunch. As for Tyler, she also seems quite enamored with her new organization. Now if only she would keep the hair bows in her hair for longer than 5 minutes!

XO

.diy card holder.

This year we have actually done some Christmas decorating! It's pretty exciting. We have our cute little (fake) tree. Some things on the mantle. I'm loving how festive it makes the house!

One thing that I was missing, however, was a Christmas card holder. I looked around and found a few but none really caught my fancy. I was talking to le man about it and he suggested just putting up some twine that he already had and clipping the cards on to that. I kind of took the idea from there and got some clothes pins and glitter. Bam! Super easy and inexpensive card holder.

I love the way these turned out. I simply painted some mod podge onto one side of the clothes pin, then dipped it in super fine red glitter. Let it dry overnight, then they are ready to go! I might go back and glitter the whole clothes pin later, but that will be a lot messier so for now one side looks pretty awesome!

XO

.baby's first shadowbox.

For today's edition of nap time crafting, I bring to you the shadowbox! The idea came from, of course, Pinterest. I saw, and pinned, two great inspirations. This one, from a frame shop. And this one, from The Mama Dramalogues.

I kept all of the little momentos from the hospital and have had them stored away in a little box just waiting for this project. I used those, her going home dress, and a photo from her first night (I order my photos from Snapfish and love them!). Everything else I got from JoAnn's. I used 3 pieces of scrapbook paper and some scrapbook embellishments, the paper flowers and glitter buttons.

I have to say, I am extremely happy with how this turned out! The great thing about this project is that it is 100% customizable. You can put whatever keepsakes you want in it, whatever pictures, cute little decorations, etc. This is going to look awesome in her nursery!

Also, just a reminder, if you do this project and have a blog you put it on, make sure to blur out any information you don't want the whole world to see on the hospital bracelets and things.

XO!

.diy: nursery decor.

When I first started thinking of la bebe's nursery theme I had a million plans and ideas. Somehow, however, during my nesting I lost all motivation to do anything even remotely creative for her nursery! I just put things off until I had her and then had absolutely no time to even think about decorating the nursery, until now! I'm very happy to say that for the last few weeks she has been sleeping in her nursery, loving her crib, and this has given me the push I need to get some cute things up for her.

The first thing on my list was the oh-so-popular name decor. I had some different ideas for this and decided on a little project that took me forever but was actually super easy.

I found all of my supplies at Michael's. I started with canvas. I affixed scrap book paper to the canvas, using mod podge (per the instructions on the bottle) and folded the edges like gift wrap. I let these dry over night.

In the meantime I painted her letters with spray paint, the color is Watermelon. I did four layers of paint, doing only a slight misting on each application.

I attached the letters to the canvas using gorilla glue. This stuff expands when it dries so if you use it, be careful! I used very little and used a paint brush to spread it along the middle of the letter.

Do you see the baby head? :)

Just like that, the "art" was done! I don't know if you can really call it art, as it was so ridiculously easy. I think it looks great though and I'm hoping she will think the same thing as she gets older!

Also, after hearing an absolutely terrifying story about a baby swallowing a thumbtack used to hold a picture up I decided to search for an alternative way to put the canvases on the wall. I came across Command picture hanging strips. These things are like heavy duty velcro and work awesome! They also make me feel a lot safer!

So, there you have it. A super easy project that would be great for a nursery or kids room! 

XO