Burlap is my new friend

Wanna know what I made today while our oldest learned some phonics (aka You Tube), lol. 

Well...

I purchased a few yards of burlap a few months ago. I've always loved it's organic look, and had lots of ideas of how I would use it.

Maybe this or this.

 After months of the fabric just sitting there, and my head dreaming up what I would do with it, I finally did something with it. 

Supplies:

An old bulletin board from Target (I painted the trim white previously)

A piece of Burlap that fits.

Ribbon for the trim.

A glue gun with lots of extra glue.

Like it?

Oh and I made a few simple felt flowers to go on it. Just cut a strip of felt & roll it up, using my glue gun to glue it as I rolled. Easy enough? =)

And our little girl finally has her bulletin board back on the wall. I needed to fix it since the things that hold it up fell off. Nothing a good 'ol glue gun can't fix. I'm happy with the outcome. =)

Hope this inspires you ;)

love me some iphone apps.

Apparently I've been without a new blog post for awhile. Guess those kiddos of mine have kept me doing the things I should be doing more of. Recently I've been convicted of doing too much social media and not enough of the important things. So I've cut out a little of the things that do me no real good, and have been giving my kids LOTS of fun attention.

 I've been trying to teach our 33 month old daughter a little pre-school. Even if I have no real structure in my teaching, I feel it's already helping her. A few weeks ago she was stuck with calling a "Banana" a "Mia". It's funny how certain sounds to kids come out way different then we would ever imagine. So we started with the letter B, for no particular reason, but I found a few free printable for that letter. We got started on painting, coloring, glueing pom-poms, whatever crafty thing I had around, all using the letter B and the printable I got. We learned some "B" words, what a "B" says, and how to write the upper and lower case ones. I think she very well knows everything about a "B", haha. Not that she can properly write the "B", she'll get that eventurally. But getting to the "Banana" problem, she went from "Mia" to "Ba-Mia", to now saying "Ba-mana". Yay!! We're getting some results of simply learning a letter of the alphabet. Now we're onto the letter "M". I just threw that letter out there because she always calls it a "W". I love teaching her, and watching her actually learn something. Makes me a proud Momma!

Here is a great site if you plan on teaching your preschooler:

http://www.hsprintables.com/ABC.html

So what else do I have to share...this is fun. 

Ready for it??

I came across a few apps for my iphone that have changed my life, well sorta. I wouldn't call it a transformation, but hey it made my life a bit more organized & fun.

One of them is the "Key Ring" App. Your know how your keys are getting all crammed up with lots of cards. Yay, I can finally get rid of those icky cards on my key chain. And...listen to this. It keeps track of all the bonus stuff you have on those cards. Did you know you actually can use the cards for discounts on stuff? See the little number next to each store name, the one in the orange box? Ya, you can get Drift Detergent 5 bucks off with your babys-r-us card. Seriously amazing! 

Another fun, "Mom" app was the "Phone 4 Kids" app. It basically turns your iPhone into a kids toy. The normal, basic version, is free. You can pay $1.99 for the full version. But the basic version does a lot. Like there is paint, call a fake friend, text a fake friend, learn the alphabet. It's really neat. And your kid feels special they have their "own" phone. 

Also make sure you download the Kindle app for your iphone, it's free. There are a lot of free books out there. It's not the best way to read the books, but who knows maybe one day you'll get a Kindle and you can read them and you'll have them. ;)

Hope this was helpful to you.

First Birthdays.

Since I only started this blog a few months ago I wanted to go back a few years and post what I would have then, a blog on "First Birthdays". Of course back then I wouldn't have known what a First Birthday would be like. Now that we're planning, or I'm doing most of the planning, our little Carter's First Birthday I feel a bit more ready. Of course that doesn't mean I still won't stress a few days before. So maybe it's good I'm starting to dream up the day four months prior. To start I'd like to showcase Ashlyn's First Birthday. I really enjoyed creating this special day. Everything was homemade.

 Enjoy.

Ahh...I can't believe she was that little. (tear*)

 Photo by Amanda. Ahh...I love it!!

Custom bows/clips made by ME. Want one? I can make you one. Just leave me a message. 

Homemade invites. I love the verse.

And no I do not own a circuit or suilouette. I cut those letters out by hand. 

I loved making these cupcakes. I think I'm more of a cupcake girl then a cake girl. Will probably do this for Carter's Birthday too.

Didn't take long. Until it looked like this...

 We counted. Three bites. Doesn't look like it does it?

My favorite photo of the day. 

She was pretty tired through the cake and even through the gifts. But then we took out this and her eyes just lite up. And we got a nice smile from her. Oh the memories...

Now onto Carter. A boy's party needs some masculine colors. A theme. Perhaps..."Mr. Man" or "Little Mister". So here we go with some ideas.

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It's a lot of fun to plan a party. Well for me it is. I would love your suggestions. We've only done a girl's party. What should we do at Carter's party that we couldn't do at Ashlyn's?? Fun fun fun! I'm glad most of the cousins are above 2 by then. I'm so having favors!! Any suggestions on homemade ones. See the play dough I have included. I may do homemade play dough. Easy & fun! Think practical.

Only four months to go. haha.

Linked up to:

Big Girl Room Reveal

I am very happy to bring to you the reveal blog entry!!!

We've been working very HARD on her room this past year. Lots of credit to the hubbs who did all the chair rail and painted the headboard, and putting up the curtain rods. Lots of things I either was nervous doing or really dislike doing. So that made me smile.

Of course what would a reveal be without a BEFORE photo. The room before was much worse than it looks. With a lovely sun/moon border. Yucky white walls, and lots of TLC needed it wasn't a walk in the park getting the room like we wanted. But it's done and I'm VERY happy with how it came out.

See what I mean...ewe!

Thankfully the border came down with great ease!

We did have all the baseboard heating replaced. You'll notice it's a bit different.

And Josh had to hang the closet door. Not an easy job, when the house is old.

Now it looks like this...

Love the little detail. Like the curtain rods. See? (they're butterflies)

Our light switch that doesn't work. haha.

This is how I hung the frames. I first layed the frames on the floor, on the paper, in the way I wanted them. Then marked where I needed to hammer a nail. Then with some painters tape, taped the paper onto the wall. And then hammered in the nails where the I marked. And then ripped the paper off.

 Fairly easy. 

(sorry about the flash, the lighting wasn't good)

You'll notice the canvas doesn't look like {this} anymore. It didn't last long. I guess I didn't factor in a two year old and her enjoyment of fun hanging things. Maybe in a year or so it'll be put back together. Until then I had to at least put the canvas up in her room.

Her doll cradle with "new" bedding. Yay!

This is her headboard before Josh painted it. Not so bad, but it was going to need something. 

So first we spray primed it. Then sprayed painted it the green color it is now. Not real hard.

This is it now =)

Isn't her quilt amazing? It's even quilted, LOVE!

Yes, everything does have a home. I am the queen of baskets & bins ;)

We received a Christmas Gift in the box below. Perfect for her books. =)

And yes she does play in her room and make a mess. I just spiffied it up for the photos. 

{Before} and {After}

      

{Before} and {After}

Here's everything broken up:

Headboard/Bed- $10 at a yard sale (it was painted for about $12 more- spray paints from Home Depot)

Quilt- Hubbs cousin La'Tisha made it. Isn't it gorgeous?

Sheets- $12 from Target (best place to get cute sheets cheap, always look in Clearance)

Curtains- Target 

Curtain Rods- Target

Bedrail: Craigslist- $5!

Two Dressers- My mom's old ones, the sheet in the closet is covering the mirror that goes with the set. Not sure if I'll use it or now. (our next project, PAINT them!)

Pink & Purple Baskets for toys- Target

Play Kitchen- Target

Frames- Assortment of places, Michaels mostly.

Mirror Butterflies on wall- Homegoods

Letter "A"- Michaels (check out how I made it here)

Owl Canvas- Painted by me.

Bulletin Board- we got it when we were married, maybe Walmart (I painted the trim)

Ashlyn Joy sign- Hubbs got it in Panama on a missions trip. Guess the guy is known around the world though. 

Doll Cradle- Made for me by extended family when I was little.

Doll Cradle bedding: My mom!! (mattress, sheets, quilt and pillow)

The Precious Moment doll on dresser was also mine as a little girl. Love to pass down items that were mine as a little girl. 

Feel free to pin anything onto Pinterest. But don't forget to link the photos to my blog.

 Thanks!

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