DIY Wall Art-Boy Bedroom

For a while now, I have had the urge to redo R's room. On one wall, there is a large map and the color of his room is navy blue. It was not hard to come up with a theme--travel, adventure, water. I was not really wanting to go all nautical, but more like pieces that could be about more than one idea.

So I began looking for wall art for the area above the bed. I wanted something sorta big but not too overwhelming. I was not able to find anything that I liked so I thought that I could just come up with something on my own. I bought 2 16 x 20 canvas and went to work.

My first thought was that I would just make the canvas a solid color and have one word across the canvas.
This is what it looked like (sorry the photo is so dark, this is where all things messy with paint happen in our home and the lighting is not good).

 

And I HATED it! I used oil based red paint to paint the letters on and I was like  "what am I going to do now?". So it sat, for like a couple of weeks till I finally thought of something! Since the theme is travel, adventure; I thought about a map art with a twist. :)

 



I picked up a map at Target and found a quote online that I loved and thought that the combination would be perfect for his room.

As a test to see if the quote would fit on my canvas I cut out the letters in plain cardstock with my Cricut and laid them out to see how it would look.

Awesome! They all fit and my vision of the finished product rocked in my head so I kept going!

I had to paint over the word DISCOVER (and that word was not a good choice in the beginning because my husband too one look at it and said "Disc Over". I was not able to get that out of my head and to be honest that was the first thing I thought when I looked at it too!) Anyway 2 coats of Kilz later and this is what it looked like

As you can see the red was still visible. So I had to come up with a background first and so I used a color that we had left over from another room so I thought that I would use it instead of buying more paint. I painted the canvas with 2 coats of the leftover light brown paint.  And let it dry.

In the meantime, I got my map and cut out sections that I wanted to use and with my Cricut, I cut out each letter. Again.

After all the letters were cut and the paint was dried, the letters were arranged in order on the canvas, it looked like this

Side Note: I used old picture frames (from an idea that I have not tackled yet) under my canvas to elevate it so it would not be laying directly on my table and allowed the paint and later the glue to dry on the sides.
After all the letters were arranged to my liking, I glued all the letters down one by one with Mod Podge (LOVE that stuff!). Then when all the letters were glued down I went back over both with another layer of Mod Podge, it gave it a glossy look which I love!

And the finished product:

What do you think? 

Although it took a while to figure out what I was going to do, but when I did, it all came together nicely!

Mountain Getaway

One little trip we wanted to take before school started was a trip to the mountains. With boys it is a must to go to a theme park with a train therefore, we decided on Tweetsie. 

 

 

 

And of course the train stopped for a little gun fight with a little humor involved.

 

 

 

They have lots of activities for kids of all ages.

 





The activities most enjoyed were: go carts, gem/gold mining, carnival rides and the chair lifts.
In the nearby town of Boone, NC you find lots of unique shops and antique stores and some great restaurants. The ones we tried were, The Dan'l Boone Inn and Our Daily Bread. Both are good. If you are looking for country cooking, family style, Dan'l Boone is the way you should go. If you prefer organic, fresh food, variety of beers and very good atmosphere Our Daily Bread is the way to go. Enjoyed both, however I liked Our Daily Bread better because I left feeling comfortable with myself and knowing I consumed a healthy meal. Don't get me wrong, I enjoyed Dan'l Boone too but when I left, I felt like I had eaten till I could not put another thing in my mouth and I had that feeling like my belly stuck out like a pregnant lady!

Riding in back roads of the country where we came upon this

Calming and not another person around, which gave us a little time to explore

Blowing Rock, NC also has charm that just makes you want to walk the streets and visit every store you pass. Great shops, antique stores, and great restaurants.

While riding the back roads we came across a country store and bought this

I am so excited to get this painted, it will be perfect for our little man. I will show you the finished product once we get it completed. I am off to get paint samples tomorrow, ready to get going on this one!

It was a good trip minus the whining, complaining and constant talking from our kids. But, I guess that all falls into the category of parenthood.

New Pillow Covers

We had been given some furniture by our family members when they updated their space. The couch is red and the large comfy chair is white with a small blue strip pattern. The pillows that were on the couch looked like this

The pillows are still in perfect condition so I thought I would just make a new pillow cover to change the look of the pillow. I went to my local Hobby Lobby and found a cute fabric, it is more feminine than I wanted originally but I thought it would go with colors we had in that area of our home.

I found this website and I knew instantly that there was a chance that I could accomplish this task! I am so glad that I came across this site because I already know that I will use their tutorials for other items later. To be honest, after getting this done, I cannot wait to start on another sewing project! Which gives me another reason to look for more cute fabric! Ok, back to the pillow....I followed the tutorial, I did not use binding or zippers for my pillow cover.

Here is how the first one turned out....



Cute isn't it?! To be honest, I was so dang excited after I put the pillow in the cover and that it fit and that it still looked like a pillow!

Then I finished the other one....

They look cute on the couch with two other pillows we picked up at Ikea. Although, I am not sure if I will leave them there or move them somewhere else in the house, but at least that is one more task completed off my list!

Pinterest Favorites

There are alot of ideas on Pinterest, it is the one place I go when I need an idea or how to do a craft project, so many ideas/photos/topics in one spot and I love that. Here are just a few things that have caught my eye this week....





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This cake looks sooo good and I must try this one!




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Cute idea for leftover pumpkins after Halloween and Thanksgiving.





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Been looking for wreath ideas, really time for a new one on my front door and I really like this one.






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I just like this photo, the wallpaper design.


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Love this color.




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Cute and would look good in any family room.




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Love the skirt.




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Love this too! Rich tones.





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French Bulldogs.  So cute, one day maybe....