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....

Lemonade Stand

To keep the boys occupied during our community yard sale(see that concrete mold, boxes and huge ugly suitcase!), we suggested a lemonade stand. The boys loved the idea!

Then we had to decide how to set up this lovely stand and what color combo would be.

Pallets were used to make the stand, a large one on top and two smaller pallets used for the legs of the stand. I spray painted the outside of the legs black and left the top pallet its natural color. For the banner, I used yellow scrapbook card stock and cut into triangles then strung twine through the eyelets, I punched in using my Crop-A-Dile, in each corner of the triangle. Then used my Cricut to cut out the letters and then glued onto the triangles.

There were a few old jars hanging around so I painted a small rectangle on each using chalkboard paint, wrapped twine around the top of each jar and used one as the money jar and the other as a vase.

Since I was painting with chalkboard paint, I thought why not make another sign? So I found a piece of particleboard that had a smooth covering and painted it. Then my awesome husband cut the frame for me and glued it to the chalkboard, then I was able to paint it red. I think I love this piece the most! It now sits in my craft area and I just love looking at it!

I did give the boys plastic pitchers for the lemonade instead of glass because the concrete would be bad news for my glass pitchers and honestly, it would have been to heavy for those little hands anyway. Sometimes you just have to use common sense instead of worrying about how you want things to look!

The boys had a great time and were sold proud that they sold all their lemonade, except for what they drank, it was a hot day after all! So what did they get themselves with their hard earned money, you ask? Lego's of course!

Stain Removal Chart

Recently there was a stain on a shirt that I just could not get out. So I decided to check out this stain removal chart that I found online a while back to see if it had any helpful information. I figured if I could not get this stain out that Martha Stewart would know how! I printed the sheet off the Martha Stewart Website and thought that it had so many stain solutions and this should be hung in my laundry area. 

So I had a frame that I was not using, it was a brown frame originally, so I primed it with Kilz then painted the color with turquoise paint that I had left over from a few months ago. I love the color and thought it would look great and match the chart perfectly!

Then, I hung it in my laundry area.

So glad that I now have this chart in the laundry area, maybe next time I have a stained item, I can get the stain out the first time instead of washing multiple times with my Shout stain remover product!

Office Chair Redo

This chair was just waiting for someone to give it a little love. So I did! I wanted a pretty chair for my craft area but I did not want to spend alot of money for one, so I decided that I could just recover the chair in any fabric I wanted.

I took off to my local Hobby Lobby and found a fabric that I LOVED! It had colors in it that would coordinate with my craft space.

I brought the fabric home and got busy. I gathered a few items that I knew I was going to need.
Screwdriver
Scissors
Staple Gun
Staple Remover Tool
Fabric Glue
Small brush (for the glue)

I took the chair apart. That was easy but the whole time I am thinking that I hoped I could remember how to put the chair back together once I finished. (I did, kinda).

I had to remove the fabric on both cushions and on the back panel that goes on the back of the chair. That is where the staple remover helped out alot. The cushions and panel were still in good shape so I just put my fabric right on top.

I cut each section and then began to staple the fabric to the cushions. I started with the sides and then stapled the corners last, making sure to get the corners just right and where they would all look the same. (I just gathered the fabric, creased it and pulled tight and stapled it to the under part of the cushion.) I had a tough time at first getting my staples to go completely flush into the wood backing that the cushions were attached to but this is where my hammer came into play. Just hammer those staples in and move on.

 The backrest cushion is where I had to add a little fabric glue because the cushion was not exactly flat so I brushed the glue onto the cushion (a thin layer) then pressed the fabric on and let it sit overnight to dry completely.  (I only used glue on the backrest cushion). After each cushion was completed I did the same on the armrests.

It helps if you have a handsome handy husband who is willing to help you out a little. It made a huge difference when one person was helping stretch the fabric and hold it in place while the other person staples it. After all the fabric was done it was time to put the chair back together, I got it put back together almost completely when I realized I had a screw leftover and thank goodness my handsome husband came to check on me and helped me put the chair back together the right way.  I was so happy to see it come together and I must say that I LOVE IT!

It looks so good in my space and I cannot believe that it looks so good, it was my first time trying this so I will be doing this again! And it cost me just under $14.00!

 

Linking up to Liz Marie Blog.