Washi Tape Clothespins


I love clothespins and use them all over my house.


I use them on my chicken wire message boards
in my craft room and on my message board in my kitchen.

Well, all of those clothespins were plain.
And sad.  And naked.
And that just won't do. 

So I took those naked clothespins and dressed them up.




I started with medium and large sized 
clothespins that I got at my craft store.



And some of my stash of washi tape, 
also purchased at my local craft store.




All I did was stick the tape on the clothespin...




and cut the excess off with an exacto knife.




Super easy and super cute!! 




 With all of the different washi tapes available, 
you can make a variety of clothespins.



linking up to:  The Scoop, Today's Creative Blog

SNAP 2013



Last week I flew to Utah to attend the Snap Conference. 




My flight was delayed because of weather in Denver.  Normally, I don't mind delays because that's extra alone time for me.  I grabbed some lunch and a magazine and was pretty happy.




Unfortunately, on my connecting flight, I got super sick.  It was the worst flight of my life.  I spent a good chunk of time praying for relief from the pain I was in.  The other part of the time I spent becoming one with the barf bag.  It was horrible. And terribly embarrassing!




After some TLC from my mom and a good night's rest at her house, I headed down to Thanksgiving Point the next day.




I was super excited to be in the midst of amazingly crafty women!!  I took so many fantastic classes.  My mind is still spinning with all of the information I learned!








I met Tausha from Sassy Style Redesign and Melissa from Hollyhocks and Honeybees.  They let me hang out with them and take a trip to Dear Lizzie Boutique.  It was so much fun getting to know these girls!  I've read their blogs for a while now and was thrilled to meet them in real life.



I met so many amazing women!  I feel truly blessed for having the experience of going to SNAP! 
pictured- Chrissy, Leanne, Heather, Melissa, Kelsey and some fun girls at the pajama party.




These are the business cards I handed out at Snap.  





I'll be spending the next few days, maybe even weeks going through all of these fun business cards I got.


linking up to: Snap recap

Chalkboard subway art for a boys room

I've been looking for just the right art for my boys' room. I've had such a hard time finding things. It's had to be to be strong and have a bold pattern. But then it also has to be 12 year old boy approved, 5 year old boy approved and mom approved. So far I've done arrow art, dictionary map art and striped cork boards.




And now I'm adding some chalkboard subway art.



I started with this art that I got on clearance years ago. I originally just bought it for the chippy frame.



I pulled the backing away from the frame and took everything apart.




Then I covered the old artwork with sticky back chalkboard vinyl (amazon link) , cut down to size with an exacto knife.




Then I wrote the subway art on the chalkboard using a chalkboard marker. I free hand wrote some of the things I hope for my boys.




My favorite one is at the bottom- Love your mama!!!



So the next time you see some artwork and you love the frame, but not what's inside, consider taking everything apart and using the pieces. This chippy framed subway art is one of my favorite art pieces in my boys room. And if seeing them stop playing to read it is evidence enough, I would say they like it too!

Lego mini figure holder

If you've got boys in your family, then I'm sure you have legos. I love lego!! I really do! They keep my boys busy, using their imaginations instead of watching tv or playing video games. What I don't love about legos is the zillions of little pieces. We have a pretty good storage system, (more about that soon) but my son's struggled with what to do with their mini figures.


So I made them a holder to display their mini figures.


I started with this rectangle It is a leftover from a huge frame I've had forever. I thought if I could make more shelves, it would make a perfect holder for all of the little bitty figures. The frame looked like it was made with square dowels, so I just picked up a few more from Home Depot.


The other supplies I used were a pencil, tape measure, saw, miter box, wood glue and staple gun. (amazon links)


I measured each space and cut the dowel down to size with my miter box. Then I dipped each joint in glue and secured it with a staple on the back.


Once I had it put together I gave it a few coats of black spray paint.


We had a few of the black single lines of legos left over from various projects but not enough to finish this frame. When I went to the lego store to get some, they only had these wheel axle pieces and not the single row ones. Lame! But I made do and used wire cutters and snipped the axle off.


I hot glued each lego row onto the frame. I spaced the lego row pieces out weird which left gaps. If I had fit them close together I could have fit a few more pieces in each row. I will probably go back and fix this sometime.


My boys are happy because they can see their mini figures now. And I'm happy because I rarely step on them now.


To hang the frame on the wall, I cut some 3m velcro strips in half (to make them narrow) and spaced them all the way around the frame.


Each little figure is nice and secure (and most importantly- off the floor!)



Not only is it functional, doubles as wall art in my boys' room too!


Spring Break

Last week was Spring Break for my kids. It was relaxing and fun but BUSY!! The best part- no alarm clock wake ups! I feel like I'm a whole new mother and woman in general when I get to sleep in!!

 

 
My kids and I took a little road trip to Chattanooga, about 2 hours from our house.
 
 
We stayed in hotel and got to go swimming. Well, they went swimming, I read the newest Country issue of People magazine on the pool deck. It was a little slice of heaven!!
 
 
We went to the Tennessee Aquarium. It is such a fun and interesting place!! We got to see a dive show, where a diver went into the huge tank with sharks and tons of fish and talked to and took questions from the audience. My littlest guy got to have one of his questions answered. My youngest kids (my oldest and I are wimps and didn't want to pet anything!) also pet sting-rays and sturgeons and caught a few butterflies.
 
 
 
My kids have recently got into Mine Craft and spent lots of our downtime playing. I watched a little Food Network and HGTV. It was fantastic!
 
When we got home we went right into work mode!
 
 
My oldest kids and I cut the grass. This was my daughter's first time and she rocked it! Maybe this summer won't be so bad because I have 2 kids that can mow the lawn now. Woo!!
 
 
We also pruned bushes, pulled weeds and did a general yard clean up! I love being outside in the fresh air and working together as a family!
 
 

My kids got a basketball hoop for Easter. So I used a good chunk of the day setting it up. It was complicated (seriously- what is the deal with instructions? why aren't they easier to read!!!! For each piece I think I put it together, then had to take it apart because I didn't do it correctly and then figured out on my own how to put it back together again the right way) but it was totally worth it because my kids have spent a bunch of time outside playing in the beautiful spring weather.

 

How was your Spring Break?

 

 

Wheat Grass

One of my favorite things to decorate with in the Spring is wheat grass.  


It's super simple to grow.  It barely even needs a tutorial, but here we go anyway.



Start by buying some wheat berries at the store.  I got mine at our local health food store for super cheap!




I soaked the berries in water for a few days.  It seems to help the grass start sprouting a little bit quicker.




I searched through my cupboards to find various containers to grow the grass.  I love the rusty crusty bread pan.  



I bought regular all purpose potting soil at Walmart for $.99.




Then using my super fancy potting bench (or the kitchen counter) I planted the seeds.  I put the soil in the container, then spread a layer of soaked seeds and covered them with a small amount of soil.




Wheat grass is simple and easy to grow, and it adds a fun spring touch to my home!  



When it gets too long, the grass can be trimmed with scissors.  When it starts getting to scraggly looking, after multiple trims, I throw it out and start some new grass.