Making it Ours: Love at Home Tiles

 

Thanks for joining me today for another post of the ongoing “Making it ours,” series.  I’m enjoying sharing the large and small projects we’re doing in our home to make it feel like ours. Enjoy!

I started and finished this well before Dash was born.  I finally got it hung last week.   I had bought three mdf tile pictures for $2 each from family dollar.  They were beach themed with large fake seashells glued to them.  It worked for a cheap apartment bathroom makeover, but I am done with beach bathrooms.  So I asked my husband if he could remove the shells and I would reuse the tiles.  And that’s what I did.

Above is what they looked like after the shells were removed.  (Yes, I got ahead of myself and forgot a real before pic).

I sanded the beach themed stuff (which was actulaly paper glued on), and painted them a brown I ahd left over from a previous project.

I got the idea for the ‘love at home,’ from this guest post by Craft-O-Maniac on Tatertots and Jello.  I cut out the shapes with my silhouette.  I slapped the vinyl on, and I was done!

I hung it in my family room next to probably my most favorite vinyl project I’ve ever done.  I will get that posted later this week, don’t you worry.  I love the personal feel my home is finally taking after a year of being here.  It’s starting to feel like ours.

Thanks for reading!

~Lynette~

Making it ours: Kitchen Wall Art

Welcome to another post of the ongoing series ‘Making it Ours.’  My husband and I bought our home about a year ago, and this series tracks our progress to make our home feel like ours.  Some projects and simple like artwork, while others are a full remodel of rooms.  Enjoy!

As my baby has been getting older and more content to play, I’ve had a limited amount of time to finish up some quick crafts.  I have several things photographed and ready to show you.  I am finally getting some artwork on the bare walls in my home.

I started these canvases months ago.  I had two of them done, and one still blank right before dash was born.  I decided to go ahead and hang them up, and once I had a chance I could apply the vinyl to the third one.  So for the first two months of Dash’s life, we had the two outer canvases complete with a blank one in the middle. :)

I designed the canvas on the left on my own, designed the salt and pepper shakers (still missing the red ‘s’ and ‘p’ labels) in the silhouette software, and then used inspiration from pinterest to make the canvas on the right.

 

Close up of the ‘Eat’ sign

Close up of the Salt and Pepper Shakers

Close up of the ‘Happiness is Homemade’ sign

I absolutely love the Eat sign.  I think it’s my favorite because it’s my original design and it’s a little unique.  My kitchen is getting closer to feeling like mine, and it’s fantastic!

Thanks for reading,

~Lynette

Just a Thought

Hello everybody!  I haven’t been blogging much lately.  I just haven’t felt like it.  But today, I think I just need to write a bit to get some things off my chest.  Last week I had to take Dash to a doctor’s appointment.  It was an extremely warm day, I and needed to stop at the grocery store on the way home.  While pulling into the driveway of the parking lot, my car died.  I started it back up and got into a parking lot.  I immediately unloaded the carseat (and Dash of course :)  from the car and into a grocery cart and decided what to do.  I thought I saw my mother in law’s van in the parking lot, so I walked closer to investigate.  If it was her, I could find her in the store and ask for a ride home.  As I neared the van, an older lady began yelling at me.  “You’re going to cook your baby!”  I thought she was just saying that it was hot outside.  I laughed and said, “I know.”  She proceeded to yell and said in a desperate voice, “You need to get him some air.”  Dash was simply covered up by the car seat canopy I had made him.  I made it a little short on the sides so he can usually always have air circulation.  He was fine, and actually more protected from the sun and heat than I was.  I didn’t even know how to react to this ranting woman, so I turned around and went into the store.

This lady had no idea what I had just gone through.  She had no idea that my car was giving me trouble and that I was counting my blessings that I had made it to a parking spot.  She didn't  know that because I was worried about my baby being out in the heat, I hadn’t checked my car out very well.  It was 111 that day, and I was rushing to get him inside the store.  Don’t worry, the story ended well.  I was able to get a ride home, and my husband checked my car out when he got home.  He couldn’t find anything wrong, so I still have a car to drive. 

As much as I’d love to be upset at this woman, I am taking it as a reminder that sometimes people are going through a lot more than we think they are.  And if we were aware of what they are going through, we would probably be a little more accepting and lenient on him.  It was a great reminder to be slow to judge others.

Thanks for letting me share!  Have a wonderful day,

Lynette

Easy Button Bobby Pins

Saturday afternoon, I got the urge to craft.  I started to get out my fabric, but little Dash demanded to be held. There was no way I could sew or cut through fabric and hold an infant safely.  So I decided to use the infant carrier, and make these hair clips.  I waited until he was down for his nap to glue, and got a few made in less than an hour.  Today, my sister came over to craft and we opted to make more.  They are quite addicting to make I must say!

I used Ashley’s tutorial  from Make it and Love it to make the cover buttons without a kit.  I must say she made it super easy for me to make all sorts of adorable buttons!

Then I used this tutorial (found via pinterst of course!) from Elisa Mclaughlin Designs to attach the buttons to the bobby pins.  I think I will also use this method with alligator clips. 

I used hot glue on one batch, and E6000 on the other.  Just use what you like. :)

Well, better go save my fussy son!

Thanks for reading,

Lynette

Stenciled Car Seat Cover

About 2 weeks before Dash was born, I decided I should probably make a couple things for him.  I had the fabric shown above from a previous shopping trip, meant for a boy car seat cover, but I had never gotten something for the other side.  I looked and looked for boy fabric at a reasonable price, but couldn’t find anything.  I had a yard of plain cream fabric that would go, but I wanted something fun and boyish so the cover could be reversible. 

So I got out my trusty silhouette and cut out a stencil of vehicles.  I made 9 grids, ironed them onto the fabric, and then started painting everything one by one.  I used acrylic paint mixed with fabric paint medium, and it worked great. 

The ironing took FOREVER, but it was worth it because this project used only on hand materials.  (I would probably never do this much stenciling with freezer paper again, and probably recommend doing this with stamps, but my budget demanded creativity, and it was pretty fun to paint all those cars by hand!)

The whole process took a week or so because I got tired often, but it turned out great.

I finished the blanket part of the canopy a week or so before we had Dash, but I never got around to attaching the straps.  About 5 days after Dash was born, my sister grabbed some ribbon, and attached it so we could use it.  It’s completely reversible, and we love having something to cover up the baby with when it’s windy or around strangers.  And the best part is that nobody will have fabric like this! :)

Thanks for reading!

Lynette

What I’ve been up to lately…

Hi everybody!  Posting time is far and few between, but a car trip to the post office and utility office was just what my tired guy needed.  He is zonked out in his car seat and I’m not moving him til this is posted! ;)

Lately I’ve been doing lots of this…

(And under NO circumstances am I doing cloth diapers, but they make GREAT burp clothes.  Dying done by my awesome mom.)

I’ve been writing lots and lots of these!

(Thank you’s cut out by my silhouette machine, and then used a stamp for the ‘thanks.’  They are just simple cards to turn over for the message.)

And enjoying lots of these in several colors!

What have you been up to lately?

~Lynette~

Two More Feet, Ten More Toes

Our family grew by two feet!  Introducing our little guy, “Dash.”  At least that’s what he’ll be known as in blog land.  One of my tech’s at the hospital called him Dash because he would move away from the heart monitor while he was waiting to come.  He didn’t like being messed with. :)

Born April 26, 2012.  9 lbs 3 ounces. 21 inches long.  Big baby for a little 5ft 1in mom!  We had a rough 30 hours of labor, with a possibility of a c-section, but through several small miracles and a wonderful doctor and several amazing nurses, we made it.  We are all doing well!  I even got to sew for a bit yesterday!

My mom always told me to touch my sister’s feet when she was a baby, so I decided that Dash’s feet would be safe to show and tell online. :) *If you know me in real life, shoot me an email at necklacebliss(at)gmail(dot)com, and I will be happy to send you a full picture/announcement.* 

Thanks for reading!

Lynette