I found a really cute idea on pinterest that involved painting the alphabet on rocks. I thought these would be fun for the kids to make and play with so I added it to my summer fun list! Landen took a little nap, but we had Melanie here to help us and got the whole alphabet painted. It turned out really cute :) We painted a few extra letters so we could also spell the kids' names. We can also spell simple words like cat, dog and pie. Fun little project :)
I've seen other alphabet walls around the internet, and loved the idea of one... but it wasn't until I thought about ways to help Joselyn and Landen learn their alphabet that I thought about actually putting one up in our house! So the other day I hit Hobby Lobby and got lots of letters! This whole project will end up costing me less than $70 and I thought that was very reasonable! A lot of the letters were on sale, but I bet you could do this even cheaper if you weren't so "I want to get this all done now" like I am. Shopping for the letters was kind of crazy... my friend and I were laying all the letters out in the middle of the aisles while our girls ran around like crazy. We were definitely getting a lot of looks.
I did a trial run today on the wall to see if I would like the way it looked... and so that I could decide on colors, patterns etc. I'm missing the Q (I have to dig it out from my boxes) and the N (waiting for it to come from Urban Outfitters) and some of these are crooked and not where they will end up but you get the idea. Oh- and I plan on adding an "&" too.
I tried to lay it out like how you would sing the song... if that makes sense. I plan to decoupage some of the letters, paint some of them and keep some of them the same. I'm not too huge on Gold so all of those will be painted. After talking to a few people, I'm probably going to keep the colors mostly muted. Nothing too bright... so probably no bold reds and greens. But I can't wait to finish this project! Hopefully I can finish it this weekend??
Now I can sit my kids down and go over their ABC's with them all the time! I am hoping this large visual will be helpful.
Any suggestions on anything??
Kids are at my in-laws and I am home "de-stressing". Usually when I send my kids off it's because I have a photo shoot or something else pressing to do... but this time I feel like I'm cheating. I told myself I wasn't going to do anything, at least for today, that could be considered stress inducing. No work, no cleaning, no worrying about anything. So I get to do what I want today. Funny that I find myself in front of the computer. It could partly be the fact that Adam is home and he is in the office working so I wanted his company. But I also think it hints at what I *think* makes me happy, and it makes me laugh. Can anyone guess what I am doing online right now? It's an awful obsession... looking at cute valentines day stuff, cute kids clothes and rooms. I promise I won't be on long... and that I will take some time to read a favorite magazine or start a book. Or even watch a movie that I want to watch.
I Don't really feel like taking a nap, which is something a lot of people would recommend, I'm sure, but I went to bed at 9pm last night. That's SOOOO early for me and I ended up waking again at 3am to my side hurting again, my lymph nodes swollen and my back tingling. I got my iPad out and starting reading about shingles and came to the conclusion that I never had a pulled muscle. I think it was all shingles to start with. I read that sometimes the pain, depending on where it is, can be mistaken for pulled muscles or even heart attacks. It would explain why it was so so tender to the touch when Adam tried to massage it out. It would also explain why it is starting to tingle again. Everything I read started bothering me and I couldn't go back to sleep so I woke Adam up and he gave me a blessing. I seriously love that man. He was able to calm me down and help me feel better. I was then able to go back to sleep and wake up at 7:30am- which I consider sleeping in.
It's actually nice to start thinking about Valentines Day. I love the holiday that celebrates love and I love the combination of red and pink. Wanna see what has been making me happy today- and helping me de-stress?
The following bedding and clothes from Room Seven- a clothing line I stumbled on this morning. CUTE.
Martha Stewart
From here and there- can't remember where.
I started an anti-viral today that is supposed to help with the pain and hopefully heal things sooner. But that's another story in itself... we've had a little bit of bad luck with our new insurance coverage. Like, it doesn't exist. No stress today so I won't talk about it right now. I'd rather look at pretty things!
So a lot of people said they loved the start shaped wreath as much as I did- and guess what?? Martha Stewart has a tutorial!!
I was so excited- and I am DEFINITELY going to make one this year!! You can get wreath forms here... I haven't checked Hobby Lobby or Michaels to see if they have them there but I bet they do!!
While the kids were napping, Melanie and I started on decorating some of the pumpkins we had bought today at Boyds. Joselyn woke up soon after and joined us :)
We painted some metallic bronze and some black. I wanted to use chalkboard paint but I was too lazy to go to yet another store to get it. Michaels doesn't have chalkboard paint just so you know.
We then added to the black for a black cat (ears to come), a ghost and B-O-O.
Joselyn got us started on the perfect calico cat too :)
The Metallic pumpkins are SO COOL :) I love how they look on my porch!!
I have been terrible at being in charge of craft group at church... but FINALLY we were able to get together tonight to make some wooden signs. I had seen these in my friends' homes and so I wanted one for myself- there seemed to be a lot of other people who wanted one too so it just worked out! My friend Tricia has a little business with vinyl lettering, so we got the lettering from her and we did the rest! It was so easy and cheap I want to make a million more! I made one for a friend too! I wanted to keep it a surprise- but you know I am no good at that!!
I just LOVE how the red turned out... may have to use that technique for another sign in the future.
Amaree- yours is next!!
According to dictionary.com, Noel means the following:
1. The Christmas season
2. A Christmas song or carol
3. Male name
c.1390, from M.E. nowel, from O.Fr. noel "the Christmas season," var. of nael, from L. natalis (dies) "birth (day)," in Eccles. L. in reference to the birthday of Christ, from natus, pp. of nasci "be born."
It's pretty interesting that Noel signifies "birth" and "Christmas season"... because that's exactly what's going to happen for our little Landen! I thought it would be cute to make a little onesie with 'The First NoeL' on it, so since I had the materials handy (a onesie, transfer paper and an iron), I designed an image this morning using photoshop! Then I printed it on iron-tranfer paper, then ironed it onto a one of his little white onesies! It seriously took less than 10 minutes altogether.
I've gotta thank my sister Amaree for bringing this little detail to my attention!
Last night we had Melanie over to spend the night. She was a lot of help when it came to playing with Joselyn and picking up her toys so I could get a few things done without Joselyn getting in the way. After some french toast for breakfast, we decided it would be fun to put up the Christmas tree while Joselyn took her 3 hour morning nap (I hope that lasts a while!) We had a lot of fun putting up all the new ornaments I had made plus a few I already had. When Joselyn woke up, I decided to video tape her reaction to the tree. She LOVES it. We tried to teach her to just look, but it didn't help much. That's why I made the baby-proof tree though, right?
After I took Melanie home and put Joselyn down for her 2 hour afternoon nap (I hope that lasts a while too!) I decided to add a few more holiday touches around the house. I took down some of the black and white photos that have been hanging up on our walls since we moved here and replaced them with Christmas photos and pretty Christmas paper. I saw the following idea in a Pottery Barn catalog a few years ago and have always wanted to do something like it...
I didn't have as pretty a collection of cards, so instead I clipped out the Christmas greetings/poems/sayings inside the cards and made a collage around a picture of Joselyn with Santa (Brother Southworth) from last Christmas. I must say I am very happy with the result! It's exactly what we needed for above the fireplace... a little bit of color for our grayish brown walls. Since I liked the result so much, I'm thinking I will use this same idea after Christmas using a black and white wedding photo and clippings from my wedding cards. I've always wanted to do something with them.
I framed some pretty Christmas scrapbook paper and a picture of baby Jesus with his mother Mary from a Christmas card in a few frames surrounding the big frame. I want to live with it a few days before I decide if I like it or not although I really think I do. I'm hoping Adam or my mom can give me some insight. I just really wanted our house to be Christmas-y this year! I wish we had a mantle above the fireplace!
I have been slaving away making my "child-proof" Christmas ornaments! It's been a lot of fun and I am pretty happy with the results so far. They are definitely not worthy to sell or anything like that, but they are cheap and fun to make. I think I may have to take a break for a while though because my fingers hurt from using a needle and thread so much!
In other news, I have 26 days until my baby boy makes an entrance into this world! That day is going to be here before I know it and there is still so much to do and so much to buy! So to all my friends and family- if for some reason Christmas gifts/cards are late this year you'll know why!!
I slept SOOOO good last night. I am so grateful for that. I woke up a few times to toss and turn, but didn't have to get out of bed ONCE to use the bathroom or go rock Joselyn back to sleep since she also slept through the night last night. (She has been waking up 2 or 3 times a night the past few nights screaming at the top of her lungs until we go comfort her- I'm guessing because of bad dreams or teething pain??)
Well, lots and lots to do today, including Joselyn's first year DR appointment, so I'm gonna go and get ready!
Joselyn loves getting into things... anything shiny, breakable and fragile... so the thought of putting up a Christmas tree with glass ornaments just doesn't sound like the best thing to do this year. Instead, my plan is to MAKE some child-friendly ornaments that I don't mind her getting into and that she will actually love. I already have quite a few child-friendly ornaments in my collection, but this year my Christmas tree will be very colorful and fun unlike the usual light-blue and silver with hints of red theme. I have searched high and low for inspiration and here's what I've found that I LOVE and that I am going to copycat somehow
From Anthropologie:
From other places that I can't remember:
At K-mart on sale for $2.24 each that I want to buy: (Martha Stewart Sugarplum Dreams)
These from Target are cute too:
I also plan on buying a bunch of bells and just looping some ribbon through the top so the tree will "jingle". It will be a Christmas tree with a bunch of random ornaments, but it's going to be so fun to look at all the different ornaments with Joselyn!
