Children's Art Wall

We have 5 kids and they make a lot of pictures for us to enjoy.  Our refrigerator is stainless steel, which means it's not magnetic, and therefore the only way to display their art was taping it to the wall.  Um, not ideal.  So I saw this idea on Pinterest (originally pinned from The Project Girl, who found it in the Utah Valley Parade of Homes):

I loved it!  The only deal breaker is that it's white.  5 kids and 3 dogs and white are not a match made in heaven.  So I picked up a bunch of blues, greens, and purples to make my background.

I picked 8 different colors and then spread each color all over a piece of plywood and mixed them together in the brush strokes.  Don't worry about it being perfect, just splatter it randomly around.

The entire sheet was done in about 8 sections so the paint wouldn't dry before I got to mixing it together.

I cut it down to 4' x 6' and then nailed it to the wall with my nail gun.  I screwed eyelet screws into pine boards and then nailed all the trim on top of the background.  Then I added picture wire between the eyelets for the kids to hang their artwork on.

A quick little close up:

I finished it off with a little paintable caulk to fill the holes and painted the pine boards to match the rest of the house trim.  Now the kids can hang their art as they finish it and change it out on a whim.  The best part is that they have a dedicated art space in the center of the home where it has a place of honor and everyone can enjoy it.

Minecraft Creeper Wall Art

The kids have been into Minecraft all year and Glenn has been begging for me to paint his bedroom walls with creepers and zombies. Knowing that they will outgrow it in a year or so I wasn't too keen on painting the walls again that quickly, though. But with a painting we can swap it out later when tastes change and this way we're both happy.

The pixelated style of the game makes painting very simple. Lay out a quick grid with some pencil and start filling. I used 5 shades of green and just randomly picked the squares as I went.

A little black paint fills in the face and voila! It's a Minecraft Creeper.

Destruct-A-Bear

Erin said she wanted to go to Build-A-Bear for her birthday and to go with that she wanted a "Destruct-A-Bear" birthday cake. She wanted to make a bear at the store and pull one apart with a cupcake cake. I heard a friend talking about putting cupcake papers into a shaped pan to make a cake that was basically precut. She was doing it with a flower shaped tin but said she got the idea from someone else who did it with a round one. I thought that would be a good basis for a pull apart bear and easier to frost than separate cupcakes. I have to admit, it worked better than I thought it would.

I frosted everything in chocolate and just put the white frosting right on top of it. For the nose I used a Starburst cut in half. Then, to make the lines for his mouth I dipped a butter knife into the chocolate frosting and drew with the point of it. Add a couple of eyes from M&Ms and two ears from extra cupcakes and you have yourself a very quick and easy Destruct-A-Bear cake.

Whimsy Rings

I started messing with some beads and wire and, though I thought I was going to make a nest ring, it turned into these instead. My friend told me they look like "whimsy".

Hemp Bracelet

A few months back I saw someone demonstrate a way to tie up extension cords that I thought was just genius (see the technique here). Then today I realized I could apply the same method to make a bracelet and it came out pretty cute in just a couple of minutes.



If you'd like to make your own, here are the steps.

1. Create a loop in your string.



2. Feed the long end of the string into the loop, making another loop.



3. Pull the first loop tight to create a slip knot.



4. Feed the long end of the string into the loop to make another loop but do not pull it tight this time. Repeat this step to your desired length.



Because of the loops you will have a little play in the bracelet that will allow you to slip it on even if you knot the ends like I did but you could attach some jewelry findings instead if you would prefer. To get the look of my bracelet I just did the steps above with 4 strings at once (with hemp cord) instead of a single string. I estimate you can have this finished in less than 10 minutes.

Dollhouse: Stairs

The rest of the dollhouse story can be found at
Part I - The original derelict
Part II - Fixing her up
Part III - Repaired and pretty

A couple months ago I showed you the dollhouse I had when I was little that I fixed up for my kids.



Now I thought I might show you how my dad built those original stairs that stood up to all those years of abuse. The stairs are built from a single board, just one piece of 2x4. You can use a radial arm saw or a circular saw (you may want to make a jig for the second option). The blade is tilted at a 45 degree angle and the cuts are made 1/2" apart. Cut all of the angles one direction, turn the board around and cut them the other way. Now it looks like teeth.





Now it's just a matter of tipping it up to nail it in place and you have sturdy stairs that will stand the test of years and kiddos.

Pinterest Fall Challenge

It's time for the seasonal Pinterest challenge (hosted by YHL, Bower Power, Ana White and Erin from House of Earnest) where you make something you pinned on Pinterest. It's a great encouragement to actually get that project going that you were so inspired by. Lemon Tree Creations is also hosting a Pinsperation party and you can check that out here.

I saw this on Pinterest (originally from here) and created my Grow headboard (my original post with more pictures here).

Original Inspiration:


My creation:


And I saw this on Pinterest (originally from here) and created my own colorful version (my original post with more pictures here).

Original Inspiration:


My creation:


Have you made something after getting inspiration from a Pinterest pin? Play along over at Young House Love, Bower Power, Ana White’s, and House of Earnest. You can also join in over at Lemon Tree Creations.

Don't forget, Saturday is the last day to enter for the bracelet giveaway!

300 posts, a Tutorial, and a Giveaway

300 posts! My little blog is getting so big. As promised today I am doing a giveaway, the info is at the end of this post. (This giveaway is now closed but the tutorial is still good!)

This is the necklace I showed you yesterday and today I'm going to show you how simple it is to make if you want to try it out.



You need beading wire, a small piece of tiger tail or a beading needle, seed beads, and 1-2 dozen larger beads that have a hole small enough the seed beads don't fit inside.



If you are using tiger tail you can fold it in half and crimp the end (as pictured) to make a threading needle that will hold your thread. String 16 seed beads, 1 large bead, and then 5 more seed beads.



Count back to the 11th bead of the 16 (leaving 5 after it before the large one) and run the thread through that bead a second time in the same direction as you did originally.



Pull the loose thread through and this is what you will have. Now repeat this until the bracelet/necklace is the desired length. Now just tie off your ends and secure to your fastener and your creation is done!



I now have a bracelet to match the necklace, made in about 40ish minutes.



(This giveaway is now closed)
And now for the fun GIVEAWAY details! In order to thank all of you wonderful followers for visiting me I am giving away the bracelet below, handmade by me, to one of you. If you are a follower of this blog (or become one), leave a comment below to enter for it. I'll pick a random winner on Saturday at 12:00. That's it! If you don't have an email in your profile you can leave it in the comments (but use "at" instead of "@" to keep junk mail from picking it up). Good luck!

Beaded Necklace and Announcement

Day 31/31:

First off, we have reached day 31/31. Whew! 31 days of projects is a lot and I'm beat but in a really good way! I got SO MUCH done around my house and off my project list and I'm extra happy about it. I will have to do this again. Anyway, not only is this a completion of 31 Days but tomorrow will also be my 300th post so I think that calls for my very first giveaway! Sound good? Come back tommorow for the details. Ok, on to your regularly scheduled post:

I have a black tie dinner coming up (so excited!) and I needed a little bling to go with my dress. Something pretty and also a little dainty. I made a necklace similar to this once and loved it while it lasted but I made the original with cheap sewing thread and one of the kids broke it with a single pull. This time I used beading thread and doubled the line to give it extra strength.



I used white beads with a bright blue to set it off a bit. The style is REALLY simple to make. It's something I came up with while screwing around a couple years back and it's a good project to keep your hands busy while helping with homework or watching TV. I'll post some detailed pics tomorrow (you can find the tutorial here!) of how it's strung with a couple extra little tips that help while making this. All total I think this took me about 2.5 hours to make.