I know, I know. I didn’t tell you what happened last Wednesday! Shame! Well, we are going for a regular old check-up this afternoon…no official induction. But, if things are far enough along, we may pull the trigger. We’ll see! I am only 39 weeks (only, wink!) and really don’t want to induce at least until I’ve reached my due date next Monday. See my reasons for a slightly early induction HERE. It’s very appealing to evict the little girl, however, since I am now being compared to a watermelon:

Not to be a spoiler but next week (how appropriate) she will be compared to a pumpkin…which is actually bigger, a watermelon or a pumpkin? I could argue either side. The point is I am HUGE. Isn’t the fruit or veggie of comparison irrelevant at this point? HUGE is just what I would say.

The mention of pumpkins, however, brings me to a fun project I did over the weekend, pumpkin painting!

If you ever take a look at my blog roll (scroll down, way down, that’s right…a little further…on your right. That’s it!) you will see Young House Love there. It is one of my favorite blogs. They take DIY to a whole new level. They have way more energy than I will ever have, I think! (At least while preggers and as big as a watermelon or pumpkin.) These clever peeps posted an idea for painting pumpkins last week and I thought I’d give it a try. Read their idea HERE. They were right, it is super simple and certainly added a bit of “chic” to my seasonal display. I opted to make a pumpkin centerpiece for our dining room table. Here’s what I did:

I puff-painted our beloved “B” on a pumpkin a la Petersik as well as a fun design.

Then I placed all of my pumpkins on a board and spray painted them IVORY. I chose ivory rather than white because the decor in our dining room calls for more of an antique white instead of stark white.

Simple and inexpensive!

The “B” pumpkin is super glossy. Super glossy = super fun!

Our table needed a little more color than just the white (see white dining room chairs that are BEGGING for a re-do.) So, I incorporated orange and yellowy striped punkies and puff painted gold glitter on some of them. The gold looks great with our already-there glass vases with gold baskets in them (yes, these were from a Christmas display last year).

My favorite is that little polka-dot punkie there. She’s so cute!

Anyway, go for it and have some fun with your display!

More tomorrow on Miss Babe…not sure if she’ll be here or not!

Adrianne

Chic, chic, chic! That’s all I can say about the stencils Sunny Goode offers. Anyone know of her? If you aren’t familiar with her paints, glazes and stencils, you are truly missing out. Her style inspires me to paint every wall and floor in my house and I may just do that. I know, can you believe I am thinking “outside of the nursery”?

Here is what my good friend, Jessie, did with her knot stencil: a beautiful accent wall.

You can read her post on Sunny here.

And here are a few shots from Sunny’s blog of stenciled floor rugs.

I LOVE that pop of color!

Handsome, handsome, handsome.

Clover in Carytown.

I have yet to visit this new childrens boutique but am dying to see that floor!

We have a big entry way and there are several changes we are making to it’s decor. The floor space is an issue because it is rather big and a strange shape. Finding the right sized rug has been a challenge. I’m considering using Sunny’s technique in the Gigi stencil. I love mixing it up a bit.

Here is an example of stained and stenciled floors by Sunny:

GORG!

Happy weekend everyone!

Adrianne

Oh, and a reminder: I’ll be accepting orders for paintings through next Friday, October 8th. After the 8th, I cannot guarantee my usual two week turn-around…Miss Babe will be here soon! I’ll continue blogging and all t-shirts will be available so check back frequently. Thanks!

If you’ve followed my blog for a while, you know that 1) I paint, 2) I am in the thick of decorating a nursery, 3) I ordered a DIY mural from Rosenberry Rooms for one of the nursery walls. I really thought I would hand paint a mural without a stencil, etc, and can the “paint by number” version but my time is limited now. I have five weeks until my due date and wanted an easy project for the wall. Oh, my fruit/veggie of the week? That would be a honey dew melon, thank you very much:

I already feel like I am at pumpkin status…that’s in several weeks!

Anyway, since my “melon” is big…I thought buying the mural kit was the easier way to go. Well, let me tell you that it certainly is not easier. In fact, it has proved to be downright cumbersome! First of all, when I received the mural kit in the mail, they had only sent me one of three panels with no instructions (although, it seemed relatively self-explanatory) and the carbon paper (yes, carbon paper to transfer the pattern on my freshly painted wall…um…can you say MESSY??) was all wrinkled up. I was not a happy camper. Rosenberry Rooms was professional about it, however, and sent me a brand spanking new kit at no cost. Here is what the finished version is supposed to look like:

The walls of the nursery are very close to the background shown. And, I am painting the trees a gray-ish white.

Ok. So, I mentioned the carbon transfer issue. I really don’t get why they didn’t send carbonless transfer paper. I mean, don’t you know carbon would get all over my wall! When I saw that, I tossed the instructions and, with a lot of help, cut out each tree and leaf. Then, my mom and I painstakingly taped the cut out trees to the wall with painters tape. THIS was the hardest part. Here’s what it looks like on the wall right now:

Then, with a pencil and a light hand, we traced around every detail onto the wall. I then free-handed extra branches and leaves on the top and sides…it’s a big, big wall to cover and the six feet across pattern isn’t wide enough. Yesterday, I began painting it:

It’s very light but can you see the pencil lines? This is one of the free-hand branches I drew.

The painting is the best part! I can tell it will take a while, however. The instructions tell you to use acrylic paint…I vote “NO” on that one, too. Acrylic, unless sealed, will run if any liquid gets on it. Your call but I want something more permanent…especially after all this work.

So, I don’t meant to complain about this project. I give it a BIG, FAT “A” on the worth-it-ness scale. Just consider this a heads-up if you order it. It’s not as easy, sneezy as it claims to be!

I’m going to work on it more today so I’ll have updated pics to you soon!

Adrianne

Here’s a simple, handy DIY project for you this Thursday: surfboard cut-outs! Yesterday I made the big run to Target to grab everything else we needed for D’s birthday party this Saturday. We are doing a surfing themed party…yes, in September! (EEEEEEK out that summer!)

I have several “activity tables” in mind for the kids including a “Make Your Own Surfboard” table. Needless to say, that required the purchase of lots of crayons and poster board. Last night I spend 2.2 cutting out the surfboards and making them look like, well, surfboards. It was super easy and I hope it will be a big hit on Saturday. The great thing about this simple project is that you can do it for any theme. I love getting kids to color and use their creativity. This makes for a slam dunk!

SUPPLIES:

Poster board

Pencil

Scissors

Markers

Crayons

A little creativity!

HOW TO:

1. Draw your surfboard on a piece of poster board and cut it out:

I was able to fit two surfboards per poster board.

2. Decorate the cut-out in a simple way with markers. For older kids, you probably don’t even have to do that. Although, I do recommend showing a few samples for them. For three-year-olds, templates are the way to go. Then, all they need to do is color and draw on the overall design.

3. Why not go all out and make a sign for the table indicating what’s going on with all these cut-outs??

Why are cutting, pasting and coloring so therapeutic to me?? Let me know if you use this idea and what you do with it!

Adrianne

Davis has been in summer school a few days a week and came home with the most adorable craft yesterday!! I have to show you:

Yes, that is a fish bowl!! SO cute and creative. And, what a great idea for something to do inside on these unbearably HOT days.

Let’s discuss how to do this at home. It doesn’t look hard, right?!!

Supplies:

Construction Paper

Markers

One Ziploc Sandwich Bag

Aquarium Gravel

Fish Stickers

Crinkle Paper Shreds

How To:

1. Cut out your aquarium shape out of construction paper. I would simply cut it in the size of a fish bowl and then cut the center out. Decorate it however you wish with markers!

2. Have your babe fill the Ziploc bag 1/3 of the way full with aquarium gravel:

Just drop by Pet Smart…this is $3.99!

3. Layer paper shreds on top of the gravel:

(You can buy this in bulk very inexpensively from Paper Mart. Great if you have multiple fun craft ideas!)

4. Have your babe place the fishy stickers in front of the crinkle paper and all around the Ziploc bag:

(I love a good Amazon find!! I bet you can find them at Targ or Walmart, however.)

5. Zip the bag closed and staple the bag in between the two construction paper aquarium cut-outs. Done and DONE!

I wish I could take full credit for this idea but I would be remiss if I did! Davis’ teacher, Miss Melissa, brought the idea to his class. Thanks, Melissa! I am going to order some other supplies similar to this for another fun project…I’ll tell you about this zoo related craft soon!

Have a great Thursday!

Adrianne

If you haven’t displayed multiple sticker charts for your toddler yet…get ready to have a life changing experience. My son (now two and a half years old) refused to take naps for a MONTH. This full stop was a nightmare. He didn’t even want to have “quiet time” in his room for an hour. What is a mother to do? At wit’s end, grasping at straws for ideas (read: bribes) I thought of trying a very basic tactic…the only thing that worked (and is still working months later)… a sticker chart. Not just any sticker chart, however, HIS own sticker chart. I took him to a fabric store to pick out a cute backing (see below) and then to pick out his favorite stickers of ALL time…Lightening McQueen, naturally! Read on for how to do this for your kid(s). If you have all the supplies it will take you 15 minutes tops.

You will need: spray adhesive, fabric glue, cute fabric, a bulletin board, large card stock/poster board, scissors and 1″ grosgrain ribbon. That’s all!

How to do it:

1. Find a nice sized bulletin board. I prefer 2×3 and found this one at Walmart for $9.99. Go to the actual store – I didn’t find the same one online.

2. Choose your fabric and ribbon. Davis chose “The Very Hungry Caterpillar” and white ribbon. (This picture is skewed a bit…not sure why!)

From www.fabric.com

3. Cut the fabric to fit the inside of the framed bulletin board (no need to pull the wood frame off). Allow a little extra room if you want to fold the fabric over (see step 5). Iron the fabric to eliminate creases.

4. Spray the spray adhesive (Elmer’s is great – found at Walmart also) onto the cork part of the bulletin board.

5. Carefully place the cut fabric onto the cork pressing firmly and smoothing as you go. (I folded the edges over to have a smooth, hemmed look!)

I also ran a line of fabric glue next to the frame to glue the hemmed edge down:

6. Cut ribbon to fit each side of the bulletin board. Then, run a line of fabric glue along the wood frame of the board.

7. Place ribbon on the glue on top of the wood frame and let all dry.

Voila! Cute bulletin board for your sticker chart!

Please note that this is my son’s potty training chart. It’s going well, trust me. Those stickers are for action, not trying. Ha!!

Making the sticker chart portion is easy, too. Just use markers and chart off the days of the week. When ours was complete, I started to promise Davis a very special Lightening McQueen sticker if he took a “nite nite nap”. He went to sleep. Hallelujah!  It has worked so well I have been able to transfer it to other handy uses such as killing nasty habits in an instant and potty training (see above). It’s amazing. I know.

Have another trick that worked for your babes? Let us know! I am crossing my fingers that the sticker chart works for a very long time.

Adrianne