diy kids art display

Our home will never look like a magazine.

I've made peace with that.

Our home is where we live.

Our home contains a child and animals.

I want it to be comfortable for them.

And part of that, includes showing off their creations!

Levi is just now getting the hang of making art (as opposed to eating it!) and I wanted a place to show it off!

Here's what you need:

A yard stick ($2.99 at Hobby Lobby)

Clips ($2.80 at Hobby Lobby)

Hot glue gun

Command hook strips

(optional)

clipboard

color printer

card stock

First

Decide how many clips you'd like and how far apart.

The beauty of using a ruler, is the measurements are right there!

Simple hot glue the flat back part of the clip to the front of the ruler.

Allow to dry.

 Use command strips (or double sided tape) and attach to wall using level.

There it is!

{Isn't my child a brilliant artist?!}

To add a little extra pizazz, I made this printable and simply printed it and put it on a clipboard I hung right above it.

I love this quote.

{right-click and save and/or print this image for yourself!}

 There it is! A great, cheap naptime craft project!

How do you display kids art work?

Are you a fridge family? Make an album or binder for each child?

Frame special pieces?

learning to let go

I'm going to give you a little peek into how my mind works.

Proceed with caution.

I'm not a naturally organized person.

I don't enjoy cleaning.

{I do enjoy the affects of such efforts though!}

I have many-a-times beat myself up for not being Perfect Mrs. Susie Homemaker.

I try, I really do. 

But it's not natural for me.

I have my chore chart and try my darndest to stick to it.

But sometimes, this situation comes up.

Levi is playing in the playroom, and I know I need to sweep and mop all the floors.

I have a choice to make.

Do my chore...or play with my son.

Sometimes I choose one, sometimes I choose the other.

Both bring guilt.

I beat myself up if I don't check off everything on my to-do list for the day.

I put myself down for being such a poor homemaker and wife.

If I have completed each and every task, I have crazy Mama guilt.

Those were precious moments I could've spent snuggling my son, chasing him, etc.

Both mindsets aren't healthy.

I'm learning to simplify and let go.

I take my role as homemaker, mother and wife seriously.

Keeping my home as a safe, healthy, comfortable haven is important.

But at what expense?

I have to change my mindset.

It is OK.

It is OK to skip mopping today to chase Levi around the dining room table.

It is OK to show Levi how to load the dishwasher.

It is OK to let Levi stay up a few extra minutes to finish watching his beloved Elmo.

It is OK to fold that laundry tomorrow when Levi wants Mama to push him in his car.

It is OK to have Levi help him "dust" the furniture.

So I'm ridding myself of the guilt.

I am going to enjoy each and every precious moment with my son, husband, family and friends.

At the end of my life, on my deathbed, will I really regret not scrubbing the bathroom floor in 2014.

No.

I'm simply letting go of the non-essential things.

 So, if you come to my house and my kitchen looks like this

and my family room looks like this

I'm going to welcome you into our well loved home,

offer you a cold drink

and not apologize for how things look.

**********************************

Anyone else ever struggle with this balance?

Whether it is work and family, chores and family?

How have you found a balance?

*******************************************

DIY alphabet wall art

This project takes next to no time and for hardly any money.

It would be perfect in a nursery, toddler/preschoolers room or a playroom!

All you need is:

Color printer

Scissors

Washi tape (optional)

Pins

Corkboard (optional)

I knew I wanted to add some more art over Levi's crib.

The past prints he had hanging were too low and he would swing them and tear them down while he was in his crib.

(And yes...our walls took a beating!)

And for some reason I was on a big alphabet kick and decided to do a little educational wall decor.

I googled and googled alphabet printables and first found this one and fell in love.

{source}

Totally adorable and I loved the vintage vibe of it.

However....it had too much pink.

Too much for my little man's room.

Sad day.

So, I continued my googling and pinteresting (not sure that those are proper verbs..)

and found these printable flash cards

{source}

I liked their simplicity, colors and rounded corners.

So I printed them off and got a'cuttin.

After they were all cut out, I tried to figure out how I wanted to arrange them on the wall.

My first thought was to simply tape them up with Washi tape for a casual look.

But I wasn't completely diggin it.

Then I thought about hanging them in an empty frame clipped to jute twine like my photo display in the living room.

 But I didn't have a frame that would be big enough...

 But I did have a cork board!

 I like the simple look of it.

I simply pinned all the letters to the board.

They fit perfectly!

 The wall definitely needs a bit more to it. It looks kind of bare.

I'm thinking of hanging Levi's HammerPress post cards on either side.

But I am very much enjoying the colorful and fun alphabet with that playful  banner over his crib.

{And I know it's up kinda high, but it's that way to be out of his reach!}

What do you think?

Have any frugal wall decor you've found lately?

DIY photo frame

I was perusing Pinterest today and came across a pin for an InstaFrame (frame for your instagrams).

You can check out the original post here.

Here's how I did it.

This was a $0 project for me...as I already had the materials at home!

You'll need:

-A frame

-Jute twine

- Staple gun

- Mini clothes pins

My favorite place for empty frames isn't thrift stores....it's Hobby Lobby.

They often have them 90% off.

 Here's all you need:

 All you need to do, is flip the frame over. Measure the spacing you'd like for each row of pictures, and staple the jute into the frame!

So easy!

I love how the pictures are easily change-able!

Holiday Home Tour: Part 1

 We decked the halls over a week ago, but I am just now takin' some pics of it all.

So, welcome to Part 1.

Here's a few shots of our living and dining area.

We went much simpler this year, since we now have a mobile baby. No pretty glass containers full of glass ornaments on the coffee table.

Our coach got a festive little red quilt over the back, and a cool vintage red lantern was added to the coffee table (found it at a thrift for $2!)

 {I wrapped a little twine around it to give it even more *charm*}

Our tree is a little guy. Only 6 feet tall. But, our home is small and it works perfectly for us.

Our upstairs is tradition red and white with a few hints of green.

{if you've noticed...our living room is evolving....I'll be doing a separate post on it's "mini makeover"}

 

This year, I've taken a little more time to make the presents perdy.

I absolutely love this red houndstooth wrapping paper.

It is from Hobby Lobby and it's amazing quality.

I used that, and brown kraft paper with ribbons.

I made our stockings as part of my "Semi-Homemade Christmas".

I love how they turned out!

I can't wait to use them year after year!

 The stockings are hung by the TV with care....

We have no fireplace : (

This is the best we could do...

And surprisingly enough, Levi hasn't messed with the stockings or the tree!

{the red bucket is full of Levi's toys for him to play with when we are in the living room....but usually his favorite toy is Roomba...}

On our little shelf I added some green garland, red ornaments in my milk glass, and Mr. Free hand painted the "Merry Christmas to All" on the chalkboard. I love that little touch! 

In the dining room is our nativities and advent calendar.

 The hutch has some cookbooks, our carved Santa's from Mr.Free's grandparents and another nativity.

So that's it for Part Uno.

Have you decorated your home now that it's December....or waiting a little longer?

Haunt the Halls

Since this is Levi's first Halloween, I am going all out.

Really, I plan to go all out for all the holidays.

It's awesome to be a kid again!

So this weekend I decorated for Halloween.

I only like to decorate right before, because they aren't decorations I want to see everyday for a month.

So take a look around our house...

 

Have a spooktacular week!

Mama got her chevron rug

 Isn't my little model adorable?!

 Since Little Mister began crawling, we knew we needed a bigger, softer rug for our living room.

The old rug was too small (4 x 6) and scratchy (an indoor/outdoor).

This suited us just fine when it was just us and the pets.

But with little baby knees on it, we needed a change.

 Luckily, RugsUSA had exactly what I had been looking for. AND it was on sale!

This 5 x 8 chevron rug is originally $109, which isn't bad but hoping for a better deal. Then it went to 50% off, so it was $58! And free shipping!

It came within 5 days and I'm in love!

I had searched everywhere.

Target, WalMart, HomeGoods, TJ Maxx, Overstock.com

Nada.

If I liked it, it was like $300.

No way, Jose'.

Then I remembered many bloggers remarking about RugsUSA, so I checked it out.

Score.

Modern rugs for a bargain price.

I will say, it is quite thin. But it's soft.

And for the price? No complaints here.

They had a few color options. I debated between this blue and cream or the brown and cream.

However, with all the colorful art work in our living room and hallway, I decided the floor needed a punch of color too.

And I'm in love.

 We are in the process of giving our living room a "mini makeover".

Since we use our family room most of the time, we want to simplify our living room a bit.

More on that later...

 Here are the zig zags up close.

So, if you're in the market for a new rug...I highly suggest checking out RugsUSA.

Anyone else scored any major deals lately?