Growth Chart

I had Caitlin and her family for Christmas a few weeks ago. I made them a Growth Chart as their family gift. 

I found several tutorials via pinterest. Then I did what I usually do. Look at the picture and made up my own way to do it. :)

First thing I did was go to Home Depot and found pre-sanded wood. Conveniently they are sold by the foot. I decided that since Nick's family is tall, they needed a tall one. I bought a board that was 6'1". And then when it was hung 6 inches from the floor and it would be 6'7" total. Perfect!

I was going to paint the board, but Nick is a wood purist and painted wood offends him. :) So I stained  it with Minwax PolyShades in American Chestnut Satin. I've never really stained anything before, so I thought this would be a good practice project. 

Who knew that gloves would have been a good idea...or that water doesn't wash stain off things...like a porcelain sink and that my hands would turn super sticky when I tried to wash the paintbrush with water (thus the stain in the sink). Probably everyone. But in my defense...nowhere on the can did it say that it was oil based stain, or that gloves would have been a good idea. 

Thankfully Nick is an expert in staining, so when I realized the problem, I called him and he suggested nail polish remover. Thankfully I had some and dumped it everywhere. It worked pretty well. Eventually my hands returned to their normal color and non-stickiness. :)

So I started with a pretty piece of poplar and began staining.

I did two layers of stain. For the tick marks and numbers, I cut them out with my cameo out of white textured cardstock. The numbers are inked in silver ink to give them a bit more character. They are then modpodged on and then sealed with another layer of mod podge. Vinyl is a perfectly acceptable option, and one I considered (would have been faster and eaiser), but I was afraid of little fingers picking and peeling off the vinyl . So paper and glue it is!

All done! 

Here it is hanging up in their house, tucked in nicely behind the front door. And complete with measurements of the kids. :) On Rachel's 2nd Birthday, she measured 2'11"--she really tall!  

Thanks for reading!

Bedroom Makeover: My Crafty Corner

One of my favorite parts of moving to the master bedroom has been that I have more space for a crafty corner. YAY!

I decided that I was going to take the opportunity to go through my stuff, purge, and organize everything. Most of it is scrapbook supplies and those really needed to be wrangled in. I had a couple of large boxes I picked up at IKEA that I really liked and so I decided to get more so everything matched.

I spent a whole afternoon one Saturday organizing and filling the boxes. It is so nice to have a specific place to put everything. Hopefully this will help me keep my desk a little more clutter free. Um, maybe. :) (update: Yes it has! It's AH-MAZING!)

I decided to use one of my bookcases to store the boxes and my scrapbook paper. Remember my epic fail with them? Yeah. So fabric for this bookcase too. Pretty! I just wish I could see more of it! 

Everything looks so tidy boxed up!

Right now I have 10 boxes: 2 Embellishment boxes, and then 1 for each of the following: Alphabets, Tools, Hardware, Adhesives, Stamps, Powders and Glitter, Sewing, and Inks & Sprays. They fit perfectly on the bookcase. 

Each box is pretty organized. For my glitter glue, I glued together some plumbing round things (that's the technical term) and they hold the glitter glue upside down. 

For my inks, I decided to put the blending pads velcroed to the lid of the box. It makes it easier to find the right color. All my inks and sprays fit nicely in the box. Yay!

Then I took on the task of organizing my paper. I actually don't have that much paper, but there's still enough that it took awhile. My paper was already fairly organized, but I didn't like the system since I just wasn't using the paper as much as I should. It was just easier to buy new paper. Which, as fun as that is, just is me spending more money. I needed to really go through my paper and donate what I don't want, or won't use, and start over again.

I really wanted these fancy paper holders, but at $8 for one, it was out of my budget. Then, I read on a scrapbook forum (I'm such a nerd), someone had used the free priority mail boxes from the post office to make their own. GENIUS!

So I ordered some boxes (it came in a package of 10--and hello free shipping!) that were the size I was looking for and then cut them into the shape I wanted. After lots of white spray paint to cover up the priority mail markings, I attached some fun label pulls that I had spray painted silver. I wanted them to match the white boxes so I picked up some adhesive silver foil and put it along the edges. This also helped the paper not to catch as much. So for about $20 (spray paint, label pulls, and foil) I made 8 magazine holders--vs. $64. I win. I could have made 10, but right now I only need 8.

Pretty awesome, right?!

The answer is yes. :)

So I organized my paper and it is lovely now. The scraps are in the ziplock bags that I used for the paper before and go in the box with the rest of that color.

I needed more light in the corner, so I hung up my paper lantern with a light in it. It made a big difference. I wanted to spice up the lantern a bit and found a pretty inspiration picture on pinterest and started cutting away on my cameo.

I really like how it turned out.

I finally was able to put up this pretty organizer that I bought on clearance at Michaels months ago...way before I knew I was moving. Normally it's over a $100, but it was on sale for $20. I knew that someday, somewhere, I would find a place for it, so I snagged it and it's been sitting in my garage ever since. I love having it up and excited fill it with pretty things. :)

I was able to squeeze my ribbon holder in the corner. It was exactly the right size. Above it I put my bulletin board. Eventually I do want a new, bigger table. But that will happen in time.

So that's my crafty corner. I now feel like I have a studio area in my bedroom, instead of a bed in my studio. haha. It's nice to feel like I can breath in my room. :)

2014 Bucket List

HAPPY NEW YEAR!

2014 is going to be a good year. I can tell. Even though it's starting off with me having a slight cold and sore throat--it's going to be great. :)

Last year I created a bucket list instead of doing resolutions. I did pretty well and so want to do it again.

Let's see what I'm going to do this year...

1.    Read at least 60 books.

2.    Pay off my car.

3.    Make two new stockings (for Erin’s baby and Monica’s baby!).

4.    Go to Idaho to visit my family.

5.    Go to Washington DC/ New York City

6.    In conjunction with the above trip…visit the DC and Manhattan Temples

7.    Go to three new states

8.    Go to the Oakland Temple

9.    Finish Paralegal Associates degree (MAY--YAY!!) (haha)

10. Spend time each week with my family

11. Make a headboard for my bed.

12. Get a power tool and use it on a project (didn’t get to do this last year)—Maybe for the headboard?

13. Sew a bed skirt.

14. Switch over to the family ward (Sunday will be my first one in the new ward!)

15. Keeping going to the temple at least 3 times a month

16. Get my sewing machine worked on.

17. Finish Cait’s wedding scrapbook

18. Finish my Chicago scrapbook

19. Apply for a design team

20. Finish little projects from bedroom make over.

21. Get bookcases and organize books.

22. Create an inventory of my books.

23. Paint my dresser

24. Take a fun art class this summer. Oil Painting? I’ve always wanted to learn how to use that medium. 

25. Visit two local museums.

That is all I can think of for the moment. Can't wait to find out what this year has in store!