Friday, October 14, 2016

Sawyer's Gallery Wall


This is the current view on Sawyer's gallery wall. I have one more giant chipboard S, but it needs to be painted, and I think I may put it on another wall.
Everything on this wall is handmade, thrifted, or purchased on major sale.

The Imagine canvas came from the thrift store in brand new condition, but it was originally from Hobby Lobby. I think I paid $4.99 for it.

The moose and elephant were likewise from the thrift store, but originally from Target. I think they were $2.99 each.

The letters spelling his name were half off at Michael's and I added the scrapbook paper.

The wood slice S, the burlap S, the blue foam S, and the little orange S with the arrow were all clearanced at Hobby Lobby. All were between $1 and $2.

The owl painting I think came from Hobby Lobby on clearance, but I've had it for several years so I can't be sure.

The scratch art at the top was a VBS project this year with materials from Michael's. I laminated the scratch board before adhering it to the frame to preserve the picture.

The pinwheel I made with my We R Memory Keepers Pinwheel Punch Board. I just pinned it straight to the wall with a ball push pin. The paper was from the same stack I used to cover his name.

The woodburned pieces are all made by me. They were all wood blanks purchased at either Walmart or Hobby Lobby &1.47-$2.99 for 6-8 pieces. The very center round piece with father and son hunters was the part of a wooden spool that originally held the twine and clothes pins in Lily's room. The image was a stamp that I stamped in brown ink and then went over with my wood burning tool.

The truck on the Sawyer's Salvage Yard was also a stamped image that I burned over, although I did add the FORD to the tailgate.

The Sawyer the Brave piece is clay art made by me.

The Oh Darling Let's Be Adventurers is my version of one done by Addicted to DIY.

The white rectangle is impossible to photograph, but looks awesome in person and is a Heidi Swapp cardstock piece that says Be True and was foiled in silver using my Minc. It was part of a set I got on clearance at Joann.

The bear oval and fox oval were drawn by Nick from artwork available at Hobby Lobby. I burned over his drawings and painted the accents.

All of the other wood pieces were original pieces free handed by me. I'm so not an artist, but Sawyer loves that I made them for him.



Thursday, October 13, 2016

Lily's Gallery Wall

In the old house Taylor and Lily shared a bedroom for sleeping. Lily and Sawyer shared a bedroom for clothes and toy storage. So none of them really had a space that belonged completely to them. I knew that in the new house I wanted to do some personalized decor for each of them, especially since for the year we were on the market the house had to be very neutral and generic. Taylor has decorated and redecorated her room a dozen times, and I'm happy to let her do that. At 15 she's old enough to know her own style. But in Lily and Sawyer's room I've done gallery walls. Sawyer's is pretty much done, and I'll show you his in another post, but this post is about Lily's. 


It's still very much a work in progress. I need to spread it out a little more and raise her art display twine some. The roll of twine with mini clothes pins came from Target via Bargain Hunt, but it would obviously be very easy to DIY. She is very artistic and constantly drawing, painting, and crafting, and I wanted her to have a place to display her creations. She also has some of her school awards up there. 

The Be Kind banner was made by me. Semi-tutorial here.

Taylor did the pineapple painting, and the flamingo and party dress artwork are my very tentative forays into the world of watercolor. The dress is my very poorly executed version of a gorgeous free printable offered by Lisa at Mabey She Made It. If you have mad watercolor skillz like me, well, you should probably go get hers. But I wanted a pink dress, plus our printer is still buried somewhere in a box, and Lily is ridiculously affectionate toward things that I make just for her, so for now anyway she gets my version. 

The little orange L with arrows was a clearance find at Hobby Lobby that I painted. The floral pieces are all clay flowers Lily and I made using oven bake Sculpy and (mostly) Martha Stewart molds. I just hot glued them onto wood plaques and hung them with adhesive Velcro dots. The woodburned pieces are all made by me. The Lily the Lovely piece is clay art made by me

Wednesday, October 12, 2016

Scroll Saw Bowl

Last month Nick's cousin Katelyn got married, and we made this cool wood bowl for her wedding gift. The was our first time using a scroll saw, and we followed the tutorial over at The Kim Six Fix. I think it turned out so awesome, and we got tons of compliments on it! Nick did the sawing and gluing and I did the sanding and glue cleanup. I can't wait to make another one for us!


Tuesday, October 11, 2016

Custom Creighton Tumbler

My brother-in-law Scott's birthday was last month. He's a proud Creighton University alumnus, so Nick and I sandblasted the Creighton logo along with his initials onto a 30 oz Rtic tumbler for his gift. I cut a vinyl stencil of the logo and monogram, and we masked off the rest of the cup with painter's tape. Nick did the etching in his blasting cabinet. I hope he likes it!


Monday, October 10, 2016

I Got A Heat Press!!

Okay guys, I have big news! I got a heat press!!! I'm so excited! My mom and dad got it for me as a birthday/Christmas gift, and this has been such a game changer for me with shirt making! This is the one I got:



It came with attachments to also do hats, 2 sizes of plates, and 2 sizes of mugs. This thing is so awesome! Not only is it crazy faster than applying heat transfer vinyl with an iron, the quality of the finished product is miles better! What really surprised me though was the fact that you can re-press old projects that have maybe started to peel a bit and fix them! I've been playing with htv for about a year now, and I've loved working with it, but I've always been a little disappointed that it didn't seem to hold up very well in the wash. Well this has been the answer to that for sure. My new projects as well as old ones that I repaired are now holding up perfectly in the washing machine! And I have LOVED being able to rescue some ragged favorites that seemed destined for the trash. I had just assumed that once an item had gone through the laundry there would be no way to make the htv stick. Not that every single project I did with an iron started to peel, but well, a good percentage of them eventually did. So if I've made you a gift with htv in the past and it's starting to come off, bring it back and I'll fix it right up!

My nephew Levi's birthday party is this Saturday. He's going to be four, and he looooves superheros, Batman especially. I made him this t-shirt, as well as a pillow with Superman fabric on one side and Batman fabric on the other. I also added his name to the pillow in htv. The Batman decal below is actually a 3D rubber applique that I found at Walmart for $3.97. The instructions included were for a household iron, but I took a chance and applied it with the heat press, and it turned out amazing!


Lily wanted a superhero shirt for her birthday to wear to Levi's party. She originally wanted a Wonder Woman shirt, but then she saw a pink and black Batman shirt online and wanted it instead. So what's a mama with a brand new heat press supposed to do besides make them both? The Batman shirt she saw had a matching bow, so I made one to match each shirt. I even used the heat press for the bows! I don't know why the Wonder Woman set looks pink in the picture below, but as you can see in the shot with her wearing them they are red. Both shirts were the basic $2.97 boys tees from Walmart, and I had the ribbon and htv on hand, so this was a really inexpensive gift.




The gold HTV on this shirt was in an Expressions Vinyl grab bag that arrived on her birthday, and it was perfect for this project. I mentioned when I shared this picture on Instagram, isn't it neat how God loves on us in little ways as well as big ways?

Sawyer wants a superhero shirt too, but he keeps going back and forth on what kind, so I will be making one or two for him as well. 

I plan on offering some items in my shop soon too.

Heat press for the win!

Sunday, October 9, 2016

Teachers of Good Things Craft Meeting: Fall Blocks

Our quarterly Ladies Craft Meeting at Church was last month, and we made these fun wood blocks with scrapbook paper and vinyl decals. We painted the blocks first and then added scrapbook paper to the front if we wanted. I precut the vinyl on my Cameo. The cut files for the decals were purchased from Etsy shop Lilly Ashley





There are 8 different designs in the set, and it comes with a commercial license! I also created a fun name block for one of the kids' teachers, and it was a big hit.

Saturday, October 8, 2016

A Birthday Banner for the Birthday Girl

So this girl turned SEVEN on Wednesday! I can't even handle this. She just got out of diapers, I swear.



We had a simple family get together at the house on Tuesday, and I made this Happy Birthday Banner to hang in the dining room. I used 4 sheets of kraft cardstock and 2 sheets of scrapbook paper. I cut the cardstock in fourths (I had 3 extra fourths), and cut the scrapbook paper into 3"x 5" pieces to use in my Alphabet Punch Board. I ran the letters through my Xyron Creative Station to adhere them to the cardstock and strung it all on baker's twine. I think I'm going to take the BIRTH off now that we're done so that it just says Happy Day and hang it in her room.


Man, I love banners! This is one I made a couple of weeks ago for a baby shower at church. I cut the flags using my paper cutter, the letters using my Alphabet Punch Board, and the deer using a paper punch. I ran all the letters and the deer through my Xyron Creative Station to turn them into stickers which made the assembly super quick. Colton's mom is doing his nursery in an outdoorsy theme, so hopefully she can use it in there too. 

Friday, October 7, 2016

My Craft Room Tanker Desk and One for Rachael

The tanker desk in my craft room is one of my favorite things ever. It came originally from my brother Cary and sister-in-law Rachael (who incidentally is Nick's sister). It was in their basement when they bought their house several years ago, and Cary didn't want it. It was in good shape, but it was old and kind of ugly, standard government gray, and it went into our garage for lack of a better place to put it. Nick told me that I could have it for a craft desk when I got a craft room, so this year for Mother's Day I told him I wanted him to paint it for me.


Guys! Isn't she gorgeous!! I love her so much! The thing is, every time Rachael came over and saw how amazing it turned out, she seemed a little wistful. Then Nick found a Craigslist ad offering free office furniture. We went to check it out, and we came home with FOUR tanker desks, a huge wooden desk, and a big kitchen table, all for free! 

One tanker desk is at home in the garage for Nick, two are eventually destined for my craft room, the wooden one will be my cutting table, and the kitchen table will eventually replace the one we have now (once we refinish it). But the fourth tanker desk - that one was for Rachael. It was her birthday last week, and we've been working on this thing for a couple of months now. We cleaned it up, fixed a few dings, painted it her favorite color and cut a pretty monogram for the big drawer. We even found the key buried in the mound of debris stuck behind one of the drawers when we brought it home. We delivered it to her last Friday and she loved it!


Here it is in her craft room. Now I can't wait to get the other two painted for my craft room!

Thursday, October 6, 2016

Early Fall

Okay, a reasonable person might be expected to believe that I had dropped off the face of the earth. In reality, the settling in to the school year along with various other unexpected occurrences has hit us like a freight train and blogging has gotten pushed to the back burner. But I'm here now! So I hope you're ready for some pictures, because I've got a few to share.


This is a little half octagon table Nick and I refinished. Okay, it was way more him than me, but I helped a little. I am so terribly sad that I didn't get a picture before he started tearing it apart, but trust me, it was UH-GLEE. Think sea foam crackle paint all over, and the veneer on two of the doors was badly damaged. That's where he really impressed me - he smoothed it all out with Wood Bondo, and you can't even tell it's not original. The top was in good condition, so we just stripped, sanded, and stained it. We used a Rustoleum stain in Kona.


I shared this image over on Instagram. These lovely little banners were inspired by the one made by the adorable Bethany at Pitter & Glink. I made a cardstock template for my banners using my We R Memory Keepers Banner Punch Board, then cut two for each banner from dropcloth. I machine stitched them together with pink thread, then cut the words from htv using my Cameo. The font I used was Magnolia Sky, which is free for personal use. The flowers and bow are a variety of purchased and handmade pieces. I punched holes in the corners and added eyelets using my Crop-a-Dile Punch and Eyelet Setter, threaded in some random satin ribbon I had on hand, and knotted the ends on the front. On the back of each banner I hot glued a wooden skewer cut to size along the top to keep the banner hanging straight. The Create Beauty banner is hanging in my craft room (as pictured below), and the Be Kind is part of Lily's gallery wall.





So this happened in late August. Sawyer wasn't feeling well at all and we couldn't get a doctor's appointment, so I took him to the ER. By the time we got there he was having some breathing distress and they ended up keeping us for two days. We never did find out exactly what the problem was, but the best guess was that he had a virus combined with an allergic reaction to something that really hit him hard. Below is a picture of him hanging out with his buddy Chase, who brought him Play-Doh, cars, and snacks and spent some time looking suitably impressed with Sawyer's grand tour of his hospital room.


Nick works for Lexus and they sent him this amazing gift basket, which was such an awesome thing for them to do!


Nick's cousin got married last month, and we stayed at an amazing chalet near the wedding venue where they had this gorgeous handmade quilt on the bed. I'm in love!


We got to see Nick's sister Kristin and her family, which was awesome. They live in Texas, and it had been over a year since we'd seen most of them. It was so much fun to get the kids together with their cousins!



Our Lily girl got baptized a couple of weeks ago, and she couldn't have been more precious.




So those are a few of the things that have been keeping us busy lately. What have you been working on?

*There are no affiliate links in this post. I have not been compensated for using any product mentioned in this post. I just like to share what I have used in case you might want to use it too!

Wednesday, August 10, 2016

Veggie Chicken and Dumplins



School started back for us this week, and it's a whole new routine here at our new house. We live close enough to the school to be disqualified for bus service, which in turn qualifies us to wait 30 minutes in the drop off/pick up line. Since it's a 10 minute walk, that's what we're going with, and I have loved it so far. One on one time with my middle kiddo, 10 minutes to myself on the way back, and easy exercise to boot!

But, it does mean I don't want to spend hours on dinner if I can help it, so last night I made one of our very favorite fast and easy meals. It might actually be my very very favorite. Lily especially can be very picky, and this is one where she will always ask for seconds. And bonus - you get to get some veggies in them!

Okay, a couple of disclaimers: I am not a food blogger, so I don't have amazing presentation pictures here. It's hard to stage things when you're trying not to eat your subject first. Second of all, this is the FAST MAMA version. Yes, this can absolutely be made healthier. You can use fresh chicken and fresh veggies and homemade cream of whatever soup mix and skim milk etc. etc. And it's very good that way. But it's amazing this way too, and it's not only quick, but cheap. So if you are looking for a way to get something yummy, hot, and comforting in their bellies between homework and bedtime, this is the ticket.

This recipe was adapted from a recipe my friend Rebecca gave me seven years ago, and it has never not been a hit. I added the veggies and adjusted the soup/milk ratio some to stretch it out and it is so very, very good! This amount feeds my family of five with just enough left over to send Nick lunch to work the next day (if we show great restraint and don't make poor decisions about how much is actually a reasonable amount to eat for one meal. This is not a single serve portion, even if you believe you can).

Start out with the following:
26 Ounce Can of Cream of Chicken Soup
29 Ounce Can of Veg-All/Mixed Vegetables
2 Cups Bisquick/Baking Mix
3 2/3 Cups of milk, divided
2 10 ounce Cans of Chicken/2-3 cooked chicken breasts, cut into chunks


Your milk will need to be divided into 3 cups and 2/3 cup



Add 3 cups milk, vegetables, soup, and chicken to large pot on high. My chicken was a tomato herb flavor, just because it's what I had on hand, but plain chicken is just fine. 

While this heats, mix Bisquick and remaining 2/3 cup milk. 


Form into small dumplins about the size of a heaping tablespoon and add to soup mixture.



Bring to a boil, then set heat on low. Simmer for 10 minutes, then cover and simmer for 10 minutes more. Stir occasionally. Before removing from heat check to make sure your dumplins are not gooey. If they are undercooked, leave it on the heat for another 5-10 minutes, stirring frequently.

And you're done! I love this with black pepper, which is weird, because I don't like black pepper on really anything, but it's SO good on this dish. Nick's papaw passed away a few years ago, and he put copious amounts of black pepper on everything he ate, so this dish always makes me think about him. 


This stuff is so yummy! I'm super jealous that Nick got to take the rest of it for lunch today. Let me know if you try it!

Monday, August 8, 2016

Easy Cardboard Rocket Craft


This year's Vacation Bible School curriculum was called To The Edge, and it was space themed. My sister-in-law Rachael was in charge of the decorations, and people, it was out of this world! (Bahahahaha! Snort. Okay, just ignore me) Seriously though, she did an amazing job. Check out a few of the pictures (Excuse the quality of some of them. The lighting wasn't the best in some areas. I plan to post some of the pictures from the actual event on a later post.):

The black light hallway was a huge hit.



My mom and dad put these rockets together, and Rachael made that awesome astronaut herself!

The "computer screens" at the control panels even lit up!

This robot. How amazing is this? Of course I think the guy standing next to him is pretty amazing too. :)

I can't believe how detailed everything was. Have I mentioned that she's five months pregnant and has two kids under four? Yeah, serious supermom stuff.

Anyway, I was really surprised at the lack of VBS friendly space themed crafts out there on Pinterest. There were a lot of space themed projects, but very little that could be done with multiple kids in 20 minutes. So I wanted to share these awesome rockets we made!

This is a super quick and simple craft, even for a group, especially if you have your paper pre-cut. Materials needed are as follows:

5 inch cardstock circle
Toilet paper roll or other cardboard tube about 4 inches in height
Scrapbook paper or plain white copy paper 4x8 inches
3-4 wood half circles
Hot glue gun



At VBS we used plain white paper to wrap the rockets and let the kids color on them. You can absolutely use toilet paper rolls, but a friend at church brought me a massive bag of these heavy duty cardboard shipping tubes from his job. They were already 4 inches long, and they were perfect for this craft!

First run a line of hot glue down the side of your cardboard tube.


Glue down your paper on the short edge, wrap all the way around the rocket and glue down the other end.



Cut a slit halfway across your 5 inch circle and form into a cone shape.


Glue the cone closed.




 Run a thick line of hot glue around the rim of your tube and set the cone on top. Make sure to put it on straight, and make sure it touches the glue all the way around.



Glue on your wooden half circles as feet. (Or a stand maybe? thrusters? I don't know.) I found these in bags of 100 pieces at Hobby Lobby. However, they were in the clearance section for about $4, so I don't know if they stock them anymore,  but if you are making a bunch of these and can't find the half circles, you could buy wood circles to cut in half. If you are just making one or two, you could use any number of things in their place - paper straws, popsicle sticks, short lengths of dowel rod, etc.


The kids had a blast (hehe) with these, and they were appealing to a wide age group. At VBS I had the kids glue on the paper around the side and glue the cones closed with glue sticks for safety reasons. I and another worker glued the cones to the top and glued the feet on with hot glue. I made some extras for our nursery age kids who didn't get to participate in craft time, and they were a universal hit (ha! I can't stop!).