LOVE Blocks

I mentioned before that I have never been big on Valentine's Day but this year I am really making an effort to decorate with love. Awww, doesn't that sound sweet? The fact that I got to use a 2x4, my palm sander and some paint made this Valentine's project a lot of fun for me. 2x4 projects seem to be like hand bags, you must have one for every season. Or holiday.

I'm still a little apprehensive about using our saw without the Tall Man so every once in a while I'll bat my eyelashes and ask him to cut some pieces for me. I'm blessed with an incredible husband so he's always willing to help me craft. I'm not sure if it's because he really wants to help me or maybe it's because if he's cutting something that means it's most likely going to leave his garage.

Anyway, I asked the Tall Man to cut a 2x4 into some random but similar sized pieces and that's exactly what he did. I sanded the edges with my palm sander, thank you favorite father-in-law, then painted them with some white paint.

I let the paint dry over night and finished them up the next morning. I took a few pages from my designated book page craft book and Mod Podge'd them onto my blocks. If you haven't used Mod Podge before, it's very easy. You simply use a foam craft brush to apply a thin coat of Mod Podge to the block, set your paper on the block and smooth the paper out with an old credit card or I use a Pampered Chef pan scraper thing.

I used the Wall Decor and More cartridge for my Cricut for the letters and heart. Have you seen this cartridge? It is quite possibly my favorite. SO many cute possibilities. After my letters were cut I applied them with a little more Mod Podge then used an ink pad to distress the blocks and book pages a little bit. When the ink was dry I put a thin top coat of Polycrylic over the each of the blocks. They look more finished now.

I haven't finished my Valentine's decor so here are a few simple shots of my LOVE blocks and different ways they could be arranged.

Blessings.

Linking to: Blue Cricket Design, CSI

Making Progress

About a bazillion and two blog years ago, I made a couple posts about laundry rooms. There was my inspiration and a little post that was never meant to be, in the process of working on our laundry room the Tall Man tore his meniscus in his left knee which resulted in his third surgery in as many summers.

Over the past few months I've been working here and there on our little laundry room and I thought I'd update you on the progress. So here is a peak at what it looked like before. So white and cluttered and just blah!

And here it is now. Two different shades of green, the same colors you can find in our home office. The infamous window is hung with a red berry wreath and ivory ribbon. My Tall Man helped again by cutting a piece of wood to replace the plastic coated shelf.

The wall opposite the washer and dryer is where our coat hooks are. These are SO convenient!

There is still a lot of work to do. Touch up work for the most part. Here for instance. I measured for where my paint colors would meet and then ended up having to put the shelf a smidge above the paint line. I had planned on putting a white 1x4 all the way around the room where the colors meet. I can still do that, I just need to get more of the darker green paint and bring it up a bit.

Oh, I also need to replace an outlet cover or two and finish painting around the water hook-ups.

Still a work in progress but we're getting somewhere and that's good enough for me for now. I'll probably finish it this spring when it's warm enough outside I can open windows and doors for some ventilation. I hope I've made you all feel better about your half finished projects. =o)

Blessings.

Linking to: Fingerprints on the Fridge

Valentine's Wreath

I've jumped on the band wagon. The coffee filter band wagon that is. I have wanted to make something with coffee filters for a while and decided a Valentine's wreath would be the perfect first project.

Now I've seen these done a few different ways. You can use foam wreaths, straw wreaths wrapped in plastic or a cardboard cut out. I fully intended on using a foam wreath but for some reason or another I could not make it to the craft store to get one and I really didn't want to spend any money.

So I used a box from Costco, you know the ones they put all your "smaller" items in? Is using Costco and smaller in the same sentence kind of like an oxymoron? I used my biggest mixing bowl to trace the outside of the circle and a smaller bowl for the inside. Just a little tid bit: It's important to trace your big circle first, then you can center your smaller circle inside. Sounds like common sense and maybe it is, but I had to trace mine twice. See the off center circle on my cut out? Oops.

Putting this wreath together was super easy, I had my three little chicks help. First we separated about 75 flat bottom coffee filters. Next we used the eraser end of a pencil, placed it in the center of the bottom of the filter and gathered the filter up, kind of like a flower. Does that make sense?

This next part was the fun part for my chicks. Remove the pencil, keeping the filter gathered and use red craft paint to paint the edges of the filters. If there was a little too much paint we dipped the paint into red glitter for a little sparkle. This was so nice because my girls could kind of go crazy, I wasn't concerned about too much paint or staying in the lines. They could paint them the way they wanted.

Once the paint dried I used hot glue to attach the coffee filter to the cardboard circle. It helped to put the eraser end of a pencil back in the center of the painted, glittered filter. Then all I had to do was put a spot of hot glue on the filter and press it onto the circle.

After all the coffee filters were in place I hot glued this little glittery, beaded heart in the center.

Here is the finished product. I like how it's a little inconsistent and the sparkle isn't all over so it's not too blingy. What do you think?Blessings.

Linking to: House of Hepworths, Fingerprints on the Fridge, CSI

Laundry Room Hook-Up

Let me start by saying "That's not what I meant, you dirty bird!" Hee hee!

You may remember in July my Tall Man was helping me with a laundry room project and ended up hurt. Believe it or not he hasn't sworn off these projects! He actually helped me with another one just before Christmas.

He measured our little laundry room and cut a 1x4 to fit along the wall behind the doors that go into our garage and kitchen. Then he hung the 1x4 right where my two greens meet up. I gave it a couple coats of paint, the same color as the trim throughout our house. It's just barely off white. After the paint dried, my Tall Man helped again by not laughing at me when I measured wrong when planning for the hooks. This was a big help, believe me. After I realized I was measuring wrong, we remeasured and made a few pencil marks for five hooks to go. Then we just screwed in a brushed nickel hook from WalMart for each member of our family.

Here it is!

And here it is being used!

I love it! Now when my little chicks come in from the snow they can take off their wet clothes in the laundry room and hang them on a hook. Wet clothes used to sit in a heap on the carpet in our living room. Hanging clothes in the laundry room above the linoleum floor makes SO much more sense. Plus I can go in and pop the clothes in the dryer to dry them thoroughly and warm them up in the morning before school. They love it when I do that.

I'll show you the rest of the progress in our laundry room in a couple days. Promise.

Blessings.

Linking to: Between Naps on the Porch, House of Hepworths

A Good Read: The Hole in Our Gospel

I read this book in the fall with my small group. Actually the majority of our congregation read this book. It's The Hole in Our Gospel by Richard Stearns, the president of World Vision. World Vision is one of the largest nonprofit organizations in the United States.

The book is not just about Stearns and his journey through life, from childhood to college, marriage and becoming the president of World Vision. It's about his struggle hearing God's calling and obeying His call.

The Hole in Our Gospel is a book that is very much like a face to face confrontation with someone who is basically calling you on your "stuff." After reading this book you definitely have a fire for serving God.

While reading this book our family began sponsoring a little girl from Honduras. Her name is Naomi and she has quickly become a real member of our family. Our girls show their friends Naomi's picture on our refrigerator, they get excited about drawing pictures for Naomi and picking out stickers to send her. I am most proud when I hear "Don't waste water, Naomi doesn't even have fresh water" from my girls bathroom when they're brushing their teeth.

We visited the World Vision U.S. headquarters in November. It was truly amazing to take the tour and see what our monthly contribution is doing for Naomi, her family and even her community. Each of our girls walked away with a new understanding of what millions of children their age go through each day and how truly blessed they are. More than that, my older girls have learned different ways they can help the less fortunate.

I encourage you all the read the 2010 Christian Book of the Year, The Hole in Our Gospel by Richard Stearns.

Blessings.