What We Did Wednesday

♫ Rain rain go away…♫ that was the song we sang most of the day. We had a cold, rainy lazy day in this house. I hate rainy days and love them at the same time. I hate that we are stuck inside trying to stay occupied with every puzzle, book, play-doh, and coloring book we have. However, I love cuddling up on the couch with a blanket and watching a movie or listening to the rain hit the tin roof. That is one of the best sounds.

Country life definitely has it perks. Fall is the prettiest time of year. I love all the colors, smells, and weather. Raleigh always says "oooo pretty" when she sees the trees.

Raleigh has been obsessed with watching Mickey Mouse lately. She immediately asked for it when she got up this morning. While she danced to the hot dog song, I made her a Mickey themed breakfast. She will eat anything so this strange combo didn't phase her. This kid is a bottomless pit! Per request: "biscuits, awwberry, badada"

While terrorizing the house & emptying out the toy cabinet, she found this Homedics massager. She could not stop laughing. It tickles like crazy on my feet too. Thank goodness she is so easily amused or I would be drinking a lot of wine tonight to de-stress. 

This is the chalkboard I made today for the Shaklee booth this Friday. If you're in the area {Pleasant View, TN} stop by 24church for their Christmas Extravaganza! Or you can shop online if you can't make it.

Y'all gonna check out the CMAs? I have it recording on DVR right now :D

Have a great rest of the week y'all! 

PB Inspired Growth Chart

Goodbye winter weather & HELLO SPRING FLOWERS!

I hope everyone is enjoying this nice spring weather. It's raining here in Tennessee today but I'm not fretting because I know I won't freeze my toes off when I walk outside. I  am excited to work on more projects now because I won't have to bundle up in 3 layers to go outside. I did manage to get in a few projects this week while it was raining, the porch has now been taken over ;) hehehe.

I have already gotten several compliments from friends that have seen my new growth chart. I got the inspiration from Pottery Barn's growth chart that's here. I was not so fond of the colors or price. I knew that I wanted it to be a beautiful wood tone, so I went with this one. I also had two other projects lined up with wood so I got the quart size.

Supplies:
Stain
Foam brush
Sock/Rag
Sander
Measuring Tape
Decal
1x6x6

First, I sanded down the board so it was perfectly smooth, then started on the stain. Now doing stain you should have a rag or old sock that you don't mind throwing away after using it. Apply the stain with a foam brush, I used one of those cheapy ones. After about 10 minutes, wipe the excess off with the sock. I did 2 coats on each side so it was a perfect walnut color on both sides.

I don't have a machine to make decals, but I know I would probably use it a lot if I had one. Hmmm…maybe I need to do some shopping. So I purchased mine off Jane.com from Shelby's Boutiques on Etsy, I got mine when it was on a great sale, but they are still on a good sale on her page…here. Most of the decals like this that I found on Etsy were almost $20, hers is only $14! She also sent great, detailed instructions on how to apply the decal too. If I ever do one of these again for friends or family then I will go through Shelby again.

I applied the decal & peeled it off. All done! It was quick and painless. I don't have a definite place for it yet, especially since I am bringing 2 other creations in this week, but I will find a permanent home on my wall for it soon. And no I don't keep it outside; I couldn't get a good picture inside because it was such a dreary, gloomy day. This was the best I could get at the time.

Maybe here?

Another thing I love to do is chalkboards. I am making a big chalkboard now, but until then I use my vinyl fridge chalkboard. Here is a fridge chalkboard that I got done a few weeks ago. I learned a few new tricks & love the way it turned out. Check out my Instagram for more chalkboards I've done & some cute baby pics.

 I have to say 18 months is probably my favorite age right now. Raleigh loves brushing her teeth.

Thanks for stopping by & checking us out. Let me know what yal think below in the comments. :)

Enjoy this beautiful Spring weather!

Nursery Makeover Tour

I realized recently that I have never shown Raleigh's room. I just painted and redecorated so I thought it would be a good time to give you a sneak peek.

 Before:

Moved around furniture before painting to see what I liked:

Wow Panoramic was much easier to get everything in at once.

After a layer of primer, because if any room has ever needed it then it was this surprising assault of a room. I had a couple of people say woah when they turned the corner. I have been wanting to change the color for months, but just never got to it. My plan to paint was off-white & gray bold stripes. The hubby didn't want that so I comprised to solid off-white on the top half, and if we didn't like it then I could do the stripes.

I ended up painting at 8pm, 2am, and then again at 7am. The primer we got in before the hubby went to work so I got help with that but was on my own on the late night shift. We had sweet Raleigh's crib in our room during the whole process, of course she didn't mind waking up and seeing us immediately. Yes, I think white would look better with the white & gray walls but I am fine with it this way.

 This bookshelf was actually mine as a kid so I was overjoyed to see that the color matched her crib & dresser. Most of the books are either my old books or my mother's so we definitely have some oldies on there ;)

I guess drawing during class & work finally paid off. This chalkboard is hand drawn.  

The baby monitor being in that corner was genius! Thanks Ashley Taylor! I can see the whole room since it pans & zooms. So when she's pulling all the books off the shelf or rolling on the floor then I can see her. Next to the mirror I am planning on getting some white single picture frames to hang there.

Recognize that yellow mirror & chalkboard poster???

There's the birthday girl pulling her blankies off. I had to get more than one since she loves them. I have to say they are ridiculously soft.

Sorry for the yellowy tint to the pictures. It was kind of gloomy that morning so there wasn't a whole lot of good light. I wanted to tone down after that bright yellow wall because all I ever wanted was a pop of yellow. Someone else *cough* painted since i was 7 months prego when we moved into the house.

Those floors are the big project for me to do in the bedrooms. I DO NOT like carpet. I have always had hardwood & I miss it *tear*. What's your favorite item or feature in her room?

Chalkboard Mania!!!

Chalkboards are sweeping the nation! I jumped on this awesome bandwagon a few months back. I was amazed at what some people can do using this old school method. I have only 1 real chalkboard in my house & it's actually a bunting banner. Which I love because for every holiday I will write on it for Raleigh. I have found that I am not so skilled at free hand writing yet. I learned a few tricks that will come in handy when I make my nice big chalkboard soon, but for now I use the computer. Less messy & frustrating. ;) 

So I designed Raleigh's invitations & her poster in chalkboard theme. I printed her invitations on card stock at my local Fedex Kinkos (seriously when did that happen...little confusing if you ask me) for only $9.96. I made 30 invitations & they let me use their big cutter so I wouldn't go crazy at home cutting out each one & end up stabbing myself with scissors. Then I sealed the envelopes with cute washi tape that matches. They are on their way out now after forgetting them at home several times. The hubby finally just mailed them for me since I have the memory of a goldfish.

I just finished her 1 year poster today since she has pictures tomorrow. I know I know, PROCRASTINATION! I've always been bad at that. This I went to Office Depot & the lady printed it out on 18X24 engineering paper in color for $1.99 sqft. I should've done black & white, it would've only been $2.59 total, but oh well. Here's how that turned out.

Now I am going a little crazy & making seasonal posters & pictures for frames around the house. I love designing these. Shows my creative side a little, well it makes me feel like I have one. ;)

I will show you some of those soon. 

I am thinking of putting some on Etsy, but we'll see. ;)

I just opened my shop & I'm taking pictures to add new things. Chalkboard pennants will be on there soon, plus all my seasonal art. Get them while they are low priced. 

If any suggestions for any seasonal art (like sayings) let me know by email. :)

So what do yal think? Are you on the chalkboard bandwagon too?

DIY Chalkboard Cards

I'm in full party planning mode! Raleigh's birthday is less than 6 weeks away & if it comes up as quick as she's grown up then I better jump on it. It's hard though when she wants to play with me & hug me all day. She is a little speed demon when shes crawling. She is already behind me before I can even make it to the bathroom. I have a feeling that she will be that way for a long time, attached to momma's leg. Like right now she is on my shoulders sticking her fingers in my mouth. Crazy baby!

So for Raleigh's theme I wanted to do a rustic, shabby chic kind of feel. Chalkboards, twine, mason jars, the whole thing. I have the chalkboard banner done already and a few things here and there. I found a cute idea for label cards for food using chalkboard. We loaded up in the car & headed to where...??? HOBBY LOBBY! After searching for cardstock (for her invitations to be printed on) & envelopes, we got started on the best way to make label cards. My friend Ashley found the perfect 12-pk of labels for under $4 & i got 3 sheets of brown craft paper cardstock.

It was super simple to make. I just folded & cut the 12x12 sheets of cardstock into 1/4ths then folded those in half. I ended with 11 labels, because there must've been someone sleeping on the job in the label department. I opened my package & 1 was chopped in half. I was sure glad they all weren't like that. I had a little panic attack when I pulled the first one out & it looked like that.

Then, squirt some glue on the labels & smooth out evenly with a brush (helps it not to make bulges underneath). After that just place them where you want & stick under a heavy book to dry. I had to use a few heavy books since munchkin wanted to play with them.

 When they dried I just covered the label with chalk then wiped off with a wet rag for the chalkboardy (is that a word?)
feel.

I think these will be cute labels for food or tables. Especially good for under $6, since I already had the glue & foam brush. They are everything I wanted in her party theme so of course they are perfect. More to come from party planning mode soon.