Blessings: Vinyl Lettering Photo Wall

So you remember that blank wall I have in my living room that I vowed to do something with? Well, the time has come!

I love, love Uppercase Living stuff (vinyl expressions) even though I have never bought anything for the house. I am on an email list for a rep and right before Hunter arrived I got an email from a rep saying there was a sale on discontinued expressions. A sale!! I have been wanting to turn the wall into a family picture wall (I hope that's not out of fashion!) and wanted a vinyl expression to summarize the wall. I had been looking at ones that said something Family related but then I found this and knew it was the one! Better yet it was on sale! I think it was only about $15.

It arrived right after Hunter was born and then I had to wait for us to get his newborn photos and for those to arrive. Finally, I have the beginnings of my family picture wall! I was going to place 8x10's on either side but one of the frames was hanging funky so that's why I have zoomed in on the one frame...so you can't see the rest of the blank wall space. I love it!

Naptime

This seems to be nonexistent in our house as of late. Hunter will go to sleep at night and stay asleep with no problems. I have to wake him up to feed him. But during the day he fights sleep. Nothing works! He will fall asleep when I'm holding him but as soon as I lay him down he wakes up. I've swaddled him, rocked him, held him, put him in the stroller, just laid him down and still he believes he's going to miss something if he sleeps. I know he's tired during the day because he's so fussy. Suggestions?

Chalkboard Menu

Since I've been home on maternity leave I've been tackling projects I have procrastinated on for years. For example, I just finished my college scrapbook. Yep, 11 years later! Besides finishing up scrapbooks (all during naptime of course if naptimes happens...that's another story) I decided to make a chalkboard. And I am in the process of painting chalk labels on my glass jars that hold flour, sugar etc. Below is the chalkboard I made.


How To:
1.  I bought an 8x10 picture frame I found on sale at Target. 
2.  I purchased black chalkboard paint from Home Depot.  It's on the paint aisle and I couldn't find it so I just asked the paint guy to show me where it was.  I also purchased a small paintbrush with bristles but it might have been better to just buy a sponge brush.
3.  At home I took apart the picture frame and laid the glass on some newspaper.  Then I just painted the glass that came with the frame in even strokes with the brush. I only needed to paint one side. Up close you can see the lines the brush made so the sponge brush might have made this smoother.
4.  Reassemble the glass and frame and hang wherever you want.  This kind of simple crafting I can do!


Korey is helping Hunter to test out the chalkboard by writing his name on it. I love how Hunter is looking at Korey in this pic.

By the way Korey isn't left handed so that's why it's scratchy. If anyone is curious about the cereal in the background it's Honeynut Cheerios (hers) and Cap'n Crunch (his). On another side note the Paris sign is not from Paris. I haven't been yet but my kitchen happens to have Paris pics in it. I hope I'll get to see the city in person one day!

Yay! It's his name. He's ready for Harvard.

We did it Dad!

Korey has decided in addition to it being a menu board it's also a menu request board. The first item he has written on it is some stuffed mushrooms he tasted at a party we went to, recipe courtesy of The Pioneer Woman. He loves mushrooms. Me, I can live without them.

Bumbo's Away!

I recently tried out the bumbo on Hunter. He liked it for a few minutes. He still has room to grow in it. Unfortunately the newborn onesie he is wearing looks way too small for him.