Instagram Pictures Displayed

You may remember when I blogged about my craft room gallery wall:

Gallery wall with winter/Christmas photos displayed.

Gallery wall with no photos displayed - looks so sad. :(

I love having a way to display my Instagram photos in my home.  And I love having current pictures that are evocative of the current season.  These pictures all feel  so summery.  I love it.

Shoutout to Walgreens and their Printicular app for making it so quick and easy!!

Yarn Wrapped Striped Modern Floral Wreath Using Painted Laser Cut Wood Flowers

My friend Amanda asked me to make her a new wreath after the one I made for her here (Felt Flower Wreath) broke.  I searched Pinterest for Pinspiration and nothing jumped out at me.  So then I wandered around Michael's and kept coming back to these laser cut wood flowers.  I could just picture them painted and on a wreath.  Also I'm really into black and white stripes this summer Exhibit A 

 Exhibit B

so I decided I wanted the wreath to be black and white striped.  I found this ribbon that I deemed perfect.

But then when I wrapped it around the wreath form, I didn't like it.

So then I decided to create my own stripes by wrapping black and white yarn. I used double sided tape to secure the beginning and end piece of each yarn stripe.

In the meantime I painted the flowers and had so much fun mixing colors and painting!

 

When the yarn wrapping was done and the flowers were dry, I just arranged and hot glued the flowers on.

 

 

Kind of interesting - after I had made my wreath, I searched online to see if anyone had ever posted anything similar and found this blog at Little Red Window that used pretty similar laser cut wood flowers from Michael's and since she was going for a spring look - the final painted flowers and wreath turned out very different than mine.  Which tells you that you can really put your own personality and style into it.

 

Amanda was happy with the wreath and I think it looks very cheery on her front door!!

Last Weekend

Sometimes there is a lull in my creative projects.  This weekend I rested – I watched TV (the entire first season of Project Greenlight – I know, random choice), read (Defending Jacob – it’s so hard to put down!), saw a movie (Mike and Dave Need Wedding Dates – love the cast), did a ton of laundry, went to the grocery store and cooked.  A few times I thought – I could be doing that project – but then I realized I didn’t feel like doing them  - sometimes that’s how creativity works – sometimes you need to recharge your batteries. 

Anyway, I thought I’d give you an idea of the projects I have germinating in my mind or sitting on my craft table – in “pre-production”. 

1.       Henry’s T-W-O pictures.  (Here are his O-N-E pictures, to give you an idea of what I’m talking about)

2.       Sewing a new shirt using a pattern, which I’ve never done.  I have the fabric and pattern – I just need to be mentally ready.  This is the fabric - and I love it!

3.       An ABC Photo Book for Henry. (similar to the one I created for Hadley here)

4.       Burp cloths for my nephew Kellan – my sister Jordan says she uses them constantly and could really use more – which always makes you feel good when your creative project is actually useful.

5.       A wreath for my friend Amanda, which I actually just finished – blog post to come! 

This weekend I was focused on cooking – which is weird for me.  Sometimes I get to this point after eating too much fast food – or too much unhealthy food – I want to cook healthy, fresh food.

Pretty often, this quote from Jen Hatmaker’s book “For the Love” comes back to me:  "Cooking is not an affliction, and we aren’t incapable women who can’t crack eggs. We should disregard those commercials and remember that feeding people real food has always been a good, noble task."

So I made three new recipes and they all turned out great and I was so proud of myself! 

Cucumber Onion Salad – which feels old school – like something I’ve only had at a church potluck.  My dad even said he remembers his mom used to keep a jar of this in the fridge. 

Glazed Pork Chops – kind of intimidating, but actually pretty easy and delicious.

Pioneer Woman Crash Hot Potatoes – delicious.

So although I don't have an amazing new project to share with you today - this is what I've been up to.

Happy 4th of July!

1. Happy Birthday to my ADORABLE 2 year old nephew Henry!!!

2. Happy Independence Day to you!  I designed this Free Printable as a gift to you!