The wall is finished!

Man this project was a project and a half! It took far longer than I thought it would but I am excited now that it is done. It was time consuming but only took two days working here and there. With a busy little boy, I didn't work on it while he was awake. He would have been lots of help but decided to wait til he was sleeping... :)So after two nights and a little bit in the day- its all finished! It added a lot to the room.

I traced the pattern on the wall first with a pencil. Then I painted inside the pencil lines.

Tips I learned a long the way:
-I was worried about the imperfections standing out and not looking perfect where I just painted over traced lines. In the end you really don't even notice so don't let that stop you! :)
-Trace the pencil lines as lightly as you can so you don't see them through the paint.
-I used a foam paint brush because I felt like I could get it to cover more evenly. Any brush is fine but I like the foam brush the best.

I used the stencil template from here. I loved that I was able to print it out, trace it on cardboard and get going. I also loved that this project cost me nothing!! Even better. I will post another picture later as I get the decor put back up. I'm repainting the mirror right now because I don't like the color on top of the stenciled wall... Anyways, soon I will have it all finished!

Have a great day!!

What was I thinking....

I have wanted to stencil a wall and kept putting it off. I decided yesterday was the day and I was going to do it.... Well needless to say its taking forever. :/ I only get a few minutes in here or there with a busy little boy on my hands... Maybe today during naps I can get a little further.... Or change my mind and paint tan over it and call it good. :) Guess we will see...

Have a great Monday!

Life has been crazy and I haven't posted in a while....

I had a friend who was in the Marines who got killed in action. His fiance and I are are very good friends. It was so neat to see our community come together and do so many things to honor him. It was hard to loose him and I will forever be greatful for the sacrifice for our country and freedom.

It really made me stop and think how fragile life is. I never knew anyone serving our country that was killed while serving. It changed my perspective and made me appreciate my freedom that much more. I have spent more time with family and appreciating all I have. I am so greatful for the freedom we have!

Now that school has started and life is back to somewhat of a routine I will be back to blogging. The end of summer got busy. :)See you all soon!

Yellow vase redo...

I found this cute yellow vase and didn't know what to put in it... I had these brown twig things (don't know what they are really called :) ) but they did not look the way I wanted them to. They lasted about a day til I figured out something new.

I decided to make paper flowers out of an old book. I like it lots lots better! I put paper in the bottom to prop the styrofoam ball up.

Then I started pinning the flowers in. I decided if i just pinned them in, I could pull them out and use the ball for sometihng later if I wanted to.

I think it turned out much better than the look before or staying the empty that it has been for two months. :)

Have a great Wednesday!

First time riding a horse....

The other day was Baby B's first time riding a horse. I wasn't sure whether or not he would like it. A few times we have held onto him and set him on our horses back and he hasn't really liked it. Well needless to say, riding with dad, he loved it!! He did not want to get off. And every time the horse stopped moving he would get mad, wanting it to go again. My husband and I both grew up riding horses so I'm glad Baby B likes it!

Sock Monkey Birthday Party

Baby B turned 1 on the 19th! It waa such a fun day! I'm finally getting to posting his birthday party... It was so much fun! I did it sock monkey themed.

I made cupcakes with red and yellow pinwheels. I did everything brown, tan, red and yellow.

His monkey cake. :) Fun but more time consuming than I thought it would be. It was still fun!

We ended up doing an ice cream bar instead of food. We invited all of our extended family so we figured it was easier.

I made a burlap banner with "Happy Birthday" on it. I also did the banner underneath with a picture each month in the first year of his life. It was fun to look back at each month.

Had to have paper straws! :)

I made a little sock monkey shirt to go along with the theme. Can't see it too well I guess. I just cut it out on the silhouette and sewed it right on! :)

Not loving his birthday hat...

It was such a fun day! I can't believe he is already a year old!