I thought about what I wanted to do, and I thought it would be fun to create a subway art board of all the places I’d like to travel to with my family.  So my husband and I made a list of all the places we’d like to go someday and I sent her the list.  It was a LONG list.  And sweet Tara, she put it all together in a subway art arrangement in the dimensions I wanted.  And then she changed the text to the font I wanted as well!  She cut it into a stencil for me rather than vinyl letters (which I actually kind of regret now) and it was perfect.

To start this project, I cut a piece of plywood to about 32″x4 feet.  Then I stained it with Walnut wood stain.  I’ve been staining a lot of wood lately for various projects and my 3-year-old was helping me.  He was having a great time and did a great job!

To apply the vinyl, I laid it on top of my wood and Will helped me while I peeled off the backing carefully.  It took awhile because of all the letters with little insides (remember it was a stencil) but I finally did it.  And I could not have done it without Will’s help.  I flipped it over and pressed it on, using a credit card to really keep it down.  Then we carefully peeled off the other side.

The Craft Fail Part:

To paint it, I made the giant mistake of using white spray paint.  Maybe some of you out there have been successful with spray painting stencils but seriously, it looked terrible.  And since spray paint has this weird sticky ingredient, it made it all the more a nightmare.

What was the prob with the spray paint, you ask?  First off-it seemed to just disappear into the wood unless I really sprayed it good.  So it used a ton of paint.  Secondly it was an uneven coat.  And finally, it leaked through the vinyl and smudged the words horribly.  So I personally don’t recommend using spray paint.  I wish so much that I’d used acrylic craft paint.  Peeling the vinyl off was a hand-staining nightmare.  My fingers were sticky for hours.

So since the words came out all smudgy and ugly, I could have bailed and re-done the whole thing.  But I was not in the mood and fortunately I tend to like really rustic and weathered looking stuff.  So I went that route.  Here’s my new motto:

When in doubt, use the mouse sander.

Seriously, my sander has resurrected so many of my projects (which usually are wrecked due to spray paint.)  So I went to town on my sign with some 220 grit and made it all old looking.  And finished it with some spray gloss.  To hang it, I used one of those wire and eye-screw thingys like on my other sign.

I’m not gonna lie, it took awhile to get used to.  For the first several days I was kinda sad when I looked at it, always squinting to imagine what I really wanted it to look like.  But now I’m used to it and I really do like it.  I love where it is located in my living room, adding some vertical height.

But if I had to do it over again, I would either paint it with acrylic craft paint or just do the vinyl on the wood.  The vinyl on the wood would be a million times easier but I like the feeling of it actually being painted on.

When we get into a house, I want to put it in a place where I can start hanging pictures all around it of all the places we HAVE been on that list. You know, when we start actually living our lives.

Do you want to make something like this?  I recommend Tara from A Mustard Seed Dream–super easy to work with and she does a great job! 

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You know that little box over thar with all the faces that says 2025 or something?  Ya, that means that 2025 of you won’t be able to read this fabulous blog.  March 1st is the day.

So I just wanted to let you know that you and I can still be friends, if you wanna.  I wanna.

So to see the latest blog posts, you can…

Follow me through RSS Feed (it’s that little tiny box over thar under my picture that says 3124 or close to it.)

Sign up for updates to be sent to your email.  (Below my Facebook box on the right)

Follow me on Facebook (Bonus–get to answer all my pointless questions and listen to more whining!)

Follow me on Twitter (as long as you are okay with me responding to you three weeks late)

And if you wanna see me elsewhere…

Follow me on Pinterest (I am an excellent pinner.)

And soon to come (when I figure it out) follow me on Google+

And if you really can’t get enough of me…

Email me and I’ll give you my address so we can hang out.  But call first.  Seriously.

No matter how you choose to follow me, just make sure you and I are connected by one of those ways before March 1st because I would be super sad to lose any of you.  Unless you are just looking for an excuse to drop me…in which case I understand.

PS..did you notice my awesome drawing? I know, how could you not.  I’m sure you’ll be seeing many more of those to come.

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I was talking to my sister and she mentioned that her biggest milk-killer was not getting enough sleep.  And Saturday night I’d gone to bed at 2:30 am.  So Monday night I went to bed earlier and the next day my supply was fine.  But last night E woke up at 4 am, then 5, 6, and 7.  And I dwindled again today.  Sigh.

So. Very. Tired.

Click for Source

New plan:  go to bed by 11 every night.

Other new plans:  I’m starting up Weight Watchers again this week and continuing with the Powerade and Fenugreek.  And now that my hubby’s darn Board exam is over (today!!) I am going to start running early in the morning a few times a week.

I’ve also been experimenting with different bottles, trying desperately to get E to start drinking from them.  I tried a Playtex Nurser, which she liked the nipple, but not the flow.  Those are the ‘drop-ins’ kind with the plastic bag and it makes the flow different than a normal bottle.  She got frustrated with it.  Then I tried the Avent because the nipple shape was similar to the Nurser and she took to it!  She drank almost the whole thing.

Okay, I’m off to bed.

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In the meantime, I wanna show you this sign I made:

I just finished re-doing my dining room gallery wall. Before was a sad story…black, black, black. And outdated pictures.

 I was sick to death of the black frames I had for years and wanted to infuse this wall with lots of color and brightness.  So I sprayed the frames green and glazed them with dark brown to give it an aged look.  Then  I took my kids outside and did some pictures.  I love how the color pictures look in the bright color frames.  And yes, I did coordinate my baby girl’s outfit to go with the colors.  Haha.

The instructions on how to make this type of sign is very straight forward.  I used some old planks I had leftover from another project.  I mixed acrylic paints to get the right colors and painted them.  And I distressed them a little by rubbing the planks together on the edges.

I picked this super cute quote from Winnie the Pooh because it reminded me of childhood and it was so sweet.  I cut out a stencil in my Silhouette and here are my tips:

1) You might want to use contact paper but if it’s clear, don’t do it!  It’s really hard to see when you put it on the wood and near impossible to get it straight.  That’s why the word ‘day’ is crooked…because I used my clear contact paper first.  Once I switched to black vinyl it was a zillion times easier.

2)  Trim the vinyl on a paper cutter so you can line it up along the bottom or top.  That’s how you can keep all the words straight.  I wish I’d known all this stuff when I started.  Maybe I wouldn’t have stayed up till 2:30 am finishing.

3)  When you paint the stencil, use the blotting method rather than back and forth strokes.  And then remove the stencil before the paint has dried.

To get all the planks together, I just super glued them.  And I used a wire thing for a hanger.  If that’s vague enough for ya.

Linking up to:
Blue Cricket Design
Organize and Decorate Everything

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Click and drag to copy. This is sized to an 8×10.

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I know it’s a bit early for this type of summery decor, but remember where I live, this is the best weather I get. Plus I love sisal and beachy stuff. In case you hadn’t figured that out yet.  I really like it!

This is pretty straightforward. My photo tutorial has two pictures because it’s so easy, I didn’t want to insult your intelligence.

Start out with a foam ring and some rope. I started the rope by hot glueing it down.

Then I began the wrapping. It was like putting lights on a Christmas tree…a lot of awkward looping and I got scratched a lot. The weirdest thing was that even though I was pulling the rope tight, it started to slant instead of being straight up and down. And as it went along, it was even more slanty. So to fix this problem, I just spaced the rope out a little more. It didn’t look quite as tight as I’d like, but I didn’t really care.

To end it I just cut the rope off where I’d started and hot glued it again. And the white fabric is just strips that I wrapped around and pinned.

Linking up at:
Lolly Jane Boutique
Blue Cricket Design
Organize and Decorate Everything

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So I’m finding that I’m SLOWLY losing weight no matter what I do.  I follow all my points to a T and I lose a pound.  Then I throw caution into the wind and eat like a pig and lose a pound.  Huh.

On another note, I’m having milk supply problems.  After I weaned her from the shield, my supply got better and I didn’t have to supplement anymore.  But no matter what I did, I never really made much milk in the evening, for her last feeding before bed.  So I would try to give her a bottle.  But suddenly my fastidious baby turns up her nose at bottles.  The same baby who drank bottles just fine a month ago.  And even still she will take a bottle in the middle of the night.  So I nurse her anyway so she can comfort herself but I always worry that she is still hungry.

But now my milk starts dwindling in the early afternoon.  Thanks to my advisory board (also known as the Honeybear Lane Facebook Page) I am now taking Fenugreek and Mother’s Milk herbal tea.  I’ve only taken it for a day, so I’m hoping it helps.  For those of you who have taken these supplements, how long does it take for them to start working?  And how much does it really help?

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Some love dies away slowly and some is eternal.

There is the undying love that a mother has for her children.  The kind that makes you want to squeeze your little ones tight and never let them go and kiss them a hundred times over.

There is the love that a man has for TV.

There is the love that a woman has for chocolate.

There is the love for nature, for the beach or the mountains…the feeling that the earth can bring you of being one with yourself.

There is the love that one has for their passion, the thing that drives them…whether it is their career or creativity.

There’s the love that you have for your family and friends…the kind that is always there, steady and even…even during those times when you might not like them so much.

There is the kind of love that you have when you are 16, when you think you are in love…the kind where you love to say “I love you” just because it’s new and fun and you hold hands even when you are driving and he is in the back seat.  

There’s the kind of love that you have when you truly fall for the first time, even against your better judgement and you are deliriously happy until one heartbreaking day when it’s all over and gone, as quickly as it came.

There’s the kind of love that you are unsure of, that you don’t know whether or not it’s real and you never really got to find out if it was.

There’s the love that grows over time with friendship, you spend so much time together and one day you realize you can’t live without him.

There’s the love that comes out of nowhere, when you realize you’ve met The One who will make you feel loved, special, and safe for the rest of your life.  The one who sees into your heart and knows you are so much more than a pretty face.

And there’s the love that accepts you at all times, even when you are wearing sweaty pjs with holes and food on them, bed hair and glasses.  And even when you fart.

Happy Valentine’s Day!

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It looks like a lot of work, right?  Would you be surprised to know that it wasn’t?  That the whole project took me only a few hours?

It’s a great beginners pattern with a NO-SEW top!!

The basic concept is an old one:  cut strips of fabric and then weave them like a basket.  Actually I’ve never woven a basket so I don’t know if that’s quite the right description.  But that’s what I’m calling it regardless.

The biggest trick to this idea was the way to transfer the whole woven top without it coming apart.  I really wondered how this would be possible.  At first I tried packing tape but that was a sticky mess.  Finally it came to me:  freezer paper!

Get the full tutorial after the jump!

Materials:

• 1/2 yard of three different color fabrics, cut into 2″ strips OR 1 jelly roll
• 1 yard of cream/white colored fabric, cut into 2″ strips
• 1 yard of backing fabric of your choice
• 1 yard of low-loft batting
• 1/2 yard of binding material (or use leftover strips of fabric)
• Thread/Safety pins
• Freezer paper
• Tape

I drew this out so it would be clear in case you don’t know how to weave. For the top, you’ll want to cut approximately 15 or 16 strips for one side and 18-20 strips for the other.  For this quilt I cut one side from three fabrics (green, blue, orange) and the other in all cream.  The colored strips were cut 44″ and I think the cream was a little shorter, because I was using up scraps.  Make a grid (I did this on my kitchen table AKA my craft table) and let the strips hang over the sides) and tape down the strips like shown.

Then you start to weave. Bring one top strip down and then one side strip over. Bring the next top strip down and then the next side strip over, but tucking them under and over. Another method is to bring all the strips from one side down and then weave in the other side’s strips. Whichever is easier or more fun. Because really, it’s pretty fun. Just do it in a spot where your little ones can’t mess it up if you can’t finish it all at once.

Once you’ve woven the top, make sure it’s all tightened up so that all the fabric is touching and there are no holes.

Then you will take freezer paper and lie it on the top, shiny side down. This top took two large pieces. I lay it over and ironed it on on the cotton setting with no steam. The freezer paper adhered to the fabric and kept it all together. Then I folded the top in half and put it out of the way.

Next I lay a yard of my backing fabric right side down on the table (or floor if you want). It’s a good idea to tape it down, although I didn’t because I was in a rush. You can follow my quilt basting tutorial here or keep reading.

After the backing fabric, you place a piece of batting that is same size or slightly smaller, and finally the woven top. Don’t take the freezer paper off yet!

After you’ve made your quilt sandwich, you’re going to start safety-pinning. I safety pinned all along, every several inches. I rolled the quilt up as I went along to make things easier.

After the enter quilt is pinned, I sewed a border around the perimeter of the quilt to keep those ends together. I always use the edge of my presser foot as my seam allowance guide. So I lined up the edge of the presser foot with the edge of the outermost woven strip (not the little outer pieces that aren’t really woven, they will be cut off) and sewed all around the perimeter. Make sense? And yes I sewed right through the freezer paper.

After that step, I carefully removed the freezer paper. Everything is together so now all I have to do is quilt it!

To quilt, I just sewed about 1/4 inch from the edge of each strip. It makes a grid, which is quite delightful, I think.

To finish the quilt, I used my perfect machine binding method. Then I threw it in the washer to get the ragged wrinkly quilt look. Yay!

This was a fun experiment and I’m really happy with how it turned out.  Try it sometime–especially if you can’t even sew, just do the top and have a sewing friend do the quilting/binding part.  It’s something to be proud of!

Linking up to:
Lolly Jane Boutique
Blue Cricket Design
Organize and Decorate Everything
Sew Much Ado

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This one drew me in with the bright bold colors. I love that it uses raw edge fabric and quilted fabric. Plus the argyle pattern is awesome!

If this quilt had letters instead of numbers, my 21-month-old would be all over it. He’s obsessed with the Alphabet! (Did I mention he knows all his letters by sight and sound? He’s a smart cookie.)

Not exactly quilts, per se, but these blankets are so plush and cuddly and I’m sure a nightmare to make (because of that slippery minky.)

I wanna do this for my kids someday. Like maybe when they go off to college…nothing says “Congrats on Becoming a Man” like a quilt with your name on it.

This one is modern and simple. I love the color blocking.

I got more quilts on my Quilts Pinterest Board–check it out for inspiration!

(Click Pics for Image Source)

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