20 Minute 4th of July Wreath

I made a festive patriotic wreath for my front door last night.  After all, I didn't want the neighbors to think I didn't appreciate all the freedoms we all enjoy everyday.  Freedoms such as life, liberty and Happy Hour at Sonic.  These things must be celebrated!

So I celebrated....on my front door....with a wreath.  And I'm not kidding,  it took me 20 minutes start to finish!  That even included taking off all the spring decor I had pinned onto it.

Easiest Patriotic Wreath You'll Ever Make

1) Wrap ribbon around wreath form and use pins to keep it in place (then the wreath is reusable too...bonus!).

2) Make some cute paper crafted fireworks out of scrapbook paper (instructions HERE).

3) Pin the "fireworks" on as you see fit.

4) Hang on front door!

Link parties I participate in: Tip Junkie, Sugar Bee, Not Just a Housewife, Someday Crafts, Tatertots & Jello, I Heart Naptime, Lolly Jane, Be Different Act Normal, Craftomaniac, Today's Creative Blog, Sister's Stuff, Flamingo Toes, Skip To My Lou

Contributing To Society

I'm over at I Heart Nap Time today with my first contributor post!

Stop by and check it out!  And if you leave a gushing comment over there (so Jamielyn thinks it was the best decision of her life to pick me as a contributor, obviously) then I'll put an extra gold star next to your name!  That's right, I have a giant gold star chart with every commentor's name on it.   Don't be creeped out.  :)

Here's a teeny, tiny sneak peek at what is over there:

Fourth of July Printable

I needed something to replace my spring printable in my spray painted Goodwill frame.  I'm thinking this might be a regular feature here on LS,LD.  Yes,  I'll title it "Landee Switches out one 5x7 Image for Another 5x7 Image" or something super catchy & exciting like that.  Coming soon to a website near you!

Anyway.... ::ahem:: I made myself a cute printable for the Fourth of July!  And, even though I AM super lazy, I still went ahead and made an 8x10 one as well in case that is more to your liking.

I stuck with the bunting because it is so darn cute & festive.  I also prefer to leave my background white or mostly white so it's not a complete ink hog (<---- just in case you were totally wondering about my deep philosophy on printables).

Here is the 5x7:

And here is the 8x10:

Click on image to enlarge, right click and save!

Link parties I participate in: Tip Junkie, Sugar Bee, Not Just a Housewife, Someday Crafts, Tatertots & Jello, I Heart Naptime, Lolly Jane, Be Different Act Normal, Craftomaniac, Today's Creative Blog, Sister's Stuff, Flamingo Toes, Skip To My Lou, CSI Project

Garage Steps Can Be Pretty Too

With the warmer weather arriving, it was high time I did something about the pathetic state our garage had fallen into during the winter months.  A couple of weekends ago, my husband and I power washed the heck out of that thing.

Do you have a power washer?  It is so choice.  If you have the means, I highly recommend picking one up (name that movie!).   You could have eaten off that garage floor when we were done.

Anyway, after it was all clean, I started looking at ways I could spruce up the place aesthetically.  Is the garage immune to looking nice & pretty?  I say no.   And I had my sights set on the steps.

Here is a before picture.  So blah.  And unnecessarily so.

I went and got myself a pint of turquoise paint to match my glorious wall of bins (which I will post about soon) and painted them.  

Ah, much better already!  Even my garage can't escape my complete and utter obsession with that color.  

But I wanted them to be a little something more.  I wanted them to be personal and welcoming.  So I had Shelly at Say Anything Expressions (my fab SIL, btw) send me the negative space of some vinyl lettering for stenciling purposes.   I wanted a little saying that would make everyone who walked up those steps feel glad they were there.  (***Stencil now available in my Etsy shop!  HERE is the listing)

I lined up the phrase where I wanted it to go and then took off the backing and applied it to the steps just like I would if it were the positive space of the letters.

I then mixed these two whites (one flat and one with a little shimmer)...

And began painting/stenciling with a foam brush.

When it was (sorta) dry I peeled off the vinyl.

I think I probably should have taken my own advice and sealed it with Mod Podge or even the turquoise color first.  There were some spots where the white paint seeped under the vinyl that I needed to touch up later.  It makes sense since those steps are not exactly nice & smooth.   Learn from my mistakes, people!

But, after a little touching up and a quick shot of clear acrylic spray paint to help protect it I got this!

I finished this, made dinner and then had to run to a church meeting.  And I have to admit, even though I had done this just a couple of hours before, it was nice to read this when I got home.  Isn't that funny?  I was like "Yay!  Someone is so happy I'm home!"  I hope my kids and husband feel the same way when they get home from their various activities throughout the day.

It's the little things, right?

Exciting Happenings (well, for me, anyway)

So, little Landee has some exciting things coming her way these days.

First of all, I currently have my very best friend and roommate from college here visiting with her family. Is there anything better than an old friend who knows, literally, EVERYTHING about you? I'm thinking no. Nothing better.

Secondly, cute Jamielyn of I Heart Nap Time has asked me to be a contributor on her blog!

I was so excited when she asked me to be her "Home Decor/Crafts" person.   She made the announcement here.  Of course now the nerves have set in as I realize I will actually be expected to deliver something fabulous on a regular basis.  Yikes.

I will definitely keep you posted as to when it is my turn over there.  I think my first time will be June 22nd.  If you see anything I can do/copy/steal/Landee-fy, will you let me know?  The pressure is on!

Clock Make Over

So, I recently painted some huge gray and white stripes in my kitchen.  I'm officially in love and I kick myself at least once a day for not doing it sooner.

Of course that meant that a certain clock which I looked at at least 1,000 times a day no longer went with my new chic decor.   The Decorating Snowball Effect was set into motion and the clock got a whole new look.  I originally made this clock at a Super Saturday at my church.  It is basically an MDF round which was routed out in the back to hold the clock mechanism.  I've seen the rounds for sale in craft stores for about $19.99?  Maybe less... I can't remember.

Here is what it looked like before.  Not to mention the boring walls.

The Family Time Clock Make Over

First step was to remove the clock mechanism and peel off the existing vinyl.  I then spray painted that bad boy the same color as the other accessories in the kitchen (Rustoleum Aqua).  

I then glazed it using the same technique as the family frame I made for my SIL.  Wipe on...wipe off, Daniel-san.   I wiped it off in a circular pattern to give it some depth.  It's subtle but I like it much better than a flat color.

 I then painted the routed edge white.

Then comes the fun part.... applying the vinyl!  There are few things more gratifying than peeling back that transfer tape.

I cut everything using my Silhouette SD.  The shapes I used were:

• scallop artisan shapes
• 1 piece circle frame
• frame (seriously, that's what it's called...?)
• decorative oval frame
• 'families are forever' circle

And here it is with all the vinyl applied and the clock mechanism put back on.  Please ignore that random swatch of fabric taped up there....I'm trying to figure out some curtains.  

Ah, but we're not QUITE done.... (P.S. Did you know 10:10 is supposedly the most "pleasing to the eye" time?  If you look at clocks in magazines and catalogs they are almost always set to 10:10... weird, huh?)

Next I printed off some of my favorite pictures onto cardstock, punched them out with my 2" circle punch and taped them on to the blanks.  I figured that was the easiest way to make it so I can switch out the pictures whenever I wanted.

I added pictures from when my kids were babies.  Some recent photos.  And one from when the husband and I got hitched.... (wait, see?  Now it's 10:13 and that clock is hideous!  :)

It's subtly symbolic of the passing of time and yet a visual reminder of our eternal family.  

 I know.... I'm super deep like that.

We now refer to the time as something like "Hurry! We are late!  It's already Big Jack:Baby Tanner o'clock!"  Of course then it takes us a few minutes to figure out what time that really is as we search for the pictures and we are even later.  But it's totally worth it.

That's 8:20 in case you were curious.