Spring Home Tour

Since I've last logged into this blog (about two years ago), there's been plenty of art created and furniture rearranged, but the most precious addition to our family, is a new baby! He's now scooting around with a huge smile on his face, and loving the attention he gets from morning to night. He might just be the cutest baby on the planet... yes, I might be a little biased.

Even though I'm not quite ready to start blogging on a regular basis just yet, I thought I'd sneak on here and share some recent photos while the baby is napping and the older three are outside playing "camping". These photos were snapped after the house was cleaned and the pillows were fluffed; my house does not look like this on a normal day. If you're coming over for dinner, it might, but stop by unannounced and mostly likely you'll walk through legos, and blocks, and school papers and books stacked on just about every table, dirty laundry in a pile, and folded laundry that has a hard time making it to the bedroom closets.

It's fun to look at these clean photos; I love a clean house! But as I'm going through this season of life I'm trying to embrace the messes and love life with these little ones who I've been called to raise. They're precious and much better than a clean and perfect house!

Watercolor Painting Party

We get together with a group of friends in our playgroup once a week to let the kids play while parents relax (a bit) and talk.  This week, we hosted playgroup at our house, you know me.... I always like to throw a little art in the mix.  So, I planned a watercolor painting party for the kids.

I used the printable "I Am A Child Of God" that I originally created as a coloring page.  I changed the text outline color to gray and printed it on watercolor paper for the party.

Each child had their own paper printout and watercolor brushes.  I filled colored polka dot cups with liquid watercolors and wrote the color names on paper in front of the cup.  Having the watercolors already mixed made it really easy for preschoolers and young elementary aged kids to paint (I mixed 1 part watercolor to 4 parts water and the colors were still vibrant!).

In the end, we had a beautiful variety of artwork.  This is my daughter's work, she recently learned about Jackson Pollock and applied his paint splatter technique.  I'll be hanging more watercolor artwork in our house this week!

Of course all little artists get hungry, so we had pretzels and water to refuel.  I used more polka dot cups to hold the pretzels, rainbow colored striped straws to sip water and circle stickers to label clear cups with everyone's name.

Did you notice the food labels?  They'll be available for you to print next week!

Update: Pink Food Label Printable

The Husband's Art

The husband had a team building exercise at work where he was given a canvas, a brush and a painting lesson.  I was envious.... mostly because painting is probably one of the last things you'd ever find him doing while it's something I love to do.  So.... yes, we are two of the most opposite people..... I'm art and color, he's analytical and black and white!  But somehow all of our differences and opposite interests bring us together.  Kinda funny.

During the painting class, the husband said that the instructor gave his team a basic lesson... well, I think his painting turned out beyond basic.  I think it's awesome!  Looking at it makes me feel like I'm laying on a grassy field staring at a perfectly colored midnight-blue sky while the leaves are lightly falling all around (more like Virginia weather, definitely not Texas!).

The painting is now resting on the bookshelf.....

..... and the bold blue color really catches my eye from across the room.  So beautiful!  For the next date night, I think the husband and I need a painting lesson together!

Leaf Art

The kids and I visited the Houston Arborteum a few weeks ago to learn more about the wildlife in our area.  As we walked along the trails, the kids were looking for anything that crawled, slithered or flew above their heads.  We saw so many beautiful sites that day, a few tiny insects and thankfully no slithering snakes (or large animals)!  After our walk, we stopped at the arboretum's park (very fun!) to eat lunch and my daughter saw an interesting leaf on the ground... a heart shaped leaf!  We took the leaf home and it's now hanging on our living room wall....

To flatten the leaf, we carefully placed it inside a heavy book and let it sit between the pages for a few weeks.  When it was completely flat, we removed the leaf from the book to frame it.  I used a paper adhesive to secure the leaf to black poster board....

..... then wrote "love" using a gold Prismacolor maker (just like here and here).

We framed the heart leaf in a quick frame (it's one of my favorites) and hung it on the gallery wall in the living room.....

It's such a quick and easy project (minus the waiting time for the leaf to flatten)!  What's your favorite way to preserve nature that your kids (or you) bring inside?

Free Printable: Beautiful

I've posted a few free printables lately (here, here, here and lots more here).... since I'm on a roll, I figured I'd pass along another because it's beautiful :)

A friend sent me a quote, "if you want to be beautiful, put a smile on your face", that she wanted me to design for a frame in her girl's bedroom.  Her only request was that I use the colors dark pink and golden yellow (well, I'm a HUGE fan of those colors- so this was easy!).

I chose a simple font for the text because I think (most of the time) simple is so much more beautiful.  So after laying out the text, I printed the design, trimmed the edges....

...sent my sweet friend a copy, then of course framed a copy for myself...

.... and now it's available for you, for FREE!  This beautiful wall art is available for your personal use.... so, go ahead.... download, print or just pass along the link... enjoy!

Beautiful Print - Horizontal
Beautiful Print - Vertical

Click the arrow above to download the pdf file.  Print on 8.5x11 paper (preferably white colored cardstock), then trim the edges and frame (or simply tack it or tape it to the wall).  The design is sized for an 8x10" frame.  Beautiful!

Update:  I recently transformed my coat closet into a space that is finally organized and a bit stylish.  I added this print inside the closet, but for it to fit best it needed to be hung this one vertical.

Heart Artwork....

.... just in time for Valentine's Day.  The kids and I had an art day this week and since Valentine's Day is approaching, I thought we'd do some heart artwork.  We cut out hearts using the good ol' 2nd grade method.... fold the paper in half and cut out half of a heart.  We opened the heart, squeezed glue along the fold and stuck the heart to our paper (we used construction paper).  I love how the ends lift up, so 3D!  The heart art is now hanging along the playroom art display string..... it adds a little Valentine's Day love to the room...

After we hung our new art, I realized we also have a lot of other heart art around the house, all created at our kitchen table.  So, maybe one of these will inspire you (and maybe even be your Valentine gift to someone this year?!).

1.  In a hallway leading to bedrooms, I hung a large piece of plywood painted with black chalkboard paint.  I change the chalk-written-words every so often (like here for Thanksgiving).... this month for Valentine's Day, I wrote the words LOVE LOVE LOVE and drew a heart at the bottom...

2.  In my kitchen, I hung a multi-colored painting with pink hearts that my daughter and I worked on together a few years ago.  This was also painted on a piece of scrap plywood.

3.  These simple hand-drawn hearts were made with a fine-tip sharpie marker.  It's hanging on the top part of the gallery wall in the living room, more details about the hearts here.

4.  I have another heart painting that also hangs on the gallery wall in the living room.  I painted a simple, rough heart using acrylic paint and wrote mine and the husbands initials with a gold marker.

5.  And of course I have another pink heart painting.... this one is hung in the dining room.  I used acrylic paint to quickly color in a tiny heart (can you tell my favorite color is pink?) and wrote the date of my wedding anniversary with a black fine tip sharpie marker, more details here.

 

Are you working on any type of heart art?  Do tell....

Guest Bedroom Big Reveal

The guest room is finished!!!  When I walk in the room this is what I see...

Last week, I showed part of the room when I posted about the lyrics I wrote on the black, painted wooden board using a Sharpie paint pen.  I wrote the words from U2's "One".

On the opposite side of the bedroom is a queen size bed and a newly created headboard.  To make the headboard, I took four wooden shutters that were used in the girl's room when we lived in Virginia.  I attached the shutters together using flat straight brackets, then wrapped a twin size mattress pad over the top of the shutters (sideways) and secured it using a staple gun.  Then I wrapped a white flannel sheet over the pad and stapled again.  After the cushion feeling was attached to the board, I added a gray and white striped sheet from West Elm as the fabric for the headboard.  I wrapped the striped sheet over the flannel sheet, then stapled it to the back.  Voila, new headboard!

The nightstand next to the bed is an extra wicker hamper I had.... I placed a mirrored tray on top and added a few books and accessories...

Above the nightstand is a watercolor painting I recently did....  I also gave an update to an old frame by painting it gold using Martha Stewart's liquid gilding.

Ritva curtains from Ikea are hung above the window.... I added black grosgrain ribbon along the edges just like I did in the living room and the girl's bedroom (more detailed directions on adding grosgrain ribbon here).

Along one wall, I placed a bookcase and a few pieces of art.  For the gold and white chevron print, I quickly drew chevron stripes using a Prismacolor marker (just like I used the marker in the dining room)..... they stripes are uneven, but I like the imperfectness.

And here's the best part, the before and afters pictures.  This is the look of the room when we purchased the house a year ago (I had a few ideas and inspiration photos of what I wanted the room to be)....

Then I made some progress unpacking boxes after we moved in the house and set-up a temporary design for the room....

And finally a finished room....

 

.... and ready for a few guests!