Master Bedroom Decor

 I have been married for over two years and in that time I have managed to change the entire color scheme of the master bedroom. It used to be a room my husband slept in by himself but I started making it ours as soon as we chose our bedding together. I had him paint the walls and build me new valances. We bought new lamps and throw rugs. In all that time I had never changed the picture above the bed. It used to be a painting of some type of nature. I think it was a tree. Or maybe an eagle flying in the sky. I don't remember and I didn't take a picture before I tucked it away.

I finally got around to changing what went above our bed after brainstorming a few ideas and adding bits of each of them together to come up with this.

 I love everything about it. The fact that I made three of the elements in it makes me love it even more. The canvas of a rose I bought for 60% off at JoAnn's for less than $5. For that price I bought it thinking if I didn't hang it I could turn it into something better. When I ran out of ideas after deciding on the other pieces I decided to throw that in there for good measure. And to save my sanity.

The wreath I originally was going to make to hang on my door for Valentine's day. It did actually hang there for a while until I got around to putting a nail in the wall for it. The idea had been all around craft-blog-world on the internet but I got the instructions right from The Idea Room. The whole project cost me around $6 and I had the ribbon I used for the hanger on hand in my stash. Much less than I would have spent on a lot of the wreaths out in stores!

The 'B' is for our last name. I luurve anything that involes initials or our monogram. I can't explain it. This project cost about $2. I bought a chipboard 'B' at Hobby Lobby and picked out some scrapbook paper with a red/brown theme to it. I used one of my FAV craft discoveries: Mod Podge and stuck the two together. I did paint the outer edges of the B in brown though since I was only covering the face of the letter.

The center piece is my favorite. Even though it turned out the worst :( I meant to just 'age' it a bit by applying some light brown paint and then wiping it off. I wasn't too careful with my hand and then the rag was more full of pain then it should have been...you get the idea. Not my best moment. Anyways, I got the canvas months before I actually got around to turning it into this. It was 50% off at the Hob Lob so it only cost me $4! I put the words on it by using simple iron on transfers printed using my own inkjet. I wish I would have tried some more research on how to do this since if you stand at a certain angle you can tell it's iron-on. But, I still love the outcome. The designs are actually rub on flourishes I found in the scrapbook section of JoAnn's during a 40% off sale so they were pretty cheap too. My favorite part of this one is that it's the second reading from our wedding day.

 

I've actually already had two requests to help people do this for their own homes using their favorite pieces of scripture or passages from their own weddings. I'm keeping this one filed away for future wedding/shower gifts.

Cookie Monster themed Birthday Party

Our Little C-baby turned one recently. I credit her with my craft addiction coming back. I gave birth to her and whammo! I am visiting Joann's at least once a week to try something new.

I wanted her birthday party to be extraordinary but of course it couldn't break the bank. About six months (yes, I am a planner) before the party I chose the theme "C is for cookie C is for C-baby"...yes, we did use her real name. I began buying things and filing ideas away. It all paid off! The party was cuter than I ever imagined it could be.

First, I bought everything in blue. This is tough to do when all of the party supply companies are telling you that your daughter's 1st birthday MUST be in the color pink. I went to the Dollar Tree and Wal-Mart and got blue plates, napkins, cups, silverware and tablecovers. I did pick up some clear silverware and a pack of rainbow striped napkins to throw in some non-blue elements too.

All of the decorations and little bits I made myself. I made some blue pom-poms a la Martha's tutorial and hung them from the cieling.

I made cupcakes for the kiddies and displayed them on my cupcake stand that I decorated with blue tulle. I also made a whole bunch of different kinds of cookies for dessert and everyone got a goodie bag of cookies to take home. I loved following my theme. Oh, and cookie crisp cereal was what I used to decorate the cupcakes and smash cake. I had a blue feather boa that looked somewhat muppet-ish so I threw that on the table too.

The morning of her one year picture shoot I decided she needed name blocks. I had found a box of wooden 'counting blocks' at a montessori school closing sale a few months ago so I used those and some scrapbook paper that matched her outfit all cut out using my Cricut. I lef them out for the party too.  Don't you love the artwork above our mantel? This is in our basement , don't worry.

I also made that happy birthday banner using my Cricut Personal. I orginally was going to stick to the theme and use blue and brown paper but decided I could get more use out of it this way. I punched holes in each piece and strung some twine through them, taped it on the back and tied coordinating ribbon in between each letter.

I did something fun for the kids cups and they were a hit! I bought plain blue cups and googly eyes at the dollar store and glued them on with a black cardstock mouth and look who we have!

Below is my last piece of creativity I documented. I simply found pictures of cookie monster online, printed them and mounted them on cardstock-blue of course. I glued that to a large craft stick that I wrapped a pipe cleaner around. The Number 1 and the C are all made with my Cricut and I glued those on to craft sticks as well. I stuck the leftover tulle from the cupcake stand into a tall square vase and this was the centerpiece of our buffet table.

Welcome to my world

Here you will get to listen to my ramblings of what I do with my free time. It may seem like I have a lot of free time from the amount of things I will show you but I do all these things during nap time. My full time job is that of trophy wife and super mom. I spend my day taking care of our home and keeping the little girl out of mischief to the best of my ability.

I have always thought of myself as crafty and creative but it was hidden away for years after I got out of college and entered the working world <dun,dun,dun> the surefire killer of all things fun :) After our little C-baby was born last year my addiction came to light again. God bless my husband for being so supportive and understanding. He doesn't know how he finds himself walking the aisles of Joann Fabric or sitting in the car while I 'run in for one thing' at Michaels. But, he doesn't complain.

I have tried my hand at a lot and am semi-decent with the results. I make things for our daughter from hair bows to blankets to toy. I have made so much home decor and saved so much money in the process it isn't even funny.

Along with Joann's, Michaels and Hobby Lobby have I shared my obsession with my local thrift store? Stay tuned for more on that one...