Easy Abstract Tree Mural

Here's a fun little abstract tree I did for my friend, Becky's nursery yesterday. I know, I know, leaves don't come blue & green! But hey, we wanted to bring in some of the colors of the crib bedding, so they're intentionally blue! And I DID say it was abstract. It turned out really cute & looks great with the decor!

This was VERY easy! If you can color in the lines, you can do this!

1. Draw the basic shape of your tree lightly with a pencil. Don't be afraid to draw on the walls! I have to warn you, though, you may have to talk to your kids about it if they catch YOU doing it! My kids have colored plenty of walls in my house... but how can I be upset if they see me doing the same thing?! No biggy, a moist Magic Eraser (Mr. Clean) will erase any mistakes. **Notice there's a shelf on the wall. Just draw & paint your tree as if it weren't there. It looks fine.

2. Draw, then start painting your leaves. I used 6 or 7 different shades of green. It looks best if you do one color at a time, spacing them out a little.

3. Using the rest of your greens, finish the leaves. Fill out your tree as full as you'd like! You could also paint flower blossoms instead of the leaves... or just leave it bare!

4. Add the blue inner part of the leaves. I used 3 shades of blue. I started with the darkest blue on the darkest leaves, then tinted the blue paint a couple times with white to lighten it & do the lighter leaves.

This is a picture of a tree I did for my friend, Brandy's nursery. Hers was a more organic, flowing shape. To make it look more natural, once the tree & leaves were painted, I added highlights & shadows. If you choose to do this, make sure they're consistent. I mean, make sure your pretend sun is highlighting the leaves & trunk in the places it should be.

These murals can add a HUGE impact to a room for very little cost (IF you do it yourself). Paint is CHEAP!

Embellish your Chandelier

If you're lookin' to add some holiday ambiance (or for a romantic evening), try this simple idea! 

Simply drape inexpensive metallic beads wherever they'll hang. Use clear fishing line (or thin wire) to tie in place if needed. I wanted to hang jewel tassels at the curve under each light, too. I ran out of time & decided I'd better get going on our special dinner! After all, what good is a fancy table setting & blinged-out chandelier WITH NO MEAL???
It was still really cute, though!

Sweetheart Salad

I made this salad for my family for our first course on Valentine's Day.

What says V-day more than a naturally heart-shaped strawberry?

To make the strawberry hearts, just core them (kind of
deeply), and slice in to 1/4 inch hearts. Place on top of
whatever you think might need a little love. ;)

Salad -
Washed Spinach
Red leaf lettuce
Chopped cucumber
Shaved Carrots
Diced Tomatoes
Broccoli florets
Avacados
Chopped ham or canadian bacon

Peach Balsamic Vinegarette-
1 Italian Dressing pouch
Balsamic vinegar (according to directions)
Olive oil (according to directions)
4 Tbsp. peach jam (or any flavor you like)

Easy, but delicious!

Easy Choco-mallow Pops

These are a PERFECT little item to make with your kids. It's so fun & easy!

All you need is:

Shaped marshmallows, Pretzel sticks, & Chocolate chips.

You can top with sprinkles if you have them.

Take a bag of shaped marshmallows (we used the strawberry-
flavored hearts for Valentine's Day), and stick a pretzel
 in the bottom of the marchmallow.

+

Dip them in melted chocolate chips. You can't go wrong here.
Just shake off excess chocolate, and...

 =

Place on wax paper and top with sprinkles. Cool & enjoy.
*Tip: If you like the taste of Charleston Chews, try leaving
your pretzel-stuck marshmallows out un-covered over-night
(or two) and dip in chocolate. It makes 'em chewier. Yum!

These are a quick, inexpensive activity/treat you can make for any holiday. Just buy the current holiday marshmallow shapes & top with corresponding holiday sprinkles.

East 2-step Firefly Murals

I wanted to come up with a fun, gender-neutral decor for my kid's playroom. I was inspired by Stampin' Up's (retired) Bold Butterfly set shown HERE. Except, I wanted dragon flies instead. I though they were so cute & just KNEW they'd be perfect on our playroom walls.

Wow! I just noticed how much the green background varies on different walls in varied light & shadows!
Looks like 4 separate shades!
Okay, here you go:

Step 1- Draw (with pencil) an outline of the wings & a small circle for a head.

                 Paint inside your lines (DON'T worry about perfection)!

Step 2- Using a darker color, outline your shapes making sure to not follow

                 them exactly. Darken where needed. You're DONE!

The cool thing about using this technique, is that it's NOT supposed to be perfect! Notice the darker outline shouldn't line up with the lighter shape. That's what makes it look so cool. In fact, if I were to do it again, I'd make the outlines even more intentionally off-kilter.

Go ahead & try this! It was so much fun!

Here's the view you see when you walk into the room. A futon
is a great choice for a playroom if you'd like to be able to use
your room for guests & sleep-overs. It's also perfect to sit
on while watching movies!

Ug. I think I need a new clock for the wall.

View of the window (notice the fireflies in the fabric)
& closet (where aaaaaaaaall the toys are).

Here's the TV & bedroom door.

Here's the view of their little media center. We love the armoire
computer desk which can be kept closed when
not in use (in case of wire-crazy toddlers).

I'm gonna blog about a frog...

THIS frog. Who says Valentine boxes have to be boxes? And GREEN is a perfect color for the occasion, right? Well, it works for us!



Here he is! He looks love sick, doesn't he?
Lift his tongue to open his mouth.

 

Take a clean, empty can. Hot glue
the lid on.

Trace your can on to the center of a
piece of card stock. Any color will
do; it won't be seen (here's an
opportunity to re-purpose).



Draw legs & eyes. Line up a second
sheet underneath it.



Cut both pieces of card stock out.
Cut the eyes off one of them.

Using those pieces, trace and cut out
4 green felt legs and one set of eyes.
Set aside for later.
(I marked the fronts & backs of
these, but did it on the wrong
sides! Use a pin to mark it so you
don't make my same mistake!)

Okay, now you're ready to roll. Lay your can down on to a piece of felt. Roll it like you would if you were wrapping a gift and cut it AT LEAST a half an inch too big on both sides. Glue it on using a hot glue gun. Overlap the felt on the circumference of the can... just a little.



Glue the extra felt down on
to the rim. Do the same the
plastic lid on the other side.



Now take your circle w/ legs and cut a piece of felt about an
inch bigger around the cut-out. Cut slits all the way around
and start gluing one tab down at a time, gently pulling it in
the direction needed to make it straight against the sides.



This is kind of what it'll look like.

Glue on one pair of legs to cover tabs.
 Line it up as evenly as you can.



Now glue his cute bum to the bottom of the can.
Add a heart.

To cut the mouth out, pinch the
center of the felt and cut to make a
hole to start from.

Do the same thing you did with the backside, to the front.
Wait to glue the inside of the mouth in the next step.
Glue the head onto the plastic lid side of the can. Make
sure it lines up the same as the back (so it stands okay).



NOW, glue the mouth tabs to the inside of the plastic lid.

Glue the remaining legs & eyes onto the back of the head. 



Now, it's ready for YOUR creativity!

 THIS IS THE FUN PART!

Make a mouth at least 1/2" bigger than the hole. Glue
on at the TOP OF MOUTH ONLY!
Add whatever you want now!

"Feed me"!

 That's it! It's not too difficult, but is a little time-consuming. It's worth the effort, though! Let me know if you come up with your own version of this! I'd love to see it!

Here are a few more ideas!

We made the puppy out of a baby formula can. The love
bug is made from a frosting container. Instead of a flap, I
made that one so the whole lid (face) can come on & off.

HAPPY CREATING!

How do you paint the walls of a stairwell???

TUTORIAL

Painting a Stairwell-

It's already a pain to paint up to high-vaulted ceilings, right? But what do you do when there are stairs involved?

Hey, you don't have to call the painters! We're DIY-ers!

Are you scared?
Don't be!

I've got one word for ya: PLATFORM.

I have to give my dad ALL the credit here for this one.

I had no idea how to do this until he threw this bad boy together.

My dad's seriously the most inventive & talented craftsman I know.

This took him like 2 seconds to whip up. Okay, maybe 3 ;)

Anyway, I thought I'd share the solution with ya!

First, take a piece of OSB or any strong scrapboard (about 24"x27") and set it on a stair.

We've used two re-purposed pieces here.

Grab a couple of boards for the legs (these are 1x2's cut
to about 22.5" high **), and place them 4 stairs apart (for
stability). Cut them to the height needed to make the top
of the platform level.

 **Note: Stairs can vary in size, so make sure you build this to fit YOUR stairs.

Now add some support.
He's used another 1"x2" piece to go across the 24" width,
 and another piece of OSB about 14"x24".
Secure (with nails or screws) from the inside along
where the legs would be on the other side.

 You're ready to paint! Place an extension ladder securely to the height you need it & go!

Way to up-cycle! Those random pieces of scrap lumber have turned into something useful!

As you work your way up the stairs, have someone lift the ladder while you move the platform up as you go.

Here it is! We did this at my mom's house a few days ago.
She wanted to cover her muted Paprika walls
with a vibrant Bordeaux Cherry.

 Here's another tip that my neighbor (a manager & paint expert @ Kwal-Howell's) shared with me. If you have heavily textured walls & are having a hard time cutting in a straight line, caulk it FIRST. Doing that will smooth out your corners. Now cut in with a nice, angled brush. No need to tape here!

Use paintable caulk. You can also caulk AFTER you've
painted, but it doesn't work very well with deep colors---
the white will obviously stick out like a sore thumb.
Another drawback to caulking AFTER you've painted is
that it gets dirty unless it's coated with paint
(the paint seals the caulk).

So, you might be wondering, WHERE WERE ALL MY KIDS while we were doing this?

My older 3 kids were at school, and my babies were-



Enjoying a little picnic while watching some Tom & Jerry.

(Hey, check out the entertainment center & mantle!
My oh-so-handy dad designed & built them!)



Hey, you do what you've gotta do, right?

They were actually really good... and it really didn't take us very long since we didn't use tape.

Here's a picture of the finished rooms!
Mom was happy, and so was I.

I. LOVE. TO. PAINT.

Oh yes, I really do!

Looking for a fun, new chore system for your kids?

TUTORIAL

Job Pockets-

***For a fun April Fools idea, scroll to bottom of post***

This is for you moms! Okay, I have to say that my house is far from perfect, but I really do give it a good effort! Living with my awesome, yet cleanliness-challenged family of 7 in very cozy living quarters can quickly take it's toll on you. If I don't get a little help from everyone, it doesn't take long before my house completely over-runs me! This system may not be for everyone. I've found that I have to have 2 or 3 different job systems to rotate between... ya know, to keep it fresh & exciting.

This is one of them that my kids have loved:

THE JOB POCKETS

Here's how to make them:

You'll need a 12x12 piece of card stock, and a regular 8.5x11
sheet of paper to print the pocket on. So, print your page...

If you want a printable version of this, just email me @
fosteramy5@gmail.com

Trim it...

Write your kid's name... or however you want to do it. I'm
choosing, this time, to combine all 3 boys on to one pocket,
 and my 2 girls will share one, as well. I'm only giving them
one job a day--besides, the regular- make bed, clean room,
do homework... for those, they use a check list. I'm making
their one job a little more detailed, though. 

Laminate both sheets. Packing tape or transparent contact
paper works perfectly, too. After you've trimmed them,
tape the bottom of the pocket in place.

Use a small hole punch in each of the 5 corners.

Secure them in place with brads.

Cut & place sticky-back Velcro on the top of your pocket.



Print out your jobs. If you'd like to use mine, I'd be happy
to email that to you, as well. Otherwise, make your own
jobs that will work for your house. I'm only giving my kids
 one "big" job a day---besides, the regular- make bed, clean
room, do homework... for those, they use a check list. I'm
making their one job a little more detailed, though. I put
stars on the bottom so when they're done, they can put
their job inside the pocket--upside down so the star shows.



Trim to 3 3/8" x 8 1/2", laminate, and place the other side of
the sticky-back Velcro on the back. Don't mind the ugly
backs to these! I'm re-using old pages. Haha! Yeah, I guess
I'm pretty thrifty. Hey, but I'm also keepin' it green!

This is what it looks like when you're done! Once they've
completed their job, they stick it in the pocket & proudly
display their star!

This is what I like to see! You could also use a point-
system to go along with this and make each job worth a
certain amount of points. You could write the points
on the stars. Once a week, they can use those points
to exchange for a little allowance or prize or something.

 ***Wait, I have to show you what I did last year for April Fool's Day (seriously one of my FAVORITE holidays)! I gave them each silly jobs. I obviously did it as a joke, but they actually ended up doing some of them! It was hilarious!

Last year, I gave
each kid 3 EASY
jobs a day. I kept
all the pockets
together in one
column. I also
made an extra
pocket to store
the extra jobs in.

 I wrote jobs like:
Pay the bills, Drive the kids to the park, Mow the lawn using scissors, Wash your clothes by hand, Sweep the driveway with a toothbrush,  Jump on the trampoline without stopping for 20 minutes, Touch your nose with your tongue, Tickle Elmo, Count your toes, Sing an opera song--mom's choice, Bark like a dog 10 times, Smell your baby sister's diaper bum, and more. They got a kick out of them!

GOOD LUCK! I hope this works for you!
I'm linkin' up HERE.