Father's Day Art

It's really hard to buy gifts for my husband.  He doesn't want or need many things and when he does, he buys them.  Occasionally I can beat him to it, but I usually end up buying him exciting things like new socks or underwear.  My solution to this problem is to have the girls make things for him that are both sentimental and help decorate my house. :)  I used this technique for our Valentine's Day gift as well,  although he took that one to work so I had to make a duplicate!

This is the gift we made for him last year.  The story behind this is that when Camille was about two she started telling us, "I love you so much!" and she would say it 100 times a day.  It was ridiculously adorable.  What made it even more precious was her squeaky little two year old voice.  She was truly speaking from her heart and I tried so hard to cherish it each time, knowing there would be a day when she would grow out of it. 



Supplies:
Canvas (this is 11x14)
Letter stickers or vinyl stencils
Paint
Paint brush or foam brush (or even sponges!)
Mod Podge

Step 1: I adhered the stickers to the canvas and then sealed them in with Mod Podge to help minimize bleeding and to keep them from moving while Camille was painting.
Step 2: I knew Camille wouldn't cover the whole canvas with paint so I painted it a very light blue because I didn't want a lot of white in the background.
Step 3: Camille got to work with a few different shades of grey-blue and a little white.  She used a combination of her hands and a foam brush.  I tried to give her each color separately so she didn't end up just blending them all into one shade of blue.
Step 4: We added a few heart "stamps" courtesy of a cookie cutter.
Step 5: We let it dry and then I carefully removed the stickers.



Unfortunately the story ends as I expected it would.  Camille says this phrase occasionally but it's usually just "I love you" and not 100 times a day.  I love having this reminder of her sweet words hanging in our bedroom where I can see it everyday, and I think my husband likes it too! ;) 

PS. Camille just hopped in my lap as I was typing this and I asked her if she remembered saying "I love you so much!" all the time.  She responded with "I love you so much, Mama!  I still know how to say that!" :)


Jenny


Linking up to...
Days of Chalk and Chocolate One Artsy Mama Weekend Bloggy Reading Positively Splendid

New Family Photos!

It's been two years since we've had family photos taken, which may not sound like a long time, except in our last photos Camille was only a year old and Lila was 4 months away from being born!  I was so excited to finally get some pictures of us as a family of four!  My good friend Becky of Studio 623 Photography has taken photos of our girls as newborns, babies, and toddlers and of us as a family. 








These are just a few of the pictures I loved.  There were over 100, so I'm going to need to make a photo book to use all of my favorites!

In other news, I'm the guest host this week at the Mingle With Us Blog Hop!  So fun!

Happy Go Lucky
 
 
AND, I won my first giveaway!  I entered at Pincushion Creations and won a darling rolled flower pin from Sarah at the Winthrop Chronicles.  I am so excited and can't wait to see it!


Jenny

Chronicles of a Big Girl Room: Curtains

Camille's room has been window coverless ever since we moved.  We debated a variety of different covering options, although I knew I wanted some type of curtain no matter what.  Her window is 8 feet wide and almost as tall as the walls in the room (including the woodwork).  When I started shopping curtains I quickly discovered that I would need a double width panel on each side just to be able to close them, and that started looking pretty expensive.  Not to mention that I wasn't thrilled with my options.  The answer was obvious- I was going to have to make the curtains.  Luckily, while researching curtain making tutorials, I came across this fantastic one by Miss Mustard Seed.  Lining the curtains was important for her room for both extra light blockage (she's not really an early riser so we didn't necessarily need blackout panels), and because her window is one of the first things you see when looking at our house.  I love that MMS describes them as like a big pillow case because that's my kind of sewing! 


I thought I would end up using a subtle fabric like a small polka dot or something similar, but when I saw this Premier Prints Suzani in Maggie/Candy Pink I knew it was the one.  I love that it's a home decor fabric, so it's a nice weight.


To make these I started by cutting my fabric off the BIG roll they sent me (I bought extra for another project). I measured 6 inches longer than I actually needed.  This is where I ended up having an issue.  I washed the fabric (and air dried) after I cut it and guess how much it shrunk??  SIX INCHES!  Uh oh.  I will definitely keep this in mind when I make the curtains for Lila's room! 

I used the cheapest white twin flat sheets I could find as the liners.  I ended up cutting a few inches from one side to match the size of the curtain fabric.  Before I washed the fabric, the sheets were a few inches shorter than the curtains, which was fine, but in the end, they were slightly longer.  Just a small hiccup in the plan.

I pinned them right sides together and started sewing.  I sewed the two sides and top together and left the bottom open so I could determine how much (if any!) I would be able to hem.  The hemming ended up being super tricky because they were basically the exact right length unhemmed. :(  Unfortunately the ends were rough and stringy, and the liner was longer than the curtain fabric, so they definitely needed to be finished!  I ended up using the smallest possible hem, and they just barely hang above the ground.  Our carpet is kind of fluffy, so maybe that helps. :)  I also steamed them after I put them up, so that may have helped too!  


I really wanted these to be back tab curtains, so I found a tutorial somewhere on using iron on hem tape to create the tabs.  I didn't think about it until I got to that point, but I realized that having the tabs only ironed onto the liner would probably make the curtains hang funny.  I needed an easy solution (not a confident seamstress!) so I cut strips from the leftover sheets with my pinking shears and hand sewed them about every 10 inches or so across the top of the liner.  I used an invisible stitch, so you can't see it from the front.


I'm pretty happy with how my first curtains turned out!  They only took me two days to make which really surprised me.  In the end I used about 5 yards of fabric at about $7 each and two $6 sheets, so the total came to $47.  Not too bad for custom curtains!  I'm excited to make another pair for Lila's room so I can use what I've learned and improve my technique!  I'm also excited to start getting Camille's big girl room put together!  Her bed should be here in a few weeks, so I need to shop bedding! :)


Other projects in this room:
Scrapbook Paper Dress Art
Pottery Barn Kids Inspired Art
Ribbon Trimmed Mirror

Jenny
Linking up to...
One Artsy Mama Photobucket Whipperberry My Uncommon Slice of Suburbia
I Heart Nap Time

Back from California

On Saturday we flew home from another fantastic trip to California!  We went down to the Palm Springs area to celebrate my husband's Grandmother's 90th birthday and visit with his family.  She and I share a birthday, so I got a little celebration too! :)  It was so nice to spend Mother's Day with his side of the family as well.  On the flight down, he surprised me with the itinerary for a birthday trip to Disneyland!  We spent three days and two nights at the Disneyland Hotel and had a great time. 

Lila almost hugged Minnie on our last trip in March, but was never quite comfortable enough.  She's clearly over her fear now. :)
These were taken at the Minnie and Friends character breakfast.  The girls had completely stopped eating breakfast at this point.  The characters were too much fun!


Camille has always loved Tinker Bell, but her new favorite fairy is Vidia (above).  She was beyond excited to meet her!



Here they're waiting for daddy to get off Splash Mountain.  The downside of not taking the grandparents with us is that we had to take turns doing the rides!  The girls are wearing the Minnie shirts I posted about here.  I'm glad I got some pictures of the girls in the shirts because I didn't last time!  Luckily we had a second chance before they grow out of them and I have to make new ones! :)

Jenny

$25 Starbucks Giveaway!


Did I get your attention?? :)  Well, it's true!  I'm giving away a $25 gift card to Starbucks at the Shine on Fridays party hosted by Amy of One Artsy Mama and Kara of Happy Go Lucky.  There are lots of ways to enter, so head on over and enter the giveaway, and maybe even link up a project or two!

One Artsy Mama

While you're at it, check out One Artsy Mama's 1st annual crafting competition: One Crafty Contest!



Have a great weekend!


Jenny

Photo Collages

I've really been wanting to put photo collages in my blog posts, but I wasn't sure how.  That is, until I came across this post on the House of Smiths!  I had fun playing with the collage templates in Photoshop Elements today...


Sweet Camille during her Valentine photo shoot.  I'm glad I got some cute pics of her looking AT the camera for once. :)


Cutie pie Lila Jane in her first piggy tails!  She's a ham- all we have to do is ask her for a cheesy smile. :)

I'm so excited to find more ways to use all my new templates!  I'm learning more about PSE slowly but surely. ;)

Jenny