How to Make a Rustic American Flag

May 23, 201619 Comments

Hello! Hope everyone is doing well! We are coming to the close of school with our preschool graduation this week and then next week is the last week. I am so ready for some vacation time! I would love to get some more projects done! Lauren and I plan to work on updating the blog this summer and there are other exciting things in the works! Stay tuned!

I have been wanting to make a flag like this for a long time. I figured since Memorial Day is next Monday here in the states and 4th of July is coming soon, this was a good time. I originally was going to use pieces of molding, but that never happened so I decided to use some pickets I already had. Another free project!!

We had gathered some pickets from a neighbor a couple of years ago when he took down his fence. I have used them for a potting table and also a little side table. I wasn’t using the small table anymore, so I took it apart and used the pieces.

Steve removed the nails from each of the pieces, than I gave each one a good scrubbing.

I painted 4 pickets antique white and 3 pickets grey. I didn’t cover them too thoroughly, just enough to freshen them up.

I took one of the squares from the table that was taken apart and painted it blue. After the paint dried, I sprayed a little bit of turquoise over the top and then sanded it down.

These pieces also came from the table and they were attached to the back to hold all the pickets together.

Here is the front with the blue square attached.

Here is my bottle cap collection! My girls and I have collected these for years while taking walks around the neighborhood. We have an alley behind us and there are always treasures to be found. The girls and I picked out caps with blue, gold, silver and a little bit of red. We tried to get them all different and then placed them on the blue square in random order. I used my nail-gun to attach them.

All done! This was such a simple project to put together and I love how it turned out!

I don’t really decorate with red, so I tried to keep this as neutral as possible.

I hope you all have a wonderful Memorial Day weekend and have some time to relax! Here a couple of other posts you might enjoy!

Fabulous Finds and Fashions 5/18/16

May 18, 2016May 17, 201618 Comments

Hello! I am back today with some fabulous finds, but no fashions. I found some great stuff at Goodwill this time, and decent prices.

This pillow was from Target this past winter and it was marked at $3.99. I have been seeing them lately for $9-12 at Goodwill, so this one was a good deal. I will put it away for next winter.

I loved the scrolling and design of this little plate. I put it in Lauren’s room so she can set her water bottle on it and other little items when she stays over.

Aren’t these silver pieces great! The large bowl was half off because it had a blue tag. I believe it was $2.00 and the little bowls were .99 cents each. Can’t wait to use these on my table!

My last find was this bunch of faux pussy-willows. I only paid $1.99 for the bunch.

I’d say this was a pretty successful shopping trip! Thanks for stopping by!

The Great State Of Hawaii-Part 3

May 16, 2016May 15, 201614 Comments

Happy Monday everyone! Wait! Is there such a thing?! Why do Mondays always seem to be a hard day? It’s so difficult to get back into the routine of school again, especially this close to the end. My preschoolers are definitely feeling it too! At least we can go outside and let them run off some energy. We have 3 weeks left and then we get a much needed break. Yay!!

Since I was thinking about vacation, I decided to show a few (!) more of my Hawaii pictures. I realized I hadn’t done any for awhile. I’m in the midst of some projects, but nothing is complete yet, so this will help fill the gap. Plus it’s nice to dream again!! Here is Part 1 and Part 2 if you missed them.

One of our free mornings, we decided to check out the aquarium. I decided I saw more of a variety of fish here than I did when we snorkeled, and this was much easier! I don’t remember all the names of the fish, but it’s so relaxing just to look at them and imagine the water and waves.

We probably all know these fish from Finding Nemo-Clown Fish! Did you know that Finding Dory is coming out next month? Can’t wait!

This little blue guy looked so pretty in front of the coral.

Yes, those are bright orange teeth on this fellow! I don’t think I would want to meet him underwater!

A beautiful purple sea urchin.

Jellyfish are just so cool to watch as they float in the water. Obviously, this is an Upside Down Jellyfish.

I love starfish and use them all over my house to decorate. I loved how these were all in a row.

More jellyfish!

One more! Isn’t this amazing!?

Well, hello grumpy!

I love to watch the seahorses too. The way they use their tail to hang onto the plants is so cool!

Love these guys!

They are all so pretty!

Well, I’m not so sure about these two!

This guy just stayed in one spot, upright, in the water. He would spin in slow circles around and around.

Naptime!

After the aquarium we met up with Haley and a couple of her friends for lunch at the famous Duke’s restaurant. This was named for the Duke Kahanamoku, who is famous for making the sport of surfing so popular. We had some really good food and it was fun to meet up with the kids and find out about what they had been doing too.

We even managed to get a family photo.

Do you have any vacation plans for this summer? I would love to hear where you are going! Thanks for stopping by today!

No Post Today…Sorry

May 13, 2016May 12, 20162 Comments

Hey everyone! I have been extremely busy with school and work that I don’t have anything prepared for you guys. I have finals coming up next week, which makes me happy! But that also means that my blogs will be back on track and you shouldn’t have many more of these “Sorry, no post today” blogs.

So, sorry, again. But we will be back tomorrow with a regular post. Hope you all have a good day!

sparkle

Laundry Room Update! Still Not Done :(

May 9, 2016May 8, 201623 Comments

Is it summer vacation yet! I feel like I am really falling behind on getting things done around the house! This laundry room has been a looooooong process. Honestly, I am not sure it will ever be completely done. I will just keep calling it my ‘half’ room. Half of a floor, half painted, half a washer and dryer… see what I mean? Maybe someday. But I can give you a little update :).

Remember the lockers? They are successfully installed into the laundry room! I love them! Haley keeps telling me I need little chalkboards on each one labeling what’s inside! Steve added some shelves inside a few of them so I could store more items, like cleaning supplies and such.

Here you get a little peek at them on the sides. The big door hides the water heater plus stores a few other items like the mop and broom. Steve added some wood around it so it wasn’t just a big piece of plywood, but obviously that is only half done too. I haven’t got the painting done yet.

I also have been working on a sign for the room that should have only taken a couple of hours, but has been weeks instead. I think this whole project is just not supposed to happen! It has just been one thing after another.

I took a scrap piece of wood and painted it white. I had a frame which was cut down to fit around the piece of wood. But…it didn’t fit quite right either. Wow. Oh well. I used it anyways.

When I started writing this post, I realized I didn’t have the pictures for the letters that spelled out ‘laundry’, but I did have ones for ‘patio.’ So that is what we are going to work with! I have had these chipboard letters for years and I am trying to use them up by making words with whatever is left. I had some for ‘patio’ and ‘laundry.’

I picked out pieces of scrapbooking papers that were in the colors I wanted to use. I had lots of pieces at home, but there are lots of pretty designs at the craft stores too. Then I figured out the order I wanted them to go in. Play around with different layouts until you find what is pleasing to you.

I turned my paper over and laid the letter on it backwards. I traced around the letter and then cut it out.

Now I am ready to attach them. I used Modge Podge for mine. I brushed some onto the letter and then smoothed my paper down on top. I also brushed some Modge Podge over the top of the paper after it was aligned with the chipboard.

After all my letters were dry, I glued them onto the board. I laid them out first so I could see how much spacing I would need. I used tacky glue to attach them. I weighted them down with some book for awhile so they would be firmly glued on.

Now that you have all seen the ‘patio’ letters, let’s move on to ‘laundry’, shall we?

Here it is! The letters attached really well after being weighted down. Just that corner thing…

Here’s the corner, in all its glory. Maybe I can figure something out to cover it or put over it. If you have any suggestions, I would love to hear it!