It's Sprinkling Out....DIY Canvas Print

A couple of weeks ago, I saw this doodle on fb and literally {lol}ed.  I decided that I had to have it in my kitchen as a canvas print, but I was not going to pay out the bum to get it done.  I bought a 3 pack of flat 8 x 10 canvases at Walmart for under $5.00 and tried my hand at a little DIY.  I first tried to iron-on transfer the image to the canvas, but that failed miserably!  So, I did a search on Pinterest and found a great blog by Girl. Inspired.

All I needed was a few simple tools:

1. Paper Cutter (optional), scissors will work too

2. Photo Paper - I used a lower grade since I wasn't too worried about quality.

3. 8 x 10 Flat Canvas

4. Mod Podge - Matte Finish

5. Glue Stick

6. Paint

7. Brushes

I found this adorable image here and printed it on photo paper using my ink jet printer.

 Because the photo paper is a little bigger than my canvas, I cut a little over 1 inch off the side.....

 and 1/2 inch off the bottom.

I then placed my cut picture on top of my canvas to make sure it fit.

Then I spread glue all over the back and pressed it down firmly to the canvas, making sure to pay extra attention to the corners.

Now it was time for the Mod Podge!  I layered it on quite thick, using artistic brush strokes to create a textured look.

It did appear milky white at first, but I promise it dried clear.

See...I told ya  :)   {30 min. later}

I then took a spongy foam brush and dabbed a little grey paint around the sides and corners to hide the edges of the photo paper, and to give it a little more texture.

The result....

The grey was just a little dark for my taste so I did go back over it with just a little bit of white.

I hope this inspires you to create your own canvas print because it is extremely easy and took only about 45 minutes including dry time!

Since it did work out so well, I'm going to try a bigger one with one of our wedding photos.  Stay tuned to my blog to see how it turns out.

Cupcakes, Birds, and Owls.... Oh My

I mentioned in my last blog that I use eMeals, but their printable menus leave a lil' bit to be desired.  I don't know about you, but if something is going to hang on my fridge, it is required to be absolutely adorable.  So I came up with a solution... 

I found these bird and owl printable recipe cards from Sparrow Graphic.  If you don't mind handwriting in your own recipes, you only need Adobe Reader to open them up and print them out, which you can download for free from Adobe.com.  Because I'm {sorta} a perfectionist, I opened mine up on Adobe Photoshop and typed up the recipes before I printed them on white cardstock.

I put each main dish on a bird card, and each side dish on an owl card, and then joined them back to back with a tiny paperclip.  So now, when I pull out a recipe, I automatically have a complete meal!

Because my fridge is not all that big, and is mostly covered up with my boy's artwork, I needed somewhere to store the cards permanently.

I found this Cupcake Picture Box at Michael's in their clearance bin about a month ago and bought it without knowing at the time what I would use it for.  Now it is sitting very cutely in my kitchen holding all my recipe cards!  And what's great is that the box included separator cards, so I can even separate my recipes by type, {ie:} main dish, appetizer, desert, etc.  Can't wait to fill it up completely with all my yummy recipes!

Learning to be a {House} Wife

Since I quit my job last October to stay at home full time with my baby boy, I have found it quite difficult to get into a cleaning "groove."  Plus with remodeling going on in almost every room of the house, it makes it very difficult, to say the least, to get organized.  Just a couple of weeks ago, I ran across a printable cleaning scheduled that has literally changed my life...and our home.  Here is what it looks like...

I printed 4 of these out (a months worth) and stuck them to my fridge.  I'm only on my second sheet but I can already tell it's working for me.  And what great is it's actually more geared towards working moms, so I get everything done fairly quickly and then have the rest of my day to spend digging in dirt and playing catch with my 2 year old.

 I think the reason it works is that everytime I finish a chore, I can put a little {√} next to it.  I love being able to walk by it throughout the day and see more and more {√'s}, I guess it gives me a sense of accomplishment.  I also put a {√} each day by the "Daily Upkeep" tasks instead of just one at the end of the week for no other reason than it just makes me feel better.

I also love the way that it's customizable. Each day has a few extra lines where you can add your own unique chores. I added {clean mirrors} on Monday's schedule. It also gives you a place for your store list, which I think is genius. If I'm cleaning and I run out of something, I just add it to the list when I go to {√} something off.

To make myself even more accountable to keeping things clean and tidy, I think I'm going to start adding my sheet here each week so that I have to {show} what I've accomplished.  I'll also have my husband sign it just to prove that I'm not commiting {√} fraud (sorry, a little banking humor there).

I personally think this would be a great gift for Brides-to-Be.  If someone had given these to me at the begining of our marriage, I can tell you right now our house would be in a lot better shape than it is now.  I still feel like I'm playing catch up for the last 4 years, but it's getting better everyday.

If you want to try this out for yourself, find the free printable here.

If you haven't heard of emeals, it's a wonderful webside that offers weekly meal planning with printable grocery lists.  I've used emeals for a while now and absolutely love it!

Titus 2:5 - To be self-controlled, pure,working at home, kind, and submissive to their own husbands, that the word of God may not be reviled.

See Ya' Thursday {meaning}

One of my fondest memories growing up is every night, before I went to bed, my dad would say "See ya Thursday!"  It started out that I would have to ask my mom what tomorrow was, after which I would shout back.. "See ya [correct day]"  As I got a lil older, and began to learn the days of the week, I would ask my mom what [today] was, then I would name the days of the week until I reached the correct one and would then shout again.. "See ya [correct day]"  It didn't take long before it was like second nature to pull out the correct day of the week without any help from mom.  One night after again, for what felt like the 1000th time, correcting my dad, I looked at my mom and said "Wow, daddy doesn't know the days of the week, does he?" to which she answered with a small chuckle and "No, honey, I guess he doesn't."  Looking back now, I see more and more how my dad could take the smallest and most insignifcant of times, and turn them into teaching moments.  So tonight, as I'm tucking my baby boy into bed, I'll wisper softly, "Goodnight, love you, see ya Thursday."

Proverbs 16:23 - The heart of the wise teacheth his mouth, and addeth learning to his lips.