Ombre Name Wall Hanging {tutorial}

 

So last week I had the awesome opportunity to guest post over on The CSI project. The challenge for the week was Ombre. I decided to make this awesome name sign for our newest little addition. Enjoy!

So I’m slowly working on my nursery. I probably should have had it done before she was born, but between the holidays and her coming two weeks earlier than expected, things have been a little crazy. When I was given the Ombre challenge, I knew exactly what I wanted to do. My older daughter has like three different signs with her name on it, but our poor little Adalynn doesn’t have any. So I’m here to share how I made this adorable sign:

Supplies Needed:

• Letters (the ones I used came in a 2 pack and are about 4” high)
• 1x6
• Paint (3 shades of one color for letters and another color for background)
• Sponge brush
• Glue
• Spray glitter
• Sealant
• Masking or painters tape

Step 1: Mark each letter into thirds. Tape off the letter so just the bottom is showing. make sure to line up the letters so they match when set next to each other. It would look a little awkward if the ombre didn’t match up…

Step 2: Paint the bottom third in your lightest shade. Make sure to put a couple coats. Let dry.

Step 3: Take the tape off and and retape the middle section. paint with your middle shade. Make sure you test your colors beforehand that they are the shades you want. You don’t want to be like me and have to repaint a whole bunch because you hate the lightest color and have to mix the dark and light paint for a middle color. Trust me.. its very time consuming. Anyway, back to the paint. Let the middle section dry and repeat with the top third. Let dry.

Step 4: Cut your 1x6 to size and paint with your background color. Let dry.

Step 5: Glue your letters in place on the 1x6. I used hot glue because that’s what I had on hand, but I’m sure some E6000 would be even sturdier.

Step 6: Spray with glitter and then follow with sealant. Let dry.

Step 7: Attach some picture hangers on the back and place where you want it!

I have to say I’m absolutely loving the ombre! My husband thinks it looks very retro. Thanks so much for having me CSI gals!

Show Off Saturday {St. Patrick’s Day}

I’ve always been a fan of St. Patrick’s Day. What a fun way to celebrate my heritage! I’m half Irish. I was even born with red hair! It has since changed of course, but my sisters still have red hair. I was the one who always wore the “Kiss Me I’m Irish” buttons in high school (it never seemed to work though) and I always made sure to wear green. When I got married my husband and I made a new tradition of cooking corned beef and cabbage. It’s actually incredibly good and easy to make if you’ve never tried it. And last year I made this really fun Lucky door hanging.

So needless to say, I’ve been pretty excited about this year’s crop of St. Patty’s Day projects I’ve seen. Here are a few of my favorites:

1. Little Day Wonder’s made these adorable scratch off shamrocks for her kids to enjoy. They can trade them in for chocolate coins! I pretty much love the idea of anything ‘scratch off’ so it’s no wonder I like these!

2. I’m a sucker for a really cute holiday printable. Funky Polkadot Giraffe made this really fun one for St. Patrick’s Day. She even included an all green one for the green purists. :)

3. Seeing mantels like the one at Landee See, Landee Do makes me really wish I had a mantel. I love the rainbow colors in the background.

4. My sister recently taught me the basics of crocheting and I’m slowly starting to get the hang of it. Over at A Little Bit of Everything she included a pattern for making the shamrocks for this adorable hat. I think I’ll have to try one!

5. I absolutely love this 2x4 leprechaun hat from Nap Time Journal. So simple yet so festive. This is a great project for those leftover pieces you have in your garage that you just can’t seem to throw away (what? No one else hoards scrap wood? Weird.).

As always, make sure you grab a button if you were featured!

Guest Posting at The CSI Project

Hey everyone! I'm over at The CSI Project guest posting. I'm supre excited that they let me come over, so make sure to come check it out!

Glass Stone Magnets {tutorial}

Making a weekly menu is very important to our family. We never go grocery shopping without making a menu first. I even made this magnetic menu out of a cookie sheet. When I first made it I put magnets on each individual menu choice. Since then we’ve added lots more choices, making it slightly impractical to have all those magnets…they couldn’t even all fit in the jar anymore! So I decided to remove all the magnets and just have 7 really cute magnets to hold the day’s dinner choice.

These magnets are super easy to make and would be great to jazz up any fridge or magnetic surface. I’ve even made a bunch to match with the different holidays!

Supplies Needed:

• Large glass stones (you can occasionally find them at the dollar store, or just at a craft store)
• Scrapbook paper
• Round magnets
• Hot glue gun

Step 1: Using a circle punch or just some plain old scissors, cut circles to match the approximate size of your stone. I don’t have a circle punch (I know, what’s wrong with me?) so I just found something about the same size and traced it and cut out the circles.

Step 2: Put a glob of hot glue in the center of the flat side of the stone (about half the size of the stone). Place the paper (patterned side towards the stone) on the glue and press down flat. I like to use a ruler or something else flat to press the paper down as it’s kind of hot.

Step 3: Hot glue a magnet to the back of each stone.

And there you have it! As you can see, I used them for my menu, but like I said before, these can be used for just about anything!

 

I'm linking up here:


 

Show Off Saturday {Birthday Parties}

So my daughter’s birthday is a month away. It’s definitely time for me to start planning the big day. I still haven’t decided if I want to do a big party like last year’s Tangled party, or if I want to keep it pretty low key. Either way it’s so much fun to see all the super awesome and very creative parties happening around blog land. Here are a few of my faves:

1. Ok so I might have a slight obsession with Harry Potter. Like I even have a Harry Potter Pinboard. So when I saw this party from Kiki Creates, I may have squealed out loud a little.

2. I know lots of little girls who would love to attend Beth Kruse’s Lalaloopsy birthday party. I love all the little details she incorporated!

3. Ok if I had a little boy I would seriously consider stealing replicating the ideas for this awesome Superman party from The Diary of Dave’s Wife. I think the superhero suckers on the cupcakes might be my favorite.

4. My daughter is obsessed with princesses, and Princess Ariel is no exception! i absolutely love the “under the sea” feeling that Bachmanville created in their Little Mermaid birthday party!

5. Let’s face it, planning birthday parties for older kids can be tricky, especially older boys. But Kim over at Today’s Creative Blog did an awesome Modern Warfare party for her son. She has some great ideas for when you are instructed not to decorate (gasp! Is that even possible??)

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Show Off Saturday {Cookies}

I don’t know what it is but I have been craving sweets even more now that I’ve had the baby than while I was pregnant! And it certainly is not helping to see all the delicious cookie recipes around blogland (I’ve even posted my own). And with Valentines Day literally around the corner, what better theme for today’s Show Off Saturday?

1. These Red Velvet Whoopie Pies from The Misadventures of Mrs. B are seriously making me drool all over my computer. And wouldn’t these be perfect for Valentines Day?

2. I think my favorite part about these sugar cookies from I Am Momma, Hear Me Roar is the fact that she prefaces that these cookies are NOT healthy. Isn’t that the point of cookies? :)

3. Are you a fan of German Chocolate Cake? I Am Not a Trophy Wife has a cookie recipe for you then! And apparently the dough is so good you may not even end up baking them!

4. I’m sure you all saw these fabulous lingerie cookies from How Does She last Valentines, but I just had to include them because I just love them. And I’m sure my husband would love them too…

5. Ok so technically these Reese’s Peanut Butter Hearts from Flour Me With Love are candy, but I simply can’t resist putting them on here. I may have a slight obsession with all things chocolate and peanut butter. I will definitely be making a batch.

So what are your favorite cookie recipes? Do you have one you think I should have included? Then add the link in the comments so we can all check out your cookie goodness!

Introducing…

This is Miss Adalynn Josephine, the newest addition to the My Decoupaged Life family.

I have to say we couldn’t be more excited. She came a couple weeks early (hence being completely unprepared with any scheduled posts and whatnot) but she’s absolutely perfect.

My labor was actually relatively quick and easy, especially compared to my first (I broke my tailbone..who knew that could even happen??). From the time I got to the hospital to the time I delivered was only 3 1/2 hours. And let me tell ya, that time went by super fast. She was only 5 lbs 1 oz when she was born so she’s super tiny.

Mackenzie absolutely loves her sister, though she has taken to whining a little bit more in order to get more attention. I’m sure it’ll all balance out as I figure out this whole two-kids thing.

Hopefully now that things are settling down I’ll be able to get back on schedule, though I should warn you that I no longer have my laptop (with all my blog info, pictures, etc.) due to some…unfortunate circumstances. So that’s also thrown me through a loop. But don’t worry, I’ll get it all worked out!