Saturday, January 15, 2011

Before and After: The Ugly Stool {with mini tutorial}

My hubby {God bless him!} always finds great deals on old  vintage stuff for our home. Honestly this used to really annoy me but lately I've been inspired to create fun stuff out of these sweet finds!

 The idea began with this cool sample I found at my local fabric store. The store was practically giving them away so I bought...a few...and was excited to use them on some home projects. As luck would have it the fabric fit perfectly over the stool cushion.
 Using some upholstery tacks I carefully nailed the fabric over the cushion of the stool.
 Not pretty underneath...

















...but so cute when all is said and done! Originally I was going to pain the stool white but I think it looks pretty good as is. What a fun and easy way to spruce up an old piece of furniture : )

Friday, January 14, 2011

I'm overrun with....

school artwork!!! Argh! With three little ones in school or daycare I am constantly coming home with stacks and stacks of cute artwork that I can't bear to throw away. Wanna see a sample? Here ya go.

Ah cute right?! What kinda mom would I be to throw this away?! An awful, horrible, negligent mommy! But what's a mama to do when she's practically swimming in macaroni art? Well here are a few ideas I've gathered that have helped my and may help you too!

When artwork comes home it goes straight to the "art box" where it happily waits to get sorted. With three kids I usually need to clean it out every four months or so. {Well that's with it overflowing and pouring onto the ground...so maybe it should be every three months!}

Here are some other ideas:
1. Take a picture. You can store it digitally for as long as you'd like or print it out in a photobook like one you can order from Shutterfly.com .

2. Place in an art portfolio with the name and date or start an art book that your little one can draw in.











3. Send it to grandma! Becuase I've heard they love stuff like that. Eden also has a habit of making her at into cards for friends. So cute huh?! In fact Eden made a card for Micah Messer {which we still need to give to her}.

4. Frame and display your favorites. I love all of E's self portraits they're just so precious.







and last but not least......THROW IT AWAY! It's OK I won't judge you  :   )