The never ending project!

So, I posted the other day a picture of what I have been working on the other day...

little did I know this project would prove to be the death of me...mainly because

MY HUSBAND HATES IT!

UGH! I am really trying to get him on board... so some really awesome comments about how great it looks might win him over :)

It all started with this:

(please excuse the dust) :)

My cute ( i mean very disobedient) 3 year old decided to pretend to be spider man and jump off the couch, while pulling my very heavy curtain rod down with him. I mean rod, hooks, screws, curtains, everything! Yeah! After some long deep breaths, and a whole lot of prayers not to kill him. I figured this would be a great time to try something on this

huge wall that I have been wanting to try...

STENCILING!

Here is the giant wall before:

So I bought a stencil at Hobby Lobby and away I went... (trying so badly to finish before my not so ambitious husband got home) Little, did I know that this was a much much more intense project. There is the initial stenciling, then touch up and more stenciling...

FOREVER!

Please excuse the bad lighting and the ladder I just could not muster up the strength to move it, and after many long hours and a few not very nice words, here is the wall!

Good bye boring, Hello interesting!

I messed up a little in the top center, but nothing a great wreath can't fix!

Here's to all my 80% er's out there!!!

I still have one more row to do, but I had to take some pictures and my husband is trying to convince me to paint over it :(

Family Night!

Sadly, family movie night has been a little sparse these days.

So with "To Train a Dragon" in hand and a comfy

pallet we settled in for a great night.

(if you have not seen it, it is sooooo cute and funny)

What family night would be complete with out a sweet treat...

A chocolate sunday with yummy sprinkles does the trick every time!

Enjoying their treats...

My sweet little baby (almost 9 months) trying to get me to give him

some ice cream. How do you say no to that face?

If you don't do family movie night or have not done it in a while...

Go get a movie and start!

It truly one of the sweetest times! And it's really cheap... :)

It's a great way to end a long week!

Sneak Peek!

Here is a peek at what has been going on around here the past couple of days...

It has not gone exactly as planned, but I hoping for a great outcome!

Pottery Barn Lamp re-Post!

Spring is right around the corner and what a better way to welcome it, then with a blooming lamp?

I have a lamp in my daughter's room, that is cute...but lately it has really been boring me. I have been looking around for a new shade, but really do not want to spend any money...

Well, today I was looking in the Pottery Barn Kids magazine, day dreaming about what it would actually be like to order something from it, when I came across this picture of a beautiful lamp... I mean it was only $99.00, plus shipping, plus the base. So once I calculated how many months of my monthly budget it would take to save up for that beautiful lamp, I realized that I could totally make one like that with my daughters old lamp.
I thought about buying some silk flowers to hot glue on the shade, which would be very pretty, but still to get that many flowers would still be more than I wanted to pay. So I walked around the house trying to come up with another alternative. And then I say a roll of crepe paper that I had use for my daughter's birthday party last year. It was the right color and I had almost an entire roll. Then I remembered seeing around blogland those super adorable crepe paper roses...

And it was on...

I started whipping out those roses like there was no tomorrow. If you have not seen them they are very simple to make. First I cut a bunch of 12 inch strips. Next you roll the end about 3-4 times and then fold paper in half. With your left hand grab fold and start wrapping and twisting your strip. Twist wrap, twist wrap until you are at the end. Then I just added a dot of hot glue and you have a rose. You will start to have a bucket full like this.

This is by far the longest part. It took me about an hour to get all of the roses made. Once you have a pretty good pile, I started hot gluing them in a line around the shade like this...


Once you fill the whole shade you have a whimsical and very girly lamp that any little girl would love to have...Enjoy!!

Typical Day

Probably like many of you, crafting takes up a very small portion of what reality truly is around your home. I blog a lot about crafting and parties and all the pretty stuff. So...

I wanted to let you in on a little secret...

This is what my life really consists of:

My kids secretly bringing toys down from upstairs and watching a movie while my little guy takes his morning nap.

Me, trying to accomplish something productive, so my husband does not leave me :)

And trying to clean up all of my crafting stuff so he does not run away either...

And as always... dishes, dishes, dishes...

(hopefully the outrageously ugly orange cabinets will be getting a fresh coat of white paint!!!)

It's not really that glamorous, but it is always EXCITING!

Super Bowl Finale!!!!

Ok... So after all the hard work and endless cleaning, the party came and went...

We had a great time and here are some of the final decorations.

(There is no food on the table because it was a potluck dinner.)

I made cute labels for all the food and came up with a color-coordinating

center piece that smelled delightful!

ENJOY!

I think the center-piece was my favorite part!

The cupcake stand worked out great! It can easily be altered to go with another party too...

And as always, it was much more fun to put up then to take down... still not quite all the way down yet :) But, hey why rush...

Super Bowl Party Part 3

Well, by now I am so ready for the party to be here so I can add all the last minute touches...

if you haven't read PART 2 or PART 1 you should check them out!

I know that there a TON of tutorials out there for these pom-pom things, but I figured since they are adorable and CHEAP that I would add it to the list.

First gather all your supplies:

Tissue paper (one package per pom-pom)

Scissors

floral wire

fishing line

Next you fan your tissue paper and wrap a wire around

the center (this will become your hanger). I did find that the bigger

your fan the prettier your pom-pom.

Then take your scissors and round the edges of your tissue paper.

Then just start pulling each piece of tissue paper apart, It does NOT have to be perfect and will be easier to form after all of the pieces are finished.

Here is my stack of pom-poms waiting to be hung...

Finally find your floral wire and attach some fishing line and hang from the ceiling...

very easy and very beautiful!

I can't wait to show you how it all comes together tomorrow!

Come back and check it out!

Super Bowl Party PArt 2

If you are here for the first time,

you might want to check out

Super Bowl Part 1

After completing the table cloth, I was on a roll and started thinking about the next thing I could make, naturally a really over the top cupcake stand was top on my list.

So I gathered my supplies:

2 hat boxes ( the ones that are just cardboard)

Black paint

paint brush

ribbon

scissors

The first thing I did was paint the boxes black and let them dry

Second, I cut circles out and put onto the top just for pure decorations,

the cupcakes will cover most of that.

Then I played around with the ribbon and put it on with double-sided tape (my new FAVORITE craft supply) until I got it how I wanted it!

Next I got out some leftover paper from some other super bowl decorations and made some paper flowers. Super easy, just cut out five circles, (they do NOT need to be perfect, actually it is better if they are not!) ruff them up a little, to give dimension, and hot glue together.

I hot glued them onto the boxes and there you go, a super fun cupcake stand!

Here is a peek at some of the other projects I am working on...

A very easy banner. I just used my Silhouette to cut out the pennants and the letters.

Then garland is just circles that I sewed together...which by the way is so easy and looks really cute. It is for sure my go to new banner idea!

Super Bowl Party Part 1

We have volunteered to host the Super Bowl Party this year for our small group...

So, in true Laura fashion I could not just have a simple, easy party...

(that would make way to much sense!)

My first project is the table cloth:

First I gathered all of my supplies:

3 yards of green felt

scissors

iron-on numbers

white ribbon

double sided tape

After I got everything together, I laid my felt onto the table and made everything even.

I cut the ribbon into 5 even strips.

Next I laid the ribbon onto the felt and figured out where I wanted it.

( I only did 5 lines, to cut down on the cost of all the iron on numbers)

I got my double-sided tape and put strips onto the ribbon and then turned it over and pushed it down into place.

I took my numbers and figured out how I could use the most, so I did not have to buy another package, placed them where I wanted them and ironed them down... easy-peasy!

I will show the completed table cloth when I am done with everything...