Homemade Gift: 2

This is for a college friend. I'll call her "Amanda 2" because we had five Amandas between two floors in our college dorm our Freshman year. Amanda 2 recently moved to Lincoln, so I see her occasionally. She also purchased her first home, and every homeowner needs decoration for her front door. Amanda 2 has a little bit of an obsession with giraffes, so it was pretty easy to brainstorm ideas for her homemade gift.



Thank you Hobby Lobby! I purchased the wreath, yellow paint (already had white on hand) and wood letter in a quick trip. I forgot how fast acrylics dry, making the painting process even quicker than I anticipated. I did have fun blending the yellow and white and creating a gradient, much like real-life giraffes.

Practicing for kids' school projects

Click on photo to see more detail and list of supplies

Project: 10 commandments tablets for church props.
Time: these last few weeks have been pretty busy with freelance work, so of course I left everything for Saturday afternoon and had to take them on Sunday.

Initially I was going to see what we had for Halloween tombstone props and try to manipulate them. But the items we had were terribly small, so I needed to start from scratch. Ben found this video as inspiration. I watched over parts of the instructions and made a quick trip to Lowe's.

The guy at Lowe's cut the 4'x8' (smallest size) insulation for me so it would fit in the car. While he worked on that, we looked at spray paint and found this awesome textured paint.

Click on photo to see more detail

The insulation was very easy to cut with a utility knife. I told the guy at Lowe's not to go to too much trouble measuring. I eye-balled one of the pieces to cut it in half and then created the imperfect curves quickly. More time-consuming was removing the layer of paper to reveal the insulation texture.

Click on photo to see more detail and read tip

There was just enough paint to cover the two tablets. Next: the writing. I found images of the props from the movie "The Ten Commandments." I am slowly learning how to take shortcuts and not sweat over every detail. These tablets will not be viewed close-up, so while I took some time on the lettering, I did not let myself go crazy over every stroke. After the white paint, I added some black edges to create a little depth and readability.

After a few weeks and three projects that were graphic design-heavy, it was fun to get away from the computer and enjoy some arts and crafts time. These tablets will be up the next few weeks, as every week a new symbol/covenant is added.

Click on photo to see more detail

These singing bird salt and pepper shakers are from my in-laws for Easter. They found them in an antique store. I love the colors! What a perfect addition to my salt and pepper shaker collection.

Before and/or After

So Spring is here, and we've had lots of rain- which results in weeds. Luckily we had nice weather and I had some extra time last weekend, so I bit the bullet and worked outside for a little.

We didn't do anything to the front porch area when we moved in, except that my mother-in-law (MIL) transplanted some flowers from her yard and Ben and I bought some pretty red mulch.



Thank goodness we didn't use the whole bag- I used it up this last weekend after pulling weeds. What a difference! I forgot to take "before" pictures (but believe me it was not pretty), so these will suffice as my "before" pictures, as I plan on doing a little bit more to the yard.




I ran across some shepherd hooks on sale at Hobby Lobby (spring items on 50% clearance!) and was set on a hanging basket. My MIL suggested moving some of the hostas that came with the house and/or placing more mulch to cover some of the dead/weedish areas in the corner.



I'm still figuring out my gameplan, but I am also thinking about transplanting some of Grandma's peony bushes.

Decisions, decisions.

First and foremost: I'm buying gardening gloves. I have a few battle scars from pulling weeds.

A different appreciation

These photos were taken back in May 2009. Ben's cousin was about to get married, and her bridal party bouquets were all peonies from her parents' and in-laws' backyards and from the Midland campus. I can't remember the last time I purchased cards (well except for gifts and yes, my wedding thank yous) and so I visited Grandma's backyard for some inspiration to make the bride and groom's card.





I ended up taking, I believe, the light pink image, and manipulating it in Photoshop. Closely cropped, monotone (grayscale image printed in one ink) dark pink on vellum, and overlaying the handwritten message on paper beneath--it was not the most obvious rendition of a peony, but I was very pleased.

That's what happens sometimes. Until now, I hadn't shared these images with anyone; they were simply used as inspiration and one was manipulated enough to represent what I wanted to keep of the original.

Now I can look at them with different memories- reminders of the pride Grandma had walking around her garden, and the anticipation and joy she felt as the peony bushes grew and bloomed.

Sigh

Does this not scream "Barbie Spring Fashion"? I found this set at a David's Bridal visit. While the bride-to-be shimmied into a dress, I tried the shoes on for size. They looked perfect with my dark skinny jeans, and I felt like a Barbie fashion model.

It was fun while it lasted.

Surreal

These are blossoms right by our driveway...lovely!

Blossoms

After our coffee and cake, I hitched a ride with R to the Conservatory. She was teaching lessons, and I wanted to grab some copies of the brochure I designed for the OCM Institute (coming up this summer).

I will have to post pictures of the brochure later. In the meantime, you can see the uploaded files on the OCM website. Also, you can view last year's brochure in the album "Passion, Dedication, Excellence" on my LKP Design Facebook page.

I had a short little jaunt back to the car afterward, and it was a windy but nice day out. (Glad I had my "purse camera" with me!)

Coffee with R

The other day I was able to meet up with Rachel (R) for coffee. Okay, we met up for cake, but there was coffee too!


The storefront was adorable- and I wish I had pictures to display.

Check out the website to get a sense of the store's style. The overall branding and set-up is developed very well and just screams "inspiration"- in lady-like way, of course. Just another endeavor to add to our list (which already includes Bed and Breakfast, event planning and design, among others).

The following is a screen shot of the website. It's not the main page, but I liked this link because it describes the overall experience of visiting the store. Rachel and I visited the one on Pacific street in Omaha, and the ladies helping us out were very knowledgeable and friendly.

Something old, something new

Just a few new touches can make all the difference, so I can use some "repeat" items for Spring decorating around the home.


New: Plaid table runner on sale or clearance from Gordman's and Trader Joe's flowers
Repeat: pink tea set from sister-in-law (Valentine's decor)



New: Green egg plate (Christmas gift from in-laws), birdcage and purple wreath on clearance at Michael's
Repeat: Table runner from dining room, spoons, flower-display/vase, spring chick

Sensible for Spring

So as you can see from the last week of posts, I continue to have many encouraging people and many inspirations for what I work on. Since we have moved, my projects definitely have been more home-related, and I frequent several blogs for ideas on saving money. Sometimes it's just outright copying.

Photos from www.thriftydecorchick.blogspot.com

The above left photograph is of items you can purchase from Pottery Barn for a hefty price. The right photo is what Thrifty Decor Chick created for a fraction of the cost. If you want to know more details about this project, check out her blog.

Below is what I put together, using the blogger's suggestions. I even had the same 40% off coupon at Joann's, and have much of the moss left over. (And yes, I made as big of a mess as she did!)