For a good cause...

I was completely honored when my dear friend Misty invited me to make a few of the prizes for a benefit race next week.  The event is to help supplement the cost of medical expenses of the Brian Pontius Family.  Brian has cancer and has had to take time off of work for his treatments.  Brian and his wife Melanie have 3 little cuties as well as one on the way.  

I've been having so much fun making a few things.  Here's what I've been working on. I'm sure they'll be more, because I'm just loving this opportunity.  

If you live in the area, please consider coming out on July 8th to support this sweet family.  

I cannot imagine what a challenge it must be to be battling cancer while trying to support and raise a young family.  If you have the means to help out in anyway, please  join us on race day, or make contributions at any America First Credit Union to the Brian Pontius charitable account.  

Steel stamping

We had family in town last week and Sarah organized a really fun craft using bottle caps and washers.  She had the kids decorate the inside of bottle caps with paper, stickers and gems and then glued a strong magnet on the back.  She then hung a washer from some twine and the kids were able to magnetize their bottle caps to the washer necklaces.  When they want a different look they can pull off the bottle cap and replace it with a different one.  The kids had a blast!  

Since we had to pull out the washers anyway, I thought I'd open up a steel stamping set that I bought about a year ago and have never used.  I bought the set at Harbor Freight.  The sets range from $5-$20.  Relatively inexpensive and oh so entertaining.  

Place the washer on concrete and stamp the letters with a hammer. It takes a little getting used to.  

Some of the washers had old paint on them already.  

Others I rubbed with gel stain or white paint after stamping.  

Easy and inexpensive collage for a boys room

How to put a smile on your little man's face:

Find a sports book at your local thrift store

 Pick up some frames while you're there. All different shapes and sizes

Tear some interesting pictures from the sports book and fit them inside the frames.  

Randomly hang them on the wall.

Terah's baby shower gift

I cut 9''x9'' boards out of mdf and routed the edges.

The Joe taught me an easy trick to find the center of square objects. Use a straight edge and trace from opposite corners. The center is where the line intersects.

I used a drill press to make holes for my pegs.

I dipped the end of the shaker pegs in wood glue and tapped them into place with a hammer.

I covered the peg with a cloth to protect the top of it.

To create the design I found the center of each side and taped center to center. After the paint dried, I took off the tape and taped in the other direction. I then sanded the edges and rubbed stain across the entire board.

His initials spell "TOM". Isn't that cute?

Easy accents for the "not-so-girly" Girl

Blue is the new pink for this "not-so-girly" girl.  

I  didn't want to overwhelm the room with decor. I'm trying to keep them pretty simple because I think it's easier to keep looking clean.  I found a cute green bedroom set at Target and used an old piece of a fence for a headboard.

I painted little trees on a canvas by taping off lines and then tracing the bottom of a glass for the blue circles.  I put our little green chair thingy underneath it to give her somewhere to sit and do her homework.  

For the curtain pulls, I bought some big antique looking doorknobs from Hobby Lobby and painted them white and then sanded the edges.

why not add a little vinyl?

And a couple of hooks by the door.

Abby's shower gift

Sanded door from Ikea

Drilled holes for shaker pegs

Added paint and vinyl!

22 gallons of paint later....

The basement has been PAINTED!!

Yahoo-ey

Only a couple of casualties.

Here's a couple of the bedrooms:

I wanted to take some of the focus off of the rather large soffit in this room, so I painted white stripes on the top part of the wall and then decided to match the stripe on the bottom. This is Livy's room. Light blue is the new pink for this 9 yr. old! We'll decorate with green.

I have to have at least one pink room w/4 girls. Addie and Indi are sharing this room. That wall that looks green isn't really green. It's a light tan.  

It was such a killer job and I was ready to take a long break from painting until I was about to move the bunks downstairs.  They've really desperately needed a facelift. I started on one of the bottom sides when we first moved in, but didn't follow thru.  I don't know why it's been such a beast of a project for me.

Livy and Jesse actually really excited when I invited them to help me sand.  I could really get used to this!

I painted them to match the pink room and added some stain.

Ahhhh...it feels really good to have those suckers painted!! 

The kids are out of this world excited to have their new rooms in the basement. Liv told me that she was going to stay downstairs all day and only come up for meals. He he heee...

Home Tour by My Dream Canvas

Hey everyone, I'd like you to meet Anu! She's written a guest post home tour for us!  She has a great style and it's been a pleasure getting to know her!

Welcome Home...I am Anu, currently a full time mom with a passion for home interiors and travel. My Dream Canvas is my foray into the blogging world. My home is a canvas to bring my everyday thoughts to life, and an outlet for my creative energy. I am also an avid photographer. My main interest lies in landscape photography. I am currently working on a photography portfolio which should be online soon.

To be honest, I do not follow a particular decorating style or theme. I would probably call my style eclectic. It is simply a reflection of my personality :-) A lot of the pieces in my home are a fusion of family heirlooms and mementos from our travels. My home is tapestry of different styles. I like the fact that I have a collection of Murano glass from Italy, Bohemian crystal from the Czech Republic, pottery from Mexico and Spain, knick knacks from flea markets and antique stores, furniture from the Far East, and artifacts from India. They all complement each other.

I believe that your style should be your own. Experiment, create, be yourself, and just have fun :-)

Do step into my world and my life......

I love flowers and they are an essential part of my home!




My favorite corner for a morning cup of tea ..



I love collecting Buddha statues..






I like to entertain and this was taken at a Christmas dinner a few years ago.



Do visit me at my blog My Dream Canvas as I love to share ideas and make new friends:-)


Thanks Anu! You have a gorgeous home! You've been so kind to put together such a lovely tour for us! 

~Wishing you all the best!!

XOXO,

Andy