Karen's Girly Quilt

I think this is the cutest quilt ever made!

I guess you'd call this a friendship quilt - a group of us got together and each made (or got help making) a block to represent herself.

I have to say, as we got going, the blocks got more and more elaborate. We just kept coming up with ideas to dress our girls. It was so fun!

Instructions are on a blog I made documenting the process - Karen's Girly Quilt

Here are some of our blocks:

me :)

24 hour extreme nursery makeover

My daughter Jenny is about to have her 5th baby (a boy) - and little baby Cohen has decided he likes sitting breech. Jenny is little and Cohen is big so she's been terribly uncomfortable. To cheer her up, I decided to organize an extreme nursery makeover/baby shower. So family members gathered at her house last week and we had fun!

The baby's room was in pretty rough shape with layers and layers of wallpaper. Months ago, Jenny and her boys stripped the wall paper. The room needed a makeover!

Earlier, Jenny had pinned some of her favorite nurseries. She likes a kind of woodland style. I used these pictures as inspiration:

First thing - I went shopping and found this scary rocking chair at a thrift shop ($30)

Everyone that saw it wondered what I was thinking - but I could just see it as the focal point of the nursery. So - off to Ikea to find fabric to recover the cushions - and to pick up odds and ends for the nursery.

I have a collection of Annie Sloan's Chalk paint  colors so I used them to paint the old chair Emerald Green (just happens to be the Pantone 2013 color of the year). I mixed equal parts Antibes Green and Provence to create the color.

Ta da!

I found the little deer in the Christmas department at Ikea.

And Ikea had the perfect fabric to recover the cushions - a nice black and white stripe.

Looks a little better, doesn't it?

Lisa had the brilliant idea to accent the woodland nursery with branches - to hang the curtains and to create a mobile. She found and cut the sticks, and made little clouds out of cut paper.

Last Thursday night, we loaded up the truck and drove to Jenny's for the big makeover surprise. She couldn't believe the funny/cute green chair.

We divided up and set to work painting the room and furniture.

Lisa and Jenny painted three walls light gray (Valspar Sea Salt Blue CI 191) and the accent wall behind the crib a soft blue (Eddie Bauer Wave EB7-3).

I painted an old crib white using Annie Sloan Pure White chalk paint. I love most of the chalk paint colors but I find the whites difficult to use. They don't seem to cover very well. I did three coats on the dark wood crib and it still looked streaky.

I ended up running out of paint before it looked good - what to do? I decided to embrace the streakiness and dry brush it with gray. It gave the finish a kind of woodsy feel.

 (silly) Jamie and Karenin assembled the cloud mobile - it's perfect! Lisa used this YouTube tutorial to make the clouds.

Reid and Jenny painted an old Ikea dresser white with gray drawer fronts

Jason hung Ikea curtains on our tree branch curtain rod   (brackets from Lowes)

Jenny had this cute teepee from a Taylor Joelle photo-shoot (her clothing company) - a perfect little accent. The mommy and baby foxes are from Ikea.

The shelf and changing pad are from Ikea. Jenny already had the perfect black and white houndstooth rug and the fun arrow and teepee artwork - made from purchased Shutterstock photos and printed on canvas.

That ugly old chair just made the nursery! The side table and floor lamp are Ikea

And I made this little print on my iPad - it looks good in a black Ikea frame.

 Here is Cohen's room - all put together (except for the crib which still needs a few repairs).

We can't wait to meet you - baby Cohen!

Bullet Journal

I'm trying out a new organizing, journaling, to-do list system - and so far I really like it.

It's easy, quick, cheap, and flexible.

All you need is some kind of book or journal (the creator likes the large squared page Moleskin).

Here's an overview of the system

 

 Find more details on the Bullet Journal website

Wall art makeover

Do you have old, dated wall art laying around?

I do - and my daughter needed an art piece for her dining room. 

So I gave it a make-over

from this

to this

How? - I took it apart, removed the print, flipped it over, and painted this floral on the back. Then I painted the old frame and put it all back together again.

What if you don't paint? 

Here are some easy ideas for DIY wall art:

Paint the back of the old print a solid color and then cut and arrange paper triangles - idea from Lia Griffith

Here's a tutorial using paint chips by Sutton Grace 

or try circles - idea from Design Sponge

or just cover the old print with fabric

Of course this would work with inexpensive new frames as well 

So many possibilities...

I have a plan

A wonderful group of women recently organized an event for our daughters and granddaughters. As part of our experiences together, we learned about creating our own plan of salvation - in a visual form. This is something that will help us understand how all parts of the gospel fit together and will, hopefully, motivate us to continue pressing forward on the path to exaltation.

Here's my version - still in process because I keep thinking of more scriptures to add.

In my plan, I visualize mortality as a time of progression in gaining light, truth, and glory - "growing brighter and brighter until the perfect day."

The plan is made from file folders taped together with library tape.

I added paint, ribbon, ink, stamps, images, tape, and embellishments

Glory!