Some Art for the Little Man

Back in 2009 when we learned we were expecting a little Chadwick, I decided to go with green and brown for our nursery colors.  I felt those colors would work nicely for either a girl or a boy, and I'm not a big fan of strongly gender-specific nurseries anyway.  That year at Thanksgiving (after we found out the gender and decided on a name), my mom and I painted these letters to place over his crib.  

*And as a side-note, you should absolutely click on the link above to visit my mom's cookie blog.  She's so talented!*

Two years and two moves later, they were still brown and green.  After painting Little Man's room to make it feel more "grown up", I felt the letters needed a bit of aging as well.  I simply went with a classic white, which really makes the letters "pop" on the wall.

His room also has an awkwardly narrow wall between the closet and the bedroom door.  I've never really known how to fill it out, so it's had several different looks over the past year.

To demonstrate a couple:

Both of them are really too small to fill the space.

As you know, a while back I got those wonderful boxes full of free photo frames, so, naturally, I began there.  I knew I wanted to take some paint chips and make a quilt block out of them, but past that, I had nothing specific in mind.  

After perusing the World Wide Pinterest, I opted for a version of the pinwheel quilt block.  To be perfectly honest, I wanted this to be a quick and easy project, meaning that the only thing I really wanted to cut was the colored pieces.  I needed something to help fill in the blanks, however, and since I'm too lazy tired and busy to read the paper in a timely manner, it had been sitting on the dining table for no less than three days.  In walks inspiration.  

Not too shabby, huh?

It did look a little lonely, though.

 So, I picked out two more quilt blocks, grabbed some more paint chips, and went to town.

They make a nice little trio, don't you think?

They fill out that space on the wall well, and now there's more art (and color) up in his room besides the two maps.

Very simple, FREE, and cute to boot!

While We're At It

Yesterday, I showed you how I had rearranged the living room to make it a little more "cozy".  It still needs a rug and a table and two arm chairs, but, hey, for now it's more cozy.  Well, while I was in the mood to move things around the house (which apparently is a chronic condition of mine), I thought I would tackle the wall in the den by the built-ins.  At Christmas, I took an old window frame we got for free from the Chadwick farm, and used it to display my grandmother's vintage Shiny Brights.  After Christmas was over, however, I didn't really know what to do with it.  So, I just threw some random stuff on the wall and called it a day.

It's really been bothering me.  I didn't like it when I put it up, and it never grew on me.  So, naturally, I decided to move it.

It helps fill out Little Man's new corner, but it left me with two big empty spaces.  One here, in the living room where the painting of the violin used to be,

and one here in the den.  I'm currently looking for things I can get for free or cheap to put on top of the piano to help fill it out (spray paint can work wonders), but I really wanted to go ahead and tackle the wall in the den.

I opted for the same technique I used for the art over the tub in the guest bath.  Free frames, slap on a little white paint, old paint chips, and a circle punch.

And, voilá!  I used different shades of gray for the majority of my circles, with only four colored ones mixed in on each frame.

It's really one of my favorite projects so far.  They fill out the wall so nicely, and the white is so crisp and bright.  I made sure to leave enough empty space at the bottom of the wall so I could get a narrow entryway table (eventually).  Much better than that haphazard frame situation.  Don't you agree?

A Little Motivation

Now, while I typically share with you projects I have actually completed, today I'm in need of a little push to the finish line, so here's what I've been working on.

Magazine pages torn into fourths.

Using a small crochet hook, I rolled them into tiny tubes, securing them with Scotch Tape.

Then I took full-sized pages and rolled them into tubes as well.

I fully intend to attach them to this wire wreath form to make a wreath.

Now that I've shared this with you, I have no option but to complete the task at hand.  Eventually.

Another Pin Complete!

Actually, the title of this post is a bit of a misnomer.  I saw this idea on Pinterest and never pinned it, simply hoping that I would remember it.  And I did.  

Ahhhhhhh.  The never-ending quest to find the perfect way to display all of those Christmas cards (or, if you're getting cards from people like me, Happy New Year's cards).  I love keeping the cards I get every year, but I never know what to do with them.  Where to put them?  How to display them?  I really don't like setting them up on the furniture for display, because that creates clutter, and I do believe we all know how I feel about clutter.   Every year I get a few with great illustrations that I intend to frame and hang up the next Christmas.  In six years of married Christmases, this has never happened.  So when I stumbled upon an idea for keeping and displaying Christmas cards I pinned it away for future use stared at it for a very long time in hopes of remembering it.  Yeah, I know, so much for organization.  Well, it just so happens that not only did I remember it, but I also had everything on hand needed to make this pin!  I had a huge stack of Christmas cards, a three-hole punch, and binder rings.  

Ta da!  Christmas card dilemma solved!  I can do this every year with my cards and simply set them out in later years as "coffee table books."  Not my idea, folks, but nevertheless a brilliant one.  Clutter is managed and all those hours I log over at Pinterest are all the more justified.  

Pinterest

I enjoy spending my evenings perusing the pictures and ideas over at Pinterest.  I find that after several hours I feel quite accomplished (even though I haven't done a single thing except use up electricity).  I have a good many boards over there with a good many pins, and I decided I really need to start making some of those things I have pinned.  I actually started over the summer when I took ideas from here and here, combining them to make my paper wreaths.

With winter and Christmas coming, I wanted to pull out my mad paper folding skillz and try my hand at some of the 3d snowflakes I had pinned.  I have now made 11 of these in three different sizes,

and last night I spent the evening cutting, folding, gluing, and burning my fingers to make two of these.

I used "vintage" sheet music for the two I made last night.  I showed the first one I finished to Mr. Chadwick, who's immediate response was, "Oooh, shaped notes!" which was followed by, "I like it!"

Now I can legitimately feel accomplished, and, who knows, I may settle in tonight (while we watch the Pats play the state final football game) and make a few more.  I might even begin to ooze accomplishment (or maybe that's just the blister from the glue gun...).