{superbowl}

We celebrated our first super bowl in our new house with a super bowl party.  In this house we love having people over and what better time than this.  We thought the game would be better but at least we had good food, good friends, and hopefully a good time.

I made these football cups after seeing something similar on pinterest.  I just took plain brown cups and white painters tape that I found in the painting aisle at Hobby Lobby.  Its not like the regular blue painters tape either.  I cut the tape in small pieces and stuck it to the cup to make it look like football laces.

For the table I used green poster board, the white tape from the cups, and some numbers from the scrap booking section.  I bought yellow napkins to resemble the flags that the referee's toss for a foul.

Everyone brought different snacks.  We had chips and salsa and feta dip.

 

Kettle corn and cookies.

The yummy feta dip.

I made a bunting for each team with their colors.  Orange and blue for the Broncos and Green and blue for the Seahawks.

Every time  a team scored the kids were able to get a piece of candy.

We made a grown up pool that cost $1 a square to get in.  I won 1 quarter and the final game.

We also ate buffalo chicken dip.

Celeste made this yummy cheese fondue, it was so good.

The spread.

I also saw these football ice cream sandwiches on pinterest but I could never get them to look as good.  Next time I will make my own icing and use a small tip.  The kids didn't care what they looked like they thought they were delicious.

I can't wait until next years Super Bowl, hopefully it will be a better game.

{first new home project}

Even though its nice having my kids home its nice having time to get things done too.  Being the first person to put holes in the walls is kind of scary.  I don't want to make a mistake or have the house not look new.  This is my very first time ever living in a new house and I love it and I want it to stay looking like a new house.  I know that's impossible but I'm going to do my best to keep it looking as new as possible for as long as I can.

In our old house we had a chalkboard wall and I loved it especially when my mom drew a calendar on it, duh why didn't I think about that sooner.  In the new house I didn't have that perfect wall, you know the one that has an end on each side, close to the kitchen, and not 20 feet long.  I was trying to think of another way to make a calendar.  I thought about buying a big piece of mdf and painting it with chalkboard paint then framing it but I wasn't in love with it.  A few weeks ago Lynda and I were at Celeste's helping her get ready for seminary when I got the idea.  She had regular clipboards up on her wall that she was using to display things for seminary.  I thought that would make a great calendar wall except I could use mini clipboards and paint them with chalkboard paint.

I bought the mini clipboards at wal-mart for $1.17 each.  Originally I was only going to buy 31 but Lynda said I should use 35 like a real calendar because the 1st of each month always falls on different days (duh.)  It took me two trips to buy all 35 because I bought all they had the first time.

I already had the chalkboard paint and brushes so I got to work.  Each board took three coats each and I was careful to brush in the same direction and to get it as smooth as possible.  So three thin coats is what I did.  It dries really fast so I was able to get it done in one night.  I also was careful to paint around the clip because I did not want to tape 35 of them.  If I did get paint on the clip I just waited until it dried then scraped it off with my fingernail.

Oh and make sure to paint all four sides too.

I thought the hanging part was going to be hard but thanks to this laser level it was a piece of cake.  The hardest part was measuring the height but once I did the first two rows it was easy.

My mom gave me the idea of printing the days on tags.  I just taped the tag to a piece of paper then fed them through the printer one at a time.  It really didn't take that long.  Make sure to print a 1 on a piece of paper first then hold up the paper to a window then tape your tag where you want the number to print on the tag.  Once I figured the placement out I drew a pencil line to line the others up.  I had to repeat this step one more time when I got to number 10.  Two digits threw off my center.  After 1-31 were printed I put them all in a tea bath.  I then put them on a cookie sheet in a 200 degree oven for 2-3 minutes.  I also sprinkled more tea on them with my fingers to give them that aged look.

Oh and before you write on the chalkboards you need to season them by rubbing chalk all over them then wipe it off with a towel.  This was messy but thanks to Cole and Miles it went pretty quick.

The last thing I did was to tie the numbers to the clipboards with twine or any string you prefer.  I also use both regular chalk and chalk markers to add color.  The clips make it nice to add invites and notes as well.

I couldn't have asked for it to turn out any better.  I love the statement it makes as soon as I walk into my kitchen.

I also found this cute piece of furniture at Goodwill that I made into a homework/school supply station. In the green cubby it holds, pencils, pens, erasers, glue, scissors, 3x5 cards, highlighters, and calculators.  Inside is paper, composition books, graph paper, markers, and colored pencils.  Chloe and Kaidee do their homework on the kitchen table so having it close helps.  I am planning on painting the hutch a bright color when the weather cools down.

Here is everything together.  I am in the process of making a banner for each month to hang between two old door knobs above the calendar.

{happy day}

Look where I went today.....Yucca Valley.

Last week my mom met her mom here for some antiquing and she found some pretty cool stores. But there was only one problem, she didn't have a car big enough to fit any big things.

So today Darian and I went with her in his truck. Do you know how long I have been looking for a store nearby with funky junk? I was in heaven.

One of the stores had some bees in the front making a hive. Cole and Paisley were intrigued.

And here is all the loot. I can finally put a picture of things I found on my blog.

Paisley loves the little table and chairs that I got for Kaidee's Bitty Baby twins.

Cole loves his little red Radio Flyer wagon. I cannot wait to go again.

{tai pan shopping}

Cousin Jill and her family were here for their spring break. I love having Jill here because we always get to do fun stuff. One of the things we did was not one but two shopping trips to Tai Pan. Here are some pictures of what I came home with.

This napkin holder is exactly what I have been looking for. I love the vintage look of it.

This box sits on my buffet and it is perfect for our plates, utensils, and napkins. I will be replacing the plastic for real items as soon as they run out.

I bought this on our second trip. It was the perfect size and color for my bathroom. I just need to add some bars of soap.

Jill had the brilliant idea to ask a worker to give us some flower arranging tips. He told us that he could show us what looked good together but if he did it he had to charge us. This it what we came up with and I added the red flowers. I bought the milk vase for $11.97. You can't beat Tai Pan's great prices.

The wood back drop, frame and plant are also from Tai Pan. I love that store. Whenever you come to visit me I promise we'll take a trip there.

{works for me: decorating with candy}

Decorating with candy is an easy way to dress up your home for a holiday. It doesn't cost a lot of money and it looks beautiful. I just have one rule though, you can't eat any until the holiday is over. I bought these glass containners at Tai Pan.

{my mantle}

I have been wanting a picture of the temple for a long time but I have never found any that I love without spending a small fortune. Back in November I went to my cousin Jill's house for the weekend. While I was there we went to a Boutique at her friend Stephanie's house. Stephanie had this picture of the LA temple and I loved it. She got hers at Raymonddesigns.com. As soon as I got home I went to the website and they were having a 70% off sale. I told Darian I wanted this for Christmas. It was perfect and it cost under $100. Darian told me to order it so a few days before Christmas it came. I love it!

{heart}

I have been wanting to make this heart ever since I saw it over at The Idea Room. Amy has a great tutorial so you can make one yourself. I have been needing more Valentine's decorations in my home so I knew I needed to make this. I must say I love how it turned out.

{it's beginning to feel like Halloween}

I am so ready for Halloween that I started decorating 3 weeks ago. I finally finished last week. I always enjoy looking at how others decorate their homes so why not show you mine. The weather is cold and cloudy today and the kids are making Hot Chocolate. Its just a reminder that the next three months are going to be filled with fun, family, and friends. I can't wait :)

{another project I am selling}

I have this sign at my house under my TV. I get so many compliments on it and friends are always wondering where I got it. I picked it up in Utah so that doesn't help my friends here in California. So I am making them and selling them at my boutique as well. There is going to be one difference though. I am adding soccer to it. I think it will be better because after all there are four seasons and in our house we have four sports that we watch regularly as a family.

{vinyl tutorial}

I thought it would be fun to show you how I make my vinyl signs. With my boutique coming up on October 15th I have been busy making things to sell. One of the things I am making is vinyl signs. I have vinyl signs all over my house whether its a holiday or not. These are just the basic steps that I use.

I am using MDF boards for this project. I went to Home Depot, picked out my wood, gave them my measurements, and had them cut it for me. So easy and I saved a ton of time too. MDF is pretty smooth so I basically just sanded the edges and corners making them smooth.

After they are sanded I rubbed them with a towel to get the excess dust off. I then painted two coats of acrylic paint on the top and all four sides.

Make sure you allow your paint to dry completely. Once it is dry you can add your vinyl.

I hold my vinyl over the top and just eyeball to make sure it is straight. Be careful because once it touches the wood it is hard to get off. When I have it where I want it I lay it down and press with my hands.

Rub the vinyl with a flat surface like a credit card. When you have rubbed it all carefully peel back the backing. If the vinyl comes off with the tape lay it back down and rub it again.

And thats it.

Here is how it turned out.

I will be making several of these to sell at my boutique.

I bought my vinyl from Andy over at Poppies@Play.