How to Make a Moss Covered Letter- My Easter B

After perusing Pinterest last week for cute Easter decorations I decided to go home and make myself some Easter inspired décor. I started with the moss covered letter from here.


I kind of decided to make it before I ever hit up a store or anything. I was waiting for dinner to be cooked and decided to start doodling a “B” stencil outof an empty cereal box we had sitting by the kitchen trash can. Hey, I was bored and inspired, so it works.


Once I had cut it out I realized that it probably wasn’t thick enough to attach moss to, so I traced the stencil and cut it out of an empty cardboard box I had in the garage.


I glued the two “B” stencils together, just to make it a bit stronger, and because I had both cut out already, so I used them both. Once I had glued the two together I started to paint them with the 2 colors of green craft paint I had on hand. I have never done anything with moss before, so I wanted to make sure that if it didn’t give full coverage that the green paint would show through and not old trashed cardboard. I painted both the front and back. On the back I epoxied a soda tab at the top so that I could loop some ribbon through it later for hanging. By now my dinner was done. (Ding! Hello pot pie!)


The next day on my way home from work I picked up a few supplies at Michaels. One of course being moss ($7 before coupon), and the other I’ll get to in a bit. When I got home I traced and cut out my “B” stencil from the moss. I traced it a little bigger than the actual stencil because I had not worked with it before and I wasn’t too sure if I'd need extra moss. (Any extra I ended up folding over the cardboard “B” later, but I don’t think it was necessary. Especially with how thin my “B” was.)


Next I took my glue gun and just glued the moss to my cardboard, folding over any edges when needed, until I got the look I wanted.

I left it alone for another day and let it all dry. I filled in any sparsely covered spots with the lose moss I had from cutting out the moss stencil the day before. Once it was all purty I looped some ribbon through the soda tab and hung my new wreath from our living room mirror.

Don't mind the lines on the wall, that's just a shadow from the blinds. I should have pulled them up.


I lurve it! It seems fresh like spring to me.

My other Michaels purchase was a bag of eggs ($6 bucks before a coupon). I had some Martha Stewart Glitter that I picked up at TJ Max for $3 over a year ago. I’ve wanted to have some glittery Easter eggs ever since the purchase, so I just decided to do it already.


Once I got home though I thought the Michaels eggs were a little too purty to put glitter all over them, so I decided to split them up and glitter some and not glitter some.


No tutorial needed here really, I just painted the eggs with Elmer’s glue and sprinkled with glitter until it was all covered then let fully dry.


Along with my one other previous Easter décor . . . (Peep Calm and Carry on printable from here)

I now have a few other items to add to the collection. I am still considering making a bunting banner from burlap that says “He is Risen”, but for now I think I am good. My house seems much more Easterfied!

Pinterest Pickings- Easter

I made a goal with myself this past Christmas that I should try and add one decoration per holiday, every year. (Maybe not every holiday, but the ones I like.) Valentines totally passed me without too much thought, but I’ve already got my eyes on Easter. I love Easter and the real reasons for its celebration, not so much for the fake grass, plastic bunnies and all that. Although, the fact that Easter does have the best candy (hello Cadbury eggs!) doesn’t hurt.

Even though I love Easter, I have pretty much null in terms of festive decorations. Easter decorations seem to go cheap and corny pretty easily. There has to be some pretty and tasteful Easter décor out there, right? So, I turned to my favorite pal Pinterest to look for some Easter DIY inspiration and found some really cool ideas that would make for doable DIY decorations.

Wreaths:


I love this moss initial from here


This adorable wreath from here

Eggs:


This cool idea to decoupage eggs (could do with wood eggs too) from here


I love this idea to bring in the resurrection into your Easter decor. I would put "He is Risen" on mine. Find it here


I already have some Martha Stewart glitter for these eggs.

Other:


I have always wanted one of these Easter trees, but I can't ever seem to find the right branches.
This has totally gotten me motivated to make at least one thing this year for Easter. I was also thinking of trying to start a tradition of maybe making a breakfast quiche or a pear tartine or something every Easter morning. Or maybe reading about Christs resurrection before heading out to church. It totally handle some family traditions.

Slow Down Nelly!

I am desperately trying not to let my priming the guest bathroom turn into two total bathroom overhauls. My design sensibilities are quickly running faster than my bank account can keep up with. I find myself drooling over these amazing new cork tiles I found via Pinterest . . .



Maybe wanting to change out the lighting to something less Hollywood . . .

And totally jonesin’ for some marble counter tops . . .


BUT, in reality, I really should just be trying to figure out a paint color, right? (Thanks for the suggestions) I have many home decorating fantasies. Yes, they really are fantasies, I dream about decorating sometimes once or twice a week. It’s a sickness. And again, yes, it really does feel like a sickness when you don’t have the funds or talent to pull them off.

There is one fantasy, however, that I think we might actually be able to bring into reality. I love the look of Wainscoting or Board and Batten in a bathroom. It looks great in any room really, but I’ve always had a soft spot for that traditional touch in a bathroom. Both our bathrooms are so small I couldn’t imagine that it’d be too much money or hassle to try our hands at a DIY wall treatment.

Those may be famous last words, but I started to look into the process and what it might cost. There are many tutorials on the subject and lots of information out there to find. I first started to look up the ones I’ve had pinned on Pinterest, you can find them here, here, and here.



Here is what I took away from my quick research:

1. Board and Batten can typically be accomplished for less money than Wainscoting, especially if you planned on using a Wainscoting Kit to make it a little easier on yourself (like I would).



2. There seems to be a couple of standard heights for Board and Batten, the lower height is 3 feet and the taller is 5 feet.



3. There doesn’t seem to be a standard for the width between the vertical boards. I saw everything from 16 inches to 24 inches. Most people stayed bigger than a foots width between the boards, but it was just dependent on their space and airvac returns, light switches, and whatnot.



4. In order to cut costs on the Board and Batten, you can forgo the Board (the smooth back paneling boards) and just put up the Batten (the vertical boards.)



5. The costs seemed pretty steady between $100- $250 bucks for a modest sized room.



6. I totally want to actually price out what it would be to Board & Batten my bathrooms! I can maybe do this!

I don’t want to get too carried away with the bathrooms. I shouldn’t put that much money into the house due to the ever falling Vegas home values, but doing a little somethin’ somethin’ to make our years here more enjoyable isn’t all that bad. I’m excited to have something kind of figured out for the space and to make a trip to Lowes over the weekend and see what I can figure out! Maybe I’m just procrastinating picking a paint color, but I’d like to think I’m making some kind of decision making progress!

Bathroom Flub

I am not sure if it is the oncoming of spring, the fact that Jeff is actually cleaning up the tools in the garage (which means he organized all my paint cans), or that my Auntie Lola gave me an (new and pretty) extra shower curtain they had from their recent move, BUT when I got home from work last Friday my guest bathroom went from this . . . .

To this . . .


Our guest bathroom is one of the last wall surfaces that has yet to be painted in the house. So far the only other walls that have made it untouched includes the master bathroom (white), the stairwell (eggshell), and all the closets (white). Every other room in the house has been painted since we moved in.

The guest bathroom was probably one of the rooms that needed it the most however (right after the master bedroom, which was an awful mauve color when we moved in), so the fact that it has made it untouched this long is bananas. Now that I have most of it primed, I’ve realized what I’ve done. I’ve primed the room without a real plan. What was I thinking? At first I thought I could just use the leftover paint we recently uncovered in the garage from other projects and rooms, but I don’t think I have enough of one color for the whole room, and so far I have not been creative enough to think of a way to use all the leftover paints to cover the room.



I think I got myself in a real pickle here. If I just go buy a $20 buck of paint then I’d be sure to have enough paint, but what color would I choose when all the colors of the rainbow are now open to me? I can tell Jeff is really Jonesing for some REAL COLOR. He is not really the pale blue and gray type that I have covered the rest of the house with. After all, he is the guy that picked our neon green kitchen color that I have grown to love. He actually really liked the color that was on the walls before. Honestly, it wasn’t that bad to me either, but it just didn’t really jive with the rest of the house and whoever painted it did a horrible job.


Parts of the wall that should have paint didn't have paint. As seen by the medicine cabinet.

There wasn't full coverage. It was obvious they didn't use a primer. Hints of eggshell just kept popping up everywhere.


Parts of the room that shouldn't have paint do, like the vanity cabinet.

It definitely needs to be painted, but now what do I do? I’ve always pictured painting the room a dark gray, like Martha Stewart’s Trout Gray.



But now that the walls are light, I kind of like the change. I am not one of those people that thinks small rooms have to be light to make them look bigger. I am perfectly fine painting a small room a dark and cozy color, but in this room I just like having such a change from a dark color to a brighter color. I can’t really just go for a lighter tone of gray because that is what the hallway, the guest room, and the office that all sit adjacent to the bathroom are painted in. I need a little color to spice it up.

Jeff has thrown out a light peach, purple, dark blue, or orange, I can tell he just wants some COLOR up in this house. Now I am thinking of maybe having more of a sea glass greenish blue color (surprise surprise) instead of a dark gray.


I’m not really sure where it will all end up. Any suggestions would be appreciated. All I know is that I need to think of it sometime soon, because you’re not supposed to just leave primer on a wall for too long. Dust and all kinds of grossness can get stuck on it. The clock is ticking!

V-Day

Valentine’s Day is one of my favorite holidays. Not because I want to get spoiled with jewels and flowers from a muscle clad man, but because it is such a great reminder to let those you love in your life know how much you care for them. It wasn’t always my favorite holiday, I use to hate it. Fake plastic hearts, pressured statements of love, and all that. But once I figured out what I wanted the holiday to mean to me personally, I really started to enjoy it.

Unfortunately, this year I have been totally bogged down with those not-so-fun parts of being an adult, responsibilities are really over rated. It made Valentines take a bit of second seat this year, but that’s okay.

I always give my sisters a little somethin’ somethin’ for Valentines and this year wasn’t any different. I gave them each some homemade bath salts that were rose scented, each in a different corked jar from Michaels. I only got a picture of the one, because I forgot to get a picture of them all together, but the girls liked them. They said it made them smell good all day


For my man I made him one of his favorite dinners (which is a treat because I don't cook), gave him a good back message(at least longer than 5 minutes), and I gifted him some random items that I know he’d been needing along with a pre-ordered FUN CD and Shin tickets (for anyone who likes FUN you should check out the lead singer’s old band The Format. They were awesome.)

(Pic: Chicken Alfredo, Garlic Toast, Brussels Sprouts, and Sparkling Cider. Chocolate covered strawberries were the dessert.)

Jeff surprised me earlier at work with my favorite color of roses (yellow) and took me out to lunch. I was so happy to see him; I just really needed it that day!


Later that night he gave me his official Valentines gift which included a few movies (two were Muppet movies, I’m sure those really were for him), clothes, and wait for it . . .

Eddie Vedder Tickets!


I am so excited to go see him! I’ve never seen him solo without the band. I can’t wait to see him and just melt by his voice. He is so wonderful. Jeff is so wonderful, Eddie of course is great too, but I mean Jeff is so wonderful for getting me the tickets. I was kind of sweating how I was going to pull off buying both The Shins & Eddie Vedder tickets. So. So. Excited!

Office Problems

Almost a year ago we did a mini over hall on our office. It looked so much better, it was so much more functional, and I was excited to purposefully finish it off with accessories. You know, make a color scheme, make some big plans, and decisively purchase and make items for this room. Well, you know what happens with me and BIG plans? They don’t happen. Our office has been sitting basically untouched since our mini over hall nearly a year ago!


I did my usual, paralyzed about choosing the right color pallet, too cheap to purchase any big art/accessory statements and blah, blah, blah. Hence, nothing happened.


When I realized how long it has already been since I was supposed to have finished this room, I got a little queasy. No wonder it is taking me so long to get my house looking finished and/ or presentable. I thought about the “Dude, get on that already” challenge over on YHL they started. If they can take on extra projects with their busy schedule, then I should be able to do something about a sad forgotten office. I had to do something about it! That is when I remembered picking up some sweet contact paper a couple weeks ago. I had no idea what to do with it at the time, but it was really cute and only $6 so I bought it.

I started with the white metal IKEA boards we picked up over the summer. Even though they kind of look like white boards, you actually can’t write on them, so I wouldn’t be losing any of their functionality by covering them with contact paper. It was really easy to purtty them up. All I did was . . .


Presto! And I was done in about 10 minutes for both boards. They look a little happier in there now and the whole place looks a little less sterile. It may not be a forever fix (or knowing me it may very well be a forever fix), but I’m hoping that it will bring a bit more cheer to the room until I get a more motivated to update the space to reals.



Then I turned my attention to the other side of the room. The one improvement since the mini over hall was the purchase of the settee which we also bought over the summer a few months after painting and making the desk area.


All I did for this side was hang a map that I had crafted up for Christmas (trying to channel this gorgeous map from Emily Henderson).



and I put contact paper the fronts of our old and dented file cabinet, and hang up a cork tile that I made into a changeable monthly calendar with more contact paper.


All in all it is okay. Nothing spectacular for sure, but it is a bit more cheery until I get myself together to really finish off this room. For $6 and 20 minutes total, it is a good enough improvement.

Just so I am clear with myself, in order to really finish off this room I will need to:

1) Accessorize: meaning buy or make large art pieces. Buy or make shelves for the East facing wall. Shop the house for some cute chochkees.
2) Get pillows for the settee.
3) Recover or purchase a new desk chair.
4) Put down a rug.
5) Install the ceiling fan we’ve purchased and is still sitting in the garage.
6) Paint the legs of the settee a dark gray.
7) Purchase a new computer since ours recently died. It is odd to have an office without a computer!

Maybe one day I will get to it. Some magical point when I have the free time and money to accomplish all that needs to be done. That will indeed be a good day!

Sorry again for the bad pictures, I'm still using my phone as I don't have access to a computer to put my camera chip into.

Impromptu SOUPer Bowl Party

This past Sunday we had a little Impromptu Super Bowl party with my family. We have the good fortune of sporting the best TV in the fam’ (at least the best one that is currently set up, Mat and Lora just moved into a new house) so it just ended up that people needed a spot to watch the game and we were it.

I am glad it actually just kind of just fell this way because if I had too much time to prepare I would have driven myself nuts planning like I always do, and I have been WAY too swamped lately to get into all of that. My simple and quick menu was Chicken Tortilla Soup for the Souper Bowl (Oh man, I’m such a dork. Have to have a theme even when putting things together on a whim). Jeff made his scrumptious guacamole dip and my sister brought by a 7 layer bean dip a little later on to fill out the menu.

I got the soup recipe from “Not Your Mothers Slow Cooker Cookbook.” It was really good, definitely a keeper for the future.



Jeff even thought up a little game for us to play, he knows me so well. Starting after the half time show we started to rate all of the commercials on a 1-5 scale, five being the highest. I made these quick little rating cards, not very cute, but they got the job done. My youngest sister, Jade, who is modeling the cards however is way too cute!

Our favorite commercial was the Greek Yogurt commercial with John Stamos. Runners up were the Acura, Honda, and Fiat commercials. I guess my family likes car commercials. Overall though we thought there was a serious lack of funny commercials this Super Bowl, nothing like last year.

It was a pretty sweet night, good game, good food, and I loved spending time with the family. We had everybody over plus some just a couple weeks ago for Lora’s Birthday too. I could easily get use to hosting these family gatherings. I really love having my house full of those that I love the most!

(Sorry for the pictures. I'm still out of a computer so I'm filtering my camera photos to try and hide their poor quality.)