DIY: Growth Chart (Modern & Trendy)

The moment I saw this project, I fell in love.  It was the perfect blend of functional, sophisticated, and creative all in one.  It was a fine piece of decor that I would gladly display on my family room wall, and yet all it was, was a piece of wood marked up with a Sharpie!  Yet, I love staring at it now that it's showcased in my house.  I love it, I love it, I love it.  Did I mention that I love it???  I know it'll be something that will travel with me forever no matter where I live and for each birthday, we will freeze yet another memory in time for each of my boys.

And it was sooooo easy to make!  I was able to complete it in one day in between my kids' naps and stuff.  I want everyone to have one!

MATERIALS YOU WILL NEED

• 1 1x8x6 board (Bought mine at Lowes)
• Wood Stain (I chose Red Oak because it matched the warm decor in my house)
• 1 Disposable Brush
• 1 Normal Ruler (not a ginormous human-sized one - LOL)
• 1 Pencil
• 1 Black Sharpie
• 1 Ball Point Pen
• The numbers 1-6 printed on a piece of paper (I used Century font at 200 pts)
• 1 Sawtooth frame holder or Wall Screws and Wood colored putty

DESIGN NOTES

1. This ruler is marked and designed to be hung exactly 6 inches off the floor.  If you want it to be based at ground-level, you will need different tic marks and numbering along your giant ruler.
2. Although I included the sawtooth frame holder to hang the board, after a little disagreement with my hubby, he won and we screwed the entire ruler to the wall.  He was worried about the safety of our tots since they find trouble around every corner.  He had a point - that's the only reason he won.  I didn't like the screws to show, so he filled the holes with some wood-colored putty.

MAKE YOUR RULER

Using your brush, stain the wood.  The longer you leave it, the longer it will stain.  I left mine on for 5-10 mins tops before I wiped the stain clean with a paper towel.  Allow the stain to completely dry.

Using your ruler and a pencil, mark a pattern of 2 one-inch lines for every 1 two-inch line.  The lines should all be one inch apart.  When you are happy with your lines,  trace over them with a Sharpie and a ruler.

With a pencil, trace over your number on the BACK of the paper.  Flip the paper over (face up) and strategically place on your ruler.  Take a ballpoint pen and trace over the TOP of the paper, this will transfer the pencil lead and indentation of the number shape onto the ruler.  Then simply trace over on the giant ruler with a Sharpie!  (I took my time with this because I'm a perfectionist, and I found it therapeutic - I know, I'm weird)

Secure the giant ruler onto your wall.  Remember - it must be hung exactly 6 inches from the ground.

And that's it!  Easy-peasy, right? - Shirley

A Closer Look

A closer look at the finer details of Diego's party and a peek into his birthday video footage....  Most Angry Birds ideas compliments of Pinterest of course!

Christmas Wedding Invitation Ornament

Christmas is just a few days away, and today I was Pinspired to create a little Christmas ornament for my sister.  Right off the heels of her wedding, I knew the Wedding Invitation Christmas ornament was something I was definitely going to make for my sister when Christmas came around.

She made all her invitations by hand so I know how much blood, sweat, and tears she put into it.  Especially because I spent many a late night and paper cuts later right there beside her.  I debated adding the purple accent color from her wedding invite to the ornament, but because she recently redecorated her living room to a more simple, Martha Stewart Living feel, I decided to stick with only the neutral.

I don't know where to get the candle holder that it's dangling from in the picture.  I'm re-gifting it from my boss last year.  Shhhhh!  It is pretty cute, isn't it?  But what could I do with it?  Add an ornament of Mateo's first Christmas?  I can just imagine how green with envy Diego would become.

 

Showing my Christmas spirit by pinning something that's not for me - Shirley

Crafting: Delivery Room Fashion!

Howdy!  During my first few days of off time for maternity leave I prioritized my projects and decided that "Delivery Room Fashion Attire" would be the first crafting project I would work on.  No sillies - not fashion for me, fashion for my little boys (the newborn & the toddler).

I made the following two statement tees (T-shirt & onsie) using the same idea I learned from my Award Winning Maternity costume (freezer paper & fabric paint).  The only difference here is that I used a second color (white) to fill in the holes for the text such as "o", "e", and "a".  I hope that makes sense.  The onsie was Pinterest inspired of course!  The toddler shirt came out better because the text was larger and easier to cut out.

I have a vision of a photo of the back of Diego's head while he looks pensively into the nursery, and  the back of the t-Shirt displays "Big Bro".  Let's see if my vision can become a reality on Delivery Day!

Ready to walk my boys down the delivery room fashion runway - Shirley

Award-winning Maternity Costume!

Hi all!  The countdown is now less than a day until Halloween!   I thought I'd give you a sneak peek of my award-wining "Pregnant Skeleton Family" costume that was inspired by Pinterest once again!  I know I tend to exaggerate sometimes, but really!  It won an award, look below!

Very fitting award, right?  It actually won for "Most Creative" even though I entered us in the "Best Group" category.  That's how creative this costume was!  Wanna know how I did it?  Let's get started:

What You'll Need:

Mom Skeleton

• You'll need to have a baby belly ;)
• Black long sleeved top (Marshalls $7)
• Black leggings or Yoga pants (Marshalls $7)
• Freezer paper (Lucky's $7)
• White Fabric Paint (JoAnne Fabrics $3)
• Paint brush (JoAnne Fabrics $1)
• Exacto knife or blade (for the freezer paper)
• An iron
• Cardboard (to put inside the shirt and pants so that the paint doesn't seep)
• Bow or Fabric (for the baby's bow or tie depending on if it's a girl or boy)

Kid Skeleton

• Kid skeleton costume (you can also make one but I ran out of time; Party City $15)
• Candy or Food Applique
• Needle & Thread

Other Ideas that I ran out of time to do:

• Husband Skeleton Costume
• Pet Skeleton Costume

Diego helps me free-hand draw!

1. Free-hand draw the skeleton parts on the freezer paper

 

2.  Use an exacto knife or blade and carefully cut out the stencils

 

Don't forget the free-floating piece in the middle of the arm bone!

3.  Lay the stencils (shiny side down) on the clothing.  Remember the free-floating piece on the arm.

4.  Iron the stencils onto the clothing without steam.

5.  Insert cardboard inside the clothing

6.  Brush on the white paint.  (2-3 coats may be required)

7.  Let dry overnight.

8.  Peel off the freezer paper and admire your work.

You can see where I messed up above Baby's head.  I could fix it, if I had the energy :)

9.  Attach a bow or tie onto the baby skeleton depending on whether it's a boy or a girl.

Kid Skeleton:

1.  If the purchased skeleton costume doesn't have enough "tummy" space, you may need to "make space".  In my case with my hard-earned medical license,  I "surgically" removed 2 spinal disks above the pelvic area :) to make room.

I looked for a cute applique of food to put in Diego's tummy.  I was thinking either a huge lollipop or cupcakes.  Unfortunately a lot of the cute appliques that I found were more girly in nature, until I found these appliques at Michael's.

 

2.   Attach the appliques to the tummy area.  (I hand-sewed and didn't iron-on because the bones were made of some foamy material that I was afraid would not be able to handle the iron heat)

That's it!  Pics of the costumes "in action" coming soon!

Happy Halloween! -Shirley

Vampire Pumpkins! Pinterest-Inspired

Hey friends!  I just finished a guest post on my good friend's new blog:  Pintrest Made Me Do It.  I seriously LOVE that blog name, and am so envious that I am not THAT skilled with my blog naming talents. 

Anyway, please check the blog out if only for the name .  If not, then would the fact that my post is saturated in pictures of Diego and fuzzy Qori work?  Come on be sweet as pumpkin pie and give her a click.....  :)

Still getting over my cold - Shirley

Newsprint Nails!

I found this idea on Pinterest (follow me here) and I just HAD to do it!  First off - it required gray nailpolish and if you know me, I have a slight obsession with gray hues.  I didn't have a gray that was light enough for this craft so I went online shopping for a lighter gray. 

An ENTIRE OPI 12 set collection and $66 dollars later, I chose my gray:  "French Quarter for Your Thoughts".  OK so I went a little overboard in terms of budget for this simple craft, but in my defense it's my birthday month and I deserve a little something extra for being an AWESOME Libra. And nail polish just does it for me.

I still think the gray is a bit too dark, but I don't like to go too light on my nails.  I know... I'm weird.

Cut out newspaper clippings for 10 nails (unless you're missing or have an extra finger - hehehe).  LESSON LEARNED:  Don't waste your time choosing the right text like I did.  It's not going to be that noticeable.

Get your Alchy-hol and nail polish ready!  LESSON LEARNED:  If you've just painted your nails and they're dry, wait just a bit longer as they may not be completely dry and the Alchy-hol will soften it more and mess up the text transfer. 

Dip your finger into the Alchy-hol (Yes, I used a shot glass, it is alchy-hol after all, and the cup is cute) for 5 seconds.  Immediately afterward press the newsprint (text side down) onto your nail.  Hold for about 15-20 and slowly peel off.  After drying, apply top coat and voila! Newsprint nails.

If you have a Pinterest craft that you'd like to share, then linkup here.  Happy Pinning!

Four-Zero Project: 24 Weeks!

This weeks' photo session was inspired by a photo I found on Pinterest.  Did I mention how easily addicting that website can be?  What do you think of how the photo came out?  It was hard for me to make my belly stand out in the shot.  Either this girl is well into her 3rd trimester or my body type isn't so good for this angle of a shot.  Nonetheless, I would like to give credit to Pinterest (& Kipper Photography in the photo below) right now for giving me so many ideas for Project Four-Zero shots.  Without it, I would never have these memories of my potentially last pregnancy.  I already have a few more shots lined up inspired by Pinterest!  I've been "Pinspired!"

I had great blood work results this week.  My results went down from 5.9 (the original death blow score that landed me in gestational diabetes Hell) to 5.2 (well below the cutoff of 5.6)!  I was very happy about this news.  My diet is working. 

As I get deeper into the pregnancy, I also get deeper into our house construction.  As of right now, I have no kitchen or living room.  Life is inconvenient, and I have pregnancy hormones that I try to control every now and again before ripping my husband's head off.  He loves me, understands me, and takes my crap.  But most of all, he's trying his best to get us through this construction swiftly and sanely.

Just the other day he took me grocery shopping for "easy" food since I won't be able to cook for a week or two.  It was what I considered a once in a lifetime opportunity as we don't typically eat pre-prepared meals.  I went a little insane and bought microwaveable hot pockets, lasagna, alfredo pasta, white castle burgers, waffles for the toaster, sandwich fixin's etc.  Of course we bought all this under the premise that there is a 16 year old boy in our house who needs to eat too.  But who am I kidding?  This week is going to be a step backwards in terms of gestational diabetes unless I can control myself around our newly-stocked fridge.  I'll probably have to depend on my mother for some "real" food.

SYMPTOMS:

Uncomfortable sleeping (lots of tossing and turning)

CRAVINGS

Did you not see all the crap we bought at the grocery store???