{DIY} lyrics on some plywood.

something was clearly in our water last week.

one moment we were bustin out a chalkboard, and the next? 

plywood art.

...

but i'm getting to far ahead of myself,

i want to share my heart a bit first.

i hope you don't mind :)

...

sometimes we see the internet as a tool sparking up jealousy.

sometimes we see it as a tool that tells us we never measure up.

sometimes we see it as a reminder that we aren't doing enough as a mom, or as the keeper of our home.

{confession? i've seen it as all three}

but.

i'm choosing to see the it in another light.

my sweet friends, we only serve ONE master, one God.  

He is pleased when we are doing our best and glorifying Him, whatever that might look like.

He doesn't require us to measure up to man's opinions.

matter a fact....it's when we fail that He opens his arms even wider.

calling us home, to rest in him, to receive His grace, and to know we ARE enough.

i've chosen to read, to browse, and to {lets be honest} stalk a blog or two, for inspiration, for guidance, and to know our heavenly Father has blessed each of us with talents and gifts, and it doesn't do me any good to desire someone else's.  though yes, because of our sin, it happens.

{confession? i'm a pathetic cook}

but those food blogs? they inspire me! they give me ideas that i "pin" and know i will NEVER try, because, let's just be honest, i don't even like to cook. HA!  but it sounds like a good idea.

{confession? my house is often picked up, but not deep cleaned}

i see the blogs of mommas with organized cleaning schedules and organic homemade cleaning supplies as inspiration!  maybe i'll try a cleaning calendar too!  probably not!  but i can try!  

but really? i probably won't even try. i like to cram my deep cleaning into a 3 hour sesh about every other week.  i know. gross.  but guess what? sometimes we go three weeks. {gasp}  

i'm sure the more kids i add to the mix, the dirtier our house will get, and maybe i'll adjust.

but it's ok to be right where i'm at, instead of wishing i could be better.

so you see. i see those blogs too.  i see those posts and pictures.  

but sweet mommas, sweet wives, sweet women of the interwebworld, we can CHOOSE to see them in a positive light :)  

...

and so, likewise, i hesitate posting certain things.

not because i think i'm creating masterpieces over here

 HA. ha. {ha!}

but i hesitate to post for the momma who is having a hard week, feeling like she just can't figure out her children.........i would rather her see my weaknesses then anything that might look like my success.  

and i hesitate to post for the wife who is in a season of hurt.....i would rather her see my struggles too, then to think we're all sparkles and unicorns over here.

but. the truth is?

i want to share the good stuff too.

i want to remember the good stuff.

i want my children to come here and read all the stuff.

{i really do like the word stuff}

maybe in tribute to Jef, i'll write it as stuf?

and now i'm off topic.

happens quite easily in my brain.

my heart beats with compassion.

{praying for less pride, more humility.  praying for less of me, more of Him}

so, here i go, posting an accomplishment, something i did with my husband, something i'm proud of. yes all of those things.  

but really?  i'm posting it to give you an idea, just like AMY LOU gave me.

i read her post and thought, "hey?! i could do that!" and i did.

maybe you'll do the same?

and maybe not. 

maybe you don't have the time, the energy, etc.

and that is OK, you were created beautifully in His image, 

regardless of how many pinterest projects you produce.  

...

and with that, i give you:

[IT IS WELL WITH MY SOUL, on PLYWOOD]

{vinyl letters from hobby lobby}

 {random magazine from the end isle at the store}

needed for colorful pages, not wedding ideas, silly.

{pages and pages tore out of magazines}

 {plywood, cut to your desired size}

{pallet wood, for a frame}

 {tear apart pieces from the mag, glue em on. with a glue sitck!}

{see the pile on the bottom right, below!}

 {after you've covered the board}

{lay out your vinyl letters, then stick them on}

{oh what was roman doing during this?}

well, he dumped out my modge podge all over the driveway.

and then proceeded to use the paintbrush, and paint things like our font bushes,

the house, and the driveway with modge podge.

{you just have to know things like this will happen when you are crafting with kids around}

and you just hafta giggle.

{spraypaint like crazy}

{cover the whole thing in white}

{peel off the black letters} 

{they're vinyl, so very carefully, they will peel off}

{VERY carefully}

and then,

{modge podge the whole thing, to seal it}

 {frame it, and hang'er up}

{DIY} chalkboard love.

when it comes to decorating our home, i'm sort of all over the place.

we have been in our home for more than four years, and i think each year i've changed it up drastically.

decorator adhd?

in the beginning of our home ownership days, i changed paint colors like it was my job.

the decor moved from random collections found on the shelves of homegoods to countless DIY projects that i never really even thought turned out worth a hoot. i would hang them up because i felt like i should, but after a few weeks, they would come down.

i made it a game.

sell something, use that cash, and redo a room.

and though, most of my past crafties are now recycled into something different, and most of them i didn't really ever like that much?  

creating something, with my own hands, for our home, is empowering.  

i'm not a very good cook, but when it comes to setting up our home i feel confident.

i get a rush of excitement when i have all my materials gathered and strung out all over the floor.

...

for the last few months, the wall behind our couch has been bare.

and, i was tired of making something that i didn't really end up liking, to fill the space.

i had a garage sale, sold a picnic table, and an old fire pit.

however, i wanted to use that money to buy patio furniture. and saltwater sandles.

i knew my budget to fill the wall space would require another, sighhhh, DIY project.

...

one evening last week, i stumbled upon ashleyann's blogpost.

"mr leif!" i said, "look at this chalkboard!"

"i'm gonna make it!  will you help me?"

and because he is so awesome.....5 minutes later, the three of us were off to home depot.

 cuz when momma wants to make somethin,

she doesn't wanna wait til tomorrow.

she'd rather stay up all night long and finish it.

 with the little daylight left, we cut the board, spraypainted it with chalkboard paint,

and framed it with 1x2's.

 i loved how ashleyann wallpapered her frames.

but i don't own any wallpaper, so i assumed fabric would work.  somehow.

and when i didn't really know how it would work, and was fearful i'd try to do something silly like hot glue it on and waste a bunch of fabric, knowing i wouldn't like it and rip it all off anyways?

i relied on the decorator's best friend.....spraypaint.

we just went with a white frame.  and i love it.  crisp. fresh. and clean.

mr leif did his thang with the hanging, and the leveling.

romes and i did our thang with twisting fabric pieces around twine so we could hang the board.

 and like every project i try to make, i have so many hiccups along the way.

even though i spent way to much time twisting a bunch of fabric, 

we decided it didn't really need to have the "hanging look"

we just screwed it into the wall.

and then i used the twine wrapped in fabric to make little flower embellishments :)

and the vases of fake flowers setting on the builtin shelves next to the couch?

i clipped them apart and hot glued a few up on the board too.

waa-lah.

{our chalkboard.  with a verse written to celebrate sweet jess's baby GIRL!!!!!!}

and let's keep it real.

this was my living room before 8am today.

i'm not even gonna show you what it looks like now

{because i'm too lazy to take another picture}

i'm so excited to keep changing up the chalkboard.

and really, i just love chalkboards in general.

watch out husband,

next will be accent walls in chalkboard.

bedroom walls in chalkboard.

exterior house, ALL IN CHALKBOARD.

kidding. duh.

...

we've been updating the living room chalkboard.

because, well, we all need good reminders :)

  

how did i not know we had an electric sander?

i'm a sucker for garage sales.

when thursday roles around during summer, street corners are filled with garage sale signs.

but, you've got to be picky.

so, i typically hit up the nice neighborhoods.

those are the houses that buy way too many clothes for their kids, thus resulting in none of them being very worn out, thus resulting in me buying them for romes.

babygap galore. because babygap is like the walmart for rich people when it comes to buying their kids' clothes. and it also happens to be my favorite style of boys clothes out there :)

(other than mini boden....but when i walk by that at nordstroms, my wallet instantly puts a padlock around itself, mr leif's orders)

however.

when you are looking for a fun furniture project?

don't go to them.

go the opposite direction.

you want something sort of old-looking, and you want to spend notverymuch money on it.

i bring you this end table.

it was being sold for $20, I got it for $10 :)

solid, not a scratch on it, sturdy, drawer works great!
but, it's been in my garage for a month now, because i've been dreading the sanding process.

so this weekend, on saturday,

i finally went out and bought some sort of spraypaint that claims there is no sanding or priming needed.

i get home, all pumped to attack this table......

and mr leif proudly declares, "we have an electric sander you could just use. it will only take a couple minutes to get the top layer off"

well heck, yah, mr leif!

i'm in.

turns out, i took out any frustrations of the day, errrrr, week on the sanding portion of the project and just sanded the crap outta this thing.

no top layer only for this girl.

i was sanding for a good 20 minutes or so :)

next up, i went to town with the spray paint.

i could have just painted it with regular paint and a brush, i suppose.

but....i already had bought the spray paint.

so that was step one on saturday.

sand, and wipe off = 30 minutes

paint = 15 minutes

...

sunday afternoon came.

and i was very pleased with how things were rolling along.

however, we were not pleased with our current drainage issue in the kitchen sink.

so, i was off to home depot to kill two birds, with one stone...how cliche, i know.

cute knobs, that mr leif said home depot sells, and drain stuff.

i wanted something colorful, but not too bright.

something that was in the blues/greens/yellows....

for the knobs.

drain stuff? check!

knobs? no. nothing other than plain nasty silver, gold, metallic, chromish ones at the depot.

hmmmph.

so.....it just happens to be that anthro is less then 10 minutes from my house.

needless to say, i took the "long way" home and quickly stopped there to pick up these cute knobbies :)

and.........wallah!

here it is!!

and last night, while i was rearranging our guest room, i came across this cute little guy that came with an etsy purchase i made almost two years ago.

so now our guests will have a nifty little table with a sweet little quote on top.

now.....don't all jump at once, but WHO WANTS TO COME VISIT, AND STAY IN OUR GUEST ROOM?!?!

this weekend is booked already :)

yep.

she's comin to town :)

a four step, DIY. (doesn't get easier then this, friends!)

when i first stumbled upon the cute idea below, i thought to myself, hmmmm, now that's something i can do, and i can do it fast.

i mean, i love projects......but when their steps out-number the amount of supplies you need, my adhd brain gets antsy.

this one was quick, painless, and quite easy.

(and my aunt joan was here, and she may or may not have done most of the glueing while i was playing DJ on pandora and serving everyone boulevard wheats with lemon)

for the deets:

supplies - canvas, fabric, hot glue gun, tissue paper

now, hobby lobby doesn't have the best selection of fabric and tissue paper, but i was pleased with my picks :)

1. cover your canvas with your fabric (and hot glue it down on the backside)

2. cut your tissue papers into about 4x4 inch squares, fold them in half, then in half again, and then make a little ice cream cone like thing and cut the edges into a round shaped half moon thingy. (didn't make sense? go here!)

3. glue the tips of your flower stems onto your canvas to make your letter! cool! or maybe you're making a number?! cool too.

"L" for LEIF, get it?!!!

ok, one more picture.

a pre-baby confession...

...you know, back when i "had all the time in the world"

well, back then i would browse ohdeedoh, a lot.

i would save pictures and links for inspiration.

inspirational decorating tips, diy projects, recipes, etc.....

and this morning, i checked on my old friend, the doh, and found this:

click on picture to take YOU to the recipe :)

how cute, ey?!

yeah, i'm gonna try it.

you should too!

i probably need to have.......

...........a baby girl. cuz then i'd decorate just like these totally FAB rooms:

a little somethin for my wall...

...a craft project by mr. leif and i

yes, he did help!!!

he likes to check my work and make sure i'm doing things even, etc.

....although i am more of an uneven kind of gal

...the vintage/rustic/made by me look is what i like

...but we do work together quite well....i respect his help :)

pinwheels done.

time to paint my board and add the wheelies :)

tadaa!

when i finally decided to do this project, i realized it was quite quick and easy!

hello hobby lobby, i haven't seen you in a while...

just a sneak peak

...at a fun little crafty idea that i am currently pursuing :)

i will be sure to post the finished product!!

p.s.

while i've been slaving away folding, gluing, cutting....

mr. leif has been tackling his own project outdoors, our chimney. whooooooofta. this chimney needed some work, so he is breaking away all the old cracked stucco and replacing it with some new stucco....yikes, look at those old bricks behind there!!!