Nursery Gallery Wall Take Two

Hey, Friends! I'm so excited to share our updated nursery gallery wall with you! 

You may remember, this is what Little Girlie's gallery wall looked like while we were waiting for her grand arrival. After she was born, we added a picture of the kids to the polka dot frame and her footprints from the hospital to the green plaque. I loved it and it stayed like that for the last two years. 

Recently, though, we have had to switch a few things out. The footprints were fading from the window light, so I took those down. Then, after my Grandma passed away, I brought home a painting I had done for her a couple years ago and decided to add that to Little Girlie's gallery wall. Here's how it's looking now!

See where my popsicle stick mosaic mirror landed? I just love it! Who knew I could love popsicle sticks so much?! See the full tutorial here. 

I'm still head over heels for this print from Katie Daisy and the letter C that I ordered from a friend for Little Girlie's room, so those two things stayed put. 

I fell hard for Bre from Average but Inspired's peg doll family, so just had to make one for our family! You have to check out Bre's and her tutorial over on her blog! My little peg family fit perfectly on the green plaque and brings a giant smile to my face whenever I see it! 

Here's where the painting I did for my Grandma's 93rd birthday landed. I painted this for her a few months after she broke her hip and moved into a nursing home. I wanted something bright and cheery for her room. I was inspired by a gorgeous painting at World Market. It's such a happy/sad feeling to see it in here. It can be a painful reminder that Grandma is gone, but it also makes me smile that Little Girlie has this link to Grandma in her room. 

I'm loving the changes! Amazing how just a couple changes brought a whole new life to the wall!

Wall Color: Panache Pink by Sherwin Williams

See Board and Batten Makeover here!

Catch up on all of the nursery posts here!

Linking up with Savvy Southern Style, Remodelaholic, Thrifty Decor Chick, and many other awesome blogs!

Popsicle Stick Mosaic Mirror

*Affiliate links provided for your convenience. For more info, see my full disclosure here.

It's finally starting to look like Spring around here! Flowers are blooming, trees are getting leaves, and pollen is descending upon us in clouds. Ha! With all of the color outside, I was itching to bring in some vibrant colors inside! 

I've been needing something round to complete Little Girlie's gallery wall, so I decided to make her a super colorful mirror! I wanted the mirror to incorporate the colors in her room and have a bit of texture. After a bit of brainstorming, I came up with a design that used the most unlikely of materials... popsicle sticks! 

Here's what you need to get started! 

-Popsicle Sticks* (I used the wide, thinner ones so they would be easier to cut)

-Acrylic craft paints

-Beveled edge wreath form similar to this one*

-Hot glue

-Paint brush (This one* is my favorite for knocking out a job like this quickly!)

I started out by prepping my popsicle sticks for painting. I only needed the rounded tips, so cut the sticks in half so I could paint both tips at the same time. I knew I needed to get the tops and the sides/tips painted and would have a million to paint, so came up with a quick way to paint them... tape them hanging off the edge of the counter! That way, I could paint them all at once and could easily get to the sides without them sticking the a surface. 

Quick tip: I taped them on in groups of 10 for easy counting. 

Of course, I underestimated just how much counterspace I'd need to tape 240 popsicle sticks onto! 

After I finished taping, I stepped back and surveyed the kitchen. It looked like a crazy town. It was then that I realized I had crossed over to the crafting dark side and needed to be admitted into a support group. People probably fear coming to my house for fear that I'll paint doodles on them or hot glue embellishments to their clothing. 

Anyway, back to the crazy town kitchen with 240 popsicles hanging on for dear life... I gave them all two coats of paint and am happy to report that my wacky taping method worked wonderfully. I was done super fast! 

Side note, if you wanted a more neutral color scheme, you could stain the sticks different shades instead of painting them! Ohhh, so sophisticated! :) If you do that, tag me in a picture. I want to see! 

To assemble, I cut the popsicle sticks down and glued them on to the wreath form in overlapping rows. I worked in vertical rows until I had gone around the entire wreath. It's helpful to cut the sticks as you go because the inner ones need to be a bit shorter (about 3/4") and the outer ones need to be a bit longer (about 1- 1/2"). I could only get in 5 full rows across of sticks, so ended up cutting my popsicle sticks lengthwise to create a sixth row and cover the remaining exposed outer edge. 

Quick Tip: When you start, only glue the first row near the straight end, leaving the curved tip unglued. This will allow you to slide your last row under your first row and avoid a start/stop seam.

When I was done, I simply glued a mirror and picture hanger onto the back!

It was a bit of a process, but really so easy! I just love how it turned out! 

It's the perfect finishing touch to Little Girlie's gallery wall! I'll show you the rest of the updated gallery on soon, so be sure to check back! (Update: check out the updated gallery wall here to see where this cute mirror landed!)

I love the bright, vibrant colors!

What's the craziest thing you're ever done in the name of crafting? I want to hear your stories!! :)

Linking up with Savvy Southern Style, Remodelaholic, Thrifty Decor Chick, and many other awesome blogs!

Anthropologie Inspired Ikea Play Kitchen Hack

Hey, Friends! I've been so excited to show you this little Ikea hack for months now! Little Girlie had been raiding my kitchen pans and utensils for items to play with, so we decided to buy her the Ikea play kitchen for Christmas. I was super excited to give it to her since I loved my play kitchen as a kid! Of course, you know I just had to jazz it up a bit for her!

Little Girlie is into pink and purple, bows, jewelry, and accessories right now, so I wanted to give it a feminine touch without being too in your face pink, if you know what I mean. ;) I have LOVED this Anthropologie wallpaper for years and wanted to use it for the backsplash on the kitchen, but it was way out of the budget. Instead, I grabbed some craft paints and got to painting! 

We cut a 1/4" sheet of plywood to fit the opening in the back of the kitchen, leaving a lip so we could nail it in. After giving it a good sand, I rolled the entire thing in a pretty blue-green. 

For the flowers, I used two shades of pink for the petals and just randomly alternated the colors as I went around. If you look closely, you will see the petals are just blobs with a bit of blank space in between. Super easy! For the leaves, I painted them in one shade of green, then streaked on another shade of green. The trick here is to not have very much paint on your brush so the bottom color peeks through. Again, super easy, I promise! The centers are just yellow paint that I dotted on, followed by a few dots of darker yellow. 

I left off some of the details from the original wallpaper, because, elementary painting skills, that's why. ;) That's why I called it "Anthropologie Inspired" instead of "Anthroplogie Dead Ringer". Haha! 

After the backsplash was dry, we just attached it to the kitchen from the back! That's it! I really wanted to paint the wood parts of kitchen white, but decided against it for durability sake. I knew it would be played with hard and didn't want to worry about the paint chipping on the more trafficked areas of the kitchen. 

I love how the colors tie into the playroom decor and add a feminine touch! 

Now it's the perfect place to sip some pretend tea made by the sweetest little girl I know. 

I added a couple kid-safe finishing touches to the top cubbies since Little Girlie is too short to reach those spaces anyway. The tin vase is from the Dollar Spot and the frame was one my Grandma had that she picked up at the Dollar  Tree. See where I get my dollar item obsession from? I like that the frame is sentimental and that it doesn't have glass in case it falls. 

Little Girlie was SO excited about her kitchen on Christmas day! She opened it up then ran over and gave me a big hug before playing with it. Love!

Linking up with Savvy Southern Style, Remodelaholic, Thrifty Decor Chick, and many other awesome blogs!

Easter Egg Topiary

Hey, Friends! Hope you are having a great week! Popping in really quick to show you another piece of our Easter decor!

I saw Kim from Sand & Sisal's egg topiaries and got all heart eyed over them! I happened to have a bunch of Easter eggs from last year's Easter display, so decided to make my own topiary for the entry way.

I followed Kim's tutorial, except I used pre-painted eggs and instead of purchasing a styrofoam cone, I just make a cone out of poster board.

I tried a couple different dishes for the base, but nothing was quite right. I finally got creative and rested my topiary on a cappuccino mug! There were some really cute hobnail mugs at Target that would have been fancier, but my friends reminded me that I should pick the best one for drinking coffee. The big, fat cappuccino mug won, hands down. Ha! #priorities

I love how it looks in our entry! It's festive without being too in your face Easter pastels, you know?

Have a great weekend and be sure to soak in some of this sunshine!


Linking up with Savvy Southern Style, Remodelaholic, and many other awesome blogs!

Quick & Easy Easter Bunny Craft

*Affiliate links provided for your convenience. For more info, see my full disclosure here.

Thank you so much for all of your sweet comments regarding my last post about losing my grandma. I go back and forth from disbelief to feeling liking I can't breathe from the weight of it. But, your comments were a bright spot, especially the ones with stories of Grandma. I love hearing how much others loved her! She had a big fan club! 

I'm trying to get back into the swing of things around the house and get things decorated for Easter. I don't do a whole lot for Easter, just a few cute touches here and there. I decided to make a bunny to add to my everyday centerpiece and just love how it turned out!

Here's what I started with: a wooden bunny from Michael's (scored this week for only $2!), craft paint*, Mod Podge*, paint brush, scrapbook paper, and twine (not pictured). 

I started out by giving the bunny two coats of white paint. When that was dry, I attached strips of scrapbook paper to the edges using thin dabs of hot glue. Then, I gave the entire thing a coat of Mod Podge to seal it off. 

I was going to stop there, but the seam where the paper met the wood was bugging me. It wasn't laying flat. Maybe I should have used fabric instead of paper and attached it with Mod Podge? Anyway, I decided to hot glue twine around the edges to finish it off and cover up the seam. That worked great and I ended up liking the last minute twine addition! #happyaccident

I mean, look at that cute little bunny bum! 

I love how it looks peeping out of our table centerpiece! 

This little guy didn't take much time at all and is such a cute Easter touch! What are you doing to decorate for Easter? Do you go all out or add just a few touches? 

Linking up with Savvy Southern Style, Remodelaholic, and many other awesome blogs!

Neutral Winter Wreath

Hey, Friends, how was your Super Bowl weekend? I have to say, I was really pulling for the Panthers to win the Super Bowl for my hubby's sake, but we all know how that turned out. Sigh. On top of the stinky game, Little Man came down with the stomach flu and is absolutely pitiful. I haven't seen him this sick in a long time! Poor guy! 

Before the sickness set in, I did get a fun craft done this weekend! I don't know about you, but after Christmas, I never know what kind of wreath to put on the door. I'm not quite ready for a spring wreath, but can't do much in the way of Valentines decor because my door is coral and does not play well with Valentines colors. 

This year, I decided to create a neutral winter wreath, focusing on texture instead of pops of color. I'm a color lover at heart, so was worried it would look too lifeless, but I ended up loving the results! As an added challenge to myself, I decided to try to make my wreath exclusively with materials I had on hand already. Free decor for the win!

You'll notice it is very similar in style to the spring wreath I made a couple years ago. I love, love, love that wreath, so thought this was a good neutral version. 

I had a spare wreath form in the closet that I picked up during a sale at Michael's about a year ago for a couple dollars. Then, I rummaged through my fabric scraps from previous projects and came up with enough stuff to create the embellishments! 

I used leftover polka dot burlap from my no-sew pillows and this flower tutorial to make the burlap flowers. I used leftover felt from the spring wreath and this tutorial to make the loopy flowers. I had a roll of ivory yarn that has been floating around for years now to make a couple pom poms to look like snow balls/flakes. Here's a great pom pom tutorial if you need it. 

Then, I finished my wreath off by gluing on some pearls (again, leftover from my spring wreath) and wrapping some twine around a section of the wreath. I think the twine gives it a rustic touch and adds some balance, but my husband thinks it looks weird. Haha, gotta love the honesty! What do you think? Both the twine and leaves were inspired by this wreath. 

I'm so happy with the results and thrilled that I was able to pull it together for free! Hope this inspires you to rummage through your scrap piles and see what you can come up with! 

Linking up with Savvy Southern Style, Remodelaholic, and many other awesome blogs!

Glittered Reindeer Wreath

The other day, you know, back in August when weird prepared people start thinking about Christmas decorations, I spotted this adorable deer wreath at Michael's. I scooped it up super fast and started dreaming up plans for it.

I originally was thinking of painting it white and layering it over a boxwood wreath, but sadly Trader Joes hasn't had their $10 boxwood wreaths and I can't afford a good-sized preserved one. Sad times. After more stewing, the idea to use glitter popped into my brain and the rest is history!

I sanded the wreath down really well, focusing on the rough edges and making sure to get it nice and smooth. I gave it a couple coats of white spray paint. Then, I brushed on Mod Podge where I wanted glitter and sprinkled on a generous coat of extra fine glitter, tapping off the excess. I just had to add a cute little red nose!

I hung it up using some dollar spot ribbon from Target and command strips. I love how it turned out!

Happy weekend, everyone!

Linking up with Savvy Southern Style, Remodelaholic, Pocketful of Posies, Just a Girl, and many other awesome blogs!