Pinterest Challenge - Family Dates Print

It's time for another Pinterest Challenge Party?
Don't forget to grab a button HERE or below! Share the fun too! It would be great to see all those Pinterest inspired projects recreated. <center><a href="http://thetrendytreehouse.blogspot.com/"><img border="0" src="http://i752.photobucket.com/albums/xx169/trendytreehouse/Pinterest-Challenge-Party.gif"/></a></center>

Every Friday...stop by for the "Pinterest Party Challenge" 

You can link up posts related to a Pinterest inspired tutorial, recipes, projects, ect. Basically something you love, found on Pinterest that you want to make.

| Linky Party Rules |

• Follow Trendy Treehouse via Google Friend Connect
• Link up only posts related to this challenge. Not your home page
• VERY IMPORTANT...Include a link to the original PIN. (where you got your inspiration) They deserve credit for their hard work too!
• Please DO NOT link up none Pinterest related posts, shops or giveaways.
• Share the i took the {PINTEREST} challenge button somewhere on your blog or in your post.
• Visit at least 3 other link ups and leave meaningful comments.
• Come back next week to see if your link has been featured and to share another fun Pin Inspired Project

Check out my Tutorial Below the Linky Party

I made a Family Dates Print. I found this one on Etsy through Pinterest.

PLEASE READ...I am getting a few more link ups that don't apply and don't always have time to get them off right away. Please remember to only link up posts that relate to this part. You can link up all others to our Create and Share party on Wednesdays. Thanks!

Family Dates PrintRemember I got my {PIN}spiration HERE.

I love this print. I made mine in Photo Shop using fonts I found HERE. These are on my list to make as gifts too! I think it would be a great Grandparents gift. (mom pretend you didn't see this)
...Here is how mine turned out...Dates of course have been changed. LOL I didn't want to share our personal information. I mean, then you would know my age! LOL JK I'll say cuz I never worry about age. I just recently turned 35. Woo! Hoo!

Anyway...here is my print.

Have you seen these? Did you make one?

Pinterest Challenge - DIY Ruler Growth Chart

Remember last week I mentioned a Pinterest Challenge Party? Well I thought I would launch it today! I thought it would be fun to make some of my favorite {PINS}. I also thought that maybe you might want to link up your {PIN} projects.
Don't forget to grab a button HERE or below! Share the fun too! It would be great to see all those Pinterest inspired projects recreated. <center><a href="http://thetrendytreehouse.blogspot.com/"><img border="0" src="http://i752.photobucket.com/albums/xx169/trendytreehouse/Pinterest-Challenge-Party.gif"/></a></center>

Every Friday...stop by for the "Pinterest Party Challenge" 

You can link up posts related to a Pinterest inspired tutorial or project.

| Linky Party Rules |

• Follow Trendy Treehouse via Google Friend Connect
• Link up only posts related to this challenge. Not your home page
• VERY IMPORTANT...Include a link to the original PIN. (where you got your inspiration) They deserve credit for their hard work too!
• Please DO NOT link up none Pinterest related posts, shops or giveaways.
• Share the i took the {PINTEREST} challenge button somewhere on your blog or in your post.
• Visit at least 3 other link ups and leave meaningful comments.
• Come back next week to see if your link has been featured and to share another fun Pin Inspired Project

Check out my Tutorial Below the Linky Party

This week I made the Ruler Growth Chart. 

I found my inspiration HERE.

Can't wait to see your links. Have fun!

All unrelated links will be deleted. Thanks for following the rules.

DIY Ruler Growth Chart

Remember I got my inspiration HERE.First I went to my local home improvement store to pick up some cedar fence boards. I chose the 6 foot boards. They had dog ears on them but they were happy to cut them off for me at the store. I took them home and planned on sanding them to make them smoother. Luckily hubby is a handy man. He had a planer and offered to run them through there first. They came out so good I didn't have to sand then at all.. I suggest you asking the home improvement store to plane them for you. If they can. If not, sanding is the way to go. I recommend a power sander. It will save your arms the pain. LOLI stained mine all different colors. Staining cedar is a little tricky. I picked a few colors and my favorite was the CHERRY stain. It is the one I have pictured in most of my pic. Below is a pic of all three colors.

Next I measured and marked my board. I used my fabric measuring tape by taping it to the board so it would stay in place. I started at the top of the board at 77" We have tall people in our family and I wanted it to be at least 6 foot 5 inches tall. I took 6 x 12 + 5 to get my 6'5 measurements. By doing this you will be able to hang it on the wall. Just make sure you measure the wall too so you get the correct height.

Measure and mark each foot. Then each half foot. I added more lines in there too keeping them equally apart.

I printed out some numbers and different length lines. I cut them out to use as a type of stencil. I just taped the numbers directly on the board. The lines were easy, I was able to just hold them while I traced them. To trace, I used a black sharpie.

This is how the board looks after I traced them all out. You could leave it like this. (just make sure you erase those pencil markings) It looks cool this way too. But I chose to paint mine.

I used black acrylic paint to fill in my traced numbers and lines. It didn't take long. Just under an hour to complete. Minus stopping to make the kids some cinnamon rolls. LOL They were yummy looking. I didn't eat one. :( Go WILLPOWER! yeah me! Did you see my son in the picture? ;) haha!

Finally done! Now just add a clear coat finish to protect the wood and paint. Then hang, measure and enjoy. All your family and friends will want one too! Here is the final look. This one pictured is a gift. I didn't hang it on the wall for my final pic. Sorry. ;0) But didn't it turn out great! I think so.

Have you made one of these yet? How did you make yours? Leave a link in the comments so I can check it out. Or link it up in the party above.

Gifts for grandma and husbands

Hey there everyone, sorry for being absent on the blog last week, I was enjoying time with my family and didn't feel like spending any of that time on the computer...

So I owe you two weeks worth of gifts. Gifts for grandma and gifts for husbands.

There were a few things that my mom mentioned when I asked her about what the kids could make
for her that she would like to receive. She said she loves any handmade gift from the kids and
especially anything made with handprints. So, we did the handprint calendar for grandpa but obviously
grandma gets to enjoy that as well. She mentioned things like placemats, mousepads, an apron with
handprints on it...and while I think these are all great ideas and hopefully we'll still be able to make some
of these things before Christmas, we made something different. My parents are missionaries right now
over seas and they don't have a lot of the "comforts of home" with them over there. So, I decided to have my kids paint them a picture. I just gave the kids a square canvas board and let them use their own creativity to paint them a picture. Canvas boards can be found at JoAnn's, Hobby Lobby and Michael's. I bought mine at Hobby Lobby and it was a package of 6 boards for $7.99 and I had a 40% off coupon so each board only cost me about 80cents, and I already had the paints on hand so this is a VERY inexpensive gift idea.

These paintings usually happen in "sessions", they paint for a bit then stop and add more too it at another time. They LOVE to paint and ask almost everyday if they can paint. I like to keep those square canvas boards on hand for times like these. They make great personal gifts. I didn't take a photo of the finished project because I don't want to spoil the surprise for my mom!

I don't have any photos of what I am getting/making for Greg...but I can tell you about it quick. I ordered some personalized products with some photos that my aunt took for us on Thanksgiving. He's in need of a new travel mug (takes his coffee to work with him every morning) so I ordered one from Shutterfly. I also ordered a desk calendar for him from Vistaprint (I got the same one as a wall calendar for free). And the thing I am making for him is pajama pants. He told me that he was a little sad last Christmas when the kids got new jammies but he didn't. SO, I  went to goodwill and had Micah pick out a top sheet that he liked (he picked solid navy blue) and I bought that and one flannel sheet for the girls and I plan to sew pj pants for the whole family out of those sheets. Sheets are so much cheaper (especially from goodwill) than buying that much yardage of fabric at the fabric store. Plus, isn't it nice to crawl into your sheets wearing sheets?! Ha, we'll see. I have a pair for myself that I cut out of some old vintage orange and yellow flower sheets about two years ago...maybe I'll actually sew them for my Christmas present this year!

Hope I've given you some ideas. I need something else for my hubby though, so if you have any good hubby gift ideas I'd love to hear them!! Have a great week!

Nursery and Guest Room Tour

I had a great time working on decorating Hannah's room. It's really the first time that I've seen a project start as an idea and come to life pretty much how I anticipated it happening. Now, if money was not an issue there are some things I would change about this room...but I'm not unhappy with how everything came together. In fact I'm very pleased with how it all turned out. Remember we're renting, so there are some things in the room that probably wouldn't be there if we weren't (like the curtains, and I hid the rugs for the photos because they don't match at all but I keep them in there most of the time). Most of the bedding items are from when Greg and I first got married and picked things out for our master bedroom. Once we got a king size bed this comfy queen became our guest bed but all the items that we received as gifts stayed with the bed (thus the burgundy bed skirt and pillow shams), someday I'll save up and buy a new bedskirt and pillow shams but it's not a big priority to me right now.

Most of the items in the room were made by me or bought on clearance or with a coupon. Some of the items are hand-me-downs and I love the added dimension they give the room. There are still a few items that I need to finish as well but I wanted to get the photos taken since it was all cleaned an ready to go for our guests. And since this room doubles as a guest room there are a few things that wouldn't normally be in a nursery but they sure make it easier on me when we have guests, like the towels in the baskets. So without further adieu here is Hannah's Personalized Pink, Green and Orange, Nursery/Guest Room (say that ten times fast).

This was taken before everything was finished for the wall,
but it gives you a good idea of what that wall behind the crib looks like.

The small brown minky lovie was made for Hannah by my good friend Amy. It has her baptismal date on it. The green blanket was a gift from my good friend Angela and it matches the colors in her room perfectly!

The quilt came from someone on my dad's side of the family.
I am not exactly sure who made it...but I LOVE LOVE LOVE it!
I was so excited to be able to put it out after we moved and
had the bed back in a girls room and not a boys room! 

Here's a photo I took in May, but you can get a better idea of what the center of the quilt looks like.

Big windows called for double curtains because I wasn't going to spend money on curtains
when we won't be living here very long.

I'll have a quick tutorial for this chalkboard coming up soon! And that long painting isn't done yet...

Can you see the "H"?
And here's Hannah's view of the paper lanterns!

This little quilt was made by my cousin who is in highschool.
Hannah LOVES to look at all the different colors when I rock her!
 

The little green and purple mini quilt was made by my niece Emily and she's only 13. Didn't she do fantastic? And it matches the green/butterfly theme and
I didn't even tell her that's what I was doing for Hannah's room!
Sorry that one is blurry, I was holding a crabby, teething, croupy baby and she wouldn't hold still. Imagine that. I hope you liked the room tour. I still have a few things to finish up but I am so excited with how everything came together.

If you have any questions about where I got certain things or
how I made anything let me know and I'd be more than happy to answer your questions.

Boy and Girl Shared Room Tour

Do you love to get a little sneak peak into people's lives? Just to know you're not alone? Just to see how other people live? Well, just so you don't have to feel like a peeping Tom, I'm going to invite you into my home and show you around...but only one room at a time and only once they've been cleaned (at least a little bit) and organized.

We moved into this rental home a little more than six months ago. We're finally getting to a place where we feel more settled and more like this is "home". We are not sure how much longer we'll be in this house but for now it is our home. I was getting so sick and tired of ALL the TOYS that were taking over my big kids bedroom, I have been for a while, but I always seem to find something else to do besides clean out their room. Yesterday was the day that I knew I could make it happen. I started working on it while the kids watched a movie with Greg and then he took them to the park so I could finish up. I took everything out of their closet and started putting only certain things back in. I sorted with three containers at my side. I had a box of things to put back to where they actually belong (in other parts of the house) a box for goodwill and a garbage can. I got their closet cleaned out and re-organized and I was ready to hit the rest of the room. I was so excited that I actually got their room done in just a couple of hours. I still have one more thing to organize and that won't take me too long (the top shelf of their closet) because it's just mostly clothes that don't fit, that need to be put in the attic.

Since I finally got the room cleaned, organized, pictures hung and looking like a decent place to live I thought I better take some photos because who knows if it'll ever look like this again! But I am proud to say that they did a great job of putting toys away yesterday and the room looked pristine when they went to bed.

It's only taken me six months but here's the first installation of our home tour. It's still a work in progress as there are areas that need some photos or other items but it works for now. I'd like to get Hannah's room done before grandma and grandpa come at the end of the month so I'll be sure to get some photos once I get her room finished as well.

So here are some photos of Naomi and Micah's shared room.
The bunk bed is from BIG LOTS, the bedspreads are from Ikea.

The dressers were mine when I was little.
I'd love to re-do them someday but that's pretty far down on my "to-do" list.

Our version of a "pet net". Did you have one of those when you were a kid? I did. Loved it. This was a gift when Naomi was born and this is the first time I've ever really used it. It's just some clothes pins crocheted in a line with two circles at each end. You can hang it vertical or horizontal! clever hey?

Shelves and bins are from Target.
It's a little hard to get two kids clothes into one closet
(especially when one is a girl who LOVES to wear dresses).


There's a story behind these curtains, but I won't get into it...but obviously I need to finish them. And we're trying to not make any BIG holes in the wall so we're just doing tension rods because we don't want to hang big curtain rods in the rental home.

Hannah loves to play in their room with them. She just recently started climbing into the chair and sitting down. She loves to pound on the piano and bounce to the music...it's so sweet.
I'll have to make sure to get a video of her playing some day!
Thanks for joining me on the room tour.
Let me know if you have any questions about anything you see!!

Have a blessed weekend.
Don't forget to attend your favorite place of worship on Sunday!

How to create a photo collage wall

If you're hanging out on pinterest (and if you're not you should be) then you've probably pinned a few photo wall collages. I've got half a dozen if not more. People often ask me and assume that since I'm a photographer I've got photos all over my house and I have to admit that I never had a ton of my favorite images surrounding me. I've got large canvas prints in the kids rooms and some other small frames around but I was ashamed to say that I didn't have a ton of my favorite photos on my walls. That has now changed.

I knew that I had the frames to pull off a photo collage wall but wasn't sure how it'd go over with my husband. I knew that if I took my time and did it right we could totally pull off a photo collage wall in our (rental) home. We didn't have a big hallway in our old house so something like this wouldn't have worked (except maybe in a bedroom). I was trying to figure out which configuration would work best when I decided to take it all a step further and measure everything and use a grid to lay the whole project out. You can get by without the grid paper step but it really helped me figure out which of the many frames I wanted where.

So in 5ish easy steps here's how to make your own photo collage wall...

1. Measure your wall and all your frames (you need to know what you're working with)
if you want to go as far as I did map everything out on grid paper...one square=one inch for me (it was just the easiest way for me to do it)

Move things around and make sure you have the best configuration. Don't forget to include light switches or thermostat boxes that are on your wall.
I labeled each piece of paper that represented a frame with the size and a description of the photo in the frame so I knew which ones went where, this proved very helpful later on.


1a. If you don't want to take the extra step of the grid paper you can just lay your frames out on the floor and see if you like how it looks. This works well if you can do all the steps in one day and if you don't have little curious children hanging around!


2. Cut a piece of paper to the size of your frame. Line the paper up with the back of the frame and with a crayon rub over the back of the frame where the hangers are. That way you'll know exactly where to put the nail and you'll have a straight line!

3. Tape the papers to the wall where you want the frames to hang. Use a level to make sure your line is straight.

4. Hammer your nails right through the paper where the hangers of the frame are...and you know right where they are because you rubbed over the hangers with crayon!

or have your handsome hubby hammer the nails for you! (then they can take stock in the project as well).
5. Take the paper off the wall and hang your frames.

6. Stand back and bask in the glorious photo collage wall that you've just created!

Somewhere along the line my measurements of the hanging paper were not pinpoint precise but I'm not a perfectionist so it doesn't bother me too much that the line is not COMPLETELY straight on the bottom.

I smile every time I look at my photo wall. I LOVE it. I know we won't live here very long but I can tell you that my next home WILL have a hallway that will be awesome for a photo wall because it makes me that happy!! I still need to change out some of the photos that I am waiting on to be printed but I just had to share this with you now!!

And look, now we don't have to look at the thermostat box anymore!!! clever hey?!
LOVE IT! Do you have a photo wall? I'd love to see it! I have a few others in the works in the kids bedrooms and I'll make sure to share them when I have them completed!

And don't worry...you still have time to enter the My Memories Suite Giveaway (along with a few other great giveaways). It's easy to enter and someone has to win, it might as well be you! These are FREE gifts people! FREE. This would be great to help you create beautiful layouts to put in your photo collage wall!!!!