Painty By A Girl

We finally hung up a piece of artwork in our living room! You may recall that one of my goals this year was to hang up artwork and photos. And one of my goals last year was to create a piece of artwork for our home. I guess I can't really take full credit for this one, because the art was made by our three-year-old. 

She has been begging to paint on her easel so I finally dragged out an old canvas that I had basically ruined when I tried to start a painting last year. I gave it a fresh coat of gray paint one night and put it out for her the next morning. She was thrilled! The colors she used were pretty limited since I have mostly neutrals, but I mixed up a little bit of red and blue paint that I have left over from one of her birthday parties and made a muted pink and a bluish gray. A few days later, when she was itching to paint again, I brought the same canvas out and let her layer on some more colors. The original painting had a LOT more pink and blue on it, but she decided to cover a lot of it the second time. 

Since it was our daughter's artwork, we let her decide where to hang it. She scoped out some blank walls in our house and decided on this one for her masterpiece. It sits directly across from our front door, on a small wall between our living room bookcases and the hallway and the opening to our dining room. It's so cheerful to be greeted by her painting when we come home and she is just tickled to have contributed to the decorations in our home. Best of all, when we asked her to name her painting, she immediately announced, "It's called Painty By A Girl." Love it. 

19 for 2019 Progress

Halfway into the year and I'm excited to share my progress so far on my 19 for 2019 list! I know it technically isn't the halfway point in the year, but today is my birthday, which I always consider the mile marker for the halfway point in the year! So, Happy Birthday to me and let's see what I've been up to this year...

1. Be the ultimate villain
I did it! I've beat my hubby with all the villains! Earlier this year, we also got the expansion pack and I've already mastered 2 of them! Woohoo! This was has been lots of fun and I'm glad to have included a fun challenge again this year.

progress: DONE!

2. Get a mani/pedi
So I didn't actually go to a nail salon to get mani/pedi, but I did my own fingers and toes using ColorStreet (one of my dear friends is a Stylist). I think that counts!

progress: DONE!

3. Replace clothing basics
Recently when I was in the dressing room with my mom, she poked fun at my unraveling undershirt... So I guess this was one that was overdue. Haha! This weekend, my hubby took us out shopping with the main intention of buying basics and I'm happy to report that we found some stuff that I like!

progress: DONE!

4. Make a capsule wardrobe

My plan for the summer is to figure out what I need to add for a functional wardrobe. I just need to spend some time with this.
progress: 0%

5. Read 6 new books

DONE! See what I read here!

6. Find a planner I like and use it

Last week, when Target had their teacher discount for school supplies, I picked up some different planners to try out. Of course, I got some other fun planning supplies :) Can't wait to play with them!
progress: 10%

7. Make a home binder

My home binder is coming along...
progress: 60%

8. Fix or replace something old in our house

We desperately need to replace the sliding glass door in our dining room. Last week, I bugged my hubby enough to go out and start window shopping. Literally. LOL
progress: 10%

9. Sell some stuff on ebay

DONE!

10. Get a new plant
At the end of the school year, I acquired a plant from one of my friends as she was cleaning her classroom for the summer. Though this wasn't quite what I had in mind, I was happy to adopt her plant, so technically, I would say I completed this one! LOL. 

progress: DONE!

11. Decorate the play room

My brain has been working on this one... I'm super excited to start planning!
progress: 0%

12. Hang up artwork and photos

We're working on this one!
progress: 25%

13. Organize photos

Making very slow progress here too. I've gathered all the photos in one central location (our bedroom closet) and I want to try to pull out a small stack each night to sort. I just haven't quite made a habit of it yet.
progress: 5% 

14. Make 2018 photo books

Earlier this year, our daughter discovered our past photo books and has been really enjoying them. It was just the inspiration I needed! I made our photo book from our Disney trip along with a couple others from past years, including our Japan trip in 2017, and we are loving them! I think we are just going to make one more for the year and then we'll be done for 2018!
progress: 50%

15. Update our family blog

I'm pretty pleased with the updates I've made and am happy to say that I'm done!
progress: DONE!

16. Make a quilt

I've been working on this one! I spent a LOT of time planning the design on the quilt and collecting the fabrics that I wanted to use. Everything is cut and pinned and I'm ready to start sewing! Now I just need to set up my sewing machine...
progress: 50%

17. Try a no spend challenge

Back in May, Hubby and I tried a no spend challenge. I honestly thought that it would just be a silly little experiment since we are pretty frugal people. Our total spending for the month of May ended up being $700 less than our average monthly spending! Holy smokes. I still have no idea where we managed to save $700! I actually did the math several times because I couldn't believe it was right. It's made us become a lot more mindful of our spending for sure! I actually think I want to do it again.
progress: DONE!

18. Save an extra $500

DONE x 2!

19. Take a vacation

We're going in September! WOOHOO! Hubby just renewed his passport and our itinerary is planned. We've started gathering what we need for the LONG day of travel and making lists of all the cool stuff we plan to buy. We're getting excited!

progress: 25%

I'm pretty pleased with the amount of progress I've made so far... Here's to a busy summer!

Thanks a Bunch

I did it! I finally made a card! It seriously took me about three days to make, but I did it! I even snapped a quick photo so that I can share. 

As I've been cleaning, decluttering, organizing, and relaxing over the summer, I've been itching to get crafty. I had a little basket of goodies that my friend, Naki, sent to me last year when I declared that I would try to make 12 cards in 2018 (I only made 3). One of those goodies was the Paper Smooches Best Buds stamp set with this cute jar of blossoms. My original plan was to go vibrant and whimsical, but Naki suggested I try a metallic embossing powder with light watercolors. Boy, was she right! Thanks, Naki for your insight and advice! :)

I'm finally entering a challenge as well, which is something I haven't done in FOREVER! Paper Smooches has an Anything Goes challenge this month which makes it super easy and super fun to play along! 

The DEEtails:

Paper: Artist's Loft 140# Watercolor Paper, In Color 2014-2016 DSP, Lost Lagoon cardstock, Sahara Sand cardstock, White Vellum cardstock

Stamps: Best Buds (Paper Smooches)

Ink: VersaMark

Embellishments: Winnie's Sparkly Shaker Selection (Little Things from Lucy's Cards), DMC thread, Copper Stampin' Emboss Powder

Tools: Kuretake Gansai Tambi, Many Thanks Die-namics (MFT)

Summer To Do List

I finally did it! I sat in my office (crammed in a tiny corner) and made something!

I'm not entirely sure why, but I'm not a big fan of the phrase "bucket list"... call it what you will, but this is our Summer To Do List, our Summer Fun List, or our Summer Wish List. I was inspired by this project that I found on Pinterest and was determined to make one for our family.

My little girl requested a floral pattern/theme, despite my gentle push towards some other summery patterns and prints. We sat down together as a family and brainstormed some fun activities and then I made them into tags. It took me a while and I was actually a little worried for a bit that the summer would be over before I even had a chance to finish, photograph, and post this project, but here we are!

I dug through all my supplies and gathered whatever I could find to create these little tags. It's been such a long time since I've sat down in my craft space that I honestly didn't even remember a lot of what I had! I've been weeding through my stamps and supplies and selling things on e-bay little by little, but I still manage to have TONS of stuff!

The tags that we have are as follows:

• blow bubbles
• pick berries
• make ice cream
• swim
• board game
• pick flowers
• tea party
• have a picnic
• visit a museum
• visit the library
• ride bikes
• fireworks
• paint
• catch bugs

Now we just have to go do all these things before the summer is over! Thankfully we were able to knock off a few during our recent trip to visit family. I'll be posting some pics soon!

Currently... July 2019

Hi there! We were out of town last week so I'm a little behind on blogging... I'm officially on summer vacation and loving every moment! Here's what we have going on around here...

WATCHING: Music???
LOL. We are so behind the times around here when it comes to media and technology... After a big storm, the sound on our TV cut out, so we ended up getting a new one a few weeks ago. We aren't big TV watchers, but our little one loves to watch Disney movies and hubby plays games at night, so a working TV is helpful. A TV with sound is also a plus. We got a smart TV this time around and linked our Pandora account to it and our little girl is constantly requesting to "watch songs on the TV." She literally plunks down in front of the TV to watch it flash the album cover of her favorite Disney songs. What a silly girl!

READING: Hands Free Life by Rachel Macy Stafford

I just finished this awesome book. I absolutely HATE doing things out of order, and I was frustrated with myself when I realized that I accidentally got the sequel to Hands Free Mama before I read the first one. But quite honestly, I couldn't make myself stop. It took me a long time to read the entire book, mostly because I just wanted to sit with each story and let it resonate. I finally finished it last night. I just loved it and I can't wait to read the first book now.

LISTENING: to The Greatest Showman Soundtrack
I haven't seen the movie, but the songs have been stuck in my head. I think the kids at my school were singing them and they just kind of got stuck in my head since school let out. Anyway, I sort of became obsessed and now I'm listening to the soundtrack. non. stop. Sorry, Hubby. ;)

EATING: giant marshmallows (*I don't know if these are the actual ones we got)

That's right. You may remember back in May, our daughter was on a mini marshmallow kick. Well folks, we have upgraded to GIANT marshmallows! LOL. They are still a "special treat" for days that she has good table manners and the thought of them make her so giddy. Love that little girly! 

DRINKING: lots of water... again!
So long ago, I only drank water. It has been so inspiring watching our daughter truly love "fresh, cold water." Recently we decided to buy a large Brita water dispenser and start filtering water from our tap. We used to drink only bottled water, because I just didn't care for the taste of our water. We started to take an extra step in boiling our water before filtering and I can honestly say that our water is delicious. Plus our daughter loves that she can dispense "fresh, cold water" whenever she wants. 

WEARING: this sleeveless jersey swing dress
I've talked about how I got a few of these sleeveless jersey swing dresses from Old Navy last summer and they've become a staple for me again this summer. They are simple, comfortable and cool to wear. I usually pair it with a fun necklace and am good to go! I am such a black dress girl, but there are lots of fun patterns and prints if you want more variety! I'm also eyeing this one to add to my closet...

MAKING: progress on my 19 for 2019 list!
I'll be sharing details soon. I'm excited to report that I'm about halfway done with my list, which is pretty fitting since we are halfway through the year!

PLANNING: our trip to Japan
(The photo above is from our visit in 2017 to Tokyo Disneyland - my FAVORITE place on Earth)
We'll be heading to Japan in the fall and I'm so excited! I'm slowly starting to plan... rounding up my shopping wish list, putting aside things to that I need to pack, buying a few necessities... On our itinerary so far is Meiji Temple for Shichi-Go-San (the reason we are going to Japan), Tokyo Disneyland and Tokyo Disney Sea (reason #2 & #3 LOL), and Arashiyama Monkey Park (have I told you our daughter is obsessed with monkeys?!?) 

TRYING: to clean up my office
I know... I know... I keep saying that I'm working on my office and really, I am! It's just always difficult because it easily becomes the dumping ground for anything and everything we don't want little toddler hands to get into! I am really making an effort to get it craft-ready because I'm really itching to craft!

WANTING: a new desk??? 

I don't know if this is a move in the right direction, but I'm wondering if a new desk will help make my office space more productive. It might make it feel more like an office space and less like a dumping ground... Hmmm... I'm on the hunt!

FEELING: relaxed
After a busy and stressful school year, I'm glad to be having the time off and am feeling a bit more relaxed. 

ENJOYING: summer!

We just got back from a visit with family and it has been such a nice way to start off our summer. Our daughter is at such a fun age and I am really trying to soak it all in!