DIY Large Letter Stencils

            I had some left over paint from my nightstand project, and I have wanted to make some artwork that matched.  I have seen this kind of artwork all of the place, and I wanted to create my own, but of course without paying a large price tag.  Thanks to an amazing sale on canvases at Michael's, I was able to get all the supplies I needed for this project for under $10!  Sweet!  Keep your eye out for sales and coupons.  I live by them!  For only the price of the four canvases I was able to make this artwork for my bedroom that perfectly matches my nightstands.  I love it! 

            In order to create the letter stencils I had to get a little creative, but in the end they were so easy!  And you can use any font that you want.  All you need is wax paper, a thin marker, and masking tape.  Everyone has those lying around their house, right?  Let's get started!

1.  Trace your letters using any font and size that you want onto separate pieces of wax paper.  (**hint** Make sure you don't make the lines too thick, because you don't want anything to accidentally transfer onto your canvas.  Or you could just cover the opposite side with tape...)

2.  Cover and fill in the letters with masking tape.  I had to clean up some of the edges by simply cutting them with scissors.  The nice thing was was that I didn't have to do anything to any of the long straight edges.  The curvier your font the more cutting you will have to do...

3.  Carefully peel the letters from the wax paper and place on the surface of your choice.  I placed mine directly onto my unpainted canvases.  

4.  Paint.  (**hint** Make sure before you paint that you rub down the edges really well to insure that no paint sneaks under the tape.)(**another hint** Paint in many small layers instead of laying the paint on really thick.)(**hint #3** He he, just kidding.  Paint away!)

5.  Let dry.

6.  Peel off stencil.  

It's that easy!

Have you completed this project?  Let me know how it went!

Month-A-thon

Fitness has always been really important to me.  I was a competitive gymnast for 15 years and was even lucky enough to be able to do it at the college level.  Since my gymnastics career ended, I have been trying to find things to help me stay in shape.  But as many mom's out there know, sometimes fitting in a workout can be a challenge (unless you count all the lifting and running around after a busy 2 year old as a workout).  Sometimes I need a little motivation.

I recently found this wonderful organization that can help all you busy mom's (and any person for that matter) to either stay in shape, or even get you started on the path to becoming physically fit.  Plus, while you participate you are helping to support a good cause (the National Alliance on Mental Illness and/or Scout Troops 8 and 942).

The premise behind the Month-A-Thon is that by the end of the month you will have completed an entire marathon.  This isn't a marathon a week, or a marathon every two weeks, but 1 marathon a month, doing just a little each day.  I can do that!  Anyone can do that!

Check out their Facebook page, and get started today!


If you have any questions you can always contact Month-A-Thon at:  MonthAthon@gmail.com   

Owl Nursery Printables

"Star Light, star bright, first star I see tonight."  This adorable printable art set is now available!  

As with any of the designs at Puddle Designs, everything about this is customizable.  The colors of the owl can be changed to better match the color scheme of the room.  The sky can be lightened or darkened.  I can even add or take away stars if you want.  Just to name a few options.  

Any size is also available!  Print as 8x10's and display them in their own frame.    

Or print as 5x7's and display them all together in the same frame.  So many options!

Like 'em?  You can find them at Puddle Design on Etsy.  Thanks for stopping by!

DIY 3-D Decorative Letter

 I hate spending money on decorations!  I don't know how many times I have mentioned that, but I just cringe when I look at the prices on many home decorating items.  

Now, don't get me wrong, if I had unlimited funds, I would probably go out and buy everything Micheal's, Hobby Lobby, and that beautiful boutique down the street have to offer, but who has access to that kind of money, huh?  Ok, I can think of a few people, but that's not the point.  

For us little people, what are we supposed to do to make our homes feel like home?  Three simple little words:  Do. It. Yourself.  Yeah baby!  I love DIY projects.  

We had all these random boxes lying around, and I was having a hard time justifying throwing such nice boxes away (can you say "Hoarders!").  Lucky for me, lightning struck my brain, and I came up with this craft idea.  I have been wanting a big "R" for our wall, but have had the hardest time finding one that was big enough.  And then if I did, it was WAY more expensive than I wanted it to be.  So, I decided to make one... and here's what I did.

All you need for this project is:

cardboard boxes
razor blade
glue
jute twine


Step-By-Step Process

-  Free hand or print off any letter of your choice and transfer it to a piece of cardboard.  Make sure it is the size that you want.  Mine was about 1.5 feet tall, and completely free handed.

-  Cut out letter.  Using cut out letter as a stencil, trace additional letters on your cardboard boxes.

Here is my stencil, and some of the tracing. 

-  Cut out each additional letter.  *Be careful not to cut your carpet, or table...!*

-  Stack letters and glue together.  Clamp or place some heavy books on the letters while they dry.

After lots of cutting (and lots of mess in my living room), here are all the layers glues together.  It took 9 letters to get to my desired thickness of just over 1 inch.

-  When glue is dry, wrap with jute twine until entire letter is covered.  This step may take some time, so put on your favorite movie and wrap away!  

  
The final cost for this entire project was about $7, and that includes the silk flowers.  Not too shabby for a custom 1 1/2 foot tall 3D letter.



Have you completed this project?  Let me know how it went!  

Cake for our little Angel

Our little angel.

August 27th is kind of a hard day for me and my family.  Three years ago on August 27th, my son Ethan passed away.  I was 8 months pregnant, and after not feeling him move for a day or so, I went to the hospital just to get things checked out.  At the hospital they were unable to find a heartbeat, and didn't see any movement on the ultrasounds.  I guess I don't need to give you all the details, but it goes without saying that that was the hardest day of my and my husbands life.

Everyone has their own beliefs about life after death, and the eternal nature of family relationships.  But we are members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, so we believe that familial relationships can continue beyond the grave.  I have always believed this, and it was this knowledge that helped us get through such an extremely difficult time.

Just because we don't get to raise our son right now, does not make him any less our son.  He is our son, and he will be our son forever.  This is what we celebrate each year on August 27th: the eternal nature of our family.

Even angel's need birthday cakes, so each year on Ethan's birthday I make Angel Food Cake for our family to enjoy.  It's just a simple and special way to remember our son.

The angel food cake recipe that I use is so wonderful!  So good in fact, that I just HAD to share it.  I don't really bake, so I went to Allrecipes.com to find a good recipe.  And I gotta tell ya, I kinda struck gold with this one!  I tried to find the original link to the recipe, but I printed it off a couple years ago, so I wasn't able to locate the original link.  Sorry.  I still have the hard copy I printed (thank goodness), so here is the recipe that I used:


HEAVENLY ANGEL FOOD CAKE

INGREDIENTS:

10 large eggs (or enough for 1 1/2 cups egg whites)
1 1/4 cups powdered sugar
1 cup flour
1 1/2 tsp. cream of tartar
1 1/2 tsp. vanilla extract
1/2 tsp. almond extract (I used just under 1/2 tsp. for lighter flavor)
1/4 tsp. salt
1 cup sugar

DIRECTIONS:
- Separate eggs into a measuring cup until the you reach 1 1/2 cups egg whites.
- Transfer to mixing bowl and let stand at room temperature for about 30 minutes (they fluff up faster when at room temp :)
- Meanwhile, stir together flour and powdered sugar with a fork (or sift together).  Set aside.
- Add cream of tarter, extracts and salt to the egg whites: beat on high speed.
- Gradually add sugar, beating until stiff peaks form
- Fold in flour mixture about a 1/4 cup at a time
- Gently spoon into an un-greased tube pan (or a bundt pan in my case)
- Cut through batter with a knife to remove any air pockets
- Bake at 350 degrees for 40-45 minutes or until cake springs back when lightly touched
- When baking is complete remove from oven and immediately invert pan.
- Cool completely before removing from pan.
- And of course the most important step... Enjoy!

We ate ours with fresh peaches and cream, but this would be equally (if not more) delicious with strawberries and vanilla ice cream.  Just sayin'.



Curious about what I believe?  I would love to answer your questions!  Watch this short video and visit mormon.org to learn more.

Easy Cauliflower Soup with Homemade Wheat Bread

I have been feeling all sorts of domestic lately.  Maybe it's the rainy weather that brings the inner domestic diva out, I don't know.  For example, just the other day I cleaned the entire house, washed the dog, did all the laundry, cooked dinner, spent lots of time with my daughter and husband, and I even fit in a workout.  I mean, who does that all in one day?!  This weather must be doing weird stuff to me.

Anyway, back to the original purpose of this post...

I wanted to share some recipes with you that I used during one of my days of domestic-ness:  Homemade wheat bread, and Cauliflower soup.  Yummm!

The rainy weather has really made me crave soup.  Yes, it is still in the mid 90's outside even with the rain, but for some reason I think when it rains your are almost obligated to eat some kind of soup.  My poor husband is so patient with all of my crazy food ideas.  I guess this recipe will be perfect for the fall temperatures that should be coming soon...

Easy Cauliflower Soup

Ingredients
1 large head of cauliflower (broken into pieces)
1 large onion (chopped)
4 cups chicken broth
salt and pepper to taste

-  Put the cauliflower, onion, and chicken broth into a large stock pot and let simmer until cauliflower is soft (about 20-25 min).
-  Blend everything until smooth using a stick (immersion) blender or by transferring the contents of the pot to a regular blender.  (I'm not fancy enough to have an immersion blender, so I just used my cheapo regular plastic blender.  It worked great!!)
-  Return contents to pot, and season with salt and pepper.
  
Yup, that's it!  So easy.  We garnished our soup with some sharp cheddar cheese, and it was oh-so-delicious!!!  Easy, healthy, and delicious!


No soup is complete without some warm fresh bread.  And this soup paired perfectly with a whole wheat bread recipe I found by Kristin at Big Box Detox.

Personalized Family Subway Art Printable

I just recently had a friend move into a brand new home, and I wanted to create a special design for her and her family.  I am kind of a sucker for printables just because they are so dang easy to print and can easily be made into a special and personalized gift.  That's probably why I make so many of them.  It's a surprise that I don't have my house covered from wall to wall with printables...  I just love em'!

Everything about this design is customizable.  And, let's be totally honest, pretty much everything at Puddle Designs is customizable.  I am very easy going, so if you see a design you like, but there is something about it that you would like changed, all you have to do is ask, and presto!

Anywho, back to this printable.  The colors can be changed, the fonts can be changed, even the words can be changed to better fit your family's personality.  A photo of your family could even be used as a backdrop to the subway art if you like.  So many options!

 

Like it?  You can find it at Puddle Design on Etsy.


Thanks for stopping by!