Project: Gallery Wall

For years I have wanted a large gallery wall somewhere in my home.  Over the years, I’ve pinned many, many items giving me inspiration and ideas for layouts.  When we moved into this home last year, I knew that the large wall over the stairs would be perfect.  It would definitely have its challenges as well, but we were up to the task.

I wanted this wall to have a story.  I wanted it to represent our love, what is important to us, and who we want to be.  I decided on this image (the top one) as my inspiration piece and I began searching for items to place up on the wall.  Because it was over the stairs, and not something I could change often, the pieces needed to be timeless.  While I LOVE family photos, I didn’t want pictures that would need to be changed.  I also wanted the wall to be eclectic.  Different shapes, different colors, different textures.

I began scouring stores like Hobby Lobby and HomeGoods looking for the perfect thing.  I actually found most of the items at Hobby Lobby.  I always purchased them when they were 50% off or I had a 40% off coupon.  Slowly the wall started to come together.

When it was time to hang, I gathered all of my pieces and layed them out on the floor to get an idea of where wanted everything and spacing.  We started out by hanging the largest items first and then started placing the smaller items.

Kevin did all the hanging, thank goodness!  It was quite precarious hanging over the edge of stairs.  One wrong move and he would have dropped 12 feet.  Several times he knelt on the edge and reached out one hand for me to hold tightly and balance him as he leaned over the edge.  I’m glad it was him and not me!

I ordered the large scalloped frame from Poppy Seed Projects and put our family photo from when Kevin and I had our LDS Temple Sealing.  While other family pictures change, this was such a special day that this picture will be timeless for us.  I also ordered a print of the Draper, Utah Temple from Deseret Book, which included the date of our sealing.

In the two white frames, I included two quotes that I love.  The first is “Believe There Is Good in the World”, with BE THE GOOD highlighted.  I want to remember, and I want my children to remember, to BE THE GOOD.   The other quote is from the new Cinderella movie (which is wonderful, by the way) “Have Courage. Be Kind.”  So simple, yet so beautiful.

You can download the printables here.

Believe There Is Good

Have Courage Be Kind

When I did the Have Courage Be Kind, I used my Silhouette to make a chalkboard print with black cardstock and the white sketch pens.  It was my first time using sketch pens, and I have to say, I absolutely loved it!  I think I will be doing more projects like that in the future!  I also used my Silhouette to cut the oval so that it would be exact.  Much easier than cutting it with scissors!

I am thrilled with the result.  It adds so much to the room and I love no longer having a giant blank wall!

After Kevin was done with the gallery wall, I also had him hang my new clock on another living room wall.  The space is finally coming together and I'm loving that our new house is feeling like a home!

 For my ideas on gallery walls, check out my Pinterest page.

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Project: A Modern Country Baby Shower

This past weekend, I had the opportunity to help host a baby shower at my home for my cousin.  She is having her second baby, but her first boy! I offered to help her mom give her a family baby shower.  It was a smaller shower, with about 20 family members, and since it was also her second shower, we didn’t go all out.  But we still wanted to make it nice for her.  And I think it is always appropriate to celebrate a new baby in the family!

First off, we wanted to choose a theme for the shower.  I asked my cousin what colors she was doing her for the nursery and bedding and if there was a certain theme. She sent me a screen shot of the fabric from Spoon Flower she chose for the crib bedding. Isn’t it adorable?  She said was doing an outdoors/hunting theme but with modern colors of turquoise and gray, so we went along those lines for décor for the shower. 

The other day, when I was making my Easter Burlap Banner, I made one that said “Baby” for the shower as well.  My aunt got some wood letters, modpodged some cute paper on them, and put them together for another decoration.

I always think it’s a good idea at a shower for everyone to write down their address on an envelope to make it easier to send Thank You cards.  I asked my cousin to bring some envelopes with her and set them by this cute chalkboard I picked up at Hobby Lobby.

I love making diaper cakes for gifts and they also add a lot to the décor.  This tutorial is my favorite one because it uses rubber bands, instead of tape, to secure the diapers, which makes the diapers easier to use later on.   I added some turquoise chevron burlap ribbon and some turquoise flowers to accent it.  The tutorial calls for 1 yard of tulle, but I prefer 1½ yards since it is so wide.  1½ yards makes it more square to wrap up.  I purchased a large box of Pampers Size 2 diapers, which had 96 diapers in it, so that I could do three tiers instead of 2.  I used all but 6 diapers for this cake.

My aunt brought some twine and baby clothes to use as a clothes line.  What an adorable idea and added a great country touch!

For the food my aunt made three different salads as well as cheesecake, cookies, and éclairs for dessert.  I made homemade rolls as well.  

Whenever I have an event in my home, I always try to have fresh flowers. It brings a wonderful, elegant touch to any affair as well as a beautiful fragrance in your home. 

My aunt wrapped the forks and knives in napkins and then secured them with a strip of pattered paper to make them look like a bow-tie.  So cute!

I picked up this amazing Mason Jar Drink Dispenser at Sam’s Club, which was perfect for the lemonade with sliced lemons and limes.  

I also found this cute turquoise chevron washtub at Hobby Lobby and it was great to hold some water bottles on ice.  I added the turquoise chevron “It’s A Boy” water bottle labels with double sided tape to each water bottle.  You can download it here for your personal use.

I would say that the shower was a wonderful success! It turned out beautiful.  We are so excited for this new little one to join our family.

For more baby shower ideas, check out my Pinterest page.

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