Pay it forward, part deux

 Today my second pay it forward gift was delivered to Lisa Kemp, the sister of my sister-in-law Shannon. Lisa is a fun girl and crafty in her own right. She doesn't need any knit items, so I pondered for days about what to make for her. Then I came across a fun idea that I wanted to try: Instagram magnets.
Here's how I made them!

1: In Photoshop, I resized 9 photos to 3x3 inches & 300 resolution. I made a blank page that was 12x12 and put all the photos on it.

2: Sent to Costco for printing. Cheap!

3. Cut apart photos.

4. Sticky magnet sheets! What a great idea! These were 4x6. Had I realized that, I probably would have made my photos 2x2 instead, to fit more on a sheet.

 5. Trim off excess magnet.

 6. Admire your handiwork so far!

 7.Apply Mod-Podge dimensional adhesive slowly over the top. This was what they had at Michael's. You can use any type of dimensional adhesive.

 8. Allow lots of time to dry. Like 4 hours. Try not to let any bubbles form. This is harder than you would think. I had tons of bubbles.

 9. This is what they look like when they are dry.

10. Super awesome!

Create something!

Y'all know I love making stuff.

The only way to combat the torture that is January, I plan to make lots of things.

First up, I made this frozen birdseed wreath.

Super simple, used products I had on hand.

Naturally, it's decided to warm up a few degrees since I hung it up. I hope the birds find it before it totally melts.

I got the idea from Pinterest, and here is the link to the original recipe. If you haven't signed up for Pinterest yet, what are you waiting for?? All the coolest ideas can be found there.

Sadly, I had no cranberries, and there weren't any at the grocery store. I will definitely do this again next year, with the berries. The berries make it pretty. I don't think the birds care one way or another.

What are you making today?

The Reveal...Emma's room

Sorry to keep you waiting for the 'money shot' as my husband so lovingly called it. Between cloudy, rainy days,and teen messiness, the room was not suitable for photographing.

Here is the finished room!

The blinds will be replaced soon, hopefully. Emma keeps looking at curtains. She likes the expensive ones, naturally.

The rug took over a month to arrive, because Pottery Barn kept sending the wrong color. Like 3 times. Every time they messed up, Bart would call and they'd offer another discount. Hey, we like discounts!

The floor photographs very dark, but there is a lot of tonal variation throughout. I really like the dark wood...the main problem being dog hair. I vacuumed the room to take this photo and already I can see white hairs all over.

Lola thinks the rug is cozy! It's perfectly placed in a late day sunbeam :)

Thanks for all the kind words about our DIY project!

Emma's room redeux part 2

Here's the stripped down bare floor

Bart and my dad laying down the underlayment

Working across the room

Working in the closet

The finished floor

Evan & I went to his soccer game in the morning and by the time we came home, Bart & Emma had ripped up the carpet, pad and staples. Time to do the hard work!

The underlayment was tricky to work with. It is basically a moisture barrier, and only has one sticky edge on it. The trick is to lay it down and not overlap it, or to have any wrinkles, which was nearly impossible considering we had to walk on it.

Bart, Greg & my Dad started in front of the closet, alternating long & short boards, marking what needed to be cut. Emma was the runner, running pieces out to Bart's Dad who was manning the circular saw. I watched for awhile, and then Bart let me do the majority of the room. For anyone who knows my husband, this is a big deal. He never relinquishes control, and I usually just stand around. Not on this project! Of course he came back and finished it off and did the closet, but I was happy that I got to do some of the work too!

Emma's room redeux part 1

Sometime in the last 2 years, my 14 year old daughter has been bitten by the decorating bug. She watches all the shows on HGTV with her dad, and has very specific opinions about how things should look.

As if 14 year olds didn't have enough opinions.

She started nagging us for hardwood flooring in her room last year. We pretty much ignored her for as long as we could. Hardwood flooring is expensive. Time to install the floor was nonexistent. She kept on us though. Her Dad caved.

Here are some before pix of her room, with (according to her) the world's nastiest carpet. Girl, you sadly were too young to remember the really nasty stuff that was in this house when we moved here!

Tomorrow I will post pictures of the new and improved bedroom!