The Green Crayon

I finally opened up my own Etsy store, The Green Crayon, a few months ago, and wanted to share a few of the fun things you can now purchase!

Previously in my Etsy Store and coming again soon...








So hop on over and take a look around!

I LOVE LISTS!

Getting Organized For 2011

One of my long term goals for this year is to become more organized, more organized in our life and in our home.

After finding the blog Money Saving Mom,
getting my life organized will be just a little easier!

Let me start out by stating just why I love this blog so much...it has daily schedules, chore charts, and cleaning lists- among a ton of other amazing stuff. You can either download (for free!) the schedules they already have filled out or you can customize them yourself!

I LOVE LISTS!

The Daily Docket is the first form I am going to download and print out...it has everything! Even a place to check off Bible reading, exercise, and even how many glasses of water you drank that day (great for a pregnant woman who needs to make sure she gets her eight glasses of water a day!)

I am so excited about getting my day more organized, and ultimately being more productive through out the day!!!

Our Favorite Breakfast!

Our favorite breakfast, hands down, is chocolate malt-o-meal!



Breakfast usually starts outs pretty sophisticated...using a spoon...



...but soon, it just simply isn't doing the job fast enough!



...so we resort to shoveling it in our mouth...

...and that makes us SUPER HAPPY!!

Hugs and Kisses

This year I have decided to attempt to decorate for the holidays. I normally decorate for fall, Thanksgiving, and Christmas, but I have never decorated for holidays like Valentines, Easter, Fourth of July, ect.

I do remember, however, when I was growing up that my mom decorated for just about every holiday. I loved that! I want to be able to do the same for my children.

So I have been searching the blog world for different inexpensive ideas to decorate my house for Valentines day. Might I just say, that there are sooooo many creative and beautiful ideas out there!

Here is the first idea that I gave a try...

Hugs and Kisses Garland.

Now I did not find this exact idea any where online. It is more a mixture of several different ideas out there.

You can find tutorials for different kinds of Valentine's Garland...
here, here, here, here, and here.

So here is how to make your own Hugs and Kisses Garland for Valentines!

What you will need...
1. Scrapbook or colored paper
2. X, O, and heart templates
3. Scissors
4. Sewing Machine

How to...

1. Get on your computer and print off a large X and O to use as a template. Make them any size you choose- I just went with the largest possible. If you can find clip art of a heart print that off too (if not you can just free hand one)

2. Cut out your letters.

3. Pick out different printed and plain paper you would like to use. I used all scrapbook paper.

4. Trace templates onto colored paper and cut out. I used 5 different sheets and did an X, O, and heart out of each color.

5. Arrange X, O, and hearts in a way that is pleasing to you. I did an XOheart pattern. But you could do an XOXOheart, or a completely random pattern.

6. Get to sewing! You can use any color thread that you would like; red, white, pink, invisible, etc. I just used red since it was already in my machine. Next sew your pieces together one right after another. Make sure to leave some thread at the beginning and end so you can hang it.

This project cost me $4 and only took about 20 minutes to complete!
I LOVE cheap and easy projects!


Are you decorating for Valentines this year? Give it a try!

Half Way There

20 weeks down....20 to go!





(don't you just love my high tech camera? hehehe!)

In previous posts, I have been sharing with you all how I am adding new colors to my living room. I have previously felt very restricted as to the colors I could use, due to the fact that my couches are a dark hunter green and our big chair is a huge red and green floral print.

We recently got rid of the huge red and green chair and temporarily replaced it with a brown recliner (my sister and brother-in-law purchased it at a thrift store the last time they were in town and had no way to get it back home with them, so we are hanging on to it until they can get it).

Now, the big chair also had a matching ottoman which I decided to keep since it was still in really good shape.

Here it is...



Now it matches great with our green couches...but not so much with the new color scheme I am trying to give the living room.

I have seen tutorials previously where people make their own slip covers for chairs, couches, ottomans, etc. So I decided to give it a try and....



I am very pleased pleased with how it turned out!

To make one of your own all you need to do is...

1. Pick your fabric. I happened to have this great upholstery fabric that my mom gave me a while back that I decided to use. I think a thicker fabric does work best for this project as opposed to just cotton, but you can go with whatever fabric makes you happy.

2. Measure the length and width of the top and sides. Add about 1/2" to each side to allow for enough seam allowance and a hem on the bottom. If you cut your fabric to the exact measurements of the ottoman it will be too tight and not fit properly.

3. Cut out fabric to measurements above.

4. Pin fabric right sides together. The easiest way to make sure seams line up is to pin it together while it is on the ottoman. Like so...



(This pic shows after I had sewn it together...but you get the general idea.)

I also found it easier to sew two opposing sides on first and then pin on the other two.

5. Hem the bottom.

6. Finish off any inside seams so they do not fray if you decide to wash.

7. Try it on your ottoman, and stand back to admire your work.



The new cover goes so much better with the new color scheme! Plus I love that I can take the slip cover off and throw it in the wash!

Hopefully the steps were not too terribly confusing and you can make one easily.

What We Did Today

Today we..



...played in the snow for the first time ever!



...it was only a light dusting...



...but Jack was so excited...



...he especially loved...



...throwing snow balls...






...we had so much fun...



...and can't wait for the next snow day...

What did you do today?

Rainbow Garland

About a week ago I saw this New Year's Garland on The Purl Bee and fell in love with it!

I thought it would actually be super cute to hang in Jack's room. So I quickly grabbed a pile of colorful felt and went to work. (You can find the tutorial on the link above)



The only thing I didn't have on hand was invisible thread. But oh well....I still think it turned out great!



And it looks super cute in Jack's room! I think he really likes it too because every time I put him in his bed he starts pointing at it and saying "ooooo".

Sweetness

Just a little bit of sweetness to brighten up the day! Have a wonderful weekend!

(Can you believe that red hair?!)







....and coming soon...Valentines Day decor ideas :-)

Love One Another

Here is another something I made the other day to add more color to my living room



(sorry for the glare on the pic, I just could not get rid of it!)

I have been inspired by a lot of the subway art that I have seen recently...

here, here, and here are a few I really liked.

However, being just black and white did not fulfill my color need. So, I decided to go a slightly different route.

Here is how to make your own...

1. Paint your canvas...any size canvas and any color you choose

2. Choose what you want it to say. I decided to keep it sweet and simple "LOVE ONE ANOTHER"

3. Next I measured out the canvas' height and width to determine how tall and wide each letter should be, so that everything would fit just right. My letters are 5" tall x 2" wide each.

4. Next you will want to print your letters off on your computer to use as a template, or simply free hand them like I did mine (when you don't have a printer you do what you gotta do!). Cut them out.

5. Pick out fabric that you want to use for your letters. If I did this project again though, I would use printed scrapbook paper instead of fabric- this way you have sharp clean edges. The fabric tends to fray just a bit and doesn't look as clean. Plus the dark blue paint kinda shows through on the lighter fabrics.

6. Trace paper templates onto fabric or scrapbook paper and cut them out.

7. Grab your handy dandy Modge Podge and a paint brush. Brush a coat of Modge Podge onto the canvas.

8. Place your words onto the canvas, lightly pressing down. Then cover with a layer of Modge Podge over the entire canvas.

And you are done....let it dry, hang it up, and admire your work!

Where Have I Been?

So I have been mia from here for the past...oh...six months or so! I definitely did not plan to just up and disappear, but sometimes life just happens like that. After my last post back in June I figured life would slow down just a bit. But I was wrong, wrong, wrong! After our VBS and Revival week at church, we then had two weeks of camp that were just about back to back. Our son Jack had his first birthday, and we went on vacation with my family for a week. It was a really fast paced and busy summer! Wonderful, just busy!

Then just when things were finally starting to slow down and return to normal we found out in September that we are expecting our second child! We are extremely happy and excited to be adding another member to our little family. Riley Grace Kearbey is due May 29th, 2011 (just 5 days before I need to be in Texas for my sisters wedding!). I am very excited to start sewing more girly things....dresses and bows....I can't wait! So after a lovely 12 weeks of morning....scratch that...ALL DAY sickness and not being able to pick my self up off the couch I was finally feeling better.

Then...the holidays :-) This year my husband and I did a Christmas play with our kiddos at church. I made all 25 costumes! Talk about a labor of love. All free time was put into completing the costumes on time. Thankfully the costumes were all done in time and the kids did a wonderful job. We were so proud of all their hard work!

I finally have some free time now that summer, camps, vacation, morning sickness, and the holidays are over. I have already started on several new little projects and can't wait to share with you all what I have been up to lately.

I am redoing my living room walls. I need more color! We have dark green leather couches, and up until recently I have stuck to decorating with browns and reds to go with them. However, I have decided to become just a little more brave and add more color to brighten up our living room.

Here is a look at a few of the things I have added to my walls...

My mom helped me with this one...I painted the frame and picked out the fabric in the background, but my wonderful mom put it all together for me :-) She cut out the flower from pages from an old book and started gluing. I LOVE how it turned out! Thanks mom!
(after looking at this pic I realize it needs a few touch ups!)

So the picture for this one is kind of dark so you can't really tell that the frame for this one is actually navy blue not black (that is what you get when you use an iphone to take a pic at night!)

Any way...the background for this pic is actually a really beautiful yellow and cream crocheted doily that my Grandmother made. I have had the K for a long time but it has always been gold; I like the white much better now! Once again my mom helped me with this one. She simply staple gunned the doily to the back of the frame and to the K. Super easy!

This is a mirror I found at the thrift store for only $9 :-) I have been wanting a mirror like this for a while now and was excited when I found it. It does have a flaw sadly...the left bottom side of the spindle is broken off. I think I may eventually just find a way to remove the spindles from both sides. Not sure how to do that yet so in the mean time I painted it white and hung it up. It is just too pretty not to hang it up. And now...the picture that inspired my living room redo...




My mom painted this for me! Isn't it gorgeous!!!!!! I love love love it! It is a palette knife painting so it has tons of wonderful texture to it. I am still working on quite a few more things for my walls, so this redo is not done by any means! When I have it all done I will take a pic of each completed wall so you can see how it has come together.

I am excited about this new year and all that is to come!