2016 Fall Decoration Tour

Hello!

Long time no talk, huh? Having a newborn baby really takes it out of you. The kiddos are with my husband for about 10 more minutes, so I'm trying to get a blog post out real quick here. I can't believe our Sweet Cheeks is already 7 weeks old. It went by so fast. She's smiling and doing all that cute baby stuff (and of course lots of that not so cute baby stuff too).

Anyways, the hubby decided to take a hunting trip with some buddies last week, so I decided to get a bit of fall decorating done. I kept most of the decorations I had last year. Click here for my 2014 Fall Decoration post. I did add a couple of new things this year, so I thought I would check in and share our new decorations.

The big thing I did was really quick paint a new big sign. You might recognize the wood. The reverse side is from my 2015 Christmas sign. So once Thanksgiving is over, I just flip over the sign, and there's new decorations for the corner of our acreage.

The other thing I did was cut down some corn stalks (from my in-laws...don't be going around cutting down random people's corn...it's a good way to get shot) and add the really fun sign I got from the Junk Jam this summer. (Side note: Every time I photograph my front door I groan at how ugly it is. Painting the exterior and new lights are 1# on the DIY list next summer!)

The kids painted on some pumpkins. I should clarify....my son painted 5 pumpkins blue and my daughter painted one. I grabbed some corn and gourds from my in-laws and put them in a old metal picnic basket I had sitting around.

DIY Kids Wall Art

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Our sweet baby girl is growing like a weed. We were working on the nursery right up to her arrival. We still have a couple of things to finish before I can do a post about the nursery, but there's one special art project I thought I would share separately. 

Right before our son was born, my daughter and I did a similar project (Click here for the post). The concept is pretty simple. You cut out some vinyl. You can do this either with a machine (i.e. a Cricut or a Silhouette), with contact paper and an Exacto knife, or purchase precut letters or a phrase. You put the vinyl either on top of a white canvas or an existing painting. Then you paint on top of the entire surface. When you remove the vinyl letters, you have a burnt out image where the vinyl was. I've done this one other time for a piece of artwork for my daughter's room as well. (Click here for the post) So, this concept certainly isn't new for my blog, but I'm particularly happy with how this version turned out.

This project is perfect for kids because they can be as messy as they like, and you still get something coherent in the end. 

For this project, I used a canvas left over from artwork I used to have in my office. (click here for that post). Before I applied the vinyl, I added some aqua and pink to the painting over the purple sections so the colors showing through would match the room better. 

I cut out the vinyl words using my Silhouette. I applied them to the canvas and then gave my son and daughter paint colors that contrasted well. I told them they could do whatever so long as they covered the entire surface. They used paint brushes, paper towels, and their hands to get the entire thing covered. In my 3 year old son's case, he also painted the entire drop cloth under the painting. 

With the paint still wet, I look the vinyl off with tweezers. If you let the paint dry, there's a chance that vinyl will be stuck to the painting. I did a bit of clean up with a small paintbrush where ever the paint bled under the vinyl.That was an interesting endeavor to find the matching paint colors for such a colorful painting.

The final step was to hand paint some flowers on the canvas. The art was ready for our wildflower inspired nursery. 

 

Gone Junkin': Brookings Junk Jam 2016

Hello!

It's been quiet on the blog lately, because it's been very not quiet at our house! Our baby girl, Hattie, made her appearance last week, so it's been a beautiful mess around here. Not only do we have a new baby in the house, but two kids were starting school too. In fact, my husband had to leave the hospital to take our daughter to her back to school night. So, forgive the tardiness on this post!

Before Hattie made her appearance, I got to attend Junk Jam here in Brookings, South Dakota. There were a ton of fun booths. If you frequent the blog, you know when I lived in Iowa, I used to frequent these type of sales. I was super excited to see one being held so close to our home in South Dakota. There were some local vendors present that I have previously featured on my "Small Buisness Saturday" feature, but there were also some new vendors I have never seen before. Here are three of my favorites.

The event was organized by Funky Junk. They had a great booth with both finished signs and furniture and some untouched vintage finds. I also picked up a new "blessed mama" shirt that fit my pregnant belly. It was a huge hit at the OB office. You can visit Funky Junk's Facebook page by clicking here.

Another booth I am in love with is Dusty Decor by Tamara. Her furniture painting was on point. I loved the colors, and the finish was super professional. I loved LOVED this bench. It was already snagged by another customer, but I did leave with a super cute Fall sign that I'm looking forward to hanging on my front door once the leaves change color. Check out her Facebook page by clicking here.

 The show had a good vibe with food available for purchase and a band playing while you shopped.

The third booth I just loved was by Renewed out of Orange City, Iowa. Their stuff was really unique to a junk sale. There was a good mix of vintage finds, painted/finished furniture and some truly unique automotive themed projects. I just loved the car fronts. I'm thinking one of these would be super cool in my dad's new shop. The mustang front had real working front headlights. Check out their Facebook page by clicking here.

It was a great event, and I hope they hold it again next year!