This Is For You Mommy

These littles love to draw and color and paint and cut paper in to teeny tiny itty bitty pieces that I have to vacuum up... but I digress.  Back to the point of this post, my kids love art! And I love to display their art but I also love to access my refrigerator at various points throughout my day and well this wasn't working.  

Okay so I've been known to exaggerate a little... but for my sanity I had to come up with a better solution.  Lucky for me I actually remembered something that I had pinned eons ago on Pinterest.  (Oh come on, I know I'm not the only one that pins something so brilliant that I wonder how I could live without it and then promptly forgets I've ever seen it.)  So I packed up the kids and headed to Hobby Lobby! 

My idea came from this blogger's post Naptime Craft Mommy.  You can follow her steps or you can do my modifications.  She purchased her wood from Home Depot but I found 3ft slats of unfinished wood at Hobby Lobby for $5 each.  A little more than she paid but I didn't have to make a second trip with the kids and in my book that's worth a few extra dollars! 

Item's used:

(2) Unfinished wood boards $5ea

(1) Acrylic paint $0.99ea 

(12) Painted wooden thingys $0.79ea<--- like the original blogger I have no clue what these are actually called

(1) Foam brush $0.14ea 

(1) Pack of wooden clothes pins $1.99

Grand Total $22.60  **Note this would be much less if you used coupons, or found some scrap wood, or waited for those little wooden thingys to go on sale. But I'm not that patient. 

Steps:

1) Paint the boards and let dry.  I think I let mine dry for 30 min.  And I only had to do one coat but you could do more if needed. 

2) Attach the painted thingys to the clothes pin using wood glue.  Let dry.

3) Attach the clothes pins to the board using wood glue. Let dry.  **Note: The original blogger screwed her clothes pins to the board but I opted for a lazier option, naturally. 

4) Make husband hold finished product up to the wall in various positions until you are either satisfied or have driven him crazy!  

5) Measure, level, and then nail to wall.  I didn't even bother finding studs because I'm not hanging bricks from this thing, just paper.  And unlike the original blogger I used a thinner, lighter weight wood so keep this in mind when you decide how to attach yours. 

6) Take pictures, admire your work, make your husband tell you how awesome this project is over and over and over... It's a good thing he loves me. 

  

Oh and enjoy having a fridge with only a few art pieces covering it! 

Thanks and things! 

~Kristin

PS Please forgive the blurry cell phone photos, my camera is in the shop. 

Littles

So I have these two littles in my life.  They are my favorite people on this earth. My first little is almost 5 years old and I'm in complete shock of this.  His name is Jackson and he plans to be an architect when he grows up, or a Power Ranger... either way I will be so proud!  The other little is 3 years of age and must be made of cling on material.  How else would I explain the fact that he is constantly attached to my hip (or leg, or arm, or neck)? This little monkey has the name of Liam. When asked what he wants to do when he grows up, he assures me his plan is to stay with his mommy.  (No we don't have attachment issues with this child AT ALL.) 


Now that you know a little about these littles that run my life, I'll leave you with the ABC's as Liam would sing them.

"A B C D E F G,  H I J K, Elmo, Elmo, P Q R S, T U V, W X, Y and Z" 

Funny thing is he doesn't even watch Elmo.  Totally dislikes the little red critter, yet he gains a place in the alphabet!  He also serenaded all of Harris Teeter's shoppers with this song yesterday. 

I'm afraid to tell him, but this will be the picture going in his senior year book with a huge I LOVE YOU message from Mom and Dad.  Not embarrassing at all. 

So there you have it.  Thanks and things.

~Kristin