Kid's Artwork Display Board

I have had this idea in my head for over a year and a half now of creating an area on this small wall in my kitchen to display my kids art.  My children are constantly creating.  I have one son that draws me several pictures a day and I hate to throw them away and chance hurting his feelings, plus I'm proud of his beautiful artwork.  But, my fridge just can't hold it all.  So I had it all planned out in my head what I wanted to do, I kept telling my husband about it and I think he would get a little annoyed.  He gets an idea about something and gets it done right away.  I process it forever, I knew I wanted it to be magnetic, but did I want to paint chalkboard paint on it, did I want to use sheet metal or paint directly on the wall with magnetic paint?  I couldn't decide.  My husband kept saying, "stop talking about it and just do it!".  Well I finally did and this was the result:

 I loved how it turned out.  I just went to a local metal place and asked them to cut me a 6' by 2' piece of sheet metal (I tried to find sheet metal this size at Home Depot and Lowe's, but had no luck).  They did this for me and only charged me $15.  I then went to Lowe's and bought some moulding and painted it black.  My husband and I then screwed the metal into the wall through the studs and then we nailed the molding on top.  I then had my friend, who has her own vinyl business, cut me some vinyl that said "Masterpieces" inspired by this art display I saw here.  Sorry I don't have step by step pictures, I'm not season with posting projects like all those craft bloggers out there.  You can comment if you have questions.

The finished product now with my children's beautiful artwork displayed on it.

Kids Command Center-Part 1 of My Laundry Room Makeover

I don't know about you, but my house was getting quite cluttered with all of my kids school stuff.  We had no official place for their backpacks so they would always just end up on the floor.  I had so many papers from school that I needed, but couldn't file away and they were just piling on my counter, on top of flyers and newsletters and homework folders.  For a long time I have been wanting to create a command center in our laundry room to organize all that stuff.  It took me a little bit to figure out just what I wanted, but then I had it all figured out in my head I just had to do it.  And that took a long time.  My husband kept telling me to stop talking about it and just do it.  So I got my self in gear, painted the room (it was a plain cream color before) and now I finally got my "Kid's Command Center" wall done!  I'm not a very organized person, but I know when I do try and organize myself my life is a lot less stressful and I think this is going to help me out a lot!  So, this is part 1 of my laundry room make-over and here it is:

I was at my friend Vanessa's house and she had the first letters of her kids names on the walls with hooks screwed into them to hold their backpacks.  I just had to do this.  She only had a single hook, but I wanted my kids to be able to hang their backpacks and jackets so I bought the two prong hooks from target.  Pretty much everything you see here is from Target except the letters.  I got the letters from Michaels (just the white ones) and painted them black, hung them on the wall and screwed the hooks in.  The storage bins are from Target, part of their "Re-do" line and were just $10 a piece.  I absolutely love the Pottery Barn organization system you can check out here and I was kind of inspired by that, but I definitely had to take the cheaper route.  I had my friend who has her own vinyl lettering business make me vinyl with all my kids names in a typewriter font.  The cork board and white calendar board were also from Target.  I'll use the bins to store each kids papers and homework folders.  The cork board will hold school newsletters and flyers and birthday invites (pretty much anything that involves the kids).  The calendar is just for events that involve the kids.  My oldest son loves this, he really likes to know whats going on and he'll just stare at the calendar and study what we have going on for the month.  Just this wall has cleared out so much clutter out of my kitchen.  It has been so nice.  I like when there is a place for everything.

So, I still have more that I want done in my laundry room, so there will be more to come.

Bow/Clip Holder

A girl in our ward makes these and gives them as baby shower gifts. Ever since the first time I saw one she made I have wanted to make one for my daughter Mckynlee. Our ward actually made them for a super Saturday, but I had already bought the supplies for mine. She just gets a long board from Lowe's or Home Depot and cuts it down, but since I just wanted to make one I just went to Michael's and bought an unfinished wood plaque. So here's what you need:
A unfinished wood plaque (Michael's or Joann's, or of course if you want a bunch buy a big board from the home improvement store and cut it down)
-Paint (one for the base color and then another color for the polka dots)
-Ribbon (mine was 7/8 inch wide)
-stable gun
-drill
-A vinyl letter of your choice (I got mine from my wonderful friend Kyra, she has her own vinyl lettering business, check out her website here.)
Take your plaque or piece of wood and drill two holes at the top. Sand and paint your base color (I did several coats so the imperfections in the wood wouldn't show). Then paint on the polka dots. The girl that makes these uses vinyl, she has a cricut machine and just has it cut her dots. I found these cool sponge brushes in different size circle shapes at Walmart and I used those. Just dip them in the paint and then press where you want your polka dots. After your paint is dry apply your vinyl letter in the center. With the ribbon I just guessed the size. I threaded it through the holes and tied it in a bow until I got it to hang the length I want. As for the bottom ribbon I just cut those the length I thought I needed. My friend just has one ribbon hanging down from hers but my daughter has so many clips and bows I did three. After I cut them I light a match and run the edges through the flame to seal it, or you could use fray check, just do it so your ribbon doesn't fray. Then I officially tie the top one in a bow and staple gun the 3 other ribbons evenly apart on the bottom backside of the plaque and then your done and can hang all your bows. (I think it would be fun to make an adult version for all those adult clips I have to put in my hair).

Nature in a Jar

I have really enjoyed my apothecary jars (one from Tai Pan and the others from Walmart). In the past they have been filled with different candies... which looked cute, but somehow my little hands were dipping into it a little too often. I have been playing with other options and have settled on a nature assortment: moss balls and dried flowers. What do you put in your jars??