family yearbooks

About a year ago I started really organizing the pictures on my computer. They had gotten out of hand. I backed them up onto DVDs and decided it was time I did something with them. Young House Love gave me the idea of "yearbooks" and I'm so happy to have started this tradition. I have been using MyPublisher. They make it really easy to insert your photos, arrange your pages & come back to your project anytime you want. I started my "2012 Yearbook" at the beginning of last year and added pictures to it throughout the year.

A few times throughout the year, they offer a "Free pages up to 100" offer. Over Valentine's Day they were offering this sale so I took advantage of it and ordered our 2012 book. With shipping, and a few upgrades, my total came to just about $60. For a whole years worth of pictures, that not too bad!

If you're going to use MyPublisher, I'd 100% recommend the "Lay Flat Page." It's a slight upgrade by worth every penny (especially if you have a 100 page book). They were also having a sale on this so that made it even better.

Knowing that all of our pictures are organized into our yearbooks makes my OCD heart very happy. I love having these photobooks to look through. I'm looking forward to our stack of yearbooks growing over the years.

[Just so you know, I was not paid to write this post. I just really love my yearbooks that I ordered through MyPublisher and wanted to share with you]

[p.s. this post may be linked to any number of these blogs]

twiggy frame

I've had this picture frame for years and for the past 6 months it's been in the "yard sale" pile that we meant to get around to this Fall and never did (oh well - we'll have to wait until Spring now). I got the itch to transform something for our bedroom and my eyes landed on this frame. It was perfect.

picture frame before

I started by dissembling it: I removed the glass & unscrewed the hooks. Next, I gave it a few coats of textured spray paint (I went with the color on the right). In between coats of spray paint, I gathered up some branches from the yard. We have a little pile in the back that we need to get rid of so I rummaged through there to find some good twigs.

After the frame was painted and fully dried, I hot glued a select few branches to the frame to give it a little added texture and dimension (plus...we love trees)! I'm glad I saved this frame from the yard sale pile...it has made a great addition to our bedroom (along side some of our quote art).

[p.s. this post may be linked to any number of these blogs]

dino art

Unfortunately, I was unable to attend my cousins wife's baby shower this past Saturday. I hated to miss it, but knew I wanted to make them a special gift. When I found out they were planning a dinosaur theme for the nursery I decided to make them some wall art.

I'm absolutely thrilled with how they turned out [and I hope Mikie & Patrick like them too].

____________________________________________________

Here is what you'll need to make your own:

Wood frame

fun paper

scissors

Mod Podge

foam brush

computer/printer OR hand drawn design

small foam roller

____________________________________________________

diy magnets

After Adam and I got engaged in October 2010, wedding plans began immediately! I knew we had to find a venue ASAP (because a couple places I casually looked at were booked up for a year and half – I couldn’t believe it!). Once we decided on a venue and a date I knew I wanted to make my own Save The Dates. It gave me the freedom to do exactly what I wanted and they were very “budget friendly”

 We loved how they turned out. After finishing our picture wall I had a few left over pictures that didn’t find a spot in frames. Since I had some materials left over from my Save The Dates I decided to make a few more magnets for our refrigerator and chalk board.

__________________________________________

Here’s what you’ll need:

1.     pictures (or other things you want to make into a magnet)

2.     magnets (bought by the sheet)

3.     a straight edge and exacto knife

__________________________________________