Happy Easter! (Finally...)

We started off our Easter weekend with a Easter Egg Hunt on Saturday morning at the pool we belong to. Matt's family has actually belonged for generations, and his great (possibly great-great?) grandparents were involved in creating it! It's great to have roots. :)

Riley "hunting" for eggs!

Saying hi to the Easter Bunny! That cute red head there is none other than little Miss Gracie, Matt's niece.

 Gracie and Riley relaxing and having a chat after all that hunting!

And there is Olivia, Gracie's new little sister! Riley loves Livi. :)

After the Easter Egg Hunt at the pool, we headed over to my mom's for a cookout, another Easter Egg Hunt, and more Easter celebrations.

On Sunday we woke up to find this thing of beauty from the Easter Bunny!

Once Riley opened his basket and we got dressed and ready...

Riley and Matt cut the grass! Just kidding, Matt cut the grass. :D But Riley got to drive the lawn mower back to the barn. (Lucky...!)

And we headed down to Matt's mom's to hang out with the girls, and celebrate Easter with some great company!

There was another Easter Egg Hunt. (Spoiled, I tell ya!)

And lot's of playing on Gracie's swing set!

After that, we headed over to my Grandma's house where there was ANOTHER Easter Egg Hunt! And we also got into stuff with Drewbie, he's always into trouble. ;)

We had a busy, but super fun, Easter filled with great people and wonderful memories! I am so thankful to be able to spend Easter with all of our family and friends.

I hope everyone else's Easter was just as special! :)

"Spring" Letter Blocks Tutorial

I got a bag of Letter Blocks from the dollar section of Target around Christmas time. I used 3 of them to make some cute little ornaments, but didn't know what to do with the rest of the bag. I have been seeing cute letter blocks everywhere that spell out different things, and I thought, "Hey! I can use these!" So, here's my take on it! :)

To make these you will need:

• Letter blocks that spell out a word (my word is "Spring")
• Acrylic craft paint (I used pink)
• 2 foam brushes
• Wax paper
• Mod Podge
• Scrapbook paper (I used 6 different designs)
• Nail file, or sand paper
• Scissors

First gather your paper and trace your  blocks onto the paper and cut out the squares. I used 6 different designs and cut out 5 squares of each design (I wanted to cover 5 out of the 6 sides of the block and I had 6 blocks.)

Then using your acrylic craft paint and foam brush, paint the letters.
*Tip: I did 2 coats of paint, especially on the dark colors like the blue and the green.*

Apply a thin layer of Mod Podge to the block.

And apply the paper.
*Tip: I only put paper on one side of the block at a time. Then I flipped it over so the side with the paper was on the bottom while I did one side of the other blocks to let the Mod Podge dry a little.*

Sand or file off the edges of the paper.

Do that for all of your blocks one side at a time. Don't put all the paper on then try to sand the sides off because it doesn't work! (Believe me, I tried it...)

Once the blocks are dry, you can display them! I did each block 1 design, but you can mix and match the paper, use a different color paint, etc. The possibilities are endless! And you don't have to worry about cutting out the letters if you don't have a Circuit (like me), or messing around with stencils.

This would even be a cute Mother's Day present! ;)

Thanks for stopping by!



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Dad's Day Off

My Dad took the day off yesterday and spent the day with us! It felt like the weekend having an extra set of hands around the house all day. I think it was my unofficial birthday or something. lol!

Here's what we got into:

Dad escorted us to our last day of gym class! Riley had a blast showing dad everything he learned this session. :)

Love this accidental picture Dad took of Riley! :)

Weee!

After gym class we ran some errands, ate lunch, and Dad went to the driving range while Riley napped and I worked on my Foot Stool Reupholster.

Then we took Riley on his first ever bike ride! We are definitely a bike-riding fam, but we didn't get the chance to do it last spring or summer. I am so excited to get back into biking! :)

Riley L.O.V.E.S his new helmet!

 

Riley had a blast riding down to the park, playing, then riding back. Actually, he threw a fit when it was time to go inside. Ah, to be 2 1/2 again... :)

I'm so thankful for days like this! It thrills me to see the relationship Riley has with Dad. As Riley always tells me: I'm a lucky girl! :)

Foot Stool Reupholster

I got this foot stool off freecycle. It had so much potential, but just needed a little face lift.

I'll tell you how I changed it from this:

To this:

You will need:

• A flat head screw driver
• A hammer
• Needle nose pliers
• A staple gun
• About 1/2 yard-3/4 yard of upholstery fabric

First I went to Joann's and got my fabric. Don't you just love it?! :) I am obsessed with yellow and I love how the dark colors bring out the nice dark color of the wood.

Then I flipped the stool over and inspected the underneath. The plywood looked good from here and all the legs were sturdy and thankfully nothing was broken! So I banged the plywood out with a hammer.

And two stubborn nails came with it!:(

And left this mess in the beautiful wood! :(

So I got the nails out with a hammer.

And decided not to use them again, so I threw them away.

Then I set to work getting all the staples out using the flat head screw driver.

I had to use the pliers on all of them because usually only one side of the staple would come free.

Half way through I saw this. I'm pretty sure this is when I released possible asbestos spores into the house! :x

Some of the staples were rusted and REALLY hard to get out. So I wedged the screwdriver underneath the staple and the fabric using a hammer.

After taking out 50-some staples, you're left with naked plywood! ;) Unfortunately, the original pad was dry-rotted, and had to be thrown away with the old fabric.

So back to Joann's I went to get a new pad.

The pad was too big so I put my plywood on top...

And traced around it then cut the foam to fit!

Then I put the plywood on the fabric and measured in 4" all the way around, marked and cut it.

And I ironed the fabric out. (Not pictured, but you don't want to have wrinkly fabric!)

Stack the foam then plywood (in that order) onto the fabric.

I'm so mad I didn't get a picture of this part! I will try to explain it the best I can.
Starting with the long sides, fold the fabric in about 1/4"-1/2" (so the rough edge of the fabric is not showing) then fold again so the fabric is taught against the foam pad. Staple gun it a lot to secure it to the plywood.
Then fold the short ends the same way, making a nice looking fold on the corners.
(This is my first reupholstering experience, and I have no idea how to fold the corners! I just did it how I thought looked best.)
Reattach the plywood to the frame of the stool by nailing it to the little blocks of wood on the underneath.
It should look like this:

And you're done! :)

Riley gives it the seal of approval!

If I could have saved the original pad, I would have only spent about $3 on this stool, but because I had to buy a new pad the grand total was about $8!

Not bad for a super cute addition to the house.

Thanks for stopping by! :)


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