Personalized Road Rug

Like most little boys, my one-year-old is obsessed with anything with wheels.  Before we even had any little cars for him to play with, he would scoot spoons or cherries across the flooring vroom vrooming all the way.

He just celebrated his 1st birthday, so I wanted to make him a special gift.  Also, I am expected our second baby in November, so I have been thinking forward to how I am going to keep him entertained and happy in our basement playroom while I am sitting here nursing a baby.  This is what I came up with:

Most of us have seen the road rug you can buy.  I always thought there rugs were such a genius idea.  Well, in an effort to both save money and make ours special, I made my own.

Materials Needed:
2 yards of green felt
1 yard of black felt
Various Felt scraps
LOTS of fabric glue
Yellow puff paint

There really isn't much skill required in this construction.  I started by hemming the two yards of green felt I used as the background and rug itself.  Then I cut out the various houses and landmarks I was including.  After the houses and landmarks were assembled, I glued them to the green rug.  Then, taking long strips of black felt (about 2 inches thick) and pieced together the network of roads.  After all was glued (and I really used a lot of glue) I added yellow divider lines to my roads with puff paint.

It was a lot of time crawling around on the floor, but overall, not that overwhelming of a project.

And, as I said, I personalized this rug.  Unfortunately we have lots of family scattered not only all over the country, but all over the world.  I am worried about my children having a close relationship with all of these family members.  I hope that this rug will give us the opportunity to talking about family more and get Gus excited about the trips we take to see them.

Here are the places I included on my rug:

As our family grows I know there will be some new locations to add, so I am happy there is room on the rug to do that.

And that's the project.  I hope my little guy enjoys it and it keeps him entertained during those long winter months.

Nancy

Who has time for crafts? It's beautiful outside!

Lately when I think about blogging I get a little discouraged.  I have a few older projects to share, but nothing new that I am excited about.  So, as a result I haven't been blogging as much.

But then I realized: Who wants to be sitting in the craft room, or even sitting in front of the computer?  Not me!  I want to be outside, even if that means pulling weeds in my garden.  We have had a beautiful string of days here.  Right now I am waiting for my little guy to finish his nap so we can head out to the beach!  I took the picture above yesterday.  My husband came home from work early, we packed a snack, jumped in the car and drove a mile down the road to the lake.  Little Gus loves playing in the sand and he also loves taking us by the fingers and leading us into the water.  I have a feeling we are going to be spending a lot of time at the lake this summer.

I and I am so excited for summer!  I love the lake, fresh tomatoes, getting a tan, playing in the sand, going for walks, grilling, campfires and just about everything else.  Yeah for summer.

Hopefully you and your family have a fun, holy and blessed summer.  Ours has already gotten off to a fantastic start!

Nancy

Mixed Media Wall Art: A good reminder!

Here is a project I completed a while ago, but just today finally put on the wall.  The inspiration for this project came from Rachel Campos Duffy's Stay Home, Stay Happy.  When I was first a stay-at-home mom, this book was recommended to me.  It is an easy read with lots of little tips.  One of the tips that really stuck with me from this book was her advice to have a motto as a stay-at-home mom.  Her motto was "Do small things with great love" (awesome) and she talked about how she repeats this little phrase to herself each morning as she crawls out of bed and heads into the chaos of the morning.

I really liked the idea of having a motto as a mother.  I also really love the idea of having this phrase run through my head as I am beginning the day.  Therefore, I put together these two simple art pieces and hung then together in my hallway.  Now each morning I have to walk past them as I head into my son's room who, as usual, is getting his morning started a little earlier than I would have liked!

Here is the first piece.  I simply took a black frame, placed a piece of fabric behind the glass and wrote my motto, "Small Things with Great Love" on the glass.  Since I have poor handwriting, I traced a font I printed.

The mixed-media cross is also very simple.  All you need to complete this project is a piece of wood, a scrap of fabric, ribbon, buttons and hot glue.

As a final step I hot-glued a pop-tab on the back so I could hang it on the wall.

Here are both pieces hanging together.  Hopefully as I pass then every morning I can really work to live out this simple yet challenging motto.

Nancy

Mother's day

My husband made sure that I had a wonderful mother's day, my first with a child out of the womb.  All and all it was a wonderful weekend with lots of family time outside.  We ate good food, had a bonfire, and even got some flowers planted.

There are a lot of "thankless" jobs as a mother, but I really feel that the amazing moments of watching a child learn and develop far out shadow the work.  I will always cherish the memory of planting flowers with my little boy this weekend.  He is almost one, and loves both being outside and playing in dirt.  He reminds me of myself as a kid!  We had a lot of fun scooping out soil and digging holes for the flowers...and then we got out the hose the the fun factor went through the ceiling!

I hope that our children will always enjoy being outside and working with us.  Growing up on a farm, some of my favorite memories are working with family outside.  In fact, I plan on heading home this weekend to help my sister, who just had a baby, put in her garden.

On Sunday nights when I make my to-do lists for the weeks, I can get overwhelmed.  But then I remember how lucky I am.  No matter what I am doing, no matter how mundane, no matter how many times I've done it before, I have a little buddy sitting next to me that is interested and excited about what we are doing.  Sure, I might end up re-washing dishes, or refolding clothes, but the two of us are having lots of laughs as the work is getting done.

My husband snapped these pictures while Gus and I were working on planting the flowers.  These were taken before the hose came out, and we got really dirty!  We both like getting dirty!

Happy mother's day to everyone.  

Nancy

Our little guy's 1st birthday present.

Click here to view this photo book larger

So, our little guy is turning one in just a few days.  My husband and I were really pondering what to do for his presents.  Our house already feels totally FILLED with toys.  We came up with this idea since he loves to read books and he loves to look at pictures of himself.  We hope to have this book for many years as a fun and easy way to look back on Gus's first year on this earth.

I also hope to make him another gift...but time is ticking away!  Let's see what I get done!

Nancy

More $5 Art!

I just noticed Nancy's post, so in order to add more fuel to the fire and encourage all of you who are unsure of really finding something nice at a thrift shop.... here is what I found for a few bucks about 6 years ago. The crucifix and Elijah were gifts over the years, but Mary and Jesus were finds. Actually, to be accurate, I only found the picture of Christ, but when I brought it home and took it out of it's broken frame, Mary was right behind him! They have been my favorite religious art in our home (and I have a lot) ever since. I apologize for the poor picture quality. That room in our house has very bad lighting.

Love, Maria

$5 Religious Art

If there is one thing Maria and I definitely have in common, it is our (sometimes unhealthy) love of thrift shopping.  I love it because it feels like one big treasure hunt.  While thrift shopping I have been able to find unique items that I doubt I would have been able to find anywhere else...and of course the price is always good!

Here is one of my latest Thrift Shop finds.

When I bought them, for $5, the Sacred Heart image was in need of some TLC, but, as you can see, it was nothing major.  With some hot glue and gold paint, the damage was easily hidden and I was happy to hang both images above our bed.

Not only is it beautiful art, but it will remind my husband and me of our role models, and the great love our Mother and Lord Jesus have for us.

Nancy