My DIY Initial Project

One of my favorite sites to visit is Etsy.  I think you can find so many creative and unique things there.  Case in point, see below:

Find me here

I came across this item one day when I was searching around their site.  I think I was searching for letters, but honestly it was a couple of months ago and I just don't remember.  I mean what's not to love, its chevron (one of my favorite prints), it's a fun color, and it looks somewhat up-cycled which gives it a vintage feel.  Anyways, when I saw it I just knew something like that would look good hanging in Addie's Big Girl room.  Of course it would need to be in a different color and and I would need 3, one for each letter of her full name.

The plan was to buy these and hang them above her bed in a monogram format.  The only problem was that to have 3 it would cost me more than I really wanted to spend.  So I thought to myself, how hard would it be to re-create?

Step 1 - The Frames

• Now the seller of the the item actually hand makes her own frames.  Trey said he would be more than happy to make the frames for me but my mom found some great ones at Hobby Lobby and whats even better, they were 50% off.  So I got all three for around $20.  

• Our (and I say our because Trey definitely helped me on this project) first step was to stain the frames a dark color.  That way when we sand at the end hopefully the stain will show and look distressed.  We did two coats of stain.

• The next step was to paint over the stain with purple paint.  Her room is going to be purple, yellow and grey.  I picked a purple that was darker than her bedding because I really wanted the finished product to make a statement.  It took 4 coats of paint to cover up the dark stain.

• Next Trey sanded the frames to make them look distressed.

Step 2 - The Letters

• The letter above was made out of metal.  Fortunately we have a HVAC shop at our office that uses and cuts sheet metal.  All I needed was a template.  This is where I called on my sister Krystal again!  She gave me several font options and then created the template.  I printed and cut them out, hen gave them to Josh at my office to work his magic.  I feel lucky because the day I asked him to help we had some really cool metal, that had sort of a hammered look to it.  

Step 3 - Inside the Frames

• Trey measured the inside of each frame and then cut some plywood to fit each one.

• Once the plywood was cut, I measured and cut quilters batting to cover them with.  Once the material was cut I used spray adhesive on the front and then stapled the excess with a staple gun on the back to insure a tight fit with no movement.

• After the quilt batting I then measured each of them for the Chevron fabric.  I did not use spray adhesive this time around.  Once the fabric was placed, I pulled tight and stapled it to the back.

• Once all the boards were covered we put them in the frames, securing them with a staple gun.

Step 4 - Adding the letters

• We attached the letters to the frames with small nails.  Trey drilled a little hole in the spots we wanted to nail down.  Then we centered the letter on the boards and nailed them in place.  I am not sure what the seller of my inspiration used, possibly glue??  But, since these were going to be hanging over our little girl's bed we didn't want to take any chances of them coming loose and falling on her in the middle of the night.

Step 5 - Put them on Display

• I'm not going to lie, I was pretty excited with how they turned out.  

The Great Christmas Tree Hunt of 2013

Since the year Lexie was born we've always gone the weekend after Thanksgiving to look for a "real" Christmas Tree.  This year's expedition took us to Sandy Hollar Farms in Leicester, NC.  It's a choose a cut tree farm not too far from Hendersonville and what I think makes it unique is that you actually do the cutting yourself, with a hand saw (no power tools allowed).  

We went with 4 other families, which the girls loved because they had friends to play with.

After taking a wagon ride further into the tree farm, we then hiked up to the section with snow on the ground, because let's face it snow makes a 50 degree day just feel more like Christmas.

The girls were much more concerned with trying to make a snowman than scoping out trees.  Needless to say while the snowman never actually materialized they had a great time trying.

The Freeman's found their tree first, and Chris went to cutting….

Unfortunately he left several feet of it on the ground so they ended up with a 5ft tree, not the 8ft they hoped for, but still a commendable job for his first time.  

Here is Trey with our tree, it's a little bigger than we normally get and I'm not sure its going to fit in it's designated space but Trey assured me it would look great!

It's not easy but I can admit Trey was right.  Once we got the tree home and decorated it looked awesome, probably the best one we've had.

Our tree didn't fall as fast, but it's possible I may not have been "pushing" hard enough, or at least that's what I kept hearing…push harder!

With our tree loaded Lexie had just enough time for some hot chocolate and an opportunity to visit with Santa Claus.  Addie on the other hand screamed "no" and wouldn't get anywhere near the jolly old man.

Sandy Hollar Farms certainly made for a memorable afternoon!