Artwork and Homework Display Gallery

I’ve seen these boards around Pinterest and really liked the idea of making one for the hallway so Lauren can display her school and art work. 

I picked up a piece of 1/4” thick particle board at Lowes and we cut it to 50” x 4”.  I painted the edges and the top 2” of the board with several layers of green craft paint.  Then I cut 2” strips of scrapbook paper and used Mod Podge to adhere the paper to the bottom half of the board.

I covered the edges where the paint and paper meet in the middle with some ribbon using hot glue and then glued on some clips I picked up at Staples. 

Then I pulled out my Cricut and some vinyl I bought ages ago on Pick your Plum.  I’ve never cut vinyl and was a little nervous to try it.  I set the pressure on high and turned the blade setting to 6 (the highest).  It came out great on the first try.  For those of you who never tried it, I peeled up the vinyl and was left with just the words stuck to the paper backing.  I used the little Cricut spatula to remove the little centers from the “a’s” and “e’s”, then I stuck a piece of clear Contact paper on top of all the words and lifted them up off the paper.  Now I had a sheet of Contact paper with all the words stuck to the back of it.  I cut each word out, positioned it where I wanted it, rubbed the vinyl letters down, and carefully lifted the Contact paper to leave the letters behind.  Worked like a charm…no need for expensive transfer paper from the vinyl shops!  I got a huge roll of clear Contact at Walmart from the shelf lining display for next to nothing.  

Best part of all is that Lauren LOVES her new gallery!

Weekend stuff

Last weekend my brother and sister-in-law’s niece got married and it was a beautiful wedding.  Here’s the bride and groom with my mother.  They are a gorgeous couple and have such a bright future together. 

Here’s a couple of pics before we headed out.  I found Lauren’s cute dress at JC Penney…the bright pink looks really nice on her.

Here’s grandma with her two youngest grandkids…

Lauren had a blast on the dance floor.  Here she is with her cousin, Emily, and with Uncle Jim and Aunt Stephanie…

and she danced with the bride for the money dance…

She sat still just long enough for a quick pic with Daddy…

This weekend we had a garage sale.  It was the first really chilly morning here in the Phoenix area, so Lauren’s lemonade stand was converted to a hot cocoa stand.  Now who wouldn’t buy cocoa and cookies from these two cuties…

Actually, Grandma, who was supposed to be the assistant hot cocoa sales person, ended up manning the table most of the time and made the majority of the sales.  There’s now $10 more dollars in her piggy bank. 

I had SO many of Lauren’s old clothes bagged up in the garage and was so happy to get rid of them…

After seeing all these clothes go out the door for next to nothing, her fall and winter wardrobes for this year will be MUCH smaller!  Oh, and same thing for the toys this Christmas…

The girls had a blast playing and goofing around.  Here’s Lauren with our good friends, Nancy and Lily…

Ruby, our best doggy friend, was the official garage sale mascot…