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LIVE THE MURRAYED LIFE
Showing posts with label DIY. Show all posts
Showing posts with label DIY. Show all posts
Tuesday, May 28, 2013
Thursday, November 1, 2012
Our Halloween Takes The Cake
**Psst- It's day 4 of the contest and Declan has gone from 18th to 5th place because of ALL YOUR VOTES!
Have we said how much YOU ROCK?!
It's not EVEN CLOSE to over yet though. We need to get him to 1st! So please will you vote again?
Remember, you can vote on every device and browser.
I even have come up with a GREAT idea to help it get shared!!
Think of three people who you know love babies, are bored at work, or just are crazy about anything internet or voting related. Got em? Now share directly with those three! Maybe they can do the same, and BAM! A gazillion votes.
Or maybe on facebook? Or by email? Or on your blog!!
As warned in the beginning, I will be annoying this week (sorry), but he is SO close and there are just a few days left. So please just take a few seconds and click.
And is SUPER, DUPER important.
THANK YOU!
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Yesterday was busy. There ain't no beatin' round that bush. Was it busy in a life threatening way? No. Was it busy in a must-do or bad times will fall upon us way? Nope. It was simply a busy day filled with mama bear duties, fueled by a fierce focus to have my baby win a contest (have you voted, by the way?), and an even fiercer dedication to having a fully finished family costume. It was busy, and it was good. It was the type of day that ends with feet up, SVU on, and two spent parents passing wine back and forth. But above all that, it was Mr. Declan's first halloween.
Halloween with an infant is one of those in betweens where you want to dress them up and take them around because they are so gosh darn cute, but putting time, money, and effort into it? mmm. Not so much. It's not like they care that they are the most adorable thing since baby uggs. Excitement to them can come from a plastic Starbucks lid.
But there are the photos. Oh, the photos. So possibly needing pictoral leverage years from now, we decided his first Halloween was a must. In true Brunyate-Staebler fashion, I buckled down to a sewing machine, came up with a costume, and was sweating up until the minute we left. So glad I whipped it up, but the house is a'hurtin. If you've seen my cleaning motivation, please send it over my way. Thanks.
The drumroll please....
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| {we found that baby costumes are nearly impossible to keep in their proper places, hence the ankles and falling hooves} |
Do you get it? I mean, DO YOU GET IT?!
Probably not, because it's kind of obscure, and definitely meant for big fans of a certain band. Here are a few more hints.
So Peyton was ________. He was meant to be holding a microphone, but at least sported his trucker hat.
I was Kitty-turned-Karen, definitely snazzed up a bit with my attire.
And little man Dex was a sheep with a ticket to heaven attached.
A few more seconds of pondering...
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...
...
And with the suspense killing even me, I'll just tell you.
Peyton was CAKE, as in the band, I was representing their song "Short Skirt and Long Jacket", hence the clothes, and Declan was "Sheep Go To Heaven." AHHH!!
That probably excites me more than it does you, or anyone else, but we thought it was fantastically clever. (We don't get out much and really enjoy foosball, could that explain it??) I'm not typically one to dress up, but this was simply too good to miss.
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| {blurry, but what fantastic mother/daughter matching!} |
Followed by this:
As it should be, of course.
So clearly, the whole night was a success. There were cuddles, costumes, and treats galore. Declan loved kid watching and was the sweetest little lamb I've had the pleasure of enjoying. And years from now we can threaten to unearth those photos when he's being all uppity. That's what this is all for anyway, right? ;)
How was your night of ghouls and goblins? Did you have a themed costume? Stay at home? Trick or treat with the kids dressed as a responsible mom?
And I'm super excited to say...
Let the holiday season commence!
LIVE THE MURRAYED LIFE
Tuesday, October 30, 2012
Dream, Baby, Dream
**Psst: It's day two of the competition. Declan is 18th out of nearly 1000 babies. Have you voted today?!?**
Click the photo to vote or you can use the link: http://photos.parents.
Remember that you can use multiple devices and browsers if you feel so inclined...
Thanks for all the love yesterday as well!
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Peyton talked me into it. He talked me in to posting one more project that, while not done for the Pinterest Challenge, was totally inspired by Pinterest. This leads to more flattering photos of the nursery. The prior post didn't quite give the warm and fuzzies. It made the room look more like a basement of a rundown hostel with a piece of art slapped on the wall. With the amount of work Peyton put into this fixture, he deserves to have an entry.
So officially, we are making this a Pinterest Challenge post. dun, dun, dun, duuunnnn.
As explained in the previous post, the Pinterest Challenge is where you stop pinning and start doing. This edition is hosted by the creative chicas Katie, Sherry, Carmel, and Sarah, all of which have projects worth taking a gander! You do a project, blog a post, then link up and blog-hop all day long. They need to offer babysitters, or even better, make it a holiday. There's just no way kids get as much attention on P.C. days.
We really needed a big, inexpensive piece of artwork to go above the crib. The opposite wall (shown earlier) is going to be a gallery collection, so we didn't want to shove a ton of frames in both spaces. But finding a long slice of pretty for peanuts? Not going to happen. Until we saw this beaut:
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| {gracias} |
Instead of cork we used some heavy pressed particle board that we had around, some white paint, and about 500-600 nails. There was a lot of nailing. As in, somewhere in the range of seven hours worth. Luckily this was all the mister's doing, as he is much more careful than I am. I can assure you, each and every nail is the same height and distance apart. Hence the seven hours...
First he printed out the lettering found on Honey & Fitz. In an OCD moment, he proceeded to spend another hour or so perfecting the sizes of each letter. (Honestly, I couldn't see a difference at the beginning, sooo I'd say that you're fine with theirs.) Next was taping it onto the painted wood backing.
Then came the nailing. The hours and hours of nailing. But that led to this.
We were tempted to keep it here, since the simplicity itself is so retro and lovely, but decided it blended in with the grey walls too much. So I swooped in to take over for the stringing. You see, Peyton had a plan to go every fifth nail to the diagonal by the 19th power times pi, over and over again, and I just could not see this getting finished before our son's first birthday. He stepped away because my haphazard manner was close to heart-attack inducing. Fifteen minutes later I ushered him in, he hung it up, and we smiled.
Ta-da! We love, love, LOVE it. And so does sweet Dex, who stares at it from his crib when we fail to come rescue him quickly.
And how about a real throwback pic, taken one week before the boy's arrival?
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| {sorry for the immediate boob shot there... I want this as a reminder, but I definitely get ya good!} |
And with that, I will go sit, rub my belly, and miss his little kicks from within. Pretty good job though, right? This is one of those things that constantly remind me of the greatness that is Peyton. Thank you, sir, for getting on board with the honey-do wish list and making this happen ten times better than I could. You're pretty darn awesome.
Now off to check some more of your lovely works. Please leave a comment so I can love on your creations some!
LIVE THE MURRAYED LIFE
Look At The Stars - Fall Pinterest Challenge
**Psst: It's day two of the competition. Declan is 18th out of nearly 1000 babies. Have you voted today?!?**
Click the photo to vote or you can use the link: http://photos.parents.
Remember that you can use multiple devices and browsers if you feel so inclined...
Thanks for all the love yesterday as well!
So now, back to pinterest business.
Two of my favorite bloggers, Katie of Bower Power and Sherry of Young House Love, came up with this lovely challenge back in the day to help conquer the all too easy to fall into trap that is Pinterest. We love this place, pinning and pinning and pinning, living in a virtual world of loveliness and chalkboard paint and gorgeous weddings that look to be $100,000 but really are $250 with DIY, while some of our physical homes want some of the love. So these two said each season the blogging world should make an effort to not simply pin, but do. And so began the Pinterest Challenge.
The rules are simple. Pick something from Pinterest that has inspired you and use it to make something all your own. Blog about the experience, post it on the general wall, and enjoy all the other creations!
This time round I decided to tackle a little art work for Declan's room. I am way overdue for a nursery tour, partially because it's never fully clean and partially because this one wall is bare. Or was bare. Because now we have one little frame chilling out in the middle.
My pinspiration was as follows:
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| {via} |
This artist, Katie Daisy of The Wheatfield, is amazing. Take a look around her shop at all the beautiful, down home quotes she has. They are so naturally done and just calm soothe the soul. I actually posted another one that I loved way back when here. Anyway, I decided to try my hand at a much simpler version of hers using a quote from "Yellow". This was one of my favorite songs to sing to Dex as an itty-bitty baby, so it seemed like the perfect one to use.
Using some freehand pencil work, topped with sharpie pen, then redone with watercolor, I came up with this:
I then attached it to black card stock and attached that to the black glitter paper to seem like a starry-night sky. We are having problems keeping it flat, especially since it currently isn't framed under glass, but maybe a few days of heavy books weighing it down will help. Here it is in it's frame:
We have it right above his changing table so every time I see it I can momentarily get away from the task at hand.
I'd love to show you the whole look complete with better pictures, but that would mean touring, which would mean cleaning, and maybe even other picture hanging. So this is what I can give ya today. Baby steps my friends. (tee-hee. pun totally intended.)
The plan is to have a little gallery wall around it, so now I just need to get on making that happen. Next on the list: get frames, things to put in frames, and nails to attach to wall. As you can see, we are far down the road on that project.
I'd love to show you the whole look complete with better pictures, but that would mean touring, which would mean cleaning, and maybe even other picture hanging. So this is what I can give ya today. Baby steps my friends. (tee-hee. pun totally intended.)
The plan is to have a little gallery wall around it, so now I just need to get on making that happen. Next on the list: get frames, things to put in frames, and nails to attach to wall. As you can see, we are far down the road on that project.
It is no where near as complex and creative as Ms. Daisy's, but it works for us for now. Something sweet and small for our boy.
Head on over to see what Katie, Sherry, Carmel, and Sarah did, then browse through other posts on their bottom link-ups! It's so inspiring to me to see the creativity that others shell out and share.
Did you participate in the challenge? Make some other project but didn't know about this bloggy get-together? Do tell, do tell. I'd love to see what you made as well!
LIVE THE MURRAYED LIFE
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