Showing posts with label Home Decor. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Home Decor. Show all posts

5 Alternatives for Carving Pumpkins {Fun Kids Crafts}


Having small children can sometimes make pumpkin carving a bit difficult. So this year we went with something a little different and let the kids make a few varieties of pumpkins. Grab some glue, your potato head pieces, and even the paint and see what your kids do to create their Fall masterpieces!

If you're in the same boat and are looking for great alternatives to carving your pumpkins this year, here are a few ideas:

1. Painting your Pumpkins

Instead of carving out a design, simply use a paper cut out to block out a design on your pumpkin and paint around it! Head on over to FormulaMom.com to see how we painted the castle pumpkin above.

Add Cinderella's carriage by simply cutting out a few felt pieces and gluing them onto a fairytale pumpkin to complete the storybook tale. 


2. Mrs Pumpkin Head
See how easy it is to create a Mrs. Pumpkin Head (Mr. Potato Head's lady friend) with this easy and fun idea from Fabulous Finds by Tiffany.


3. Spider Web Pumpkins
With a little bit of spray paint and some puffy paint, you can create just about any design on your pumpkin with a great look! I created this Spider Web Pumpkin for our Amazing Spider-Man party that I'll be hosting on Halloween this year. I can't wait to see what my guests think.


4. Foam Sticker Pumpkins
When we went up to Mammoth Mountain a few weeks ago we got to decorate pumpkins at  Oktoberfest. Instead of letting the kids carve pumpkins, they had these awesome foam sticker kits they got from the craft store. Our kids made this pirate pumpkin and loved applying the stickers to the pumpkin.


5. Crayon Dripped Pumpkin
Now this has got to be the coolest looking pumpkin ever! Taylor Made Mama did it right when she made this Crayon Dripped Pumpkin. It reminds me of the drippings of a candle.

It's definitely Halloweenesque and would go great for any decor. Plus I love that you could easily use all one color or be selective in the colors you use to go with a theme or style.

How are you decorating your pumpkin this year?

Re-Creating a Relaxing Bedroom with @BreatheBedding #CBias


Recently my husband and I upgraded our bedroom furniture and the size of our bed from a queen to a king to accommodate our growing family (and the fact that our kids had all but kicked us out of our own bed!). It's been a slow process but I am finally starting to love the results. Especially with our latest addition of Breathe Performance Bedding.

I can finally relax and enjoy our bedroom now that we've completed the last step in re-decorating. I've finally tackled the wall space above our bed and have purchased the comfortable sheets our family has been aching for.

Now typically we purchase bedding at discount and department stores (think Tuesday Mornings or Macys). We look for name brands at discounted prices and hardly ever pay full price for a set of sheets. We almost always wait for sales and try to stick with higher thread count cotton sheets since that's what we've known to work in the past.

But we've always had an issue with sweat at night and needed a solution.


Learning More about Breathe Bedding
In order to accomplish this feat, the kids and I headed to our local Wal-mart to check out Breathe Bedding. Not only had we not heard of Breathe Bedding before, we had also never seen it at Wal-Mart. So I was very interested in learning more.

Breathe Performance Bedding isn't your typical bedding. It is made with technology to help transfer body heat and moisture to keep you cooler, drier, and more comfortable. With a daughter who sweats quite a lot, I can tell you that moisture wicking sheets are not only helpful, but essential to a good night's sleep!

I loved the selection and color of the bedding and found a set of King sheets in a tan color that would be perfect for  our master bedroom. Not only did it look perfect for my sweaty family, it also looked stylish as well. The packaging drew my eye and intrigued me. Especially with a photo of Mia Hamm on the cover.

To read about my experience in purchasing Breathe Performance Bedding, check out my Breathe G+ Album.


Why Not Cotton? 
Your probably asking me why are Breathe sheets not made out of cotton. Well, cotton does not allow heat to be released. It traps heat in when you fall asleep and throughout the night leaving some sleepers to wake up in a full sweat. There have been many a morning that I've woken up to a puddle next to me from the amount of sweating my daughter does during the night.

Inspired by athletic performance fabrics, Breathe Performance Bedding works while you sleep to regulate body temperature throughout the night and allows an increase of ventilation. This leads to a more peaceful, comfortable sleep without the worry of over heating through the night.


Gaining Inspiration from Others
Once I had my bedding figured out, it was time to get crafty and do something with these bare walls. Taking inspiration from a few pins I had recently added to my Master Bedroom Ideas Pinterest board, and rummaging through the house for odds and ends, along with taking into consideration the colors of our new bedding, I created a few pieces to add to the blank space.

With the help of some spray paint, plenty of leftover frames, my fabric stash, and a glue gun I was able to transform a few pieces into something new that fit well together. I started with the burlap I purchased at Wal-Mart and the largest picture frame.


By simply painting the frame white, hot gluing in the burlap and adding some fabric flowers and a felt S I created a personalized piece of art for our bedroom (tutorial coming soon!). I quickly followed suite with framed fabric and an embroidery hoop but was still missing something.

That's when I decided to paint the canvas I had on hand. I was going to go with a chevron pattern but it just didn't work out with the amount of tape I had so I went with stripes. This is the only piece I am not happy with and I've since decided that I'm going to find a mirror to take it's place. Unless I repaint it completely.


Putting the Pieces Together
Once I had all of the craft projects finished it was time to put together my new room decor. I stared by making the bed and grabbing the bedspread. I needed to visualize exactly what the artwork would look like on the wall so I layed it out on the bed and checked out the positioning.

Then I did what I normally wouldn't have done... I started blindly leveling and hammering to put everything up on the wall. Now normally I leave the measuring, leveling, and hammering to my husband. I've been known to just blindly go in and make holes everywhere until its to my liking and my husband doesn't quite appreciate my approach. But since I knew this would never get done if I waited I moved on by myself.


I have to say that I really like the end result. The combination of the new sheets and the added artwork to the walls makes the room feel complete and makes me feel accomplished! Finally our master bedroom is finished and I cannot wait to lie down and enjoy it.

Good thing it's naptime!

How have you spruced up your home lately? 

To find out more about Breathe Performance bedding, head on over to their website. You can purchase their bedding sets online or in select Wal-Mart stores. You can also find Breathe Bedding on Facebook and follow them on twitter at @BreatheBedding.

Disclaimer: I am a member of the Collective Bias™ Social Fabric® Community. This content has been compensated as part of a social shopper insights study for Collective Bias™. All opinions are my own. #CBias #SocialFabric

Smarties Are The Perfect Halloween Sweet Treat #IAmASmartie

One of my favorite parts of my childhood Halloween experience was racing home from trick or treating to sort out all of the Halloween candy I received. I was obsessed with finding my favorites (Smarties were at the top of the list along with chocolate). And one of my favorite parts of Halloween now are the decorations we put up each year. I absolutely love how festive and creative we get each year.

My husband is quite the Halloween decor enthusiast. Each year he purchases foam pumpkins from the store and creates a new face. And in an effort to keep up with him, I try to get creative as well in the decor inside our home.

Smarties Halloween candies #IAmASmartie

Gluten-Free and Allergen Free
This year I headed to Target to pick up some decorating supplies and candy to pass out. Since there are so many allergies and special diets these days, we went simple. Smarties all around! And I planned on decorating with Smarties as well.

Smarties are not only gluten-free, but they also contain no peanuts and are fat free! They're the worry-free, one-size-fits-all candy this holiday and are the perfect choice for passing out. I was able to pick up a large bag of Smarties and another bag of Smarties and Dum-Dums mixed together. My daugther was absolutely elated to put these bags into the cart to take home.

Macy's Rwanda Path to Peace Basket Giveaway #HaitiPeaceNG


Welcome to the Macys Rwanda Path to Peace 
Basket Giveaway! 

This giveaway will run until October 1st and features a gorgeous hand-made woven basket that has a special story behind it. For more information about Macy's Rwanda Path to Peace, check out my review of this basket here.

And because I'm not the only one giving away an amazing piece, I've linked up to a few other Noise Girls who are giving away woven baskets and Heart of Haiti horn stretch bracelets. So once you're done entering below, click over to enter the other giveaways!

Enter to win a Rwanda Path to Peace oven basket valued at $39.99
 in the Rafflecopter form below. Good luck!

a Rafflecopter giveaway



Disclaimer: Please note that basket designs may vary.  The Simmworks Family Blog is not responsible for sponsors who fail to fulfull their prize(s).

Displaying Your Child's Artwork

Lets face it, our kids love to create. Crafts, art, glitter, paint. It's all exciting when you're small.

And sometimes those pieces of artwork, no matter how small, need a place in the home to be displayed. But because of how MUCH artwork can be created, taken home, and demanded to be up, we've come up with a few solutions for displaying artwork in a way that isn't permanent.

So here are a few tips and tricks to displaying your child's masterpiece.

Framed and Clipped

This is one of my favorite ways to display my kids stuff. All it takes is an empty frame, a butterfly clip and a nail or two. 

Simply hang the empty frame (garage sales are an excellent place to find these on the cheap), add the butterfly clip, and hang whatever artwork your child wants to display. You can easily swap out pictures as frequently as you'd like! And you can even personalize each frame by adding your child's name inside (or outside) in vinyl letters to create their own space. 


Framed and Matted

We love to make crafts that are specifically for gift giving. One of the first craft projects my son and I made was this adorable footprint heart for Valentine's Day. To make it extra special and display it in Daddy's office we framed it in a matted frame to give it more depth. 


We also frame our children's drawing as well on an "art wall" in our hallway. It helps to use simple frames that we can easily change out the pictures in. Each child gets to choose one piece of art to display all month. It can be a seasonal piece or something they're proud of.


Framed and Pinned

This frame used to be a mirror. A mirror with a LARGE crack in it. We snagged it at our local furniture store for $7. Such a steal!

Simply put up a few letters to spell out ART and I have a customized large frame to thumb tack any artwork the kids might want to have showcased. Easy peasy!

And if you aren't lucky enough to score such an awesome deal you can easily put up a large cork board and achieve the same effect.


How do you display your child's artwork?

 

Sprucing Up the Front Patio with Pro Home Stores


As soon as we received this beauty in the mail the other day my kids immediately asked to grab their stool from the kitchen to pull out the marshmallows. Yup... they knew what we were going to do!

Of course my son insisted on hot dogs AND marshmallows so guess what we had for dinner? You guessed it... hot dogs and smores! What a tasty meal. My son absolutely loved that he was able to make his own food (with supervision of course!).


We absolutely love how easy it is to set up and take down this Landmann portable fire pit. We received the fire pit from Pro Home Stores  on their site for Outdoor Fireplaces. The fire pit was easily assembled in 5 minutes from opening the box to taking everything out and required no screws or hardware. I simply inverted the legs of the stand, snapped them into place and put the bowl and screen on top. It just as easily breaks down for storage.


The size of this 30" fire pit is perfect for our newly designed (and now covered!) front yard patio. It easily can be moved out of the way if we aren't using it and is quickly stored in a convenient carrying case that came with it. I am amazed at how quickly it can be broken down and how small it is when stored away.

This pit is not only great for use in your front or back yard, it would also make a great firepit for the beach, camping, and more! I know sometimes we aren't lucky enough to get a fire pit on the beach if we don't camp out at 7am that morning so by having our own firepit we won't have to stress about getting to the beach to pick out a fire pit early on. We can just bring our own to the party!


If portable isn't the way you want to go then there are plenty of options available on OutdoorFireplaces.com that would compliment any outdoor style or decor. I loved how versatile and vast the selection was on the site and enjoyed perusing through a few of their other options.

The fact that they're also linked to a few other sites through Pro Home Stores made it easy to shop for the whole yard and not just for our fire pit. My son keeps eyeing the bean bags they sell and my husband already has one of the hammocks on his wishlist. How great would it be to have one of these hammock chairs next to the patio? He'd be in heaven!

If you're in the market to spruce up your patio, or if you are just looking for more comfortable options for your existing patio I highly suggest checking out everything Pro Home Stores has to offer. There's something for everyone on the site! You can also find them on Facebook and Twitter so start following today!

Check out what Pro Home Stores has to offer! What would you pick out for your home?

Disclaimer: I received a fire pit from Pro Home Stores for review purposes only. Regardless, I only recommend products or services I use personally and believe will be good for my readers. 

Create a Masterpiece in No Time with My Wonderful Walls {#NoiseGirls Review}


When I first started planning my kids bedroom I had no idea what I wanted to do. I knew we needed to repaint because the striped walls from my son's nursery just had to go. I wanted something bright, cheery, and gender neutral so that both my daughter and son would get enjoyment out of it.


Even before I had my son I always wanted some sort of wall art or mural in my children's rooms. I would go to home shows or design/decor events and would oohh and aahh at the gorgeous murals done in fabulously decorated bedrooms. But, of course, we could never afford the hefty price tag that came along with the interior designer that designed the room and the artist that painted the murals.


So we searched for a great alternative.


I first became inspired to use decals in my kids room after seeing some adorable decals at my son's gymnastics class. Simple monkeys hanging in a tree and clouds around the room. But when I got a closer look at the decals they used I was not impressed. The decals were bumpy, you could see where they met with each other, and the colors were simple and boring.

So when I saw My Wonderful Walls on my friend Jessica's blog I knew I had to check them out to see what they offered. And boy was I happy that I did! Their selection of wall stickers cover everything from under water adventures to life on the farm.

I quickly was able to settle on the cute and animated Forest Friends wall stickers for my kids room. It was the perfect blend and definitely gender neutral (although the description states boy).


Not only are My Wonderful Walls decals super easy to use, they're so versatile!

We started by painting the whole room in a few fresh coats of paint. If not starting with freshly painted walls please make sure to clean the walls very well to remove any debris and dirt from the walls.

Then we got to designing! 


The decals proved to be very easy to remove from the backing and even easier to apply to the walls. Once I tested them out by applying the sun and clouds to the sky I let my son and daughter get in on the action as well.

I was pleasantly surprised to find how easy it was for them to help!

And I didn't have to worry about where they placed the decals or if the decals folded over on themselves because I could easily remedy these situations. The decals were so easy to remove and reposition as needed until we got the right placement and fit for the room's layout.


Once we were done and had applied all of the decals to the walls we sat back and looked at what we had created. My daughter was very excited to now share a room with so many friendly animals and started to wave and greet each new animal who appeared with a very happy hello.

She continues to greet the animals each day in the same fashion. Always pointing out her favorites. She even will overhear her brother talking about randomly wanting to hold frogs (because of a commercial or ad he saw) and she quickly runs to her little pond and points to the frog leaping out of the water. See, Brother, you can hold a frog!

My son made a few suggestions and changes to move a few items around and I happily obliged. I mean it is, after all, his room. Once he was happy with the layout we took a few pictures.

To see all of the photos of our toddler bedroom makeover including before and after photos please check out our photo album on G+ here.  Or if you prefer Facebook, head on over to my Facebook album here.


My Wonderful Walls not only offers amazing wall decals, they also offer wall stencils, wall murals, and canvas art as well. There are so many themes and designs to choose from that I'm sure you will find the perfect one for your home!

We are already planning on purchasing a few daffodils and blue birds for the playroom when we redesign it to give a little life to the walls. The price is affordable, the quality is excellent, and the customer service is stellar. And when/if we ever decide to build onto our home and have separate rooms for our children we'll be coming back again to let them choose the wall art they want from My Wonderful Walls.

Ready to pick out your set of My Wonderful Walls decals or stencils? 

Head on over to their website and use the code sw625 at check out for 20% off your order

But hurry! This offer expires on 7/18


If you are interested in keeping up with new and exciting information from My Wonderful Walls please feel free to join them on Facebook by liking their page. Or following them on twitter. I'm sure they'd love to hear from you!



Enter to Win a $100 Gift Card

My Wonderful Walls has been kind enough to offer one lucky winner a $100 Gift Card of their choice in the Noise Girls' Around The House giveaway event in the Kids Package.

The giveaway event will be held from June 25th to July 16th and will include multiple packages valued at over $3,500! Make sure to head back and enter to WIN one of these amazing prize packages.


Disclaimer: I received a My Wonderful Walls decal set for review purposes only. Regardless, I only recommend products or services I use personally and believe will be good for my readers.  

Starting Fresh #NaBloPoMo

How do you feel about starting new projects?

For me I see new projects as a challenge. Something I need to take the time to prepare for and than tackle head on. Right now I have a few projects going on. I'm working on converting my son's room into a room both he and my daughter can share. I'm finally finishing up the master bedroom and have since added nightstands that actually match the rest of my furniture (this somehow makes me feel all grown up!). And we gutted our master bathroom.

Lots of projects, not a lot of time or money.

But each new project brings on a little bit of change. And a little bit of change can be good. By making room in my son's room for my daughter I might be close to having my side of the bed to myself. Ok, well, at least for half of the night.

And when we redo our master bathroom I get to decide what tile to use and what color scheme to go with. All choices that I helped my husband with when he purchased and re-did the house but it's different this time. We're married now and I get a bit more say than, "Oh, your choices look nice!"

The start of these new projects also means that I need to put my focus on actually finishing. That seems to be a problem in this household and I'm trying to work on it. I have plenty of ideas in my head so new projects are never ending. I just need to choose projects I'm willing to see to the end before I start.

So stay tuned for a few updates to these projects and more! I can't wait to show off what I've been doing in the kids room. It's sure to be awesome when it's done. 

What new projects have you started recently?

Love is in the Air {Holiday Home Decor}


In an effort to keep the holiday momentum going in our home after Christmas I've attempted to decorate the house for Valentine's Day. How could I not with all of the pins I've posted onto my Valentine's Day board on Pinterest? I printed out this ABC I Love You printable you see above from Formula Mom's Valentines Day Printables post and framed it in a picture frame that wasn't being used. I plan on updating it with a printable for each season and have it hanging in my hallway/entry way.

I also decorated the mantle with things I had around the house as well. I just left up the fabric pendant banner I made for Molly's birthday and layered it with a paper banner I purchased a few years back on clearance. I love the reds, pinks and aquas!

I had a hanging heart that I used last year as a wreath for the front door and just added it to the mantel. And I found these adorable wooden LOVE blocks in the dollar section of my local Target. I added a few silk roses I purchased at The Dollar Tree in a tea cup paperweight I had left over from Molly's party and the mantel was done! Simple and perfect for our home. I can't wait to start thinking up ideas for the next month!


Do you decorate for the holidays? Do you stick to the big ones like Halloween and Christmas or do you decorate throughout the year? I'd love to see what you've done!



Pin It