Last Day of Kindergarten

Remember those months ago when I talked about sobbing on Kate's first day of Kindergarten? How I thought it would be so much easier since she is my second one? That I felt like I knew what I was in for?

Now I remember why I sobbed so hard on that day. It's this:

How did she get so big in the course of one short school year? What day did she wake up and no longer have that baby faced look? I think Kindergarten is one of those times where you grow so much and that's what we, as moms, sob about on that first day of school. And Jack has grown too! But it's not the same as Kindergarten. After Kindergarten, they are no longer our babies... they are our kids. Big kids at that.

On that first day of school we mourn a little bit for those times that we let slip away while they were busy in the business of getting bigger because Kindergarten really is the beginning of the Big Adventure.

I'm going to try to take some time this summer to take it slow and make sure I don't miss a thing.

Hurry Up Tooth Fairy

Poor Kate - six and half and STILL hasn't lost a tooth. Many of her friends are already on tooth #5 or 6 and smile with cute snaggletooth smiles. She has been so {I'm}patiently waiting for that first wiggly tooth. And now, to her great excitement, it's finally here!

To celebrate the looooong awaited arrival of such an event, the tooth fairy had to stop by our house the other night. Kate was thrilled to wake up to fairy dust scattered on the floor and find this:

To say that she was excited might be an understatement. The tiny little letter in the dish was from the tooth fairy telling her how pleased she was with her teeth... which has inspired a whole new enthusiasm for brushing at our house. Now, fingers crossed that she loses it soon!

I 

DIY Wood Transfer

After moving to Asheville, I knew I wanted to celebrate our big change - and what better way to do it than with a graphic print? I made a graphic of the state in Photoshop and cut made a little heart right over my little city. I liked the way it looked, but wanted to give it more punch, so why not transfer it to wood? So easy, but makes a big statement...

Step One:

Materials you need are sand paper, brush, gel medium (found in the art dept of your local craft store) and a piece of wood cut to size

Step Two:

You'll need to get your graphic printed off as a mirror image on a laser printer -  this is important! Do not print it on your ink jet! The easiest way to do this is to save it on your thumb drive and head over to your local print shop. You want it printed on standard copy paper.

Step Three:

Take the time to sand the edges of your wood - I just used some scrap wood from the garage, but you can always find precut pieces at your local craft store. I sanded the edges well because I was going for a little more vintage look.

Step Four:

Make sure your board is sawdust free, and then coat it with a generous layer of the gel medium. Make sure your strokes are going the same direction.

Step Five:

Now, carefully lay your paper on directly on the gel medium and lightly burnish the surface so it's bubble free. Take the time to smooth out any wrinkles... now, the hard part. Let it dry overnight. I know, who wants to wait that long, but do it... otherwise you'll regret it. {sounds like experience talking here}

Step Six:

After letting it sit overnight, use a soaking wet washcloth to wet the entire surface of the paper. And start rubbing. And rubbing. And rubbing. Get all the paper fibers off. They will make a mess. But making a mess is half the fun {clean up, by the way, is  not the other half}.

And you're done! So easy I had to make two - one for my new home of Asheville and one for my old home of Dallas!

You may want to give it a coat of a sealer like Modge Podge but it's not necessary. I did rough up the edges a little bit by being more aggressive when removing the paper, but I wanted them to look a little distressed. 

How to Make Your Stairs More Interesting

At this point in the year, I like to start planning ahead and completely overscheduling my calendar with summer to do lists. I already have a few ideas for projects I want to tackle, including a updating the stairs in my basement.

It's one of the few areas of this house that hasn't been painted since we moved in last year, so it's definitely on the project list. This project should be much easier than the last stair update I did in our old house.

I want to get a little creative since it's a basement, so I've been gathering some ideas...

 How fun are these stairs? The words are lyrics to 'Hello I Love You' by the Doors.

 These ombre stairs are a definite front runner - big impact, yet really easy to execute.

Some painters tape and stencils... oh, and patience, is all you need for these. 

I think these vintage ruler steps would be cool for a workspace like the garage.

I do love this yellow...

What about you.... any ideas for how to make a big impact on your stairs?

images via here, here, here and here

DIY: Entry Mud Room

It's been a while since I've posted a DIY, but I had to share this one that I worked on a few months ago in our new house. Our front entry way is open, so I wanted a way to define the space without having a piece of furniture in your way as you open the front door. The easiest solution was to add a little mud room area, perfect for hats & boots.

See how boring the area was before? This was so easy it took about an hour to complete - and the best part? Cost about $50. I think it made a huge difference in our entry way. Ready to start?

First, you'll need to cut your wood to length (this will depend on your wall). I used three 1x6 boards and used them for the floor molding, side edges, middle cross piece and top edge. The rest was 1x3 boards. I measured and cut each piece, used wood glue and my trusty nailgun to adhere them directly to the wall. No prep work needed on the wall.

Next you'll want to use your wood putty to fill in the nail holes and any imperfections in the wood. Make sure to sand all the wood once the putty is dry.

Using a paintable caulk, you'll just go around all the edges - do not skip this step. Do it on ALL the edges, where the wood meets the wall and where the wood butts up against each other. This is key.

See how there's caulk smeared on the wall? It's okay... it won't show once you paint. Now mark your holes for the hooks & predrill them before you paint.

 Then all that's left is for you to paint (I used a semi-gloss so it would hold up to the abuse) and then add your hooks. See why we predrilled those holes before painting - made this last step a snap. 

Imaging USA

We are finally home and recovered from Imaging USA in Atlanta. It takes at least a few days to recover from the lack of sleep and excitement not just at the show, but in the weeks leading up. Imaging is always a great show and so much fun getting to catch up with friends and meet new photographers.

I think this year we hit a record with how many existing clients stopped by the booth to show off their pieces and to chat.  I can't tell you how much that means to us that so many of you stop by to meet us in person or to tell us how much you love our pieces. It truly makes the show for us.

We received so many positive comments, too, on our booth -We did everything ourselves, so I just had to show off our hard work:

Getting Ready for the Show

We love going to Imaging every year - it's always so much fun to get to meet with photographers in person and spend time hanging out with our friends. BUT it is a lot of work.

This year we are excited to change things up a bit... brand new catalog, brand new booth. We have been busy. I don't have nearly the time I used to do work on my DIYs so projects like this are so much fun...

Here's a little sneak peek:

{painting the new booth back walls}

{catalog arrived from the printer, ready to hand out}

 {Finalizing the detail work}

{working on a new sign for the booth}

 {figuring out samples}

{working on the display details}

We'll be traveling to Atlanta and setting up the booth on Saturday - can't wait to show you once it's all put up and ready for the show! Or even better - come by the booth and take a look for yourself!