Investments - Day 3

See this frame? It is one of the best investments I have made for our home decor. I use the term "Investment" lightly, since I purchased it at the Fancy Store {Goodwill Outlet} where everything is purchased by the pound. So it cost me a total of $1.23. 

But it is one of the most versatile pieces I have to go over the gaping fireplace hole. {We didn't have a TV for several years, and even when we did I always had it in a separate armoire. I'm just not a fan of having the TV be the center of attention. But that's another story all together.}

The frame was an ordinary color of wood, no stain or finish. My original vision was to have bits of apple green and black peek through the creamy white top coat. But due to one thing or another {mainly my impatience to let every coat of paint thoroughly dry before painting and sanding another coat} it doesn't have quite the weathered look  I was going for. Nevertheless, I love the results. Sometimes an accident impatience can produce happy results.

Now here comes the best part. Get ready, it may blow your mind how simple and versatile this simple trick is. 

Ready.... foam poster board.

From the Dollar Store.

One sheet, cut down to size and I have the perfect backdrop to hang a 12x12 scrapbook page decorated with vinyl for any season, holiday, or special occasion. 

And because I was being all thrifty impatient again I didn't even bother to glue gun the poster board on. Maybe someday I will. But for now, clear pieces of scotch tape are holding it on. 

The beauty of the poster board is that it creates a blank canvas each time I remove the 12x12 sheet. I already have a few made up for spring/summer and fall. All that's needed is a couple pieces of - you guessed it - scotch tape and presto! New seasonal decor. 

For fall, I even have cute little matching bunting. All that was needed was a scrap of matching paper, jute twine, some stickers{or in this case vinyl cut stickers}, and a hot glue gun. It's held on in the back with... surprise, scotch tape.

I could even get all crazy and line the poster board with patterned wrapping paper, brown postal wrap, sheet music, love notes, etc. You name it, it can be done!

And when the poster board gets too beat up, all it costs is $1 to replace... and some more scotch tape to stick it back up.

What "Investment" have you made to bring some lovely into your home? Have you blogged about it? Let me know in the comments below so I can come over and check it out!

Note: Scotch brand tape did not sponsor me to mention their name umpteen times. Should they like to, feel free to contact me anytime :)

All photos taken by yours truly.

This post is Day 3 in a series of 31 Ways To Jump Into Fall.

Check out the other days here.

Read other blogger's 31 Days here. 

31 Ways To Jump Into Fall - DAY 1

31

Count it out

That's a big number when you're:

~ in 3rd grade and that's how many days 

are left till school gets out...

~ turning 31, if you're lamenting your 20's...

~ that number waiting in line for your coffee...

~ going to write on one topic for that many days.

I am thrilled to join the Nester's challenge to write about something for 31 Days. There are so many people writing on all sorts of awesome topics, be sure to head on over there and check it out.

Here at Too Blessed To Stress I'll be sharing 

31 Ways To Jump Into Fall

And because I just love me a good subcategory, I simply couldn't resist breaking up those 31 Days to reflect several areas of interest that I enjoy blogging about:

Week 1 - Bringing Fall Comfort Into Your Home

Week 2 - Fall Activities For Your Family

Week 3 - Fall "Makeover" For Yourself 

Week 4 - Fall Treats From The Kitchen

Last 2 days.... Wildcards! Those are yet to be decided. 

And now that I have managed to say "Fall" 31 times, I will sign off till tomorrow. 

Want to see all 31 posts listed in one place for your convenience? Click here.

If you are new here at Too Blessed To Stress, thanks for stopping by! Stay for a while, poke around and let me know you were here so I can hop on over to your page and say "Hi!"

Updated Scrabble Tiles

Want to dress up your Scrabble tiles for the holidays? Last year my wonderful hubby gave me a Silhouette for Valentines day. 

~He knows the way into a DIY Wife's heart ~ 

I promptly decided on my first project, adding my own twist to scrabble tiles. {Want to make your own? Instructions below!}

Last year I started out by making this:

A pretty swirly heart and an oversize 2 - for hubby and me. get it? It's been up for a year and I love how it blends in with the tiles. 

Well this year I thought I would update it even more by adding a colored letter/number to the tile:

The Silhouette hadn't even finished cutting out the "O" and the 2 before I decided that it needed a little bit more, a single red heart:

I absolutely love having a touch of color to an otherwise neutral display.

And then the real revelation came... why not do a bunch of different shapes for the seasons or to use with different themed parties? 

EASTER/SPRING

EASTER:

SPRING/GARDEN

4th of JULY:

THANKSGIVING:

FALL/BACK TO SCHOOL:

CHRISTMAS:

Aren't these fun?

The possibilities are endless! I was really only limited by the color of vinyl on hand. 

Ready for the steps? {It's incredibly simple}

1. Design your shape with your favorite die cut program. Size your image to be just under 3/4 of an inch {the height of a tile.}

2. Cut out on vinyl scraps.

3. Using transfer paper apply to the back of a scrabble tile. Use the tiles that are least likely to be used like Z, V, X... you get the picture :)

4. Add it to your scrabble holder. That's it! How simple is that?

If you don't have a Silhouette or Cricut you can have small vinyl cutouts made at craft centers like Ben Franklin. Or simply use small stickers you love. 

Or if you are dying for your own set of Scrabble Die Cuts I am thinking about swapping advertising for the set of vinyl die cuts you see in the picture above. What do you think? Want to swap 8 die cuts {scrabble tiles not included} for a small space on your blog that links to too Blessed to Stress? If interested email me and we'll get this thing rolling. No blog is too big or too small!

By the way, you can find this and other too Blessed to Stress projects on my Pinterest board... along with other wonderful ideas I've pinned from other fabulous bloggers. Come follow and join in on the fun!

What little things have you done lately to update existing decor?

All photos taken by yours truly.

Silhouette is not compensating me in any way to mention their name.

Want to Party? Join me at these Linky Parties:

10 Minute Valentine

Sometimes it's the simple things that make the holiday decor just right. This is one of those projects. 

I originally saw this great idea in Country Living's December Issue, which featured this lovely couples farmhouse. Lovely inspiration photos on their site and they have the cutest twins!

So the idea was to take a dry erase marker and fancy up the photos on your wall for a party. That got my wheels turning... why not have a frame that you could change out photos and draw on throughout the seasons?

Dry Erase markers that have an eraser built into the cap.

I did have to make one purchase for this {which was against my "rules" set here. But here's what I have to say about that... rules-schmules! They were made to be broken right? And $1 for markers that you "need" isn't that bad... right?}

Ok so here is all that you need for this super fun, really easy valentine craft that will be usable throughout the year:

~ Frame with glass cover. Any size you want any color... just needs glass.

~ Photos Printed on regular copy paper-  No need to have fancy real photo paper that you pay an arm and a leg for to have someone blow up to size. Simply print it out on your color printer. Or use an existing photo. You can use one or more, all in a row or make a fun collage. Anything that floats your boat. 

~ Scrapbook Paper - for your background. Again: any color, size, pattern, etc. 

~ Painters Tape - {It has great release when you want to switch paper out} Or you can use any other taping/gluing medium. 

~ Dry Erase Markers

THAT'S IT!!!

Now you are ready to assemble.

Tape your scrapbook paper down with the painters tape to the backing of your frame. Mine took three 12x12 papers and it filled the space perfectly. I chose blue and chocolate colored paper since it matched the space is was going into, but you could use any holiday colors and even embellish with some large cutouts {hearts, stars, etc.} if wanted.

Then tape your photos on top of your colored paper. I chose a funny one of use trying to catch snow on our tongue, a sweet-kiss, and a cute one of us just smiling. 

Insert into frame and use dry erase markers to decorate on top of the glass with Valentine messages and funny drawings. 

I chose to leave the white border the printer left 

so that I could draw a "frame" 

with words and doodles around the picture. 

Isn't this just a hoot? I love this idea and it may be a permanent staple in our home. It only took 10 minutes to create and I get such a kick out of it every time I walk by it.

This would be great for a  birthday or holiday party, family get together, or to play a joke on your dinner guests. How about framing a photo of only your dinner guests {not anyone in the family} and hanging it in a prominent place of your home. Once they notice it have everyone "decorate" themselves and leave it up for a few days just for laughs. When you are ready for a change, erase and swap out the photo. 

What new craft ideas are you trying the Valentines day?

All photos taken by yours truly.

Want to party? Meet me here:

We are THAT family.

New Year, New Goal

Happy 2011 everyone!

Hope everyone had a fun and memorable time celebrating the end of one year and the beginning of a new adventure.

I feel so blessed looking back at 2010.... how God has constantly watched over my hubby and I - we lack nothing, have health, our nest is a home full of love, we are surrounded with friends and family who love and support us, and to top it all off we are looking forward to new and exciting changes this year. {no, it's not a baby... but I really would like that!} 

The coming year looks like it will be an exciting one, full of new challenges and goals at achieve... and busy. Really busy :) But that's ok! In fact, I am really looking forward to it!

Now that Christmas and New Years have wrapped up, {with a flourish of festivities, I might add!} it's time to get back into a regular routine and that includes some fun additions to blogging.

Over the holiday, I had time to think and refocus my ideas for this blog. And from all that pondering {yes, feel free to insert a joke about how I should not think too hard, lest I blow a fuse} came these ideas for "too Blessed to Stress" :

~ Simple Solutions - Short tips for everyday homemaking, crafting and just life in general. Sometimes I'll share a tip, sometimes I'll be asking for a tip. And if you have a tip you would like to share and be featured for just let me know. I love featuring! My email is under the "Contact" tab up above.{By the way, these Simple Solutions were inspired by a little book that my Grandmother gave me just after I was married. It is filled with quick tips for everyday use - I love books like that!}

~ All About You - A day to feature one of you! Whether you are a blogging power house or just blogging for fun, if you have something you want to share that goes along with what "too Blessed to Stress" is all about I would love to feature you! Maybe you have something crafty to share, a yummy recipe, something inspirational or just want to blog swap for the day, let me know! {remember, contact info is above}

~ Pick a Theme - Ideas for themed parties, dinners and "just because" celebrations. If you have any special requests for themes you would like to see, let me know and I'll see what my little noggin comes up with.

~ In The Quiet Place - Quotes, verses and stories that have touched my life... and that I hope will inspire you as well!

~ And after all the fun I had making this video, I am so excited to get working on a few more videos to post throughout the year. There will be some tutorials, recipes, and probably lots of hubby and I being goofy! What would you like to see on "too Blessed to Stress" videos?

So what do you think? Do these little additions sound like fun?

I sure hope so, because I know that I have had lots of fun getting them all ready for ya!

Before I wrap this up I just want to express my gratitude to all you wonderful followers and readers out there - you bless my heart with your creative blogs and your support of "too Blessed to Stress." Thank you for being a part of my life in 2010, and I am looking forward to another wonderful year with y'all in bloggy land!

All photos taken by yours truly.

Doing The Unexpected

Can you believe that Christmas is only 26 days away? It feels like just yesterday the leaves started to turn colors and now they are almost all on the ground! Thanksgiving weekend just flew by in a hustle and bustle of family, friends, turkey and pumpkin pie bliss and lots of memory making.

Our lovely tree from last year.

And once the last turkey meal had been eaten, the urge to decorate the tree hit full force. I was so ready... and lucky for me so was hubby... which is great seeing as I could never get the boxes out of the attic without him.

Carolers from my Grandma. Love these!

So we set aside Saturday for just the two of us and it was wonderful! We spent the day running a few errands, listening to Christmas carols and making up our own carols as we drove around town taking in the Christmas sights. After all that inspiration, we headed home and got to work putting up the tree..... and that's when it happened. Someone - that lives in this home, and is not me or the pup {ahem, hubby.}- decided that it would be a good idea to put the tree in the middle of the great room. The middle. To some that may not be a big deal, but we have a big 9 foot tree. Think about it... 9 feet worth of tree in the middle of your living room...

The middle.

Hubby reaching the top of our beautiful tree last year.

Notice the tree is dutifully in the corner...where most normal people would place it.

You see last month in a housewife-crazed-last-minute-decorating-at-10:00pm-inspiration-moments {what? don't you have those too?}I decided to move the living room furniture into the small family room at the front of the house. We had been debating whether or not we wanted couches or reading chairs for our new space, and I thought why wait? Let's just move the existing living room furniture in there, live with it and see how we like it. Well, we LOVED it. So much, in fact, that the furniture stayed in there and our living room only has two recliners and two outdoor chairs... and a great big hole where the couches used to be.

2009

Turns out hubby has always wanted to have a tree in the middle of the room, just for kicks. And since we are just that awesomely cool {or strange, depends how you look at it} we put our tree in the middle of the room.

And you know what?

It's strange,

unexpected,

and after much debating,

questioning,

and being unsure if I could handle this....

....secretly...

 I love it!

There, I said it. My secret is out. I actually love the tree in the middle of the room! You can see it from the living room, dining room, kitchen, family room and entryway. Oh and hubby pointed out last night that you can also see it from the hallway. We may just have to eat dinner tonight in the hallway to enjoy the tree from another angle.

At a year round Christmas store.

Every time I walk in the room I crack up at the sight of the tree in the middle of the room. Others may not get it. They may not like it. But here's the deal: we like it.  We made a memory. We did something unexpected and it produced an afternoon full of entertainment. And while the tree may not be placed here every year, for this year it is perfect.

So here's to doing the unexpected, throwing caution to the wind, breaking the rules and trying something new. What are you waiting for? Make a new tradition! Try something unepected! You may just find that you love it... and you might make a lasting memory or two in the process.

Want to take a peek at our afternoon of putting up the tree? Check out our first video-post below!

Merry Christmas everyone!

All photos taken by yours truly and my hubby.