Free Printables Love

One of my favorite things about Pinterest is all of the free printables I find from blogs I previously didn't know existed (and many times, end up following). Oftentimes, I just get ideas and make my own rendition, but sometimes, the printables are perfect (in my humble opinion) as is.

My laundry room is one place in our home that I have not spent a ton of time decorating, yet I spend enough time in there, figured I should! I found this awesome printable from A Pop of Pretty and I couldn't have made it, or said it better myself :) I formatted it in Publisher to 8x10, printed it out, popped it in a black Ikea frame and voila: a print I love, to decorate a once bare wall of my laundry room. She also has a fantastic tutorial for making your own, but I loved this one she offered so much, I decided I'd rather spend the crafting time on other projects and take advantage of her generosity! Isn't this saying so perfectly true? LOVE IT.

I think this one from Three Little Monkeys studio will be my next laundry room free printable to hang.

I also found this Subway Family Rules free printable from Adventures of a Betty Crocker Wannabe and it is in our dining nook area. I had been looking at these for so long, trying to figure out the perfect words to use...and then I found this. I may have changed or added a couple things if I had taken the time to make it myself, but I truly love everything this sign says. And it took me all of 10 seconds for my printer to spit it out.

I found this free subway reading printable from Restless Risa and thought it was perfect for our playroom. It hangs above their reading area and fits quite perfectly.

There are so many more I have found (if you follow me on Pinterest, you already know!), some I have used, others I have drawn inspiration from, and others that are in queue to be used. 

Do you have any favorite free printables? I'd love to see what you have found too!

Re-purposing with Chalkboard Paint

When hubby and I bought our first house, we bought this framed art for our entry way. When we moved to our new house a little over a year ago, it really didn't fit well, and to be honest, I was sick of looking at it anyway. I always loved the frame so held onto it and eventually decided to re-purpose it and make it a chalkboard! It turned out great and was super easy!

{BEFORE}

{I HEART MARTHA!!!}

Because this piece did not open well (Would have had to take the paper and hanger off the back to get into it), I decided to just paint the glass in the frame. I suppose you could tape off the frame, but since the frame was darker already, I just decided to wing it. (I used q-tips to clean up any paint that got on the frame before it dried).

{AFTER 1ST COAT}

After the first coat, I was wondering if it was going to turn out streaky looking, but I kept faith and kept on. I ended up doing 3 coats total. I'm not very patient, so I didn't exactly let the coats dry completely before moving onto the next one, but I did my best, and it turned out just fine. After the final coat, I rubbed chalk over the entire board to "season" it, as directed on the paint bottle.

{AFTER FINAL COAT}

{SEASONING THE CHALKBOARD}

Now I have a pretty awesome chalkboard that I need to find a home for around the house. I get so giddy seeing that I created something new that I love, out of something old that I was tired of. I have a feeling there will be many more chalkboard projects in the future for me.

{AFTER}

What chalkboard paint projects have you done, or do you have some on the drawing boards? I'd love to hear about them!

Rainbows & Racecars Birthday Party

A & G are 25 months apart, so their birthdays are just a month apart, almost to the day. I LOVE planning parties, but this year - and with A's permission, I decided to plan their parties together, rather than doing two separate ones. I am not sure if I will do this next year or any other year, but I do know that it worked well this year and was a lot of fun! Finding a theme that would work for opposite genders was a little tricky at first, but once I found Rainbows and Racecars I knew it would be awesome. So, with the help of pinterest, I got to work planning a super fun party for my 4yr old daughter and 2yr old son. Here it is:

FOOD: Cupcakes (of course), Oreo pops (trickier than I anticipated!), Rainbow jelly beans, Veggies & dip, "Spare tires" (chocolate mini donuts), Rainbow M&M cookies (thanks chips ahoy!), Rainbow goldfish, Chips, Rainbow fruit and marshmallow cream cheese dip, Sub sandwiches, Racecar cutout PB&Js, Cars juice boxes, "fuel up" water bottles, and punch (this punch is REALLY good, but I cut the sugar to 1 cup, or you could probably leave it out completely - it is already really sweet without it). 

FAVORS: A and I tied die cast cars onto mini swirl lollipops. I created some custom hang tags, cut them out, hole punched and we tied them on with red and purple curling ribbon. Easy peasy. 

DECOR: I kept it simple; racecar pendant banner, race table cloths, rainbow birthday banner (Target), some rainbow hangy things (no clue the correct term for these). I had the cupcake toppers and cupcake wrappers custom created by Modern Beautiful - they created a digital file and emailed it over to me and then I did all the printing, cutting, assembling. They were amazing to work with ~ they didn't have anything racecar but quickly whipped up exactly what I had in mind to go with their adorable chevron rainbow print - I highly recommend them if you are in need of some DIY birthday items. I downloaded my food cards for free from Vinnie Pearce and then typed the items in rainbow colors with text boxes before I printed them. I also adapted their free fuel up label and made my own water bottle labels with it. I used red and purple plates, napkins, utensils, and cups for that balance of themes.

ACTIVITIES: Racecar and Rainbow coloring pages, and color your own wooden racecars - (I created "Color" and "Body Shop" signs in publisher to match the theme), ballpit, Rainbow Pinata , and of course with it being a nice day the swing set got plenty of play action.

{My little G man getting some help with his swing from the hubby}

{A taking a swing!}

Such a fun day and a fun party! I adore this theme and am a little sad it's over! I guess I'm off the hook for birthday planning for another year now.