Monogram Canvas Tutorial

Today I am going to show you how to make an easy monogram accent piece for your home. The one I made is for the fall season but this could easily be made for any season, any holiday, or any color scheme. The good news is it is relatively inexpensive to make! Awesome!

Supplies you will need:



-canvas (be sure to look for one at a garage sale or at a thrift store. It can be painted or blank- we will cover it with fabric so it doesn't matter!)
-fabric (enough to cover your canvas)
-mod podge
-paint brush
-paint
-staple gun
-and in my case, a group of friends to make this for a Mom's Night In! :)

Steps to make a fabulous and personalized accent piece:
1. Cut your fabric to size so that it will cover your canvas completely, including the sides.

2. Pulling the fabric tight, staple around the back of the canvas. Fold over the corners and pull super tight to make them nice and neat!









3. Brush a layer of mod podge on top of the fabric to make it sealed and stiffer. Don't forget the sides of the canvas! Be sure to make it a nice even coat. Also keep your brush strokes going the same direction! Let this dry for about 30 minutes.



4. Draw the outline of the letter for your monogram. One way to do this is to print out the letter in the font and size you want, cut it out of the paper and trace around it on your canvas.





5. Now, you have two options. You can either fill in your letter with paint (which is what I did) OR you can paint outside the letter and leave the letter 'blank' thus letting your fabric pattern become the letter. Apply as many coats as needed to reach desired color.





Here are some of the other ones we made that night. I was the only one who painted inside my letter so you can see what it looks like to have the pattern become your letter.








...and that is it! How easy, right? I placed my finished monogram on my buffet table. What do we think?






I think this was a fun little project and could be used in so many ways. How cute would it be for a nursery or kids room? Or instead of monograms, what about silhouettes? The options are limitless!


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Household Chores - so FUN!

Ok, so I don't think chores are fun. I have found that keeping my house clean with two kids under two is almost impossible. I looked online at The Fly Lady but still feel that is way to intimidating for me since the first task is to keep your sink all pretty and shiny. Um. Yes. My sink would stay clean for about an hour and then John would want a drink or snack and before I could clean it all up Matthew would want to be nursed or changed. And then John would want to play or be changed. By the time I MIGHT have a chance to clean up the sink, John would add his millionth sippy cup of the day to the pile. I am sure I am the only one who has this problem, right?! :)

I looked at one other site that boasted giving you a daily calendar with different tasks to keep you on track with your cleaning. However, they listed about 10 things A DAY to do. I sincerely hope that list wasn't for people who have itty bitty kiddos...or maybe I am just the world's worst housewife! That is always a possibility.

So, this is what I came up with. I decided to break down what the bare necessity chores that needed to be done each week. Then I split them up to a daily schedule which seems more manageable to me:

Monday: dust and vacuum living room
Tuesday: laundry and clean master bathroom
Wednesday: clean small bathroom, dust boys rooms, empty all trashcans (trash gets picked up on Thursdays!)
Thursday: laundry, vacuum all bedrooms
Friday: clean dining room and craft area
Saturday: dust master bedroom
Sunday: laundry, mop kitchen

Notice I don't have 'clean kitchen' listed because that has to happen everyday. Well, it should happen everyday even if it doesn't get done. And I have to pick up everything off the floor to be able to vacuum so those rooms inevitably get cleaned up on their 'vacuum' days.

I would like to think I get 75% of my chores done each week. It just depends on how motivated I am, how much time we spend out of the house, how well the kids nap, etc. But now that Matthew sleeps through the night, I don't usually take naps with the boys take a nap (IE not in total survival mode anymore!) which gives me time to straighten up a little bit. My goal is obviously to get 100% of my chores done each week, but baby steps, people!

I will say, though, it is quite defeating to clean up one room just to have a two year old follow behind you and tear everything apart again in about 5 seconds! So maybe I should expect to have a clean house again when they are in elementary school? high school? college???????

yikes...

Do you have any tips or hints on how to keep up with chores? Or how to simply DO chores each day?!

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Fall Festival Crafty-ness!

Hey everyone! If you happen to live in the North Dallas area, I will be at the Ethridge Elementary Fall Festival this Saturday from 10 - 3. It will be a fun day out with the kiddos and you might get some of your holiday shopping done at the same time! If you are there, be sure to say hi!

**As always, if you would like to order any items from me, please just shoot me an email. I can custom make shirts, blankets, burp cloths, toys/games, etc!**

Thanksgiving Day @ 1+1+1=1

For those of you with little kiddos at home, I am sure you have heard of the blog 1+1+1=1. If not, you HAVE to check it out! It is awesome and I love doing all the activities with John John. Be sure to go by there to get your Thanksgiving Day Pack so you have time to do it before Thanksgiving. I saved mine tonight and you bet your sweet bottom I will be a laminating fool this week once I start printing the activities out. :)


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