Wall Week: Worldly Wall

 For a super small space, our living room sure has a lot of empty wall space.  Well not so much anymore.  In a fit of frustration and exasperation, I slapped a bunch of nails into the wall and threw up everything travel related I could find.  I was SUPER over the blank walls, but also I was over the collection of crap on our floor.  

 My lovely friends D&B are my "Gallery Wall" idols.  I will in no way ever get close to their wall beautifying talents, but I have MUCH less patience for organization that she has, and MUCH less level-hammering skills than he has.  That being said, I love that they have a wall dedicated to travel pictures, and items they had picked up in foreign countries.  So I copied.  Sloppily.

 The silver Evil Eye decor came as a gift from our wonderful former coworkers. It is supposed to watch over us and protect our lives, home, and marriage from evil.  It definitely adds Turkish flare.

I KNOW I asked Alan to save the key from our first home together. He KNOWS he did.  NEITHER OF US know where that key is at the moment, but there's a place for it when we find it...

We ended up with lots of coinage from our trips over the past few years.  I straight up hot glued them to some fabric, and hot clued the fabric to the back of the frame.  It'll peel off if we ever want to spend it. 

I wish I had collected old maps wherever we went.  Or even just tourist maps.  That being said, I probably would have tossed them all when we were packing to come home.  So I Google mapped all the places we've been and lived in the past few years, cut them out in heart shapes, and glued them to burlap.  

Pictures are of us, and the things we say in Italy, Spain, The Netherlands, and Turkey.  

The paintings are a Map of Turkey, and Alanya Scenery. 

I have more things to add some day, (a HUGE map of the world to chart our adventures, Turkish tea and coffee saucers and spoons, the missing key...) but for now, this is it.  It's not perfect, but it's not on the floor, and the wall no longer looms like a gigantic space of boring.

Week 39: Wall Week: Mini Wall

Welcome to "Wall Week," where I catch you up on what I've done to transform our walls from boring things that hold up our ceiling to something fun to look at.  Keep in mind that we're renting, and don't want to do anything more drastic than hanging a few things with nails.  Definitely no painting. 

Today you get to meet "Mini Wall." Mini hangs out in our kitchen between two cupboards.  We've grown close during my hours of dish washing, but to be honest, she's kind of a dud.  No real personality, or character.  But she's got potential.  And when I asked if she'd be interested in a makeover, she was open to it. 

So I took some left-over twine, a stack of paint chips we're thinking about for our dresser, and two nails...

I wrote s few words in permanent marker...

And I gave Mini a new fresh look.  

Now whenever I get grumpy about all the dishes, Mini reminds me of what the dishes represent, and all I have to be thankful for. Thanks Mini, you're such an optimist!

Week 28: Happy Anniversary

July 30th was our one year anniversary.  Woohoo!  We have had 365 days of laughter, love, adventure, and tickle fights.  Definitely the best year of my life so far.  I love everything about the man I chose to spend my life with, and I'm so thrilled about what the future has in store for us. 

With wedding season in full swing (5 friends getting married this summer), we decided to get away for just one day.  So we packed up and headed to Placerville, because neither of us had been there, and because it was so close to the wedding we were at the night before. We stayed in the historic Cary Hotel, and explored the little town and Apple Hill.  It was perfect.  

For gifts, we decided to go with the traditional first-year-gift of paper. Also, we made the rule that it had to be homemade (my favorite rule). 

I used one of my favorite pictures form our wedding ("The First Look," above), traced our silhouettes onto some card-stock, and used an Xacto knife to cut us out of it.

Then I taped our silhouettes onto the inside of the glass on an extra deep frame.  Then I turned the frame into a shadow box, by cutting out a piece of cardboard that was too big to fit inside the frame.  I glued a list of all of the adventures we've had in the past year to the front of the cardboard, and then super-glued the cardboard to the back of the frame.  Then I super-glued a soda can top to the back to use as a nail holder (thank you Pinterest).

I love the idea of this gift.  I love the picture of us. I love the record of our first year in adventures.  And I love that I already had all the materials at home, so it was free!  

I don't love that the tiny bit of tape I used on the silhouette, failed after I super-glued the back on.  GRRR... Fortunately it was still looking good when I gave it to Alan.  Also, we don't have a wall to hang it on yet, so when we find a permanent place to live, I'll fix it, and then hang it. 

Alan re-used a sign from our wedding (love that guy). He added some eye-hooks, and some wire...

And hung two frames from the bottom that hold our vows in them (there's the paper). 

Exchanging vows was one of my favorite wedding day memories, so it will be so lovely to have them displayed on our wall as a daily reminder of all the promises we made.

As if that wasn't enough, he had another surprise waiting for me at the hotel...

He secretly sent this picture of our wedding cake toppers (mini Turkish gourd people) to a local cake maker, and she did an amazing job of recreating them!  Her gourds aren't gourds at all, they're perfectly painted marzipan! Stunning!

Cake re-make!

Alan, thanks for making this year so special!  You're my favorite.

A Home for Some Birds

Remember my little bird family?

Last night I made them a lovely home.  I used my trusty Real Simple magazines, and some scissors, and viola! Simple shapes cut into stacks of 8 at a time.  No time at all...

 Long skinny petals on star shaped flowers... 

Fat petals on cloud shaped flowers...

And circles with fringe cut all the way around for poppy like centers...

(See those beads?  They needed a hiding spot while they're waiting to be strung on something. But they're just too pretty for the inside of a drawer.)

 Some left over twine made for lovely stamen.

 

 Smaller versions of the same flowers made a lovely garland.

 A yarn needle, and some yarn easily strung all of the paper blossoms together.

This little bird likes his new home. 

This little guy does too. 

(My friend Sonya made these coiled REAL Simple coasters.  Wilbur stands easily using a pin stuck into the coaster and into his tummy.)

 These two are admiring my castle sketch, while reading up on "Love that Lasts." 

Spring has arrived in the spare room. 

Sigh.