My Kind of Christmas Tree

After finding so many fun Christmas ideas on Pinterest the last few weeks, I decided to try my hand (no pun intended) at one of them.

I bring you, the handprint Christmas tree that I am just giddy about......

First you grab a stinkin'-cute 2 year old who loves to have his hand painted.....

And start pressing that hand down - the messier the better - I love nothing more than those cubby fingers!!

Get the older two involved. We went by hand size to shape the tree.

And Brody has the biggest hands - he formed the base.

Once it dried fully, we used our fingers to "decorate" the tree.

Matt & I even added our fingerprints down on the bottom.

I hid the kids names by writing them in very discreetly under their hands.  And now I have a keepsake that was incredibly easy to make and even a little fun.  Maybe I can do this crafty stuff after all..... nah, let's not push it.

My Kind of Alphabet Wall

I have always loved a good alphabet wall.  I think there is nothing cuter than a great collage hanging on the wall.  And once I saw some cute ones on Pinterest (here and here), I knew I had to have one.  Actually the whole thing spearheaded the idea that we would switch rooms with Sis and Bubba - gave me a nice new "palate" to create on.

So this summer, once our travels were finished, we had 4 weeks to change rooms, paint, and decorate.  Plenty of time, right? no.

First of all, I wanted to switch rooms because as Sis was getting older, I felt she needed more privacy - she shared a Jack and Jill bathroom with her brother.  But that required A LOT more work that I anticipated.  Cleaning out bedrooms and closets was time consuming.  Breaking down beds and moving furniture required Matt's help.  By the time we finished that, we were pooped!

Not to get overlooked, I promised Brody that we would re-do his room too - that story to come later this week.  Needless to say, the magical transformations were not complete before school started.

So, here we are in November, not everything is complete, but we have gotten a lot finished.  2 rooms are switched, 2 rooms are painted (all by myself thankyouverymuch) and new decorations/wall hangings are up).  Just a few final touches (refinishing a bed and converting from crib to a bed) are needed before I can say "Done!".

That said, there are some things I am so stinkin' proud of that I have to share with you.  Which brings us back to the alphabet wall.

Last Spring I started collecting as many letters as I could.  I tapped out all the local craft stores around here, but luckily my mom was able to find some awesome & unique letters for me at flea markets and antique stores.

Before I could do anything, I had to paint his room. I wanted to go with green, so I could do a primary blue & red for his bedding. The initial green I chose was light, so we kicked it up to the next share.  Ever seen the musical "Wicked"? It's that green - whoa.  yep, that green.

At first, I hated it.  But having just painted Brody's room the week before, there was NO WAY I was going to paint over it.  So it would have to grow on me.  And it has - now that things are hung on the wall, it looks much more complete and finished.

Having the painting complete, I needed to layout my letters and decide what colors to paint them.  I even modge-pogded a few letters (so much easier than I thought it would be).  The last thing that stood in my way was how to hang them.  Several website suggested using this stuff to avoid having a TON of nail holes in the wall......

And they were so easy to hang - I loved this stuff!!  Look how great it came out:

Until the next morning, when I came in and saw this:

UGH!!  My H Broke!!!!!

Those darn 3M Command Stripes - wouldn't even hold up the very light, paper thin Z.  Grrrr.

So, 35 nails later, this wall is complete - and nothing has fallen down.....

Love it!!!

Linking up my little project with Talk To Us Tuesday. Go visit my buds, Seriously Shawn & Impulsive Addict for their fun, no rules Tuesday meme.