Tomorrow morning we head out on a trip to Ventura to see family; it’s a 5 hour car ride and one we are very familiar with! But like most car trips with toddlers, there can be those blessed stressful moments where even the all entertaining ipad won’t calm the savage beasts! So it’s nice to be prepared with a few new items and activites.

I found this lil’ DIY gem of course on Pinterest The great idea originally came from the blog Testy Yet Trying and she called it a Matching Pole!

Simply using any empty paper towel or toilet paper roll, dot stickers and markers, this game can help teach letters, numbers, and shapes (really anything you can fit on a dot sticker) while at the same time teaching matching skills and fine motor skills!  The idea is that the child matches the dot stickers from the page onto the corresponding dot sticker on the pole. I used Liam’s name letters, some shapes, numbers, directions and even a few facial expressions to mix it up!

Liam caught a glance of it while I was making it, and asked very excitedly what it was and if he could play with it! Score! I think it will be a big hit on the road and it only took me 5 minutes to make!

Usually I love decorating my mantel with each change of the season or holiday, but I was having a hard time motivating myself to do anything with the bare brick slab.  I could leave it empty and call it Modern, or maybe Simplistic?

So of course I immediately typed in “decorating your mantel” into Pinterest and of course it gave me hundreds of ideas and inspirations! Most of which were for Christmas, but there were a lot of other wonderful ones to.  Then I stumbled across this awe inspiring post that was the know-all for decorating your mantel for any season!  Perfect!  It was exactly what my tired and idealess brain needed…..

So I set about collecting items from around my home that resembled those in the picture.  I actually matched it up pretty well and I finally got to use the beautiful painting I’ve had hiding in my room!  The only purchase I had to make was for the two blue candles to the left, as I was currently out.

Now that my mantel is finally decorated, I can go back to sleeping at night and the world may continue spinning….

When we moved into our home, our galley kitchen lacked major storage room, so we bought an ugly basic white cupboard to use as our pantry.

**Please forgive my horrible photos….I’ve been lazy and taking photos with my phone

It was supposed to be temporary till we found something more attractive.  Well, 5 years later, it’s still in my kitchen, and slightly beat-up.  We know that when we do move from this home, it probably won’t make the move with us.  So, I thought I would play around with a new crafty project and spice up one of it’s plain sides that faced into the kitchen.

I pulled out my Cricut Frames Cartridge and set to work cutting out different styles of frames onto contact paper.  Then I arranged the cut outs onto the cupboard side and then traced around them lightly with pencil. After tracing the frames and then peeling off the contact paper, I chose my paints and set to work

What I wish I had realized before starting this project, was that this the stupid fake wood siding repels paint like no one’s business!  So frustrating, but I kept on painting hoping that an added layer of paint would even things out.  Even though the cupboard was fighting against my best of intentions to make it pretty, I did find the painting part pretty relaxing!  In the two larger frames I did chalkboard paint so we could all leave love notes for each other.

I had finally finished my masterpiece and was pretty happy how it turned out.  I didn’t paint the smoothest or straightest lines, but it definitely added color and flair to a once bare wall.

Then as I was making lunch, I hear Liam call out, “No brother! You no touch Mommy’s wall!”  I turn around to find Cohen sweetly smiling as he scratches my painted frame off the wall, with not a lot of effort might I add.  Like I said before, this cupboard doesn’t like paint.

And I mean it truly does not like paint! I went to write on the chalk board areas and the paint wrote right off! COME ON!!! Lame.  Jerad pointed out that I could start over and rough up the wood first so maybe the paint would stick….No thank you! I will gladly re-try this project again, but definitely not on this ridiculous piece of furniture!

I hope you all had a safe and sugar filled Halloween! This was probably the first year where I did not stuff my face with candy! Kind of sad actually. I had one Butterfinger….only one. We still had a fun time though. Trick or treating at Nana’s and then Grammie’s house,  then heading off to the church’s Trunk or Treat with Papa Ken!
Here is my handsome swash buckling Pirate Captain Liam…

And my too cute for words Star Wars Ewok who wasn’t a huge fan of his hood!

And as you can see, I was a pirate also! Jerad asked if I had a costume to wear, and I didn’t. Sad. So I rummaged around the house and found a few things that could work. I then remembered a DIY Mask tutorial I had seen on Pinterest (of course). Kara from Sprinkles in Spring made this beautiful masquerade mask out of tule and puff paint! Click on her link for instructions!

After printing out her amazing template, and choosing my colors ( I thought Fall colors would be perfect) I set to work!

Now I should have started this the day before to allow enough time for it to dry, instead I had to blow dry it until the glitter no longer ended up on my face!
After it dried completely, I added ribbon on each side and trimmed away any excess tule around the edges! I think it turned out pretty good and it was actually super easy to make! Kind of want to make one in every color!