A slice of our Summer

Helllloooo! It's been awhile since I last wrote a blog post. I had a friend recently ask me if I still planned on blogging and thought, 'boy, I guess I took enough time off it's time to get going again'. Did you have a great summer? I hope you made time to play, relax and explore. There were not a lot of home projects except for the farm table the hubs is working on right now (more of that to come). Our children went back to school this week so it's back to routines, which is good for everyone. I thought you might like to see a slice of our summer:

Our family had a great time visiting Martha's Vineyard in July. We had a big family reunion with cousins and Aunts and Uncles. There was plenty of card playing, ice cream, boating and beach days. 

                                       There are some impressive old Captain's homes to walk past.

                                                                and pretty gardens.

                             Oh, and of course, the many darling ice cream shops were visited frequently.

                       Many bursting window boxes on white painted homes add New England charm.

                                                              Quaint little fishing villages                  

Pretty sailing days to the beach. 

Farmer's markets 

On Instagram I showed a couple of rooms in our beloved family home. The original part of the house used to be a carriage house in which my grandparents made into their home. We love coming here to be with lots of family and gather. I love the chart room and old nautical lantern my Uncle put up.

The main part of the barn is cozy and has a gallery wall with many of my grandmother's paintings. A few years ago my sisters and I did a makeover in the loft and you can see more pictures of the chart room.

Now, it's back to schedules and non-beach days, but I think it's important to take time and disconnect for a bit. I can't wait to show you some projects from our Art camp that I taught with my friend this summer. Are you still in summer mode or school mode? Either way, I hope you're doing well and look forward to showing more projects and adventures with you.

Girl's Room: Art On The Walls And a Give Away!

First of all, thank you for all of your kind comments on the upholstered sofa. I feel like a proud mama of a blue
velvet couch! Ha! Today, I wanted to talk about art in children's rooms, namely my twin's room. Our girls
didn't have much on their walls and they were excited when we put up a gallery wall of pretty
art work for them. Squeals of delight!
Most pictures in their room are DIY,  thrift store art and a gorgeous print from Heatherlee Chan. You
don't need to spend a lot of money to get the look you want, but you do have to be willing to make
something. I hope you'll be inspired to make some art for your home. First, let me give you a tour of the
galleries:

On the dresser, my husband and I made this frame last year and I love the picture of our girls in there.
Above the large frame is this darling print, Sisters Art, I bought from Heatherlee Chan. Her art is
charming, whimsical and feminine- perfect for our little girls. They actually picked the print out, but I had a
hard time choosing just one. All her art is darling! I framed it in an Ikea frame and used a gold sharpie
to make some polka dots around the mat.

The flowers painting in the corner is one of my first attempts at oils in a long time. I had a great time
painting again and thought it would look good with the paint in their room (which is Benjamin Moore's
Love and Happiness). The ampersand and the silhouettes are also painted/cut by me. For the
ampersand, I sketched out the shape on fabric and cut it out. The key for this was to have thin material.
The 'Be Brave' banner was also cut pieces of fabric and adhered using Fabri-tac. The Degas' Dancers
print is from a thrift store and the calendar is from Rifle.

For my $5 thrift store chair I spray painted it white and used a gold sharpie to make the crest and vines. I
loved the chair when I saw it because I could see some kind of art or monogram going in the middle of it.

On the other side of the room, I had my two girls paint some watercolor art and I put them behind a
white mat. I can easily change out their art here if I want. They had a fun time making art for their room.
The map is from artist Judy Kaufmann. Love her work too!

After Christmas I spent a long time weeding through clothes and toys that were not used anymore. It felt
good to organize and simplify their toys. Putting their toys in plastic, labeled bins has been a HUGE
improvement from the catch-all baskets I had in here before. The girls now put their toys away and in
the right spot! Hallelujah!

These lamp bases are from Ikea and I used some Rub N'buff on them to give them a gold/brassy look.

I'll show you the rest of the room soon. We recently put their beds into bunk beds which makes
this room feel larger. The girls have a great area to play in now.

Heatherlee is kind enough to give one of you lucky ducks an art print. You get to pick which one 

you like/love. Her art will get you excited for Spring with so many floral prints and if you have a

 little child in your life it makes charming art for kid's rooms. 

To enter the Giveaway: First go to Heatherlee's Etsy store, Laddy Poppins to find your favorite print. Then, comment below and tell me what would be your favorite Lady Poppins print. One comment per entry. One winner will be chosen at random and will receive an art print. Make sure your comment is not a "non-reply" or else I won't be able to get in touch with you. 

For additional entries:
2. Follow me on Google Connect or Bloglovin
3. Follow me on Instagram
4. Like me and follow me on Facebook.
5. Subscribe to Heatherlee's mailing list
6. Like Heatherlee on Facebook.

The Give Away will close Friday, March 13th.

********** The Give Away is now closed. *****************

Linking this to: The Best of the Nest Link Party

Family Room Gallery Wall

It's been staring at me for awhile. You know- a blank wall. Well, not anymore. Our family room feels cozier with family faces and special prints on the wall.

I collected art and prints for awhile until I felt I was ready for a gallery wall. First, I drew out the space. Then on another paper I cut and taped the art I would use- this way it would be easier to move things around on paper. After I was happy with how it looked on paper, I hung up the art- without using any tracing paper or anything. I got this great idea from Lauren Liess who created the most gorgeous gallery wall above her bed using this method.

                                        Here's a BEFORE shot of what this space looked like.

Now, I'm thrilled to have some meaningful pieces up. I enlarged an image of our daughters by taking a CD to Staples and having them print a large 'engineer print'. Engineer prints are genius and it only cost me $3. I framed my print, but a lot of people who use engineer prints mount them (using double sided tape) on foam core. You can get large pieces of foam core at Home Depot and they can cut it to the size you need.  Before you print an enlarged image, make sure it's a quality photo.

Also, most of the engineer prints I've seen are black and white. I don't know how well they would turn out if they were color. The frame I used was given to me by a friend who didn't need it, so I painted it black and put the print of our girls. The sailboat painting was painted by my dear grandmother. The basket is my husband's grandparent's, they got in Africa when they served as Christian missionaries during WWII. The ferns and agates are art projects I've made and then I love the other pictures of our family on the side.

What I love about this space is there is room for a few other small things or art to go up. Gallery walls are a great way to tell stories about things you love and your interests. I'm happy with how this wall shaped out.

Best of the nest

A Gallery Wall

A gallery wall truly covers your walls in your own style. In our last house we had a big space above our couch that I finally decided to put up all white frames and do a gallery of images. I loved it! What is important to remember is your images tell a story about who you are, your interests, where you have traveled or lived. We are currently working on a gallery wall going up our stairs. Hopefully I can get a balance of family pictures, art and quotes on the wall. I want my girls to look at the art and pictures on our walls and feel inspired and loved. Here are some images I have collected that are helping me with the direction I want to go.

                                                                     Danielle Oakey 

LGN

via

I like the different colored mats in this one.

                                                                                 via

LGN

Wouldn't this be fun to frame some colorful bathing suits? Especially adorable would be showcasing little kid's classic suits.

Cottage and Vine

     This is what our stairwell looked like right before we moved in. The plan is to bring the pictures all the way to the tippy top. What do you think? Do you have a gallery wall in your home? Did you stick with different frames or all the same? Come back soon to see what we have done with this space.