Kelle, Author at Enjoying the Small Things

Girls Room Revamp: Large Art Prints

September 20, 2016 By Kelle

In my secret quest to rid the world of carpet, we recently ripped the girls’ room’s hideous dark carpet that the dogs had taken full control of with their bladders in a revolt against the humans. As long as that carpet remained, there was nothing we could have done to that room to make it cute or cozy or anything outside the lines of living-in-a-litter-box. Once we replaced the flooring, it was finally time to give that room a little more love, so this past weekend we did a mini transformation. I had three main goals: 1) Carpet, be GONE! 2) Replace bulky, dark ceiling fan light fixture and 3) Incorporate subtle color with Lainey’s chosen wall color–pink. I also wanted to blend their age gap with a room that represents both little girl and big girl–some dolls and stuffed animals still neatly tucked away.

A quick phone picture mid-paint and pre-carpet-ripout:

And the finished product:

We switched the bedding with new sheets, pillows and versatile white quilts that can be paired with anything for a new look and still work with our prized Vintage Giggles heritage quilt made from all the kids’ baby clothes. The girls love the new space, and I practically made out with the new floors because they feel so fresh and clean.

The large scale art prints of the girls take up an entire wall space, and I love how they turned out. If you’re interested, there’s a D.I.Y. at the end of this post for creating, printing and hanging prints like these.

We have Nella’s sight words at her eye level everywhere in this house right now, and it’s so great for reminding us to work on them. You can’t walk down a hallway or into a room without stopping for a moment to pick a few out and test her. She loves it and is very proud of learning how to read.

I love these reversible white quilts (gray on the other side) from Target. They were inexpensive, can be washed at home, and I love that I can create an entirely new bedding look by simply switching out the sheets and toss pillows. One of the girls’ favorite things in the room are the hot air balloon paper lanterns I found on Amazon. Dash isn’t allowed on the top bunk, I should add (we keep the ladder off, and usually there are bed rails on the side of the top bunk).

Will it stay this clean forever? Hell to the no. But it definitely helps to love your space so that you’ll want to keep it clean. In changing things up, we went through a lot of clothes and toys–got rid of what we didn’t need and organized the closet with designated places for games and crafts, so hopefully we’re on the right track. Also, these are fresh-from-transformation photos. We look forward to added bits of character with the girls’ artwork taped to the walls and handfuls of Shopkins and tiny treasures piled on the dresser.

Room Sources
Paint Color: Behr Island Hopping
Bed: Cargo Kids, purchased from our neighbors. Similar twin-over-full sets: this one ($420) and this super inexpensive set ($162!).
Primrose Blue Floral Sheets, Tommy Hilfiger: (found only one set at Marshall’s, found the other one on Amazon)
White Quilts (reversible with gray on the underside–love them!): Xhilaration, Target
Red Gingham Down Toss Pillows, “Hey You” print, fuzzy stool: Hobby Lobby
Moroccan Wool Area Rug
Hot Air Balloon Paper Lanterns (5-pack)
Moon Wall Light

Now for those big prints, one of our favorite things in their room:

You can make these from any photos you have, but I think they stand out best when you give them a studio look with a white background. With two sisters, I knew I wanted side-by-side photos, taken at angles so it looked like Nella was facing Lainey’s camera. You could create whatever fun look you wanted with these though–throw the kids in superhero costumes, have them making faces at each other, have one kid cupping their mouth “telling” a secret and the other holding their ear out to “receive” the secret…the possibilities are endless. I borrowed my neighbor’s vintage Polaroid for a prop for this shot (that her mother bought for her parents in the 60’s–still in perfect condition!), and created a studio in five minutes by rolling out my seamless white background paper in front of our garage (shot in natural light, but under the roof overhang for shade to avoid harsh sunlight) and securing it with hot pink duct tape because HEY NEIGHBORS! I AM SO PROFESSIONAL! This is how I do most of my “studio” shots as well as my friends’ Christmas card photos, and I always make sure I have a clean roll of white background paper in my closet.

Lainey stood in the corner to give Nella someone to look at and create the angle I wanted, and we repeated the shot switching the girls’ out at the other angle.

I edited these with a high-contrast/desaturated/vignette filter (I think it was “mystery bus” from the Totally Rad Lightroom presets) to give them a bit of a retro look.

As for printing these, I am fortunate to have a kind father-in-law who does all his own printing and thus owns very large printers that use canvas rolls, and he doesn’t mind printing photos for his daughter-in-law from time to time. But there are several online sources that will do the same, for less than a stretched or framed canvas. At UPrinting, you can order your print in a rolled canvas and have it custom sized to exactly what you want. For a 25 x 36 in. print like the ones hanging in the girls’ room, it runs about $37. Easy Canvas Prints also prints rolled canvas for about the same price. For a little less, you can skip the canvas and make the same display from large-scale regular prints. Costco makes a 20 x 30 print for $9.99. Just make sure you choose a photo with good image quality for blowing it up this size. Trim off any white border before hanging.

To hang them, I wanted to do something similar to this picture hanger we have for a print in our bedroom, but I knew I could make them myself. The print is basically clamped between two wood boards on both the top and bottom to create a casual framed look. I purchased flat 2-inch wood from Home Depot and cut 4 equal sections to the width of my canvas print (25 inches) so that each print would hang gripped between 2 boards–front and back–on both the top and the bottom (so, 8 total wood pieces, 25 in. each, for 2 hanging prints–have I lost you yet?). I should add that, while I like to make things, I’m often intimidated by D.I.Y.s that venture beyond a glue gun. So when I was using a power saw (dug through Brett’s tools without telling him and even figured out how to pop the battery pack in) to cut these on my own, I wanted to yell to all passing neighbors: “DO YOU SEE ME? I AM MAKING THINGS! I AM OWNING THIS SAW! LOOK AT ME! I CAN SAW THINGS ON MY OWN!” because I’m humble like that. You could leave the boards as is for a natural look, but I slapped a walnut stain on ours to richen them up. WordPress is telling me richen isn’t a real word, and they are so wrong.

I don’t have pictures of the this middle step, but stay with me…

Once the boards were dried, I laid my canvases on the floor and slid the “back side” set of boards under the top and bottom edge of the canvas, setting the canvas in place with a few strips of clear tape. Line up the “front side” set of boards on top so that the canvas print fits between them. Secure in place with a couple screws (“DON’T MIND ME, NEIGHBORS! I’M JUST USING A POWER DRILL FOR THESE SCREWS! LOOK AT ME!”) and tighten a nut (they’re called nuts, right?) on the back to lock in place.

I wound some wire around the top two screws to hang.

And there you have it.

A room for my sister bears. xo

Dash & Isaac

September 16, 2016 By Kelle

Earlier this year, I shared the Nella and Maude book I made Nella, based on the adventures she shared with her little doe friend and modeled after her favorite book, Kiki & Coco in Paris. It has since become her favorite book treasure, read and reread at bedtime, and definitely one we’ll save forever. I knew I’d eventually make one for each kid and am currently piecing together Dash & Isaac, a story of a boy and his dinosaur who comes to life one summer.

When it’s done, we’ll save it for Christmas (got an e-mail that yesterday marked the 100 day countdown–WHAT?), but I realized I never shared some of our favorite shots for the book. We took Isaac everywhere we went this summer, and over time I collected enough good shots to create a good story line for his book.

(Cleveland, GA)

(somewhere outside of Louisville, KY)

Herbivores need to eat, like, all the time.

Ferry ride to Mackinac Island…

Isaac pulls some night shifts as an Uber driver for amphibians.

He also volunteers for the prison ministry.

…and makes a mean batch of spiked lemonade.

Tellin’ jokes. Brontosauruses are so funny.

See, there’s a lot of ways I can incorporate this next one into the story. I mean, is Isaac a preacher? Perhaps a B.C. messenger sent to A.D. times in a prehistoric time machine to study religions in the future? Is this a death scene? Does he give his heart to Jesus in a chapel in the woods? So many possibilities.

We’ll stick with the childhood basics–a boy who has a great big imagination and an infinite thirst for adventure. And maybe, just maybe, I’ll throw in a poop reference and make this his favorite book. Either way, I can’t wait to finish it.

For more on these books and how we make them, check out the Nella & Maude post.

And Happy, Happy FRIDAY! Here’s to weekending strong.

Finding our Fall

September 14, 2016 By Kelle

This post is sponsored by Børn Shoes.

“What do you miss most about Fall?” my friend asks as I toss my sandals on the beach and smooth a blanket over the sand under the hot September sun that feels anything but Autumn.

“I miss cider mills,” I say. “And sweaters on chilly nights.” I wipe sweat off my forehead and dig my toes further in the sand. “I miss wool pea coats and mittens and the smell of burning leaves. Hay rides, corn mazes, tights and tweed.”

“I miss raking leaves and scanning piles of overlooked brown ones for red-tipped treasures. I miss real pumpkin patches and turning the heat on and knowing that the huddling season is on its way.”

“Sounds heavenly,” my native Florida friend says.

“It is,” I say. “I can’t begin to explain it.”

I watch the waves spill onto the shore, erasing sandpiper prints. It’s hot.

“But,” I say…

“If you want Fall, you make Fall.”

I look for and find a lot of the things I miss. Cool breezes early in the evening, dried bits of leaves on Florida paths, hints of reds and russets in sunsets, in crotons and copperleaf, in bird of paradise blossoms.

And those things we miss that we cannot find in our little worlds? We create. I wear tights and make soup and light candles and spread apple butter on wheat toast in the morning. We dim lights and watch football and send “Dinner at our house this Saturday night” texts out to friends. We slap sticky witch and bat and ghost window gels on our front door. Buy cinnamon brooms and gourds, move the light sweaters from the back of the closet to the front, wear all the boots. With shorts and dresses and jeans…boots for days.

I have similar answers for all the “Do you miss?” questions.

“Do you miss teaching?”

I miss the first day of school. Pencil boxes. Memorizing all my students’ names in one day. Making them feel loved. Writing lessons. Taping great vocabulary words to the wall and seeing them pop up in the kids’ stories. After lunch read alouds.

But…I look for, find and create what I miss: the homework corner in my office with the jar of freshly sharpened pencils that smell like September. Tucking my kids in bed at night, nailing all the character voices from another chapter of Ramona Quimby, Age 8. Tagging along for field trips. Guest speaking about memoir in my friend’s 8th grade writing class.

“Do you miss when they were babies?

I miss fingers curled around mine, snug sleepers, nursing in the middle of the night, walking into their rooms to check on them sleeping only to find them peeping through the crib slats. I miss sandwich bags stashed with Cheerios and peach puffs, tiny bodies glued to my hip, heavy heads resting on my shoulder as they fight their naps, phantom sleep sucking long after the boob has been pulled out of their mouth.

But…I look for, find and create what I miss: tickling their faces to put them to sleep, big-kid sleepers that still fit snug, catching occasional pincher grasps for goldfish crackers and pretzel stick snacks, nose-to-nose bedtime snuggles, holding little hands as I lead them into classrooms, mispronounced words, so many firsts still to come.

Do I miss a good northern September? Yes, But I’ll make this September exactly what I want it to be.

Black cherry nail polish, plum-print skirts, old books with yellowed pages and boots in rich leather that sing both heading out for adventure and coming home for retreat.

My closet’s stashed with Børn love this season that keeps the comfort and style of fall alive, no matter where you live.

A longtime sponsor, style favorite and representative of so many things our family loves, we’re celebrating the changing season this year with the new fall styles from Børn Shoes who continue to create premium, hand-crafted products that are are both comfortable and stylish, marrying the art of old-world shoemaking with on-trend fashion.

Kick some acorns up with these babies, the oiled suede Cross boot with a sassy fringe accessory.

Bring out your artsy side with their artisanal wool Panarea boot. I love the way it combines funky Southwest art vibe with an edgy heel and biker chick buckle for an overall cool-as-crap boot that says both “Come sit on my front porch for a cup of hot cider” as well as “I’m tougher than you think.”

And my favorite? Forever slayed by a good ‘ol fall lace-up oxford. Meet Jolene in a couldn’t-get-much-autumner hue called Tobacco Distressed.

You don’t even know how many loaves of pumpkin bread I’m going to make while wearing these.

To finding our fall and every other thing we’re looking for…and to creating it in our own beautiful ways when it’s hard to find.

Long live Tobacco Distressed. And cider mills. And corn fields. Okay, one more–wool beanies. Alright, alright, I’m done.