Designed 2 Inspire: Dates Are For More Than Just Calendars

Welcome to Our Home

For years people have come to my home and always been very complimentary. I always thought of it as more of a cordiality. Recently I took part in our neighborhood Christmas homes tour. Over 250 people came into my home. When I saw ladies taking pictures of my ideas, I realized that I truly do inspire others. Sometimes I come up with ideas, and my husband really thinks I'm taking things a step too far. Like 5 months after we moved into our brand new home, I wanted to paint all the fireplace wood work and mantle black. Well, 4 years later we still like it and show guests the 'before' photo. We are all inspired by something. So, as I share things on this blog, I hope you duplicate, improve and are inspired to take your decorating just one step further. Enjoy!

Saturday, February 13, 2010

Dates Are For More Than Just Calendars

I've been feeling very craft lately, and haven't had the time between adoption paperwork and homeschooling. Well, one of my good friends 40th birthday was just enough to satisfy my appetite to create. I was inspired by two blogs:
It's a Strange and Lovely Ride http://strangeandlovelyride.blogspot.com/2010/01/guest-bathroom-facelift-part-2.html
Susie Harris http://www.susieharrisblog.com/

The first blog is what gave me my idea. She created wall art with numbers and included her anniversary date. She referred to Susie's blog on how to paint and transfer numbers that you print off. When I saw this, I knew right away who to make it for. My friend Julie was embracing turning 40, celebrating that 10 years ago she wasn't sure if she'd ever have children and then suddenly had 4 in 4 years. So, I decided to make her wall art that celebrated significant milestones in her own life.

Remember these?

This is a calendar frame, I'm guessing from about 7 or 8 years ago. I remember receiving one myself for Christmas. I got this for $2.99 at Goodwill. I then added slats of wood that my father had. He cut them down for me and I painted them black.

After inserting them and securing them with a staple gun, I began to lay-out numbers and transfer them like Susie Harris suggested.

I then painted in the numbers and taa-daa! The end result:

Each number is a birthdate and wedding anniversary. Julie loved it. I hope to explore more possibilities using this technique and Susie Harris' blog.
Soon we will begin our daughter's bedroom. She is still in China, but we hope to bring her home within 6 months or so. We will share these updates soon. Right now our classroom is in her room and I am almost done moving everything out.