Gallery Wall

I have always envied those well put together gallery walls I see at people's houses.  I have wanted to do one of my own but I was nervous it would not turn out how I wanted.  I also need to find a space that I did not have to look at it constantly and feel overwhelmed by.  I mean I like stuff, I like pictures, but I also like simplicity.  Having to much decoration can make me feel cluttered.  I am weird, I know.  I redid the den in my house and made it a office/craft room for the boys and I.  I thought this place would be perfect for the gallery wall.  I looked for inspiration through Google and Pinterest and then I went for it.

 The first thing I did was choose what I wanted to include on the wall.  Then I laid everything out on the floor first.  I rearranged until I felt it looked the way I wanted.

 

Then I got out my electric drill and got to work! I started in the upper left hand corner.  I hung the J.T. and Sons first and went down wards and then over.  I took a picture of what it looked like on the floor as reference for placement.  As you can see the final result is slightly different than what I had originally laid out.  I wanted a little more diversity between the picture collages.  I am really happy with the final result. 

 A couple rules I learned along the way:

• Incorpate what makes you, you into your wall
• Add more than pictures
• Everything should have a main color scheme but not match
• Group like items together
• Find the center of the wall and do not put anything there
• Be flexible with the end result
• Use Screws to hold your pictures
• Take a picture of the before
• Lay everything out on the ground first

Beyond the Rack

I love this website!  I recently joined and had a $25 credit to start.  I was able to buy 2 memory foam pillows for $5 which included shipping!! AMAZING!!


Beyondtherack.com

ABOUT BEYOND THE RACK

It's time to go beyond shopping

Beyond the Rack is a private shopping club for women and men who want designer brand apparel and accessories at prices up to 80% off retail. We obtain authentic designer merchandise and provide it exclusively to our members through limited-time events. Each event starts at a specific time and typically lasts only 48 hours. After each event ends the merchandise is no longer available. Members are notified by email in advance of each upcoming event according to their preferences.

Membership has its privileges!

There are three ways to join Beyond the Rack:

1. You can be invited by a friend who is already a member
2. You can get a special invitation from one of our marketing partners
3. You can request a membership

From time-to-time, we need to restrict the number of new members that we add to the Club, which can cause a delay in our accepting a request or invitation to join. We do this in order to ensure that all our members have adequate access to the merchandise in our events.

Limited time, limited quantities

Due to the exclusive nature of the merchandise in our events, quantities are often limited and certain styles may only be available in a narrow range of sizes. To take advantage of the broadest possible selection, we recommend that you come to the events early (soon after they open) and shop quickly. To ensure that all members have an equal opportunity to get the items they want, we also limit the amount of time an item can stay in your shopping bag.

Amazon Prime for Students

Amazon Prime is well worth the price for the free two day shipping as well as videos.  It is the same price for netflix minus the free shipping bonus. 
I discovered that if you are a student its half price!! All you need is a student email address! WOO HOO!

Join Amazon Prime - Watch Over 40,000 Movies & TV Shows Anytime - Start Free Trial Now


If you click on this link I get a $10 credit which would be amazing!  Jenni's Referral Bonus 
Amazon Student 

Help for Neck and Shoulders

My neck and shoulders are in a constant state of pain.  I was in several bad car accidents when I was much younger.  I never fully recovered.  Whenever I am stressed (which lately is always) my neck and shoulders flare up.  I have purchased several devices to help ease this pain.  I recommend them all.  Most of all I recommend the care of a chiropractor and massage therapist.  Since I do not have a lot of time to myself I have to try to cure myself at home.  Whenever I am able to I get a massage.

1. Vktech Lady Chest Brace Support Belt Band Posture Corrector Shoulder Vest X Type Back   
2. Neck and Shoulder Relaxer - Just Relax Tension Reliever - Neck Support Piece by Metro Design
3. Crazycity New Chinese Traditional Triangle Dovetail Natural Horn Scraping Plates Scraping Piece Gua Sha Massage Tools Scraping Tools Kit
4. Earth Therapeutics: Anti-Stress Microwavable Neck Pillow
5. High Quality Memory Foam Contour Pillow with Hypo-allergenic Washable Cover

Gua Sha is what I use #3 for.  When you have some time google this technique.  Love love it.

Lego Table

We love legos.  Who doesn't??? Recently I made the boys a lego table for their room.  I was lucky enough to obtain a good condition coffee table that had drawers and was sturdy.  I ordered from Amazon the following sets:





LEGO Education Large Building Plates 4570274 (4 Pieces)


I ordered two of those sets and then 2 extra blues (LEGO Blue Building Plate (10" x 10") and two extra greens (LEGO Green Building Plate (10" x 10").  I knew I would have more than enough, but I wanted to have options when designing our table.

I glued the base plates to the wood with tacky glue.  If they start to come off I will most likely hammer them in place or look for something more permanent.  Since the actual table is in very good condition I wanted to have options of re-purposing someday. 

Here is our finished product:

Happy Birthday Grammie

Grammie's birthday is coming up!  What do you get the lady that has everything?  Plus she has had 4 kids so most homemade things have been done for her. 
The boys said they want to make her a cross cake, ok check.  We will work on that.  We also decided to paint her a masterpiece.  She has been into turquoise lately and loves owls.  So we came up with this .
 We are almost done and  I wanted to provide a sneak peak into our process:

We are making a wood sign that says " We love owl Grammie".  The love is Noah's hand print. On the branch will be an owl from TJ's footprint.  The leaves on the branches are made from the boys fingerprints. 

Happy New Years!

I'm not huge into resolutions at the start of the year. I think when you decide you want to change something about yourself or your life you should do it. Don't wait till Monday or January 1st... 

Anyway, I did have some lovely time off work.  I spent it relaxing and hanging with my boys. Of course I also painted, crafted, and reorganized! 

I decided I really need to learn to keep my vanity cleaned. It needs to maintain order. It was so dirty when I finally attacked it and that is just gross. 

This is not the best picture of even goes into much detail of what the mess really was. The drawers were filled with old makeup, eye pencil shavings. 

Anyway I cleaned it out took my time and decided keeping it clean would be my resolution.  Part of keeping a goal is to make it public so here is my attempt!

This is the whole view. I use purminerals makeup and it leaves so much dust. I lined the drawers with paper towels so I can easily replace them.

I also separated eyes, face, randoms. 

I put all of my brushes minus my face ones in a pickle jar I repurposed. I added hemp string around it to go with my theme.

Took me a long time! I have to keep it this way!