Decorating with Maps - Serving My Kids the World Under Their Not So Silver Platter

After

Before

I have always loved to travel and I have always loved maps and globes.  As a kid I used to stand at the globe in my classroom, put my finger lightly on it, close my eyes, spin the globe, and then when it would stop open them to see places I wanted to visit someday.  For a long time I wanted a globe in my house, but the kid I like are expensive but every time I thought about buying one it occurred to me I really didn't have a great place to display it.  They aren't exactly the most unobtrusive thing. Then last month I was walking through Costco and saw these maps that they had over by the books.  They had a world map and a US map for $15.   There were three different styles to pic from, the classic bright blue school type maps, a more muted color, and then one that had more cartoon figures on it for children.  I picked the muted map because I knew I wanted to display it in my home.  It was my one impulse buy of trip and when I brought it home I threw the maps in the closet not quite sure what I wanted to do with them.  I remembered two friends on facebook had probably a year ago mentioned displaying maps in their homes.  One said he had them on his table, the other mentioned she hung her in the dinning room.  I knew I wanted one in the dinning room.  I decided to go with putting it on the dinning room table.  Here is our table as it stood two weeks ago.  We got it for $70 at a garage sale six years ago and it has severed us well.  It is covered in fork holes where two of my daughters have decided poking the table is more fun then eating food, the legs are a little chewed up by the former owners puppy and there are some permanent marker stains but for the most part it does what is is suppose to, is a nice big table for the family to sit and eat at.  I wanted to punch it up a little though and add some interest to our family meals.  I decided to put the US table on the map.  I used tiny heart stickers to mark all the places we'd lived.  I bought a piece of clear plastic at Hobby Lobby that I found in the home decorating rolls of fabric using a 40% off coupon on their app.  The 70 or so inches I needed cost me $6.00.  I brought the plastic home put the map on the table, stuck the plastic on and thought the sides where the map didn't cover looked super boring.  I went upstairs and grabbed a bunch of post it self stick picture paper that I'd bought years ago when I was using coupons.
 I have no idea if they still sell this stuff but it worked amazing for this project.  I measured out how many pictures I'd need to cover up the edges of the table then got on my computers and started printing off favorite pics of the kids and our family.  When I had enough pictures I laid the map back on the table and taped down the edges.  Then I pulled the backs off the post it pictures and stuck them down.  Finally I put the plastic back on, folded the edges and secured it under the table using push pins.  I love my table so much.  We've had it like this for two weeks.  The downside is I have to remember to put hot pads down before I put anything hot on the plastic.  I am thinking about doing some cute airplane or car ones though that would match with the motif.  The upside is the table stimulates so much conversation.  The kids love looking at pictures of themselves.  They love looking at the map.  They love talking about places we've been, places they want to go, or places our family lives.  I'm really enjoy it.

Cost Break Down

map - 7.50

plastic - 6.00

post it paper, ink, push pins on hand

If you had to order them, I used 43 pictures.  If you ordered them from walmart and then just taped them on you are looking at under $4.  Pushpin are $1 at the dollar store.

So total project cost for me 13.50...if you didn't have pictures and push pins on hand 18.50. 

With the second map I decided I wanted to hang it.  I'd seen this cool map on Brave New Home and I knew I wanted to pretty much just follow her lead.  I went to home depot to get the wood.  I had a huge debate over what to get.  I finally settled on filler pieces.  They are like 50 cents a piece or something like that, and I got three.  I've read some people use lattice and I've seen some people use thing molding, I just wanted the wood to be really thin so the filler pieces worked perfect.  I brought them home and measured them to the map and cut them to sizes.  We have a miter saw but I was too lazy to pull it out so I literally just used a hand saw that Dr. J uses to cut tree branches.  It was hanging on the garage wall and easy to get to.  I then sanded the pieces because filler pieces are pretty rough and stained them with the same stain I used on our height ruler.  Originally I was just going to go exactly with what she had but about halfway through the project I got the brilliant/not so brilliant idea to add a strip of cork board so I add pictures from our overseas travels to the map and then hopefully someday if I get my act together add string from those pictures to the places we've been (that day has not come yet).  I had this huge roll of cork I bought for another project at hobby lobby (cost was something like $11 but I always use my 40% off coupons on my phone) and I just used my rottary cutter to cut a long enough strip.  The problem was the cork was really thin and I was worried it was going to break so I cut a second strip and then glued the two strips together with spray glue I had from that same first project.  Then it was time to glue it all together.  This was the worst part of the whole project.  Brave New Home had used her glue gun and that's what I wanted to do because it is fast, easy, I already had it and it holds pretty well.  Unfortunately it just wasn't as easy as I hoped.  This was a long map and by the time I got the glue all down and the wood in place more than once the glue had dried, I had to pull it all off and start over.  The first piece was easy because I could because I could just roll the map out onto it and the top part of the cork board was the same but that piece in the middle was a beast.  Finally I got it all down and relatively even but if I had to do it again I'd probably pick a glue that took longer to dry.  Sure it would be a pain to wait but it would be nice to have an extra minute to readjust if there was a problem.  I then screwed in two eye hooks I got from home depot (1.50 for 5), and added a piece of string.  The map is hanging in my family room right now and I love it.  I've added a few pictures from our recent trip and need to put up some from some of other trips.  I also want to add some string going from the pictures to the places we've visited.  Totally love looking at this map everyday and love that at book group on Tuesday my friends were up looking at it trying to figure out where Ukraine and Liberia were.  It is nice to be able to see where current events are happening.  I hope this map increases my children's curiosity about the world around them.  By the way just to keep my life in perspective this is what the past what my camera was showing picture looks like of that map.  Just keeping it real folks, just keeping it real.  Also what do you think of my 60's cane back chairs?  I picked them up for a steal from a woman in town. I was planning on painting them and doing new fabric.  Dr. J who for reasons I don't understand is in love with light wood is begging me not to paint them so now I need to find fabric that matches that wood.  I'm a little hesitant about the whole project but also super excited!

Cost Break Down

map - 7.50

wood - 1.50

eye hooks - 1.50

stain, string, glue, and cork board roll on hand.  

Total cost to me $10.50

Using Our Christmas Card Wreath for Thanksgiving

This year I'm on the craft committee at my MOPS group.  Our goal is to come up with or find cute inexpensive crafts that any person regardless of their personal craftiness level can do.  This week we made a Christmas Card Wreath.  It was SUPER EASY!  All you need is a large embroidery hoop, glue (we used glue sticks), mini clothes pins, and ribbon.  We have 90 or so women in our group and I think all the supplies cost us $200.  So really, not bad at all!  You glue the clothes pins on.  You can measure it out or just eyeball it.  Then you tie the bow.  When your Christmas cards come in you just pin them on.  I was also thinking this would be a fun way to hold Advent Calendar cards.  Anyway until December gets here I told the kids we were going to put things we are thankful for up.  Gigi is the one who has gotten into it.  I had to beg her to leave a few pegs for everyone else but I'm glad she is a grateful girl.  Just so you know, "She's thankful for rubber bands."  Nice!  

The Wedding - Cheap bouquet and centerpieces.

A few weeks ago I did a whirlwind trip home for my baby sister's wedding (she is the youngest of the four girls, coming in right before the two boys).  A few months earlier she'd told me, "So J and I want to do a camping wedding."  And I was like, "Are you kidding me?"  "No," she said, "You know how much we love camping."  It was insanity.  "Can you imagine the hassle," I told my husband, "How are we even going to get everything up there.  Is she trying to drive us crazy."  And then me and my other married sister stressed.  When was it going to be, when should we/could we get our tickets for, where was it going to be, would food be provided, would we need to worry about it's preparation, what does one wear to a camping wedding?  F and J meanwhile seemed really chill about the whole thing.  With two months to go I'd arranged for my mother-in-law to come into town to watch the kids while I was gone and Dr. J was working but still there were no real details.  I'd call her and try to pin her down on stuff, "I just can't think about this right now, I'm really busy."  Her responses were driving me insane.  My other sister and I tried to think up places it could be.  Her in-laws own some property but there were no restrooms.  She looked into renting port-a-johns.  We looked for group campsites that were close but people in the state have crazy outdoor love and most of the stuff had already be reserved for months.  "Well that's it," I said, "they just need to get married at a pavilion in the park."  "That's it," my other sister said, "they can get married in my in-laws backyard."  But with a month to go they decided they were ready to plan.  They found a group campsite.  My brother-in-law designed and sent out invitations.  Three of the sister's started looking at dresses on Anthropologie, and when we saw this one on clearance told her to get her buns up there.  She found one left in her size.  One sister planned for the cupcakes.  She decided we'd do a s'more bar.  J's family said they would take on dinner for the group.  F went and picked out a ring in the mall.  I told her I'd love to do flowers for her and decorations although I had no idea what I was going to do, but things were starting to fall into place.  

Two day's before the wedding, the day after school started for my kids, and four days after my mother-in-law flew out to visit, I flew into town.  I walked in the door of my mom's house, at nine o'clock in the morning to find my sister A, a baby on her hip vacuuming up a storm.  "This dog hair is driving me crazy," she said as she handed her daughter off to me who immediately started crying.  "Eat a blue berry," I told E #2.  She popped it her in her mouth and then frantically reached out for more.  "So what do we need to do?" I asked.  "Everything," my sister said.  And so we started.  We went to store after store, getting food for the s'more bar, finding a florist, trying to figure out what I was going to wear (I left my skirt at home) and find something for her daughters to wear.  Midday I got a text from F.  "So my sister in laws are throwing me a bachelorette party.  It is going to be crazy.  You don't have to come but I'd wanted to let you know."  "Well we are going to that," Aand I decided.  "We are definitely going to represent from our family."  And so we went, and it was wild, and it was crazy and I had to laugh because I'm 33 years old and I've never been to a party like that before and to be honest probably will never be invited to another one again.  But it was fun to meet all my sister's soon to be sister in laws (and there are a ton) and it was nice to be with my sisters as well.  "Are you guys close?" I think I heard probably ten times that night.  Not as close as I'd like us to be scattered all over the United States, but yes we are close.  At ten A and I decided we were exhausted.  I had been up since my time four (their time two am) so we headed home.  But once I got home I was plagued by how I was going to decorate the tables without spending a fortune, and then it hit me.  MASON JARS!  

The next day we started prep.  We finished shopping.  I got candles, sand, and twine and rounded up mason jars from my mom and my sister's mother in law.  We went out for pedicures.  We ate lunch at Cafe Rio, my favorite.  We went back home and did more prep work.  I filled mason jars with sand and tied twine around everything.  We went and picked up flowers.  We threw a one year birthday party for my niece E.  F spent the night with us and my brother D and her worked on a song to surprise her hubby with.

The next morning was crazy.  I put together the bouquet and the boutonniere.  They weren't terrible complicated but they still took time.  We packed up cars full of camping gear, wedding gear, and personal stuff.  We loaded up the supplies for the s'more bar.  My mom and I headed up to Salt Lake to pick up cupcakes and cake from Whole Foods.  Then we headed out into the Uintas.  An hour and half later we arrived but saw no one.  "Are we in the right place?"  Of course we had no cell reception so we headed off a dirty path past sheep, and remote camp sites, a ranchero, more sheep, and some very mangy ranch dogs.  Twenty minutes later I said, "This is ridiculous!  No one would come up here to get potty stuff."  We headed back and found some of our family had started trickling in to the original location.  Then it was work, work, work.  We decorated the tables with mason jars filled with baby's breathe alternated with mason jars filled with sand and candles.  We set up tents.  We taped and tied table cloths onto serving tables.  We finished food prep.  Luckily my brother's friend was there and the man is a genius when it comes to food presentation.  Let me tell you, when you are cutting strawberries and trying to make things look pretty it helps to have a pastry chef by your side. 

Then we waited.  All through our preparations people had been showing up, but as it got later and later we realized some key people were missing, like much loved siblings, the brother who was going to marry them and the photographer.  We goofed around and took some pics for ourselves.  For awhile I sat by my brother's tent and sang songs with him while he played on his guitar.  Man the kid has gotten so talented.  Then I started to get stressed.  It was at that moment that my sister J and her partner T drove up.  I ran down to meet them and her hug made me start to feel better.  Then T gave me one of his magic hugs and my stress just melted out.  I don't know if it is his years as a vegan, or meditation, or the fact that he works at a book store, but I kid you not his hugs feel like being wrapped up in your mother's arm when you were two (and this coming from a person who hates hugs).  I was so glad they'd gotten there.  Then someone drove out and got word from the photographer.  Apparently they'd ended up almost in Wyoming and were headed back.  J made an executive decision, we'd eat first and then they would get married, in the dark, which was originally what he had been hoping they'd do.  So we ate, and ate, and ate.  J's family probably had 200 kebabs along with salads and sides.  It was delicious and we all chatted and then the photographer got there.  She took a some pics of F and J and some of the family.

Then everyone grabbed a mason jar lantern and we headed up to the wood bench amphitheater where they were getting married.  We lined the path F would be walking down and lined the stage area with mason jar lanterns and flowers.  Two huge bonfires were roaring and my brother D started to play his guitar.  Then my brother D walked her down the aisle where she meet J (her fiance) and J (the brother marrying them).  I wish I could explain to you how beautiful it was, could capture the magic.  I'm not a writer though and no picture could fully translate, but it was seriously the most beautiful wedding I've ever been to.  Imagine being in a perfect little valley, surrounded by wild flowers and pines.  Imagine a million stars in the sky.  Imagine fire dancing on either side.  Imagine being surrounded by all your loved ones including your middle aged dog who you raised like a baby.  Imagine a ceremony full of laughter and tears specific and personal to just you because it was performed by someone who had known and loved you from the moment of your birth and your fiance since you started dating her in high school.  It was wonderful and I regretted every sour thought I'd had about her camping wedding because I couldn't imagine anything more perfect.  

When it was over we walked back down to the tables where we gorged ourselves on fancy s'mores and wedding cake and cupcakes.  The kids ran around the fire.  Music was playing.  Then I asked everyone to come over so that my brother D could give F&J a present.  He started to play, but it was a trick.  Instead of D singing my sister started to sing.  At first J joined her, but then he realized it was part of the performance and he stopped, and then he started to cry, and then we all started to cry.  These two have been together for years.  They met while working at the movies while in high school.  She had a boyfriend.  He knew she was his dream girl.  When she was finally single he asked her out.  Their first date was the worst.  They got hit by a car that swerved out of it's lane on a hill.  The seat belt snapped and F hit the windshield.  Paramedics had to rush them to the hospital.  All of the families rushed to meet them.  When my mom got there J was dazed in a wheel chair, F was on a back brace having her clothing cut off.  My mom started yelling, "He's not family, he's not family!"  J frantically realized what was happening and tried to wheel himself out of the room but kept running into equipment.  How do you live that down?  But in the weeks that followed while my sister recovered he was there for her every day and has been there for her ever since.  With a unique history and personality J is the type of guy who can tell a heartbreaking story with sidesplitting humor.  You laugh, you cry.  You feel like you've lived the whole thing yourself and came out better for it.  F is my youngest baby sister.  She is beautiful and sweet and funny and she makes you feel better when you are near her.  I'm so happy for these two and so grateful that they were able to have wedding they dreamed of and that I could have some small part in it.  Love you F&J!    

Some pics I took before the photographer got there.  

F&J, happy day.  I've never seen J in a tie.

It was so funny because people all ended up getting dressed up but at times you'd have not dressed up people doing sort of more dressed up things on in this case, A all dressed up setting up a tent :)

Me and my beautiful sisters.  J 2nd oldest (In Black), A 3rd oldest (Green), F baby of the girls (white), Me, the oldest.

My sister pretending she carried these cupcakes from the well.  

The bouquets and tables.  Seriously it was three nights before I flew into town and I was like, "What would be good flowers for this wedding?"  It was in the mountains and really simple.  I looked around online and saw that people were doing a lot of simple flowers, weddings with just daisies, or lavender, and then I saw a baby's breath wedding!  "Perfect," I yelled.  "Seems a little boring to me," Dr. J announced looking up briefly from his Lord of the Dragons game.  "Hmmm," I thought.  But it turns out it was perfect, and perfectly matched the wildflowers growing where we were.  It was simple and understated and wonderful and for people worried about money, super cheap!  I got all the flowers for $40 dollars.  Every flower in her hair, the bouquets, the boutonniere, every flower on every table, $40.  The twine was less than two dollars a role.  I was at Walmart searching in the floral department (The Walmart in Utah has a craft department that takes up 1/4 of the store) and an employee said, go to the home improvement part of the store where they'll sell rope, it will be 1/3 of the cost, and it was!  The mason jars were borrowed for free because every Mormon woman has some kicking around.  The sand I got at HomeDepot.  It was playground sand and cost, I kid you not less than five dollars and the candles were just those little stubby ones you get at Walmart.  Maybe six dollars for the bunch!  Plus we got all our serving trays and bowls from the dollar store.  Talk about wedding on a budget, but it was awesome!  

I had to include this one because it is just J being J.  

Here is the boutonniere I made and I love it!

My Laura Inglees boots.  Man I loved these too!

My sister A, her daughters E#2, and E#2, and her hubby B.

My sister J and her partner T the hug master.

The cake my mom bought for them to cut.  Seriously so delicious!  I so wish Whole Foods would move to my side of the city!

Here are some pics taken by the talent Kristi Linton of Kristi Linton Photography.  

Flowers in her hair :)

Seriously cheapest centerpieces ever!  So simple and so cute!

Yummy salads provided by J's family!  He has some amazing sisters and sister-in-laws!

My immediate family.  The only person missing was my hubby and four kids. From Left to Right.

T (my brother's friend, seriously could not have done it without his help...at least not as pretty), D(2nd youngest, 1st boy), D (the true baby), Mom, J (F's hubby :), F, E#1 (my adorable little 5 year old niece), Me, E#2 (my adorable 1 year old niece), A, B (A's husband), T (J's partner), J

J's family!  I don't think all of his brothers, sisters, nieces, nephews, sister-in-laws, and brother-in-laws made it into the picture but this is most of them.  These guys were so great!  They were fun and helpful, loving like you were the one who had married into the family, and some amazing cooks!  

Are you freaking kidding me!  Look how amazingly gorgeous it was up there.  Do you see why I say it was the perfect wedding?

Walking up to the amphitheater.  

D getting ready to play.

D walking her down the aisle.  

Our freaking awesome desert table!  I mean seriously, how yummy are we!  And how perfect did those mason jars turn out.  

By desert almost everyone had stripped out of there dresses and were back in their camping gear.  

This is the sky!  How can you not feel close to God when you are surrounded by his majesty!

Finally here are some videos from the wedding.  The first is just hanging out with my brother D and getting to just sing along with him.  So fun to just be together like that. Did anyone else love Dan In Real Life?  My favorite parts of that movie were when the family was singing together...just the best.  So it was fun to get to spend some time with him like this.  I wish I lived closer so we could sing together more often.  The second video is of my sister singing to her new hubby.  I wish I could have been closer but I was trying not to make it obvious it was a set up.  Anyway I watched it again last night and when I saw John wipe those little tears away at the end it made me cry again.  Seriously it was just a great day...horrible too...I mean seriously the stress and the work, well they were exhausting, but a wonderful day as well! 

Ikea Trip and some Projects

Yesterday my friend and I drove out to Ikea.  It's over an hour and half drive so we really meant business.  Ok I meant business and she came along to keep me company.  The trip really started last Saturday.  I went to a mother of twins sale with my girlfriends and left Dr. J in charge of getting the kids up.  When I got home a couple of hours later he said, "Look I know we are trying to save money and all but we have got to do something about the furniture situation.  We need shelves, a desk for the Captain E's room, some cubbies, some night stands for our room, and a dresser for Sweetie Petities' clothes.  I was trying to clean up but there is just no place to put things."  And the man is right.  We started out with nothing in a 300 square foot apartment, not even a bed to our name.  We've picked up some odds and ends here and there but we really don't own a ton of furniture.  Furniture cost money, something we rarely have any of :)


So this weekend we started major efforts at getting together a place to put things.  It started with a few runs to local furniture stores.  In the end I decided that I have zero interest in modern desks.  If I want particle board I'll just go to Walmart (Ashley Furniture I'm talking to you).  I'm now on the look out for a nice used secretary style desk for E's room.  It will more closely match the current style of furniture he has, it will be solid wood, and it will close so we can hide his crazy messes!

We also ended up with a miter saw and some wood to make shelves in the some of the closets.  Originally I was not completely on the miter saw train.  I was worried about someone cutting their fingers off and with the expense we'd have to lay out this month for the 1/4 of the cow we bought and the freezer we need to store it, I wasn't entirely happy about spending the money.  Then I said to Dr. J, "Wait does this mean we'll be able to frame the mirrors?"  "Heck yeah it does, and it will be a cinch," he said.  "Sold," I said.  I pinned that idea months ago and have been pining over ever since.

                                                                Source: impatientlyprayingforpatience.blogspot.com via Crystal on Pinterest

Then he said, "Well I guess people shouldn't be surprised when we give them picture frames for Christmas this year."  And then I said, "Double sold!"

                                                                    Source: landeeseelandeedo.com via Crystal on Pinterest

So now you know my dirty little secret.  If you want to buy power tools and you are my husband, tell me which of the projects I've be really wanting to do that you can now do with said tool.  When the miter saw got home Dr. J went straight to work on putting some shelves in E's closet.  I mean after all he does only get one day off a week.  A couple hours later E had three new shelves.  I plan on eventually painting them white but right now they are doing a stand up job of helping to hold shoes, games and toys that I confiscated off his dresser.  I also used the opportunity while he was at school today to clean off his dresser and bedroom shelf.  I threw away a bag of garbage and put some things on that middle shelf in the closet and for the first time in months he has a clean room.

I plan on painting that shelf in the corner, putting blinds in the window and then adding the desk.  

Something like this:

  or this 

Then I'll be done with his room.

The girls major problem is not having enough places to put their toys, which really when you consider they have two shelves and a toy box in their room borderlines on insanity.  They also have a problem with room for their shoes.  I bought this little white shelf for them to put shoes on but was so low to the ground the bottom shelf was pretty much worthless.  Often their closet is a total danger zone.  I took this picture after I'd cleaned about half of it up.  It is seriously scary.  To help them out I bought a trofast cubby at IKEA.  Dr. J is a fan because it is actually made out of wood.  I'm a huge fan because it is adorable.  I was also able to put the shoe shelf on top making the bottom shelf and the space under usable.  We plan to label the bins with pictures and words of what actually belongs there.  It was one of the main reasons I went to Ikea.

The other main reason was this Rast chest.  Before Dr. J had mentioned the night stands I'd been thinking about them.  We spend a lot of nights reading in bed and lamps on a night stand would be more convenient.  I also tend to be a horder of small things.  Usually I toss them on the floor by my beside.  You'll will often find my kindle, my phone, a couple of hair things, a book or three, and some headphones haphazardly tossed on the ground.  Seriously not me at my best.  Dr. J will have his laptop, a medical book or five, his phone, a few bills, etc.  We needed someplace to put this stuff that isn't so obvious or so messy.     I've looked at nightstands and haven't been overly impressed.  They are pretty expensive for not much bang.  Then I came across this IKEA hack.

                                                                        Source: acharmingnest.com via Crystal on Pinterest

Hello gorgeous, A Charming Nest is amazing!  And guess who now has the tools she needs to do this hack?  Yup, that's right, me!  So while I was at Ikea I picked up two of these little dressers and with a couple of days off, this gorgeous nightstand will be mine :)

While we were there we also looked for some spice racks.

                                                                 Source: ikeahackers.net via Crystal on Pinterest

But you know what, they don't have them.  They never have them.  Apparently when they come in, people come and clear them out.  When Erin was in Utah last week she went to Ikea there as well to see if she could get her hands on some.  The guy there told her that they sell out in just a few days because people buy them to spray paint and sell.  You know what I found out with a quick internet search yesterday, people don't even both to spray paint them.  They just put them up on ebay.  A four dollar shelf and a great idea have now become a money making cash cow for a select few who live close enough to get there fast and buy them out quick.  If you want one of these little shelves you can pay some person on ebay 13.99 plus $7.00 s/h.  Um I don't think so.  So that got me to thinking, why can't you just make them.  And if I thought of this, a person who has zero original ideas when it comes to crafting and projects them someone else must have as well.  A quick internet search and I found her.  Bless her heart she even gave you measurements.  So thanks to Adventures In Creating, I'll probably be making some of these little babies in the next few weeks.

And then as a final note to my project seeking mind I found this great site with all sorts of diy projects including a bunch of different ways to make a headboard with instructions and cost.  I predict a headboard may eventually be in my future.  I also suspect Dr. J may start to regret getting that new saw :)

Source: diynetwork.com via Crystal on Pinterest