January Projects

I think most people try to make the most of January starting the new year off with lots of motivation to get their lives and homes in order after the busier holiday seasons have ended.  I always hate to take down our Christmas decorations at the beginning of January, but once they come down, I am happy to get my house clean and back to its more normal order.  Since the month is also a lot slower with less obligations, I also enjoy planning and trying to accomplish some tasks and projects that I usually have been putting off for months.  Some of these projects can really only be performed after the previous year has ended.  Although my to-do list still remains quite long with some big "projects" still needing to be completed (I'm looking at you messy desk/home office), it did feel good to get a few of these projects accomplished.

Project #1

Making and ordering our new Shutterfly calendar.  I like to utilize our yearly calendars as a little scrapbook summary of our lives.  I used to scrapbook years ago and had made a large family scrapbook summarizing mine and Eddie's lives before and after we were married.  In the years since having kids, I just didn't have as much time for this hobby.  Plus, digital photography made it so much easier to create digital scrapbooks or photo books.  However, I can't feasibly make photo books of everything so these calendar pages are an easy way to summarize our months and then the pages can go into our big family scrapbook.

I like to do some of our family "portraits" from the year as the cover. 

January memorializes our love of snow. 

And the month of love. 

Project #2

So to complement project number 1, my second project was cutting the pages from our 2015 calendar (pictures from 2014) to add to our big family scrapbook.  It was a very simple project, but I think it is an important one.

Our memory scrapbook is a large three ring binder with sheet protector pages for inserting scrapbook pages. 

I foresee having to start a new binder very soon. 

Our family picture from 2014 taken in Washington D.C.

How the pages look in the binder. 

Memories of our Spring Break trip to Washington D.C. and Mattie's first birthday celebration. 

Project # 3

I have been planning to make Brody's little silhouette picture to match Evan's for years.  I finally got a pack of cardstock with the colors I needed for another project so I decided to give this one a shot.  Evan's silhouette was made by a "professional" artist at a little street fair in Charlotte, but I always thought I could do Brody's myself using a picture.

Evan's silhouette at about 15 months of age.  

This was the first silhouette I attempted of Brody at his current age of almost 5.  I wanted to show his long eyelashes and the little cowlick of thick hair on the crown of his head.  However, I decided I wanted to do one of him at about the same age as Evan's.  

So then I made this one from a picture of Brody's profile at about 15 months of age.  I tried to show his longer and tousled looking hair before his first hair cut as well as his very thick, long eyelashes.   

Project #4

Of course, you already saw this project for Eddie's birthday present from me and the kids.  

Project #5

So the canvas I made for Eddie's present came in a two pack so I knew I wanted to do something with the other canvas.  I have adopted a special saying for both our blog and our life in recent years, and I wanted to have it displayed in our home in a special way.  I have wanted to make a little gallery wall display for a while and just wasn't sure what I wanted.  I decided to attempt to paint this saying on the canvas and then try to build a gallery wall around it.  Much like my other art projects, it definitely isn't perfect, but my OCD is going to try to live with it for a while.  I had wanted Eddie to get me some reclaimed wood to paint the saying on, but that did not happen.  Here is what I was able to capture:

Then, I just needed to decide what else I wanted in the gallery.  I knew I wanted it have a theme around our love story and family.  I put one of our wedding photos and the framed heart I had made for our Valentine's picture last year.  I wanted a letter R for our family monogram as well so I found a burlap one on sale at Kirkland's.  I also wanted to make a little print that I had pinned on etsy a long time ago with all of our family's important dates on it.  So here is the finished wall gallery for now.  It may change a little over time as I find other things to add to it, but I think that is the point of these displays.  They are supposed to speak to you personally.

Project #6

Here is the close up of the little art "project" that I hand lettered with our family dates on it.  And yes, you will undoubtedly learn my middle name from this post.  Ha!

Project #7

One project we have wanted to complete since moving from Charlotte is to make a growth chart for the kids because Eddie was marking the kids' growth on a door frame in their old room.  Sadly, we couldn't bring the door frame with us, but we marked the measurements on a piece of wood for the time being.  I discovered this chalkboard growth chart at Kirkland's on sale, and it was perfect for what we needed.  I decided to just put the kids' yearly measurements on it because it will be filled up when Mattox's measurements are added.

For now, the measurements are written with a chalk pen, but I will likely go over them with a permanent paint pen to make them more permanent.  

I especially love how you can tell how much taller Brody was each year than Evan.  There measurements do seem to be getting closer together now though. 

Project #8

I finally got a matching frame from Michael's for Mattox's picture to be added to this wall. 

And I added this Family Rules canvas to the kitchen wall which was one of the gifts we picked from Eddie's family Christmas. 

Project #9

Putting up a few minimal Valentine's decorations.

Just our Love banner and little Valentine sign from Target. 

And some Love themed window clings. 

Brody wanted to get these doughnuts and cupcakes. 

Future Projects

I hope to get a frame for our new large family portrait with baby Mattox which I will probably put where this one with Baby Brody is now.  I will probably just move this one to another spot.  I love all of our family portraits with each of our babies, and I hope they will treasure them always and inherit them when they are grown and move away. 

I also hope to special order a frame and special matting for his newborn photo collage like his big brothers'.  I just have to wait until another good frame deal from Michael's.  

I also hope that I can tackle some much needed organization projects in our "home office" and my crafts that are scattered between the garage and Mattox's closet right now.  But this list does make me feel a little accomplished for now.