Super easy project

I love ceiling fans.  I know they are considered ugly and all the home decorators frown upon them, but I need that constant air moving, especially at night.

The nursery didn't have one and since it is in the back of the house and doesn't get a lot of air movement, we installed a nice looking one from home depot.  I had also read that constant air movement while the baby sleeps can help prevent SIDS.

I do think the ugly part of the fan are the light and fan pulls.

Turns out that our bedroom has the same ceiling fan!

I've had colored painted state quarters that I received from family members when I moved - GA and NM.  I've never really known what do with them, so they have just sort of been around the house. 

Then I go the bright idea, that they would make great fan and light pulls on the new ceiling fan! 

I just used some needle nose pliers to destroy the old pulls, slip on the quarters, and crimp the ends to secure the quarters.  A ~5min project that adds the perfect amount of details to a ceiling fan!

What easy home projects have you been up to??
The nursery is just about finished.  I got a beautiful colorful mobile from etsy that needs to be hung and then I can take finished pics! 
-ELH

Another quick art project update

Remember when I painted a bunch of wooden things back in August?

I painted that bird house planning on doing something else with it.  But then it sat and sat and I finally decided to do something else with it.  I tried drawing the owl and tree and some flowers on it and it was awful!  So I decide to keep it like it is and paint it's brother in an opposite manner.  Grey roof, teal walls. 

I think they look cute and great outside.

Now I need to get some bird seed to out inside to attract a bird family.

That was an easy project that took ~6months from purchase to done!  Busy life!

Enjoy!

-ELH

Latest art project

I saw this on idea on pinterest - framing foreign coins to remind you of your trip.  Love it!
I thought this would be prefect for our hallway art using Canadian coins. 
I wanted to submit it to the Fall edition of the Pinterest Challenge dreamed up by Katie and Sherry, but my coins were still in Canada with G!  Oh well!  Maybe next time.

After sorting through G's coins, I found the best coins with lots of fun backsides and significant dates.  Our hallway art is all in black frames and most are from Ikea.  I ended up getting a frame from Target with a 4x6 opening to add some frame variety!

I placed the coins on brown craft paper and glued them with gorilla glue.  I let them dry for a few days...

Layout

Drying

Julia Child makes a great weight!

Done!

Now some pics of the gallery hallway!  It is a work in progress, but I like it!  On the left side - wedding collage, etsy "plants cats can eat" print, our wedding invitation, etsy state print, Notre Dame print we got in Paris.  On the right side - Sagrada Familia print from Barcelona, another etsy state print, and the Canadian coins.

Looking toward the kitchen from the furthest point.  Living room on the left, hall closet and guest bedroom on the right.

Closer view

Looking from the opposite direction.  At the end of the hallway is a picture of a bamboo forest we got in Maui on our honeymoon.

 Enjoy!
ELH

Christmas crafts

Every year we give the nephews and niece an ornament with their name on it. Their mom's said they love having their own personalized ornament and enjoy putting them on the tree. And you know me, I love something personalized!

This year, I found these plain white ornaments that I thought would be fun to paint ourselves. We used some cool glitter paint we got at a teacher's art store.
For what ever reason, the paint didn't stick, so we had to use MANY coats of paint and then sealed it with clear spray paint. Originally, I was going to leave it for an art project for the kids. Your welcome, Laura and Melissa!

I am pretty happy with them!

What Christmas gifting traditions do you have?
Enjoy!
ELH

Art project

Bamboo Forest

While we were in Maui, I was on the hunt for art pieces for the house to remember the trip. We did find some very cool sea turtle things! but I wanted a print.
On our Road to Hana adventure, we stopped for a ~4mile nature hike on Haleakala to see waterfalls. During the hike, there was this amazing passage through a bamboo forest. We found an artist who had captured this forest and now the print is at the end of our main hallway. It reminds me of Maui every time I walk down the hall. Very cool!!


At one of the many coffee shops we visited, a local artist had created custom light switch face plates using old magazine, wrapping paper, and post cards. They were really cool. I thought I could do that. So I found a cool post card showing the main islands. Did you know that there are over 130 islands that make up the Hawaiian Islands??
I bought a cheap face plate from the hardware store. After figuring out where I wanted the cut outs and making the cuts, I soaked the post card in water for ~30sec to soften it up. I glued the post card on to the face plate with crazy glue. I let it dry overnight and then coated front and back with clear spray paint. Finished product -

I installed it in our hall bathroom that has brown tones. I think it came out pretty good. Now I just need to paint the screws a darker color to match the post card better.

What crafty things have you been up to??
-ELH