ABC Wall: Part Five. Final Product!

So after all the hard work is done...the fun part is seeing how the final product turns out! So here is the ABC Wall in my sons room...

Bright and colorful! Lets learn our ABC's!

I had alot of fun doing this project. I have to say it took some time to do the painting...

 But after seeing it all together...definitely worth it!

Since I did not want a million holes in the wall I went for these awesome babies to hang them up. I can take the pictures off easily and put them back up and if the artwork gets old the tape easily comes off without leaving any residue on the wall. AMAZING!

I must say that I had many favorites while doing this project (the porcupine turned out really well) but here are just a few of my favorites starting with the nightingale. We had one of these outside in our tree when I was pregnant with David. They are awesome birds but not at 2am!

We had a difficult time with finding a U animal so we went old school for this one.

Ironically the squirrel was the only one I had to redo because when I sent to frame it it did not fit! Fitting that the "squirrel" would give me the most trouble since they do the same in our orchard!

All my little frames were fun, but this was the most fun to paint out of the four of them. 

I came up with the wolf howl part on the fly...I think it turned out cute. 

And then...the zebra. Which I was not sure was going to work but I think it turned out well. 

Now my little reader can learn his words everyday! We go through them when he wakes up and before bed. Since the changing table is right below he points up and baby talks to the animals. It is pretty cute.

So another fun project done! Now on to the next one!

If you missed the other parts of the ABC Wall here are the links:
Part One
Part Two
Part Three
Part Four

~ Misguided Maiden

Salsa Sundays: Black Bean and Corn Salsa

So each Sunday I am going to do every salsa in my creative arsenal (one each Sunday). Why you ask? well I like the idea of it, I have loads of salsas that I have learned from my family, friends, others that I have created and just random mis-matching of whats in the fridge that day to make tasty genius; plus I love to eat it so it is a great excuse to eat something yummy! Wait...what am I thinking! Salsa is very good for you!

This one I learned from my mom and she probably learned it from somewhere else too or created it on her own; I am not sure. But this one makes a great salsa or salad.

BLACK BEAN AND CORN SALSA

Your ingredients are:

1 can of Black Beans, rinsed

1.5 Cups of sweet frozen or fresh corn, thawed if frozen

1 Bunch of cilantro washed and chopped

1 Red bell pepper washed a diced

2 Roma Tomatoes washed a diced

1/2 of  red onion diced very small

1Avocado diced 

The juice of one lemon

1 Jalapeno Diced very small (optional for spice)

Salt to taste

Chop it all up and dump it in your bowl...

Stir, add you lime juice and salt to taste.

And ENJOY!

                                                                                  Buen Provecho!

~ Misguided Maiden

ABC Wall: Part Four. Drawing and Painting

Now the hard work begins...

I know some folks have fancy cut-out machines and fancy printers, but at this time in my life I am unable to afford such things. I am completely OK with this too because you can still do so much with less money...you just need to put a little more time into things.

So for me I go back to my roots of drawing and painting.

I have been painting and drawing since I can remember and I find it very therapeutic. So I printed out all my images (on the "low-ink" option with my 20 dollar printer) and used them as references to draw them onto watercolor paper.

Another option is to trace the printed images (I did trace out all the fonts as well as the porcupine and zebra images and those were a bit tough for me). Tape your images to a window with lots of light, put your paper over and now you can see through and trace! FABULOUS!

Then its on to lots of painting. To save time and errors I often traced the images with the black paint first and filled in any small holes so it would be easier when I went to paint the rest of the spaces black.

Now its time to finish painting these babies! We are so close to seeing the final product!

~Misguided Maiden

February Decorations and Crafting

So given that this little family was feeling under the weather I did not get the chance to post my February decorations and Valentines day items that David and I did together. So here are some photos of what we were up to at home.

First, David was sent home with this purple heart to decorate and bring back to daycare.

 We cut out some hearts...alright I cut them out and David played with the paper and chewed on the hearts.

Then we glued the cutouts to the paper and washed our sticky hands.

I cut off the excess...

Then I cut some small piece of yellow construction paper and helped David learn how to squish the paper.

Here you can see he is mastering this skill (with the help of mamma)...but trying o eat the paper is so much more fun!

The I glued it all on and this is what we turned in!

Next, the kids were having a Valentine's exchange at daycare and even though David would not be back to daycare till after Valentines day we still made some. The ones for the kids David's age were filled with these puffs above. Don't they look like hearts?

I got this Idea from Dana at MADE. I did not use her template but I thought the idea was so cute! The bigger kids got M&M's YUM!

Next we wanted to make a special surprize for daddy who went into work while mommy stayed home and took care of David...and herself. So we cut out a bunch of red hearts.

David helped me tape them up on the wall. He LOVED this.

And we left a little message at the end! We still have this up. David loves to point at the hearts and we count them out, and he LOVES to have daddy read the message.

Lastly we had lots of leftover hearts and cutouts so I decorated our vase with twigs to display a little love.

So I hope you enjoyed the pose. We certainly enjoyed decorating and creating.

Much LOVE

~ Misguided Maiden

Were Alive!

Well the past two weeks have been a bit rough. It all started with a sick baby (very mild cough and clear runny nose), then a sick husband, then a sicker baby (double eye and double ear infections and pneumonia), a trip to the ICU for baby then a release from the ICU followed immediately by a sick mamma.

I am not a fan of taking pictures of our son when he looks miserable but I did get a video from ICU when he was looking and feeling more like himself again (anyone that has kept a baby entertained while hooked up to a thousand things...you are my heroes).

It was funny...as soon as they said David can go home I started to get chills then very sick. Its like I was holding it all together while David and I were camped out in the ICU. My hubby and I were able to keep calm through all of this thanks to many blessings, answers to our prayers, the prayers of others and those who brought over some dinners (this was amazing). It all worked out that I was able to stay home with David till he was 100%.

He has another ear infection but that is something that I can handle. David did get some balloons and treats from some friends and he just loves playing with balloons...and snacking on treats.

Now he is essentially back to normal and so are mom and dad. This mama will be providing a few posts to update on things I have done but have not had the time to post them. I hope you enjoy. Stay healthy all!

~ Misguided Maiden

Sick Day(s)

Sorry for the lack of posting lately. This little family has been sick and to the hospital (more on this later). I will be up and running soon with updates and new tutorials. For now it is all about doing laundry (notice how there is more to do when the family is sick...ugh) and sterilizing the house and healing up!

A Little Pie in Between Posts

Things seem to be hectic this week. Anybody else feeling like this? I know I shouldn't complain... so instead I will post some pictures of pie...

I LOVE making cup cake sized pies. They are the best! I am feeling better now.