The creativity in this world amazes me.
There are times when I’m out or browsing online and I see something that stops me in my tracks. I can’t help but think how beautiful that creation is. I may not need that item, but there is something about the colors, design, uniqueness that caught my attention.
Creativity comes in all different ways, as I mentioned before in this post.
I love being inspired by other artists. Sometimes either the placement of their design, the colors they paired together, the shapes they use spur an idea in me. I found a wrapping paper the other day at TJMaxx that did this to me. I instantly fell in love with the paper and knew I needed to bring it home with me, if only to continued to be inspired by the design.
I wrapped a few presents with it and then taped a piece to the wall. Could wrapping paper be turned into wall paper? This I’m not sure, but I may want to try it.
While the wrapping paper was taped to the wall, I looked at it off and on and thought how much I loved the print. I decided I wanted to try my hand at painting some flowers inspired by this design. I had a base wood sign that I had already built and painted white. It was a blank canvas waiting to be embellished and make into something. I came up with this idea to create a sign off a phrase that I have done a couple of times before (like in this wood sign post), but this time to embellish the sun with flowers inspired by this wrapping paper.
I painted the words, the sun, and then was ready for the fun part. I picked out my own colors for the flowers and just started having fun and painting away.
It was so fun just going for it. I loved laying my colors on top of each other and adding some details to the flowers to add another depth and color to the painting. It took a little while to wait for colors to dry before I could build on them. In between homeschooling and life I would capture a layer or two, so this part of the sign alone took about three days. It was worth it. I love how the sun was so much more fun and unique because of these flowers and to think it was all inspired by a piece of wrapping paper.
I was super nervous to add my rustic touch to the sign after spending so much time painting the flowers. I had a piece of art I loved and I was afraid I might ruin it to sand and stain the whole sign. I wanted to take that risk though. I knew the potential of the sign being even more beautiful with that light rustic/warm touch, so I slowly started sanding my creation very lightly.
After I sanded, I painted on Minwax’s Early American stain and rubbed it off with an old cloth.
I loved what this step did to the sign. My last step was to add the frame and stain it as well. I quickly measured the pieces and nailed them into place. My sign was finished, and I just adore it!
I think it is a beautiful combination of color with a rustic/artsy edge. It’s so fun. This popular phrase has been made into all kinds of signs, but a small piece of wrapping paper helped me create a sign that I had not done/seen before. I love that we can find inspiration in the craziest of places.
There are items that we can expect to find inspiration. Magazines, blog posts, and Pinterest are just few normal places to find inspiration. What are some of the weird ones you have found inspiration?
A worn down barn?
The way a creek trickles over shallow rocks?
Weathered chairs?
What else?
What is something that has inspired a creation of yours?
In a world that is constantly changing, evolving, and inspiration can be found everywhere, I think it is so important to lean into some of that to the next level of depth. Rather than just seeing something you love, figure out why you love it and do something about it. I loved the shapes of the flowers, so I took this inspiration and made something of my own with it. Instead of just looking, I used my hands and made something. Try it!
Thank you so much for joining me here today. If you may be interested in purchasing this sign, please check my shop to see if it is still available.
Oh, my pallet wall.
We started with this thin wall. For as long as we have been in this house (a year now), I have wanted to pallet that wall. It’s small and broken up with the fireplace. It’s the perfect wall to turn into a fun accent wall. I’m not sure what the previous owners had in that little wall nook. It’s always been an awkward space for us. This pallet wall would fix that issue as well-we covered it up!
He then used our Ryobi Brad Nailer to build studs in the nook. This gave us something to place nails into to attach the pallet boards.
If you are just joining in with this project, click over to 
When we were ready to start, I simply picked a board to start with and used my brad nailer to attach it to the wall. We used four nails per a board. It was one nail per corner.
The only place where we didn’t put a nail in every corner was where we were covering up the open nook space. We attached the nails, so they would go into the studs that Matt had built.
Filling in the wall kind of felt like piecing a puzzle together. We didn’t want all of our ends to meet up together, so we intentionally would start a row placing a board in the middle of the seem of two boards in the row above. This little step created small spaces that needed filled with boards cut to a particular size (as shown below). In this scenario, we would mark a board where it needed cut and use our Ryobi 
We intentionally picked a chipped board to be placed where the electrical outlet cord would be coming out. It worked perfectly to have the cord discreetly come out and have the wall still look rustic.
After our longer rows were complete, we stood back and admired. It was so exciting and looked so good. One thing I will say about 
I love how the wall came out! If you too are covering a hole or wanting an outlet, this next step is for you. We let our wall sit for a few weeks while life happened. Matt did attach some 2×4’s to mount the electrical outlet and serve as the mount for the mantel that we would eventually create.
My wall looks rustic and completely natural doesn’t it!? Let me fill you in on a little secret. There were a couple rows, where I ran out of various shades of different colored boards so two colors ended up being next to each other. It didn’t look right. So I poured a little stain on a cloth and ran it over a few boards to break up the color. You wouldn’t be able to tell unless I pointed them out to you.
Do you have those moments where you realize how pathetically weak you are? Maybe you encourage your kids to eat their chicken and finish their carrots, so they can be strong. You might hope those words are true for you too and you consider yourself relatively in shape. Then something happens (like a slap in the face) showing you how totally not strong you actually are?
With the help from my friends at Ryobi, I found the simplest way to get this wood! Don’t mess with the nails. Use the 
We sliced the wood right off the crossbar posts with our saw. We lost some wood by this technique, but we saved so much time and energy. We’d run the saw up one side and then down the other to free the pallet boards from the side posts. Then we’d go back and make cuts on each side of the center crossbar.
We ended up with a huge stack of pallet wood that was about half the size in length as a normal pallet. It was so quick. Since we were cutting boards so fast, they didn’t have the straightest ends. We used our 
Once we had a bunch of wood with straight ends we were ready to get creating. What was at one time the worst job on earth became such a breeze and FUN.
We did our wall from start to finish all in one Saturday with breaks, meals, and caring for four kids. If you have a pallet wood project you want to conquer, use this saw. You wont be sorry.
This wall is in what we call our snow room. It’s the best room in the house to watch the snow fall. Now that temps are lowering, leaves are falling, and jackets are needed, snow will not be that far off. I can’t wait to sit in this room and watch the fluffy white stuff come down. This pallet wall makes the room feel so warm and welcoming!
Surely I’m not a hoarder, right!? There are things that are easy to throw out. Toys the dogs have chewed on, stained socks with holes, and junk mail… no sweat!
I decided I would make some simple heart blocks and books ends. I love the simplicity yet loud message a heart speaks. What a cute little accent these would be on shelves and dressers.
I then picked out some fun colors and painted the blocks. Once they were painted on both sides, I cut a heart out of cardboard to create a stencil. I then placed this in the center of my block and painted the heart in.
I ended up creating several different sized heart stencils. This idea for a sign is similar to 
I love how the blocks turned out. To turn some of the larger ones into book ends, I attached a 4″ L bracket to the bottom of two of the blocks.
I think the blocks and bookends turned out so bright and fun. I really like them.
I donated this round of blocks to a fun home decor sale in our town. The profits from this sale help send kids in Zambia, Africa to school! If you are local to Warsaw or Winona Lake, Indiana, please come check out the Hither and Yon sale October 16-17. You can find more details on their 
I think one of the best gifts we have is the ability to use our gifts for good. What a power. The surprise is that we get something in return. It’s a win-win. I was thrilled to make some creations for a good reason. I just might have to buy one of these blocks back because I really like them.