The Front Porch is Done!

Chris has been working his booty off this Spring finishing our front porch.  

Last Spring he built the porch, but not the roof.  At the beginning of this year, it looked like this.

I do NOT miss that!  

So, about a month ago, Khloe and I went on a trip with my mom and when I came back Chris had put up the roof!  Since then he's been putting on the finishing touches and as of yesterday, it is complete!!  

We decided to go with rough-cut lumber on the inside roof.  We just got the lumber from our local saw mill. I love how it turned out.  

Chris installed LED can lights on the ceiling which provide a TON of light.  But we also have a light box in the center.  We're still trying to decide if we're going to do a chandelier or a fan there.

On one side of the porch, we have a table, chairs and the grill (probably should have taken the grill cover off for the pics...)  

On the other side is my new porch swing and Khloe's corner.

I'll do another post on this, but I bought an unfinished porch swing for WAY cheap and painted it.  I also made the pillows.  My favorite is the middle one with my baby's hand prints :)

We're loving spending time out here.  

The rest of the yard is looking great this year.  The grass has really come in well.  Here is the view from the road.  We purposely set our house back this far because we love the privacy it provides.

Here's the view as you come down our driveway.

So that's our yearly yard update :)

-Brooke

DIY Photo Canvas Collage

You know you need to update the pictures in your house when your 21 month old goes around pointing at all of the pictures of herself and saying "Baby Khloe".... I think it happens to all of us.  When the kids are first born, we're constantly updating the pictures in the house, but as time goes by... not so much.

I do have to say, I've been good at keeping up with taking pictures, just not printing them.  I still take monthly pictures of her for her yearly photo books.  I'll have to show you last year's photo book sometime.  

Anywho...  I needed to update the pictures in the house and I also wanted to update the wall above my piano.  I've been working the last couple months to finally make my living room into a place I love.  I painted the trim and made new curtains here and updated my entry table here and here.  I have a few more things to check off the list in this room before it feels right to me, but I'm getting there.

My piano area looked like this.

I would really really really love to re-do the piano some how... still thinking it through.

I had a bunch of blank canvases lying around the house, so I decided to do one of those fancy shmancy photo canvas collages that I've seen on Pinterest.

I've used 2 different methods in the past for making photo canvases.  In Khloe's nursery, I put my maternity photos on canvases using Mod Podge and they still look great about 2 years later.  

In our hallway, I used photo mounting spray.... epic fail.  The edges started peeling up not even a month after I made them.

So, we're going back to Mod Podge for this one.

I gathered all of my supplies-

• Photos
• Canvases
• Mod Podge
• Foam Brush
• Command Strips
• Level

I used (1) 16x20, (2) 8x10 and (6) 5x7 canvases.  I had my picture printed at Sam's Club for $12!!  They have great prices on enlargements.

I laid out my canvases to decide how I wanted to arrange my collage.

Then I started Mod Podging.  Put a pretty thick, even coat of Mod Podge on the canvas, put the picture down on top and smooth out any air pockets just using your hands.  Then flip the canvas over so the pressure is holding the picture in place.  For the biggest canvas, I put some books on the corners to hold put more pressure on it while it dried.

I let that dry while Khloe and I watched 1 episode of Sheriff Callie... 30 minutes.  :)

While I had them turned upside down, I went ahead and trimmed off any parts of the picture that over-hung the canvas.  

Once I did that, I flipped them over and put a coat of Mod Podge right on top of the picture and all over the sides.  This is basically sealing it to the canvas.  Your picture will look a little hazy when you first put on the Mod Podge, but no worries, it dries clear.  But still allows you to see the brushstrokes, making it look more like a real photo canvas.  I tried to capture it in this photo.

Let them sit until dry and then they're ready to hang.  When making a collage, a level will be your best friend.  Once I secured the middle picture, I just worked off of it to keep everything level.

5 down, 4 to go!

After they were all hung, my little climber had to sneak into a picture.

I hung them a bit too high over the piano, so there was a lot of open space between them and the piano.  So, I decided to make a quick pallet board sign to fill in.  I'm glad I did, it adds a little something that was lacking.

Happy Summering!!  

-Brooke

Sam's Club

Spring is finally here!  We've been outside as much as possible lately.  Chris has been working hard on finishing our porch.  He's putting on the finishing touches now; I'll post photos once it's finished.

I was in the kitchen today putting my Sam's Club haul in the freezer when I thought... I should blog about this.  I love Sam's Club... I mean LOVE Sam's Club.  I have one literally 2 minutes from my office, so I'm in there all the time.  I tell everyone I know about the stuff I buy there, so now I'm tellin' you!

Here are a few things I buy regularly at Sam's Club and why.

• Milk

Why? I know milk prices vary per store, but here this milk is $3.10/ gallon at Sam's Club.  I have seen it as high as $3.89/ gallon at Walmart.  Since we go through 3 gallons a week (yeah you'd think I have 7 kids from the amount of milk we go through) I drop by once a week to buy 3.

• Cheese (both mozzarella and cheddar)

Why?  It's cheaper.  Hands down.  When you buy in bulk, it may seem like your spending a lot of money, but you have to take into account how much your getting.  This cheese is $15.33 for 20 cups.  That equals out to $0.77 per cup.  Walmart's brand of cheese is around $2.50 for a 2 cup bag.  That equals out to $1.25 per cup!!  By buying at Sam's, you save $0.48 per cup.  So I'm basically saving $9.60 by buying here.

• Peanut Butter

Why?  One reason only... we eat a ton of peanut butter and we're brand loyal to Peter Pan.  This is $9.67 for a 6 pound tub.

• Meat (hamburger & chicken and sometimes rotisserie chicken) 

Why?  Quality on the hamburger and price on the chicken.  The hamburger is WAY better quality than Walmart (less fatty).  And the boneless skinless chicken breasts are $1.88/ pound!  

• Vinegar

Why?  Price and convenience.  This pack of two gallons is only $3.58.  I use vinegar for a lot of things.  If you pour some baking soda down your drain and then pour vinegar in, you have homemade Drano!  I also use it as a rinse aid in my dishwasher.  Maybe I'll do a post about all the things you can do with vinegar.... hmm...

• Diapers

Why?  Convenience is my main reason.  I buy one of these packs a month and then I don't have to think about diapers for a whole month.  They're good quality, way better than Walmart's brand.  The price is also good.  This pack is $38.98 which ends up being about $0.15/ diaper.  Walmart is slightly cheaper at around $0.14/ diaper, but we've had many leaks while using them.  I'll pay the extra $0.01 to not have to clean up poo...

• Baby Wipes

Why?  Same reason as diapers :)  

• Laundry Detergent

Why?  I love this laundry detergent.  It is one of the few generics of Tide that I've ever seen and WAY WAY WAY cheaper than Tide.  It's $13.98 for 115 loads.  Yeah you could probably get some other brand for cheaper, but the quality of this out does the rest.

• Fabric Softener

Why?  Same reasons as the laundry detergent, but replace Tide with Snuggle :)  It is $8.48 for 197 loads.

• Dishwasher Tabs

Why? Price and quality!  $9.98 for 105 loads.

• Trash Bags

Why?  Again price, quality and convenience!  $14.98 for 90 bags

• Toilet paper

Why?  Price and convenience.  Who wants to buy toilet paper every time you go to the store?  If the cashiers start recognizing you they may think you have a problem!  It's $16.87 for 45 double rolls.

Those are my regular buys.  We've also bought a ton of random stuff there like:

• Mattress 
• TV
• Toys
• Clothes
• Flowers

You never know what you'll find!  Here was our latest impulse buy- 

Yeah... let's just say we have one happy little girl :)

So anyways, I'm not being paid by Sam's Club or anything, I just truly love it.  It took me a while to figure out what was a good buy there and what wasn't, so I thought I would share what I've found.  I'm getting to the point where I would love to buy everything in bulk just so I don't have to go to the store that often... Chris better build a storage building :)

-Brooke