4th of July Rocket Wreath!!

Happy {almost} 4th of July!! 

I did it... I hopped on the "make a wreath out of a pool noodle" bus.  But I didn't go to the Dollar Tree and buy one like normal people do.  I ran outside to the pool and just shook the pool water off of one instead!  It was so brittle from being in the sun for a few summers that a chunk of it fell off when I was shaping the wreath, so I decided to make a little rocket out of that part... bonus :)

I didn't take step by step pictures because I had two napping babies and flew through this project as quickly as I could.  I love the way and turned out, and the best part is that I raided my craft supplies for the fabric, felt, ribbon, paper, mini clothespins, glitter, and of course, I had to throw in a little burlap!  Total cost= freeeee!

I thought I was finished with just the rocket for decoration, but it looked so plain so I added our country's birth year. Happy Birthday to the U.S.A!  

I hope you all have a fun and safe 4th of July!  And don't forget to enter to win the giveaway going on at Tattered and Inked right now.  I'm giving away a Scentsy plug-in warmer and scent bar, plus there are 8 other prizes all to be won by one lucky reader!!  xoxo

I'm linking up here!

A Giveaway & A Graduate!

Hi friends and Happy Friday!!

It's such an exciting day here at Gallamore West!  First, I'm so excited to be a part of the fun giveaway at Tattered and Inked right now.  There are nine prizes to be won by one lucky winner- I'm giving away a Scentsy plug-in warmer and scent bar.  Head on over to enter!

Also, my little cutie Jake graduated preschool today!  He attended the best, cutest little preschool around.  Converted into a schoolhouse from a real house, it was a super small preschool that went above and beyond my expectations in every area.  

And check out my little graduate!

The graduation ceremony was today, and these ladies thought of EVERY single detail.  It was held on the playground {or as Jake calls it, "in our school backyard"} and it was the cutest thing ever!  Cap and gown, tassels and sashes, tons of decorations, and they served lunch and dessert to everyone who came.  Plus pictures and gifts, and Jake's favorite, a little graduation bear :) 

So please allow me to indulge myself by showing you lots of pictures of what I like to call

Pomp and Circumstance- preschool style!

Proof that our sweet baby Bryce was there... he slept through the whole thing :)  

I can't believe our Jake is already five and headed off to Kindergarten in the fall.  Seriously, someone push the pause button already please! xoxo

Splish Splash Blog Bash: DIY 4th of July Shirts!

 
 Wahoo... I'm back for Day 3 of the Splish Splash Blog Bash hosted by Kelsey at Tattered and Inked!  Today's theme is a "Summer DIY Dish or Project" and as much as I love summer sweets and treats, I'm super excited to show you my DIY project,  4th of July t-shirts I designed for our boys.  What's your most favorite thing about summer?   There are a million things I love about summer, but the 4th of July tops my list because it pretty much has everything I love about summer all packed into one day... the food, the fun, the decorations, cute desserts, and a fabulous opportunity for memory making with our 4 boys. Whether I buy them or decorate them myself, my boys always have a special shirt for the 4th of July.   Last year we had just moved and I was short on time, so I bought the $5 Old Navy shirts.   

  Nothing wrong with that, but this year I wanted to do something unique, so I pulled out my supplies:t-shirts, fabric paint & paint brushes. 

Using my Silhouette I cut out the words for the shirts.  I tried to use freezer paper because it's so inexpensive and normally works great for stencils on fabric, but I have my strongest little blade in my Silhouette right now and I can't find my other blades so I had to switch it up and use vinyl for the stencils because freezer paper is thin and kept tearing.  The vinyl worked great! 

 Ta-da!

 And here is the finished project...  I'll have to mentally prepare myself for an attempt at getting them all looking at the camera for a picture of them actually wearing them :) 

  I'm linking up here!    

Splish Splash Blog Bash: Summer Reading!

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 I'm loving this Splish Splash Blog Bash this week, hosted by the adorable Kelsey at Tattered and Inked!  I admit I'm behind in checking out all of the other bloggers because I'm busy cuddling my sweet baby boy while trying to keep an eye on our other three boys... which leads me to my favorite Summer Reads.   Summer reading, are you kidding me?!   Back before I had kids, my most favorite thing to do in the summer was to grab my book, drink, and towel and head to the beach for hours and hours, devouring my book and soaking up the sun.  After a scare with skin cancer, you can find me wearing a hat under a big umbrella these days if I get a chance to sit down, and reading a book is now a luxury that I crave.   Here's the criteria for a good summer book for me... anything with a pink cover,anything with a picture of a cake on it,or anything by Sophie Kinsella or Jennifer Weinerand pretty much any other high quality, deep plot stuff.  Haaaaa!!  So, if I get a spare minute around here sometime this summer, you'll find me desperately trying to get through this stack right here.  I've actually read a couple of them already {a miracle!} and I'm currently reading Fly Away Home.

I'm a nook-free, Kindle-free, old-fashioned check them out at the library girl.  Then renew, renew, renew, and usually give up and return before reading girl.   

What about you?

Splish Splash Blog Bash: Summer Faves Monday!

 Wahoo, it's Summertime!!

   Our countdown is over and we're packing in the fun {along with some lazy pj days here too}!  Summer is absolutely my favorite time of year.  With a summer birthday and having grown up in San Diego, summer is just packed full of fun from beginning to end.  And I'm thrilled to be part of the Splish Splash Blog Bash this week with Kelsey and all of these fun bloggers!  
Here are some of my summer favorites...  I'd love to hear some of your Summer Favorites too :)
Summer Drink:  Well, I'd love to say something really exciting here... it used to be Starbucks Frappuccinos or Dr. Pepper, but with a six week old little baby and wanting to look at least semi-decent this summer, my drink of choice this summer is WATER and a whole lot of it.  I know, no fun right?   Summer Vacation:  Oh, how I miss my favorite summer vacation!  Every 4th of July we used to fly back east to Rehoboth, DE for our annual family get together with my husband's family.  My in-laws have a gorgeous beach house just steps from the sand.  But can you imagine flying cross country with FOUR little kids and all of their strollers, car seats, and such?  Me neither!!  As much as I miss our annual Rehoboth days and our annual flag cake we would decorate with all of the kids, road trips closer to home are much more our style these days.  Plus we live in San Diego and have a pool in our backyard, so "staycations" are a pretty popular theme around here these days!   Summer color:  My favorite color year-round is yellow.  I just love that in Summer my favorite color is "in season."  I'd use yellow to decorate for Christmas if I could pull it off :)  I'm also loving this soft, blueish-green sea foam, turquoise color that I used on this Upcycled Summer Sign I made a couple of weeks ago. 

 Summer activity:  My favorite thing to do in the summer {and pretty much all year} is to find fun things to do with our boys that make lasting impressions and fun memories.  This year I'm planning a special surprise for them:  Christmas in July!  One out of the blue morning, they'll wake up to a whole day of Christmas in July fun... carols playing in the kitchen, a few decorations set up {mostly the ones that missed getting into the storage tubs from this past Christmas and that I randomly find here and there!} and a special visit from their favorite North Pole friend, Elfie. Summer Snack:  Ohhh, I'm a snacker and I love it all!  Slurpees, snow cones, ice cream, anything with lemon... but just like my lame-o "water is my favorite drink" answer, my favorite snack this summer is anything healthy and low-carb.  Blah!  I'm not completely lame though.  When I get out the ice cream for my boys, I indulge in one spoonful.  Okay, that is completely lame. Summer movie:  I don't know if I have one favorite summer movie.  But I do love, love, love our Friday Night Family Movie Night.  And the best part about summer is that we can do it any night!  Tonight we grabbed a Red Box movie on the way home from the zoo and watched The Adventures of Tin Tin.  The boys stayed up way past their bedtime and we loved it! Summer game:  Water balloons!!!  I surprised my little guys with an ice chest full of them one afternoon last week and it was seriously the most fun thing to watch them squeal with excitement. 

 Summer song:  I'm a country girl so I loooooove turning up Kenny Chesney's "Summertime" and singing along nice and loud {and terribly off tune}.  Pretty much anything I can turn up and have my boys sing along with is my favorite though. Summer fruit:  Strawberries, hands down!  I'd eat them all day, every day if I could. What about you? Summer flip flops:  Oh, flip flops are a year-round, every day part of my attire here!  I have about a million pairs, but I also have an adorable 19 month old sweetheart who loves to put on a single shoe and walk around proudly before leaving it for a game of hide and seek to find it.  So I pretty much wear whichever flip flops I can find both matching. Soooo, what's your favorite Summertime stuff?  I'd love to hear all about it :)  And make sure to visit some of the other awesome bloggers in Kelsey's Splish Splash Blog Bash to find out all about their summer favorites too!  Thanks for hosting, Kelsey!! xoxo

Beachy Burlap Wreath

Don't you love it when you create something that you just love?  Well, that's how I feel about my Beachy Burlap Wreath with Seashells.  I made this last year and it inspired the decor for our sun room, which I'll share pictures of very soon.  A year later, she's still hanging there and looking pretty! 

Here's a look back on how I made it...

First I made it just plain so I could dress it up later... 

Then I decorated it with red & aqua ribbons and a mini pennant banner that said "Welcome" for Jake's Red Scooter Party.  Click here for the tutorial {plain and dressed up}.

And then that little burlap banner got a whole lotta attention because it was on Hostess with the Mostess, Kara's Party Ideas, Whipperberry, Twiddler House, and more!

And when I saw it pinned on Pinterest under 4th of July ideas, my wheels starting spinning with ideas of how I could re-style my little burlap beauty {that cost about $5 and just 45 minutes to make} and use it over and over again!

So, here she is again  {yes, I now refer to her as though she were a real, breathing person}. This time she is all dressed up for summer!  

I just pulled out the red ribbons, added seashells {from Michael's} and switched out the word on the banner.  

It was so quick and easy, and I'm loving her so much.  She's hanging in our Sun Room that is going to be a coastal, beach themed Sun Room {which I'm hoping to have it decorated enough to share pictures of it with you all soon because it's my favorite room in the house!}  I took most of the pictures outside though because the Sun Room was a bit too sunny for good pictures this morning, but here's one in her new home.

What's your favorite project you've done?  

This little burlap wreath is like the Energizer Bunny... she keeps going and going and I think she might just be my favorite!

I'm linking up to the Summer Lovin' Link Party here on my own blog, and at Shaped by Grace.  It's open all summer long, so link up your favorite summer projects {new or old} here!  Happy Summer! xoxo

And I'll be linking her up to some of my other favorite places too!