Christmas gift DIY

I was looking for something special and unique to give K's grandparents for Christmas. I looked online for a while but nothing really fit their style.

One thing that did catch my eye was a door mat customized to each set of grandparents.
Before:















After:

 

The first obstacle of this project was to find a door mat in a small town at Christmas time that didn't already have a design on it. Luckily, N's brother and sister-in-law were headed into the city and offered to stop at IKEA for me since I knew they would have the perfect coir door mats.

Next, was getting my stencils designed and cut out. It was much more work than I expected. I actually changed the design of the second after working on the first. I'd also go back and redo the first if I could get another door mat easily. I also should have found a smaller utility knife or craft scalpel which would have made cutting the stencil much easily.

The last step was the easiest. Spray painting! Spray painting may have not been the best option. If you don't spray at a good angle then you end up with shadows. The first stencil I made had several small letters and some of them run into each other because of it.

And Voila!

Both sets of grandparents loved them and I sort of want to make my own now.

Carving pumpkins

I've never really been into carving pumpkins.... ever.

Since K is almost two, I told myself I would try for this year and see how it goes.

Well, I pretty much hated it and K only got excited once I was almost done.

Now when she walks by it she says that she made it with mommy. Well I guess I met my goal in making memories with her.

Next year, we'll try either painting the pumpkin or using stickers or something. I'd prefer not to have to deal with the insides again.

 

Pretty awful, right??

Happy Halloween!

I know I'm a few days late.

Here is K on her second Halloween. Her costume was DIY by me (inspiration from pinterest) and I got sooooo many compliments!