Extreme Makeover: Office Edition

So, I don't know if I've ever shown you our office? Nope, I just checked all of my old posts and while I've mentioned the office (in regards to the water leak we discovered after the hurricane last fall), I've never shown you the office. Probably Mostly because it was embarrassing. I am a neat freak and the office was anything but neat. It was more like a graveyard for crap (pardon my language). Our office was so bad that I actually would avoid using it. I would even use our archaic laptop to do work instead of our nice desktop, that I purchased, because I didn't want to go in the office.

Well, as I mentioned last week, I've been training for my summer teaching position and a majority of the training up until last week had been at home. The training required me to be at a computer watching videos, taking quizzes, participating in conference calls, reading materials, etc. a.k.a., I was actually going to have to use our office . . . which meant I was going to have to straighten that sucker up. (I'm one of those people that cannot work in an untidy room. I will seriously clean before I study/work.)

So, I spent a good two days clearing out the room, scrubbing it down, and putting things back in place. If you follow me on Instagram you probably saw this photo a few weeks back:

This was taken mid-clean, after I had taken everything out of the office and piled it all in the hallway. It was a dusty mess of books and random other stuff, like the cat drinking fountain box and a burgundy-colored crocodile-print briefcase . . . again, random stuff.

But, now it's time for the big reveal . . . and don't worry, I'm sharing the "before" and "after" shots so you can see how horrendous it looked before and how extreme of a makeover/cleaning job I did!



As you can see, not only did I remove the ladder and get a chair, but I organized our filing and the contents of all those boxes and bags.

Quick note on the chair. I have wanted an Ikea Poang chair for a few years now, but I could never muster up the courage to spend $100+ on the one I wanted. Now, if you've never sat in one, you need to find one and plunk your butt down because you'll understand why I've wanted one - they are coooooommfy. A few weeks ago though, I just happened to be searching craigslist for random stuff (like a retro metal bar cart) and realized that I should search for a Poang chair . . . A couple of days later I nabbed this beauty for $30! If you were to buy this chair straight from Ikea, it'd be about $150. Bar-gain!! And, it's in great condition! Anyway, back to our office makeover . . .

Then I had to tackle the bookshelves . . .

. . . oh, the books! Now they are finally all back in order on the shelves (by "type," author, chronology, etc.), the shelves are dusted, and the random piles of stuff have been contained (notice I didn't say removed!)!

Lastly, I conquered our desk, which pretty much meant organizing the piles of stuff on it. Easy stuff compared to the bookshelves.

Oh, and if you notice something different in the "after" shot, it's probably our diplomas that I finally hung up (because what office is complete without the diplomas?) and the teal-painted herringbone cork boards I made (thank you, Pinterest)! Here's a closer view of the cork boards if you're curious . . .

 They were super easy to make. I just bought four cork tiles from Target (the same ones I bought for my cork travel map that cost about $9), measured and taped off the herringbone design with painter's tape, took the tiles outside, and gave them a good three-ish coats of spray paint. I think this was one of the best projects I've done in a while - cheap, easy, and completely customizable. My mom mentioned that these tiles might be good for the side of a stainless refrigerator to hang invites or notes, that way you don't have to hang stuff on the front and potentially scratch the surface. Genius! Plus, you can do whatever design and color you want.

Also, if you noticed and like my uber-cute desktop background with the fun chevron pattern in the first photo, you should check out Atomicdust's blog (my sister, Danielle, works for them). Every month their designers take a break from client work to craft some seriously awesome desktops to download for FREE for your computer, iPad, and smartphones. LOVE them!

Anyway, that's our extreme makeover: office edition! It didn't require any painting or big furniture purchases, just some TLC, and a few days off work! Maybe someday we'll add a rug or a footstool for my Poang chair, but for now it's back to work in my clean and functional office . . .

Dear Hand-Me-Down Dresser Gods

Dear Hand-Me-Down Dresser Gods,

I am searching for a lovingly-cared-for-but-no-longer-wanted dresser for our guest bedroom. I would love to have it in time for my parent's visit in mid-May so that I can progress in "finishing" our guest bedroom. See, it just looks so bare without some kind of a dresser to store linens, travel products, and other knick-knacks.

Said dresser would look fabulous with an equally wonderful mirror above it and those lovely aqua-spray-painted thrift-store sconces on either side of it, adorned with crisp white candles.

I am looking for something like these that I can "upcycle" with a nice coat of paint and some new hardware.

Can you please request that the DC area Craigslist, Goodwill, and other area thrift stores that I frequent make some available for me to purchase? Preferably in the $40-80 dollar range, with working drawers, solid construction, and maybe some detail work?

Also, I would love love to happen upon some kind of entry-way table, like these . . .

. . . and a metal bar cart, like this (since my lovely sister nabbed our grandma's!).

Sincerely, your project-starved patrons,

Kristin (and Chris)

History Nerds

Chris and I are big history nerds, if you haven't already figured that out from our map wall a few weeks ago. I am probably the biggest history nerd though, which I already hinted at here. (In summation, I love Little House on the Prairie.)

Any-who, if we didn't already stamp our nerdiness on our house with the map wall, we definitely did in our preparations for my brother and his girlfriend's visit last weekend for the Rock 'n' Roll Marathon.  Just like most of you probably do when you're expecting guests at your house, we spent the week before their arrival cleaning, grocery shopping, etc. But, while cleaning for most people is probably just the basic dusting and vacuuming, cleaning for me also means finally finishing long-awaited house projects. More specifically, long-awaited projects in the areas that guests will see, like the guest bedroom and its surrounding areas.

The first project was a 1,000-piece puzzle of the United States and the U.S. Presidents. Uber-nerdy, I know. It was an old puzzle I found in my parents' basement when we were visiting at Christmas and I decided that it was perfect for Chris and I. And, it only took us a couple of days to put it together (while we watched the first Presidential primary results of the year!).

Unfortunately, we realized that we were missing about 7 pieces of that puzzle. Bummer. So, I found an identical puzzle on Amazon for around $10 that promised to have all of its pieces. (I know you are probably thinking that I'm super nerdy for ordering the same puzzle online, but I had to have it!)

The new puzzle didn't have all its pieces though. It was missing 2-3 pieces. And, the worst part, besides that the missing pieces were part of Andrew Jackon's mugshot, er, portrait (which is one of Chris' favorite presidents) ,was that the puzzles were not identical. Sure, they were the same "scene" but the cuts of the pieces were different so it wasn't easy to swap a piece from one puzzle to the other. So, after carefully testing out pieces from both puzzles, we were able to find the right combination to make it look somewhat normal. For example, Andrew Jackson's portrait and description aren't quite right . . . (if you don't know who Andrew Jackson is, I guess that's ok. He's the one in the middle with the white hair, big forehead, and crazy receding hairline. But not the almost-bald dude on the bottom, that John Quincy Adams.)

If you can't tell, his nose and chin are kinda weird, at least weirder than they're already supposed to be, and the dates of his presidency and party are a jumbled mess. But I didn't care, at least the puzzle was together!

Then, I went out a bought some Modge Podge (because for some reason I didn't already own it) and a pricier-than-I-wanted-it-to-be frame from Michael's. Not only was it pricey, but the frame's corner was broken when I unwrapped it. That's what I get for being inpatient and buying when things aren't on sale. . . anyway, we hung it up in the hall in between the guest bedroom and the guest bathroom.

It fits in nicely with the Presidential and American History books that fill the bookshelf beneath it. (Yes, we have a bookshelf devoted to our Presidential history books. And don't worry, I have many more history books not pictured.) Plus, the AWESOME Abe Lincoln bobble head and vintage globe my sister gave me round out the nerdiness. (Thanks, Danielle!)

Well, I lied. The top two shelves are Presidential and American History books. The bottom shelf is clearly Harry Potter, Jane Austen, LOTR, some yearbooks, and other miscellaneous big books. Someday they will all be history books when I decide to organize them (unless I move them to my future classroom!).

The other project was hanging up some awesome sketches of our U.S. Presidents' homes that my mother-in-law gave us over Christmas. She had had them since Chris was younger, so I thought the perfect place to put them was in the guest bedroom where his parents will stay when they visit. As usual, Chris did the measurements, while I handled the sketches and the frames. . .

They line the wall across from the guest bed. So, if you stay with us, you will get to fall asleep, or wake up, to these beauties. Cool, huh? (only if you're a nerd, like us!)

And, just for your information, as a rule of thumb, I usually hang frames 3 inches a part (I did that here and here). I think it provides enough space between the frames, while also seeming "close." Especially because I use chunkier/bulkier frames.

Here are all of the prints up close . . .

First, there's George Washington's Mount Vernon (top) and William McKinley's home (bottom). . .

Then, it's Warren Harding's home (top) and Prospect, Princeton University's Presidents' home, and hence, Woodrow Wilson's home (bottom), since besides being our 28th President, he was also the 13th President of Princeton . . .

We also have Polk Place (top), the home of James K. Polk, and Andrew Jackson's Hermitage (bottom) . . .

Lastly, we have Harry Truman's Missouri home (top) and James Madison's Montpelier (bottom) . . .

I think we are the ultimate nerds, don't you think? Can't you just wait to come visit us and join us in all of our nerdy-glory? I like to think that we're all nerds at heart, I just like to show ours all over our house!

Anyway, in non-nerdy news, Chris and I will be spending the weekend tackling our yard since spring summer has decided to come early in DC. Remember all of that work we did last year? Well, it looks the same now, but substitute1-foot high weeds instead of ivy. We're in for some fun!

Winter Pinterest Challenge: More Map Love

Last summer, two of my favorite blogs, Young House Love and Bower Power, started a Pinterest Challenge where they took inspiration from stuff they had "pinned" and actually made it for themselves. As Sherry from YHL aptly puts, "It’s a welcome slap of stop-pinning-and-start-doing." I completely and totally agree. I've probably only done a handful of the projects that I've pinned on my Pinterest boards, even though I keep pinning away pretending that one day my house will be filled with projects of Pinterest-inspiration. This time though, instead of just looking at everyone else's cool projects (and pinning those!), I decided that I was going to participate in the Pinterest Challenge too, and make some pins a reality! So, here it goes . . .

As you might have guessed, I've been obsessing over map-related DIY projects. More specifically, some cork board travel maps . . .

This first one by Life Blessons initially caught me eye because of it's simplicity, and I adored the "our adventures together" banners across it! And then, I fell in love with this second one by C.R.A.F.T. because of the bold blue ribbon and the black outlining of the states. I can't imagine the amount of patience it took to do that detail, my goodness!

I've been contemplating doing my own version of this project for a couple of months, but couldn't really decide exactly what I wanted to do, that is, until I found a Cavallini U.S. map, similar to this one, in our attic a week ago!

I know it came from Paper Source, but I honestly don't remember ever buying it. I want to say it was leftover from Chris' old college apartment and that we've just been lugging it around all of these years. I'm so glad that neither of us threw it away! I guess it isn't a bad thing to be a pack-rat after all (right, Dad?!) - our trash has become our treasure!

So, this weekend while I was at Target I picked up some cork board. I had planned on just getting a regular framed cork board, but I saw a set of 4 square cork board pieces and decided I would glue them together to fit the map size instead. At a little over $7, compared to $15 for the framed board, I couldn't pass up this super easy, and cheaper, option.

So, I started by gluing all of the pieces together with my trusty hot glue gun . . .

And then trimmed off the excess cork board to fit the shape of the map . . .

Next, I pulled out some old spray adhesive and rubber cement to glue the paper onto my cork board. Now, when I say "old," I mean old. I think the rubber cement dates back to my high school art class. Again, it's okay to be a pack-rat! Just for your information too, I rubber cemented the corners and edges of the map and then glued the rest of it down with the adhesive spray, and I really only did that because there wasn't enough of both to do the whole thing (it's finally time to get some new rubber cement!).

Now, at this point I couldn't decide whether I wanted to keep the rectangular shape, or cut out the shape of America. Since I am the WORST at making decisions, I decided to keep it as is. I can always trim it later, but I can't add it back, you know?

Finally, I hot glued some ribbon onto the back, tied it in a bow, and hung it up!

Oh, and of course I added pins everywhere Chris and I have been together, which doesn't seem like that many now that I look at all of it! If you can tell, the black pins are places we've lived and the white pins are places we've visited.

Maybe one day I'll add little flag markers about each place like C.R.A.F.T., and maybe one day I'll trim it to the shape of North America. But, in the meantime, I'm going to enjoy this new map in my growing collection and I'm going to relish in a Pinterest project completed! (And, for the cost of the cork board, $7, at that!)

Well, that's my first official Pinterest Challenge project, hope you liked it and hopefully I'll start to do more! Here's the links to the four Pinterest Challenge leading ladies' projects too: Katie's (Bower Power), Cassie's (Hi Sugarplum!), Erin's (The Great Indoors), and Sherry's (Young House Love). Now, I  have some travel plans to make to fill up this map a little more!

Also, I tested out watermarking photos, what do you think??

Happy Leap Day!

Since Leap Day only comes around every 4 years, I figured that if I were to blog any day this week, today would be the day. It's a sieze-the-moment-(day) kinda thing, no?

But, I honestly don't really have anything "spectacular" to write about. Sorry. (Well, I do, but it would require posting lots of photos and stuff and I don't have the energy for that right now.) So, I figured why not just give you some random facts about our Washington life, I mean, it's Leap Day!

So, you know how we're training for that half marathon in two and a half weeks? Well, I definitely hurt my IT band on my long run Saturday. Oops. So while I was applying RICE to my knee this weekend I was also doing some online shopping for some new running shoes, a foam roller, and new shoe insoles. Lucky for me, they all came in yesterday, just in time to start breaking them in (the shoes and insoles) and start getting a good stretch on (the foam roller).

If you've never seen a foam roller in action, it's actually really fun. Here's a video on stretching your IT band, but there are other great stretching exercises you can do with it. There are even great ones for your back!

Also, if you haven't already, please please please consider donating to our running cause, Special Operations Warrior Foundation. We're almost to our goal, and every little bit helps. As my little brother aptly put, "we need your help to make it more than just a race." You can find information on it and donate here!

Yesterday not only did I get a bunch of fun running stuff in the mail, but I also got this AWESOME bench that I ordered from Target a while back.

We put it on our second floor landing, which is pretty big and was looking a little sad and empty. It even goes with my seafoam and yellow color scheme up there so it's extra purty! And, as you can see, Teddy jumped on it and made himself at home as soon as we set it up. I don't know what will be on it more, Teddy or Chris' laundry. ; ) Now I just have to decide what to put in it - linens, bath supplies, or first aid stuff. Decisions, decisions.

Speaking of first aid, have you heard of the norovirus? Apparently it's that bug that spread around those cruise ships earlier this year where a bunch of people got sick and they had to dock early, yadda, yadda . . . basically, it's a nasty flu bug thing. Welp, it's striking George Washington University. The same place Chris goes to school two nights a week. He's not sick (yet), but he found out this morning that some of his co-workers are sick with what seems to be that nasty norovirus too. I personally wouldn't mind being sick to take a couple of days off and lay around watching HIMYM and LOST, but neither of us want to be clutching the porcelain throne either, if you catch my drift. We'll see if our immune systems hold up . . .

While I wait for this bug to hit us, I am using my time wisely. I definitely spent a better part of a day re-organizing my Pinterest boards. The more "non-sense" that I see pinned (right, Danielle?) the more I realize what I use Pinterest for - wish lists, home decor, DIY stuff, and a pictographic-recipe book. (Why yes, I am Pinterest-pretentious -watch what you pin!) So, some reorganizing was needed to better align my boards with my interests and needs. For example, I deleted some boards and added new ones. I also divided my Yummy in my Tummy board into three - the original, Healthi(er), and Just Desserts. And, I decided to dedicate an entire board to My Map Fetish, which I've already blogged about. (Follow some of my new boards too!)

Speaking of my map fetish, one of the maps on our map wall decided to fall the other night sending another one crashing down. It's no big deal, nothing broke (thanks to the couch cushioning it all), but it did scratch the wall. Ooops.

So, I think that's enough rambling, don't you? Thanks for listening. For your patience, I'm rewarding you with a super cute picture of Teddy on the new bench. He was pretending he was imprisoned and lashing out at his captors (Chris).

Happy Leap Day, everyone! Until next time, February 29, 2016!

My Map Fetish

I have a thing for maps. There, I said it. All maps really - framed maps, antique maps, globes, and any other map-paraphernalia, including map pillows and coasters. Just look at My Map Maniac Pinterest board. It's a little crazy.

Every time I think of decorating our house, I brainstorm what kind of "map" I can incorporate. And, subsequently, every time I see a map, I brainstorm about where it could go in our house. If our house has a theme, it would probably be maps. Yes, I said it, our house has a theme. (Chris is going to hate that.)

I blame it on the fact that Chris and I love to travel. Not only did Chris and I meet studying abroad in Greece, but we also got engaged while backpacking across Europe. On top of that, we have taken more road trips around our great nation than I can recount, including a camping trip for a week in Utah. We're constantly planning our next big escape, whether it's the Olympic Games or a tour of the northern U.S., and we even "jokingly" comment about how we want to go live in Germany or Canada. (and I'm still not sure if we're joking, or serious about that one . . .) Either way, maps seem to be a constant reminder of all of our adventures and a fitting theme for our house!

So, for almost a year now I've been planning on creating a gallery wall of framed maps above our couch in our living room. Not only was the wall blank and boring, but coincidentally antique maps often have the same turquoise and red colors that I had started decorating our first floor in.

Ever since that decision I've been slowly collecting cheap frames from Ikea and thrift stores and perusing the web and Etsy for maps. I toyed with matching colored frames, or mixed frames (as my Pinterest followers probably noticed), and finally, last month, decided that it was time to actually hang up my map wall.

I started by laying out all of my frames on the floor and placing my maps on top of them to see how I wanted it to be arranged.

Then, I did what every lifestyle blogger out there does, I hung up mock frames made of paper on the wall to get a better idea of the arrangement.

I apologize for the raciness of my mock frames, we didn't have any newspaper like normal people probably use so I just tore up a Victoria's Secret catalog instead. And in case you guessed it already, these racy mock frames stayed up on the walls for a couple of weeks. Good thing we don't have friends with kids come over. But, I don't think Teddy minded, do you?

From there, most lifestyle bloggers tell their readers to start installing the nails for their real frames, right through their mock frames. I didn't want to use nails though, because I am too indecisive to have a bunch of nail holes littered across our wall. (and, Chris would probably kill me if I put a bunch of holes in the wall and then wanted to change it all six months later!)  So, instead I decided to use the trusty Command Picturing Hanging strips. Because I wanted to use those strips, I decided to use trusty painter's tape to outline the frames so I would know exactly where to hang each frame.

Now, I decided to go a little corny in my gallery wall (and give you all a lesson on DC). See, the center map on my wall is of Washington, DC and anyone who knows DC's street-scape should know that DC is divided into quadrants with the center being the Capitol building.  From the Capitol building as the center, streets, and the National Mall, go out directly east, west, north, and south and divide the city into its infamous quadrants (Northeast, Northwest, Southeast, Southwest). Check out the satellite view of DC below because my explanation probably doesn't make any sense ; )

(Wiki Commons)

So, I followed the east/west and north/south lines of my antique map of DC and decided to hang my frames on the same grid. Cheesy, I know, but I love it! And, I love my finished look!

sorry for the awful glare . . .

The wall includes antique maps from all of our favorite places - DC, St. Louis, Kansas City, Munich, North America, Boone County MO (Columbia), Germany, Athens, Mexico, Greece, Adair County MO (Kirksville), Italy, and Gasconade County MO (Hermann). Some of them I bought online, but I also downloaded a bunch for free and just printed them off. So since almost half of them were free, I suspect that I'll change some over time to reflect new favorite places, but for now, it's perfect!  Also, I'm still toying with the idea of painting a couple of frames different colors since so many of them are black, maybe add some silver or white/cream - what do you think?

So, where are your favorite places? And, more importantly, does your home have a theme?

Operation Finish Bathrooms: Part 3

It is now, finally, time for the final installment of Operation Finish Bathrooms (for now). I've already shared how we Chris re-did our cruise-ship-sized basement bathroom in the first installment, and I've also shared how we made our master bathroom semi-sophisticated in the second installment, but now it's time to reveal the heart of all my bathroom-decorating woes and Operation Finish Bathrooms Part 3: Our Ever-Changing-And-Never-Finished Guest Bathroom. (and beware, this is a LONG one, sorry!)

So, you might remember my dilemma late last summer? At that time, I had just painted our guest bathroom green, to match some candle holders I got on sale at World Market and I pleaded for help in developing a color scheme. Well, I finally decided on a color. But then, I decided that that color made the bathroom look like a circus tent. So, I picked a completely different color scheme. And now that I like the colors, I am still stuck once again! I've mentioned I'm indecisive, right?

How about I start from the very beginning . . . .

When we moved in, this is what our guest bathroom looked like. Plain jane, with builder beige colors on the wall, and even a glass shower door.

Then, as you might remember, I bought these great candle holders and decided to paint the guest bath green and stencil a color over it. I sought your help in deciding what color to stencil in.

Everyone had great suggestions, but I was still torn on what color to stencil in, so I played around with paint chips and waited. "Waited for what?" you're probably asking. I guess I was waiting for that "light-bulb" design moment where it all makes sense. Needless to say that didn't happen and I was anxious to do something, so I picked a color anyway and went with it.

Bad idea, at least when you are doing something as laborious as stenciling. . . For novice-stencilers out there, I would NEVER RECOMMEND stenciling a bathroom as your first attempt at stenciling. Why? It seems so easy, right? Sure, it's really easy to stencil a square or rectangular wall, but throw in tiling, fixtures, toilets, and cramped quarters and you have a recipe for disaster, if not a LOT of frustration.

It took me about a month, maybe, and I don't want to even guess how many hours, to stencil this far. (And, oh yeah, I picked a lighter green to stencil, surprise . . . )

You think it looks good, right? Wrong. It looked bad. B-A-D, bad. Sure, from this photo it looks good, well, decent (let's be honest). But up close, like you would be if you were sitting on the "commode," the lines were not crisp and clean at all. Eck!

No matter how thinly I put on the coats of paint, it still globbed-up and smeared in places. Then, I had to free-hand the corners and edges because of weird bathroom angles and what free-handing of the stencil I had done looked scare-ry! Eek!

I was finding myself working on it every night after work and all day on weekends. Mind you, all of this work was for a bathroom, and not just any bathroom, but our guest bathroom that I don't even use. Plus, all of those bright colors started to take on a circus-y kind of feel, which is definitely not what I had intended. And, to make matters worse, I was constantly asking Chris if it looked bad and, bless his poor-husband-soul, he would say it looked "okay" while his face looked horrified. Not a good sign, ladies (and gents). Not a good sign at all.

I eventually gave up. It was too much work and had tested the limits of my decorating- and DIY-patience. I needed to step away and wait to be re-inspired.

In the meantime, I moved on to other home projects - like hanging up new dining room art, having fun with some chalkboard paint in our kitchen, painting chevrons in our guest bedroom, and even planning our master bathroom decorating.

FINALLY, the design-lightbulb flickered in my mind (just flickered) and I realized that I wanted similar color schemes in our second-floor hallway, guest bedroom, and guest bathroom because as you walk up our steps you see all three. I wanted them to be cohesive and not clash. I didn't want a cornucopia or rainbow of color to blind my guests, or me, but something that was complimentary. 

As you might remember, our guest bedroom is already yellow and white with turquoise/seafoam accents. So, I once again went back to this color scheme that, for us, is equal parts sophisticated and fun. (Thank you, Pinterest and Oh Hello Friend!)

I can't seem to get away from yellows paired with seafoams and white. Thank goodness seafoam/aquamarine is the color of the season!

So, I decided to paint over the green, and the stenciling, and start completely over. I sanded the walls to smooth out the stencil lines and then primed (it took a good 4 coats). Trust me, for a room as small as a bathroom it was still very time consuming and I cannot believe I decided to start over!

Sexy, right?

I ended up painting 3 of the walls Behr's Capri Cream (light yellow), and the focal wall Behr's Cotton Fluff (off-white).

Then, I stenciled just the focal wall, to avoid the stupid corners and edges, in the same Capri Cream/yellow color. Stenciling just the focal wall was the best decision ever since it only took a day to complete! And, I think it looks pretty gosh darn good . . .

I actually love how faint the stenciling looks - not only does it kind of give a honey comb look to the wall from far away, but it also hides some of my stenciling mistakes!

And, I really really love how pretty the yellow bathroom looks with our seafoam/turquoise-y hallway walls!

The lesson I learned from this experience is two-fold - 1) Stenciling is hard; 2) But things can easily be painted over (it might just take some sanding and a whole gallon of primer)!

So, at the beginning of this post (and probably 15-minutes-worth-of-reading ago if you made it this far) I mentioned how I am stuck once again, and it's pretty obvious from these photos that the bathroom is sparse and needs some accessorizing. I'm the process of brainstorming some ideas to share with all of you, but I figured that this post was long enough, so, details on that are to be continued . . .

(And, in case you are wondering, I used the Rabat Allover Stencil from Cutting Edge Stencils)