Blog Swap with Stephanie from Somewhat Simple

Hey Everyone! I am delighted to be taking over this darling blog- I think we can all agree Melissa is pretty darn fantastic, so I hope what I have to show off here today measures up to her creativity!

My name is Stephanie, and on most days you will find me over at Somewhat Simple. I am a wife to my very best friend and mom to my 3 favorite kids in the world! I come to you all the way from Arizona- the only place in the US that seems to have something personal against 70 degree weather- its either stinkin' hot or stinkin' cold! My family moved here 4 years ago from California and while we do miss the weather in Orange County, we are super happy living here!

Life is great, but is often hectic, am I right? For today's little tutorial, I made an easy craft that puts things into perspective for me each time I see it. Let me show you what I am talking about...

Ever heard of this quote? :

“The biggest mistake I made [as a parent] is the one that most of us make. … I did not live in the moment enough. This is particularly clear now that the moment is gone, captured only in photographs. There is one picture of [my three children] sitting in the grass on a quilt in the shadow of the swing set on a summer day, ages six, four, and one. And I wish I could remember what we ate, and what we talked about, and how they sounded, and how they looked when they slept that night. I wish I had not been in such a hurry to get on to the next thing: dinner, bath, book, bed. I wish I had treasured the doing a little more and the getting it done a little less”

I LOVE this quote and decided I wanted it hanging on my wall somewhere to remind me what's really important in life. The entire quote itself is a bit long, so I shortened it and came up with this display:

(In case its hard to read from the angle, it says: "LIVE IN THE MOMENT treasure the doing a little more and the getting it done a little less.")

Its just a cheap frame from IKEA that I painted black. The background is some fabric and the vinyl is on the outside of the frame. It was super easy to do, but I didn't LOVE it... so back to the drawing board I went and came up with this instead:

Ahhh! Much better!

Here is a step-by-step tutorial so you can make one too!

1. Set up an account with Picnik.com- its easy and FREE!

2. Find a picture you love of your kids and upload it to Picnik. I chose this one of their feet:

3. Once on Picnik, turn the picture Black & White

4. Add some text. (Live in the Moment is in Times New Roman and the smaller text is in Jules-Te-Reo)

5. Crop it. 

6. Add a vignette (the size on this one is 10-15)

    

7. Print it out 

I just emailed it to my husband and he printed it off his nice printer from work.

8. Frame it!

I tried a few different frame options: an 11x14 with an 8x10 matte, different colored mattes etc, but the one I like most was this simple black frame without no matte at all.  Sometimes less is more!

9. Display it!

Mine is on my nightstand- its my daily reminder to enjoy life as it is- craziness and all!

I know being a mom is hard and crazy at times, but I just don't want to have any regrets and miss out on this chance to make memories every dayl!!! Hopefully this picture will remind me during those rough times to savor every second- I am not going to get this time back, and it really is a great time in life!!!

For more creativity and inspiration, I would love for you to visit me at somewhat simple! I post all kinds of easy crafts, yummy recipes, giveaways and monthly challenges- each day is something new and each day is something exciting! I just announced a HUGE giveaway coming soon- click on this picture to see what it is all about!:

Melissa, thanks so much for having me! It has been a pleasure sitting in your polka dot chair for the day- its quite comfy and I never want to leave! 

Have a great weekend!