Front Door Greeting {with Chalkboard Vinyl}

I am slowly but surely working on bringing my new home together. I still have a ways to go but it has been fun to find a place for everything and create new items to put in this beautiful home that I never want to leave. {too bad we are just renting it}. I knew I wanted to make my front porch welcoming, kind and friendly to our new neighbors around us. I change out the wreath each season and holiday, but I wanted to do something else on the door. I thought about the tradition vinyl welcome sign but then quickly came to the realization that I wanted something a little different and unique. I found some chalkboard vinyl I have had in my craft stash for quite a while now I just didn't have the perfect project for it yet, that is until I thought of this simple, but really fun decal for my front door. It was so quick and easy, literally half of a nap time craft :)

{Supplies I used}

-Chalkboard vinyl {mine is Cricut brand}

-transfer tape {not require but it does make it easier to get everything straight and is a quicker application process-the cricut chalkboard vinyl came with the transfer tape}

-Cricut mini {again this is not require you could easily do this without a cutting machine it is just quicker}

-Marker and scissors {if you don't have a cutting machine or a way to borrow one}

-Applicator tool {or really you could just use a credit card}

-Chalk

-Rag 

{What I did}

The first thing I did is hook up my cricut mini and chose my designs that I wanted to use:

 Main label- label 1-5 11 1/2 inches 

Triangle banner- banner 2 each triangle is 1 inch total of 71/2 inches 

Arrow- Arrow 8 inches 

heart- heart-5  1.5 inches 

Then once I had it all picked out, designed and sized, I cut it out on some scrap paper to make sure everything was size correctly, then I cut it again this time on the chalkboard vinyl. 

***If you do not have a cutting machine you can design it your self or find designs online to print out and trace onto the vinyl then you are going to cut out your designs with scissors. 

The machine will cut the vinyl and leave the back uncut. This is nice for the transfer tape. Once it is cut you are going to peel off the excess vinyl as shown above. 

Next you will take your transfer tape and measure it to the size of your decal backing, then peel the tape off its backing, put the sticky side onto the chalkboard vinyl and use your applicator or credit card to smooth it on. So it looks like the last picture above. 

Peel the backing off and the chalkboard vinyl will stay on the tape then you will place it onto the door right where you want it, use your applicator and rub it around to make sure it is sticking onto the door and then peel the tape away and all you are left with is the chalkboard decal! tada!

Next you will take some chalk and rub it over the entire thing, then use your rag to wipe the chalk off. Then your surface is ready for coloring, writing, or picture drawing. Use your creativity. This is a great tip for all new chalkboard surfaces so that it doesn't leave a ghost {previous writing} on it. 

Didn't it turn out so cute?! I Love how it is unique and different than any of my neighbors doors. I also love that it is not permanent and it is great for both renter and home owners alike.

For now I just colored in the banner and arrow with some yellow and Wrote Welcome in the label. It will be fun to change this out for the season, holiday or whatever is going on in the area or our family at the time. 

Moss Monogram Sign Tutorial 

 Current front porch. I have some really fun ideas coming up to
spruce it up a bit so make sure to stay tuned

 Side table Tutorial 
 White planter // Ikea
Glass Milk Bottle //Ikea
Blue mason jar // Smiths

 Outdoor Door Mat Makeover tutorial 

For those who have asked here is a picture of the front of the house. Isn't it cute?! I die and i really want to buy it one day if we could, or at least build a replicate. I love the inside floor plan just as much as the outside. 

 

Happy Crafting! And don't forget to PIN IT!

 As always if you have any questions please feel free to email me any time 

@wjwiki07@hotmail.com I would love to hear from you.

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Two Yellow Birds Decor,  The Shabby Nest ,

Chic on a Shoestring Decorating, Tatertots and Jello, Whipperberry, 

 Fingerprints on the fridge,   Nap time Crafters,

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My Top FIVE packing tips {for moving}

We moved two and a half weeks ago and through this move along with some other moves I have been through in my life I have learned some great tips when it comes to packing and keeping it as smooth and organized as ever without wanting to pull your hair out in the end. So I came up with my top 5 packing for a move tips that I want to pass on. These make it easier to stay organized while packing, loading up the truck, unloading the truck and most importantly for unpacking once you get to your new place.  Lets be real here moving is so exhausting and the easier and more organized we can keep it the better and the more likely we are to stay sane for ourselves and our families. Moving and change is hard lets keep the packing and actual labor of the move as smooth as possible shall we.

This big sudden, rushed move is the reason the blog as been neglected that last 3 weeks. So I am so sorry but I had a good reason and now that we are almost all settled I can start this back up again and I have some great posts and new series in store for you, so make sure to follow along. Don't forget to also follow me on facebook and instagram to keep up with my projects and real life craziness.

Lets get a little personal here first with a little of our move background. Ty and I met in Cedar city, got married and lived down there while we finished our undergrad schooling down at SUU. Then Ty got accepted to Law School at the U. We were so excited to be by our parents again especially with a brand new baby. It came up that we could live in Ty's grandmas basement while we were in school. Ever since Ty's grandpa died years before there has been one of her grandkids, who were in school and financially needed the help, live with her down in the basement apartment to help with her needs. We weren't so sure about it at first just because we just had our first baby and just didn't know if it was for us. We looked around and we just kept coming back to the offer of his grandmas apartment we finally decided that it would be the best for our family. We would be able to save some money {since law school is ridiculously expensive}, I would be able to stay at home with my little man, and it was close to the U. So we moved in and we felt so blessed while we were there. All of our fears of living there were gone while we were there. Grandma was amazing to live with, we got to know her and got to hear some amazing stories, Maddux loved her and had a special relationship with her and it was such a huge blessing to us.

 Long story short without getting into details, when we moved in back in 2010 it was an agreement with us and grandma that we would be living with her through his law school and bar exam. Well some of the family members wanted us out before the agreed upon time so they could live there and it was a really tough situation. We were always planning on moving once Ty was done which was Septemberish, but being rushed out was just so hard even if it was only a couple month before. Ty was still in school, then he graduated but he was still in classes for his bar exam{and the hardest part is he didn't have time to work while studying so that was a challenge on its own} and they wanted us out right then. It was a mess. So we found a place in a rush, had to move while Ty was studying for the biggest test of his life, and moved to a place that I am hoping I grow to love. The house I already love, but the area not so much. I am just trying to look out for my little family. Be the best mom I can be and give my boys what they deserve. We miss grandma, our friends, and our neighborhood. Change is hard but if you have to go through a huge change like this these tips will at least help you pack and unpack as stress free as possible.

These are my sweet boys sleeping in their bed at our old place for the last time. Yes I got all emotional about it because this is the only home either of my little boys have ever known. We moved there when Maddux was 2 months old and we brought Holden home from the hospital to this house. I am getting teary just typing this now.

Ok ok lets get to those 5 awesome tips....

{Tip No. 1}

1. Color code: This one is by far my favorite tip. Go out and get some colored duct tape one for each room or area of your home that you will be moving into. One you have assigned a color to each room as you pack you will label that box with that color tape and write with a sharpie the room and hat is in the box.

Here you can see all of my rainbow of colors once we started getting packed.

I put a big piece of tape on the top of the box and labeled it and then I put small pieces of the same color on each side of the box so no matter how the box was stacked you could see what room it went in to. This was great to keep them all organized in the moving truck and most importantly when you move all the boxes into the house you can quickly know where each box should be stored and unpacked latter.

Another sub-tip o go along with this is that when you unload the truck get the boxes in the house in the specific rooms they should be in {not in the garage or basement}. This is a good tip so that you can get all the heavy boxes in while you still have the help of family and friends from the move and then all you have to do is unpack each room. This saved me and it made unpacking so much quicker because I just wanted the boxes out of my house. 

{Tip No. 2}

2. Pack your hang up clothes in a bag. Do not waste your boxes on your hang up clothes and hanger. Keep them all on the hanger and use a big garage bag to keep them all together and easy to transport. I just grouped a whole bunch together put the bag around the bottom of them all and then tied a knot with the draw strings from the bag around the hanger leaving the hook out of the bag. This keeps them organized, less wrinkled and much easier to unpack into your new closet.

I then labeled them with the tape color of their assigned room.

I did this to all the hang up clothes including our boys. All of our clothes in dressers we just kept in the dresser. Yes this is heavy but you just take out all the drawers move them into the truck and put the drawers back in this saves a lot of time and boxes.

{Tip No. 3}

3. Wrap wrap wrap. Make sure to wrap up your valuables. The worst thing is when you unpack a box and you have broken frames, memorabilia, decor items. or kitchenware. I learned this the hard way so wrap them. It doesn't matter how just do it you wont be sorry.

Use newspaper, paper towels, bubble wrap {we happened to just already have some}, or of course use your towels. I used all our towel to wrap fragile items I didn't pack a single one on its own. This is a free and most supportive way.

{Tip No. 4}

4. Bag your hardware, screws, nails and anchors. For each room when I would take anything down from the wall {pictures, decor, shelves, wall hangings, headboards, etc} I put them in a baggie, put the tape on them that coordinated with the room they were from {I told you the color coding tape was my fav tip} tabled what was in it and packed it in a box from that room.  

This way you don't loose any of the hardware and you don't have to get new screws and nails. Lets save money anywhere we can right?!

{Tip No. 5}

5. Pack your items that will be in storage, garage or basement in plastic bins. This is huge for me if you have things such as holiday decor, camping items, baby clothes, and whatever else you store because it is not used all the time it is best to put them in bins and label the bins. Storage units can get infested with bugs or mice, basements can flood, garages can flood along with other damages. These bins protects those items.

These were in our garage at the old place, at the new place they are in the basement and I just love that they are good no matter where they go. They aren't in the garage this time because the extra space in the garage will be changed into a crossfit gym {woot! more on that to come}.

I hope these tips will help you as much as they have helped me. This really does bring the stress and anxiety level down a notch and I promise you, you will get your home unpacked so much quicker. Like I said we move 2 1/2 weeks ago during the summer holidays and crazy busy stuff going on with family visiting and I still am already mostly unpacked and even have decor on the walls.

You can thank me later. Pin pin pin my friends!

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