Transformations

Do you remember this? This mantle has been the bane of my existance ever since we moved into our house. I love it because it is gorgeous and tall and everything you could want from a mantle but what the pictures don't represent is the grand scale of this thing. It is a beast. I know it doesn't look big, but let me tell you it is a mammoth when you see it in person.

The only time we ever got it to look halfway descent was in October when we had candles and pumpkins and a fall leaf arrangement up there. Christmas was marginally better than its blank state but not by much. It just looked, well, ackward. Nothing fit.

Finally, FINALLY, I like and even LOVE my mantle. We spruced up the living room and now here's how it looks today:

Much better, right?!

On the mantle from left to right are pictures of the French Quarter, the Natchez Steamboat, Jackson Square and St. Louis Cathedral and another French Quarter view. These were all pictures we took on our recent trip there. We had no idea that we'd be framing pictures from our trip so the quality perhaps isn't the best but it's a start and we can always go back and take better pictures since we'd have a purpose to next time.

These silhouettes were a one-afternoon project.

I took profile pictures of the entire family in the morning, uploaded them to Target's photo page (Shutterfly) and had them developing while I went to Michael's to pick up the frames, paper and spray adhesive.

Once I picked up the pictures and got back home, I attached the photos to the red paper with tape (just in little loops so each side would stick together). I only taped the areas inside the faces that I wanted to keep because I needed my project to stay still while I cut it out.

Then I got out a cutting mat and my Xacto knife and went to work cutting out the profiles. When I was done, I removed the tape from the red paper, took it in the backyard and sprayed the back with adhesive and attached to the white paper. 

After that was done, I used the paper insert from the frames to trace out what I would need to cut to make the silhouettes fit their frame. 

Viola! Easy peasy fun project! Chloe's is super cute and Troy's profile is spot on! Which one do you like? I think next time I do this I will wear a pony tail to give my profile a little more definition. The plan is to do this once a year so I can see how we're growing! 

Troy still needs to hang the curtains in the office and the kitchen so it still looks like it's missing SOMETHING in this picture. If you look closely, I've added an old friend to one of our kitchen windows. Peyton's room used to have red, yellow and green paper stars hanging above his crib when he was still a baby and not climbing the walls. Now it's impossible to decorate his room at all. It literally has only a bed in it because he kept ripping down his decorations and pulling the dresser down on himself. So I found a new home for my star. Maybe it will stay a while; who knows?

Troy teases me for this, but now at night, I light up the mantle because I think it so fun to look at.

We're getting close to having our downstairs all fixed up! We just need our paintings from New Orleans in the dining room and it will be perfect. Those won't come until later in the year so for now it is still empty and barren in there. :-(

It's coming along though!