{ wall makeover } vinyl and frames

I just got home from a month long vacation to Utah. It was so nice

to see my family and enjoy their company! 

My mother had this big empty wall in her living room that was 

crying for something! I threw out an idea to her and she agreed without 

hesitation! She wanted the wall filled! 

I went through her stash of empty frames and found 8 matching frames and spray painted them.

Then I went through "the drawer". My mom has this huge drawer stuffed full of  pictures

from our childhood and ever hers. It's always a favorite past time when the family gets together to

pull out "the drawer" and go through old photos and reminisce! 

I found similar candid baby pictures of each of my mother's children and put them

in the frames. I then put them on the wall in a fun diagonal pattern.

So I went to the vinyl store and had this piece made. It is huge and 

we cut it apart so it would line up and fit how Mom wanted it. 

It turned out pretty cute! Now we can do a little reminiscing even

if we don't have time to pull out "the drawer"! 

Enjoy!

{ pinwheel backdrop and decor }

I got together this weekend with some wonderful friends, all of whom are 

talented photographers! We do this occasionally and have fun

photo shoots for whatever reason! And although I cannot 

take pictures from anything but my point and shoot camera, I can do

a few other things to help the photo shoot along! :) 

I put together some pinwheels for a backdrop idea! They turned out so

cute and were a great addition to the photos! Oh but don't worry! 

They will be used beyond our weekend gathering! A few will

be added to my very own wall for decor! 

What you'll need:

* Paper (not card stock)

* Scissors

* Tape and/or hot glue

* Hole punch (optional)

I started with the big pinwheels. I used 12x12 pieces of paper. Each 

large pinwheel needs 2 pieces of paper. Start out by folding your edge back

about 1/2 inch. Turn it over and fold it back about 1/2 inch.

Continue folding accordion style until it is complete. Repeat

on second piece of paper.

Mark a curved line at each end of your accordion.

Cut it off. Very few of my accordions had even edges

when I was finished folding them. This gives a ruffled look

around the edge of your pinwheel and also evens out the edges.

Now would be the best time to add detail with your hole punch. Just punch
a hole through all layers on each end of your accordion!

Now fold your accordion in half.
Like so ...

Glue or tape this together

Repeat these steps on your other accordion as well.

Now tape or glue the two half together! Pinwheel complete!

When you are working with smaller pinwheels, you have to use more
pieces! For instance, I made this smaller pinwheel with 6x6 pieces of paper.
I needed 3 to get the desired look. 2 would't reach around a full circle
and 4 was a little too floppy. If you went any smaller than this, I would
recommend trying 4 pieces!

And of course I made one with a old book page! 3 was the magic number
there, too.

You can hang these with string or just tape them up to the wall! 

I love the layered look!

And a little something from the fun photo shoot! Don't you think the pinwheels

are fantastic! They just add great color and detail as a backdrop! <3

Photo by the very talented Malia Cano

www.maliacano.com

Stop by her blog or website and check out her amazing work!