Tag: visit

Craft Projects

Knockoff: DIY Herringbone Art

Jessica Smith

I stumbled upon a fabulous blog the other day that you all should DEFINITELY check out. Sarah at While They Snooze is incredibly talented and just recently competed in Creating with the Stars over at East Coast Creative. I was perusing her blog and saw the most magnificent artwork that I wanted so badly for our house. SO BADLY!!!

Here’s one of those times when beautiful things should be admired and not replicated. They never turn out how you want them to. Following her lovely tutorial for her DIY Metallic Herringbone Art, I created my less-than-adequate version of her masterpiece.

Instead of telling you what I did, you can scroll through the photos below of the steps I took. But what you should really do is go and check out Sarah’s art. Because it is amazing. And yeah, you have to click over. I don’t like borrowing photos. Trust me, it’s worth your time.

{A Smith of All Trades} Herringbone Art1

{A Smith of All Trades} Herringbone Art2

{A Smith of All Trades} Herringbone Art3

{A Smith of All Trades} Herringbone Art4

{A Smith of All Trades} Herringbone Art5

{A Smith of All Trades} Herringbone Art6

{A Smith of All Trades} Herringbone Art7

{A Smith of All Trades} Herringbone Art8

Now that you see my finished piece… what do you think? I wish I had had gold spray paint on hand. I just might try this one more time, even though it took a while. I just love her finished piece and have TOTAL art envy.

Life

A day at National Harbor

Jessica Smith

This past Christmas there was a terrible snowstorm in Pennsylvania and my aunt and two cousins couldn’t make the drive down to Maryland for our holiday celebrations. Lucky for us, the three of them came to visit this weekend! What a wonderful weekend it was!

On Saturday, we trekked to National Harbor for a girls day out. Here are a few of my favorite pictures from our fantastic weekend:

Our first visit to the Peep store!
Our first visit to the Peep store!
My adorable little sister holding a giant Peep.
My adorable little sister holding a giant Peep.
Another picture of Em with the Peep.
Another picture of Em with the Peep.
Peep store!!
Peep store!!
What to buy, what to buy....
What to buy, what to buy….
A group shot (minus me) at National Harbor.
A group shot (minus me) at National Harbor.
My beautiful aunt and cousin.
My beautiful aunt and cousin.

It was a fantastic day. If you ever have the opportunity to visit, you definitely should.

And, just for good measure — a picture of my momma and step dad in their laundry room. John is finishing the whole thing and it looks amazing.

My parents in their almost-remodeled laundry room.
My parents in their almost-remodeled laundry room.

 

 

 

 

Holiday, Life

A patriotic printable

Jessica Smith

Happy almost Fourth of July!! Do you have any awesome plans for the Fourth? Fireworks? Picnics? Parties? Crafts?

My plans include my cousin’s grad party today and hanging out with ma familia on Monday, then driving back home on Tuesday to be with the hubby on Wednesday. Not sure what we are doing for the actual holiday, but I’d like to go out and buy an American Flag for our new house. We’ll see… I’m not quite sure where we have a place to hang it outside.

Buffalo is awesome. My older sister (who just fed me a Flintstones vitamin – ha!) arrived in New York yesterday — she lives in Colorado Springs where there are huge wildfires burning down the city and causing a ton of devastation. Because of the fires, she didn’t want to leave her pup, Addison, back home. So they packed up her Subby and drove 27 hours to come be with the family on our Fourth of July celebration.

My baby sister should be here just about now. She went to a friend’s wedding last night and flew up here early this morning to join the fun. It’s so great when the three of us get to see each other — it’s usually only three times a year: Once during the summer (if we are lucky), once at Thanksgiving and once at Christmas. Last year we were spoiled because of the wedding so I got to be with my sisters at the same time six different times. It was awesome.

In honor of the upcoming holiday, I made this patriotic printable in InDesign. It’s rather simple, but it took me a while to get it just right. The font I used is called Braggadocio. It’s available for free online.

If you need quick and easy decoration to celebrate the Fourth of July, print it and frame this cute little number. Also, which do you say? “Happy Fourth of July” or “Happy Independence Day” — I say the “Fourth.”

Have a great holiday, whatever you end of up doing. And remember to be thankful for the freedoms that we have in our country 🙂