WFMW: A twist on decorating with family pictures

Since this week is the first Wednesday of the month, that means it's time for a themed Works for Me Wednesday again. The theme for this month is a "Best of" edition. So, we're supposed to pick a favorite WFMW that we already published.

The one that I picked out (below) was originally published on January 22, 2008.
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Sometime last year, I decided that I didn't like my wall arrangement of photographs in our dining room. It was made up of around seven framed photographs -- ranging from 4x6 to 8x10 (and only one of those!).

So...first thing -- bigger pictures do tend to look better on the wall. So, I knew I wanted some larger framed pictures than I had.

Then, I was at Michael's and saw their $9.99 black 12x12 frames that are sold as "album frames" (you know -- record albums). They were 50% off, so I picked up seven of them.

I then picked seven scrapbook layouts, and have them hanging in our dining room.I get so many compliments on these!

It's different than just having photographs framed, and it's very visually appealing. I will point out -- my layouts don't coordinate with one another. I just picked favorites that were fairly recent and made sure everyone in the family was represented.

Above the seven layouts (four in a horizontal line, and then three in a horizontal line above those), I have a long and narrow wooden sign that says "All Because Two People Fell In Love." (It's hard to read in the pictures below, but not in person.)

So...if you're a scrapbooker (or could at least do up a few layouts), this is a great way to frame something a little different than your average photograph. Or, if you really can't muster up a few scrapbook layouts, maybe try to get some photographs printed as 12x12 photographs -- squares are so fun and different!





(I apologize for the dark photographs, but this was the best I could do that day.)

Tackle It Tuesday: Cleaning up my itty, bitty tiny craft room

Okay, maybe my craft room / scrapbook room / office is not itty bitty, but it certainly is not big. My room is 35 square feet -- 5 feet by 7 feet. And, although I will admit that I don't use it as often as I would like (sometimes I am apt to bring things out to work at the kitchen table or my desk in the living room so that I can be with the family), it is probably one of my favorite rooms in the house. This is because I love how smart my husband has been while arranging as much storage as possible in this small space.

But, as often happens, it is a mess right now. I'm doing some major Spring cleaning in the room right now (which takes longer than you'd expect a 35 square foot room to take, thanks to so much storage space), but hope to be back with almost before (I had already put a couple of things away) pictures and after pictures.

If you have a small space in your house for a home office or craft / scrapbook room, be sure to pop back later to see what we have done with our space (especially once it is clean!).

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Done! WooHoo!!! Here are the before and after pictures, but be warned -- it is very hard to take pictures of a 35 square foot room that is right off of a small hallway. So, the pictures aren't the best, but you'll get the idea.

Before (after I actually had put away just a few things):

I got rid of some things, but mostly this was achieved through just reorganizing (check out all the open spaces that I have now!). It's hard to see, but most of the white baskets are labeled with what their contents are.

After pictures:

Be careful what you ask for (aka "The Capital of Indiana")

During one recent family visit, we got on the discussion of state capitals. One family member claimed that she knew them all, and so then everyone felt the need to start quizzing her. At the point of getting several of them wrong, she declared that she apparently didn't know any of them.

I then turned to Noah and said, "What's the capital of Indiana?" I thought, perhaps, he might know it, having been to Indianapolis before. Although I did know that they hadn't yet talked about state capitals in school.

Noah, however, heard a different question -- a grammatical question instead. He tilted his head to one side and said, "Ummm...the letter I?"

And, really, that was hard to argue with. "Yes, you're right, Noah. The I is the one that is capitalized."

Sensing My Worry About Homeschool

As I tucked the boys into bed the other night, I reminded them that Spring Break would be over soon, and that they would be heading back to school on Monday. I asked them if they were happy to be going back to school.

Noah quickly said, "Yeah! I'll like to see all of my friends."

I think that I felt my shoulders shrink down and I looked at Eric with a worried look on my face.

"Now, don't even do that," he chided me. He then continued to the boys, "Mommy worries that you won't like homeschooling."

"Why wouldn't we like it?!?" Jack asked, as if I had suggested that they might not like chocolate.

The next morning, one of the first things out of Jack's mouth was (with a smile on his face), "Do you know what I will like about homeschooling, Mom? I'll really like that people won't bring in dogs and cats to show and tell like they do at regular school sometimes." And, then he just sat grinning at me.

I couldn't help but smile back at him. I knew that it wasn't just random that he told me that. It had probably been rolling around his six year old head all night, just waiting for morning to remind me that they are excited about it.