DIY Hand painted wall decal

WOW!  It's been a while.  Almost a year by my count, not that I haven't been busy.  I DO have a new project for you tonight, completed in about 3 hours btw, but first lets get a glimpse of whats been happening around the Smock household.  So there's this:

Yep-You guessed it, we got pregnant!  This is me summer 2012 sanding a dresser drawer in the garage.  

Taylor Rae graduated Kindergarten...this is right before she put on her cap and gown for the ceremony.

and her with her para-professional "Murphy".  

Fast forward through summer...first day for 1st Grade.

and about a month later on Sept 7th...Hayden Michael Smock-

Born at home! (he was 5 mins old at this point)

A few hours...

Day two, big sissy LOVES him!

These last four, 1 week old.  

1 month, first smiles

Taylor Rae, being a fabulous big sissy

SO Alert!

Taylor carving her first pumpkin alone.

Hayden sleeping in his bed alone for the first time.

Then his first time in the jumper.  

Lots of weekend fun with Auntie

Dada teaching him to "ride the puppy"  Mush puppy, mush!

Our tree this year

and of course a cute Christmas sweater!

Opening presents with Grandpa...

Nana Shanna...

Toledo the goose!

can't forget Auntie! (Taylor LOVES that guitar, music 24/7 in our house!)

Lots and lots of morning snuggles in moms bed.  

YEP-thats what I've been up to in a nutshell.  Now I get to share the extra stuff I've been doing!

Starting with today.

Taylor got on this Dora the Explorer kick, a blessing and a curse-at the same time.  So she was doing that after begging all morning and Hayden FINALLY fell asleep (for like 20 minutes but still-it was long enough for me to get stuck in the start of this project).  

I saw this quote on FB a while back...i feel like a lot of bad things start there...either way, this was positive for a change.  A fantastic quote "The happiest people dont have the best of everything, they make the best of everything they have."  There are days that I REALLY hold onto this quote.

I feel like, how perfect is this?  We definitely dont have all the newest greatest things, but we're still happy, because we try to see the bright side of things.  I see these pictures in magazines and think "man, i cant wait 'till i can afford THAT stuff to decorate my home".  

But really?  Even if I could buy it i'd rather find a way to DIY it.  How many people do you know that can just fly through money like that?  Not many for me.  So I DIY almost everything I want, because it fits our life better, and I dont have to feel bad about having beautiful things if they cost next to nothing.  

I decided this needed to be a statement somewhere in our home.  I chose the dining room.  It's where we eat together and when my kids are old enough to read I want them to see this each night at dinner time. 

This is pretty basic, I typed up the phrase in a word document and picked out a font I liked.  Then I enlarged it and switched the orientation to landscape and hit print.  

I got out my white acrylic paint and a small brush.  Then I traced the words onto a clear page protector using a sharpie. 

Then I put that baby up on my overhead projector and enlarged the image onto my wall.  Turned off the lights and started to paint over the image.  Here it is after the first line was done. 

When the second line was complete I hung a couple floating shelves and threw up some accessories.  We've lived her over a year and this is these are the first things to go up on the wall!  I can't quit looking at it :)

Some greens from the wedding, a picture of my sister and I, a small water basin and tray that my great grandma Irene Jackson made (by hand-the lady was super talented) and some other nick nacks including a cute garage sale milk glass dish with some dried rose buds from a bouquet the hubby got me recently.  

There it is guys!  Don't waste your money buying those expensive (but cheap looking) decals, just DIY!  You can personalize any saying and it's super easy.  

Over and out....

Aleasha