Tuesday Special ~ Games, Cards and SOS Sketches!

Stumped isn't even the word.

The challenge:
STASH: Game card and/or game pieces (Bingo card, playing card, wooden game pieces, etc.) 

Took me weeks to figure something out! I wanted to scrap some Lego pictures with real Legos on the page, but I had already scrapped them. :) Then (duh!) remembered my over-extensively large playing card collection. Choosing from Yankees cards, Keuka Lake, Georgia, and Disney cards (among too many others), I found one of my favorite pictures from this year's camping trip to the Fingerlakes, NY and matched it with a Watkins Glen joker.

It's a rather simple page this time (I even forgot to put a title on!), but I'd rather the photo take center stage on this one. And do we need to mention the cascading journaling like a waterfall? =)

Watkins Glen Waterfall by Lindsey Krauss. 
Supplies: Paper, rub-ons, tag sticker: Cosmo Cricket.
I had some Karen Foster on the page, but she never made it on. :)

So come stop by the SOS blog, and take up this sketch - after your next family game night, scrap it!

Enjoy. And thanks for stopping by. Next time we walk, I'm going to try to remember to shout this out from top of the hundreds of steps at the end of the hike, lol:

Seeing the crowds, he went up on the mountain, and when he sat down, his disciples came to him. And he opened his mouth and taught them, saying: “Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. “Blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted. “Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth." ...

Matthew 5:1-48

Tuesday Special ~ diecuts and summer at SOS

Okay, secret? I loathe both die-cuts and themed paper, the very things on which scrapbooking was probably founded. So to put them all together - that's a real challenge! So what do you do? Put the things you don't like with the things you do - Just thought this was funny - I had started a post for this blog ages ago and it went like this, lol - I guess I was in a softer mood today! :)

Yeah, soooo... I'm not a die-cut person.

Like. At all.

I don't have them. I don't use them. I don't buy them. I don't own them. I never bought a machine. I never thought about buying a machine. I'm not saying die-cuts don't have their place in the scrapbooking world. I've seen many people use them successfully.
I'm just not one of them.

So Scrap Our Stash's 6th challenge became a real challenge.

Luckily, I keep a stash of such things for McKenna and I went shopping in her supplies. She helped me pick out a few things I might be able to use and on we went.

And then they added summer-themed papers.

Challenged.

I figure I can do anything in small doses, so I found all my supplies first and then found a picture to dazzle the page.

So I took SOS's challenge and combined it with one of my favorite lettering techniques. Well, not a technique, really - just mix and match. A great way to use up your letter stash, by the way! Another small stash secret - I didn't have enough yellow bling, so I tucked my sunshine in the clouds to block some rays.

All in all, I got enough on there to highlight the story that was to be - a little trouble!

Enjoy and visit us over at SOS!!

This Looks Like Trouble by Lindsey Krauss.
Supplies: Paper: S.E.I., Scrappin' Sports & More, Amscan; Cardstock, brads: Making Memories; Diecuts: What's New Ltd.; Washi Tape: Scotch; Droplets: Kaiser Scrapbook, Cloud 9 Design; Bling: Jeannie's, VivAmerica; Letters: White Blossom, Jillibean Soup, American Crafts; Mist: Tattered Angels.

Creative Thursday ~ A sketch and some bling at SOS!

And yet again, a red, white, and blue layout! They must be my summer colors...

So another sketch from Scrap Our Stash! Love...

Flag 13 by Lindsey Krauss. Supplies:Paper: CherryArte; Cardstock: Canson; Letters: Pink Paislee, American Crafts; Metal: Craft n Craftin'; Corrugated shapes: Jillibean Soup; Glitter: Stickles (Ranger), Paint: Making Memories, Cutting tool (for tracing): Creative Memories; Ink: Ranger; Other: Glitter buttons, glitter brad.

SOS's sketch: I always look forward to these...

And a little fun with my own fingers! Since I didn't have any mist in the color blue I wanted, I made it! Actually, truth be told, I made it long ago. It's just a mix of Stickles, blue MM paint and some water. I have a few of these made, and I keep them in those little plastic containers with lids, that you might get soy sauce or dressing in. I guess I couldn't find a paintbrush, because it was just easier to use fingers. Finger-painting!

Photography Friday ~ Little Girl, Big Quad at SOS

Well, I'm just delighted to accept another term at Scrap Our Stash, and we started with a bang! I snapped these photos with my phone as we finally got the little quad ready to go. The kids were thrilled, to say the least. After Matthew rode it, it was McKenna's turn, and you can see how excited she was!

She took off like a bullet, as fast as the capped speed would take her (thank goodness Doug had the remote stop in his hand!) His words exactly: "McKenna, slow down. Slow Down. SLOW DOWN!!" ... "McKenna, you HAVE to use the brake!" Haha, that's our girl.

Well, I couldn't wait to scrap the story - so SOS's first red/white/blue-and-stars challenge worked perfectly. I wanted something rugged yet girly - like this girl. Most of the page was a mistake - the splattering happened after I added the ovals and dropped the bundle of markers. I so liked the looked, I took it to the rest of the page. 

Little Girl, Big Quad by Lindsey Krauss.Supplies: Paper: Pressed Petals, Other; Cardstock: Making Memories; Markers: Sharpie; Letters: Creativity, Inc.; Rhinestones: KaiserCraft; Stars: the New Image group; Other: Tag. Pictures through Instagram.

Creative Thursday ~ Aristocats at SOS

I have so much trouble scrapping professional photos - but I had a bit of fun with my star!

The Scrap Our Stash challenge to jump off June was brads. I figured that was easy to combine with stars. Nope! Didn't have enough. However, I had plenty of eyelets. Eyelets good, holes bad. So I stuck the brads through the eyelets and then had some 3-D star brads. Also, the brads and eyelets are actually hiding an accidental seam from having to enlarge my circle, so eyelets would never do.

The rest was just some overboard starry fun. Initially I had had trouble starting, so I again went out to search for a sketch. Found this one at My Creative Endeavors (Sketch N Scrap). Their twist challenge also encouraged me to use the die cut and it fit the idea I had for the broken up title. I had fully intended on blue and yellow for this layout, but when I found the old Super Star diecut, I just had to use it.

Here's the final draft - and by the way, it took me longer to photograph this baby indoors at night than it did to actually put the layout together. Next time, day time photos only!

Aristocats by Lindsey Krauss.
Supplies: Paper: Cherry Arte, Scenic Route Paper Co.; Letters: Fancy Pants Designs, White Blossom; Eyelets,
brads: Making Memories; Marker: Sharpie; Other: die cuts, star buttons, shiny star brads and pushpins.
Sketch by Lisa Hidy.
Photography or Developing by Photo Shoppe.

Enjoy, thanks for looking. :)

The moon and stars to rule over the night, for his steadfast love endures forever;
Psalm 136:9

Creative Thursday ~ Friends and Angels @ WOW

I had one more WOW piece to work with and as much as I loved that chipboard, I found myself devoid of all inspiration. So I took a walk around looking for a sketch to jump start the process. I {re}found my friend Pam's blog and a fun sketch to boot. Yes, another McKenna layout, I must play catch up after this with some Matthew pages...

See this on XoXo, too...

Friends and Angels by Lindsey Krauss.
Supplies: Paper: Daisy Bucket Designs, Brads, Staples: Making Memories, Flowers: Prima Marketing, Mist: Tattered Angels, Title: Words or Whatever. Sketch: Pamela Young.

For the WoW title, I colored with Sharpies (ombre and all) and then misted with Tattered Angels Dragonfly and Party Pink (my two colors of choice as of late). I found the pink flowers that I misted for my last projects and didn't use and paired those up with a few little yellow petals to complement the dark blue. The sunshine was an afterthought, after I was trying to arrange my banner scraps. And as haphazardly as I tried to arrange my banner pieces, somehow they still came out, well, arranged. :) 

Thanks for looking and another huge thanks to Words or Whatever for donating pieces and prizes. These are truly one of my favorite chipboard companies to work with - I think it's because of the flexibility of the pieces. 

Anyhow, enjoy. and a verse to go with friends and angels:

Therefore encourage one another and build one another up, just as you are doing.

I'm on this journey with "edification", as I started and learned of in our own Graceland kids ministry. Love that.

Tuesday Special ~ Sketch + Flower Stash at SOS!

I don't get much done in the scrapbook lately, but SoS keeps me going. :) Squeezed this one in last weekend -

Laugh by Lindsey Krauss. 

Did you see the sketch? Yum. Add three flowers, and you're in.

I flipped through some recent photos of the fam & I on a real tourist family field trip to NYC. I was taking some pics of the kids and their dad and the boat blew its horn. I just love the faces she made, and I'm so glad I caught them on camera! Too cute -

As for the layout, I started the background with crayon - yes, real Crayola. I sprayed with a little TA (who, by the way, is abandoning their old website and its viruses while developing a new one; just in case you noticed! Update here.)

Then the layers just kept comin'... The strip mostly hidden at the bottom of the photo is actually a piece I laid down a few weeks ago to spray something else. The colors happened to match, so I stuck it on there to start. Then let's talk stash! Queen & Co.! Jolee's! Daisy D's! Yes, we definitely covered Scrapping Our Stash here!

Thanks for stopping by, see more here!
http://scrapourstash.blogspot.com

Creative Thursdayl ~ WOW & SOS!

A patterned paper party to go with some sweet new chipboard!
Actually, I made a mistake and accidentally combined two design team layouts, but the more, the merrier. :) Scrap away!

find that sweet chipboard here: WOW

and

find this fun challenge here: SOS

,

JUMP by Lindsey Krauss.
Supplies: Paper: Making Memories, Rhonna Farrer, Lilly Bee Design; Cardstock: Bazzill Basics; Stickers: Making Memories; Artisan Tape: Pink Paislee; Marker: Sharpie; Mist: Tattered Angels; Glitter: Stickles, Studio G; letters: VivAmerica;
Chipboard: Words or Whatever.

Scrap Can you tell I'm trying to get rid of those old monograms? I could almost spell JUMP, and was going to hide the letters in all that patterned paper, but I was missing an 'm'. So we got a 'j' with lots of extra polka dots - my favorite, anyway! It looked too plain when I got done, so I added the pink spray at the very end. 

Oh, and don't do what I did - I forgot rub-ons! You have to successfully enter a layout with all parts of the challenge to win over at SOS... Got them in, tho; be sure you do, too! 

Musical Mondays ~ 10,000 Reasons

I hope you've heard this one by now. There was one service that I heard it going in, while in, and going out - and I listened every time. One of my favorite worship moments last week was hearing and watching 6,000 people in Georgia worshiping Jesus together. Can't get enough.

Enjoy.

Psalm 103

English Standard Version (ESV)

Bless the Lord, O My Soul

Of David.

103 

Bless the Lord, O my soul,

    and all that is within me,

    bless his holy name!

² 

Bless the Lord, O my soul,

    and forget not all his benefits,

³ 

who forgives all your iniquity,

    who heals all your diseases,

⁴ 

who redeems your life from the pit,

    who crowns you with steadfast love and mercy,

⁵ 

who satisfies you with good

    so that your youth is renewed like the eagle's.

⁶ 

The Lord works righteousness

    and justice for all who are oppressed.

⁷ 

He made known his ways to Moses,

    his acts to the people of Israel.

⁸ 

The Lord is merciful and gracious,

    slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love.

⁹ 

He will not always chide,

    nor will he keep his anger forever.

¹⁰ 

He does not deal with us according to our sins,

    nor repay us according to our iniquities.

¹¹ 

For as high as the heavens are above the earth,

    so great is his steadfast love toward those who fear him;

¹² 

as far as the east is from the west,

    so far does he remove our transgressions from us.

¹³ 

As a father shows compassion to his children,

    so the Lord shows compassion to those who fear him.

¹⁴ 

For he knows our frame;^[a]

    he remembers that we are dust.

¹⁵ 

As for man, his days are like grass;

    he flourishes like a flower of the field;

¹⁶ 

for the wind passes over it, and it is gone,

    and its place knows it no more.

¹⁷ 

But the steadfast love of the Lord is from everlasting to everlasting on those who fear him,

    and his righteousness to children's children,

¹⁸ 

to those who keep his covenant

    and remember to do his commandments.

¹⁹ 

The Lord has established his throne in the heavens,

    and his kingdom rules over all.

²⁰ 

Bless the Lord, O you his angels,

    you mighty ones who do his word,

    obeying the voice of his word!

²¹ 

Bless the Lord, all his hosts,

    his ministers, who do his will!

²² 

Bless the Lord, all his works,

    in all places of his dominion.

Bless the Lord, O my soul!

Creative Thursday ~ Stash & Buttons at SOS

This is a fun one! Last day to enter, so if you you have some scrappy time, get 'em in!

Here's my edition of sketch + buttons:

Cousins by Lindsey Krauss. Paper: , Crate Paper, Letters (and Numbers): American Crafts, Heidi Swapp, Making Memories;
Buttons: Maya Road, Wood art: BasicGrey.

The background paper helped me keep it simple, but I'm kind of thinking that I might add a little sumptin' sumptin' before I put it away... 

Anyhow, hop over to SOS - take a look thru all the dt layouts and all those entered; SOS is rockin'!

Photography Friday ~ Now Is The Time To Worship

I snuck into the final worship songs of Easter last weekend - just because.

What a sight.

I'll spare you the details, but I took about 50 no-flash shots with both my camera and my phone and had to do some serious work in PhotoShop to bring this to life. 

This tiny girl, sitting on dad's shoulders, the only one with her hands held high in that worship moment. It's both revealing and comforting to generations before her and generations after. A little thank you to that parent, as he drives her, holds her, teaches her. 

Faith truly is God-given. 

For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God—not by works, so that no one can boast.

Ephesians 2:8-9

Matthew 5:5 and Psalm 37:11 also came to mind that day: 

Blessed are the meek,
    for they will inherit the earth.

But the meek will inherit the land
    and enjoy peace and prosperity.

Creative Thursday ~ Dots and Stripes at SOS

Another fun challenge is up at Scrap Our Stash! Dots and stripes, birds, butterflies and bees! There are some really cute projects already up over there, so be sure to check out Dots and Stripes to see them all. Here's my layout.

Legos by Lindsey Krauss. Supplies: Paper: Love, Elsie (Toby Go & Claire Powder Puff), Pink Paislee; other; Artisan tape: Pink Paislee; Rub-ons: Crate Paper, Inc.; Letters: VivAmerica, Making Memories; Markers: Sharpie; Other: chipboard button, large butterfly, paper words, ribbon.

Journaling: McKenna, you got this Lego set for your birthday and you were done with it, with very  little help, in just minutes. Maybe it was all those times watching your brother, but you were so proud when you were done, you, too, now have a Lego city in your bedroom.

Dots and stripes! I know, for being such a fan of polka dots, I used remarkably very few. And since the pink paper was so lightly striped, I played with striping in the overall design. I also fought tooth and nail to keep bugs and birds out of my stash so long ago, so I had to look long and hard for some! Imagine my surprise, to come across those perfect Crate Paper butterflies after the layout had been laid out and adhered! The rest is just more stash - rub-ons, some punch-outs, even a chipboard button and its holes. The paper and rub-ons clearly didn't come together, but I love the way they go together.

Truly, I have very few animals in my stash. So I was so pleasantly surprised to find not only green and pink butterflies, but pink and white polka dot rub-ons as well. The rest is just some things I found while fumbling around in my color-coordinated storage. On the right side is a Making Memories sticker (remember those huge monogram letter stickers?) - I cut it so it was an "l", but I love the way it blends in with the green on and around it. The two small green dots in the cluster are, indeed, the holes in the heart button. The purple ribbon was just a tiny scrap I found in my ribbon bucket. I'm not sure who made those word punch-outs (My Mind's Eye?), but they went well on the page, uncut and untouched. Same with the background page; the arrows were busy enough so that paper went untreated as well.

Creative Thursday ~ Mixed Alpha Sketch at SOS

Always love a sketch - especially a sketch by Rochelle Spears at Scrap Our Stash!
We got to use Rochelle's sketch and tried to use up some {mixed}alphas. Not only was my title using up some bits and pieces of orange alphas, but my two tiny chevron in the lower right are actually upside-down "v's" - which I'm guessing is how the whole chevron trend started. :)

McKenna's CYO Basketball by Lindsey Krauss.
Supplies: Paper: Flair Designs, WUBE; Letters: Doodlebug Design, Inc., Basic Grey, Heidi Swapp; Felt: Fancy Pants, Rhinestones: Kaiser Craft; Rub-ons: Sassafrass Lass, K&Company, DCWV, Marcella by K; Sticker: My Mind's Eye; 

See more layouts by the design team from this sketch:
http://scrapourstash.blogspot.com/search/label/mixed%20alphas

to be continued...

Creative Thursday ~ Kraft at SoS

So Scrap Our Stash is back up and better then ever! It's been one of my favorite ideas in scrapbooking, as I have been on almost a complete no-buy for years now. I'm not in this to be famous, I'm in this because it's my preferred art and it will hopefully preserve a few memories. And I certainly have enough stuff already to work with!

So our first challenge was to use 50% kraft and 3+ metal. You know when I hear a challenge like this, I tend to go a little overboard. :) So my layout is about 95% kraft and 5 metal. When I hear kraft, it's more about the raw color to me. So I started by gathering every single kraft item I could find. I wanted to use some naked laser chipboard pieces, but it didn't work this time.
Click for kraft it up label on SOS
Click for my layout on SOS

There is no ink on this layout and the only patterned paper is the outside frame, which I added because the page was a little too boring without it. The brown you see is all rub-on or transparency. Remember those old Heidi Swapp letters? Still love those after all these years... I had actually forgotten the metal, so gathered a few bronze brads and scattered those around. I actually really liked the way this one turned out, and that makes for 4 out of 4 of my last pages monochromatic. Not trying to, I just prefer it right now.

Anyhow, onto the good stuff.

Not Yet Glasses by Lindsey Krauss. Supplies: Paper: Jillibean Soup, Basic Grey, Graphic 45, Letters: Vivamerica, Corrugated shapes: Jillibean Soup, Chipboard: Junkitz, other, Rub-on: Scrap Within Reach, Frame, Transparency: My Mind's Eye, Brads: Making Memories, Letters: Heidi Swapp.

Where can I go from your Spirit?... All the days ordained for me were written in your book before one of them came to be. Psalm 139

Musical Monday ~ You Are by Colton Dixon

So much to praise God for!







Wait - I haven't posted this song yet? I have a million times in my head.
My new turn-it-up-so-loud-and-sing-even-louder-in-the-car song.

Way to go, Colton.

He is your praise and He is your God, who has done these great and awesome things for you which your eyes have seen ... Deuteronomy 10:21 .

Scripture Sunday ~ 1 Corinthians

Quite some time ago, Pastor Jarrod spoke on 1 Corinthians. We all know it, or at least have heard it, but this time it hit me with a new, quiet awakening. I'll jot down my notes and then at the end, I'll jot down my conclusion.

Sermon Notes: "Family Glue" (click the link, go to Nov. 18 to download the podcast.)

     The only hope for a family to survive and thrive through any relational challenge, sudden trauma, and/or chronic pain is through unconditional love. 1 Cor. 13:4-7
                                   agape = sacrificial love

Piece #2 (in the Under Construction, Piecing Together a Healthy Family series):

unconditional love

"patience" long-tempered

"kindness" patience in public/in action, useful

"does not envy/jealous" James 4:2

"is not arrogant"

** "is not rude" give vent to feelings, no restraint, family bully ---> love is sensitive to other

** "does not insist on its own way" gives, serves, John 3:16, doesn't pout Phil 2:2-3

** "is not irritable" (no provoked)

"is not resentful" does not keep a record of wrongs

forgives and lets go

"does not rejoice at wrongdoing but rejoices with the Truth"

elephant in the room

never compromises

vv ACTIVITY vv

"love bears" covering, concealing, protecting, supports, believes faithfulness, trustworthy

no giving up, hopes, choose to believe, joy, optimism, confidence

A wrong done against love is like a spark quenched in the ocean. -Chrysotom  

⁴ Love is patient and kind; love does not envy or boast; it is not arrogant ⁵ or rude. It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful;^[a] 6 it does not rejoice at wrongdoing, but rejoices with the truth. ⁷ Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.

1 Corinthians 13:4-7

⁸ Above all, keep loving one another earnestly, since love covers a multitude of sins.

1 Peter 4:8

¹⁹ We love because he first loved us.

1 John 4:19

-------------------

My conclusion:

GOD IS LOVE.

You can substitute "God" in every place that "Love" is written in 1 Corinthians. 

God is patient and kind

God does not envy or boast.

God is not arrogant or rude.

God does not insist on His own way. (I'm thinking human will.)

God is not irritable or resentful. (Sad at sin, maybe, but not these things.)

God does not rejoice at wrongdoing, but God rejoiced in the Truth.

God bears all things, God believes all things, God hopes all things, God endures all things.

Love that. 

Creative Thursday ~ no cameras

I've found that I now take about 80% of my photos with my phone. Occasionally I turn out the iThings, and my camera (finally fixed!) seems to come out for occasions - not necessarily special, but outings. So this month's challenge from XoXo Scrapbooking was to use photographs from anything other than a camera. Lots of fun information over there about editing and apps - go take a look!

Here's one of my favorite pictures off of Instagram, of little McKenna in the cutest outfit. I had originally designed this for SOS (before they shut down to revamp - it's back up, with tons of talent, as I mentioned, and my layout will be up on the 7th!) so I was reaching way into the stash.

Simply Beautiful by Lindsey Krauss. Supplies: Paper: Pink Paislee, Flowers: Prima Marketing, Inc., Buttons: Junkitz, Glitter: Stickles, Title: My Mind's Eye, Other: Photo Corners, rhinestones, mesh.

Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God.
Matthew 5:8

Tuesday Special - my new wall!

Although I still have trouble saying thank you and feeling proud, I indeed am - mostly because I thought up the project and carried it through 100% on my own! What a pleasant sight when I got to the top of the stairs Sunday morning before church - made me smile!

Here is the finished project (with frames to fill and room to grow)

Want steps? Beginning to end:

1. Find frames. I had the project in my head for months but got very lucky with an amazing sub job with a very nice gal. She happened to bring in two bags of frames she was giving away and I unashamedly scavenged them. She saved me a fortune! 

2. Research. I was pretty sure this wouldn't only be about frames, so I spend a day or two on Pinterest gathering ideas. More to come on that in a bit.

3. Paint frames. Clean glass. I'm pretty sure I used the wrong paint and the wrong brush and that Windex wouldn't work in the long run, but so far, so good. And it's all fixable; more on that also in a bit.

First I used regular old paint I had the scrapbook room (Making Memories); it was a bit old and a little gloppy, which was actually better on the frames. Some of these are wooden, some are metal. I ran out of that paint, so I got a plain black acrylic from Hobby Lobby. Already I can see one frame that will have to be repainted and probably sealed. 

I also gathered up some other frames pieces we had lying around that were given as gifts and never mounted. I painted their frames black and rematted them to match. There is a Mom & Dad poem and a Policeman's Prayer and picture worked in there.

4. I filled those frames! I was fortunate enough to have enough printer paper and ink at home, and a decent photo printer. This kept the cost of this project way down for me. I chose some of our classic pics, some funny, some of our favs, and I even have a few blank ones to fill with those pics "I can't believe I didn't think of!", which should happen sometime next week.

Here is what very little planning I did for this part:

I used white cardstock and posterboard to mat the photos, which are all in black and white. Again, it's probably not the material professional framers would have used, but I'm happy with it so far.

I also have a list of glass that needs to be replaced and am hoping my local glass place will help me out with that.

My table looked like this for a week (I have a very patient family):

5. I bought an over-sized wooden letter "K" and small wooden letters on sale (yay!) at Hobby Lobby as well. Painted those. Tip for painting small spaces: I used one of the kid's watercolor paint brushes, they're a dime a dozen and I wouldn't feel bad if I had to throw them out).

6. Next I took a picture of the space I was filling, measured and taped off sides and angles on the floor in my foyer. It looked like this for 24 hours (I had a surprisingly accident-free family, too):

7. We had monkey hooks and I found the 3M Command wall hangers in WalMart and Hobby Lobby. I wasn't sure I'd trust the Command on the sandy-textured wall, but 2 days later, none of those frames have fallen!

8. I had to take the backs off of most of the frames. I wasn't worried about ruining them because I knew I'd never take them down to use as standing frames ever again. Taking the stands off helped keep the pictures flush to the wall.

9. Ready! Here I go!

Some tools of the trade: monkey hooks, thumbtacks, a level, painter's tape, a flashlight (to see behind the frames when mounting, screwdriver, scissors, Command hooks (up to 2lb, 12lb and 16lb), double-stick mounting tape (some of the backs of the frames were sunken and I used a few layers of double stick to pop the Command strips up), duct tape (reverse rolled up for the small letters); not pictured: a tall chair and a 6 foot ladder. 

Here's a tour of our new wall. :) You'll have to visit in person for the real effect, it does look better in person. :)

Disclaimer: I promise to take new pictures in the morning light and from a ladder as soon as I can. I was too impatient to find a filter for the flash, wait till a free morning, and gain proper height to take these.

small wooden letters from Hobby Lobby, painted black, mounted with reverse
rolled up duct tape (which I think you can see here, but not in reality).

A few of our fav pictures.

bride & groom

family pic from last fall

Pinterest-inspired K; painted black, with a simple
rhinestone cluster trimmed and fit.

Babies in police hats.

Babies in police hats.

This is a Making Memories sticker that I recolored. It fit the tiny frame
perfectly and ended up matching the wall as well. I'm still considering adding
a patterned background for it.

So I just now noticed that the two small frames are opposite -
when the God frame is on top and the verse on the bottom,
the hearts make an hourglass shape. Again, this will be fixed and retaken.
-------------------------
This is a dollar store frame!
This is one of the readings from our wedding - 1 Corinthians.
I just recently realized that it can be literally translated to God is Love
thanks to our Pastor's sermon a few weeks ago.
I'm working on that post for Sunday.

the newborns.
label added with their names and birthdates.

Another Pinterest inspiration. These are the lyrics to
our wedding song written out as a poem. I printed those
out and added our wedding date on top of the glass.
Still searching for the perfect heart embellishment. 

the brothers

the parents
(yes, both of our parents are still together 4+
years later, we're proud!)

one of our newer favorites:
Matthew pinning Doug as his Sergeant's promotion.

Here's how the Command process works, once mounted,
so I can easily edit and fix frames for years to come.

like a super tight velcro, it snaps back in place but pulls off easily.
holding nicely so far!

So there you have it. If I can do it, anyone can!