Quotes with Meaning

 

 

 

What has meaning to you?

 

Inspirational quotes, like "Home is where your family lives." are becoming increasingly popular. Its nice to receive daily inspiration from a favorite quote, reminding us what is important in life, but it seems everyone believes they are 'being creative' simply by ordering pre-made wall decals or hanging a stenciled wooden sign. It is a cookie cutter style of decorating. The quote you picked out off the web site and worked hard to correctly hang, may very well be the same quote inside your neighbors house too. Is that your goal? The challenge is to inspire, while showing creativity and originality in your decorating.

 

Scrabble Letters were popular for crafts in the 80's. I remember being young girl and wearing a scrabble letter tile of my initial, hot glued on a pin, on my winter coat. I thought I was cool. More recently, it became popular to  line up the Scrabble tiles on the little wooden holders to a spell out a last name. Take the idea a step further.  Spell out the word 'Love' with Scrabble tiles and balance them on top of a photo frame. Re-purpose vintage dice, game pieces  or cards to form any favorite word. 



Does your family have an inside joke? Draw inspiration from your daily life. My family continually asks, "Does anyone know how to post videos to face book?" It makes us laugh and roll our eyes every time we hear it. I printed out the quote and framed it in the hallway by my kids room. Everyone starts the day with a smile.



Do you have a favorite number? Around my house, the number 26 appears everywhere. There is an old magnet domino with two dots on one side and six dots on the other attached to my stove. Two playing cards featuring the number two and six  are framed in the hallway. An old 26 tin number tag is tucked into my framed wedding photo. July 26 is my wedding anniversary. My husband and I have now made 26 our favorite number. We even have old locker numbers with 26 on our key chain's. It a fun hobby searching for our special number and finding creative ways to display it around our house. This can be done with birthdays, anniversaries, even your house number.



I love quotes. They inspire me to be a better person. I spend numerous hours trolling through quotes on Pintrest. Sometimes I download my favorites, storing them away in a file on my computer, then finding that I  rarely revisit these awesome quotes. Recently, I learned that Walgreens will print out Instagram photos. (Yeah!) The cool filters are maintained and the photos are printed in a 4x4 inch vintage inspired size. Finally, I have something useful to do with my quote collection! I have printed out dozens of my favorite quotes in this fun size. I have taped them inside my kitchen cabinets, tucked them inside the edges of my mirror, used them as a bookmark, and even pinned one to the inside of the visor in my car. Now these quotes catch my attention throughout the day and bring me inspiration.  Its amazing how a few words or a phrases can continually change your attitude. I love this idea so much I am now printing quotes out for family and friends.



So, I ask you, what has meaning to you? Show it to the world through your decorating!
 



Say Cheese

  

The dilemma: boxes of family photos that need to be organized. Its one of those projects everyone will get around to "someday'. Sure, a select few to frame or file them away in photo albums. But, what should be done with the rest of the photos? Here are some solutions.

 

(Digitize.)

 

Turn those prints into digital files. by scanning them into the computer. Tackle the project in small intervals. Set an easy to attain goal, such as to scan 25 photos each week. File the photos as they are scanned. Throw the paper photo away. It is hard to do, but once its scanned them there is no need to keep the photos. It will becomes cluttered junk. The most important step in this process is back up the files. This can be done online or with an external hard drive. A great online storage is Shoebox. It's only $5 a month and produces random searches. IPhone's and computers can sync automatically. Its truly an amazing app. If you must keep your old photos, label the boxes and store them neatly, where they won't get wet or become affected by humidity.

 

(I've been framed.)

 

A family photo wall is always a favorite in any home. However, try to include more than just the kids school photos and wedding photos. Mix in candid photos of all family members. Hang a photo of the friends and relatives who visit on a regular basis. Nothing makes guests feel more welcome than seeing their photo hanging on the wall. This is also a fun decorating idea for your child's room too. Use brightly colored coordinating frames and include photos of grandparents, school friends and accomplishments.

 

 

(Think outside the box.)

 

Be creative when arranging photo displays on a wall.  There are a ton of idea's on Pinterest. Some favorite idea's include:

• Hang a grouping of various sizes and frame finishes together to fill a large space.
• If you have an old frame, hang photos from clothes pins on a piece of twine. 
• Make a photo collage under a large piece of glass on your desk.
• Tack photos on a large bulletin board and mix in memento's
• Paint a tree on the wall and hang photo's from the branches

(Party on, dude!)

 

Support a party theme. with photographs. Photo CD are great party favors. Burn CD's of the photos for family members for holiday, anniversary or wedding gifts. Use a childhood photo of each guest as place cards for a dinner party. String old photos to make garland. The idea's are endless. Be creative and think outside the box... or, uh, outside the photo album.