So I realized that I forgot to let those of you who were wondering know what the correct colors were! So here they are!

I adore this palette for our Master Bedroom. It’s so soft and calming which is exactly what I imagined for our room to feel like. AND it has some lighter tones of our wedding colors. Bonus. I chose this one for our Kitchen! I just love all of the colors in it and think I can turn our kitchen into a place I enjoy being!

And last these are the colors of our master bathroom. A little girly I know, but my hubby bless his heart told me it was ok. I made a compromise and let him choose the color I’m going to paint our bed. Which has nothing to do with the above palette, but I think it will still compliment it (I hope). I can’t wait to start putting our house together and turning it into our home. I’m doing little projects here and there which have helped calm the anxiety of moving. I’ve also shopping antique yardsales which I adore and I have at least one antique piece in every room. I had no idea that was my style, but it totally is!

I got all of the pictures I used from Design Seeds so if you’re on the lookout for some amazing color palettes and inspiration, be sure sure to head over there!

I’m so sorry I missed last weeks party. I had my features chosen and everything, but time got away from me. Thank you to everybody that linked up!

Here are this weeks features:
I absolutely love the method that Samantha from Life Around The Loop uses to paint her welcome sign. It’s genius I tell you!  I won’t spill the secret so head on over to her blog to see how she did it. I’m so going to try this method out soon. I think that this Chair Cushion is absolutely darling. Heidi from Handmade Frenzy shares her tutorial on how she did it. I just scored an amazing vintage highchair to use in our kitchen for baby sis when we move. I think a cushion would do just the trick in helping her tush not to slide out from under her!
I love this tutorial by Hilary from Domestic Bliss Squared. It reminds me of the baby gates my dad built a few years ago that I will be putting up in out house! It’s such a great idea. Head on over to see how she made it so simple!
I’m so into Emergency Preparedness and Mel from the Crafty Scientist shares her DIY Car Essentials Kit. I like how small and compact it is. I will be sharing what’s in my car kit soon, but hers would be perfect for a glove compartment!
Last but not least, I think this is such a fun idea for kids to come home to on their last day of school! I so want to be a mom like this! Tonii from Blue Skies Ahead shares her tutorial and a printable for how she put together these fun buckets!

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Time for this weeks party!

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To start I criss-crossed washi tape over the top of each jar and added the outer seal on it again to make it look more complete. I gathered all of the decorations that we bought from the dollar store and designed by centerpieces from there. All I did was arrange our flowers using the washi tape grid to keep them in place and put our American flag bows on each side. It was a super quick project and I love the way it turned out. We added some more centerpieces to our food table to jazz it up a little bit and got cute plates to match our theme and that was that. I really feel like it dressed it up and made it special. While we were making preparations for the dinner, my mom and I were talking about how it makes a holiday feel so much more special when you put a little something into it by decorating and or talking about it.
We played a Memorial Day trivia game and my amazingly talented nephew Benjamin sang “My Country Tis of Thee”. My heart felt so full. Not because of the decorations, (even though they did add a little somethin’- somethin’) but because of who I was surrounded by and what Memorial Day means. In the end it’s who we are celebrating with that truly makes a holiday special. The above picture is everybody that was there, we were missing some of my brothers’ family, my sister and her amazing family, and my awesome brother Robert. The picture below is of sis and her Uncle Johnny.This next picture is of PJ being pushed on the swing by his “pop”. My dad is a veteran and it was an honor to celebrate him and all who have served our country giving us reason to celebrate this holiday. For those who have given their lives in the service of our country for the cause of Freedom, we honor you. To all of our past and present service men and women, thank you. You are prayed for and appreciated.
I hope you all had an amazing memorial day.

But I’ve been doing a lot of thinking and we’ve had a few experiences recently where I just feel like it might be worth posting…
See this little guy? He is the sweetest, most caring little man I have ever known. He loves to hug and kiss everybody he meets. He loves to say hi to strangers and loves loves loves to go to the playground.
Everyday before his nap he asks if he can go for a walk to the playground. And most days he gets to. But lately, we’ve been noticing a trend. There will be a small group of kids there 2-3 of them and it’s not the same kids, it’s happened at different parks. These kids will be playing together and PJ will come up to play with them and they will be so mean and either make a game out of running away from him when he goes up to them and asks them to play or they’ll just ignore him. He’s only 3, he doesn’t understand clicks or anything like that. My heart sinks every time. What absolutely breaks it is when we decide that the kids have been too mean to him that we tell him it’s time to come home and he’ll come up to me and say “kids are mean mommy.” And I agree they are…some of them. So I try to teach him it’s not all kids but it’s some. My heart absolutely aches that this is something he has to learn at an early age, that some kids are mean. That they haven’t been taught to be kind.

It doesn’t just stop at childhood either. I took a friend to lunch the other day and she chose to sit in a booth that had an older lady (either a mom or grandma) sitting behind ours and then her 3 granddaughters/daughters sitting across from her. As I sat down my heart sank, I felt the booth dip. I’m a big girl, I know. But booths shouldn’t dip. Something must’ve been lose, the booth I sat in the day before didn’t. Anyways as my side of the booth went down, her side went up. Think teeter totter. I was mortified. She could have been the bigger person (figuratively) and not said anything, but she didn’t. She bounced up and down on the booth a couple times emphasizing how she couldn’t get back lower. Then I heard her say to the girls about how it’s because I was so big. They giggled. Ouch. I wished I could go home and go up to my mom and say, “adults are mean mommy.” To which I’m sure she’d offer the same consoling words. That yes they are but not all of them. Apparently adults are forgetting to be kind, and it’s rubbing off on the children who follow their examples.

Those little girls had an example that day. I can guarantee that they will not treat somebody overweight with kindness, if they have that sort of example all of the time. Did you know the “Percent of adults age 20 years and over who are obese: 35.9% (2009-2010) & the Percent of adults age 20 years and over who are overweight (and not obese): 33.3% (2009-2010)” -CDC and the numbers are rising. That’s a little over 1 in every 4 people. I know that people think that you can shame somebody into being thin. In fact that was proposed recently here. I can assure you, I shame myself everyday. I have yet to become thin from it.

I’m rambling now…I know. I’m just saddened by the lack of kindness I see everyday. And so I wanted to send out a plea. Parents, please teach your children to be kind. The world needs more kind people in it. Please teach them that we all have struggles, for some they are on the inside, and for some they are on the outside. Please be examples of kindness. Kindness truly is contagious. Please share that kindness whenever you can. Give a little grace to those around you. Nobody knows that battles someone else faces unless they take the time to find out. Please please please be kind.

Sincerely, a broken hearted mommy.

For this weeks features, they are mostly decor related…apparently my mind is really focused on making my house a home!

I LOVED this Button Pillow by Rachel from Adventures of a DIY Mom. It actually inspired me to start my own button pillow for my baby girls room using some of my mom’s old buttons. I love that there will be sentimental value to it! I am doing mine a little differently than Rachel (which is the beauty of inspiration) so you should head over to her blog and see how she made hers!

I will absolutely positively be making this darling Mosaic Tile Stepping Stone by Meredith from Wait ‘Til Your Father Gets Home! She shares such an awesome tutorial and I can’t wait to have PJ help me make one or several!

I love love love these curtains! A lot! What I love about them even more is that they are NO SEW! Denyse from Glitter Glue And Paint shares a super easy to follow tutorial on her blog! So if you’re like me, and love No Sew projects…seriously, go check her out!
Speaking of adorable curtains…how cute are these Little Bird Nursery Curtains shared by Linda from Night Owl Corner. I love how sweet they are and while they are no sew, her tutorial looks so easy to follow! I love that. Head on over and see how she made it!
I love fruit pizza! It is seriously SO delicious! I have made one before using sugar cookies, but Debbie from Made From Pinterest shares her very own recipe over on her blog and she uses something else that sounds just as delicious as the crust. Head on over to her blog to find out what!

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Time for this weeks party!

• Please follow both of your hosts, Artsy-Fartsy Mama and Cox’s Corner
• Link to a specific post {not your home page, or link parties please}
• Please share your own projects, not someone else’s.
• Visit other links and leave some comment love {because we all love comments!}
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PJ and I were working on some Mother’s/Father’s Day gifts when he decided that he wanted to do it himself. So I asked him if he just wanted to draw instead. While I was finishing up the project we started, he tried to get my attention. Cue the “mommy, mommy, mom, mom, mom.” I looked over at him and he exclaimed: “I drew a smiley!”. I had never seen him actually draw a smiley face before, so I knew I had to capture it!
We were working with shrink plastic/film so I knew exactly what I could do!

Supplies:
All you need is your little ones artwork
A sharpie
Shrink film (I found mine on amazon)

I placed a sheet of shrink film over PJ’s artwork and just traced over it, trying to copy the exact lines he made and the ways his hands moved.
I then cut out around the design. I knew I wanted it to be a keychain so I hole punched the design BEFORE I baked it. I lined my cookie sheet with parchment paper so that my shapes wouldn’t stick and I also put parchment paper over them so they wouldn’t stick together while they were shrinking. I baked my shapes according to the directions and this is how they turned out! I think it is so stinking cute! I gave this set to my parents and it was an instant treasure! Since I ended up with 50 sheets of shrink plastic my mind is already spinning on what I can make! I’m thinking earrings, jewelry, keychains, gift tags, Christmas Ornaments…the sky is the limit!

What would you make if you had over 50 sheets of shrink plastic?

I already know the palettes for PJ’s and Baby Sis’ rooms because they’re kind of themed so that was easy. But for the master bathroom, bedroom, kitchen, and living room I still needed to decide! I thought it would be fun for us to play a game! The ready that ends up with the most correct guesses will win a prize! I’m not sure what it is, but it’ll be a little something fun!

This first row of palettes are ones that I am considering for the kitchen! Which one do you think I’m leaning towards/will most likely use?

This next row is for decorating our master bathroom…apparently I’m a little hungry…

And this last row is for our Master Bedroom. If you click each row you will be able to view the photo larger and you can actually see the names of each palette. I found ALL of these AMAZING palettes at Design Seeds. If you are ever looking for palettes for home decor or family pictures, you seriously should go check out her site. It’s amazing! And no, I was not paid to add the plug-in. It really is an amazing site with hundreds of palettes.

Leave your guesses in the comment for below in the form of:
Kitchen: And then a number. Master Bath: number. And Master Bedroom: number.

We will make them be labeled from left to right 1-5. Sounds good?

Also, What number of palettes are your favorites?

Here are my five features this week.

I love this style of backpack but I’ve always disliked the colors they came in. Now I have a free sewing pattern from Crystelle from Crystelle Boutique! I love that I can now personalize the bag however I’d like. Wouldn’t these make darling gift bags?

I am so going to have to make myself a custom kitchen rug when we move into our new home! Katie from the Crafty Blog Stalker shares an awesome tutorial how to make them on her blog. It wasn’t even something I knew I wanted to make until I saw her tutorial and realized that I totally need one for my new kitchen!
I love, love, love me some wreaths! I fell in love with this darling Mesh Baby Wreath from Glitter, Glue and Paint by Denyse. She shares an awesome tutorial of how she did it! I think I’m going to have to make one soon!

Ok I have been wanting to get my hands on some milk glass for a while but I haven’t been able to find any or it’s been too expensive, etc etc. Well, Krysta from Krysta Steen shares how she made her own milk glass vases. I love them! I WILL for sure be making some for our home!
This Silly Star Pasta Salad seriously looks so yummy to me! And I LOVE that it’s kid friends and something that I can have PJ help me make. Head on over to B-Inspired Mama to check out Krissy’s recipe!

If you were featured, be sure to grab a button from my sidebar! You deserve it!

Time for this weeks party!

• Please follow both of your hosts, Artsy-Fartsy Mama and Cox’s Corner
• Link to a specific post {not your home page, or link parties please}
• Please share your own projects, not someone else’s.
• Visit other links and leave some comment love {because we all love comments!}
• Post our party button {the code is below} anywhere on your blog

<a href="http://travisandjessicacox.com/"><img src="http://i1134.photobucket.com/albums/m617/yourfavoritelizard/afm2/ArtsyCornerButton_zps373d38a4.png" alt="" width="150" eheight="150" border="0" /></a>

You can link up your awesomeness here:

This is a post from last year and it was my VERY FIRST tutorial I ever did! Yep. Back when I had 13 followers. So I’m pretty sure more of you might see it this time!

Here is the tutorial, I hope you enjoy it.

You can add money! Who doesn’t like money?! To get more bang for my buck I decided to just use one dollar bills.

Step fourteen: Admire the cuteness that is your awesome gift!

To check out all the linky parties I’ve joined go HERE. I came up with this idea all by myself and would LOVE to know if you found this tutorial useful! If you do use it, let me know. I’d love to feature you. If you like this tutorial, feel free to follow my blog! I have a lot more in store for you!