Christmas Teepee

Good morning! Today I'm sharing what I'll be giving the kiddos for Christmas this year! In our house, we like to do ONE gift for the kids and a stocking with inexpensive goodies. As hubby and I have had children and are learning what traditions we'd like to have as a family, we're coming to the conclusion that we want our holidays to be stripped of all the bells and whistles and get back to the basics. Boycotting society and their constant push of BUY BUY BUY and the dissatisfaction of what you don't or think you should have. It's so stressful! Why do we do it?! Every year the malls are packed. Mommas load themselves with never ending lists for kids that really would be pumped to just play with the boxes these overpriced toys come in. By the time the holiday are gone, it was a blur and all that's left are toys that will become old news and a pile of debt to sit on to show for it. There's a frenzy of chaos that ensues when the holidays come around and I refuse to buy into it. R-E-F-U-S-E. I will not be stepping foot in a mall, anything I can hand make myself I will, and I intend on soaking up all of the precious memories that will be made by teaching our children about the true meaning of Christmas, giving back to those less fortunate, and letting them participate in the making of our Christmas. SO with that all being said, this year I intend on making the kids a tee-pee for Christmas! Complete with hanging lights, comfy pillows and lots of fun books to read in their new fort. I will be making it out of a canvas drop cloth you can find at any home improvement store as well as dowels you can find there as well. I'm really excited about the chevron print! I had a hard time trying to find an example of what I'd like it to look like but I'm thinking thick and large print with more messy lines than precise clean cut look. Ya pickin up what I'm tryna throw down? Here is what I've been scoping out for my fun Christmas tee pee!

I plan on taking plenty of pictures along with a tutorial when I'm finished. :)

What are your ideas for Christmas this year? I'm excited to share with you all in a few days a great family tradition we started last year that I'd love to pass on! 

Happy Monday! :)

Holiday Family Photos!

Whew! This weekend was pure madness. I kicked off my Big Bro Little Lo Photography business with a holiday mini session for families! It was a HUGE success! This weekend I had the pleasure to meet new families, visit with friends, giggle with adorable children and take beautiful pictures. The best part about this weekend? To see how much love families have for each other. Every family had such unique connections that gave me such a happy heart to see. The beautiful bond between a daddy and daughter, the little smiles and secrets only sisters can share, the teasing glances between a husband and wife... All of these moments that are surrounded by giggles and snuggles. I was overwhelmed by it all. Here are some of the many beautiful memories I was lucky enough to capture over the weekend. Happy Monday friends! :)

Pallet Party!

The pallet wall is done! *Angels are singing* *Sporadic dancing wherever I go* YAY! This was the easiest yet cheapest yet longest project we've taken on. Let me break it down for those who want to attempt this themselves!

First thing is first. We needed to find pallets and lots of them! I called around to different stores and finally was able to track some down at a local nursery. When I got there, they had a stack of about 20 pallets sitting by the side of the road with a free sign. SCORE! Now, as someone who has never attempted a pallet project, I came very unprepared to haul these bad boys into the back of my jeep by myself. HA! Prepare to get dirty ladies. I picked through and grabbed my favorite ones. The weathered gray look is what I was going for with a few darker pieces. I grabbed a variety of pallets and made sure that the boards weren't broken and mostly useable. Pallets are everyyywhheerreee. Don't pay for them! Check local stores, Craigslist, nurseries... You'll find em!

Swimming in pallets

Once I got these home we took them apart! Now really the only way to do this is with a sawzall or also known as a rotating saw. If you use a prying method you'll shatter your boards. This part isn't necessarily difficult, just time consuming. Also you really need two people for this part. Hubby worked the saw through the pallets while I held them steady. Once you get through this it's pretty much smooth sailing from there! We didn't stain or really do anything to the wood. We loved the natural beat up look to it and honestly I was too lazy to sand or smooth anything out. When taking them apart, you need to keep the boards all separated in stacks by size. To get the random effect on the wall, we staggered different sizes for different rows. Each row must be the same size through all the way across or else your wall will be all off and gaps will be everywhere! Our wall measured 9ft by 9 ft exactly and we used 9 pallets total without a board left over. We measured out where the studs where and away we went!

My Mr. nailing my vision to the wall

We started each row alternating sides so the seams would be random and it wouldn't look uniform. Ex. Top row start from the left. Second row, start from the right. Third row, start from the left again. We didn't bother using a level, it pretty much levels itself and in the end it will definitely be a little off but nothing noticeable. :)

Each row took two whole boards and then we'd cut a board to fit the rest of the row flush against the wall. You will have some gaps between your boards! Looking back, it would have been better to paint the wall a darker color before starting so the gaps don't show as much but I went back through and filled in the gaps with a darker paint to blend a little better. 

It took us one full day and a handful of hours a few days before that to cut the pallets apart and put it up on the wall. Not too bad! 

Now here's the best part. This project was almost completely FREE! If we already had the saw, it would have been about $5 for the nails. That's it! We found our saw for $30 so our total cost was around $35. I've made wreaths for more than that!

If you can't tell, I'm pretty excited about our wall. I'll do another post down the road after I style it some more and add a few more modern touches to balance the rustic. Maybe painting those benches turquoise? Stencil them? Canvas prints on the wall? My options are endless!

I hope my description was easy to understand. If you decide to tackle this project I promise it will be well worth it! Have fun!

 Happy girl + Her Pallet Wall