Leprechaun Fun | Personal | Fayetteville, N.C. Photographer

So … if you haven't guessed … Saint Patrick's Day is a pretty big deal in the Wells' household. We are Irish, my mother's birthday is on St. Paddys, and uh … we are IRISH! ;-)

I started a lil' tradition with my eldest for our favorite holiday. A leprechaun visits him and leave a lil' mischief … along with his pot of golf (or at least something valuable to my son). ;-) The night before, i stayed up past 1 a.m. getting everything ready 1) because we had just got home from a Carolina Hurricane's game in Ralieigh and 2) because I had NOTHING ready. LOL I was slacking this year.

As much as I wish the boy had the day off from school due to this awesome holiday … he did not. He had to go to school. So I packed him a nifty lunch. I used cookie cutters to make his sandwich and cheesy extra "lucky" and dyed his milk green. I also found print outs and lunchbox jokes to put inside as well. I also made a telescope with the help of THIS blog and found a lucky penny printout. And of course, I HAD to have the leprechaun "pee" in the toilet.  I made green foot prints using washable paint and my hand from THIS idea and used green food dye to turn the water green. My son gets a kick out of this every time. You should follow my Pinterest board on Saint Patrick's Day. :-)

The "loot" is simply Skittles and Rolos. I tried to find gold coins … but like I said, I waited till the last minute and Walmart (during my 10 p.m. mad dash) didn't have them.

The leprechaun left a little message to describe what my eldest had to do with the telescope. (I later added a name, so it was more personal. The leprechaun's name is Lucky) ;-)

 In the morning, once I woke him up. My son ran to the bathroom to see if the leprechaun used his bathroom again … "Yup, he sure did," my son said to me walking out into the living room.

He found the goodies and the note. And he was sooooo cute looking for his pot of gold. I hope he never loses this innocence and imagination! <3

 Jackpot! He found it too easy … I forget he's getting older and I have to find better hiding places … hmmm… the Easter Bunny may just hide his basket this year …

He was super happy about the candy and his shamrock glow wand thingy. He couldn't wait to light it up later that night.

After school, we did a few projects (more photos with my iPhone -- don't be ashamed, you need to live in the moment and not be behind that camera every moment of the day)

First we did the project Lucky left behind. Then we did the project that we got for Gramma's birthday … we just never sent it out. SO, she'll be in town soon, and we will give to her then.

THEN it was dinner time … uh, my husband's awesome corned beef shepherd's pie and soda bread. I CANNOT tell you how awesome it is! He slow cooks the corned beef over night in Guinness (10 hours!) and then puts together the pie .. OMG. Amazing. The soda bread is merely flour (I used wheat), buttermilk, salt and baking soda. We put parmesan cheese on top. YUM!

And what's an Irish meal without the Guinness?!

Dessert was a mint shake. Double yum!

Next year, I plan to follow on with the tradition but bought a book called  "The Naughty Leprechaun Story." It's cute and tells the story of two leprechauns, a good one and a naughty one. It comes with a two sided coin and the child reads the book and then gets to pick which leprechaun will get to visit and either leave goodies or mischief. I cannot wait to try it out on the boys!

Hope y'all had as much fun as we did this Saint Patrick's Day! And may the Irish Luck Be Sent Your Way!

*** Please remember that all images are copyrighted to Sharilyn Wells Photography, LLC. Please do not copy or alter any images without SWP, LLC consent. *** 

Letter Art | Pinterest Thursday | iPhoneography

A couple months ago … Before I found I was pregnant, I finally mounted my family pictures in a Pinterest Thursday special you can find HERE.  Well, low and behold, I got pregnant and my "up-to-date" portraits were now out of date. So I ordered a newborn pic of my littlest and added him to the family wall. My gallery was complete… or was it? I STILL hadn't done anything with my ugly "W." It was the same ugly brown papery thing that it was when I bought it years (I'm sure it was that long ago) ago. I got passed step one, hanging the darn thing. But it still had it's craft sticker on it. People would ask about it every time they'd visit. Then cam step two, take off the sticker, pictured here. Two months later, I finally did something about the ugliness.

See, the hard part was figuring out what I wanted to do with it. Every time I came across an idea on Pinterest, my vision changed. When I bought the thing THIS is what I had in mind. Then I saw THIS. Then THIS. Then, of course THIS.  Eventually, I just stopped pinning ideas. Then, a few days ago I got fed up with the ugliness. I remembered seeing a pin with yarn, thread, SOMETHING wrapped around the letter and I thought to myself, "I'm doing that."  So, I did.

My littlest sat in his Bumbo, and I worked for about 30 mins… I got interrupted by a very bored littlest. ;-) Bsaically, I found left over string in my craft closet, grabbed my glue gun and scissors, and had at it. I wrapped a while, place a small line of glue then wrap some more. This is yet another craft that didn't cost me anything extra. I mean shoot, I have aTON of supplies hiding around the house. I just have to find them!

A "W" is tricky, and if you look REAL close, you'll see some screw ups. But all in all the wrapped piece was pretty easy and came out great. Once it was wrapped, I felt it looked blah, so I added the flowers. I clipped a few from a bouquet I have in the family room and glued them on.

And, viola! My gallery is complete! And if I do say so myself, it's looking pretty good! Now I have to update the family portrait to show all four of us!

Don't forget to:

All my  photos were taken with an iPhone and copyrighted by SWP.

*** Please remember that all images are copyrighted to Sharilyn Wells Photography, LLC. Please do not copy or alter any images without SWP, LLC consent. ***

Toy Storage on a Dime | Pinterest Thursday | iPhoneography

Here it is again folks! My Pinterest Thursday! I know right? It's been like FOREVER. I know. But it's a new year, it's a new me … it's a new… blah blah blah… basically I'm doing a Pinterest Thursday because I ACTUALLY did something! ;-)

I present to you, the Toy Storage Bin:

I want to say I saw how to do these on Pinterest … but I can't find the pin on any of my boards. So I'm thinking, I made this up all by myself … ;-) No, probably not. But I do like to say that I did it my way, and it's probably not the preferred method … but it's a method.

So here are the supplies I used. I've got A LOT of diaper boxes floating around now that I've had my littlest. I also had left over fabric from when I made STUFF in his nursery which you can see HERE. Basically, this project was at no extra cost to me … which I am TOTALLY okay with.

First, I measured off the fabric for the inside  I then stapled the fabric onto the box. It's a lil' tricky, though my eldest did help me out so, it's not that difficult. It's a little sloppy as I really don't have patience to make it perfect… and it's a toy bin that I will be using. I'm not selling it to the highest bidder. ;-)

This is one of the issues I ran into .. as one will always run into when trying something out for the first time. The staples come out on the other side. And since there's nothing hard to hit on the other side when stapling, the ends stick straight out. I took my scissors and used them (closed) to bend the ends to look like a staple going through paper. (If that makes any sense.) Before doing that, the staple fell right out when I moved the fabric to tighten it as there was nothing holding it in place. Once I bent the ends, it was magic. The fabric stayed. 

  I then put the outside fabric around it … which happened to be a lil' short, but It didn't bother me. I just covered up with another sheet of the same fabric. The first time, I did the inside first and the second box I tried the outside first. Here are examples of what the inside looks like on each:

As you can see, when I did the inside first, I had to fold

under the outside … looked kinda messy. The second time, I did the outside first and folded over the inside fabric. Looked much cleaner. The staples aren't very noticeable on the outside. I was even able to bend the staples over INSIDE the outside fabric and you can't even tell the staple is there. But I also think because my outside fabric is gray, the staples blend well.

And viola! Toy box on a dime. Do I think the staples will uphold a toddler? No. Probably not. But I'll have to teach him to treat his stuff with respect and maybe, just maybe it'll last. 

One last tip: make sure all staples are bent in. You don't want any sharp ends prodding out poking lil' hands when they reach for their favorite toy. I ran my fingers around the boxes to make sure there were no hazards. 

Enjoy!

Don't forget to:

All my  photos were taken with an iPhone and copyrighted by SWP.

*** Please remember that all images are copyrighted to Sharilyn Wells Photography, LLC. Please do not copy or alter any images without SWP, LLC consent. ***

15 Days of Raheem | Elf on the Shelf | Fayetteville, N.C.

Our Elf, Raheem came back this year on December 1st. Yep. And surprisingly, he isn't getting into too much shenanigans .... just yet. He's been doing good and whipping my eldest son into shape. The closer to Christmas it gets ... the more strict Raheem gets. Maybe, just maybe, these Elf's know a thing or two about parenting. ;-)

15 ideas for Elf on the Shelf:  (I'll have 10 more ideas after Christmas!) :-)

Welcome back!

Helping the branches of the tree relax and making a snowman in the poinsettias 

Riding the train

Ziplining

Congratulating child

Warning child ...

Parachuting in

Having fun with the Rescue Bots

 

Riding a camel and decorating his own tree.

Jenga with Woody

Plays iPad

Makes coffee for mom and dad

For those of you who forget to move the Elf ... yep. It happens... lol

There you have it folks ... the first 15 days of December have been full of fun from Raheem... and an apology note for sleeping in. LOL Here's to another 10 more days! (9 to be exact!)

See what antics Raheem was up to last year HERE

*** Please remember that all images are copyrighted to Sharilyn Wells Photography, LLC. Please do not copy or alter any images without SWP, LLC consent. ***

Baby Nursery | Personal | Fayetteville, N.C. Photographer

Hey there! Phew what a whirlwind of days it's been! I forget how busy you stay with a newborn in the house! It's a bunch of feedings, dirty diapers, late nights, balancing big brother's needs, cleaning the house when you can and trying to get in some one on one spouse time ... it's ca-razy!

But the good thing about all the craziness is that I love being busy and I actually thrive on it! I don't know what I'd do if I didn't have a hectic life! In between my mother and wife duties, I've also started picking back up on my photography business. Not to mention, finished the Baby's nursery! I had to wait to see if it was a boy or girl before going any further! LOL

The majority of the things in the room are upcycled or handmade. And I really love the personal touch all of that brings to the room. (Even though baby isn't sleeping in the room just yet...)

This canvas was painted by my dear friend and fellow small business owner Chrissy from Chrissy's Creative Creations. I know have canvases of her's in the boy's bathroom, eldest son's room and baby's room. Not to mention a few pieces of jewelry! :-) Check out her Facebook page!

I made this mobile out of felt, string, ribbong and a foam wreath thingy. :-) I got the idea from this PIN that took me to THIS BLOG. It was nice to work on this with my mother back in Vegas when I visited to see my favorite band reunion, THE MONKEES.

Of course, this was the main reason why I had to wait to finish the room ... the infamous name in wooden blocks! ;-) I had to know who was being born ... Was it going to be Gunner or Clover? These are just plain wooden letters I found at the craft store and painted for the room.

Remember Chrissy, from Chrissy's Creative Creations? Well, her dad is pretty talented too! I sent him a PIN from Pinterest and asked if he could do something similar. Oh, he did better!

This was another PIN I found and shared for a mini Pinterest Thursday ... again, had to wait for baby was born. I think it came out super cute ... even though I put the feet (ears) too close to the head. But it's the imperfections that make it great ... right?

Great clock find right!? I got it from Target for like $7! Perfect color for the room!

This rocking chair was in big brother's room and was painted yellow ... but before then, it was on the side of the road with no seat on it. I hammered in some nails and wood to make a seat, sanded it and painted it yellow to match big brother's room. Now it has been spray painted teal and the cushions that used to have baby jungle and then space themed (for big brother big boy room), now have new fabric that match the colors of baby's room.

The crates on the wall came from big brother room. They were storage bins that went under the crib ... that oh by the way, was big brother's but spray painted and sealed white. The idea for the crates to be a book shelf came from THIS PIN and THIS ONE.

The flower table was mine and made by my late God-Father. He was very talented when it came to creating things out of wood. I wish he was still around to make something for baby's room! I also got the fun laundry basket from Ross ... for $10!

I made the curtains myself out of the same material I used to make the crib skirt.

And there you have it folks! My baby's nursery! I am very proud of it and had to share it with you. Which reminds me ... you NEED to photograph your child's room! I made a lot of things for my first son's nursery and big boy room but never took pics! I mean, why wouldn't I take pics of it?! I took pics of my son's Avenger room ... but the nursery and toddler room are only faint memories now. I cannot remind you guys enough how important pictures are! Even if it's just a picture of a room. It's a lifetime of memories!

 ***Do not copy, save or alter these images without the expressed permission of Sharilyn Wells Photography, LLC. All rights reserved.***