Simple Valentine Mantle & Easy Valentine Ideas

Seems rare that I decorate BEFORE a holiday...

But it happened:





And majority of that stuff I already had. I picked up some photo frames lying in my photo frame bone yard upstairs (What is that you ask? It's every photo frame I've bought or had over the years shoved into one corner upstairs until I can figure out where to put them... nice huh?)

Some were old and I just kept the photo in them and it made a pretty cool time capsule of our entire relationship. 

The Pom Pom Garland is my favorite.

I bought this giant bag of poms, dumped them out on the living room floor and let the boys go at it while I strung whichever ones they threw at me with a needle and some baker's twine.

Talk about a craft Win Win.

Now enough about Mantles...

Let's talk about Love.

Time to get talking about how you'd like to knock your spouses socks off this holiday season. 

I'm a big fan of the hilarious Valentine card: 

Funny Valentine - I'd Bone You




RESERVED listing for sarah

It's still not too late to do the 14 Days of Valentine's theme!

One of my favorites was getting a set of nerf guns, building a fort and having an all out war

This year I can't tell you what I'm doing because he reads my blog...

Which I always feel super loved that he does cause I know how boring these things can be. :)

But sometimes just the small effort of a card or a homemade breakfast is just what a hubby needs to let him know that we are always thinking about them.

Valentine's day doesn't have to be extravagant.

You and your hubby not really into the pagen holiday because everyday is Valentine's day?
Find a couple with young kids and offer to babysit for them!

Have a bunch of single friends who hate the holiday? Throw them a red and pink bash at your house.

Valentine's Day is just another reason for us to love on one another.

Matthew 22:36-40
“Teacher, which is the great commandment in the Law?” 37 And he said to him, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. 38 This is the great and first commandment. 39 And a second is like it: You shall love your neighbor as yourself. 40 On these two commandments depend all the Law and the Prophets.”

It's the greatest commandment for a reason.

Spread the love this February! Whether it be wishing a stranger a great day, telling someone how sexy your hubby is (this always makes people laugh) loving on your Man or loving on others...

Don't waste a minute of what God has blessed you with.



God bless and Much Love,

 Jessica








DIY Herringbone Stripe Accent




A woman's mind is a very intricate and crazy thing.

This post is proof of that in the fact that one small idea... suddenly turned into an entire room makeover.

I was cruising Pinterest and saw this adorable floating shelf.


DIY display shelf

I wanted to build a floating shelf. :(
Where could I build one? ... Hey it would look good over a washer and dryer.

I have a washer and dryer! It needed a shelf!

While I immediately began schematics and how to pull this off I realized I'd have to paint the walls before putting this puppy up.

Downer.

So, then I spent three days trying to figure out what to do with this little yet vital space all so that I could build a shelf for it. I tossed around orange and violet and... just wasn't feeling it.

I was about to give up on my little shelf idea when I remembered one of my favorite pins that I've wanted to always do but never knew where I could do it:
DIY Map Wall...maps as wall paper
YES!!!

But I didn't want to do the WHOLE room in that so I just decided on the entry walls, the one to the garage and the one into the house which left me with two eight foot blank white walls.

One has the shelves, washer & dryer and all my new stuff I'm going to build in there.

The other... was just blank.

That's how I got to this crazy-ness:



But how I got to that was through this insane process of looking at Pinterest, needing a shelf, having to pick a color, deciding to wallpaper and then needing an accent for an 8 foot wall on the wall I was not wallpapering.

I hope reading these things make your brain feel better about itself. :)

If I can make you think you aren't so bad by comparing yourself to my craziness, this blog is not in vain.

So, I painted all the walls white with some white paint from a 5 Gallon Bucket I bought during a Home Depot paint sale (Yay... $5 off... wooo...) and that brightened up the room ALOT.

Then I decided to use more left over paint from the Boy's playroom making all the paint in this process: FREE.  Score.

Now the Herringbone pattern is pretty much a spastic Chevron pattern on acid.
Come on, we are all thinking it but no one ever says it even though it's true.

I knew it would require A LOT of painters tape.
Now, no painters tape is really as good as they say. They leak, they pull paint off... but there are some that are WAY better than others.

I am a big fan of Frog Tape and when I'm doing stripes it's my go-to.
Sadly, Frog Tape doesn't make an under inch strip that I could find easily so I bought this 3M Gridlock tape. It was easy to use, adorable... not as good as Frog Tape but it did do the job!

I first decided how big I wanted the accent stripe to be. It was going to be the whole length of the wall and then I took a tape measure and just eyeballed how wide I'd want it.

I drew it out to see how I wanted my stripes to go:


I started with the base stripes and put them 8 inches apart making my whole accent strip about 2ft 8inches to give me the four sections.

I based it loosely off of this picture because I liked that it wasn't completely uniform so in case I really messed up I could be like, "No! I totally planned for it to look like that."

DSC_4552

Having my plan in my head (and on paper) I took my level and a pencil and started marking on the wall. This may not be the BEST way to make a straight line but it hasn't failed me yet.

I start at one end, draw the line then just keep moving the level down the wall until I have it all the way making sure to keep matching the lines up.

Thankfully I was having my monthly craft day with some awesome ladies and they were super kind to jump in and help me:


We laid down our base lines even though we had little "helpers" trying to remove it.



As I was getting ready to put the angled strips on my incredibly wise friend Amy pointed out we needed an angle so that our lines would all look the same

She's a smart cookie.

She told me I could use a jig but that if I didn't know what that was (which I didn't) or didn't own one (which I did but again, didn't know what it was) we could make one with an index card.

That I did have and knew what it was.

We decided on an angle and cut the card at that angle so we could use it as a template for the other tape lines we were going to put on.




It was easy and with someone helping you, you can knock it out quick.
My friends Sarah and Claire did the first line then left the rest to me.

I was able to put up the tape in about an hour and a half.
It was time consuming because you had to keep matching the angles.

What I didn't do was match up all my stripes. Every once in awhile I'd put it at a different spot just because I didn't want it to be perfect.  I liked the more modern Herringbone pattern that makes a bit of craziness look stunning.



Now I was ready to start painting! 

When you are doing stripes or accents with painters tape here are some 
IMPORTANT rules:
1. Paint the edges of your tape in your base color. My wall was white, so I painted every edge of my tape with the white paint. ALL TAPE BLEEDS. But if you paint the edges of your tape with your base color, it will bleed the color that is already there rather then the new one you are about to slap on.
2. Once you paint all your edges, paint on your color and don't be stingy. Paint it thick.
3. Remove as fast as you can. Don't let the paint dry on your tape. When you are done, take it off. Don't let it sit there to marinate or something else. If it dries completely it will dry with the tape there so when you pull the tape off... the tape will bring it's dried on paint friend with it. 


I decided I wanted some white herringbone stripes with my pattern so once I'd finished painting the tape I took strips of ripped post it notes and started to count. I started at one end and counted each slice to 12 and stuck a post it note. I continued doing this all the way around and it ended up perfect.

Choose any number you want depending on how many different color stripes you want.

Putting the sticky notes helped me to remember not to paint there when I was going to bring in my color.






When you remove the tape for this it is going to be tricky since all the tape will stick together.
So, if you pull a base line be prepared for all the little shoot off angles to come with it! 
It's quick, messy but instant gratification because THIS is hiding underneath...


It's fun and quirky and matches the rest of the boy's wing perfectly.
I was talking to Bryan tonight and observed that my personality somewhat dominates my design style:
Bright and Loud. 

There ya go. 



Not to bad for a day's work.
Now after I pulled off the tape I did have to do touch ups with a smaller painters brush but nothing compared to if I hadn't used the tape at all. Just don't panic if that happens and you need a few touch ups. You still did an excellent job!! And after you fix it, no one will ever know. 



And if you like that Vintage Key Rack you can check out a tutorial for it here. 

I have my own Instagram account now! 
Now you can follow me on Instagram and see what I am up too before the blog comes out! 

Follow me at #mccartydesigns

Also don't forget to subscribe to the right! Just enter your e-mail and you'll make me the happiest person ever. 

God bless and Much Love,

 Jessica



This has been linked up to the Work It Wednesday Linky Party.





Hey 2014, how you doin?





Why hello there 2014

I'm not really very good at New Years Resolutions. Looking back at what I didn't accomplish the year before and trying to again be better than who I am the next year usually just makes me a bit depressed.

Yet, my husband is always determined to be my biggest fan so he's been bothering me with goals and how he can help me become the woman I think I need/want to be.


Make little goals, he would encourage.



A little goal can turn into a big accomplishment over time and though they seem insignificant now, they may foster bigger and better things down the road.

While I have some home goals like finally getting around to doing my mint dining room, gold confetti curtains and wall pappering maps into my laundry room (oh yea, it will all be epic).

My main goal for this year is to play.

I have a pretty adorable 3 year old and 1 1/2 year old running around my home and currently their biggest desire is to get me to put down my computer or whatever I am cleaning and play with them.

Me. They want to play with me. All day long.

That isn't going to always be the case.

I blink and they will grow up.


This year I'm going to treasure them since in about five minutes they will be all grown up and going to college. They will be getting married and not needing me anymore.

Right now -- They need me.

And they need me to be my best.

Another goal I have... surround myself with the best cause I know they will rub off on me.

I've had the pleasure of making some truly amazing friendships over the years. Women who inspire me, make me laugh, cry with me and often put up with me.

They have skills and personalities that I'd love to cultivate and when I hang out with them...

While I know my crazy side rubs off on them, their amazing side hopefully rubs off a little on me too.

This year let's remember the people God has put in our lives for a purpose.
To treasure them, make memories with them and encourage them into the woman (or little man in the case of my kiddos) that God has called them to be.

Ecclesiastes 4:9-10
Two are better than one, because they have a good reward for their toil.  For if they fall, one will lift up his fellow. But woe to him who is alone when he falls and has not   another to lift him up!

And  if we get around to making awesome gold confetti curtains... Bonus.

God Bless and Much Love,
Jessica