classy cornhole.

Is that even a possibility? Classy cornhole? For Mr. Spouse, that answer is y-e-s. I purchased these cornhole boards for Mr. Spouse a while back and couldn't wait to bring a little sophisticated charm to this classic, southern game!

As I started planning for their new paint job, I couldn't decide if I wanted to paint the Mr's favorite baseball team (The Yankees, of course) logo like these:

Or go with a simple stain and a monogram:

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Or go for ultimate simplicity and just paint a generic cornhole design:

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In the end, I decided to go with all three: I was going to use the Yankee colors for my paint (navy and white), feature the Mr.'s monogram, and try to incorporate a simple stripe to add just a bit of class to the equation.

As these cornhole boards were made from particle board and fairly rough, I started by using a belt sander over the entire surface and edges to smooth out any knicks or bumps and remove those pesky splinters.

Using my fave Zinnser latex primer, I then applied two thin coats of primer to the boards:

After letting the primer dry for a full 24 hours, I began bringing in that Yankee pride with some fab navy exterior paint (I decided to go with exterior paint on these since they will be living outside and I wasn't sure how an interior paint and a sudden summer downpour would mix)! I applied 3 layers of navy to the boards in order to get the color nice, dark, and even.

Once the navy was completely dry and cured (another 24 hours), the fun began! Like I told you, I wanted to bring in a simple white stripe to the boards, so I decided to go with a bold white border around the boards. I taped off the border with Frog Tape:

...and after ensuring that the tape was firmly in place, began applying thin, even coats of my basic white paint!

While the first layer of white paint was drying, I began working on the monogram for the boards. Initially (pun intended), I thought I would use Mr. Spouse's full monogram with all three initials, so I started by cutting the middle "S" using my trusty Silhouette and placing it on the board!

I loved both the classic font of the S and the size of it, but quickly realized that if I wanted to do his full monogram, I would need to make the S much smaller. Boo. After a quick pow-wow with the Mr., we both decided that we liked the size of the S and liked the idea of the single letter for our last name, so we scrapped the other two initials (sorry, J and M), and went with just the S.

I spent a bit of time ensuring that the S was perfectly centered from all sides, and then traced the S using a pencil.

After removing the stencil, I then used a small brush to outline the traced S...

...then filled in the letter with a larger foam brush.

Now that both the S and the border had a good base coat, I let the first coat dry thoroughly before applying my second coat to ensure an even coverage. In no time at all, it was time to rip off the tape!

Due to the texture of the board, I did have to go back with a small brush and my navy paint to do some small touch-ups, but overall, the boards came out perfectly classy and streamlined!

After a quick, high-gloss, clear top coat, the boards were ready to be put to good use!

We are love, love, loving our classy cornhole boards! We may or may not be SO CLASSY that we leave our boards out permanently so as not to miss an opportunity for a quick game. Cheers to summer!

pillow fight.

Oh heavens, it's been forever y'all! But Mad May is over and I have so much to share with y'all. Let's not waste any time getting started, shall we? I know that this post might be a bit too late for some of y'all to use this year, but maybe it's one of those that you can file away for next year! After years of planning and dreaming about this project, I finally took the plunge and created sweet hand print pillowcases for my kids!

I think they turned out completely adorable, but I definitely can't take all of the credit! I actually got the idea for this project from MY second grade teacher who gave us the same thing for our end of the year gifts before those even existed. She was quite the genius! Here's me and my BFF showing off our pillowcases decades ago....looking good...so glad we recently celebrated 22 years of friendship with the birth of her sweet daughter!

For my kids' pillows, I tried to stay as cost-effective as possible (obvi) - it wasn't the cheapest project ever, but here's a list of what I grabbed:

• I purchased the pillowcases from Wal-Mart's "MainStay" line at $5.00 for two pillowcases. 
• I grabbed neon fabric paint at Michael's using my 40% off coupons and my teacher discount. 
• Finally, I purchased a pack of iron-on transfer paper using my Amazon Prime account, so I didn't have to pay for shipping!

All-in-all, I spent about $100 to make these babies, but I think they were totally worth it!

Now let's get to the fun part! Before the painting party, I created an iron-on transfer page for each student with a sweet poem about our friends and applied them to the pillowcases:

 The next day, I took one student at a time (yes, one student at a time), and with the help of a sweet parent, we helped them stamp their hand on each pillowcase. We discovered that their hands needed to have paint applied before every stamp for the best results! Then, after 24 hours, all of the kids went around and signed their hand print on each pillowcase, so that we soon had 21 perfectly painted pillowcases!

Since presentation is everything, I decided to tie a bit of raffia around each student's pillowcase with a little note to them about our year together and how to wash the pillowcase to preserve its colors.

My kids and I both love love love these gifts! I hope that they are something practical for the parents, but also special for the kids, and something that they will hold on to for several years!

I hope that many of you are celebrating summer, but those of you that are in the final countdown, press on! You can do it!

love is in the air.

Summer is just around the corner (648 hours away, to be exact), and warmer weather makes for warmer hearts with the result that our warmer weekends will be spent doing this:

Raise your hand if you love yourself some weddings! The food, the flowers, the friends, the frolicking - I mean talk about a joyful noise. (I hope you all noticed that "food" trumped all there.)

Not wanting any friend to go un-celebrated, Mr. Spouse and I enjoy us some marital bliss as we head to the stores, print out the 48 page registry, and strive to find the softest monogrammed towels on the block. However, as we started counting down the seconds until we get to celebrate the next two lovebirds in a week, we found a little hitch in our giddy-up. I couldn't remember if I had felt extremely efficient, and purchased a gift for the bride and groom during our last registry-rampage or not! Talk about celebration fail. Luckily, a quick text to the gracious groom allowed us to get our records straight and back in celebration mode.

Rather than suffer the shame of being a terrible friend, I decided I needed a checklist (cue jaw drop). Now, I can record all of the love muffins' wedding, registry, and gift info on one document to make sure that everyone is taken care of! My "Organizational Freak" award has been reinstated.

If you, too, want to spread the love while maintaining your organizational prowess, click here to get your own copy of my "here comes the bride" checklist!

• No brides or grooms will go un-celebrated during their wedding frenzy.
• The checklist keeps Mr. Spouse and I on the same page so we both know who has received a gift and who still needs some lovin'.
• I can keep my checklist on my clipboard so that if I'm out and about, I know exactly who still needs a token of love!

How do y'all manage the summer of love?