Picture Plaques

"Sometimes God takes us into troubled waters not to drown us but to cleanse us."

We all have trials, challenges, and difficulties in life. Mine are no different than others. Mine are no worse than others. Mine are simply mine. My family and I have experienced several challenges in the past three years and each of these tests have resulted in a testimony. As times goes on, I hope to become more comfortable with blogging my personal testimonies. In just three short years, we have faced various cancers, infertility, an adoption journey, the stillbirth of our adopted son's brother, and more.

What I am able to say today is that I do feel that these tests have molded me into the person I've always wanted to be. Someone who relies on God and not self understanding. Someone who is stronger than she realized. Someone who continues to care for others even though her own life seems to be falling apart around her. Someone who forgives the unforgivable. Someone who loves without conditions. Someone who continues to keep the faith even when the enemy is at my doorstep.

All that being said, crafting has continued to be a way for me to focus my energies and clear my mind. I'm enjoying the brief moments of solitude and silence (aka naptime) when I can get messy with paints, glues, and other assorted crafting mediums.

I recently completed some wall hangings for my son's room. His room is *mostly* done. The walls are pretty bare, so I do need to work on more wall decor. I recently decided on a color and theme change, too, so I need to: make a new dust ruffle for his crib; make a new window treatment for his window; recover the glider in his room; and recover the storage ottoman in his room.

Here's the corner of the room that I'm currently working on. The wall color is a soft green...although the more that times goes on it seems to look more khaki to me.

 Since the new color scheme for the room is basically primary/bright colors, I am doing my best to accent his room with pops of color that will complement the walls as well as his new bed set, Vitaminer Rand, from Ikea.

After spending far too much time on Pinterest, I went to my local Joann's to see what they had that might fit the bill. I found several raw wood plaques in various shapes for $2.99 each. I already had acrylic paint and Command picture hangers at home, so I was good to go.

Our home office doubles as my craft room, so I placed my supplies on my desk and got to work.

I used 2-3 coats depending on the shade and consistency of the paint. I mixed my own orange and it ended up too red. I kept the color, though. I figure I can always add more plaques and colors to that wall.

After the paint had plenty of time to dry, I used Mod Podge to apply my pictures. We had our printed at Fed Ex but I am sure there are places that we can go to get it done cheaper. My husband happens to work for Fed Ex Corporate. Since we have a Fed Ex right down the street, that's just where we go to get our prints made. 

 Here are the finished plaques in Baby J's room.

I will say that if I were to do this project again that there are a few things I'd do differently:

• I'd cut the edge of the pictures to match the shape of the plaque. The rectangle picture on the oval plaque looks a bit strange to me.
• I'd be better about centering the photos. The picture on the white plaque is off-center and is bugging me quite a bit.

There's plenty of room on the wall for more plaques, so I am pretty sure I'll be adding to the collection pretty soon. Overall, I'm pleased with the end result and I look forward to adding more wall decor to his room to give it a more finished appearance.