Outdoor Decorative Pillows {Friday Finds}

I have a neighbor who always has the cutest porch ever. So cute. She is a fantastic decorator and I am always inspired by her. My porch has always been a neighborhood hangout, so I have always been hesitant to do much decorating there. It is just easier for me to not really care about the things on the porch so if (when) things get ruined, I don't care.

The neighborhood is getting older, though, and with that brings more exciting places to hang. So I am starting to add some things. This post contains affiliate links. 

My first step is these cute outdoor pillows. I didn't want to spend a ton of money on the outdoor pillow, and they can really get pricey! These were inexpensive. They are pretty flat; these are not pillows you will want for extreme comfort. They are, however, adorable! And for an outdoor decoration, perfect!

They have several color options. I got these for fall. I like them enough I want to get something for each season! 

I also think I want to get a plaid blanket for each chair, but I need to find something very inexpensive to take that plunge.

Related Posts:

• Friday Finds
• Decorations

DIY Burplap Wreath Tutorial

While it is easy to find many fun and cute wreaths for different holidays and seasons, the in-between season times can be difficult. Then along came burlap and my off-season wreaths were saved! I love the burlap wreath, and it is ridiculously easy and inexpensive to make yourself. This is especially true if you catch the items on sale or use a coupon to get them 40-50% off. This post contains affiliate links. This does not increase your cost. 

To make a wreath, you will need a wreath frame and some burlap. I have made a frame with burlap I bought by the bold and one with the burlap roll (as shown above). The roll is a lot easier. If you buy it by the yard, you will need to cut strips, which isn't a huge deal. But it does fray and it is messy so if you are going for quick and easy, go for the roll.

You take your wire frame and your burlap and you just weave the burlap over and under, over and under, etc. on the frame. I tucked the end around the first ring of wire so it was on top of itself.

Then you scrunch it up. 

Don't cut your burlap strip--just continue weaving. Scrunch and poof as you go.

Keep going.

Once you get it all on there and scrunched and full how you want it, you will cut off the excess. For this frame, I used one roll and got into a second roll. You can see the excess in the picture above coming off the right and over the top. Just cut it. 

Then I decided to serge the end of it where I cut to help prevent fraying. This is not necessary, but it is nice. You could also try Fray Check or do a zig-zag stitch with your sewing machine. Once you do that, tuck it in the back.

Finished product on my door!

This is my larger one that I used with a bolt of burlap. I made little rosettes out of fabric to add some decoration to it.

Intentional Home Decorating to Teach Children

Today is BFBN Pinterest day. We thought it would be fun to talk about some of the intentional things we do in our homes to teach our children. I decided to talk about intentional home decorating.

For me, the most important thing I do in my home with the intention of teaching my children is to put at least one picture of Jesus Christ in each room. I am very intentional in my decorating and one thing I make sure to have in every room is a picture of Jesus Christ.I want Christ to be the center of our home. I believe it helps to have visual reminders in the home to go along with other teachings we do to teach our children of Christ. 

There are other things I do to be intentional about my decorating. For us, the LDS temple is a very important and symbolic structure. I have many pictures of temples in our home. I also have a picture of our family in every room. Family is another thing that is central to us and I like to show that it is prominent by what I focus on in decorating. 

Here are some examples photos we have of Jesus Christ:

I grouped this in Brayden's room with a sign about him being a child of God
and a photo of him and my husband together on his baptism day.

This is for me in my craft room. One of my favoite symbols of Christ is that of Him
as a shepherd. I have this woman at the well picture with my sheep and oil lamp (Parable of the 10 Virgins).

I have this one in our family room. I have the Proclamation to the World on the family
along with a family photo and a picture of Christ.

On our forward-facing bookshelf wall, I have a couple of pictures of Christ, a picture of
Christ and God the Father visiting Joseph Smith, and the first presidency of our church. I also
have photos of our children reading books.

This is in the girls room. I love these tender drawings of Jesus Christ with little ones. I have
these same pictures in Brinley's room.

Of course, it isn't enough to simply put pictures up in your home. Actions speak louder than words and much louder than pictures. The pictures serve as a visual reminder of teachings we focus on daily in our home. Example reigns supreme. I hope that as my children see these pictures, it will help them remember the things they have been taught. What would Jesus do?

I have some sayings on walls that I want to remind my children of important things.

I love our house rules. My children actually read this quite often.

I love having these "Be's" by the front door. They pass it each time they leave the house.
Be grateful, smart, clean, true, humble, prayerful, positive, involved, and still. Great reminders!

I also have a clock in each room. This stems from me wanting to know what time it is at all times. 

I also love to have mirrors in every room. I like mirrors because they make spaces seem larger than they are. They add light to the room and give it the illusion of being more open.

Be sure to check out the other blogs in the BFBN today to see what ideas they have for intentional home layout. 

WiseDecor Decorative Lettering {Giveaway}

This post is written in partnership with WiseDecor Decorative Lettering. All opinions are my own.

Today's giveaway is from the company WiseDecore Decorative Lettering. They design and create wall decals and have been around for about ten years. They have some really cool stuff. Here are some of my favorites:

monthly calendar

Cute right? You can also create your own lettering, so if you have a favorite quote you would love done, you can enter it in and create your own! You can also customize colors. I created a House Rules for our home. I loved the look of the rules they already have, but I thought it would be fun to have our own rules. My husband and I sat down and made a long list of rules. Then I decided on a final number to end with and saw I needed to cut it more than in half. I went through the list and cut out things that were synonyms. I then marked rules that were must-keeps. There are special ones--like "A Promise is a Promise" is something McKenna says often. "Cherish Every Day" is something aimed to remind Brayden to enjoy the moment he is in since he tends to always be looking to the future. "Everyone Cleans" is our family policy on cleaning. And here it is:

I decided to put it on a board so we could move it around the house as my whim changes. Isn't that fun?!? The hardest part about the whole process was deciding which rules to have and which colors to do! These were my top three colors:

And WiseDecor Decorative Lettering is giving away a $75 gift certificate to you today! Here is how you enter:

a Rafflecopter giveaway

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Entry Rules

• You must enter the giveaway to have an entry.
• No entries are mandatory--you can enter using one or all options. But as I said, you do have to enter to have at least one entry.
• You must fulfill the rules of each entry for each entry to count. If I see the entry is not valid (did not meet entry requirements), I will disqualify your entry. Trust me, I check.
• Entries will be accepted until 12:00 midnight October 11, 2013.
• The winner will be randomly selected through Rafflecopter.
• The winner will be announced sometime after the winner is chosen. I will email the winner.
• Once the winner is announced, you will have one week to contact me or another winner will be chosen. Be sure to check back and/or check your email. The only thing worse than not winning is to win but not realize it in time.
• I will not use your email address for any purpose other than contacting you if you are the winner (and FYI, I don't have access to the email addresses except for the winner).