All Posts - A Beautiful Mess

2/14

10 Things I Love Sunday

I suppose I should say Happy Valentine’s Day. It’s kind of an odd holiday, but I can get behind celebrating LOVE! Love is the best. I hope you give it freely, I hope you feel it fully, and I for one am aiming to love and care for myself in this season as well.

In the above photo is the pink tile I am using on my faux mantle place project (in my back living room). More to come on the blog soon (once the project is actually done). Ha.

Speaking of Valentine’s Day, I shared this with my book club group and people were INTERESTED, so now I’m sharing it with you. A recent self-love purchase. I give it five stars ;).

Since becoming pregnant, I’ve noticed I have developed these little red veins on a few spots on my face and one on my collarbone. I googled and apparently it may be hormone/pregnancy related (I think?). I can try a laser treatment for them, but not until after I give birth and finish breastfeeding. So until then, I am using this full coverage concealer when I am sick of looking at them. Although I am self conscious of these little red spots, it’s a small price to pay for getting to be pregnant. But I’m signing up for the laser treatment once I’m able!

I am still obsessed with my Always Pan. Probably what I make the most is steamed broccoli (lame, I know, just being honest), but I feel like it’s casually showing up in about 50% of my food blog posts now too. Best non-stick pan, plus it’s cute.

This is very random but I recently bought a bunch of cheap nail stickers that you put over polish, but under a top coat. It’s very middle school of me, I know. But it’s sparking a lot of joy lately to do something extra with my nails, so why not?

I’m starting to think about baby gear and making a registry. It’s overwhelming (in a good way)! If you have children, what were the most used or favorite things you received? I am currently eyeing this stroller and dreaming of walks in my neighborhood with a tiny baby in it. Dreams come true!

Lately, so many people have said I have that “pregnancy glow,” which is SO nice and makes me feel like a million dollars. But, I sort of feel guilty that the secret is probably just my favorite moisturizer. 🙂

This month, I’ve been getting the mini split units repaired in the upstairs of my house (that has been a trip! #oldhouseproblems) and I’m dreaming of moving my office upstairs soon, since you know how I feel about an office with a door. Ha. I am daydreaming hard about swapping out the plain ceiling fan for this light fixture. I am digging the black and kind of thinking of making the space feel a little more dramatic than other spaces in the house, but I don’t know. Then I start second guessing myself on that …

In case you missed it, I finally shared my favorite sugar cookie and royal frosting recipe. These aren’t just for Christmas, if you ask me!

Winter isn’t over just yet, but so far the MVP of my closet this year has been this pink cardigan. I wear it TOO much. I just love the length and it’s warm (but not overly warm) for days that go from chilly to decent.

Take care of yourself, friends! Sending love. Emma

45 Comments | leave a comment

2/13

Easy Hack To Patch A Drywall Hole

D.I.Y. Project, Home Decor, Home Decor 101, Tips

By Laura Gummerman

Whether you rent or own a house or apartment, I think we’ve all had an occasion where there’s been a hole in a wall that’s needed to be patched due to some accidental puncture, decorating change, or renovation issue. I know I’ve definitely patched a few in my time and I usually use these patch kits (they come in different sizes) to patch over the hole. We are currently working on renovating our new mid-century home and we have a few drywall projects to do around the house, and my mom reminded me of a story from when I was little where a carpenter neighbor helped patch a hole in our childhood bedroom.

She said she thought it was so cool because instead of using a mesh patch or building up the wall behind the hole, he simply cut out a small piece of new drywall (a few inches bigger than the hole), traced the shape of the hole onto the back of the drywall lightly with a utility knife, and then snapped off the excess drywall chunks. He left the front drywall paper layer intact so he could insert it into the wall like a puzzle piece. I had never heard of this hack, but it turns out it is a real trick that can be used to repair a custom hole with just a bit of extra drywall. So I tried it this week and it totally works! Here’s what I did:

Trace your hole: Put a piece of paper over your hole and trace it either with a pen (if you can see the lines underneath) or make an indent in the paper with your fingers around the hole edge (if you can’t see the lines) so you can trace the indent with a pen once you take it off. If you have a really crazy shape of a hole, you can knock out some extra drywall by lightly tapping at the edges with a hammer or screwdriver to make a more uniform circle or oval hole.

Cut your drywall scrap: Use your utility knife (that kind where the blade folds in feels extra safe to store around little kids) to cut and snap a piece of drywall that’s a few inches bigger than your hole. Center your tracking on the back of the drywall scrap and trace your hole shape onto the back of your drywall with your knife or X-Acto knife. Make sure your tracing is reversed so it will be the right shape when you go to put it into your hole! You don’t have to go super deep on your first pass, but trace it a second time when you remove the tracing paper to go a bit deeper.

Snap off the extra (but keep the paper on): Now that you have a shape traced, score a straight line across the top and bottom of your shape and snap off those extra sections. Rather than cut those sections off, simply peel the drywall off the paper so the front paper stays attached to the drywall patch. Depending on your shape, you may need to keep scoring and snapping bigger chunks off or you may be able to snap right at your traced line and peel off from there. I only had to score across the top and bottom and then the sides peeled off on their own. You can also trim down your excess paper with scissors if you have too much on the outside (I would do about 1.5″ around the edge).

You can make sure your piece fits in the wall, and if it won’t, you can chunk off a little more of your patch with your knife until it fits easily.

Attach your patch with mud: Now that you have your puzzle piece ready to go, sand the paint around the hole with some rough sandpaper to remove the gloss from your paint (the mud will stick better to a slightly rough surface) and add a thin layer of drywall mud (that bag of dry mix is great because you can just mix up a little at a time as needed) around the edge of the hole to act as a glue to hold your patch to the wall. Slightly wet the paper edges of your patch and stick your patch into the wall. Use a joint knife (I like this 6″ one) to smooth over your patch so you see the excess mud squeezing out the sides to ensure a good seal. You can also use regular spackle rather than the drywall mud if you prefer to use that product.

Smooth over your patch/sand/paint: Once you’ve smoothed out the under layer of mud, go over the top of the patch with another thin layer and try to feather out the edges so you’ll have less sanding to do later. Let that mud fully dry and go over the patch again later with another thin layer, going out even wider than the first layer and feathering out the edges again so you don’t have hard edges to sand. Once it’s all dry, give it a sanding with some sandpaper (medium first then a fine grit) and you’re ready to paint over your patch! Handheld sanders like this are helpful for sanding or these sanding sponges are great too! You’ll want to make sure to wear eye protection and an N95 mask when sanding drywall or patching compound to keep from breathing in any of the dust during sanding and cleanup.

The hole is gone!! And in case you are wondering, this does work on plaster walls as well! My wall is actually plaster (it’s an older home so most of the walls are) and it worked just fine. I would suggest painting over your repair with a higher nap roller (or look for ones that say they are for semi-rough surfaces) as that gives the super smooth new patch a little texture so it will match the rest of the wall better. This technique is meant for smaller holes in drywall, so if you have more of a medium-large size hole, you’ll want to screw in wooden boards to the back side of your drywall hole to act as a brace and cut and attach a drywall section to those boards–kind of like you would when framing out a wall. Hope this gives you a new handy tool in your toolbox for next time you have a hole in your drywall! xo. Laura

4.67 from 3 votes

EASY HACK TO PATCH A DRYWALL HOLE

Author Laura Gummerman

Ingredients

scrap of drywall
utility knife
drywall mud or spackle
6" drywall knife
fine sandpaper
wall paint
dust mask and eye goggles

Instructions

Trace your hole: Put a piece of paper over your hole and trace it either with a pen (if you can see the lines underneath) or make an indent in the paper with your fingers around the hole edge (if you can’t see the lines) so you can trace the indent with a pen once you take it off. If you have a really crazy shape of a hole, you can knock out some extra drywall by lightly tapping at the edges with a hammer or screwdriver to make a more uniform circle or oval hole.
Cut your drywall scrap: Use your utility knife (that kind where the blade folds in feels extra safe to store around little kids) to cut and snap a piece of drywall that’s a few inches bigger than your hole. Center your tracking on the back of the drywall scrap and trace your hole shape onto the back of your drywall with your knife or X-Acto knife. Make sure your tracing is reversed so it will be the right shape when you go to put it into your hole! You don’t have to go super deep on your first pass, but trace it a second time when you remove the tracing paper to go a bit deeper.
Snap off the extra (but keep the paper on): Now that you have a shape traced, score a straight line across the top and bottom of your shape and snap off those extra sections. Rather than cut those sections off, simply peel the drywall off the paper so the front paper stays attached to the drywall patch. Depending on your shape, you may need to keep scoring and snapping bigger chunks off or you may be able to snap right at your traced line and peel off from there. I only had to score across the top and bottom and then the sides peeled off on their own. You can also trim down your excess paper with scissors if you have too much on the outside (I would do about 1.5″ around the edge).
You can make sure your piece fits in the wall, and if it won’t, you can chunk off a little more of your patch with your knife until it fits easily.
Attach your patch with mud: Now that you have your puzzle piece ready to go, sand the paint around the hole with some rough sandpaper to remove the gloss from your paint (the mud will stick better to a slightly rough surface) and add a thin layer of drywall mud (that bag of dry mix is great because you can just mix up a little at a time as needed) around the edge of the hole to act as a glue to hold your patch to the wall. Slightly wet the paper edges of your patch and stick your patch into the wall. Use a joint knife (I like this 6″ one) to smooth over your patch so you see the excess mud squeezing out the sides to ensure a good seal.
Smooth over your patch/sand/paint: Once you’ve smoothed out the under layer of mud, go over the top of the patch with another thin layer and try to feather out the edges so you’ll have less sanding to do later. Let that mud fully dry and go over the patch again later with another thin layer, going out even wider than the first layer and feathering out the edges again so you don’t have hard edges to sand. Once it’s all dry, give it a sanding with some sandpaper (medium first then a fine grit) and you’re ready to paint over your patch! Handheld sanders like this are helpful for sanding or these sanding sponges are great too! You’ll want to make sure to wear eye protection and an N95 mask when sanding drywall or patching compound to keep from breathing in any of the dust during sanding and cleanup.

Credits // Author and Photography: Laura Gummerman. Photos edited with A Color Story Desktop.

12 Comments | leave a comment

2/12

Toddler/Preschool Visual Schedule DIY (with Free Chart Printables!)

Crafts, D.I.Y. Project, Home Decor, Kiddo, Kids Room, Organization, Paper Crafts

By Laura Gummerman

Almost a year into pandemic life, and we are just starting to get our days into some sort of real schedule. This past summer, in the middle of all the chaos, we decided it was right to move back to my hometown of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, and thus began the whirlwind of selling/packing/moving cross country/renovating a new house … and all with a toddler during a pandemic! All that to say that I kept thinking we needed to get to a more structured day for our 3-year-old daughter, Lola, so she would know what to expect and my husband (who is currently watching her while I work during the day) would feel like he had a plan each day as well. Planning is … uh … not one of his talents (although all things fun and crazy are, so he’s literally the perfect dad a toddler could ask for!) So, I told him I would come up with a schedule and help him plan out their day. We basically made a list of all the necessary things that have to happen (breakfast, snacks, lunch, quiet/nap time) and then made a list of possibilities that we would like to see happen in between those more set times (art, reading, learning, outside time, etc.).

We broke the day up into increments of time devoted to one of those activities—we’ve been doing the new schedule for about a month now and it’s going great! The only thing I wanted to tweak was to make the schedule into a visual chart so that Lola could see which activity was happening that day. and which one was next so she could participate in the schedule. And, I wanted to make it on a changeable magnetized board so they could easily make sessions longer or shorter or switch the order of a day’s events as needed. I’ll share what we came up with—I think you’ll love it too!

Supplies:
-magnetized whiteboard (I used this one)
–thin washi tape (or chart tape) in color of your choice
–dry erase markers
–self-adhesive laminating sheets
–chart printables (right click to download)
-printer and paper
–peel and stick magnets
-scissors or X-Acto knife, ruler, and cutting mat

First, you’ll want to print out your labels and icons. Cut out your labels and icons with scissors or an X-Acto knife, leaving a small border of white around the boxes.

Peel off one self-adhesive sheet and arrange your squares in a row with space between them, and put as many as you can fit on one page. Peel off another sheet and place it on top of your page, pressing down to smooth out any bubbles. I arranged mine on a cutting mat so I could see the lines beneath it and line them all up in a row—that makes cutting them out with an X-Acto knife and ruler easier (my favorite way to cut things) and faster if they are all perfectly lined up straight.

Cut out your icons and labels, leaving 1/4″ of film around the edges. If you want to do a faster method, you can also laminate the whole sheet without cutting them apart first and then cut them after lamination. But I like the look of cutting them out first and having the clear edge all the way around, so I did it that way.

Once your printables are cut and laminated, stick a magnet on the back of each icon and you’re ready to work on your board!

To make your board, get your calculator and divide your board into as many segments as you have categories in your day. I have 10 sections on my board, but if you were doing a lot more you could always buy a bigger white board to have more space. An easy way to add tape lines on a board is to make a dot with a light colored dry-erase marker (where each section should be on the left and right sides of the board) and then simply connect the two dots with a line of washi tape.

Once I had all my horizontal lines on, I did the same connect-the-dot thing to add three vertical lines to make two boxes on the right-hand side for the icons (she moves them to the right box when the segment is complete) and then divided the left area into two rectangles where I would write the time for each segment and put the segment label. Once I had my grid, I put tape all the way around the edges to finish out the look and cover over the tape ends from the other lines. Washi tape comes off white boards pretty easily so you can always change your schedule or use the board for something else later. My only suggestion is to be careful when you write/erase in dry-erase markers, as the paper tape will stain if you get fresh marker on it.

Once your grid is on, you’re ready to add your icons and labels and start your day! We let Lola move the icon from the left column to the box next to it on the right when she’s done with that activity as a way to involve her and let her see what’s next as the day progresses. The picture labels are pretty self explanatory (although we made a rainbow for the “kid choice” icon, so there’s one that’s kind of a miscellaneous category), but feel free to switch them around to mean something different if you would like that makes more sense for your lifestyle.

So far, the new schedule is so helpful for us! I feel like Lola likes knowing what will happen in a day now and it takes the pressure off Todd to constantly be thinking, “What do we do next?” all the time. She’s also been doing way more art and music than tends to happen when we just wing a day, and she loves doing yoga now (we do yoga during outside time when it’s rainy or too cold outside) which is also a big plus (I caught her “growing her tree” in tree pose in the bathtub the other day). We also have this timer for Lola that we use for her quiet play time segment so she can see how much longer is left (genius!), but you could also use that for pretty much every segment if you wanted to. We’ve also used her color clock that tells her when it’s time to get up to let her know how long segments are since we can change the color to whatever we want easily from our phones.

It’s up to you to do whatever you like within each segment, but I love art boxes like this for art time, playing along with these to your artist of the week during music time (or try a music jar!), Cosmic Kids channel for yoga, and workbooks like these and these for lesson time, and making a book wall with a few of these bookshelves to be a little library that you can put different books on each week. We also have a blog post with 100 ideas for things to do with kiddos so that can help too! Hope this chart makes your day a little more organized as well! xo. Laura

P.S. Here’s a link to that wooden phone DIY and I love those wooden stackables too …

TODDLER/PRESCHOOL VISUAL SCHEDULE DIY (WITH FREE CHART PRINTABLES!)

Author Laura Gummerman

Ingredients

magnetized whiteboard (I used this one)
thin washi tape (or chart tape) in color of your choice
dry erase markers
self-adhesive laminating sheets
chart printables (right click to download)
printer and paper
peel and stick magnets
scissors or X-Acto knife, ruler, and cutting mat

Instructions

First, you’ll want to print out your labels and icons. Cut out your labels and icons with scissors or an X-Acto knife, leaving a small border of white around the boxes.
Peel off one self-adhesive sheet and arrange your squares in a row with space between them. Put as many as you can fit on one page. Peel off another sheet and place it on top of your page, pressing down to smooth out any bubbles.
Cut out your icons and labels leaving 1/4″ of film around the edges.
Once your printables are cut and laminated, stick a magnet of the back of each icon and you’re ready to work on your board!
To make your board, get your calculator and divide your board into as many segments as you have categories in your day. I have 10 sections on my board, but if you were doing a lot more you could always buy a bigger white board to have more space. An easy way to add tape lines on a board is to make a dot with a light colored dry-erase marker where each section should be on the left and right sides of the board and then simply connect the two dots with a line of washi tape. Once I had all my horizontal lines on, I did the same connect-the-dot thing to add three vertical lines to make two boxes on the right-hand side for the icons (she moves them to the right box when the segment is complete) and then divided the left area into two rectangles where I would write the time for each segment and put the segment label. Once I had my grid I put tape all the way around the edges to finish out the look and cover over the tape ends from the other lines.
Once your grid is on you’re ready to add your icons and labels and start your day!

Credits // Author and Photography: Laura Gummerman. Graphic Design: Keely Rust. Photos edited with A Color Story Desktop.

1 Comment | leave a comment

2/11

20-Minute Tomato Tortellini Soup

Comfort Foods, Food, Hot, Meal Ideas, Soups

By Emma Chapman

How is soup season going for you so far? Oh, you don’t celebrate soup season? I consider the first third of the year soup season where I live, since it’s cold and dark. A big bowl of soup can make all the difference to my day (or night). And I recently added this 20-minute tomato tortellini soup recipe to the rotation.

This is a quick and simple tomato soup recipe that absolutely anyone could make and then it gets dressed up with cheese tortellini. Yes, you heard that right. Soup AND pasta in one dish. Need I say more?!

One unique thing about this 20-minute tomato tortellini soup is you add the juice from an orange to the soup base. Trust me! It might sound a little different, but it adds a bright pop of flavor.

The recipe below will make two large servings, or you could stretch this more if you serve it alongside a salad or garlic bread. Up to you. I also think this soup is excellent the next day warmed up for a quick lunch.

Happy soup making, friends! xo. Emma

5 from 2 votes

20-Minute Tomato Tortellini Soup

Course Soup

Cook Time 20 minutes

Author Emma Chapman

Ingredients

1/2 yellow onion, chopped
5 cloves garlic, minced
2 tablespoons olive oil
1/4 teaspoon red pepper flakes
salt and pepper
28 ounces whole peeled tomatoes + juices 1 large can
1 orange, juiced
7 ounces cheese tortellini
1/4 cup pasta water, reserved
Parmesan and chopped herbs for serving

Instructions

Cook the pasta according to the package directions. If you are using dried pasta (like pictured), it will likely take around 12-15 minutes. Before draining, reserve some of the pasta water.
While the pasta is cooking, prepare the soup. In a large pot, heat the olive oil over medium heat and sauté the chopped onion for 2-3 minutes until softened. Add the garlic and cook another minute or two. Season with red pepper flakes and a generous sprinkle of salt and pepper.
Add the tomatoes with their juices, as well as the fresh orange juice. Cook another couple of minutes and then puree. You can do this with an immersion blender or in a blender.
Add the cooked pasta and a 1/4 cup of pasta water to slightly thin the soup. If needed, you can add a little more pasta water. Taste and season with more salt and pepper if needed. Serve with Parmesan and chopped fresh herbs (parsley, basil, or cilantro).

Credits // Author and Photography: Emma Chapman. Photos edited with A Color Story Desktop.

5 Comments | leave a comment

2/10

A Design Kit: Two New Packs for Valentine’s Day!

ABM Apps

By Ana Elliott

Whether you’re a huge Valentine’s Day fan or not, you can’t deny this holiday has an aesthetic. 😍 Personally, I’m here for the bubblegum pink + bold reds, and I find Valentine’s Day to be a fun distraction from the cold, grey reality that is a Midwest winter. We’re SO excited to introduce not one, but TWO, new +packs to A Design Kit that can be used year-round, but are extra fun for Valentine’s.
You can see both new features in the design above!! First, we’re obsessed with this new +pack called Reminders, which includes 33 stickers focused around self-love and acceptance, with blank templates for you to create your own affirmations.

You can see another style from the Reminders +pack above. Reminders includes alerts in varied styles—some that look like notifications, search bars, messages, and others that look like a phone on “dark mode”. We’re having so much fun adding these messages to our designs and writing our own, too!
The next +pack, which you may have guessed already, is Glitter Textures!! These are 25 new colors of Glitter we’ve added to the app, and we’re SO excited about these. The really cool thing about our textures is that you can use them as backgrounds, brushes, designs, and text—so if you can imagine it, you can design it in glitter. ✨

Download A Design Kit to try the new features, and if you already have the app, ADK+ subscribers will be getting the new +packs for free! If you create a Valentine’s Day design, we’d love to see it. You can share it with us on Instagram by tagging #adesignkit.

xo, Team ACS

2 Comments | leave a comment

2/10

DIY Pipe Cleaner Wreath

Celebrate, Crafts, D.I.Y. Project, Home Decor, Valentine's Day

By Emma Chapman

I must admit, I am not that big on Valentine’s decor—or at least haven’t been in the past. I tend to go hard for Halloween and Christmas, and that’s about it. Ha. But I do love pink and red (and also glitter!) and I found myself wanting to add a little something to my mantle for the month. If nothing else, just to feel a bit festive. And that’s what inspired me to make this DIY pipe cleaner wreath. You could absolutely make this for any season or in any color—I just decided to use up my stash of red, pinks, and glitter pipe cleaners. Oh yes, I have a pipe cleaner stash.

Another thing I love about this DIY pipe cleaner wreath is it’s one of those projects you can work on while you watch TV or listen to a podcast. Lately, I’ve been rewatching every season of Bob’s Burgers. I love that show and hadn’t watched the first few seasons in a very long time (some of them I swear I hadn’t even seen before). Sometimes I crave a project that is basically just something to do with my hands while I watch TV. Don’t get me wrong, I love a very involved craft project too. But sometimes I just want something a little bit mindless to complete in the evenings, which is exactly what this DIY pipe cleaner wreath turned out to be.

Supplies:
–wire wreath base
–pipe cleaners (cut into thirds)
-scissors

Depending how big your wire wreath base is will change how many pipe cleaners you end up needing. You can also use a variety of colors/shades, or keep it more uniform; it’s up to you.

Step One: Cut the pipe cleaners into thirds. Then bend them into a ‘U’ shape.

Step Two: Twist the ‘U’ around the wire frame. Repeat until you’ve filled the entire wreath.

Step Three: You can hang the frame as is, or use ribbon or robe or yarn to hang it from a mantel or doorframe.

If needed, you might need to trim some of the pipe cleaner pieces if you see any that are sticking out way further than others. But that’s it—super simple. This 8″ diameter wreath probably took me about three hours (or six Bob’s Burgers episodes) to complete. Thanks for letting me share! And happy Valentine’s/Galentine’s Day to you, friends. I hope you find ways to love yourself and those around you. 🙂 xo. Emma

DIY Pipe Cleaner Wreath

Author Emma Chapman

Ingredients

wire wreath base
pipe cleaners
scissors

Instructions

Cut the pipe cleaners into thirds. Then bend them into a ‘U’ shape.
Twist the ‘U’ around the wire frame. Repeat until you’ve filled the entire wreath.
You can hang the frame as is, or use ribbon, robe, or yarn to hang it from a mantel or doorframe.

Recipe Notes

Depending how big your wire wreath base is will change how many pipe cleaners you end up needing. You can also use a variety of colors shades, or keep it more uniform; it’s up to you.

Credits // Author and Photography: Emma Chapman. Photos edited with A Color Story Desktop.

1 Comment | leave a comment

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