Quick Art for $0... {Bringing Life into Your Home}

I spend a lot of time here... and I'm keeping it real this morning:

Making breakfast, lunches for school, dinner for four, late night snacks for weary parents, entertaining family and friends, and all the clean up in between. I realize this kitchen won't make it to Pinterest (those counter tops are "yikes"). It has hardly changed since we moved in nearly five years ago. However, a kitchen renovation just isn't on the "list" right now, but hey, it serves us well. So, I decided to do something quick and easy to brighten up this heavily used space without enlisting the help of a busy handy-guy.

I've always wanted to put up Bible verses in our home. Surround ourselves with scripture, before anything else. A quick search online ("free scripture printables") brought up many options of beautifully designed scripture versus. I decided to print this (from Beautifully Rooted) and this (from The Girl Creative) for the kitchen because they're great reminders in moments of stress, like getting ready for school, preparing dinner.. you know that 4-6pm stretch can be tough.. to be kind, loving, patient, and self controlled with my children. And I love that as my kids learn to read, they'll have these daily reminders too.

We have a laser printer, so they were easy to print at home, and I found they printed best on regular paper for my intended use.

My tools were simply :

- 2 clip boards
- 2 copper nails
- Hammer
- Pencil
- Measuring tape
- Sticky tack

It's all quite self-explanatory. I held the clipboard up to the wall to see where I wanted it to go (on either side of the sink where there is a sliver of blank wall), marked it with a pencil, measured that it was centered, and hammered in a nail. Although, I didn't anticipate that the clipboard wouldn't sit flush to the wall, so I used a small ball of sticky tack to stick the bottom of the clipboard to the wall. I measured the placement of my first nail, and used those measurements for my next nail.

It's a perfect use of space for us, and I even tidied up for you.

We've been living with it for a few weeks now, and I'm still loving it. Just this morning, in a moment of frustration while I prepared a little one's lunch, I took a deep breath and reminded myself.. the fruit of the spirit is love, joy, patience, gentleness... and I was able to breathe again. I may frame these prints down the road, but for now, this little project was entirely free (yes!), and entirely life-giving. 

So, while I was building this post and linking to the sources, I couldn't resist but to print these other designs I spotted at Beautifully Rooted, this ("hope") and this ("pray more, worry less"). And I added the "hope" design on our gallery wall in the living room. A little daily inspiration with no cost.

So a big thanks to all the artists who created these designs, and let us print them for free. I'm so grateful, as I do the dishes and wipe the counter tops this morning, and thinking 'what's for dinner?'

Okay, now be honest. What are you thoughts towards that crazy kitchen backsplash? I won't be offended.