Here’s a quick recap of a few small projects and updates we completed—each took less than ten minutes. Think of it as a “tapas” post: small, satisfying bites of progress that actually worked (not every quick project ends that way).
First up: wooden tattoos. I picked up two temporary tattoos that read “breathe” and “delight” at a holiday craft fair. They’d been sitting on my desk when I found two old cedar blocks while cleaning out a closet, and the blocks turned out to be the perfect size. Following the tattoo application instructions, I peeled off the clear plastic, placed the tattoos face down on the wood, and dampened them.
It worked surprisingly well.
Here they are immediately after application—the “breathe” block was still wet in this shot.
Now that the “breathe” block is dry, it sits with a couple of other small “wisdom cards” on my desk. They’re a gentle reminder not to stay glued to the computer—sometimes I glance at them and jump up to play with Clara so John can take his turn at the desk.
The takeaway: try temporary tattoos on unexpected surfaces—wood, travertine, ceramic planters—and consider sealing them with spray sealer or Mod Podge. They can be a fun DIY decal for lots of projects.
Project two: we added a timer to Clara’s play kitchen. This little timer was a gift from friends and snaps onto a magnetic plate that screws into the backsplash. It’s an adorable, interactive touch—Clara loves setting it to “cook” pretend potatoes and eggs, and it adds an extra layer of play to her kitchen.
First we removed the back of the timer to expose the small screw and magnetic plate, attached the plate to the kitchen, and snapped the timer back on.
It’s a simple addition that makes playtime more engaging, and we’re grateful to our friends for passing it along.
Project three: framing a metal newspaper plate for our hallway gallery wall. The blue sheet you see is actually a metal newspaper printing plate we received from the Tacoma News Tribune after they wrote about our signing. The illustrator included a fun rendering, so we wanted to include the plate in our frame wall.
I used metal snips to trim the plate down to fit an existing frame from our hallway, mounted it on slightly larger white mat board, and slipped it into the frame.
It adds a fun pop of blue to the wall and always sparks conversation. We didn’t realize newspapers used metal plates for printing until we got this one and learned a bit about the process.
The fourth update is bringing a small book project (an old $10 bar cart) into the dining room. We gave the cart a fresh coat of deep teal paint and used chalkboard paint on the top so it can label bowls of snacks or display messages for guests. A few readers had asked for a full shot after spotting the legs in a previous post, so here it is in full—currently styled a little oddly with a pillow on the tray, since we were out of beverages at the time.
Those are four small “tapas”-style updates from around the house. They were quick, simple, and added little moments of fun and personality. What small tweaks have you made lately?