More Valentine Stuff

Have I mentioned before that I LOVE Valentine's Day?! (mostly for the pretty colors and the distraction from winter-induced depression.) I can't resist these good ideas - enjoy!


Kissed Pretzels - on U Create, who got it from No Fuss Fabulous. FABULOUS! My worries are over because I'm totally making these babies for my kids' V-day parties this week!!! I've honestly been agonizing so I'm very, very happy I found this. HOWEVER...the instructions say to preheat your oven to 400 degrees - DON'T DO THAT! Preheat to 200 degrees and they'll turn out perfect.


Strawberry Bouquet - from Family Fun. I don't know if I'll have the time this week, but I TOTALLY want to make some of these for my kids' teachers! How fun and easy! This website also has a bunch of other great V-Day ideas and printable color pages.


Crayon hearts - from Martha Stewart. I saw these last year on this site and wanted to do some but I totally forgot! I love the colors they used, too.




ADORABLE (and so easy) heart scarf. I'm TOTALLY doing one of these this week even if it kills me. I found the idea from Betz White (love her) but if you need a tutorial, it's on the Martha Stewart site. (You know you've made it when Martha wants you on her show...) I probably won't do the whole felting thing, but store-bought felt or soft, fuzzy fleece and embellishments would be fun.


Little Birdie Secrets had this cute wreath tutorial on her site and this looks like SO much fun. My little girl would love to make one with me. If only I were an organized mother!

Cheap Valentine Decor

So what's the DEAL with stores and the lack of cute Valentine decor? (note that I specified cute - not those creepy crepe paper fold-outs) (sorry if you like those...) And to make matters worse, I can't find my box of Valentine stuff - and now I'm wondering if I even have a box of Valentine stuff. (and where's that Mercedes I swear was in the garage?)

Anyway - I raided the clearance rack at J0-Ann's in a desperate need to surround myself with all things red, pink, and glittery, so here are my findings: glitter heart ornaments and a cute garland that did not contain foil anything. That's it - that's all I could find. VERY cool, however. I think it all cost me $5.00. Awesome, eh?! (The tree branches were free - they came from my front yard.)

If you like the heart ornament thing and can't find any at the stores, you can make some cute ones with felt or fabric. You wouldn't have to sew anything if you iron two pieces of fabric together with fusible webbing in-between and cut them out with pinking shears, then attach string for hanging with strong fabric glue. That would be so cute - too bad I'm lazy and don't have time!




My flowers here are part of a revolving collection I have in my craft area. Any time there are great sales on floral, I snatch up a bunch of random pieces for each season/holiday so I always have something pretty to put in a vase when I need it. A little splash of cheap ribbon makes anything so much more festive and exciting! (that goes for you, too, ladies...wrap yourself up! hehe)

So there you have it - Valentine's Day on a budget. I also have a stash of cute V-day plates and a vinyl table cloth on which I serve up a special breakfast on the big day. The kids love it and look forward to it. Now is the time to get them (Target has some cute ones) since they're all being marked down.

I love you, Valentine's Day!

I love plastic cups

Can I just say how much I LOVE these little $.57-cent washable cups?! I used to keep a stash of disposable cups around but I'm sick of buying them. I'm also sick of the kids getting out our regular cups only to forget which one is theirs. So I grabbed a few of these cool plastic cups at Wal-Mart (in the birthday party section) and now it's impossible for them to forget which one is theirs for the entire day! It's been so much fun not to have a bazillion cups to wash every day!!! What a wonderful world...

Lemonade Award

Well goodness! Angela from The Creative Homemaker gave me a Lemonade Award today and she totally made my day! The Lemonade Award is about "good attitude and gratitude" so thanks, Angela, I'm totally grateful! (oh, and go check out her blog - it's loaded with great stuff.) I've never received an award before, so I'm all choked up and can't see through my tears...just kidding - but I'm not grouchy anymore, so that's good, right?!

Since I don't do tags, pass-alongs, and what-not, I'll list a few random things that give me a good attitude...that I'm thankful for...and stuff...

(in no particular order)

Chocolate (okay, but chocolate is always #1 on any of my lists)
Sunshine
Colorful flowers
A great pair of jeans
New shoes
New perfume
Okay...new anything...
Finishing a project
Fresh-bathed kids (my own, of course)
A good friend
Watching those trip-and-fall videos on TV (I know, I know, it's really awful of me...but I can't help it that it's hilarious...totally makes my attitude good...not very many things make me laugh harder...)
Southern phrases like "I'll be along direc'ly", and "Happier'n a tick on a fat dog" and stuff like that - my mood always perks up when I hear stuff like that!
Quiet time with a book and my soft, warm bed
A good home-cooked dinner
Desserts that look all fancy
Kids in bed early with NO idea what to do with myself! (I love that! I'll just wander around the house smiling!!!)


Okay well my kids are killing each other...so I'll wrap this up. Thanks, again, Angela! You rock!

I know you're out there...I want to hear what puts YOU in a good mood!

I'm Getting Excited!

I'm getting SO EXCITED to decorate and do Valentine stuff! I love the colors and fun, whimsical aspect of Valentine's Day! Last night I had to make cookies for my daughter's girl scout activity and I couldn't resist the Valentine sprinkles I just bought!

And...you know...once January is over, February will be over soon, too, and we're getting THAT much closer to Spring! I'm so excited I can hardly stand it! I think I need to go outside and scream!!! (but it's too cold...I'll just hold it in...)

Check It OUT!

Hey, I've been published!!! (sort of) A cute girl from Fave Crafts emailed me and asked if I would be a guest contributor and I was so excited!

So this is where it gets funny. (it can never be easy with me, huh?) I started on something really fun and exciting - a bright, cheery banner - (remember I gave you a sneak peek) and then being the typical dumb blond that I am, I got the project ALL BUT FINISHED when I realized that I had my lettering backwards on the reverse side! (I'm doing a 2-sided banner) haha! I laughed, cried, and I had to call Kadie and my mom in order to prevent me from injuring myself!!! There I was, writhing on the floor, clawing my way up to the counter in agony so I could reach a Dove Dark Chocolate! I'm totally over it now, but SO much stitching and work had been done and now has to be un-done in order for me to finish this adorable, darn thing!

Sooooooo - I have a lot of un-picking to do today but I had to get something to the Fave Crafts girl, so I put this monogram frame thing together this weekend and I love, love, love it! Here is the site for the tutorial. I hope you make a bunch! It's totally cheap, easy, and everybody loves their own monogram.

More about the felt...

I received a few emails from some of you about the felt I bought and I feel like I should warn you first before you buy some from the girl I got mine from. The felt sheets are small squares, maybe 4" x 4" - not a full sheet like you'd get at the craft store. If you have a Jo-Ann's in your area, they're having a sale on felt for .12 cents a sheet, and they have a lot of cool colors so check them out first if you can.

Sneak Peek

My somewhat time-consuming project is ALMOST done! My winter-blah, color-loving obsession has led me to drastic measures and I couldn't stop myself. I can't WAIT to show you the finished product - and, of course, the tutorial. Maybe I'll finish today since I'm hibernating.

Yummy Felt

Check it out! My felt arrived from Lupin and all I want to do is touch it and look at all of the bright colors! (see what I mean? I'm a color nerd.) I'm not real sure what I'm going to do with it but don't worry - I'll find some project to transport me from my current frozen, arctic reality. We'll see... But in the meantime, I'm going to luxuriate in the COLORS!!! This room design here is going to be some inspiration.

Happy Spring Apron

Okay, I KNOW it's not Spring yet, but I'm bored with winter already. January through April is always so hard for me and the one thing that keeps me sane is color and cocoa.

So I was at the Pottery Barn Outlet yesterday and couldn't resist these yummy, bright, happy napkins for a dollar! Lately I've been craving bright, spring colors like it's chocolate - so you can understand my joy when I found these gems. You CAN buy happiness and in my case, it only cost $1.00. Now I want to go back and get the rest of what's left because these can quickly be made into easy aprons and I can put them in my birthday gift stash! These would make a great winter get-together gift, too. Have the girls over for mint tea and cookies and send them home with one of these! (you can buy happiness AND friends...that works out nicely, eh?!)

I made my waistband using this tutorial I posted a while back. The only thing I did different was sew a 45-degree angle at the ends to make them pointy.

Do you ever get holes in the bottom of your shirt? I do - especially if I'm doing dishes, my shirt gets wet, and I rub up against the counters working. I have to wear an apron when I do dishes or else I get holes in my shirts! (I'm pretty sure my dish soap is innocent)





Ah! I could wear this every day! Maybe the colors will get me through this gray, drab winter! And I'm sure it could be jazzed up a little more, but I wanted to keep this simple since this is intended to be worn and washed a lot.

(sorry if this is a bit blurry - it's kind of hard to focus the lens when you're taking your own picture!)