The Valentine Entry. (diy craft included)

Hey I apologize if today is a hard day for you. I understand it's not always fun to see people in love when you are single or recently broken up. I was there. But why not be the valentine for that someone who needs it. A child or friend. Take them out. Make them feel special. I feel like why not take advantage of the day, instead of being sad. And again I apologize if today is hard still.

It's one of my fav days, again I think I like it for the colors and the excuse to go out with the hubbs. It was really sweet waking up to two large mylar balloons in the kitchen attached to two cards. It's really fun having kids and getting to share the holidays with them. I want our little girl to know her Daddy is her first love (until the day she comes to know Christ who will then be her first love) and she is loved and cherished even when others don't always make her feel that way. And Carter too, as a boy I hope he gets the respect he needs and feels cherished. Love our kiddos.

I thought I post what I decided to make this Valentine's day. I love getting all crafty and feeling like I'm way smarter than I actually am. I mean if I actually came up with this I'd be genius. Nope. I went to Pinterest for ideas. At first I wanted to make {this}. But I ended up making some beautiful crayon creations. 

See?

Oh don't they look yummy!?

That's what Ashlyn thought as she took a bite out of one. Gatta love the mind of a two year old. She really wanted it to be a cookie. {Ha!} Sorry! :-/

{Our kiddos, just before church a few weeks ago, aren't they adorable?}

Anyways sidetracked I guess. Here's the rundown on things you need to make Valentine Crayons.

 Crayons (use broken ones to get more life out of them)
A heart shaped cupcake or whoopee pie pan, whatever you have on hand.
A sharp knife
Glitter (Optional*)
Cutting board
Pen
Marker
Paper to attach the crayons to.
Basic lunch bags
Red/pink/heart ribbon

I first preheated the oven at 250F.

Then I peeled (or cut off) all the paper from the crayons. Not easy, but it does come off.

I then took 4 crayons, lined them up, and cut them into smaller pieces. The sharper the knife the better. 

Then take the pieces of crayon and fill the hearts. I did four crayons to each heart.

And then top each heart off with more glitter.

After all the hearts are full of crayon to your liking put the pan in the oven.

After 15 minutes, turn the oven off and leave the pan in the oven. The wax turns to liquid and you don't want to risk burning yourself or making a mess with hot wax.

(leave the oven open if no kids are around)

I took them out when the wax seems to be a bit hard. And then let them cool even more out of the oven.

When they are completely cooled you can now pop them out.
 See how cute they come out?

 And then however you want to do the cards to attach them too, create them.
Some fun saying to put on them are:

 "You Color My World Valentine"

"Have a Colorful Valentine's Day"

"Happy Valentine's Day for 'Crayon' out loud"

Hope this inspires you. I really think that no matter what your "status" is you can still have fun today. Go order yourself a pizza and watch a movie. Or go out and make someone else's day

Here are some verses to really get to the bottom of
 what real "LOVE" is:

1 John 3:16 

This is how we know what love is: Jesus Christ laid down his life for us. And we ought to lay down our lives for our brothers.

1 John 4:8 
Whoever does not love does not know God, because God is love.

Now I have to go do the dirty work and clean the kitchen. But I did just receive (as I was typing) a beautiful bouquet of roses (mixed colors too) at the door. Totally made my day since the hubbs is traveling for the week.

Our Valentine {Mantle?}

Happy Friday. 

I love the weekend. More time with the hubbs. ;)

Oh... and today I did some fun stuff. I love to decorate for each holiday. And usually Valentine's Day seems to be the hardest for me. I feel like it's easy to decorate, but I feel it can be tacky more easily than not. haha. Ya, I'm one of those. This year I decided to get crafty and gather all the pink/red I have around the house and create a Valentine's {mantle?} Well, we don't have a mantle. AND, I had to decorate somewhere the kids couldn't get to easyily. Or at all. 

So here is our {mantle}. =)

 (one of the first Willow Tree Angels I got)

 (even our "fishie" got in on it)

(one ikea frame & a few cut out hearts)

 (gatta love a free church family photo!)

Sorry no "before" photo. Just think... nothing. There really wasn't much up there to start. And sorry no distant photo, it never looked clear enough to show on the blog, sorry!

Oh... the hubbs got me these. I'm a huge sucker for fresh flowers. As long as they don't cost 80 bucks. Aren't they gorgeous? And they bring a smile to my face thinking about how close Spring is. Only 2 more months. That's close right ;)

Now I need to figure out what kind of Valentine Cards for the kids (or prob just Ashlyn) to hand out. They have to be practical and cheap. If you have any ideas, let me know. =)

Pinterest meets Valentine's Day.

Every time I sit down to blog I get so many good ideas on what to write about. I wish I could just write them all down. But I like organization way too much for that. Of course with kids it's usually "organized chaos"though. 

To start I had to post this photo. The other day I went into Carter's room and this is what I was gifted with seeing. Ya, I wanted to just stare at him forever. But sadly I had to wake this little sleepy head up because we had a gym appointment. 

So. Have you noticed that it's less than a month away till Valentine's Day?? I hope you aren't reading this and are one of those who don't like that holiday. If you are, your loss! I know some holidays are hard for some, and I respect that. But if you do like it, like me, then I have a real treat for you. I've been finding lots of fun Valentine's Day stuff on Pinterest. Something about the color PINK and RED together that makes me happy.

Ready to smile. :)

BURLAP NO SEW BANNER

via

DIY HEART CANDY CENTERPIECE.

via

RED VELVET WOOPIE PIES

via

FREE DOWNLOAD (perfect for a frame!)

via

ETSY VALENTINE WREATH (bet it's not hard to make!)

via

Something about a little sweetness in the dead of winter. Right? 

*LOVE*

Merry Christmas!

Hey there. =)

It's been a really fun Holiday season. Having two kids now does have its challenges, but it also has its many blessings. I've been doing a whole lot more thinking than I ever have about Christmas & what comes with the territory and having kids. I think mainly it's because having two kids brings a lot more into the season than it ever was with just the two of us. Like for example, would we introduce Santa,  Christmas on a Sunday & all those crazy conversations that come from that, what about Advent, what will we do Christmas Eve as a family, how will we work out Christmas' with both sides of the family, yada yada yada. All in all, I am so blessed to teach Ashlyn, and one day Carter, the true meaning of Christmas. The real reason we even have a holiday. It's been neat seeing Ashlyn learn how to sing a few carols, know where to find Baby Jesus in our home, & see the light in her eyes as she opens a gift (she has only opened one so far and it was really cute). Funny how she is also at the age where we have to teach her to share, really getting deeper into the Christmas Season, teaching her to share seems quite appropriate don't you think. 

Our memories so far... Decorated our house outdoors for the first time. Can't wait till the kids are old enough to appreciate it. Made Christmas cookies with my mom, sister in law & her friend and even took them to Hobby Lobby. Their first time, I think they liked it.  Took the kiddos shopping more than I normally would have & survived. Had Josh's sister take our Christmas photos. Thanks Amanda! Went shopping as a family & even managed to get gifts for the hubs. Had a family dinner date at Red Robin. WE HAVE A RED ROBIN. YES! Had our tree fall for the first time, and no kids were involved. (and no one was hurt) Enjoyed watching Home Alone together (early Christmas gift from the hubbs), we laugh sooo hard at that one, love laughing with my man. Looking forward to the second one which we'll watch this week sometime. (I think I like that one better) Drank a yummy Peppermint Milkshake from Chic-fil-a (yes it had to be put here, my hubbie brought one home last night, it's noteworthy!)

(Doesn't that look delish?)

So ya, I'm really blessed to have an amazing little family (or large really). We made so many memories. I love that!  Looking forward to celebrating with the extended family the birth of our SAVIOUR this weekend & making more memories. Hope it doesn't just end there. I mean really, we should be reminding ourselves daily of the life Jesus lived and sacrifice he did for us. 

Thank you! 

I'll leave you with our Christmas Card. 

Sorry for the bad quality, it's a photo of a photo, the photos are actually crystal clear quality.

(photos by: AB PHOTOGRAPHY)

Merry Christmas!!

DIY Christmas Packaging Bow

Hello.

 Want to see something I made today?

Isn't she a beauty? She makes my Mac computer even more pretty. 

Want to make one? 

I found the idea on Pinterest. (Of course) And it reminded me that I've always wanted to make this kind of a bow. So I made it. It probably took me 20 minutes to make. Not bad. 

 I can't believe it was made out of a Pottery Barn Catalog. I think I'm gonna try to decorate all the gifts I give this year with one & wrap with newspaper or other paper we have laying around. 

I made a large one.  but it can also be done with just 3 layers instead of 4. 

Check Here for the exact how to. Make one this Christmas. You may just surprise yourself. 

That's all for now,

a joy full home CHRISTMAS.

Today I wanted to share a few photos of our home this Christmas season. Enjoy!

Merry Christmas from our home to yours,

I'm good. I know I'm bad, at grammar.

Hi there,

I've been thinking a lot about how I write my blog post. My husband reminded me I have many grammar issues in them. I'm not offended in any way. I KNOW I'm not very good at grammar. It's a wonder I love journalling and have been since I was little. I always felt if someone read my journal entries (my paper journal, that is) they may not understand what I wrote. Ha, sometimes I can't even understand my own writing. In school I was much more interested in Science & Math. Ya, I'm one of those gals. I loved figuring things out. I was also more of an art/music girl. I didn't take my first "real" art class till I was in highschool. I had no idea that I was a little artsy until then. I knew I didn't mind art class, and had fun, but I had no idea I was "artsy". I guess I inherited my dad's art skills. Thanks Dad! I like to paint, but I am not one to just create something from nothing. If I have a picture to look at and copy I'm all set. Otherwise, ha, good luck! So there's my two cents on that.

Can you find all the grammar problems in that paragraph^? I bet there's a ton. (wink*)

So now that we have that behind us, I'd like to share a diy idea from Thrifty Decor Chick. Now that we are in the Christmas season we all are thinking of ways to decorate our table. Either for everyday living or a party we are putting on. I know for me I can never figure out what to do with our table. I think having kids it changes the way I decorate. One day I'll get back my freedom to decorate how I want to. But until then I'll just talk about what I'd like to do. So for all you who have a large table, and need a non expensive way to decorate, this is for you.

She literally spray painted a bunch of cut up paper rolls, for napkin rings. You could do gold, silver, copper, whatever colors you have already or what looks better in your house. At $5 a color, that's NOT bad.

 LOVE this idea! 

See?? 

And...

And then she spray painted some candle stick holders. (she primed them all first)

Ok, that is just magical! And we can all get some pretty ornaments after Christmas or hit the local Walmart/DollarStore/Hobby Lobby for cheap. I love projects that anyone can do. Seriously!? Now go to the Thrify Decor Chick blog and check out her post on how she made them. She does a way better job explaining how to make them. 

Happy DIYing this Christmas!