Burlap is my new friend

Wanna know what I made today while our oldest learned some phonics (aka You Tube), lol. 

Well...

I purchased a few yards of burlap a few months ago. I've always loved it's organic look, and had lots of ideas of how I would use it.

Maybe this or this.

 After months of the fabric just sitting there, and my head dreaming up what I would do with it, I finally did something with it. 

Supplies:

An old bulletin board from Target (I painted the trim white previously)

A piece of Burlap that fits.

Ribbon for the trim.

A glue gun with lots of extra glue.

Like it?

Oh and I made a few simple felt flowers to go on it. Just cut a strip of felt & roll it up, using my glue gun to glue it as I rolled. Easy enough? =)

And our little girl finally has her bulletin board back on the wall. I needed to fix it since the things that hold it up fell off. Nothing a good 'ol glue gun can't fix. I'm happy with the outcome. =)

Hope this inspires you ;)

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. =)

A few Pinterest Ideas put to the test.

I'm starting to feel like a real blogger now.


I just signed up for ads on my page (not that I'll actually make much money, but it's a good start).

Made a few pages, check out the ABOUT ME page at the top of the blog page.

And even got a comment from a well known blogger.

Check out her page here. She's got an amazing cleaning challenge that I said I was gonna do for New Years. The kitchen is this week. And yes I'm working on it. ;) 

  I say that makes me officially cool. Right? We all need a little confidence booster once in awhile. I'll take what I can get. haha.

Anyways, the other day I decided I was going to try a few Pinterest ideas. Ya, I do actually do them. They aren't just for looking cool on my Pinterest boards. Gatta love it! I had just cleaned our shower so I figured it appropriate to try cleaning our shower head. Who knew it was that easy. A little vinegar, a bag, and a hair elastic. And Bam! I did use a warm cloth and some tooth picks too to get it where I wanted it to be. My husband loves that our bathroom smells like vinegar now. Haha. Guess I shouldn't had left the warm cloth in there to dry over night.

Here's where I found the link to how to clean a shower head. (here)


Here are the {before} and {after} pics.

It looks way better than I could capture on camera. But you get the point. And I even shined up all the other silver fixtures in the bath. :)

The second Pinterest project I did this week was make my own

 modge podge (directions HERE) & use that to make 

Ashlyn's "A" for her wall a pretty pink damask with some scrapbook paper. 

One thing I learned:

 When making the modge podge empty the entire glue container in the salsa container. And then fill the empty glue container with water, easy way to get exactly half water and to get the rest of the glue out. 

Lovely. 

I hope to do more projects to post. It's really fun.

And I'm working on painting frames as we speak for Ashlyn's room. I'm anxious to get them on the wall. And I'm looking for a good verse to put in one of the frames. Fun fun fun!!

Happy Blogging.

Some things I'm Pinterested in.

I wanted to showcase a few of my latest Pinterest finds, in no particular order. I hope you find them to be inspiring.

1. Now all my family is gonna make sure I have this for our Christmas gathering. No promises, but isn't it cute & looks fairly easy to put together. Oh ya, and yummy too!

via

2. Hmm....I have a sewing machine. Perhaps I should put it to some good use. Looks like this is on the not so easy scale, but perhaps I should try something outside my comfort level. Really cute though, huh?

via

3. I have a box for each kid with their newborn hat, bracelet, etc. I'll have to see if I can put something together like this. Don't worry I promise a blog entry if I do. 

via

4. How to personalize anything with your kids name. They explain it in dummy form. I promise. Now I just need something to personalize. Hmmm...

via

5. Blog post by Jared Wilson -"5 Ways Wives Can Encourage Their Husbands" Our husbands need us to be their biggest supporter. Go on...read it.

via

Happy Pining,

a little diy bow hanger.

"Christmas is coming the goose is getting fat..."

Oh, hi!! I am excited can you tell?

Anyways...

If you're like me and have a little girl you have a bazillion bows as well. So why not create something where you can keep them, but also make it look cute at the same time. 

So...make a bow hanger.

I found the idea to make a bow hanger on etsy a few months ago & basically wiped it up the same day. The only thing that cost me money was the canvas because I already had the paints, ribbon, & hot glue gun. Basically you can take anything and make a bow hanger, art you already have or even a photo frame.

How to make a bow hanger? I took three pieces of ribbon & hot glued them to the back of the canvas. That's it. (and yes I painted the canvas)

Just a little project I wanted to share. If you have a two year old like me, you can hang this over the dresser, so the ribbon is out of the reach of those little hands.

This would make a great gift for your daughter, niece, grand daughter, friend, etc. Right?

Hope you're singing a tune because Christmas is only 6 days away. 

ps. I've decided I'm going to reveal our daughter Ashlyn's "Big Girl" room in January (maybe the first of the year) when we are finished with all the small stuff, some stuff comes on Christmas. I have a few more thing to add before I reveal it. Get excited!!!

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,

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!

 

Advent

Hello again!!

Thanks for the comment Janice =) I think we have a lot in common. We make pizza because I don't like to make anything hard. I literally just throw it together and don't make my own crust or sauce. Maybe someday I'll get the ambition. Maybe not. :p 

As we countdown the days till Christmas, we enter into the Advent season. But what is Advent? To some it means that little piece of Chocolate from their cardboard Advent Calendar, or that candle lit each week until Christmas is here, maybe you unwrap a small gift until the day, or build the nativity scene a little each day, whatever you do, maybe you do it because it's tradition and not because you know what ADVENT truely means? Or maybe you do. Having two little ones in our house now I've wanted to find some sort of fun Advent tradition we can share as a family, since kids of course can NOT wait till Christmas.  

First, I just thought I'd bring some light to what Advent means:

advent |ˈadˌvent|
noun [in sing. ]the arrival of a notable person, thing, or event : the advent of television.• ( Advent) the first season of the church year, leading up to Christmas and including the four preceding Sundays.• ( Advent) Christian Theology the coming or second coming of Christ

I love that definition and how no where in the definition it talks about Santa, but about Christ. It's neat Advent also means the second coming of Christ. Anyways, I'm not here to bash all those Santa loving people, because Santa will be bringing our kids some gifts as they get older and understand the fun in that. But, I am here to bring light onto what Advent means. 
On Pinterest, yes again I'm referring to good ol Pinterest, I've searched advent and found some really cool ways people celebrate Advent. 
Here are a few:

via

each day read a small card & do as a family. (sorry no link)

via

via

via 

Crazy about the wait yourself?? Check this out... Christmas Countdown Clock. Ha!

How do you celebrate Advent in your home?

Waiting patiently for Christmas,