lovin' this right now

is it just me?
or is the banjo looking like a really sexy instrument right now?!
(i know it's not in this particular video but as you all know mumford & sons does use one often)


oh yeah.. and my husband has been driving a scooter for almost 5 years now... so yeah, he's pretty hot too!  ;)

superstar

just a little change

it's amazing how sometimes so small a change can make such a big impact.
if you can remember in previous pictures of my living room, those big frames housed a different palette of colors -- blues and greens and some yellow.
here's a before picture, if you will:

i needed a change, and an inexpensive one at that, so i changed up the paper (surprise!  my low cost art decor is scrapbook paper.  GASP!) in those frames.

and really, such a small change, has made all the difference.
i feel like it has all been made new.
it's like a new lease on life... or rather a new lease on a new home to clean?  does that make sense?
i threw in an old red pillow (incidentally, one that was being used on our patio furniture last summer) and voila, instant make-over!

one more shot:

ahh... doesn't that feel nice?  just a little change!

no paper? no problem!

except that we do have paper... we always have lots because the girls just love to draw and color.  however, on this particular day they decided that daddy's back would make the perfect canvas.  and i guess it did!  :)
(my favorite doodle is the w guitar on the top right.  is that what it is?)

love day

honestly, i'm pretty impartial to valentine's day.  it's neither here nor there for me.  sure, who doesn't like to feel a bit loved and appreciated once in a while?  but i'd rather those feelings of appreciation fall on other days beside's one of the most commercial holidays of the year.
however, i digress, i do love everything about valentine's day in the decor.  hearts!  you gotta love them!!  they signify love and everyone has at least one person to love, right?
more and more i'm getting into heartfelt home made gifts to give to people.  most people just go out and buy the things they want nowadays... so a home made gift is a wonderful opportunity to let someone know you were thinking about them.  it was my pleasure and joy to create a couple of special home made gifts to give to two really important women in my life, my sister in law and my mother in law.  it's becoming a tradition to have a valentine's 'brunch' with these ladies (and my little girls) where we exchange a few gifts, but more importantly, enjoy some quality time together, eating delicious food!  my sister in law, being the highly creative one that she is, made her dining room into the sweetest little heart cafe ever!  here's a few pics of the adorable table:

 someone sneaking some fruit... and, incidentally, destroying the cute little raspberry heart!  ;)

 some of the yummy eats!!  blueberry scones, pb and j biscuits, fresh fruit.  mmmm!

i wasn't able to get any pictures of the ladies and their little gift from me, but i wanted to share what i ended up creating for them.  feeling inspired by meg (yes, again!!) and her crafting weekend, i decided to create a couple of tiny hoop arts!  and with it being the love holiday, they had to include hearts!

i started with 2 small embroidering hoops and some cute fabric.

 i also got a couple of different colours of embroidery thread.

 now i got to work cutting and placing the fabric where i wanted it.  first i chose the off white fabric as my base.  then i cut out some simple hearts, one large, one small for each hoop.  

 i first wanted to see how they'd look placed on the fabric, and then proceeded to tack them on with iron on stuff.  (you crafty people would know what that stuff is called, i however, do not.)

  next i took each separate piece and stretched it over the hoop and fixed it in place.  then i threaded my embroidery string and began to stitch.  for the hearts i used a simple straight stitch.  for the lettering i used a simple back stitch.  since i was so immersed in my letter embroidery, i didn't have a chance to take a picture of the process.  therefore, there are no photos of my lettering.  just a few of the hearts taking shape. (you can also see my sunlight was quickly fading and pictures in the dark are never as nice.  ;)

 after everything was stitched, i made sure the off white fabric was pulled taut and then trimmed the excess.  then i hot glued the edges to the back to clean it up a bit.

 and VOILA!

the finished product (well, 1 of 2... the other one was finished later at night and again, no pictures)

so, i have to say, this was my first experience embroidering anything and i gotta say, it was a lot of fun.  fairly simple, super cute and a great way to express my creativity.  (don't judge too harshly on my needlework.  hopefully my grandma would be proud)    ;)


hope your valentine's day was all you wanted it... or didn't want it to be!
just remember to always love the ones you're with!

washer necklace tutorial

this craft was super easy and fun to make.
first i took big K with me to pick out scrapbook paper.
here's what she chose:

perfect!  now get yourself some washers from a hardware/building supply store.
(i am lucky the big M works at a building center that i just tell him what to bring home!)
i chose two different sizes.

now cut your scrapbook paper to fit your washers, like so:

 once they are all cut, pull out the trusty mod podge.  i chose matte.

use a bit of mod podge on a brush and stroke it onto the washer then affix the paper on top.
they will look like this afterward:

let them dry for at least 20 minutes.
now do another coat of mod podge on top of the paper to seal it.
let them dry again for at least 20 minutes.
after it's all dry, cut the hole out of the washer with an exacto knife.
they should now look like this:
(silly me forgot to take a picture when they were all done!!  these are just my two girls washers taken off the necklace after the party.  oops!)

 now, find yourself some string, leather, suede or whatever material you want for a necklace.
i chose suede because, if i'm being honest, it was the cheapest material i found at michael's that looked semi ok!  ha ha!

now simply attach your washers to your string and you're good to go!

you got yourself a very simple and very cute necklace.
mix 'em up... match 'em.  whatever you please!
i even had adults comment on them.
hmmmm... always looking to make a couple bucks.
craft sale anyone?!  ha ha!

vday decor

the girls and i were feeling like we've been shot by cupid's arrow so we decided to do a little valentine's craft (who am i kidding... i just wanted to make them stop fighting and so i pulled out the paper, tape and ribbons).  ha ha!  we got started on a simple craft of cutting out hearts.

first we went through my paper and found all the heart day colored sheets.  pink, red... yup, that'll do!

 then we began to cut out hearts in the easy peasy tried and true fashion... folding paper in half and cutting out half hearts!  look at what we were left with:

 and lots of these cuties!!

some of them weren't perfect...

 but they were from the heart, so to speak.  ;)

 big k liked mixing and matching them up.

no word of a lie, while we were cutting out hearts, my loverboy returned home from work with these beauties:

 ain't he sweet?!  out of nowhere!!  i love that man!

ok, back to the craft. 

so, we were left with a big ole pile of hearts.  all shapes and sizes.

 then i cut out different lengths of ribbon and just attached it to the back of the hearts with tape.

you may be wondering what my little cherub was doing throughout the process?  why, watching tv of course.  isn't that what all 16 month old babies love to do?  no?  only mine?

 i then proceeded to hang the hearts from our kitchen widow sill.  aren't they ridiculously adorbs?

look you can even see me in the reflection!!!  ha ha!

 cute hanging hearts with a messy craft covered kitchen table.

now go out and spread the love, people!!

xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxo