Happy Valentine's Day

Viola!

A magnetic notepad, antibacterial cleaner, and a homemade banana bread muffin (in the shape of a heart, thank-you-very-much).




I bought some lettering that I thought had multiple sheets, but it ended up having only one. So I had to become pretty creative and think of sayings that used the limited letters I had. Oops!

MUST. GO. BUY. NOW.

I'm not Irish. I don't typically decorate for St.Patrick's day. BUT I saw this and thought I. MUST. BUY. Thank. you. Walmart.

Ok, so my picture doesn't really do this justice. It's shiny, and glittery, and fabulousy. And yes it was $7.84 a yard.

Love is in the air...

I did a little Target shopping yesterday (with two boys at 9:00 in the morning-Thank you very much!) and found some Valentine's Day goodies.


Gift boxes $1, magnetic note pads $1, and whimsical heart place mat $1. I don't know exactly what I'm going to do yet, but it's the start of a few teacher's gifts. I'm thinking about adding some cookies, stealing copying Chris's idea and VIOLA!

And see the heart thingy? That's mine. It's 5 wooden hearts strung together with fabric. I'm thinking Mod Podge and some old Valentine's day pics. Hmmm...

AND HOW CUTE ARE THESE? (Courtesy of Better Homes and Garden) Cute, cute, cute! Add alphabet cookies, sprinkled with colored sugar of course, to your ho-hum cupcakes.

One is a lonely number

So, did you all see this little project from A Soft Place to Land?


Here's my attempt at the easy no-sew pillow cover. (I got the fabric at Michael's a while back. It was just two small squares that I really didn't have a plan for.)



I like how it turned out especially since I no sew . Here she is in her new home.



And what's that you ask...What is going on with your walls?


Well that is-the goodbye to Tiffany blue-supposed to be replaced with the perfect brown, that has not been found even after 1 gallon and 2 quarts-so we're priming all the walls white- even Hottie doesn't finish EVERY project in one day-walls!

Wood you?

Here is our New Year's day (I have a talented Hottie) work in progress.


Before:






Don't let the lighting fool you. With two labs, two projectile children, and four years; this carpet was as lovely as it looks!

After:

The clicking of doggie nails will take some getting used to but is SO WORTH the dust bunnies instead of the NEVER-truly-hair-free-carpet!



We still have to change the paint color (goodbye Tiffany blue) and finish the molding but in this house that's as good as a finished project!

My aHa! moment...

Do you have an area/place/spot in your house that you were/are constantly fidgeting with until....FINALLY you got "the look you wanted"? It may have taken minutes/hours/days, or like for me weeks, until it was just right. And then along game a glorious holiday and that area/place/spot had to be decorated for the holiday.


Anyone with me?


Well my mantle is that place. After we painted the walls I took quite a bit of time arranging and re-arranging it trying to get the look I wanted but not knowing what that look, looked like. phew! So before I started decorating for Christmas I took a picture (not because I had this grand scheme idea) but because I was going to post a before and after Christmas picture.


Well Christmas is disintegrating (into the attic) here in sunny 78 degrees+ Florida and as I'm trying to put my mantle back together I think, aHa!, I have a picture of my very own mantle.


Earth shattering, I know!


So ladies and gentlemen (do men read blogs?), here is my before...


and after...


Did you notice any changes? There are a few..


Previously, ordinary candles that were attacked by Mod Podge and Martha Stewart red glitter to be transformed into fancy schmancy Christmas candles.


Now, white Christmas candles on sale from Target plus a little scrapbook paper and tie thingy.




New, holder thingy. I know you bloglanders know what it's called.




I almost forgot my whole purpose for this post: Take a picture of something before you go messing it all up and Viola! you can refer back to it for your own inspiration (or, like me, for copying it exactly if you aren't always so creative).

Christmas ideas...

So, I have seen several variations of this idea on different blogs. Some people used vinyl lettering but I used scrapbook paper and mod podge.


Your basic glass block (courtesy of Home Depot $4 and change):



add initials (I printed out letters, traced them onto the paper, and cut out. Viola!):


or silhouettes (Ditto):


or multiple layers:

These are a few of my favorite things...

BooMama, Tip Junkie, AND Kimba are all having Christmas tour of homes.

Welcome friends!

I don't have much horizontal space for decorating so my TV hutch gets most of the attention. I love putting up previous Christmas pictures (I'm always searching for red frames).

Love these blocks that I got from Lillian Vernon. (Six sides: six different holiday messages)

My Willow Tree nativity. It's taken me several years to collect all the pieces.



How cute is Mr. fuzzy reindeer (and cautious 3 year old with Santa)?

My mom made this wall hanging for me. I no sew :-).

And what would a party be without some yummy cookies? Enjoy!

• Peanut butter cookie dough (in the cold section of Publix)
• Chocolate chips for eyes
• Red m&m's for nose
• Chocolate covered pretzels (Snyder's brand, in the chip aisle) for antlers. A little bit of white icing to help them stick.

Christmas. Christmas. Time is here.

Time for toys and time for cheer.

Can you hear the chipmunks singing? Yesterday while I was out shopping, a guy (driving a minivan with no kids) was blasting the chipmunks song throughout the parking lot. I guess it's just that time of year!

Thanks for coming by. Sorry, no cookies this time. here's your link back to BooMama, or Kimba, or Tip Junkie...

NOT a holiday post...sort of...

The Mom Song from Northland Video on Vimeo.

Just remember this little ditty when the "Holiday time" gets a little hectic! :-)

A Blessing Mix

No picture for ya'll because...we already ate it all!

J got a blessing mix snack bag from school that was very cute. All the ingredients were mixed together and then this label was on the ziploc:

Bugles: Shaped like a cornucopia or Horn of Plenty, a symbol of our nation's abundance.
Pretzels: Arms folded in prayer, a freedom sought by those who founded our country.
Candy corn: The sacrifices of the pilgrims' first winter. Food was was so scarce that settlers survived on just a few kernels of corn a day.
Nuts & Seeds: Promise of the future harvest, one we will reap if seeds are planted and tended with diligence.
Dried fruit: Harvest gifts from our bountiful land.
M&M's: Memories of those who came before us to lead us into a blessed future.
Kisses: The love of family and friends that sweetens our lives.

Oink! Oink!

This little piggy went to the market.

This little piggy stayed home.
This little piggy has roast beef.
This little piggy had none.

And this little piggy could only be loved by its mom creator.

J and his class made pink-paper mache-pigs last week. Can you guess what letter they were working on? This so called "project" was quite an adventure that took all week and one I got to hear about daily. So you can imagine my excitement to see the infamous piggy!

Will I put it in the living room for display? Take it to work for all to see? Keep it in Jayden's room where he can admire his masterpiece?

Uhhh...NO!

For those of you with less then a keen eye for the OBVIOUS, Mr. pink-paper mache-piggy has a tail by his nose, the world's smallest-beadiest (totally a word) eyes on his rear end, and ears for wings!

Hmmm...critical parenting moment here folks.

M: J, did you make this like this? Notice the unspecific questioning.
J: Yes I wanted it to be funny.
M: What do you mean?
J: I put his tail by his nose and his ears are wings.
M: Oh. An Auguste Rodin he is not.

PINK PIG FOR SALE: Free

My pilgrimage.

So I don't have much to contribute to the Thanksgiving festivities because I'll be here on Monday:

and here on Thursday:

But don't worry I'll be thinking about you and your traditional Thanksgiving dinner, really, I will!

Here is my Thanksgiving contribution:

Photo and recipe from Taste of home

FREE snapfish book

hurry HuRrY HURRY!

Click here offer expires THIS FRIDAY NOV 14, 2008!!!!

Edit: I went here and up loaded my pictures and waited 26 hours~aka 20 minutes~ and never got out of the loading stage. Grrrrrr...