Pink and Red and Glitter and Hearts! Oh My!

I've never been a huge fan of  Valentine's Day. It feels like hallmark is trying to force me to love the person I already love everyday. Justin & I will stay in, avoiding the masses, and have a nice quiet dinner. Like we do almost everyday. But maybe I'll light a few candles :)

Something I am a big fan of though is the color pink. Now in order to keep my husband happy I refrain from buying pink fluffy comforters and instead wear a bright pink sweater from time to time. But, if any of you are still here (mom?), you may remember that back in November I bought this adorable pink and red heart fabric scrap specifically for Valentine's Day. Because it's the one time of the year I can break out a couple pink hearts and not get any looks.

. . . well, not too many looks.

First I gathered my supplies. I was originally planning to make a dish towel and back it with one of Justin's white shirts. But then I decided to go with my original plan and make a table runner. So all you need is the fabric scrap, some scissors, stitch witchery, and an iron.

Then I hemmed one of the sides by placing the stitch witchery between the folded  fabric and then ironing on top. Be sure to use your iron on the "wool" setting because it helps create a stronger hold!

I did the same thing with the other side. You can see I didn't bother with making sure all my edges were perfectly straight. Oh & sorry for the horrible lighting . . . our iron is right in front of the window and I'm not a very good photographer.

 

Then I hemmed the ends using the same technique. Once all the edges had a clean line, I swapped out the maroon curtain we usually use as a runner for this festive heart-adorned one!

I switched some of our decorations around too. I got that awesome green vase from my sister-in-law for Christmas and I love it! And I changed out Justin's drawings in the one frame too.

Check out the book in the middle of my stack. Help your husband stay alive! It has the funniest marital advice from the 50s. I should do a post one day on the stuff inside that book - it's hilariously awesome. 

Back to the project at hand . . . since I already had the stitch witchery, the only thing I bought was the fabric. This brings the grand total for this project to 50 cents!! Not bad for a little loving-cheer. :)

Are you decorating for Valentine's Day? Have you made any lovely crafts lately?

Gifting The Neighbors

This is the story about how we gifted our neighbors. Nothing extravangent, just something small that says - "we like living next to you. thanks for being so awesome."


First I took a blank box and layered some red tissue paper.

Then I filled it with homemade deliciousness.

I attempted to neatly fold the tissue paper on top.

Then on the box I tied one of my homemade gift tags and a felt tree ornament I bought at Target. I can't find them online to share with you, but they were 3 for $1 and they were in the ornament section.

* After looking at this picture I remembered to trim the trailing leftover twine.

Easy peasy. That's my theme for this year. 


So that's what we're gifting our neighbors with. Are you giving your neighbors anything? Did you bake any holiday cookies yet this year? If you have any killer recipes, I'd love to hear! :)

Wrappin'

Let's play a game. Can you spy what is different with my tree since the last time I shared a picture of it?

Did I hear presents? 123 blogger points to you!

When I receive a beautifully wrapped gift, I am in awe. I love gifts that are wrapped with such attention to detail and thought. My gifts, however, typically get hastily wrapped the night before Christmas with whatever paper I can find. Birthday balloons, pink foil, ladybugs . . . it's all fair game. So this year I decided to step it up.


Keep in mind that nothing I am sharing is going to be great - or probably even good. It's just a step up for me and if I keep making small steps, maybe one year my presents will be pretty too. That's what I'm hoping at least.


So first I decided to start with pretty paper. I ended up choosing 3 rolls from Lowes (shocker).

As I've said many times before, I enjoy traditional patterns and decorating with reds and greens -  so it should be no surprise that I chose plaid, shiny red foil, and ivy leaves with holly berries. 


But my stepped up Christmas presents couldn't be given without a little jazz. It'd be like putting on a fancy dress and forgetting your pearls. If you're June Cleaver that is.


So I made some gift tags. I haven't attached them to the gifts yet because i'm worried they'll get crumpled under the tree, so imagine them tied with twine to get the full effect.


I got the idea for these tags from none other than pinterest of course. They're made with green paint swatches from Lowes (shocker again). Then I punched a present and glued that onto the tree and added a tree trunk. Simple. Easy. Lemon squeezy.

Then I made a couple more gift tags by simply punching out a snowman and stamping either "tis the season" or "noel". Festive and fun.

So how are you wrapping your presents this year? Are you tying intricate bows or making beautiful gift tags? Any tips on how to tie the gift tags so they don't fall off in transport?

24 Days!

Rejoice always, pray continually, give thanks in all circumstances; for this is God's will for you in Christ Jesus. ~ 1 Thessalonians 5:16-18

Now that Halloween is behind us - there are 24 days left until Thanksgiving. I don't know about you - but I am so excited for it! The turkey, cranberry sauce, sweet potatoes, corn, rolls, stuffing - just pass me the fork and let me enter the food coma right now :)

But despite what my belly may think, Thanksgiving is about so much more than the food. It's all about giving thanks. And even though I try to have a thankful heart everyday, it's nice to take some extra time out and really be grateful for all that I have. It's a reminder that I need far too often to slow down and just give thanks.

So this year I decided to do a little "giving thanks" craft. Yes, this is something you normally do with children and no, my husband and I don't have any kids. It's for us. Because we too need to remember to be grateful.

We had a lot of scrap cardstock left from our wedding invitations that we made so I just cut each piece with an exacto knife down to 9" each. 

After that I was left with a lot of plain squares of paper. (This is where the trusty stamp pad enters the scene)

In order to jazz up the squares, I decided to darken the edges by pressing them onto the stamp pad. Then they laid out to dry.

When it was all finished, I was left with a stack of beautifully darkened squares.

Then all I did was plop the stack next to a glass vase. And wahlaa! Now, each day until Thanksgiving, Justin & I can write on a card one thing we're thankful for and then drop it in the vase. At the end of the month, we'll have a whole stack of blessings to share. 

I am really looking forward to doing this each day! So what about you - any thanksgiving crafts going on at your casa? What are you thankful for today? 

PS: We had snow this past weekend. I still can't get over having snow before Halloween - craziness.