School Valentines

Happy Valentine's Day!!  


It was Claire's first school valentine party today and so the two of us made up special little chocolate valentines for her class.  It was a super cute idea - totally not mine - and pretty easy to put together....however, not as easy as buying a box of Disney princess cards which I'm sure she would have been JUST as excited about sadly! :)  But, fun nonetheless...Just a Rolo chocolate bar with a Hershey Kiss on the end!

Hope you felt loved by someone today! :)

Adria's Crib Mobile

So I mentioned a few days ago that there remained a few projects that I had hoped to finish up for Adria's nursery and I am super excited to be done one of them!! :)  Found some inspiration from etsy/pinterest and came up with owls and flowers to match her color scheme and tie in with the tree mural behind her bed. l had all the felt already so it cost me NOTHING and she is thus far completely infatuated with it so I'm happy!  The little owls took me longer than I thought they would - but that seems to be the case with most things these days!  

Have a great day! :)

"Thankful" Tutorial...

So here's an easy peasy idea that literally can be started and completed before the kids get up from rest time! LOVIN' instant gratification projects!  I also had everything on hand so it cost me nothing, which I'm also a big fan of! :)  


I grabbed some scraps of 3/4" MDF that we had in the workshop (oh how I wish I could say the word "garage" there.....'cause that would mean that the dust would be less "in" my house - and more "beside" my house every time we use the miter saw.... :(... ) and cut it into random sizes and widths between 1 1/2 - 3 inches.

Then I opened up Word on my computer and typed in my letters, changing up the size and font for each one and printing them out on different colors of scrapbooking paper.

Cut out my letters to fit within each piece of MDF and inked the edges of the paper.
Used some acrylic craft paint for the sides and front edge of each block of MDF - using different colors to change it up a bit, and inked the edges of the blocks with my ink pad as well.

Mod-podged the paper to the front of each block and painted a layer over top the whole thing, making sure to cover the edges so they don't peel off.

Sadly - this endorsement is not sponsored by Mod-Podge

and That's the whole deal!! I added some ribbon around two of the letters for a little interest. Cute and easy!    

I actually did up a few sets at the same time, used some raffia to tie them up and shared some lovin' with a few friends! :)

But give it a try and let me know how they turn out! :) Have a great day!


Ralna

DIY Art

I was strolling through blogville yesterday morning and had one of those moments - those "I gotta make that right this instant - oh shoot, I have two kids and don't get to do what I want to" moments.  I saw it over at Red Heads Craft More Fun and instantly had it's final display place in mind - just 'happened' to have one uninspired blank canvas sitting in my closet (and THIS is the reason I have to buy things EVEN when I have no project in mind Aaron...) and had only a few short hours to wait until rest time when I would have two hours of 'uninterrupted' (oh how I joke) solitude. :)


Unfortunately I don't have a Cricket though - I know, let's all have a moment for the girl! :) and I am WAY too impatient to cut out all those letters by hand - so I took a little artistic freedom and changed up the lettering a little...but think it turned out super cute!  (Thanks Courtney!)  

Ralna

fall wreath

I LOVE Fall - but that isn't to say I'm prepared to see summer leave.  However, the weather this past week has left me no choice to embrace the truth - it is quickly approaching and I shall have to once again pack in my Daisy Duke shorts for capris - K, truthfully it was probably time for me to pack in the Dukes about three kids ago (yes - I only have two kids)...


Nonetheless... waking up to the crisp Fall air, dreaming of warm hearty stews, apple crisps, cozy sweaters, and strolling the aisle's of Micheals got my little heart pretty psyched to start dreaming in - as my friend so eloquently put it -  'dead leaves, hay and twigs.'  kind of takes the "romance" out of the season hey? ....cynics...


So - here is my first nod to Autumn.

Anyone else making the jump?




Ralna

$5 and 5 minutes....

So yesterday I did sew my pretty new bedskirt for my guest bedroom - not a hugely glam job - but one that needed to be done and....done it is!  And I think it made a big difference - I'm not looking at cream Sealy Posturepedic logos so I'm happy! It's all in the time consuming details hey? Now just three more things to knock off the list and the guest room is DONE! :)

Speaking of details....I totally cheated on the bedskirt.  I didn't have enough fabric to do the full meal deal for the bedskirt and really wasn't excited about spending more $ on this project....so - two packs of self-stick velcro strips...

Don't tell my Grade 7 Home Economics teacher...

And here is a few two minute jobs I had on my list before it was back to cleaning, laundry and dishes....  housework is for suckers.  unfortunately...in this house....I'm said sucker... :)


I LOVE Wal-Mart.  Here's my two $5 finds of the week and my small efforts to try and make them a little more personalized.


A plain white linen lamp shade....

some painter's tape and craft paint....

Ta-Da!  Not a huge statement - but cute!   

And my $5.00 three pack of black storage boxes....

and some plaque look-alike silver stickers...

I LOVE organization! Too bad my kids can't read yet...should have gone with picture labels :)

Kids *Bulletin Board ReDo

I am forever given the task of displaying precious artwork *MASS-produced by my four year old girl. :)  I try to limit it on the fridge as I have an unfortunate allergic reaction to clutter and yet want to keep an area at a height where my girl can still hang up her masterpieces with pride.  So, I tried to find a fun and cute way to have a space for each of my kids to have their own art display, allows the art to be easily changed out, isn't a boring brown bulletin board and that is forever awaiting their inspiration...
- so, saw this idea at a local scrapbooking store for collecting paperwork, and this is what I came up with....

Plain cork clipboard from Wal-Mart - $2.49 each

Definitely the trickiest part - measuring, sketching and notching out around the metal of the clipboard.

I put each of their names on one and tied some ribbon/string around the top for interest - hung them above their new desk and they are ready to host many a masterpiece! :)

Thanks for stopping by...


Ralna