getting ready for Valentine's Day

I can't believe Valentines Day is in 2 weeks. Where did January go? I guess we kept so busy it just flew by. February is a short but sweet month thanks to Valentines Day. Any reason to celebrate is something I love. Valentines Day is a holiday that my husband and I usually celebrate at home instead of out to dinner. A "date night in" can be just as romantic or even more than a night out. I learned awhile back that going out to eat with all the others celebrating the same holiday just wasn't my idea of an intimate outing. The crowds, waiting for a table, and sometimes sub par food, drove us to think of other ways to show express our love and appreciate for each other. Plus, now as parents of young children, we've also made it a family holiday. During valentine's week, I usually have a few fun craft and baking activities for the kids to help with. I make their valentine's cards using photos of the kids and/or our family. I like these types of cards better than the little card kits sold for kids to pass out. This year I am taking advantage of shutterfly's valentines card promotion*. They have several card templates that make it easy to add personal touches and notes. I've made my own in the past, but the card templates shutterfly offers are not only very convenient, they are adorable.

As for gifts, I like personalized items make special gifts. I am considering making little photo books as gifts for the kids' teachers and therapists. Something that says how much they mean to us. There are so many photo gift ideas to chose from, so I'm still undecided. Better make a decision soon, so the gifts are delivered in time, huh?

I'm also considering making cute mugs as teacher gifts. I figure if they don't use it for coffee, it'd make a really cute pencil holder for their desks.

After a few months of sugary sweet treats, I almost don't want anymore candy. Almost :) At least with these gift ideas I'm sure to reduce our sugar intake a bit.

*Right now, shutterfly is offering bloggers 25 free cards for sharing what Valentine's Day means. I hope I touched on what it means to me. It's a holiday that we don't go overboard on, but do like to make a point to celebrate love and appreciation of those closest to us. Cute cards, sweet gifts, and a few fun activities make our Valentine's day complete :)

Creative seating options

I recently bought "as is" slipcovers at IKEA. All pieces less than $20. I recovered our living room couch with one set and still had a chaise lounge chair set. I was happy to see this set fit my ottoman cushion and bookcase and a large floor pillow. Together it makes a great reading nook in the playroom (black seat) Then the other day I came across a secondhand chaise lounge chair that I couldn't pass up (for $12 and it seemed brand new). So now we have a few options for seating besides the floor.

Getting organized: pantry

I have been working through our house organizing. I enjoy the beginning and the final outcome, but all the time in between is tedious. It's still worth it. Now I can work on meal planning and grocery lists and have a better idea of what we need (and don't). I also realized our pantry still isn't big enough even after being organized. Guess I will make space in the garage.

The "new" couch

I finished the pillows and ottoman covers. So this project is 99% done. Just need to finish a few seams and find one of the matching accent pillows that I'm sure one of my kids toted off to another room.

New couch cover: So close to done

I will finish this. I will. I always get impatient towards the end of a project that takes more than one day. For motivation, I keep placing the pieces on for a peek at the finished product and taking pictures. Almost done. So close...

I just have to piece the arms back together and stitch the bottom strip back onto the sides and back.

Then I can finish by making the ottoman covers and accent pillows. I also want to stuff the top cushions fuller, but that isn't top priority. Finishing the cover is.

Not going to happen tonight. My goal is by the end of the weekend :)

My book sling

Finished the book sling to hang over my new desk. I used a iron shelf I bought at a thrift store (was missing the glass shelf, so it was just a few dollars) and upholstery swatches given to me by a fellow freecycler. I love these book slings and have to make more. I want to put them in other rooms of the house. They are a great way to keep piles off desks, tables and floors.

I also added a pocket for pens, notepads, and other office supplies.

Book storage

I have to admit I can't resist buying books for my kids. Sure we use the library, but I wasn't so good about returning our favorite books on time and those fees add up fast! So buying secondhand books is a lot cheaper and I love picking up a bunch of "new" books to add to our home library. But then there's a storage issue. Not that we don't have the space, but rather how to store them easiest for the kids. Typical bookcases where the books rest side by side never stay like that around here. Most end up on the floor piled up. So new inexpensive ways to stash our books was my plan. I like the low open top bookcase at the local children's library. So I flipped a small bookcase on it's backside and added a top cushion for seating. A bookcase ottoman. It works well, but not all our books fit and I wanted to hang some of our books on the wall. So I made two other shelves: a shadowbox type (from a wooden wine crate) and a book sling (from salvaged parts of a laundry rack and a wooden shelf). I am happy with the finished products. So are the kids :)

What popcorn and marshmallows can do :)

The new dollhouse

newseasongreetings

Elegant Greetings Christmas 5x7 folded card

Make unique Christmas cards with Shutterfly.

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There is art in everything

Do you know what this is? What this was?

Placemats for Santa and the reindeers

Today was a day full of Christmas craft with my kids. Here is part 1 of 2 of their special placemats for Santa and his reindeers.

Claydough ornaments

One of my best memories from my childhood was crafts with my mom.

My Andrea mosaic framed and ready

The other day I came across a cool mosaic program called andrea mosaic. It compiles photos from your computer (selected by me) and creates a mosaic of a chosen photo. I used one of my favorite butterfly photos I taken at a local butterfly garden. Then imported about 1000 photos and selected my settings to create a mosaic with a lot of detail. This is my finished product. I really like it. Each photo is smaller than what is recommended (< 1 inch), but I really wanted to keep a lot of details of the butterfly and its surroundings. I sent it to Snapfish to print in poster size and framed it as soon as it was delivered. Not only something I'm proud to hang upon our walls for it's beauty, but also one of my best shopping bargains. I spent less than $10 on the print and frame using online coupons, account credits, and a steal of a deal at our goodwill. Nice!

Bedskirt apron

My mom gave me a sheet set that in included a Bedskirt and coverlet. Instead of using the bed skirt, I cut it up. This is one of the ways I used it for a sewing project: bedskirt apron. It was pretty much an apron by the way I cut it. I added ties and top piece. Not my favorite apron, but very functional for messy jobs.

Curtain panels for my boy

I found a cute sheet set awhile ago and decided to use the flat sheet as a curtain (my kids don't really use their flat sheets, do yours?)

The curtains were cute and worked fine, but didn't look as finished as I wanted. So when I found blue fabric shower curtains that matched and on clearance (my favorite kind of buy) I decided I'd redo the curtains...someday. ***Weeks pass***Today when the kids accidentally pulled the curtain rod down I was finally motivated to finish this project. I trimmed the sheet to use parts of it as the new panel's casing (aka rod pocket). Two reasons: to color coordinate the two sets and because I didn't want to cut into or alter the blue fabric shower curtain panels (in case I one day wanted to use them as they were originally intended). Bored with explanation? Sorry. Here's the new set. The "before" shot not provided- it was only the one polka dot panel before adding the outer panels.

Yes, the center curtain is about 2 inches longer because of how the rods are hanging. I need a better double rod but for now I'm satisfied or tolerating the difference :)

Using sheets, shower curtains, or table cloths is an inexpensive way to make curtains. Cheaper than buying fabric by the yard and an easier project since the fabric edges are already hemmed. Give it a try next time you need a new set of curtains, ok?

Kids' garden cart

Using scrap wood parts from a dresser and file cabinet, I made the kids a garden cart. We added the dirt. Now what should we grow?

Menu planner

This chalkboard/clipboard menu planner keeps my family organized. I clip recipes, a weekly meal plan, and shopping lists to the board. Hang it up with the backside facing out to chalk in the menu for the day. Both sides are painted with chalkboard paint so I can also jot notes on the side facing the wall. Thus board not only organizes our meals, but also makes planning more fun. Color coding food groups (or meal courses) gets the kids involved. For example, They can help choose what vegetable will be served from a list.

Better than any store bought mug. My Disney shutterfly mug

Blank Project Collage Mug

Unique party invitations and greeting cards by Shutterfly.

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My shutterfly obsession grows from photobooks to cards!

I love holidays for so many reasons, but one reason is all the opportunities to take photos of my family and friends during all the fun and create keepsakes I can cherish over and over. As most of you know my addiction to scrapbooking and taking photos has now turned into a digital photo book obsession. Well, lately I've realized I'm just as obsessed with creating my own cards from the photos and collages I make. I think my "make my own card" obsession started when I decided to make our wedding invitations Then it escalated when Jeff and I became a family and all the cute family photos had to be shared. It's a great way to send everyone both a few of our favorite photos and a nice message.

I'm starting to plan for our holiday cards this year. Shutterfly is offering  even more designs and ways to personalize their card templates. I like being able to add my personal touch vs. picking a basic template and just using it. I use a lot of different websites to create and purchase my photo gifts, but Shutterfly is the one I shop the most. They have the best promotions and selection. Their customer service is great too (don't get me started about a few other online photo service companies...argh!) Shutterfly is offering 20% off all holiday cards right now. Just one of the many promotions they have going on. They always have so many. They are also having a special promotion for bloggers to receive 50 free Holiday cards. When I read about this, I jumped at the opportunity.

I'm very excited and can't wait to make our Holiday Cards. I can't decide whether to make Thanksgiving cards or a Christmas letter style card. I've never written a Christmas Letter to included with our holiday cards, but I always love reading the ones we get. It's nice to get a summary of a friend or family members' life over the past year. It's amazing to read how much happens in a year and even better to read how even some of life challenges can be embraced and reframed in a positive way. I like the idea of including a letter as part of the card's design. I bet this card makes a great keepsake not only for extended family, but for the family that shared their story. After looking at this style of card, I am considering the "Top 10 moments"  card if I chicken out on writing a full letter for the card. It's cute, what do you think?

Or hmm, what if I can't choose 10 moments to write about? Maybe I have more? Then the year in photos card is my best bet. A picture says a 1000 words, so 12 photos should say a lot!

 I admit I'm still not sure which to choose and I'm not sure I want to let family and friends know exactly which one I'll choose. That would spoil the surprise and I think I'd like to wait until you get it in the mail. Speaking of mail? Do I actually have everyone's updated addresses? I don't want to get yours lost in the mail...