the end of the Love Train

With Valentine's Day wrapping up yesterday, I snapped a couple pics of projects that got completed this year that I never got around to posting.

AND, have to admit a big mistake I made.....I didn't bake hubby the choc chip cookies I intended to. See, that's his fav-O-rite cookie - at least when I use my secret recipe. And every time here lately I make cookies with the kids and we try a different kind of cookie, although he enjoys the new or different things, he tells me he knows those weren't made with him in mind simply because they aren't HIS chocolate chip. Fine. Fast forward to yesterday - the plan was to make a big heart cookie cake for the man. But after picking up the kids from school and Ehren from the in-laws, my MIL comes out and says here, you all eat this (pic above). She gave it to Charles earlier in the day and he wouldn't touch it, it's not on her diabetic diet, so we should take it and eat it. Well, why would I bake a cookie cake if one (albeit a small one) was just given to me? So, instead, I was kind of re-gifting a cookie cake from the cookie store in the mall. Cutely decorated and all, it had to be superior, right? *sigh* That was a Major faux pax! It was as hard as a rock! And we didn't know til time to cut after dinner. OOPS! lol Sorry honey! I'll have to make that one up to you!

I DID buy us 2 tickets on a Groupon offer last week to go on a zip-lining trip in Southern Indiana as soon as the weather gets a little warmer for a daytime date. That's gotta count for something! We'll drive 90 minutes, zip-line for a couple of hours, get dinner, might even camp JUST THE TWO OF US. Tell me THAT'S not romantic. Sort of. Minus the mosquitos and ants and dirt.

Ahem. Gathering my thoughts again........

His gift to me wasn't perfect either..... although a beautiful bouquet and crystal vase surprised me on the kitchen counter when I got home, the lillies never opened like the lady told him they would once they warmed up. Maybe today!?!?

But the sweet words he wrote me on a piece of notebook paper and slid into my Valentine's chair envelope are priceless! I'll keep that paper forever! He also wrote each child a meaningful note and put into theirs, noting things they've recently done to make him proud, or things they do together that make them a team to be feared. He's a wonderful Dad and a sweet Valentine!

Now, onto some more decorations that I added to the house this year that haven't yet had their chance on stage here in blog-world......


These Sweetheart Blocks are sitting on the corner of the mantle. Totally got the idea to do these from another blogger out there somewhere, so not an original idea. Had 3 leftover 4x4" wood blocks (previously cut from a fence post) already painted red, and they came in perfect for this quick project with some cute graphic scrapbook paper, a piece of 1/4" May Arts pink ribbon, a Stampin Up Caramel ink pad for distressing, my ATG gun for adhesive (would have preferred to use Mod Podge but loaned my bottle out and can't remember to whom and when!) and some Heidi Swapp chipboard letters (which I'm going to have to glue down because they keep falling off and we find them on the hearth! grrrrr).

I'm totally planning on decorating the 2 opposing sides for summer to get double use out of the blocks. Fun idea, huh? Probably 4th of July themed since the wood is painted red!


These 3 cuties were GOING to be a stacked snowman at one point. But that never saw completion, so they were re-directed to a lovey dovey purpose. Just some red Bazzill Basics cardstock and pattern paper scraps from my scrapbook stash (the polka dot is one of my all-time faves.....I think it's from Doodlebug), a Maya Road chipboard word from the Family ring, my ATG gun for adhesive (again, still need to go over all with Mod Podge when I get another bottle), and some miscellaneous May Arts ribbon.

Again, the backs of these will also be decorated for another holiday....already painted white, so I'm thinking St. Patty's Day! Can't ya just see a similar style with cute shamrocks & green cardstock & the word 'Lucky'? And maybe some felt - I LOVE felt! Can't wait to get started on those....March is right around the corner!



This project (which has also been well copied out in the blogosphere this year in various ways) started with a stack (around 75) felt circles. Approx 3" ones, I just traced a kids' cup from the cabinet, so never actually measured. Ella Grace cut them all out - so you know it was made perfectly imperfect, and with tons of LOVE! Also, 2 styrofoam heart forms from the craft store (Michael's had them on clearance for $1.25 ea), and a pack of straight pins from Walmart for about $1.



I folded each circle in half, then in half again, and using a straight pin, just stuck it to the styrofoam form. Nothing to it....it goes super fast, especially if you do it while watching Cupcake Wars like I did!


The only tricky part is making sure the point at the bottom of the heart, and the indentation at the top of the heart are relatively profound. Otherwise, you lose your shape and intention.


I just pinned both hearts to a piece of ribbon, and then used a thumbtack to attach it to my 6-pane window that hangs in my dining room for now. That I found. For free. On the side of the road. In someone's TRASH PILE! Can you believe they'd throw this baby away! I didn't have to paint it or anything....just brush off the leaves and Windex the glass. I love how it turned out for February decorations! (pun intended) Am thinking about how I'm going to permanently use it for the rest of the year.

Til next time, people!

Please deposit love notes here.

Idea for these came from Pottery Barn Kids .... a personalized love note envelope to attach to your dining room chair for Valentine's or treats or whatever! Course, there's no way I'd buy 6 from PB even if they did still sell them, which I'm pretty sure they don't. Anyway, I'm just glad to have mine all finished to the point of putting them on ... just a couple quick embellishments I still need to add, but the 14th is sooo close, I had to get them up no matter what. The pressure's on! Those embellies might get put on before these babies hit storage on the 15th at this point! yikes! lol

Anyway, here's PB's version - of course, perfectly clean and wonderful.....

And, here's my 6 .... obviously homemade, imperfect - but made with love! Hope my fam appreciates!

Brad's - red with white trim and a pink heart. Needs some trim added around the envelope flap still. And maybe some starch and a good ironing? Just seems so droopy...not sure why or what the fix is. Any suggestions?


Ethan's - pink envelope with red scallop trim & hearts. Maybe I should trim down that scallop layer on the flap! Looks funny being so big, huh?


Ehren's - red, white, & pink. His nameplate came out a little crooked, I should fix that. *sigh*


mine - I didn't put my name on it. But the kids' figured it out fast....I rec'd 2 sweet notes the first day! Love those cute kiddos of mine!!


Eris' - All pink with red accents. She loves hers!


Ella: Also all pink with red accents. She loves how it's not totally "girlified" with the block letter name. Obviously need to cut back some of her red scallop layer as well - those got a little out of control I see! lol I'm still thinking an embellie needs added to the big blank space at the bottom! lol

I linked up to this Valentine's party:

Valentine's decorations

I've been busy the past couple weeks doing little Valentine's decorations....making sure the family "feels the love". lol I'll share a couple of pics of what's completed so far. More to come by week's end I hope!Ribbon wreath (which I totally still need to make larger by adding another layer of ribbon loops around the outside.)


And my fave homemade apothecary jars pulled back out and filled with Valentine's kisses, pink heart marshmallows, and Valentine's candy corn. Super cute - just gotta keep the chubby hands from helping themselves all day long!


To share, I linked up to this Valentine's link party:

Sleepy little E's?

So, after Brad and I made a bed this summer - a project that served purpose both for style & functionality, as well as marital therapy - we decided to just keep going with it. It was fun, and my father in law was willing to start pitching in with his time and skill set as well. He has a LOT MORE of both! Which brings me to share that my girls both have new beds and matching nightstands for their room!

Bed plans: Full size Farmhouse ( Pottery Barn Knockoff) from Knock-Off Wood. LOVE that blog! One pint of paint was enough, with leftover, and Eris picked the pink (anyone that knows her would have guessed THAT!). Bedding from Bed, Bath, and Beyond.This is Eris' pink nightstand - how cute is that? Leftover wood, paint, and a new knob. Easy peasy! Well, Charles said it was easy......he make it in an afternoon. Yes, that's her sleeping mask laying on top - it came with her new bedding and she loves feeling so grown up and fancy!



Ella's bed is the same plan, same size, just different color paint. And if you know my Ella Grace, then her choice of aqua is no surprise at all, right??!! lol Bedding from same, so it sort of coordinates without matching. Since they are in the same room, we have to work together just a little bit.

And of course a matching nightstand for her too! Total expense, $4 for the pack of 2 white knobs. Love a deal like that!

And there you have it. All that's left to do is clean the other half of the room that you can't see here, hang the lime green sheers and put up white baseboards. Well, THEN I get to start the FUN projects up there.....I hear chalkboard paint just calling my name! lol

Oh, and as for building beds, now we are mulling over the plans for Ethan's room! So, more to come!

couldn't wait

Was supposed to make this project with a friend, but she's out of town and I just couldn't wait anymore. Worst part of it was waiting for paint to dry, or glue to dry. I'm not the most patient person on this here earth.


This was all the ingredients - or so I thought. Didn't end up using the round wooden "plaques". Guess I'll return those to Hobby Lobby for the big $.50 ea that they cost me. Not even worth the gas for a return trip all on its own though, huh? 3 glass jars, $4.59 a piece I think at Hobby Lobby, but on sale 50% off last week. Used 40% coupons on the 3 wooden "toppers". Oh, and also 3 metal letters were 50% off a few weeks back. All in all, about a $14 project?


Found unwanted candlesticks at the Wayside Christian Mission Bargain Center to re-purpose. Too bad it wasn't "Bric Brac" day or they would have been 50% off. They hold that once a week I think, but did I mention that I'm not a patient person! Plus, at $1 each (approx), I didn't mind helping the cause. AND, they are thicker and taller than the $2.99 unfinished ones at the craft stores. The hardest part was getting out the metal candle holder, ended up using needle-nose pliers. But to get the top surface level, it was a necessary step.



I probably should have used primer on the silver plastic lids of the glass jars. But my can of primer is at the in-laws house to use on a bed for my daughter, and I wanted this project complete in an hour. Did you already forget the IMPATIENT part of my personality though? Dang you are forgetful! ;-)



And I just lined up all the wood and went to town. No primer again. Might regret that later, but will deal with it then I guess.


Final touches were simply to use some glue and put the painted finial or egg or ball to the middle of the jar lid. And then the candlestick to the center of the glass jar. The metal letters I bought at Hobby Lobby, and I'm not loving the font since the O's look kind of like C's. I've since rotated the swirl a little to the top to help that some. And these are sitting on my hearth.

Bought the candy corn from Kroger at $1/bag - took 4 bags to fill. The saltwater taffy also from Kroger on clearance for $.50/bag, so $1.50 there with leftovers. And the dozen or so Butterfingers...........drumroll please............. are free right now with a coupon that's actually IN the Kroger stores (if Ella Grace didn't take the whole pad from YOUR store too). So it looks like I'm a big spender in candy, but not at all! lol And no, the kids haven't yet asked to take any candy out - that's the most AMAZING part of this whole story, lemme tell ya!

Oh, and the idea was totally inspired from the super smart ladies over at Santy2Chic's blog.
So this is my version I guess. I can already see the candy changed over to silver Hershey kisses and M&M's and Hershey miniatures for Christmas with the word JOY (yes, I bought the J and Y already! lol). And then for Thanksgiving just fill with mini pumpkins instead. How cute would that be? Don't even need a word on the outside.

Can use the Cricut to cut hearts, and fill with red hot cinnamon candies for Valentine's Day come February? Oooh, and Easter! The possibilities here! Love it! (our dentist bill is about to double I imagine. lol)

Til next time!

Feelin' a little crafty, and I mean that in a good way

I've been so busy with crafts this week....much gratitude to my parter in crime, Pam. We've spent some LONG nights downstairs cutting and painting and measuring - but it's paid off! Look at the cute stuff we've made this week....

if the current "to-do" list doesn't suffocate me, this is what I'm salivating to do!

Halloween is my FAVORITE time to decorate the house. So today, I'm making some cute wooden candy corn for a bookshelf. But in doing a little looking around.......LOOK WHAT I FOUND! How stinkin' awesome would this be! Nevermind the problem of where to house it the other 10.5 months of the year! Don't listen to Brad like that. It would sooo be worth that storage trouble, don't you think?

Go to Sawdust and Paper Scraps to read how she created this beauty! I soooooo want one! Wonder if the "thrift gods" would ever be loving enough to me to help me score the parts??

A girl can dream.

Gonna have to lie in that bed you've made!

My Mother used to tell me this as a teenager. Well Mom, it's finally come true! Last night was our first night lying in the bed we made. And we've never made a thing in our lives! I wanted dearly the Farmhouse bed from Pottery Barn....but my checking account wanted dearly to hold onto the $2200 it would cost to buy it. So, a little googling around, and I found free plans to built my own! The Knock off Wood blog by Ana White is what I'm talking about here. Brad thought I was a total nutjob for handing his these plans and saying "We're doing this!". But, $150 in lumber and then some paint and we now sleep in our own Farmhouse bed. It took 4 hours to cut and build, working together. And then it took us 5 days to primer it and paint it....working around our work schedules and waiting for paint to dry. Yesterday I distressed it and we put it together. Voila! Same dimensions, better construction and material! You have GOT to be smoking something if you think I'm crazy now! lol

Now, our mattress is SUPER thick...something like 18". So I'm considering putting in braces and ditching the boxspring so more of our headboard can be seen. AND so I don't have to take a running leap to get in the sucker. We'll see....

Pics of the process:

Me, routing edges. My first time, btw! Please don't report to my Mother that I did NOT wear safety goggles. Can you even IMAGINE a pic of YOU wearing safety goggles? My point exactly.



Brad didn't wear them either and here's my proof. So if anyone rats on me, I'll rat on him. Yeah, that's what I'll do.


And looks like I was nailing down
boards like a pro, huh? Yeah, I was.


















Here's Brad cutting out the arch we made in a 1x10 for the front of our headboard to jazz it up a little. Used a homemade protractor with a pencil and a string. Worked beautifully! He gets all the props for that.......I was freehanding that baby! And no, that clock in the background does not have hands. How strange, I know!


Then we primered and painted gloss black. I'd probably do a not-so-glossy finish next time, but if I say that out loud now I might end up divorced.


Used a sander to go over all the edges....my Father In-Law about had a heart attack when I began this. He was so upset that I was ruining it. What a purist! lol Now, it DID gum up the sand paper pretty quickly with all that paint being pulled off. Just be prepared and have plenty on hand!


Wish I could get a better picture of the wall color and bedding color. I mean, you get the picture obviously, but that wall is really a grayish blue. And it does NOT look like that in this pic!

And just so you truly believe how surprisingly easy this was....Ella Grace and Eris are both getting beds built as we speak! Lucky little girls, huh?

My black index finger

Yes, that's right. The squishy pad of my right index finger is black. Has been for days really. Cause I can't go downstairs without grabbing a can of black spraypaint and adding yet another fresh layer onto whatever little project I have laying there today. On Sunday, I finally got to my little 3' shutter found at the Habitat for Humanity Re-Store place. Here's a pic of Ella Grace when we saved it from sure demise.....it was, afterall, the only one without a companion. And for an item sold as a "pair", that's a death sentence waiting to happen right there.

And then, a couple coats of paint later, here's what that unwanted shutter turned into be for us. Love being a little bit crafty sometimes!