Stylish Blogger Award!

Oh. WHAT!?! Are you sure?!?

This is what was going through my mind when I read the message from the fabulous Amanda over at City Girl Gone Coastal. She actually gave moi a Stylish Blogger Award!

I feel so honored. Thank you!

 

Here's how it works:

Please follow these rules to accept this award...

1) Thank and link back to the blogger who

awarded you with the award.

2) Share 7 Things about yourself.

3) Award recently discovered great bloggers.

4) Contact the bloggers and inform them of the award.

 

 So, here are 7 things about me that you probably don't know...

1. I am turning O.L.D. this year - The big 40 :( Prince Charming has been having a wonderful time with this! A little too much fun I would say!

 

2. By day I am a therapist/counselor that currently works with children - mainly ages 3-5. I deal with behavior issues, parenting/teacher training dealing with behavior, social skills, abuse, trauma, etc.

 

3. I stay up way too late crafting, because it is MY therapy :)

 

4. I have NEVER made pancakes! But love to eat them!

 

5. I hate, hate, hate wet toilet seats! (too many boys in this house at times!)

 

6.  I think I could eat Chinese food every day.

 

7. I head straight for the Diet Dr. Pepper in the morning rather than coffee.

 

I am passing this award on to....

Sara's Art* House

 

The TrendyTreehouse 

 

The Shabby Chick 

 

Life with Sprinkles on Top 

 

Happy Homemaker and Momma 

Valentine Mantel

This is the first year that I have ever decorated for Valentines Day! I was so inspired by all the wonderful ideas in blogland that I couldn't resist! I tried to do this as cheap as possible using items I already had or things I found at the $Tree and Hobby Lobby.

 

I used an old empty window that I had as the base. The white wreath is made of two feather boas and a wire form that were both half off at Hobby Lobby. I just wrapped the boas around and tucked in the ends so I could reuse the boas and/or wire form if I wanted to. I tied the wreath to the window with a small ribbon.

The clock was a given to me, it doesn't work but I love the way it looks!

I used large red pipe cleaners to shape the word Love with a little heart at the end. I ended up using 3 pipe cleaners for this.

In this section I used some flowers and a crystal candy dish I already had. I found this awesome satin lime sherbet Fenton persian medallion compote at a local craft store and had to have it. I paid 12.95 for it, I don't know much about antique pricing but I knew I loved it and had to have it!

On this side I used a couple of the pieces I glued together (in earlier post) as candy dishes.

I found this little tree in the Easter section at $Tree and just glued buttons, hearts and rhinestones on it. I think it turned out pretty cute. I wrapped a large white pipe cleaner around the base.

This is the very first subway art that I have attempted. It was time consuming but easy using picnic.com.

Happy Valentines Day!

Inspiration Books

You know how you see an awesome craft idea and bookmark it on your computer it so you can come back to it later? And you end up with a bazillion bookmarks and never look back through them? Well, I started printing pictures of my favorite craft projects and tutorials that I want to try someday ;). I print them out, cut out the individual pictures, and put them into my Inspiration Books.

A few things I would do differently if I were starting this project from the beginning. 

1. I would use a 3 ring binder so that I could add pages when I needed to

2. I would make sections for each holiday and then categories like pillows, bags, aprons, etc.
3. I would definitely make note of where I found each project! I started my inspiration books before I began blogging so did not realize I would want/need to give credit for the inspiration or pattern used. This is something I have definitely begun to keep track of!

Now I'm off to find my pattern for cute book covers to hide this ugly plain green notebook!

Check out Debbiedoos

I'm linking up to Debbiedoos Newbie Party. I haven't been very good about keeping up with my blog lately but plan to get back in the saddle very soon. I've got some cute Valentines projects to share with you.

Have a blessed week!

Before you put all your Christmas ornaments away...

Check out this easy Burlap Candlestick Topiary

  This was inspired by House of Smith's Napkin Snowball Craft, tutorial found here.

Supplies needed:
Candlestick
Christmas ornament or styrofoam ball
Silicone
Burlap circles - about 1.5-2" diameter (doesn't have to be perfect circles)
Low temp glue gun
Pencil with eraser

Take the silicone and squeeze it around the inside rim of the candlestick. Insert the ornament with the "neck" going down into the candle stick. Allow to dry at least 3 hours.

Take a burlap circle and wrap it around the pencil eraser, place a small dot of hot glue on burlap and apply to ornament. Continue until covered. Easy as pie, umm...pie!

Since I already had the silicone out and some extra candlesticks, I decided to play around and glue a few pieces together. Take a look...

Now for that pie...

Let's Catch Up!

Wow, it's been quite a while since I posted. The holidays were so busy! So today I will catch you up with what I have been doing...

Here are three of the quilts that I made for gifts...the other three made it out of the house without a picture :(

This is the sleeping bag and pillow that I made for my daughter's American Girl

This is a plaque that I decoupaged for a friend

I really did make quite a few other things but forgot to take pictures!

Over the holidays my daughter wanted to learn to sew. Here is her first project. I am so proud of her!

And one last thing...for my Christmas gift, we traded in this....2008 Suburban

for this...2011 Equinox

It has been quite a change going from the big tank to a much smaller vehicle! I do think I am liking it though. The gas mileage is great!

Many blessing for the New Year!

Quick Update

Just wanted to pop in for a quick update. I have successfully completed 6 of the Christmas gifts for my family (sshhh - I made all of the kids a quilt and decided Prince Charming needed one too!) And I am almost finished with 2 more gifts for family members, they just need to be framed. I will do my best to post pics tomorrow.

I thought I would share a couple of really cute ideas from some fellow bloggers. Mine for the Making has this great tutorial up today. You really need to check out her blog!

Reindeer Poop!

What you will need:

-Reindeer Poop poem

-red glitter glue

-cute baggies
-stapler or ribbon 

-candies/treats to represent "poop"

How to make silly Reindeer Poop:

-Copy and paste the poem into a word doc

-Add a cute reindeer clip art

-Print and cut

-Add red glitter glue to the reindeer's nose and let dry

-Fill baggies with candies

-Staple or tie poem to baggy

-Give to guests, friends, neighbors, students, children, family, etc.

-Watch them giggle as they read the poem!

Reindeer Poop

I woke up with such a scare when I heard Santa call...
"Now dash away, dash away, dash away all!
I ran to the lawn and in the snowy white drifts,
those nasty reindeer had left "little gifts".
I got an old shovel and started to scoop
neat little piles of "reindeer poop".
But to throw them away, seemed such a waste,
So I saved them, thinking ~ you might like a taste!
As I finished my task, which took quite awhile,
Old Santa passed by and he quietly smiled.
And I heard him exclaim as he rose in the sky,
"Well, they're not potty trained, but at least they can fly!"

And the Happy Home Fairy did this great post yesterday, that you can read here. I think it is such a cute idea! You "plant" your mints in the evening and by morning they have "magically" grown into candy canes! And she posted a cute little tag to go with it 

There are so many awesome ideas out there! Let's get to crafting!