Spring

I told you I was done with Valentines Day crafts....and for the most part....I am. I'm still making a few little things. I'm just not blogging them. What I am dying to show you is this. My SPRING banner. I am very excited for it. I saw this project here at Our Best Bites. I love their blog for the recipes and I was very excited that they throw in a craft or two. Sara made the cutest Valentines banner and while I don't usually stray from the theme of a "How-To", this time I decided to shake it up a bit. I started with some jumbo ric rac, felt and ribbon. I cut my sheet of felt into rectangles about 4 1/2 inches wide and into triangles from there. Usually I am queen of the glue gun....but I pulled out my trusty (and maybe a bit rusty) sewing machine to sew the triangles onto the ric rac.

Then I took a bunch of colored ribbon and cut 10-12 inch lengths and folded them in half and sewed them onto the ric rac as well.
As of one week ago I didn't love tassels....at all....this week, I am kinda crushing on them.
Then I cut some shapes; a heart, a bird and a horrible misshapen flower, out of felt. I pinned them to the banner temporarily until I decided where I liked them.
Of course I can't have the felt out and not make some rosettes. It just wouldn't be right.
After I decided I had the right colors and patterns together.....time for the glue gun. You knew it was coming out at some point...right?
Little bit of birdie love.
Look at the pretty flowers. So springy....so bright....aaahhhhh....sring......
A bit of a close up post glue phase. I just left it up there and glued them on while I stood in front of the fire. Too lazy to take it down....just sayin'.....
As cute as it is....there was one more thing I wanted to add....just a little more texture to the plain felt shapes. Buttons. I do like a cute button.
So I glued some buttons to the hearts and flowers (if you can really call them that).
And there it is. I will add letters for real as soon as my Silhouette Iron-On paper gets here. Very excited to try that out. I am missing my spring decor box with my cute bunnies and such. You'll just have to imagine them up there. So here is my first official I-can't-wait-for-spring project.
On a side note...see that lop-sided bird house on the left? My baby boy made that for me when he was in Cub Scouts. I will keep it forever!!

I will be linking to these parties.....some great ideas await your perusal!

Metamorphosis Monday

I Made THIS Tuesday

Whatever Goes Wednesday

Strut Your Stuff Thursday

Remodelaholic

Frifty Friday

Wordless Wednesday

One Good Turn

I'm no fan of winter. I don't like to be cold, I hate how early it gets dark and I loathe shoveling snow. When we lived in Idaho, I thought I had lived through some pretty tough winters. However, I was shown my ignorance of true winter weather when we moved to Minnesota. The natives (my friends) warned me of the severity of it all.....the huge amounts of snow....the brutal cold. It was worse than I could have even imagined. Never before have I been so cold and buried under mountains of snow. So when we moved to Nebraska, I wasn't expecting tropical weather, but I knew it would be warmed than MN. And it has been....but there is still that issue of snow. Ish and ick. Of course we don't get nearly as much as MN or even ID but really....any is too much. So when I awoke to this....let's just say I was not a happy camper. For big, heavy snows Hubby is usually the guy in charge of snow removal. But on this date DH was unavailable for snow blower-driver duties. So that left me (sick with a nice head/sinus cold....thing) and beautiful Daughter to man the shovels (since I can't really run the snow blower). So not happy about that. Our driveway was completely drifted over and I couldn't even see the sidewalks. This was going to take all day. But...it had to be done....so I resigned myself to the fact of it and....decided to wait a while for it to warm up a bit.
Then I heard the neighbor using his snow blower and entertained notions of asking him to start my big red snow moving machine for me to save my already aching body. But then I heard the whine of a (decidedly smaller {well smaller than mine}) snow blower coming up my driveway. Crazy delusions....and wishful thinking...I was convinced, but I looked out the window anyway.
Sure enough. There was our neighbor with his green snow blower attacking the snow that so brutally covered my driveway and squelched my joy for life.
I was so happy and so thankful, I wanted to cry. Seriously.....I was giddy at the idea of spending the day in my jammies, eating chicken soup, trying to convalesce....and not shoveling.
And then...just when I think he is finished and going to leave a small bit of shovel work for me (which I was totally fine with)....he swipes the shovel off my porch and finishes the porch, steps and the places his snow blower couldn't get to.
Amazing. To say I wanted to run out and hug this man and his magic green machine is an understatement. I immediately went to my kitchen and baked some yummy rolls for him and his family. I took them over to them while they were still hot. He looked at me as if I was crazy. "You really don't have to give us anything, Jim plows and shovels for us all the time." Oh....well...I guess it just really means SO much more to me today....it just seemed bigger today. It was really appreciated and felt like a life line of sorts.
I feel very blessed today to have such a great neighbor who would do such a huge thing for me and really think it was nothing. Amazing.
On a side note a big van load of people from our church stopped by also....but since our driveway was done they worked on the neighbors sidewalks. These snow angels are everywhere today.....and God bless them....every one!

All But Done

So here are the Valentines projects I have made this year. I am making one more wreath.....but the yarn wrapping takes so long that I am putting it off because I hate that part because I have a short attention span. Some of them I am giving away to my Pay it Forward friends. I am excited for them to have a piece of my heart hanging in their homes.


I've linked up with The Speckled Dog: Favorite Things link party. Check them out!!

Love Blocks

I promise that this is my last Valentine's Day craft post....OK...well....Maybe it is. But it is close to the last one. Some of you may have heard that I bought my very first saw. A 10" Circular Saw (a chop saw). It's shiny and beautiful and loud. And now I don't have to wait for Hubby to cut wood for my silly craft projects. So here is some of the first wood I cut. Just a basic 2x6 board. I cut some of it into squares.
And painted them black. So far so good....right?
Then I pulled some paper out of my stash and cut some squares of some that I liked and Mod Podged the paper to the blocks. Make sure you let the paper dry really well before putting a layer of Mod Podge on the top. After that dries, sand the edges.....paper and all.
Then I used some glaze on the edges and put some vinyl letters on the blocks. I thought the "L" looked a little plain so I went back to my stash and found a heart and some ribbon.
Here it is with the ever-evolving Valentine's Day vignette.
I made this plain set too. I like the simplicity of it. It works well anywhere I put it. Have you made any crafts lately?

I am linking this to Somewhat Simple's Strut Your Stuff link party.

For All The Special Kids Out There

I am sharing this video with you in honor of my Mom. Her love of the special kids in her life blessed the lives of my siblings and I as well as our kids. It just takes a minute to watch....and just a minute to help with The ONEder Fund. What a wonderful world it would be if we all loved each other as completely and without bias as kids with Down Syndrome do.

Create

Funny how things just happen. OK...So I don't really believe that things just happen. I believe they happen for a reason. I have some amazing girlfriends back in MN. It seems as if I always one step behind them in fabulosity. They decided, a couple years ago, to train for a race. I let my inner critic stop me from joining them....until the next year. I was amazed at what I could accomplish when I put that nagging voice of self doubt to the back where it was harder to hear. For the past few years instead of making New Year's Resolutions....they chose one word to help them focus on the things they wanted to change in their lives. They have used clean and quiet among others. Again...I resisted. Until this year...This year I have been thinking of a word that I could focus on that would help me make a better life for myself and for my family. About two weeks ago I decided on the word CREATE. I love to make things and create a nice space for my family to live. I've also been thinking about using CREATE to define how I want to create a new me....maybe not a new me....but an improved one. So as all of this is going through my head I stumble across this.....I found it on one of my favorite blogs....but it is also on YouTube.




This pretty much cemented my resolve to use this word. CREATE is the word for me this year. Not just craft-wise.....but in all areas of my life. Did you make any resolutions? Do you usually stick with them??

A Little Change

A while back I ran across this blog. I fell in love with the wreath she created and saved a pic so I could make one when the mood struck. Well.....it hit me like lightening the other day and so here is number one in the trilogy. I gathered some cheap felt, yarn scissors, glue gun and a wreath form I bought at the dollar store.
I cut different sized circles (bigger than a CD down to the lid on hubby's sippy cup). For the first couple circles I cut them into uniform spirals. They turned out ok....but the ones I like best had more of a wavy pattern instead. So instead of spiraled circles they were more spiraled amoebas. I used the yarn to wrap around the wreath base (or floral foam....whatever). It took forever quite a while to get that part of the project finished.
Then picking out my favorite rosettes I began to hot glue them to the yarn. I will tell you that I used 3 sheets of soft pink and 3 sheets of bright pink.
I also made some red and white rosettes....but now I have to buy some black yarn. That will be for the second of 3.......
Here is the "grouping" before. See the tassel on the left? I've never been a tassel fan until I found this at Hobby Lobby in the 65% off section. I fell in love with it's soft pink ribbons and frilly girliness.
Here is the new wreath hung up for all to see. Not sure if it will stay there yet. I'll have to think about that one.
A close up of the soft textures and roundness of it all.
I do like the way it turned out and can't wait to start on it's sisters!
I am linking with Met Monday and I Made THIS Tuesday.So make sure you check out the projects there.

For the Door

First off....this cute little face...This is what I've been dealing with today. She is as demanding as any two year old (that you can lock in a box and go to town). She is sweet and snorty, sassy and sublime. I love this little smoochy face. That being said.....
This is what else I've been dealing with today. Both have made me fake curse (because I'm trying to cut down on the real thing....so not lady like) today.....Both have held my attention for the better portion of the day. In fact, as I write this, I am still in my jammies. Don't judge.
I took a floral wreath base..the kind with the square sides....and wrapped yarn around it. Took a while....a long while.
Then I made some rosettes from strips of fabric. I glued some buttons and a wooden heart to the front and....TA DA!
Not bad for a Valentine greeting.....that doesn't scream "HEY!! YA BIG DUMMY!! IT'S VALENTINES DAY!!" And of course I am loving the pink. It does make me happy. You could use any color for this. It was easy and fun. And I highly recommend that you try one. (And send me a pic....I love to see your projects!)
I am linking to Simply Link at Simply Designing, Show and Tell at Blue Cricket Design, I Made THIS Tuesday at This and That and Whatever Goes Wednesday. Hop on over and check it out!

A Little More

So in my quest to achieve sanity in an insane world I have made yet another wreath. Another sock wreath to be exact. So to keep from boring you I will save you the details on the "How" and just let you read that here.....if you've a mind to.....Buddy Liz and I made another wreath today as well....a yarn wreath. I'll let you see it when we are finished. Until then....this is how the Valentine's Day decorating is coming.....
Knee socks rock....just in case you wondered!
The rosettes were made from left-over sock parts.....feet and such. Cute!! Thanks for the help, Liz!!!
I have linked with Somewhat Simply: Strut Your Stuff, Simply Designing: Simply Link Party I Made This Tuesday at This and That and Show and Tell with Blue Cricket Design. Do head over and check it out!!

A Start

I don't usually decorate for Valentine's Day. I find it offensive (the day in general...and decorating for it).....or I used to. Call it sour grapes or whatever.....it just didn't happen. But ever since Mom went and passed away on Valentine's Day 2008....I have been needing something to lift my spirits every February. I do like pretty things. No joke....I am drawn to pretty, lacey, frilly or just plain good-looking stuff. And I can also see the potential in the truly ugly. Take these shiny orange/gold candle holders. I picked them up at Target for 75% off. Not bad....made 'em less than 3 bucks.
A little spray paint later.....(Yes! In January....spray paint!!)
A much needed improvement. But not quite ready for the Valentine's Day grouping I am envisioning.
Red candles are a start. But still not a winner.....
Ah...ribbon. I do like the frilly touch of ribbon. Now they are ready for me to get together the other projects I am in the middle of and bring a little pretty into February.
I have linked to a party at This and That....I do hope you will follow me there and and look at the great projects!!