our week via instagram

Happy Friday friends! Hope you're having a fabulous day at whatever hour it happens to be in your neck of the woods. I've been a bit MIA this week which is a sure sign that hubs has been working a crazy amount of hours. Thank you, hubs, for working crazy hard for us. Even when I don't have time to sit and write a post, I've always got time to snap a few photos. I'll be linking with Jeannett today who came up with the brilliance that is InstaFriday. Here's a look at our week via Instagram:

worked on some monogrammed notecards for my aunt over the weekend. plan to list this item in my shop...whenever I find the time.

the hubs made a late night trip to Target Sunday night and picked this up for me. Because he knows I loves it. And also because....

the purpose for his late night trip to Target was to pick up ingredients to make homemade-made-from-scratch blueberry muffins. I think the blueberries he found in the fridge sparked the idea. Do we eat a lot of blueberry muffins? No. Does hubs do a lot of made-from-scratch cooking? No. Just a hankering he had to make something spur-of-the-moment, not unlike my late night "I have to make this craft thing right now while I'm thinking about".

they was real good, by the by.

real good.

Sometimes I buy things on eBay that come from distant lands. Like Batman cookie cutters from Hong Kong.

Makes me feel ever so important to pull things like this out of my mailbox.

My little man had a Fairy Tale Valentine party at school Tuesday. Here he is with his best bud from his class, pre-party-

and here's a during-party shot-

His teacher had the cutest decor- everything from a Snow White sitting on a full-sized well, to center pieces depicted different fairy tales. See the pumpkin, mouse, & glass slippers on O's table? (Cinderella) Pure cuteness...

Rachael Ray has arrived at our Target. That garbage bowl totally came home with me and I need her cookware. No really, I do...

I made little somethin somethin for myself and little man as sort of a Valentine-before-bedtime treat. Bananas split down the center, filled with peanut butter, topped with vanilla ice cream, caramel syrup, and chocolate cookie crumbs.

As Rachael would say, "yum-o"

I found my 3 just like this on Wednesday night.

Be still my heart.

Ready for ballet Thursday and wearing a new rockin' flower headband made by me. Hubs said it was ridiculously big, but I disagree. I think it's presh.

Yes, I just said presh.

During class...

Found some inexpensive cabinetry to make our kitchen banquette out of. Nearing the end my friends. We may just win the longest-kitchen-reno-process-ever award...

This is how MM likes to snack on goldfish:

lying on the kitchen floor, blanket in hand.

And why not?

and this is where E likes to eat goldfish.

In my bed.

Making lots of under-the-cover crumbs on her daddy's side that he finds when he comes home from work.

Made some awesome thrift store finds this week. This horsey was only 1.48 and with a fresh coat of white spray paint looks 100% better than it did when I brought him home. And yes, it's totally a 'him'.

And that was our week in a nutshell.

What about you?

How was your week? Any Valentine goodies you're excited about? Or was your hubs working on V-day so you're celebrating this weekend, like me? Make any great thrift store finds lately? Have a kid that likes to eat on the floor?

Do tell....



Love day inspiration and a lil' secret

Happy Thursday friends!

If you haven't already, I urge you to take a moment and educate yourself about new legislation regarding the internet. This video is the best I've seen explaining the details.

Make your voice be heard.

Now, onto other matters at hand.

Like "love" day.

Like, "really wish I could go on a date with my hubs and no kids" day.

Like, "haha....that's not gonna happen" day.

I digress.

Of course, Valentine's Day is a day to celebrate those you love, not that you shouldn't do this EVERYDAY, but Hallmark is counting on you to celebrate on THIS day more than others. And really, it's hard to resist pink and red lovelies strewn about your mantel and door and where ever else it is you like to strew lovelies, because....well,....it's pretty. Today I want to share some of my V-day crafts from last year as well as some of the brilliance I've seen on the internets as of late.

First up is my "made from junk I found in my house" heart wreath:

wreath tutorial HERE

Foyer decor from 2011

Links to printable vintage V-day cards, 'Love one another' printable, and subway art printables all found in THIS post.

Love canvas tutorial HERE

And now, some of my faves from the internets:

FREE printable patterns.

SO many uses...

Source: hostessblog.com via Mary Kathryn on Pinterest

Free V-day printable:

Source: proclamationpictures.blogspot.com via Mary Kathryn on Pinterest

Such a clever way to make an envelope- perhaps out of free printable paper?

Source: fortyweeksandthensome.blogspot.com via Mary Kathryn on Pinterest



You know that I love some book page crafts. This would be so easy-peezy:

Source: luxefinds.com via Mary Kathryn on Pinterest

Fabulous Valentine printable suitable for giving to your sweeties:

Source: onecharmingparty.com via Mary Kathryn on Pinterest

and an uber-simple paper chain made of hearts:
may have to string one of these up in my classroom...

Source: mangomommycrafts.blogspot.com via Mary Kathryn on Pinterest

(these and other fabulous Valentine's day crafts can be found on my

Pinterest board.)

Now, for a lil' secret...

an editor of this website contacted me yesterday.

I almost peed my pants.

Don't know details of when it will happen, but they've asked if they could share something I made.

I told them I'd have to think about it.

Just kidding.

I answered with a giddy 'yes'.

Will share more when I have the deets.

Adieu for now my friends!

what I wore Wednesday and other randomness...

I was a little lazy with my picture taking this week, partly because I've worn t-shirts/yoga pants for the majority of it since the girls have been sick- (didn't want to get snot on the good stuff, ya know?)and partly because I've just been, well...

lazy.

babes that can't sleep = mommy/daddy that can't sleep

thank goodness they are starting to improve-

MM still has an awful cough, but the fever is gone and she's eating again. (yay!)

ok, enough sick talk.

onto the clothes-

#1- I went to see The Miracle Worker Sunday afternoon, so I actually got dressed in I'd-rather-not-get-snot-on-this clothes:

(big shout out to O who took this shot for me, which is why I look a little bit like a giant)

top/vest/pants- The Limited

shoes- Target

necklace- Premiere jewelry

prop- a dish towel, because I'd just washed my hands for the 47th time that day. Ya know, trying not to spread sick germs and whatnot...

#2- taken Tuesday in one of the bathrooms at school.

(O wanted in on the action too)

top- old navy

jeans- The Limited

shoes- dansko clogs

scarf- it's ancient

belt- Target

prop- school bag, coat, camera, memos I'd just typed...

********************************

randomness:

here's what O looked like when he came to my room after school on Monday.

Oh, how I love this boy.

and, speaking of this cutie- his daddy found him some elbow + knee pads and a helmet at Academy Sports on Monday for 2.48. Yep- all of that for only 2.48!

(look at my hubs being all thrifty and stuff)

and...since it was a sweltering 71 degrees monday after school, it was, of course, perfect hockey playing weather. The hubs, his friend Brent, and O all played outside in the carport while MM and I watched. (E was napping)

took some pics of this cutie in her LOVE outfit.

here's how the hubs and I spent our Valentines day night.

He picked up take-out from our fave Japanese steakhouse and we watched one of Jim Gaffigan's stand-up shows in the man cave. He's hilarious-no joke. You should watch a youtube video of him (or 10). Our faves are the ones about hot pockets and bacon.

a new Barbie Collectors catalog came in the mail today.

Don't you just love those plates?

And they're dishwasher safe!

must.buy.now.

and, I leave you with this:

Do you see what I see?

Spring is on the way!

Here's some beautiful proof.

There are a total of 4 blooms on this bush just outside our front door.

Still can't believe we had snow on the ground just 4 days ago.

Alabama weather is just the most bizarre.

The most.

I'm doing a little Spring decorating to get the inside of our house ready as well. Pictures coming soon.

Are you doing anything to get ready for Spring?

p.s.- for more "What I wore" fun, check out Lindsey's blog

Happy Love day y'all

I'm going to confess something to you.

are you ready?

I waited until 8:00 pm on the night before Valentine's Day to take my school-age kiddo to Target to pick out some V-day cards.

Yes, I could have made him take free ones I found online to his classmates, but I'd planned all along to let him go with me and choose, and, well.....

it never happened.

Until tonight.

Do you know what the Valentine section at Target looks like at 8:00 pm the night before the big day?

It's a hot mess.

Heart boxes full of candy are strewn, yes strewn about the shelves, the V-day cards are being picked over by so many people that I can't even reach my arm between them to pull one out of its slot. I'd have to close my eyes, thrust out my hand, and grab the first card I felt, not having a clue what it says.

Oy.

I was worried at first that all the boxed Valentines for the kiddos were gone. Since everything was in such a mess (not usually the case at my beloved Target, but tonight was an exception) we finally realized that all of the big pink boxes that were empty actually used to hold the boxes of character Valentines. Thank goodness I'm crazy tall and could reach up on the highest shelf to pull a box down that still contained 8 boxes of Transformer Valentine cards.

whew.

Needless to say, O was thrilled.

Probably not as thrilled as he would have been had we come across some Star Wars cards, but way more thrilled than if we'd been stuck with one of the boxes of generic animal cards we found after locating the Transformers.

After picking up a couple of cartons of V-day cookies and a bag of m&m's, we headed for home since it was already well past O's bedtime and oh, by the by- he still hadn't had supper.

(no awesome mom points for me today)

Here's O after signing his name to the cards

(and changing into some super-cool pjs)

Once he was all tucked in, I got to work on assembling his bags-

I found tons of free printables on Tip Junkie's site-

that's where the red/pink/white ones came from in the pic above.

I used my big circle punch and,

boom-

little tags to tie onto the outside of the bags.

and speaking of bags, I decided not to go with the bags I already had (in the pic) because you couldn't see the Transformer Valentines through them. I grabbed some ziplocks from the kitchen, cut the tops off, and that's what I went with-

One Transformer Valentine,

one tiny bag of m&m's,

one piece of chocolate from the bag the hubs gave me,

(don't worry, there's still enough left for me to gain 5 lbs easy)

and a free printable tag-

done.

Once those were packed up and ready,

I started on the kids (and the hubs) Valentines.

The sheet you see to the left in the pic below is another free printable I found on Tip Junkie.

I printed each of their names, cut them out leaving space underneath to fold so they'd stand up-

wrote each of them a sweet note on the back of the cards,

and put them on the kitchen counter for them to find in the morning.

and since it had been a while since I'd made an honest to goodness craft, I whipped one up.

Have you seen the tie t-shirts?

They're everywhere.

So cute- and since I'd purchased a plain back tee in O's size about 3 weeks ago at the hob lob, I had all the supplies I needed.

-plain black tee (2.99)

-piece of remnant fabric for tie (already owned)

I started by making a pattern for the tie.

Since I couldn't find a roll of craft paper (maybe I used it all and forgot?), I just used what I could find.

A Jason's Deli bag.

I started sketching my tie on the paper,

which was also on the t-shirt to help with proportion and whatnot.

cut out the pattern and tried it on for size-

pinned it to a piece of remnant fabric I already had on hand-

cut that out-

pinned it to the t-shirt, and sewed that baby down.

Thar she blows,

all done.

Won't he look like a stud in this at his V-day party?

(Here's hoping he actually wants to wear it, as I'm typing this after putting him to bed.)

I hope all of you are having a wonderful day-

the hubs is off (wa-hoo) so I'm looking forward to a lunch date in my classroom with food from the outside.

(always a treat for us teachers)

and since I know I'll hear it from my kids grandmothers if I don't post pics of all 3 of them,

here ya go Ma'am and MawMaw:

*****************************************************

update:

he totally wore his shirt to school-

he's also showing off new Star Wars guys and a funny flip thing that his hair can do.

Off to school!

**I linked this t-shrit tutorial to the Anything Goes party at Type A***

check out all of the other cool projects going on!