A Valentine Thank You

Love is in the air....Valentine LOVE.

I found this image on the internet, I downloaded it and printed wallet size prints to use to make Valentines.

Little Miss and I found lots of goodies in the $1.00 bins at Target.

I made a sample card and Little Miss copied it, while adding some of her own ideas.

Arts and Crafts can keep her busy for a long time.

Here is her finished product....a Little Miss original.

I also showed her how to fold the paper in half to make a heart. She thought that was pretty spectacular; it's a fun thing to have a three year old be your biggest fan!

..and here's another one of her cards.

Little Miss will be sending these to her birth family as thank you cards for the Christmas gifts that were sent to her and her brother.

Next, I have to get E to make his....Hmmmmm, not so sure that is going to happen any time soon. He's not really a fan of Arts N' Crafts.

“Life's greatest happiness is to be convinced we are loved.”
-Victor Hugo


PS. It is purely coincidental that Little Miss has on a heart shirt...totally unplanned....honest!

Changes

My blog is in a bit of disarray right now. I have been consulting with my tech guy (aka my husband) and trying to add some new features. It's kind of like when you start cleaning out the closet and things get worse before they get better.

I had planned on doing a post about Little Miss' Valentine's, but it'll have to wait another day. Til tomorrow....

“Any change, even a change for the better, is always accompanied by drawbacks and discomforts.”

-Arnold Bennett

Mini Scrapbook

Generally, when you walk into our home, there is some kind of project going on, big and small. Some projects get finished and some drag on forever. I'm one that likes to get to work, get it done and admire the finished project. I'm not one for specific, laid out plans, but rather a general idea and then a little impulsivity and we're good. My husband, on the other hand, is the King of R & D (Research and Development), which means a project, from start to finish, could take years. However, the final reveal is usually great and without regrets. Anyway....

I like quick projects and crafts that can be completed in less than a week...instant gratification. I used to scrapbook a lot and although I still like the idea of it, the task seems so overwhelming with everyday life right now. To feed the creativity in me, I like to put together small "scrapbooks" to remember certain events and holidays. Here is a book I recently finished to remember the Christmas Holiday Season.

I started by purchasing a chipboard book at Michael's for 50 cents. I then covered each of the pages with paper using coordinating papers from a paper pack. I like things to go together, but not necessarily to match. I suppose you could use Mod Podge to adhere your paper, but I just used a tape runner.

I tied random ribbons and lace in coordinating colors onto the rings...

I printed wallet size photos from this Christmas Season. On the cover of the book is the photo we used on this year's Christmas Card. I also used a circle punch to be able to add even more photos to the book. Other ways to add more pictures is to layer the photos, while only adhering the paper on one end. Then it becomes a book within a book...

On the back cover, I made a sleeve for the extra photos I couldn't fit into the book. The kids really like looking through little books like this. They're just big enough for their little hands and they're a fun way to remember the things we did during a special time.

My sister-in-law and I put together a book like this for my mom for Christmas. It was shaped like a heart and we had each of her grandchildren decorate his/her own heart and then we adhered a picture or two to each heart. Personal and adorable at the same time! You could also use the pages separately to make ornaments as seen here and here.

I'm linking up with Heather today for Life Made Lovely Monday

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“A moment lasts all of a second, but the memory lives on forever.”

Ahhhhh

The last blog header was driving me crazy! I really liked the pictures, but they were just too dark and I felt it looked drab as a blog header. I'm liking the brightness of this one so much better!

In case you missed the other one, here it is.

I think you'll probably agree that the new one is much better.

Happy Things...

Pictures from around my house of some things that make me happy....

The "Merry Christmas to us" canvas that greets people as they walk into our home.

Photograph by Blue Lily Photography

fun, Christmas garland (even though it's almost 2 weeks after Christmas)

crochet snowflakes made by my grandmother hung on a tree branch with lights; I especially love it at night...

pictures, new and old, of my happy kids....

artwork created by my kids; it's pretty much all over the house...

old decorations that remind me of people that are no longer with us...

...and finally Curious George. Even though E will be turning 7 in less than a month and loves Legos, Star Wars and Indiana Jones, he still loves to cuddle with George every night. Don't tell him I told you though.

The foolish man seeks happiness in the distance; the wise grows it under his feet. ~James Openheim

O Christmas Tree...

At our annual family Christmas Party I have somehow become in charge of the craft (Which I happen to like, so I don't mind). Santa pays a visit and we try to create something that we can later attach the Santa photo to. This was this year's project.

I picked up chipboard tree albums for 50 cents; there were 6 trees to a package, so this was definitely a bargain. I spraypainted one side and because I used some old spray paint I had in the house, it created an interesting effect. Personally, I like the way it came out because it looks more "authentic"...don't you agree?

I then cut out green tissue paper for the kids to decoupage onto the white side of the trees.

The kids decorated to their hearts' desires.

We also had a stack of old Christmas cards so the kids could punch ornaments. I got that idea from Meg.

Here they are hanging on the playroom sink to dry...I suppose staging them on the Christmas tree would have been better, but there you have it.

I'm linking up with Heather today for Life Made Lovely Monday.

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"What we remember from childhood we remember forever - permanent ghosts, stamped, inked, imprinted, eternally seen." ~Cynthia Ozick

It's a New Year...

So, Vic and I watched the ball drop last night and were not the least bit envious of all those people hanging out in New York City or anywhere else for that matter. Life at home all cozied on the couch made for a perfect way to start the New Year.

I've been thinking about what to post for the New Year and have come up with nothing too creative. I'm often intimidated after reading other blogs and seeing the clever things that bloggers come up with, and then I thought, perhaps a New Year's Resolution is in order. Perhaps, I should not put so much pressure on myself to be the best at everything....it truly can become quite exhausting.

I tend to poke fun at Victor's dad about one of his favorite expressions..."It's good enough." In his case, 0ne coat of red paint on the door is "good enough", even though the door is streaky and you can see the white basecoat behind it. The paint on the trim is "good enough" even though it has a blue hue to it because it was really the bathroom paint. The homemade apparatus used to stabilize the tree is good enough, even though it looks completely ridiculous. Hmmmmm...interesting analogy when you think about it. Perhaps when things are "good enough", the real, raw "thing" seeps through and is more evident. Perhaps not striving to do things perfectly would allow more of myself to show. (Perhaps I should stop using the word perhaps)

It would benefit me to be a bit more confident and secure with myself. To go for it without hesitation and without any thought about what others will think. I don't want my insecurities to inhibit me from doing things I really want to do. I need to be ok with "good enough" sometimes....because many times "good enough" is just that....and there is often no need for more.

Thanks for reading. I really do appreciate it!

Year's end is neither an end nor a beginning but a going on, with all the wisdom that experience can instill in us.

~Hal Borland