I'm working with Sara Jensen on the design and programming of my style blog. It's been a bit of a learning curve for me moving from Blogger to Wordpress because the layouts and functions are so different. In my emails of edits I'm sure I sound like a bit of a loon, which of course I am, but designing for a new platform has sort of set my head spinning. In between emails back and forth, I've been searching the web high and low trying to get a good footing of exactly what I want this new blog to look like. One thing leads to another and before I know it I'm looking through archives of style blogs, browsing Valentine's Crafts, none of which I will have time to do, and even doing a little shopping - shame on me. Here's what I've loved in the last few days...
Bri has started a new series titled Make It and this is their second post, a sweet Valentine mini cake that can be made in 20 minutes. I love her design aesthetic, her talented Photoshop skills and especially her style. She is 10 years younger than me and her style is completely different than my own, but her style column is a dream to look at nonetheless - it's fun, unpretentious and beautifully shot. She makes me want to add more vintage to my mix.
I had the pleasure of meeting Leslie in LA last year at Decor 8's book signing tour. We sat next to each other at dinner and she is as kind and genuine as they come. Her photography and styling is impeccable and I pretty much love anything she creates. Here is a pretty sweet way to wrap a package for your special Valentine.
Jen hearts Friday - I love her cute round up of love in honor of V Day next week
I've been wanting some ban.do for quite some time and I finally took the plunge when I recevied a 15% off code last week. I ordered a mini sequin heart that doubles as a brooch and hair clip and a mini pom pom set in blue and pink. I plan to style it on a plain cream blouse just like the girl above.
One more little purchase I made were these colorful espadrilles from Mod Cloth. At $44 I think they'll be the perfect little flat for spring and summer. I can see wearing them with jean shorts and flowy skirts.
My love affair with Pugly Pixel continues. My $5 blog bling membership expired a couple of weeks ago but I think I'll have to sign back up to get these cute vintage label shapes, plus hearts! Remember, her bling comes with tutorials and helpful tips and is a great way to amp up your Photoshop skills.
Finally, I've been wanting a cute chain link camera strap, but the ones out there range from $60 to over $100. No can do. But fieldguided has a great little DIY on her blog using a belt. Brilliant!
Happy weekend everyone. We have birthday parties to attend and Valentine's to create. Taylor wants me to make royal icinig sugar cookies again but I just don't think I have it in me. We may just be heading to Target for some cheesy princess valentines. Sue me. Last year she was the only one in her class to bring handmade cards to her classmates and I sort of felt like a schmuck for spending all that time on them. I don't even dare to type in "Valentine's for Kids" into Pinterest...
What about you guys? Are you making your own or are you giving out store bought? And what about candy. Do you give it out to classmates?
I've had some plain canvas totes taking up space in my craft bin for awhile now. I bought a few of the 3 packs the last time they were on sale at Joann's and just hadn't had much inspiration for doing something with them until this past week. With Valentine's Day just around the corner, I thought some heart totes would be the perfect little gift to have on hand for friends and cousins or even the kid's teachers, so I made these in about an hour using the trusty freezer paper method, and instead of cutting out hearts by hand with my xacto knife, I put my heart punch to good use.
To read the rest of this tutorial, please click here to see it on my new blog, For the Love Of. Thank you!
I've been planning this takeover for quite some time, a year at least. I have been carefully plotting and thoughtfully training so that eventually, I could be, would be, known as the family photographer. You see for years, years I tell you, Art has been the camera guy, the guru of all things technical, the master of digital in this family. He did, after all get his degree in Film and spent many years learning the technical art of lighting, f-stop, ISO, blah, blah, blah. I watched him fiddle with the dials on our digital cameras to adjust lighting and film speed and I let it intimidate me. So I let him continue to be the photographer of the family. Everyone referred to our digital camera as "Art's camera" and I got stuck with the tiny point and shoot.
But as I started to blog, I realized that I too could become the photographer of the family. Actually I realized that if I wanted to get a post written and published before the next ice age, I would have to become a photographer. Not necessarily ideal to wait for the hubs to get home every day to take blog photos, you know. So I slowly started picking up that bad boy of a camera and began playing around with it. I asked questions, read tutorials, studied what I liked about others photographs, until I started to feel comfortable and slowly but surely, that camera is now as much mine as it is his.
We recently upgraded lenses, making the camera a couple of pounds heavier and the strap quite a bit more uncomfortable. I'd been on the lookout for a sweet camera strap cover to add some padding and style to the boring black strap that is standard with all digital cameras. And what do you know, Andrea from Knitty Bitties hooked me up! I can't tell you how excited I was to dress up that boring strap with the pretty little cover. And you know what? Soon after the camera got a makeover, the kids started referring to it as "Mommy's camera." Aha, camera domination had taken place by the woman of the house. Finally!
Andrea started her own Etsy shop over 2 years ago to share her passion for sewing. She is a wife, a mother, a runner, a reader, a baker, a blogger, and a crazy skilled seamstress. Her work is as flawless as her taste in fabrics and design. I love her use of color and the way she mixes patterns in an unexpected way.
Today, in honor of Valentine's Day, Andrea is giving away one camera strap cover of your choice to one lucky reader!
To enter, please go visit Andrea's shop and leave a comment here telling us what your favorite item is. Extra entries for "liking" Knitty Bitties Facebook fan page, and for following Andrea's blog, and by following my blog (the other Andrea). And heck, if you tweet about it I guess that deserves an entry too! Make sure to leave a comment here for every entry so they all get counted. I will leave the giveaway open until Thursday 2/17/2011 11:59 PST and I will announce the winner on Friday 2/18/2011.
Happy Valentine's Day Friends! I hope that no matter what your plans are, your day is filled with love.
Valentine's Day weekend is upon us, and even though our house has been decorated for almost a month, we don't yet have our Valentines made for Taylor's Kindergarten class. While browsing the last couple of days, take a look at these cute homemade lovelies I came across.
Adorably simple paint chip bookmarks, stamped with love and with a simple signature on the back.
The best part is I have plenty of V-Day stamps, I'd just have to make a quick trip to Lowe's
And look at what this simple color block artwork turned into via mer mag:
Absolutely brilliant, and tres chic.
I'm almost thinking a combination of the two would be absolute perfection. Color-block artwork bookmarks. No need to actually run out and pick up the paint chips or buy the vellum envelopes, although I do love a vellum envelope. By gosh I think I've found it!
I worked from home today which is always a treat and was kept quite busy. We did take a little break for some post school frozen yogurt though :) I'm looking forward to a family weekend filled with my nephew's 7th birthday party and another birthday party for one of Taylor's classmates on Sunday. And then the big day on Monday! Anyone have any special plans for the day or night? It's a regular work day for Art and I, but I plan to make a lasagna for dinner and just be together as a family.
I sadly found Leslie's Valentine Day Advent calendar too late to make one of my own this year, but its not too late to head on over to her blog and read her thoughts on Valentine's Day together as a family. I love, love, love what she has to say. Please stop on over and say hi if you get a chance.
In between parties I do have to make my way over to get Taylor some new shoes. I have a policy that when it comes to shoes, I go for quality vs. quantity. I used to buy her shoes from Baby Gap when they were on sale, Target and Payless, but they're just not comfortable for her and she doesn't end up wearing them. I don't blame her, I can't stand cheap shoes either. Too many years working retail and standing on a cold showroom floor. So for about 2 years now I spend $40 on a good pair of Stride Rites or Pedipeds. Her 1 of 2 pairs of school shoes have had it and they stink up her feet so bad the whole room smells. It is no exaggeration. I was a little embarrassed when I picked her up from Nana's house yesterday and she politely told me the shoes have to go.
All this to say in a very roundabout way, where do you shop for nice quality children's clothes and shoes? I really want to enact the quality vs. quantity policy for all their clothes and shoes now that they are a little older and aren't getting so messy. I find that when I do buy quality, it obviously lasts longer, but they seem to enjoy wearing it more and are even more comfortable. Besides, the Target girls section now that Taylor is in a 6x leaves much to be desired. Have you seen some of the clothes in that department? Biting my tongue.
Oh, there was one last thing that I had to share before I go! Have you heard of Knitty Bitties? Well she is a fellow Andrea and we have become friends through this wacky world of social media. The girl has mad sewing skills and her work is flawless. I can personally attest to it. Come back on Monday, the big big day for a special something from Andrea. I promise you won't want to miss it!
And I will leave you with this fun snippet. I was reminded of this video I saw last weekend when I used the term roundabout. Watch it. I promise you will laugh, even if you're not a Star Wars geek.
Happy Weekend Friends!
I never used to be much of a fan of Valentine's Day. In fact for a long time I despised the holiday. Oh sure I've been dating and/or married for the last 15 years of my life, so its not for lack of having a companion that I didn't love the holiday. Rather, I think having a partner on Valentine's Day caused me to have an unhealthy expectation of what the day should mean or should be.
Sort of like New Year's Eve. You know, there's this big expectation that New Year's Eve, like Valentine's Day, should be special and fabulous and one of the best days of the year, when really, it's just another day.
So you come to expect flowers. And then when you get flowers, well they aren't the right flowers.
Or you want to go out to dinner, and in the beginning your gentleman doesn't make reservations. So you drive around for hours with a steadily decreasing blood sugar level, and by the time you find a restaurant to take you in you are sobbing because you snapped at said gentleman and caused a fight.
So the next year, he makes reservations, but it wasn't at the right restaurant. You wanted to try the hipster new restaurant on the other side of town.
Gosh, this girl sure sounds like a spoiled brat, doesn't she? That's what holidays like Valentine's Day do to some girls in their twenties. And so after a few years, you both give up on celebrating and you quietly ignore the holiday for a while.
Then something magical happens. You reach your thirties and you are a bit more mature, and a bit wiser.
You're a mother now, and you realize that a carnation can melt your heart, and a glued together hodge-podge of a preschool craft makes you smile and you proudly hang it on the fridge.
And forget going out to dinner. Let the twenty somethings fight over a table. You'll make filets at home and eat dinner together in peace after the kids go to bed.
You hang pink and red hearts all over because your little girl loves the house to look festive.
And you realize that this Valentine's Day stuff ain't so bad. In fact it's downright fun. You're older now, and a bit wiser, and can appreciate the joy that simple little things like waxed paper hearts and red bows can bring.
Thank goodness.
Happy Valentine's Day
(It's a little early, I know, but we're feeling in the mood around here)
Arts & Craft Projects from Top to Bottom:
Collage 1: Salt Dough Hearts (as made last year here), but the one Taylor is wearing is actually a gift from our friends the Gallaghers; Borax Crystal Hearts (recipe here)
Collage 2: Waxed Crayon Hearts originally found project here, but Shannen also made them here
Collage 4: Heart Paper Garland tutorial here and glitter votives are just made by brushing glue on votive holder and rolling in Martha Stewart craft glitter.
Collage 5: Well that's just my sweet girl, and I don't think you need a tutorial on how to make one of those ;)
I'm linking up to Heather's Life Made Lovely Monday
Remember when I said a couple posts back that the One Warm Coat drive was going great? Well, I thought I'd just show you a little peek at what our guest bedroom currently looks like. I have lost count of how many coats we've gathered at this point. Nicole has just as many, if not more at her house. I am simply overjoyed.
And it's not just the results that have me in awe, but the spirit of community that has surrounded with this one simple project. I sent out a mass email to friends, and then they forwarded it on. I posted a link on Facebook, and within hours other friends are sharing links and complete strangers are commenting and telling their friend they'll drop off some coats this week. I've got coats coming in from Syd's preschool, Taylor's Kindergarten classmates, workmates, friends and family. It is just awesome. It's also almost shameful how easy this project has been. You can visit the site here and learn how you can organize a coat drive in your town.
In other related news, the budget is going fine. I took a trip to Michael's to get a few Valentine's Day craft supplies and paid with cash, staying well within my budget. Then I came home Saturday night and visited Flower Patch Farmgirl and saw this heart garland.
Ridiculous right? The hearts are made of sheets from a catalog. Genius.
And so if I was going to go out and blow my craft supply budget on a heart paper punch, I better get some use out of it. Luckily Shannan also made a book wreath using that same punch last year, so now I've just about recouped my costs of that heart paper punch when you factor in what it would cost to buy some garland and a wreath. It's almost a no-brainer right?
both images from Flower Patch Farmgirl
So back to Michael's I went to buy that punch and the Styrofoam wreath, armed with two 40% off coupons in hand. I am now $8 over my $20 craft budget for the month. Thanks a lot Flower Patch Farmgirl with your inexplicable love for Valentine's Day crafts and cute heart paper punch. I will now have to cut back in other areas this month to make my overall goal.
That's okay though. It's going to take a lot of punching to get all those hearts. Perfect excuse to sit my butt down on the coach and eat chips and watch Conan.
Are you all making anything sweet for V-Day?
Goodnight all, off to punch and laugh I go.
p.s. A huge thank you to all of you that took the time to leave a comment with some feedback and/or advice, or simply just some encouragement on where to take Playgrounds & Lollipops. I am working on responding to your comments via email, as well as dreaming up some new posts, and possibly a new series. Think 'Feel Good, Look Good' type of content. I have so many ideas swirling in my head, but I just need a couple of weeks to get organized and think things through. I am excited, but don't want to disappoint! Stay tuned...
Need a last minute Valentine favor for the little ones today? We whipped up a batch of these salt dough hearts and made necklaces out of them for Taylor's preschool class. They were so quick and easy we made another batch this morning for a Valentine's Day Party we're invited to.
We used baker's twine to make the hearts into necklaces, but you could also use yarn or ribbon and make bracelets too. I was skeptical if the boys would wear them, but many of them did. I predict that by next year (kindergarten) though, jewelry will be a definite no-no for the little boys.
The recipe is simple: 1 cup flour, 1/2 cup salt and 1/2 cup warm water. Mix it up and roll out the dough to cut your shapes out. This morning we cut out stars for the boys. You bake in a 250 degree oven for 2 hours, or until nice and hard. You can paint them using acrylic paints and sprinkle a little glitter on top, or you can tint the dough with food coloring before baking and mix in the glitter as well. Pictured above is the painting method.
Put in a cute stamped bag and maybe add a sweet treat, and you're all set!
Mr. H and I usually don't do Valentine's Day. It's a pact we made with each other at least 10-11 years ago after a few failed attempts at celebrating. To us, V-day is kind of like New Years Eve you know. So much anticipation for it to be "magical", "special", yada-yada-yada. Instead of magical and special, you usually end up with expensive, over rated, and long, long waits. So a pact we made, but it usually doesn't stop us from exchanging a card, a kiss and perhaps even a nice dinner at home.
This year though, I sort of felt that with all the stress of the past 2 months, and how much we have truly 'neglected' each other for the sake of the house and move, why not break the rules and get him a little something something? So off to Nordstrom I went this morning to pick up a couple of little gifts for my wonderful man.
First, I decided I wanted to get him a fantastic bar of soap or shower gel. You see, I love it when he wears cologne, but he often forgets to put it on. So light bulb moment! Replace his Dove shower wash with some YSL L'Homme shower gel, that way he is forced to leave the house smelling yummy. The scent is exactly how I want my man to smell. Plus the added bonus is that it's cheaper than cologne! Next up, some treatment for his skin. I am so proud of him that he is actually starting to use the face wash Santa put in his stocking this past Christmas. Now, to conquer moisturizer. The sales guy recommended this product from Jack Black skincare. Named after one of Art's favorite comedic actors and wrapped in manly shades of royal blue and black. How can he resist? I picked up a couple of filets at the market. Perhaps 2010 will be the year that gets us back on the Valentine's Day train?
Happy Valentine's Day everyone. Now go give your man a big kiss and a smack on the bum!
I finally got my act together and decorated for Valentine's Day with some of my homemade craft projects. They were all very easy in concept, although a couple of the things were time consuming.
The first thing I tackled was this felt heart garland. Because I wanted different sized hearts, I had to run a straight stitch through the middle of the hearts, as opposed to the tops, but I actually don't mind how it came out. Kind of gives it more of a handmade feel I think. I may be wrong, but go ahead and let me believe that :)
The next project was this burlap wreath. After making the first one I became obsessed and made 4 more to hang on all the doors in the house! The best part is that it's a no-sew project, but burlap does make a mess! Wait, the even better part was that I made 4 wreaths for $1.89!!! Burlap is super cheap and when you use your coupon from Joann's, even better.
Visit Craftaholics Anonymous for the tutorial. I saw her note on how to make less of a mess with burlap after I already cut my strips. So take note, dampen your burlap with a spray bottle first before cutting for less fuzz and mess. I also made the first wreath that's hanging on my door using her method of cutting the wire into two pieces and then bending them together, but I don't suggest this. It hangs a little wonky and I had to actually tape it down to the door a bit. Your best bet is to just bend your wire coat hanger into submission all in one piece. You will need pliers and wire cutters though to twist the ends together after stringing on the burlap and then to cut off the ends so they're not so much of a poking hazard. I used 4 2 inch strips for each wreath. I actually used about 6 strips for the one on the front door which is why it looks so full, but then started to run out of burlap for the remaining 3. Like I said ladies, $1.89 made me 4 wreaths!
Next thing on the list, was making these Valentine's pouches for the kiddos. I got the idea from a Pottery Barn one and decided, "I can do that!"
Taylor's is a little fancier with the rick-rack trim
We're filling the pouches with little notes and goodies each morning and the kids are so excited to check their pouches each day. It's like Christmas stockings! We're keeping it simple with handmade notes and treats we have laying around the house, but they don't seem to mind. A treat is a treat!
How cute is this little guy (or gal)? Meet Sophie. I found her over at The Long Thread. She has a ton of great Valentine's Day ideas over at her site, this being one of them. Guess I better get cracking on my V-Day projects!
Also, over at Etsy there's an entire shop dedicated to a relief effort for Haiti, which I just read suffered a huge 6.0 aftershock this morning. Please continue to keep the people of Haiti in your prayers. If you want to do more, the Craft Hope for Haiti shop is a great place to buy handmade. All proceeds go to Doctors Without Borders.
You can pick up this adorable PDF template to sew a homemade personalized Valentine's Day pouch for your little ones. Perfect for preschool or kindergarten. Any other great Valentine's craft ideas out there?
