Valentine Wreath #2

I was inspired by Jenny's wreath so much I had to make my own. And because I don't have any Valentine decor. And because we just had a Hobby Lobby open down the street (Yeah!) 

So here's my version of the cheap beauty.

I preferred the look of the twig wreath rather than the straw and at 50% of it was like 1.70. In fact everything was on sale so this cost me about $10. It was fun to make for me and with my 5 year old. He loves to paint, so he helped paint the base coat on all the wood pieces. 

I took apart the LOVE sign and reused the wire to hang the E and make the sparkley hearts poke out a bit. I might redo the ribbon where it hooks to the wreath. I'm not sure it needs it. Anyhow, I just wanted to share my idea.Now - go do yours :)

Grandma and Gramdpa Valentines idea

 I hope my mom doesn't read this.  This year the kids and I decided it would be nice to give our grandparents something this Valentines day.  I was especially thinking of Great Grandparents,  I'm sure life can get pretty dull when your getting up there in the years, and it's hard for the posterity to always remember them. Sad I know, but true, life is busy.  Well hopefully this will help them have a great day.

Letters are all the rage this year.  It's pretty obvious how to make this, I let the kids decorate large letters, got the pictures in B & W so they would all flow together.  Stuck them on some coordinating paper, punched holes in the sides to tie the ribbon.  I wanted something we could mail if we needed to that wouldn't require a lot of extra postage, and this is what I came up with.   The kids are going to personalize them this week at FHE with a little valentine note on the back.  I hope they like their gift of love.

Jenny

one more

So after my last post about that great blog I found. My friend informed me of yet another one, I am absolutely IN LOVE with. You have to check it out. If you like stylish furniture & like to make things you have to see it.

After we move I am definitely make several things off of this blog.

Blog Books

I've been in a crafting rut lately. Then I realized actually I'm creating as we speak. I'm an avid blogger and have made and printed many into books. I'm working on my family's 2009 right now.

So I thought I'd share my current faves. I've used Blurb for the last two books because I like being able to have more of a real book than a photo book. Plus I can add more pages with a minimal price increase. Photoworks is my favorite for Photo books because you can print pictures on the cover. Others that I've used are MyPublisher, Picaboo, ArtsCow,  Albelli, and Cookbook Publishers. The problem I find with any of these book making sites is that I can't fit my photos where I want them or put text right where I want. You're limited to the page templates. However, I just figured out that I can personalize the pages as much as I want by making them in my photo editing software. I use Microsoft Digital Image Suite (until I can afford Photoshop) and it works beautifully. After you make your page just upload it like any photo and use the full-bleed or full-page-sized photo for your page layout.

As one more side note, I've used some international publishers and I've found that you want to stick with ones from the UK or US. The print quality is better and the shipping prices and time frame aren't outrageous.

Please leave a comment if you've used a publisher that you love or have been impressed with, I'm always looking for more options.

and another car seat cover

I feel like the more and more I make these the better they get. I look back to my very first one, (at the very beginning of this blog). It was pretty much my first sewing project ever. And, it was cute, but I can just tell that things have slightly improved.

This is the first one I made for a boy baby. It was tough finding a cute fabric, because they are always covered in sports, animals, trucks...etc-that stuff is fun, but sometimes it's just nice to have something cute without all the boy crazy patterns.

After doing a lot of hunting, I ended up just returning to JoAnn's & finally found this treasure. I really love the fabric.

I was trying to think of a way to do the handles that wasn't just like all the other ones out there. I mean, like the girl ones have bows, buttons & flowers. So I just wanted to come up with something different that was boyish. I ended up using the a D-ring, which is waaaay easier than the girly stuff.

The next thing I thought of doing was this brilliant idea!

I can't take credit, because I saw it on a friends car seat cover. With the extra fabric (which really isn't a lot) I made a strap & added suspender hooks. This way the cover can double for a nursing cover. I know most breastfeeding-women usually get one that is exclusively for nursing, but sometimes it gets annoying carrying everything all over with you in that big, bulky diaper bag. Instead just carry the strap & leave the extra "blanket" at home.

I was pleased with the turn out.

Baby projects are the best, because they are cute & you get fast results.

a new favorite blog

I must admit I have been quite out of the blogging world of the past few months, due to traveling & the holidays. There is one blog that I absolutely love & check out all the time. Jenny showed me this one. It has SO MANY great ideas most come with a tutorial. So, while I was checking out that blog I found THIS blog & fell in love!!! There are so many little projects I am dying to do! Check it out.

Go forth & be inspired!