Doilies, red paint, & milk glass vases

...just some bits and pieces of my valentine decor this year :)

Just like last year, simple and sweet.

The Valentine's season grows on me more and more every year. What a wonderfully laid back holiday to express love and admiration to those we care about most...to make and receive valentines...to eat sweets, and smell lovely flowers...and let's be real, I'm a sucker for pretty much anything mushy-gushy and lovey-dovey :)

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

Sprititual Health:

Watched this beautiful video: Temples Are a Beacon

Inspires me to get to the temple with Adam...we are so blessed to live so close to one! So blessed.

Physical Health:

Chasing after my little boy, and my sweet 6-month old nephew Wesley who just started crawling! :) Wesley and his beautiful Momma Jamie are staying with us for a couple days while she is here on business :)

Our Christmas-filled home

Lots of red and green

Nativities

Candles and cards

Paper Snowflakes

Festive sweets

Our tree all decorated

Kisses for the baby Jesus in his manger

You can be sure that all of our Christmas goodness will stay up 'til my birthday at the end of January...it just makes my heart too happy to take it down any earlier :)

** Disclaimer: I wish I could say I made the caramel-chocolate apples...but they were sweet gifts from my friend Penny who made them! :) And just in case some are wondering, I got the idea for the cupcakes on Pinterest here, too cute to pass up!

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

Spiritual Health:

I finished my reading of the Book of Mormon yesterday! Can't wait to share my thoughts on reading it this time around :) Today I watched this wonderful video:

"Wise Men Still Seek Him"

It's short and incredibly moving :)

Physical Health:

Doing some pilates that my sweet cousin in-law did with me last night after a family christmas party. Thanks Ali! My legs are going to be burnin' :)

DIY Paper Leaf Wreath

I was so excited when, last week, my sweet friend Kira was up for getting together for our kids to have a play-date and for us to have a craft-date :) I've needed to get my creative juices flowing thanks to Pinterest! And while this is not an orignal project (I found the idea here, along with other great wreath ideas) I really enjoyed creating it. Even if it took me a few minutes of being dumb-founded on how to exactly do it, right Kira? haha ;)

Supplies needed:

- wreath form -

- paper of choice -

(book pages or sheet music...I found my sheet music here)

- pencil -

- scissors -

- glue gun (& glue;) -

STEP 1:

Get a good amount of the paper you want to use. I loved the "Silent Night" sheet music I found here :)

STEP 2:

Trace out leaf shapes with a pencil and start cutting!

STEP 3:

Take your wreath form and use the hot glue to line it with the paper leaves.

STEP 4:

Fold remaining leaves in half long-ways, then unfold to get a nice crease.

STEP 5:

Make clusters of leaves (the more leaves, the thicker the wreath will be) with a small amount of hot glue.

STEP 6:

Glue the leaf clusters around the wreath. Putting glue at the joint of the clusters, and behind a few of the tips of the leaves so that they lay flat.

STEP 7:

Display!

And when Adam gets home from work (any minute now!) we'll be putting up our Christmas tree for Family Night! I've wanted to since last week :) You can bet we'll be enjoying Christmas music, sipping peppermint hot cocoa, and snacking on kettle corn in between stringing lights and hanging ornaments. Oh how I love this time of year!

And I'm sharing this over at Whipperberry and Under The Table and Dreaming.

Go see what others are sharing! :)

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

Spiritual & Physical Health:

Refer to the post the from earlier today :)

{DIY} Our Silhouettes on Canvas

I've wanted to make our silhouettes for quite some time, and was inspired by how easy Stephanie Nielson's tutorial was (which I can't seem to find! wish I had pinterest back then), but her yearly silhouettes are fabulous. My method is very similar to the spring silhouettes I made and shared over at The Idea Room! A very versatile concept :)

Here's how I created ours :)

STEP 1:

Take a profile photo of each person. (use a light background)

STEP 2:

Gather supplies...

- printed photos -

{ make sure they're mirror images of how you want your silhouettes to be }

{ I just printed them from my computer on regular paper }

- canvas (I used 11''x14'') -

- heavy cardstock/scrapbook paper -

{ I used white, but I just realized you could use black and skip all the painting steps! }

- Mod Podge (glue) -

- black acrylic paint -

- sharp scissors -

- 2 paint brushes -

{ one for the paint & one for the mod podge }

STEP 3:

With paint brush #1 quickly spread a thin layer of Mod Podge onto the back of the pictures. Then press onto the card stock/scrapbook paper.

STEP 4:

Cut out silhouette (this is my favorite part:) BE SURE to get all the details!...hairs, eyelashes...and be careful with trimming and cutting too far into the face/head, it's like a wig: you can always cut a little more, but you can't make it grow back if you've gone too far.

STEP 5:

Use tape to secure photo to a painting surface (in my case, cardboard) so that you won't have to touch it and smudge the paint.

STEP 6:

Use paint brush #2 and paint! Be sure to do TWO LIGHT LAYERS (let the 1st one dry)...otherwise it will bubble like the 3rd photo (I re-did that one, only took a few minutes:)...and make sure the paint strokes are all vertical. Let fully dry.

STEP 7:

Put a book under your canvas (if it's framed and hollow in the back) so that you have a hard surface to press the painted silhouette onto.

STEP 8:

Use paint brush #1 and quickly spread Mod Podge onto the back of the painted silhouette.

STEP 9:

Center/place silhouette on canvas, press and smooth with hands.

Ta-daa! Display your beautiful silhouettes and enjoy!

I wasn't sure if they'd really look like us, but they do :) and we love them!

This is definitely going to be a new tradition...

SUMMER SILHOUETTES :)

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

I'm sharing my project over at:

Whipperberry

Go see what other projects, ideas, and recipes people have been working on!

Shabby to Chic DIY Photo Gallery

I've been working on this framed photo display for a while now.

I was inspired by my stellar sister-in-law Becca :) She has a wall filled with unique white frames and beautiful pictures of her little family. I couldn't help but follow her lead!

And I thought I'd share how I created mine with all of you :)

- PATIENCE IS THE KEY to this whole project! I've been collecting frames for months now...every time I go thrifting I go down the frame isle...$1-3 each, me likey :)

- INSPECT THE FRAME...even little nicks and scratches on wood will show up and be more apparent after you paint the frames.

- CHECK THE BACK...some have little nails or staples to hold the glass and backing (which makes it hard to remove). Go for the flat metal holders, or holders that kind of spin :)

- ALWAYS REMEMBER POTENTIAL :)

- WIPE OFF...and sand to smooth any areas you notice need it.

- SPRAY 1 COAT OF PRIMER, not much goes a long way.

- SPRAY 2-3 [light] COATS OF PAINT...if you over-do it the paint will bubble or crinkle :(

- BE SURE to let each coat dry before you apply the next.

- I LOVE KRYLON spray paint {from Walmart). Each can is under $4. (I used less than 3 of each for this project)

- Almost forgot this one...I chose to develop a group of photos from a sweet outing we had (remember that?)...you can go with a theme or just a collection of various memories :)

- I first ORDERED THEM AS 4x6's [from Costco, best prices I've found]...then decided which one's I wanted to enlarge.

- I FIRST ROLLED OUT some heavy duty construction paper (from our remodel) to create a "template." You could use wrapping paper too :)

- I displayed the frames and photos the way I wanted, then marked where the nails should go.

- TAPE UP "template" to the wall...then HAMMER (or in our case wrenched;) THE NAILS in the wall.

- After the nails were in we ripped and cut the paper off the wall, leaving the nails right where they should be! :)

- I used picture hanging nails (from Lowe's) and Command Picture Hanging Strips (from Walmart) to get all the frames up.

I included lots of details, but I promise it's not hard at all! Just patience with collecting and painting the frames :) But it's SO worth it. That's my favorite wall in the house now ;)

I've found [on my beloved Pinterest] a few more unique ways to display photos that'd I'm excited about...can't wait to get going on them!

** I'm sharing my project here:

Whipperberry

Under The Table and Dreaming

Tatertos and Jello

The Stories of A to Z

Go see what other creative bloggers have been working on! :)