Lighter and Brighter

John and I have talked forever about painting our room, but it just seemed to take the back seat to the other rooms in the house.  Finally a few weeks ago we decided it was time! We found the perfect color that we both agreed on and the paint was 15% off at our local hardware store.  We love the Royal Paint from Good's Store.  It always goes on so nice and looks great when it is finished.  When we first moved in the bedroom color was perfect and matched our bedding, but as always,I am not one to keep the same style for too long.    John bought the paint and when the weekend came he was painting away Saturday and Sunday.  Thankfully it was the only weekend we got snow, so I took the kids to my parents to sled while he knocked out the bedroom in a few hours. 

One thing I did want to suggest when painting was this paint edger. I really love using this and I have tried a couple.  Once I got the hang of it, it was perfect for painting the top trim of the wall.  

http://www.homedepot.com/buy/paint/paint-accessories-apparel/shur-line/paint-edger-55331.html

I apologize for my bad photography, I am not the greatest picture taker. You can see all the white patches from nails in the walls or just kids and furniture putting an extra ding in there. It felt so dark, almost an army green look.  

But then,

 Tada! 

A fresh crisp color and I feel like it is 100 times better.  I just love this room!  

Now all I need to do is add a few accessories and paint the side tables.  You can see a good view of one of the side tables ablove. I am not sure if I should paint them an antique white to match the armoire or black to match the bed.  Let me know what you think in a comment, I'd love for someone else to make this decision. ha ha.  Notice too, how good my green chair looks with the blue grey paint!! I am going to look around for a pretty blue grey chevron fabric for a pillow on the green chair.  Like this one here, but this one is a little more then what is in my decorating budget.  Here I am making more projects for myself, I think it is a sickness! Ha ha. 

http://www.allmodern.com/Twinkle-Living-ZigZag-Pillow-in-Seafoam-P01SW-TWL1228.html

Another plus...it has been 3 weeks and it still looks this clean!  Another great reason to paint my room, it takes a while before it gets messy again, because I don't want the Ahhh effect to go away every time I walk in.  

Thanks for reading! 

Recycled Valentine's Part II

Today I am going to show you the other card I had done and a fun low cost craft for you and your hubby to do on Valentines Day.  The other day I showed you how to take a VS shopping bag and make a card with it, using the bag for decorative paper and cutting the handles for the ribbon.  This next card is along the same lines.  My husband bought something from one of our local pharmacy's and it came in this pretty blue floral paper bag, which I kept for such a time as this. I rummaged around my craft stuff and found all the other supplies i needed without buying a thing! 

Supplies to make this card:

a. Decorative paper bag or even a brown paper grocery bag

b. A small scrap piece of card stock 

c. Felt for the heart

d. A 1"x 8" inch strip of fabric 

e. Decorative edging scissors 

f. small paper cutter

g. Glue stick and fabric glue

Starting Your Project: 

1. Gather your supplies

2. If you are using a bag you've saved, cut it open so it can lay flat for cutting it down to size

3a. Cut your card stock with the paper cutter with the finishing measurement being 2.5in. x 3.5in. and then do the same with the paper bag, cutting it a 1/4 inch smaller.  Then take the decorative scissors around the edges of each rectangle.

3b. Cut your piece of felt into a heart about 2in wide and 2.5in. long 

4. Take your glue stick and glue the decorative paper on top of the card stock leaving a 1/4in. boarder around the decorative paper. Then take the fabric glue and glue the heart on. 

5. Take the fabric strip and wrap it around the card trying it to the front around the center of the heart.  To keep it in tacked take a little bit of fabric glue under the knot of fabric, gluing it to the heart. 

6. Add your special Message to the back! 

After you've made your valentine's you'll be in such a crafty mood you'll love this next idea I have for Valentine's Day.  

John and I decided to go light this Valentine's.  We don't see the need for gifts as it's not our birthdays, but more making the time for each other, and with 2 toddlers that may not always be easy.  And for us we are content staying in and lounging together on the sofa and if we eat at home we can just retire to the living room without getting in our car and driving home, we are already there! So I planned that we will get Tony Wang's Chinese(what we think is the best Chinese in Lancaster County), retire to the living room with a good movie and talking, and a fun activity of decorating mugs for each other from funny messages to love notes, and other things that can not me mentioned, for view discretion, he he.  The thought behind the mugs was, before kids I loved getting up Saturday morning early with John. We'd still be in our sweats at 6:30 or 7am; those weekends I could get him up that early; haha, and walk out back with our coffees and just sit in the chairs and stare out enjoying the beautiful garden our landlady had worked so hard on. It was such a great time spent together, just enjoying our coffee and each other.  So I thought this would be a nice thing to do, make special mugs for Saturday coffee and maybe a few weekends getting up before the kids to enjoy the silence and each others company. 

So if you aren't spending a lot of money this Valentines, go to Target and get their $1.99 RE White porcelain mugs.  They are a great size for coffee or tea and perfect for decorating! You can find the directions for it on this Site I found on Pinterest, Designmom also says you can find the pens at Michael's. 

In  Target Store Only- could not find online

Get it here: http://www.amazon.com/Pebeo-Porcelaine-China-Marker-Anthracite/dp/B00266MNGK/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1328555136&sr=8-1

Hope you have a lovely Valentine's 

Frozen Yogurt Tube Holders

My kids love frozen yogurt tubes! My mom and I always have a supply in our freezer, that's how much they like them!  This morning when I was getting them their yogurts I realized I was out of paper towels! Oh NO!! I wrap their yogurts so their little hands don't freeze! But, my supply of paper towels quickly dwindles with the daily yogurt.  Right away the idea came to me to wrap them in some scrap fabric.  Then I thought that wouldn't be enough to keep the cold in, maybe sewing it into a pad by adding interface. YEAH! I quickly rummaged through the fabrics that were already covering my kitchen table, with another project I doing, and found a piece of scrap that was the perfect size! This was so simple to whip up, yet something was still missing...VELCRO!! I had just bought these velcro dots from Good's for my other project and they are the perfect size!!  This was great! I am never using another paper towel again for this! This is going to save me a few dollars and they are washable.  And for all you who love recycling, you'll love this idea! 

What You Need: 

1- 4 1/4 x 5 1/4 piece of light weight interface ( I used Pellon 880F Soft shape)

1 - 4 3/4 x 10 3/4 piece of fabric

2- velcro stickers

coordinating thread

 Fold fabric in half, right sides together

 Place interface on one wrong side then pin

 Sew, back stitching on each corner, just in case you go over the opening

 Keep a 1 1/2 inch opening for turning it right side out

 Trim off the access fabric, leaving the fabric above the opening, to tuck it in to sew the opening shut.

It is ok that this side is not sewn

 Turn right side out

Poke the corners out with your scissor

 Tuck in the extra fabric

Sew over the opening

  Press with a warm iron on wool setting

 Before taking the velcro off, press the sides together, it will make it easier to attach (it is very sticky)

 Place the velcro on the corners of one side (make sure it is on the 4 1/4 side not the longer side)

  If you have a yogurt tube, use it as a guide, so you know where to put the other side of velcro and how tight you want it to be

 gently slide the yogurt out to press the velcro into the fabric for best adhesive

 Press for 10 seconds or follow instructions on the back of the velcro package

And your kids have a cover for their tubes.  They are machine wash, cool/warm water with like colors and tumble dry low.  If you use a different interface, you will need to check to see the washing instructions.

Flower Cards

I was just talking to one of my MOPS girls this afternoon about craft ideas for our group.  It got me thinking, that one of the crafts I mentioned to her I have not shared on my blog yet! I love making these fun flower pins and I just made my sister a card with the pin as part of the card.  It was very cute and she loved it, requesting more!  It is a nice way to add a little something with your gift or even if you are just giving them money for birthday or graduation, it's a fun extra! 

What You'll Need:

1. 1- 8x5in. piece of card stock

2. 1- 3x4 piece of card stock for 

message inside card {optional}

3. 1- 4 1/2in. piece of coordinating grosgrain ribbon 
4. Double stick tape {if  using message box}

5. Craft glue and brush
6. CTMH Stamps of Choice for message {optional}
7. INK
8. 1- 2 1/2 in. wide and 24-30in. long strip of pretty fabric (and a little extra fabric for the back or you can use felt)

9. Hot Glue gun and sticks

10. CTMH coordinating brad for flower{optional}

11. Scissors
12. Pin back

1. Attach  smaller piece of card stock with tape 
to larger piece 

2. Fold the 8x5 paper in half

3. Glue back of ribbon 

4. Place the ribbon on the front of the card, I like it towards the top but you can place it in the center too. Maybe even vertical on the side.

5. Trim the excess ribbon from the sides of the card

6. Apply your stamps or hand write a message inside your card



7. To start your flower, start with a twist & fold 2 inches down from the string and hot glue, what will be your center, to the untwisted 2 inches of fabric as shown in the picture. 

8. continue twisting the fabric inward so the pattern shows, hot gluing it to the sides as you go
 

9. End your flower with the last inch of fabric twisting it to the back of the flower and hot gluing it, like so,

you may have to glue a few spots to make sure it is secured down. 

this is the finished flower

10. To add a little sparkle, I use CTMH (Close To My Heart) Brads, I love these things!  Just push it through your fabric and open prongs to secure it in. If the fabric is too thick, bend the prongs sideways and hot glue them under a fabric fold.  (as I had to do with this flower) 

ta-da

11. Hot glue felt circle, that is just a little smaller than the flower, on the back. This adds extra security, that your flower will stay and hide any imperfections on the back.
 

12. Add a generous amount of hot glue in the spot you want the pin, adding the pin quickly before the glue hardens

 

13.  Carefully attach the flower pin to the ribbon 

and you have a beautiful card ...

And someone has a beautiful pin for their outfit

Send an encouraging note to someone with this pretty card.  Just a little gesture like this can make someones day 100% better!