It's a keeper...

I hope you had a wonderful Christmas.  I loved being with family... and we dodged the BIG snow :) (unhappy face from my kids).

I have been working on some of this and some of that...   

I found this soooo cute tutorial for a coin purse at where the orchids grow blog...

It is for an adorable coin purse using hexagons.  I made one for my Mom for Christmas (did I take a picture??  of course not - I forgot).

But, I decided to make myself one - more simple... no hexagons, just fabric I love.  I still am trying to follow/figure out her tutorial for the assembly.  I know this sounds weird, but I would rather make up my own pattern than try to follow one.  I feel like I am trying to bend my brain in half.

This is what I made:

I still want to work out some kinks, and then maybe a tutorial...

I hope you are enjoying your holidays :)  Talk with you soon :)

Here's looking at you...

I have put off having family photos taken for waaayyyyy tooooo longgggg!!!

So, when I saw an awesome deal for an hour long session photo shoot offered on Living Social I signed up right away.

Courtney Smith took our photos last month and I had some of them blown up at Costco. 

 I love ordering photos there.  The prices are great (I had five 16 x 20's printed for just under $30!!) and they are usually ready the next day.

So, this is what I did... inspired by some pins I saw on Pinterest.

 I found this 5 pack of 16 x 20 canvases at Michaels.  They were $19.99 and I used the 40% coupon (LOVE that coupon!) and used Mod Podge...

     

slathered it on the canvas with a foam brush and then put the photo over top of the Modge Podge.     To make sure I got all of the air bubbles out, I turned the canvas with the photo on it over and ran my hand over the back of the canvas.

  

Next I flipped over the canvas, photo side up and slathered more Mod Podge all over the photo.  I let the first coat dry and ten added a second.  I used the matte kind of Mod Podge, but you could use whatever finish you like :)

So here are the final results...

I hung the photos with simple 3M Command poster strips (2 per photo) and hung them going up our stairs.  

I love seeing my children smiling every morning at me :)  at least in picture form ;)

 

You can find the darling printable about home here at eighteen25's blog (I found this out from my wonderful friend Tifani :).  They have different color options you can choose from and some more really cute things you can download.

Thanks so much for stopping by! I hope you have a wonderful day!

valentine's tulle wreath

i have been wanting to make something festive for the front door - down with the
Christmas wreath -
up with the valentine's day one :)

money needed to be minimal on this one, so after being dismayed at how much silk flowers were (even half price), i thought of this idea as i wandered around hobby lobby the other day...

take one wire wreath form:

yes, for $1.99 - well, actually i used my handy dandy 40% off coupon, so it was less than that...

then 3 of these spools of tulle - they were half off, so $2.50 a spool. i probably could have just bought two, because i only used a partial amount of the third one, but i really wanted my wreath to be full. any leftover tulle is great for using on presents :)

cut the tulle in approximately 5 inch strips - give or take an inch. experiment and see what is to your liking.... you will have a huge pile when you are done.

then begin the mindless task of tying the tulle around each wire.

keep tying...

and tying....

and tying...

until...

ta da!

i cut a bigger piece of tulle and tied it onto the back top center to use as a hanger.

this one is pink, but there are lots of other tulle colors out there - even glitter tulle- oooooh.
my grand total, with tax, was $9.32... with tulle leftover for some presents :)
if you make one, let me know! i'd love to see it!