Ready for Valentine's Day

I've been getting my shop ready for Valentine's Day by making lots of different heart garlands! I love how simple these are, but they add just the perfect touch of whimsy to any space! I also love that the heart garlands can be used for other events, like baby showers, bridal showers, weddings, or just to brighten your home. I recently made some heart garland with the colors of the rainbow, paired with dictionary hearts, to decorate my girls' room. It looks fabulous & is so cheery hanging on the wall!

Love notes garland

Love on location garland

Pink hearts garland

Our family walk (scrapbook page)

Sharon's Dance Recital

Just working on some scrapbooking catch-up pages.

A Family Walk (& pictures of the girls)

Yesterday was the first warm not completely freezing day we've had in about a week. So, when Sharon asked to go on "a little walk" yesterday evening, we said ok. We put Savannah in the stroller & walked down to the end of our road, where there is a large vacant lot & some mountains small hills that are fun to climb. With the sun shining, it was just warm enough to be out with just a warm coat.

Me, Sharon & Savannah

 Sharon is our little adventurer, and loved running up the little bike jumps that kids have created out of the dirt. When she got the top of each one she would jump up as high as she could. She also ran every which way, going as fast as her feet could carry her. When we got to a little saddle in the hills, she immediately set off on her own up the large hill. She fell a few times, but was perfectly fine. We brought our cameras along & were able to capture a couple of good pictures of the girls in the fabulous lighting!

Sharon

 Savannah rode in the stroller up the hill & then I let her get out and walk around. While she is pretty much fearless at home, she was a little less certain on the rocky ground, and kept stumbling. She was a bit grouchy after falling down a few times, and was only too happy to get back in the stroller. She sure is growing quickly! She has 4 teeth, loves to try to jump, climbs on everything at home, loves to dance & sing & direct music by waving her arms. She is starting to throw food on the floor, mostly because she likes to watch Jack eat it, rather than because she doesn't like it.

Savannah

It sure was nice to get outside & spend some good family time. We're definitely going to be going on more walks in the near future!

My new gun

Comic Book Bunting

A friend from church recently asked if I could do a custom order for a birthday party she has coming up. She wanted 5 yards of comic book bunting. She supplied the comic books & even had them cut into the triangles, and I made the bias tape & sewed them all together. Mingled with the pages from comic books were coordinating triangles of solid colored card stock. I think they turned out fabulously! Here are a couple of pictures! What do you think?

Comic book bunting

Perfect for a super hero birthday party, or even just to decorate a boy's room!

My little artist

{Giveaway} Love Notes Garland from my Etsy shop

Hi everybody! It's time for my first giveaway! I'll be giving away 3 yards of my beautiful Love Notes garland! It's made with 1 inch hearts that are cut from sheet music out of a 1939 copy of Anthology of Modern French songs, and red card stock. Entering the giveaway is easy! Just follow the instructions in the Rafflecopter box at the bottom of this post. The giveaway starts January 15th (today) at 12:00 AM, and will end January 23rd at 12:00 AM. The winner will be announced on this post & notified by email. Please, feel free to share with your friends! Thanks for visiting!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

A Little Dirt Never Hurt

Winnie the Pooh Garland

A while ago at a thrift store, I came across an old, very well-loved copy of The House at Pooh Corner by A. A. Milne. It was missing most of the cover & some of the pages were torn, so I decided to rescue it and give it new life. I've been using it to make my paper garlands, and love the vintage feel it gives to them. Today I finished making some garland using the Winnie the Pooh pages & white paper.

Winnie the Pooh & White paper garland

I've listed the garland in my Etsy shop & can make more as necessary! I also have Winnie the Pooh garland with pink card stock circles.

2012 Halloween Page

Etsy Success

I've been keeping pretty busy lately as I've had 5 different orders, 3 of them being custom orders, from my Etsy shop. I was telling my husband last night that it sure is nice to have a hobby that starts to pay for itself! I'm not really expecting to make tons of money with this business, though of course that would be nice, I really just enjoy getting to create something every day, and help to make other people's lives a little more crafty! I've been a little surprised that my best sellers so far have been my paper creations rather than some of my fabric items. So far, I've sold 131 yards of paper garland & just yesterday sold 12 yards of bunting. I had my first international sale, and have really enjoyed working on various custom orders. I love making the garlands with paper hearts, which is perfect for Valentine's Day coming up! This week I worked with a woman who asked me to make a heart garland made out of maps & I think it turned out beautifully. Here are some pictures of what I've been making lately. What's your favorite?

Pink hearts with dictionary paper

"Defining Love" - Red hearts with vintage dictionary paper hearts

"Love Notes" - Vintage sheet music with cream hearts

"Love on location" - 3D map hearts

Savannah's Red Dress

Zoku Quick Pop Maker

For Christmas, my mother-in-law sent us some money to get a gift for the family. We debated about various games, and other ideas, but we finally settled on getting a Zoku quick pop maker. It came with the freezing base, the super tool for removing the pops, 4 sticks and 4 drip guards.

I saw these awhile ago, and have had it on my wish list since. I really loved the idea of being able to say, "Hey, lets make popscicles" and rather than waiting 2 or so hours to let them freeze, we could be eating them in about 10 minutes!
After we got it in the mail, I let it freeze over-night, and then made some pineapple pops around lunch time. I just put a can of crushed pineapple with the juice into the blender (obviously without the can), along with a little bit of milk to make it creamier, and just a touch of sugar. Blend. Insert sticks into the pop maker. Pour pineapple mixture into the Zoku, and made sure not to fill past the fill line. I just let it sit on the counter for about 10 minutes, and once they were firm enough, I screwed the super tool onto the sticks, and was able to pull the pops out with no problems!
Since then, we've also made pops with yogurt, mixed with a little milk to make it pour easier. Yesterday, I put some sliced bananas in Sharon's yogurt pop. This morning I made one just out of apple juice for my 1 year old, and she loved it! I just held the pop and let her bite little pieces off. I love the texture of the pops, they are so easy to eat & haven't been rock hard like some pops I remember making as a kid.
Next on my list of pops to make is some fudgecicles and pudding pops.
If you have a bigger family, they also have the Zoku Triple Quick Pop Maker, or if you just want to make one at a time there's the single pop maker. You can also buy extra sticks, a storage case to keep pops in the freezer, and other tools.
So, if you love homemade popcicles, check it! It's super fun!

FIY: I was not compensated in any way by Zoku for the opinions in this post. I just wanted to share my experience with a product that I love!