I love Valentine's day. It's funny how the meaning of Valentine's day transforms as you grow older. Now with 3 kids, elementary school and preschool it's less about romance and more about getting 50+ valentine cards bought, signed and ready for the class party.
(not to mention the time and energy that goes into helping your child find that perfect valentine card that they love).
Below are some cute ideas for Valentine's day cards and the best part... they are free!
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| SquirrellyMinds, Lisa Storms, The Cottage Market, Savvy Sugar |
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| I heart nap time, Armommy |
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| Or so she says, fox printable |
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| mustache printable, Rubber Punkin, The Clumsy Crafter, love grows heart bookmark |
Below is our first Valentine's dinner after we were married. We had it in the dining room of my parents house in Park City. My brother Cavet was our waiter. My mom (who is a fabulous cook) and I prepared an amazing dinner for Steve of filet mignon w/ bearnaise sauce, roasted asparagus, pear gorgonzola salad and cooked red wine pears for dessert.
Oh.... the fancy life we used to lead. ;)
Oh.... the fancy life we used to lead. ;)
My awesome brother was only 15 when he did this. He was soooo cute and profesh!
We have a wonderful program at my children's school that teaches about various artists called, Meet the Masters. I am one of the many volunteer-moms that teach the kids about artists and their styles.
This month we are studying Piet Mondrian. He is commonly known for his paintings using primary colored squares or rectangles and flat black lines. The kids did a really great job mimicking his technique to create their own pieces of art. Below is Madeline's simple creation.
If you would like to do this project at home with your child, it is actually very simple. We used construction paper and elmers glue for our project but there are many ways to do it.
Below I found a great site that teaches you how to do this using black electric tape and craft paint. I love how it turned out!
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| To see this simple tutorial go to puttisworld. |
I thought about decorating a room using Piet Mondrian's simple color scheme. White walls (or another light/cool color), and bold pops of red, yellow and blue. Below are just a few rooms I found that have this color scheme and fit my style.
LOVE.
psst.... I need that multi-colored arrowhead white pillow above. luv.luv.luv.
This sums up the first half of my life and it makes no sense, no sense at all!
How does that apply to decorating? All the many places I've lived and visited have had an effect on how I design my life. I do know that I am always on the search for new ways to change the look and feel of my environment. I get bored easily. I am one of those people who changes the layout of my furniture every 6 months or so cause I get bored with how it looks. From the age of 15-28 I was constantly on the go, being visually stimulated as I traveled and lived all over the world. Below are a few of my adventures...
Last but not least. In 2002 I took my last "out of country adventure" with my newly wed husband, parents and siblings while I was 3 month pregnant with Max. We took a 2 week vacation through Europe driving from Germany to Austria, Slovenia, Croatia, Venice Italy, Prague and Hungry. I heard it was amazing. I was nauseous and puking the whole time. ;)
From 2002-present my life has taken on a whole new kind of adventure. As my kids grow older they get to hear all my adventures about:
I look forward to the day I can take my husband and family to all the magical places I visited as a youth. I bring all the memories of these places I've visited into how I design my life.
How does that apply to decorating? All the many places I've lived and visited have had an effect on how I design my life. I do know that I am always on the search for new ways to change the look and feel of my environment. I get bored easily. I am one of those people who changes the layout of my furniture every 6 months or so cause I get bored with how it looks. From the age of 15-28 I was constantly on the go, being visually stimulated as I traveled and lived all over the world. Below are a few of my adventures...
Visiting Paris and London and eating a meal at Le 58 Tour Eiffel when I was 15 (restaurant located on the first level of the Eiffel Tower)
Moving to a gorgeous 4 level home on the outskirts of Paris, in a town called Saint-Cloud.
I wrote a million letters to all my HS friends in Ca. so the address is burned into my memory.
Address: 10 Ave. de la Pommeraie, Saint-Cloud, France 92210
I wrote a million letters to all my HS friends in Ca. so the address is burned into my memory.
Address: 10 Ave. de la Pommeraie, Saint-Cloud, France 92210
While living in France we traveled all over Europe. Amsterdam, Holland, Belgium, London, Greece, Sweden, ps my most magical memory was watching a live European rock concert in a castle in the middle of Luxembourg.
we are in these pictures, you can see our tiny faces and bodies in the bottom corner of the pictures. ;)
Spending 6 months in Jerusalem (during that time traveling to Egypt, Lebanon and the West Bank), hiking through the Jungle of the Philippines with a machete and living in small apartments that looked like an American garage.
For 3 years we spent our Summer vacations in the Cayman Islands scuba diving, snorkeling and sun bathing on gorgeous private beaches.
Last but not least. In 2002 I took my last "out of country adventure" with my newly wed husband, parents and siblings while I was 3 month pregnant with Max. We took a 2 week vacation through Europe driving from Germany to Austria, Slovenia, Croatia, Venice Italy, Prague and Hungry. I heard it was amazing. I was nauseous and puking the whole time. ;)
From 2002-present my life has taken on a whole new kind of adventure. As my kids grow older they get to hear all my adventures about:
"scuba diving with a barracuda"
"getting lost in the Filipino jungles"
"swimming in an old fountain in the middle of Paris with my 2 high school friends at midnight"
"almost being taken to jail in Czech Republic because the corrupt police demanded we pay them $375"
"being chased down an alleyway in Greece by angry restaurant owners"
"*This one was kinda gross, but it is a hilarious story about desperately needing to "relive myself" while hiking to the top of Mount Sinai in Egypt and having nowhere to go except behind a small rock I barely fit behind off the trail. Let's just say I experienced a bit of stage fright. "
"having little Israeli children throw rocks at us as we walked from the BYU Jerusalem center to Lions Gate"
"the bathroom in our house in France that had an amazing view of the Eiffel Tower right next to the toilette"
"watching 80 year old women make lace on the bridge in Venice, Italy"
"eating fresh out of the oven homemade pita bread in the West Bank"
"acquiring a parasite while in the Philippines and not realizing it until 2 years after I returned. (ew) Gross story, but one that changed my life forever"
"acquiring a parasite while in the Philippines and not realizing it until 2 years after I returned. (ew) Gross story, but one that changed my life forever"
and soooo much more....
I look forward to the day I can take my husband and family to all the magical places I visited as a youth. I bring all the memories of these places I've visited into how I design my life.
My sister's little boy just had his first B-day! Which means my other nephew's birthday is right around the corner. They posted some cute pics of this sweet guy. Happy Birthday!!!
I miss baby birthdays... well I actually miss babies in general. Their chubby cheeks, that thrill when you get them to smile at some ridiculous face you just made or something you said in a silly voice. Celebrating with them as they experience all their firsts... sitting up, rolling over, crawling or scooting, walking, running (and the subsequent goose egg on their forehead from falling forward), talking, laughing.... such a fun journey to watch these babies grow up. (and the joy is just as great if you are an aunt, grandma or just a friend... I always say Life is weird, but it's pretty darn amazing too).
To all the Aunts, Grandma's and Mommas out there, cherish these babies. They grow up too fast!
The thought of decorating for Holidays is fun. I could spend hours looking at ideas and projects (I don't, but I could). Sometimes I even go so far as to purchase the materials to make the project.
THEN...
... between running the kids to and from school (& preschool), homework, dance, X-fit, sports, music lessons, play dates, dinner and keeping the house from looking like something that could be on an episode of 'Hoarders' by:
- washing dishes (about 3x's a day!)
-folding the mountain of clean laundry in my basement
-wiping the dried food off the table and floor from dinner the night before
-picking up the million & one tiny lego pieces that always seem to find the soft spot of my foot
-making school lunch and finding clothes for the kids to wear the next day
(in that mountain of laundry)
-sweeping and vacuuming the floors.........
...I barely find the time to take a shower and put on make-up let alone get to any "extra" projects these days.
So below is about as far as I got to decorating for Valentines day this year at our home:
from left to right:
1. (front door) pinned a burlap heart ($1.99 at Hobby Lobby) to my existing Christmas wreath, took no time and very little thought.
2. (back door) took a wreath I had in storage, I did a post on how to make this chevron burlap wreath here and just added red ribbon to the top (left over from Christmas) and pinned on a felt stuffed heart, a Valentine decoration my mom gave me 10 years ago, no joke...10 year ago! HA!
3. put these X & O blocks on the entryway table.
4. My kids hung up these foam hearts from the dollar store (along with Henry's paper jelly fish he made in Preschool that has been hanging in our dining room for a month now).
So, I guess the point of this post is no matter how much I would love to sew gold fabric hearts or cut out ombre hanging heart garlands.... it's ok to make do with what you have.
About 6 years ago (holy cow has it really been that long?) I met a girl named Susan Petersen who moved into the neighborhood. From the moment I met her I could tell she was an entrepreneur at heart. She was very talented and incredibly inventive. We did a few boutique shows together when I was making and selling baby blankets and burp cloths.
She would often talk with me about sewing projects and want me to brain storm with her about ideas for new products. I always shyed away from the topic as I knew I was not nearly as skilled as she at sewing and creating patterns. In fact, I remember when she got her first serger machine and she was soooo excited...I acted very excited for her, but as I smiled all I kept thinking was, "what is a serger?" hahaha.....
She was also very generous and would share/trade her products with me. For Christmas one year she made my sister a purse and matching wallet and to this day I still use her Freshly Picked wallet for my "square money" (that's what Henry calls it). She also created a pattern for a darling bird shaped sachet to fill with my moms lavender. I remember spending an afternoon with her and Liz Stanley at Liz's home in the Aves. making them.
When I had Henry she gave me an awesome handmade baby wrap and a pair of her handmade Freshly Picked moccasins. Henry loved the moccasins and so did I. I love Robeez and had Max and Madeline wear those when they were babies, but I never needed to buy a pair for Henry, as he had his mocs. I think these were some of her first mocs and she has since tinkered with her design and medium, but we love this older version just as much as the new. I was so sad to pack them up that I actually did a post about it here on this blog almost 4 years ago.
Here is that post:
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| the links on this 2010 post may be outdated as she has moved her business since then. |
I am thrilled for her success, she has been on Shark Tank and is selling some of her goods at the fabulous children's store, Land of Nod.
If you have a wee one or know of someone that does, check out her baby mocs at FRESHLY PICKED. They are well worth the money. The quality is impeccable and sure to last through many little feet. My only question now is, when is she going to make a silvery pale pink color in my size?!
