Red Hearts and Company

I don't exactly know why, but I always get excited about Valentine's Day.  Many say it's a sensational holiday created by the greeting card business.  I know many people who refuse to celebrate the day because of it.   Personally, I enjoy the day.  So, this weekend I pulled out my Valentine's day decor.   Not a whole lot but a few subtle touches here and there are fun!

This is my "pretend" mantel that I've mentioned many times (humor me).  Red and white tea light holders shaped as hearts (that I got at Target years ago) line the shelf:

Click on photos to enlarge

This heart ornament looks lovely hanging from the white candles:

Here's my candy dish sans the candy because Sweetheart and I are off of sugar at the moment:

The entrance way table always gets decked out with holiday trimmings:

Since I had to hang the heart wreath with twine (for lack of a better option), I decided to add the twine to the red candles to tie it together:

These red large tea light holders and large tea lights are from Ikea.  Love them:

And my entrance way magnet board got the VD treatment too.  I found some felt hearts in the dollar section of Joanne's so I attached some magnets to them and added them to the board.  The "happy valentine's day" heart is an ornament that I got at Joanne's also.  I fell in love with the "M" and "Y" when I saw them at Joanne's:

And my FAVORITE plate has my Sweetheart's name on it :)

The shelf in the kitchen also got changed out.  The subway art is from last year's decor.  I added the hurricane tea light holders and a white candle that I added a chalkboard label to (because I am completely obsessed with them) with an "I love you" message:

Sweetheart bought my Valentine's Day gift for me month's ago.  We are going to the Pink concert on February 13th.  I am SO excited!

Happy Valentine's Day!!!

2013 Memory Jar

I worked on a quick project this weekend.  I've seen these "2013 Memory Jars" throughout blogland and Pinterest.  I have seen a number of sizes and varieties - some simple and some really elaborate.  I actually took my inspiration from the Ann Taylor facebook page (go figure).  The purpose of the memory jar is to document memories throughout the year so at the end of the year you can reflect on all the memories created.   

I stuck to a more simple aesthetic:

[click to enlarge]

 I found an empty jar in my craft room and added some embellishments: 

a chalkboard label  

and a burlap flower

Then I pulled out my Cricut machine and started cutting some tags on scrapbook paper:

I used a "tag" setting from my Christmas cartridge.  I thought that would look cuter than a just a plain piece of paper or recipe card:   

Then I wrote my first "memory" and placed it in the jar:

All done! 

My memory jar sits on the entrance way table where it is easily accessible.  Sweetheart noticed it right away and asked me about it. He loved the concept.  I told him he can contribute to the memory writing whenever he wants -- but I know he won't.  :)

I look forward to seeing the jar fill up with memories as the year moves on.  

A Treat..

I couldn't resist.  I went shopping with my sister and my cousin this past weekend.   Sweetheart bought me two handbags for my birthday in November so the last thing I needed was another one.  But I just couldn't resist.  I fell in love with it when I saw it.   It's khaki PVC fabric (so it can be wiped down if it gets soiled) with orange patent leather trim.  It's the perfect size tote -- it's not too big and not too small -- I can fit my iPad in it along with the rest of my "must have's".  

She's a beauty, right? 

*swoon*

Happy New Year~!

Happy 2013!

Sweetheart and I spent our NYE at home with the puppies.  We watched three movies on Netflix and then at about 10 minutes till midnight we tuned into Dick Clark's New Year's Eve and watched the ball drop.We counted down the seconds and greeted 2013 with a champagne toast and a kiss! 

This morning I woke up and fixed breakfast for us.  I made a spinach, mushroom, cheese and green chili frittata.  I'm getting pretty good at making them.  

Afterwards, I got busy on two projects.  The first was an easy one.  I printed some subway art and decorated my shelf:

I was excited about working on the next project.  Sweetheart bought me a "magnet board" from Hallmark for my birthday.   They sell seasonal magnets and decorations for the board in their stores.  When I first saw it I wasn't too sure that I would like it.  It's a big, black piece of metal.  Once, I understood how it worked, I was excited about placement and then my mind raced with ideas for future holidays.  The plan is to change it out for every holiday/month of the year.  And although I can go to Hallmark to purchase the magnets for each season, I thought it might be fun to DIY.  

For January, I made a trip to Hobby Lobby and bought some numbers, paint and a couple of embellishments.  This morning, I got busy painting the numbers:

This was my end result:

(click on picture to enlarge)

The numbers have gem embellishments that are hard to see in the picture.  I put magnets on the letters, cloth flowers and on the gem dots.  I also filled the frame above it with some subway art.  I then grabbed three pictures and positioned them on the board using the gem dots. 

The board sits in the entrance way (ignore the alarm pad) so it was very difficult to get a good picture of it.  It sits up high and looks great as you enter the house. 

Not too bad for an amateur!

I went to Target yesterday to pick up a few things and naturally quickly scanned the clearance shelves.  I found these tealight holders on clearance for $2.48.  They are really cute.  The silver tealight holder sits inside of the glass cylinder -- reminds me of a mini hurricane.  

Sweetheart and I are looking forward to another great year!

Game 10 Cards vs. Bears

Well, we finally won a game last week.  We beat the Detroit Lions at home 38-10;  turns out we missed that game because Sweetheart had a cold and I was recovering from the holiday party.   So no pictures to post of game 9.

Onward to Game 10.  It was great to see the Chicago Bears ~ my expectation was that we would not win the game so I wasn't terribly disappointed with the loss.   I did get some great pictures.  Sweetheart bought me a camera for Christmas (that I opened two days before Christmas specifically to get pictures of this game).

QB, Jay Cutler #6

during warm up

# 22 Matt Forte during warm up 

Cards Flag guys -- I don't know what their official name is but I call them the Flag guys. 

Head Coach Lovie Smith as he walked into the stadium

Brian Urlacher #54, as he walked into the stadium

Big Red wearing his Santa suit!

The guys praying in the end zone before the game

I basically stalked the visitor's bench with my camera....

Lovie Smith

Jay Cutler and Urlacher

Devin Hester in action

Larry Fitzgerald 

The roof was open and we had a beautiful view of the moon

I have A LOT of pictures of Urlacher...

And of Lovie

It was two days before Christmas so naturally there was an "Elf" sitting in the stands:

And it wouldn't be a football game without the shirtless guys painted in team colors:

That was our last home game of the season.  We had a great time tailgating and we made new friends.  We are already looking forward to next year!

Christmas 2012 Review

Merry Christmas!  What a wonderful holiday season this was!  It was filled with Christmas shopping, baking, card making, gift wrapping, family and friends, football games and of course celebrating the birth of Jesus!  I put priority on relaxing and enjoying the season so much that I didn't take as many pictures of decor.   But I'm okay with it because I had an incredible time!  Here's our Christmas time 2012 review:

The nativity scene on the entrance way table

I love this Santa.  I've had him for close to 15 years

This is my pretend mantel...

Look closely, you can see Darth Vader in the Christmas Village -- courtesy of my Sweetheart....

Our Christmas Tree.  I don't know if I mentioned this before but the tree is about 25 years old.  It's a tree that Sweetheart's mom gave him about 12 years ago.  It was the Christmas tree that she used in their home back in NM.  When she moved out here, she gave it to him.  I absolutely love the tree ~ it's old and falling apart but I still love it.  Sweetheart on the other hand promises to toss it out each year but I just won't let him.  As long as it will stand, we will use it.  This year we had a hard time getting the star to sit straight up so for most of the month it leaned to the left.  It was pretty comical to light up the tree and see the star leaning -- I would tell visitors to tilt their head to the left and then look at the tree.....

Sweetheart's mom gave us this ornament last year -- she bought it in Miami, Fl. 

The magnet board below the picture was a gift from Sweetheart.  I  used it to hold our Christmas cards.  

My handmade Christmas cards:

Me and Sweetheart at his company holiday party

We had such a wonderful time at his party.  I wish I had a better picture of us; let's just say we had already started to have "fun" when I pulled my phone out to take this picture!  :)

I'm looking forward to 2013!