Valentines Day Craft-a-Palooza!

The countdown to LOVE day is ON!

I'm not normally a Valentines Day fan (I sometimes think that it's just a made-up holiday to make single people feel sad, and to make people get fat on chocolate, and to sell greeting cards....) but I'm a huge fan of all kinds of cute crafts.

Like these crayon hearts from Chef Messy

Or these iLoves (ipods with candy inside) from full of bliss

Or this awesome crochet heart garland?

Maybe this year I'll write a love letter to my hubby using conversation hearts (shown by Out of the Crayon Box)

Or this (ooh-la-la!) card from the polka-dot thought.

Or maybe these Valentines Love coupons...

So many ideas!

And for the little monkey, what about Colour-in Valentines Cards from Prudent Baby...

Or floating hearts from The Homeschool Classroom...

And if that's not enough Valentine love, check out these links for EVEN MORE Valentines Day ideas!

Valentines ideas from How Does She?

and even more linkies from Feels Like Home.

One last thing, I'm definitely going to be doing some baking, and these Valentines DayCupcakes with cool Royal Icing Accents are on my list,

As well as these adorable (and a little risque) bra and panties cookies!

Happy Crafting!!

~A

Link Loves (January 22) and Word for the Year

I love the links from the Finer Things this week!

Specifically:

-the one talking about the National Debt (I'm Canadian, but we could still learn something from this article)

-the one talking about living small (This goes with my goal to organize, declutter, and simplify my home this year)

-the one about training your children (or how to be a lazy housewife) (Of course, if I wanted to follow this one, I would need to have 3 more kids, which could take quite a while...)

Also, tomorrow is National Pie day (not to be confused with pi day which is in March) and Life as Mom has quite a few pie-baking tips and recipes.

I'm hoping to make an Apple Pie, and maybe a Chicken Pot Pie (except I'll use turkey).

I should probably make a Lemon Meringue Pie too, for my sister's birthday, but I'll probably make it from a mix, not from scratch. (I know that it's cheating, but I'll be at my parents, and I'd rather not bake all day)

Other things I've been reading this week:

-I love the concept of making a different crochet block every week and then sewing them together into an afghan when I’ve got enough.

-These are the cutest Apple, Pear and Strawberry coasters! I know a few teachers I’d love to make these for.

-In the spirit of helping me get organized, I’d love to make a day planner like this one.

-This year I’m turning 25 (I’ve been trying to forget about that). I guess I should make a list of 25 things to do before I’m 25. Check out Tabitha's list.

I almost forgot! The Hubby and I have decided on our word for the year. We really want to live on purpose instead of coasting through. For that reason, we've decided that 2011 is going to be all about living intentionally. Our first intentional act this week was to redo our budget so that we could see where our money has been going, and where we are going to put it. Our priorities in life are the things we put the most time and money into. We as a family want our priorities to be clearly identified, so we're trying to clear out the clutter from our home, from our bodies, and from our minds.

This will be an amazing year of growth and changes, and we're all excited for where God brings us. I hope you all have an amazing weekend! We're headed to visit my sister for her birthday!

until next time,

~A

Link Loves aka: What I found while avoiding homework...

Let's start with the cutest little crochet bomber jacket pattern that I want to buy and make in every size so my boy can wear one until he's 4 years old! and I want to make one for me... and for B....

This is such a great idea for people who have only a little space for a baby, or maybe for people who are looking for new space for a second baby. I'm in love with this nursery-within-a-nursery.

I've also found some really great kitchens for kids made (inexpensively) (and not so inexpensively) from furniture from IKEA! I love both kitchens and really wish I had tools to make one and a place to put something like this in our apartment.

On the topic of kids and kitchens, if you're looking for toy food to fill the toy kitchen, LoooLoo Textiles has some awesome Play food that's organic and looks delicious. (Mind you it is $37.99 for the bagel, but doesn't it look awesome?)

And then there's the fantastic hamburger...

On those days when it feels like my knight has tarnished armour, here's a less than glamourous look at marriage at Im Gonna Kill Him...

Hopefully tomorrow will be a much more productive studying day!

~A

My Link Love

I've been reading Link Loves at Prudent Baby, and I wanted to share some of my favourite links from this past week...

B and I have been trying to downsize our "stuff" and get rid of a lot of the clutter we've been accumulating throughout our marriage (and from before we married) and I've found a bunch of wonderful sites like this one which deals with the journey to get organized and stay that way. Here are ten easy anti-clutter tactics if you find yourself wanting to get organized.

I love making cupcakes and decorating them, and this is a wonderful idea to take cupcake decorating to another level by using special cupcake liners!

Dress up your cupcakes!!

I saw this article on the kLove site this week about a man who live in a 182 square foot home. I love minimalism, and while I cannot say that I am a minimalist (by ANY stretch of the imagination!) I want to be able to use every square foot and live in every part of my home like this man does.

We are not expecting another bundle, but I always love looking at how other people decorate their baby rooms, and here is a site with some really adorable nurseries! Also if you want to create a list of baby names you love, check out this baby name site that saves your preferences and chooses names that are similar for you to enjoy.

I read a post on a friends site last week about writing a letter to your 17-year old self, and this week I found a site where you submit letters to your own body. What would you say to your body if you wrote it a letter?

Another blogger that I love is Sarah London whose amazing crochet work is filled with vibrant colours. I've been looking all over for crochet books and patterns, and finally I've found a crochet-er whose work I adore! (PS is that a word?)

I'm starting to think about the holidays this year. My family chose names of who we're buying gifts for, and so Christmas is on my mind already. On top of that I have a birthday party to plan for my monkey, and also a halloween costume to either buy or make (HELP! I need ideas!!)....well I was clicking around, and I heard about the Jesse tree, and I was ecstatic to find a wonderful new Christmas tradition I'd love to start with my little family!

I hope you enjoy my links! Please send me any that you've found this week that you love!