"Bee Mine" Valentine Printables

Are you scrambling for last-minute Valentine's Day ideas? Me too ;) Well I was, until I made these 'Bee Mine' valentines today. They are super easy and cute! Go HERE to print out a sheet of six. You can write your "to and from"s on the back and attach a piece of candy if you'd like.

Happy (almost) Valentine's Day! Check out Canary Lane Photography's Valentine mini shoots!

Owl Valentines

I love Valentine's Day! It's definitely one of my favorite holidays. I love the valentines exchanges, the treats, the hearts... I pretty much love it all. Here are some adorable owl valentines you can create yourself.

Supplies: Solid-colored cardstock, wrapping paper or patterned scrapbook paper, scissors, a glue stick, and a pencil.

First you need to download and print out your templates. To do this, go HERE and click 'download or print'. Cut the shapes out to use as stencils and trace around each one with a pencil on patterned or solid cardstock. Be sure to trace on the back of the paper, so your pencil marks won't show on the front side. You should have two wings, a body, a heart, a beak, one white shape and two smaller black dots (for the eyes).

Now glue the pieces on the body. Getting the wings in the perfect spot can be tricky - this was all hand-drawn so it's not perfect :) You may need to trim a corner off so the edges match.

Voila!

Aren't they super cute?

Now you can attach a piece of candy on the back with tape and write a cute little owl pun ;)

This project can be time consuming, so I would recommend making these valentines for a small bunch of friends. Don't be afraid to make them all different colors and patterns, too. I even jazzed some up with a thin coat of liquid glue on the wings and sprinkled on glitter.

Happy Valentine's Day!

Check out this month's sponsor:

Valentine Garland d.i.y.

Yesterday I saw Warm Bodies with some friends. I do NOT have a strong stomach at all, and it's a zombie movie. Zombies eat brains (and people too). Even though it was kinda gross, it was a really cute love story and had several hilarious parts. Speaking of love (sort of)... I made a cute + simple Valentine's heart garland. You can make one too!

1. Gather some baker's twine (I bought mine at Hobby Lobby) and felt. 2. Cut out a heart shape from paper for your template and pin it to the felt. 3. Cut out several hearts (I made a short garland, so I cut out seven) using the paper as a guideline 4. Hot glue the twine to the back of your hearts.
I love mine! It turned out exactly how I wanted it to :)

Check out this month's sponsor:

Merry Christmas

I'm cozy in my bed right now, enjoying my Christmas lights while I let my parents (and sick sibling) sleep in.

See you soon!

Believe

Children, sleeping.
Snow is softly falling.
Dreams are calling, 
Like bells in the distance.

We were dreamers,
Not so long ago.
But one by one, we
All had to grow up.

When it seems the magic slipped away... 

We find it all again on Christmas Day.

Believe in what your heart is saying, 
Hear the melody that's playing.
There's no time to waste, 
There so much to celebrate.

Believe in what you feel inside, and
Give your dreams the wings to fly.
You have everything you need, if you just believe.

Trains move quickly
To their journey's end.
Destinations...
Are where we begin again.
Ships go sailing,
Far across the sea.
Trusting starlight, 
To get where they need to be.

When it seems that we have lost our way...

We find ourselves again on Christmas Day.

Believe in what your heart is saying, 
Hear the melody that's playing
There's no time to waste, 
There so much to celebrate.
Believe in what you feel inside,
And give your dreams the wings to fly.
You have everything you need, if you just Believe.

If you just believe.

Merry Christmas everyone!

DIY Glitter Ornament Lights

 

I love Christmas lights. They are just so fun and festive.

 I made a quick garland by laying out my lights (24ft long package of mini lights from Target for $5) and tying on the bulbs (also from Target) with clear fishing line.

 This is such a simple project and only took my friend and me about 30 minutes to complete it.

Do you put Christmas lights up inside your house?

DIY Felt Baseball Ornament

This year I tried to make almost all of my gifts, but it didn't work out so well. I ended up buying most of the gifts for my family (it's hard to make stuff for a teenage boy who's into video games), but thankfully I did make some ornaments for friends, and this is one of them.

My inspiration for this tutorial was just a friend who likes baseball (duh). But it would work for pretty much any sport involving a ball, and it's so easy all it requires is some felt and thread!

So, I started by tracing a cup on some felt and cutting out two circles:

Then I took two strands of red embroidery thread) and just went to town hand-sewing a ton of 'V' shapes down the top circle. This part is tricky. I found it works best if you're not straining to get perfect 'V's that look exactly the same, because 1) it takes forever and 2) they look worse than the ones I did quickly without thinking about.

Once I finished making the front, I put the two circles together and hand stitched the edges together.

 Before completely sewing up the top, I stuffed a teensy bit of stuffing in there and then added the string to hang it from (braided embroidery thread).

 Have you bought or made your gifts this year?

Kate's holiday wish list.

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Wow, nine days until Christmas! These past few weeks have flown by. I really need to go make some more gifts, but I thought I'd throw together a fun wish list. Some of these things really are wishes, but everyone can dream, right?

So this year I'm diggin' fun bauble necklaces, wristlets, cozy throws, and bright bikes. And that shiny acorn up there? Bath and Body Works have "Wallflower" fragrance plugs (In shapes of flowers, acorns, leaves, etc) that make rooms smell rosy.

What's on your wish list?

and so it begins!

Can you believe it's already December?

My favorite month is filled with:

bright lights,

caroling,

cookie baking,

gift giving,

99.9 (the holiday station!)

shopping,

the smell of fresh pine tree,

excitement,

cool weather,

warm fires,

and cozy family time.

Bring it on, Christmas!

thankful

I am so thankful for this time I am able to spend with my family. We are currently watching Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade while reading the newspaper and playing with various electronic devices ;)

Happy Thanksgiving, friends!

What are you thankful for?

monster pouch and happy halloween!

Happy Halloween!! I hope you're having a great one!

In honor of this spooky holiday, I will share with you a fun d.i.y. monster pouch that can be whipped up any time!

Truth be told, I didn't intend for this to be a monster, or a Halloween project. But while I cut out the shapes, I couldn't think of any animal that would look quite right. You can't go wrong with a monster, so I decided to do that! And since today is Halloween, I think this project is very fitting. :)

You will need: felt, fabric scissors, velcro, and a needle + thread

 Step 1. Cut out your felt pieces. Start with a rectangle (it can be any size, depending on the size you want your pouch to be) and then cut another piece the same size, with a half circle added to one end.

 Step 2. Cut out four circles for the eyes and some triangles for the teeth.
Step 3. Sew the shapes on the rounded flap. Use same color thread as the felt (I needed purple and black). When you sew them, don't pull the thread too tight or the stitches will be easily spotted.
Step 4. Sew the velcro on the top rectangle and under the flap, so when the flap is shut, the velcro pieces will stick to each other.
Step 5. Sew all around the edges of the pouch, leaving the area underneath the flap open.

 Ta daa! Isn't he cute? You can use your pouch as a goodie bag, coin purse, or to hold any small items.
---
Tonight I'll be hanging out with some friends who hand out free books instead of candy in their front yard! How cool is that?!

What are you planning to do tonight? If you've already done it, how'd it go?
xo. Kate
(ps-did you check out Google today?)

4 Ways to Wrap Gifts

1. Characters

This is a fun way to dress up gifts for kids. Cut out pieces of cardstock to create fun faces and glue them to a solid-colored bag. Almost any character from movies, cartoons, books, etc. will work! Why not try Sesame Street Characters, Spongebob, animals, Muppets, or a smiley face? (tutorial here)

2. Washi Tape 

Use this colorful tape to dress up any present. You can buy it in the office section of Target, as well as here, here, here, here, here ANNNDD here!

3. Candy technique

This is one of my favorite ways to wrap presents. Instead of folding and taping up the sides, bunch up the excess wrapping paper and tie a ribbon around it. It looks like a giant piece of candy! Make sure to keep the ends long enough to tie.

4. Stamping

A perfect way to add interest to a boring box or bag is to stamp it. It's such a simple but cute idea! If you don't have any ink, you can also color the stamp with a washable marker instead.

Have fun making your gifts extra special! xo. Kate

Easter

img source

Happy Easter all!

How are you spending this special day?

Sock Bunnies

What's cuter than a little bunny?

.

.

.

A Sock Bunny!

You are definitely in for a treat today!

Based on the beanbags here, I created these fun little bunnies!

Let's start hoppin'!

Supplies:
Child's sock ($1 from Target dollar section)
Scrap felt
Scissors
About 1/2 bag of rice
Glue
Pom pom
rubber band
Ribbon (I bought mine here)

 Fill the sock just before the heel.

 Tie the top off with a rubber band, and tie a ribbon around the center to separate the body from the head.

 

I cut lots of different felt faces before I settled on just one.

 Cut the ears, rounding them.

 Since the heel was pink, it made the pink 'insides' of ears that bunnies have!

 Glue the pom pom on the back

You're done!
I took lots of photos of both my bunnies - so much fun! Which bunny is your favorite?

 Bunny bums!

Guess what? Both of the bunnies cost me $.50 - I had everything else on hand except the striped sock.
Have an awesome Sunday!