Bow & Arrow Wreath

Tatertots and Jello had a guest blogger from Black and White that showed how to make one of these cute "Bow & Arrow" Wreaths. If I could make 1 of all the cute wreaths I see I would be happy...I would have to start hanging them on every door in the house PLUS on the backsides of the doors too!

Valentines Mantle

So, cruising through blog land you see at every holiday Mantles all dressed up and decked out for the holiday/season. I love all the pictures and framed and mirrors that adorn these walls and LONG to have that in my house. I have a mantle (I know that I'm fortunate because some people don't have any mantle) But we have our TV hung on the wall above our mantle. So the lack of wall space doesn't allow for cute wreaths or old fences or cool things with a lot of height. I posed the question to Jen at Tatertots and Jello and it seemed like a lot of readers were in the same boat as me. I wanted people to show me what they have done to improvise with the space they have.

I didn't have very many Valentine decorations so I did go out and buy a few things to get me going and hopefully will just be able to switch out a few things here and there for each season/holiday.

What have you guys done in the past to tackle this problem (If you have it)?

Here are my Valentine Decorations:

This is my Toy storage. I hate it because it's in my family room and the toys are always out and a mess but it is what it is! My basement is getting finished right now so when that is done it all is going downstairs!

I love this sparkly garland! 

View from the fireplace down to the front door...nice dark hallway!

 I loved this pillow...kind of that Subway art type thing. It has "Gardening" words on it.

This cage was in the clearance section for 75% off. It has a spot on top to put some sort of knob or finial, I just need to find a really cute one.

 So...How do you think I did not being able to have anything really as a center point or main point of interest??

 Be Sure to link up your Valentine Mantle Idea's or other Mantle Ideas with a TV above the Mantle.

I'm linked up over at Stories of A2Z...click on the image to go over there!

Conversation Blocks

Brown Paper Packages made these really cute "conversation blocks" which I think are adorable for Valentines Day. I love this particular distressing on these blocks with the first layer of paint showing through. 

I want to do this project except I am in SERIOUS need of a Silhouette to do it! I can't tell you how many giveaways I've entered to win a Silhouette but I guess I might just need to pony up and buy one! My hubby will not be super happy about that, but HOW am I suppose to be crafty with out one of these babies!!??

Rainbow Pancakes

The Idea Room always has the funnest ideas to make your kids smile!!!

This would definitely take extra work and dishes to make these but it might be worth it for the glee on my kids faces.

 She has the recipe and how to on her blog Check it out!

 

Valentine Rosette Wreath

Here is yet ANOTHER Valentine Day Wreath.

This time this one is from Our Best Bites...One of my favorite foodie blogs.

T-Shirt Pom Pom's

All you need to make these are some old T-Shirts! I really think these are so cute and make a really cute and affordable decoration. Craftaholics Anonymous gives the tutorial HERE.

I even really love them hanging in this empty frame!

Gathered Heart Pillow

As you can see V and Co made this Heart Pillow but I love the fun little gather in the middle. I also really like the Ruffle Pillow behind it too.
I wished I had time to just sew all the cute pillow's I find on blogs!

Felt Fish Game

The Iowa Famer's Wife made these really cute felt fish with a washer on the nose and then you can have a "Fishing Pole" with a magnet on it and have a really cute game to play with your toddlers.

I want to do this project but I think I will cut out felt numbers and stitch those onto the fish instead of the beads.

So Darling!

Fabric Yo-Yo Valentine Decor

Peppermint Plum posted a tutorial over at Tatertots and Jello for these darling Fabric Flower Yo-Yo's.

Valentine Advent Calendar

I Love It All had a different take on Advent Calendars!

Way easy to make...It's just a cookie sheet! I would spray paint the cookie sheet.

And those are just wedding favor tins from the craft store.

 

My 2 year old would love a little chocolate everyday! She LOVES Chocolate.

Felt Flower Pillow

The Crafting Chicks made this Felt Flower Pillow. All those little petals are hot glued on. She made the cover that it is on and sewed the sides of that. Easy, virtually no sewing. Great accent pillow.

Hem Jeans?? Can you do that??

This information would have been helpful 29 YEARS ago!!

I once bought a pair of expensive jeans from one of those jean parties (kinda like pampered chef) and the "host"was a seamstress too. Well, because I'm 5'3" I am just ultra short and I wanted to buy a pair of jeans but they were just so long. So the host said she would hem them for me, I just kind of stared at her like she was an alien!

"You can't do that?!" I'm thinking, "You will take off all the pretty stitching and then you will ruin a perfectly good pair of jeans and then I will never wear them again."

Well she explained how she does it and showed me her pants that had been hemmed. Amazing!! I can't believe I have never seen it before!

I love this tutorial because now I can do it myself (I asked the woman if she would do others for me, I would obviously pay her for it and she said "No"!)

So Here is Crap I've Made's tutorial!

You would NEVER be able to tell!

Tota Storage

 I was given 2 of these Tota Storage cases. They are meant to be used in the trunk of your car to help keep your groceries from rolling all over the car (Which happens in my car because I lay my third seat down so there is a lot of room for things to get lost in). I have actually found one to be very useful sitting by my kitchen area because it seems like I always have a plethora of things to go down stairs. So I load it up and send the Hubby down to put all the things in there places.

 This was one day when I had tons of stuff sitting on my counters (after the holidays) of stuff to go back to neighbors and family, etc. I put it all in my Tota and set off to give things back!

One day I had a ton of things to take back to my moms house and rounded it all up in this handy little storage bin and took it in to my moms house. She saw it and was very impressed. She and I came up with all sorts of other possibilities for it.

She works at a elementary school and she said it would be so great for teachers to take homework home in and whatever else needs to go in and out of their  cars when coming each day to school.

She also thought of someone who does genealogy (because she does) she always has tons of binders and computer papers and disk, etc. when she goes to a family history library.

These also would make great storage for hanging files folders...I don't know how well they would hold up completely loaded with files but would be great for several of them...I think it's the perfect size to hang them on the sides.

http://www.totastorage.com/

I love that they help you stay organized. That's on all our lists of things to do right?!

Magic Tricks

How Does She has this really cool magic trick that you can do for your kids so they will think you are Amazing. Very Easy and you probably have all the ingredients to do it!

 

They also had this one too! Go here for the instructions.

Organizational Love

 So, we are currently finishing our basement! WooHoo! I can not wait for it to be done and have ALL that space to use to organize the madness at my house.

I have been thinking about how I will organize the new space down stairs and the space upstairs that will have less "stuff" in it.

 I have just been perusing the internet for all sorts of ideas in how to organize my life. We will have an Legitimate Playroom!! Hurray!! My husband will get his study...Finally! I will get my much anticipated craft room, EEK! the Joy I feel in thinking about it! Plus...a guest bedroom and a family room and bathroom and second storage room. 

I'm can't tell you how glad I will be to get rid of all the toys and put them down stairs. It's hilarious how every time kids come over they go and stand at the stairs and say "Can we go down there and play??" All kids just know that's where the toys should be at...down stairs and out of sight.

Pantry

 House of Smith's adorable Pantry

 

This would be a great "Food Storage space too.

Not extremely functional, but it was so pretty...I mean seriously, who would use that many potatoes? And the wine rack would by a waste of space!

Playroom

Linen Closet

Craft Room!

 I don't know that I would love this for a Craft Room, but I LOVE this as a Laundry Room...So much space and storage (and mud room).

 Cute Vintage stuff to store things in