Valentine's Day Mantle

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If you missed my guest post at At Home with K yesterday then you are in luck because it is right here today!!!  I am taking part in Kindra's Be Mine Bonanza Event and did the below tutorial for the occasion...  If you are in the market for a new camera strap cover check out my giveaway HERE!

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I just love decorating with RED!  This love for red dates back to high school when I had scary and an embarrassing obsession with ladybugs. (you should see my senior pictures... I might as well have been wearing a giant Mickey Mouse sweatshirt... seriously, I look that immature)  Fortunately, I grew out of the ladybug phase, but still love red and that makes Valentine's Day extra fun to decorate for.

Valentine's Day is so fun.  I created a Free Printable and especially love the "1 Corinthians 13:13" line that I embedded in the print.

Above you can see the faux red topiary... read on to see the "how to"

You will need a Styrofoam ball, red felt, scissors, straight pins, and a little bit of time... hence the beer:)... btw... Yes I do know in one picture I reference the Bible and then in the next picture there is a beer... It is Not a sin to have a beer people!

Trace around a cup or something to make a circle pattern on your felt.  Then take your pattern and stack your felt 6 high, at least... hopefully your fabric shears are sharp.  Cut approximately one bajillion circles... haha each topiary was about 1/4 yard of red felt.

To create your "petals" begin by folding a felt circle in half.

then you are going to bring in one-third of it

fold in the other one-third

next stick a straight pin through the corner

stick that sucker in your Styrofoam ball and continue

leave a circular bare spot for the ball to rest on a candlestick.  You could also stick a dowel into the ball and create a slightly different look.  I like the candlesticks... which were wedding gifts that I never knew what to do with because I'm not that fancy, but I love the look with the felt topiaries!

Up Close!

So Pretty!

The printable link is below.

Another use for this technique is to get a Styrofoam heart and create a wreath.

Happy Valentine's Day from Ladycrafter14!!!

Click Here to Download the Valentine's Day Printable for Free

and Click HERE to enter my current giveaway!

Valentine Giveaway..... say what?

In the spirit of Valenine's Day approaching and this week, on Wednesday to be exact, I will be guest posting on Kindra's blog, At Home with K, for her second annual Be Mine Bonanza Event, there is going to be a giveaway!  This is only my second guest post ever, and Valentine's day is coming up, and I want to promote my Etsy store, and I make these super cute ruffled camera strap covers, and ... you get the point.

One lucky reader will get their choice of a ruffled camera strap cover from my Etsy store.  To enter the giveaway all you have to do is become a Ladycrafter14 follower and leave a comment as to which strap cover you can't live without!  The winner will be announced on February 14th!



Be Mine Bonanza Event... Fun Fun Fun!!!

This week is a little bit exciting!  I have the pleasure of guest posting on Kindra's blog "At Home With K" for her 2nd annual Be Mine Bonanza Event.  The event is featuring guest bloggers and their Valentine related crafts.  I will be her guest on January 25 so mark your calendar and hop over there for a visit.

Check her out each day this week to see a new blogger and new idea!

The Event Started Yesterday... so what are you waiting for???

I had a ton of fun with my post and here is just a little preview of what I'm going to share:)



Personalized Valentine's...so cute and so easy!

Okay so I didn't come up with the idea on my own... however I did take credit for being soooo "creative" and "crafty."  Last year the kids sported super fun Valentine's.  At the bottom of this post are a few tips on creating your own.

Last year I did these really last minute, and still they were adorable.  Start by taking several photos of your child holding their hand out in a fist.  Make sure they get it away from their face a little.  Next you will need some sort of photo editing software so you can crop your photo and apply text.  I recommend downloading.Picasa if you don't have one.  It is free and very user friendly.

Crop your photo and apply text if you so wish.  Then upload to a photo printing service that offers wallets.  I ordered a few extra and sent to Great Grandmas and such.

I just used a knife and slit little holes in the photo at the top and bottom of each child's hand.  Then slide the sucker through.  You could also give pencils, pixie sticks, balloons... you name it!  So fun!!!

Won't you be my Valentine strap cover...

I'm gearing up for Valentine's Day... and to kick things off I have added a few new strap covers to my Etsy Shop.  The black and white heart print is super cute!  Check em out!!!

Come back next week for a few of my Valentine related posts and on the 25th of this month I'll be guest posting over at "At Home with K"

She is another Nebraska blogger with an awesome blog! 

No need to mark your calendar... I'll be posting reminders!

The Best of 2011

I started this lovely little blog early this year and created 98 different posts.  My hope is that at least 10 of them may have had some valid/usable ideas.  Based on number of clicks and overall popularity with my followers and friends here are the best posts of 2011

The butterfly pillow tutorial was my very first feature on a few big time blogs.

 The pasta recipe from the Pioneer Woman is a huge hit at my house and it is the best comfort food EVER!  I posted lots of family favorites under my recipes tab.

 Thanks to Pinterest my flower ball tutorial has been viewed more than 3000 times.

 The most popular post I have to date is my Mother's Day Subway art with 3000 views and 2500 downloads....crazy!

 My funky polka dot pots are just plain cute... but make me really hate that spring is so far away.

 This year I was blessed to become the mother of 4 healthy babies.  I did a birth announcement using shirts I created for the kids.

 Making my own Salt Scrub was a treat especially to my feet!

 Speaking of feet... how cute is the "Friendly Reminder" post I did...

 These wooden pumpkins were quite the stars in blogland as well.  They were featured many times and they were super easy to create!

 My last success of 2011 was my Etsy store. It started to take off with the Holiday rush creating close to 30 sales.  Below is one of the custom print styles for sale.

HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!  2011 blessed me so many times over and I hope to make 2012 even better.

Follow me on Pinterest.

Check out my Etsy store...

Or go create something!!!

Tearing into things! The flipperuski post #3

First things first, the ceiling in bedroom #2 is now hole-free.  For whatever reason at some point many years ago people decided to hang false ceilings.... why I must ask???  Anyhow, to our advantage the ceiling in bedroom number 2 is/was false and therefore was drywall.  Pretty easy fix... hang new drywall.  Which is done!  Now for the taping and mudding part....blahhhhck!

 Before #1

Before #2

Above is the after!

Unfortunately there wasn't a super awesome flag pole story to tell this week or anything like that.  In fact really little progress to report except that Carrie and her family survived the stomach flu.  Our family survived the stomach... (I barely did, gosh I hate puking)  Carrie and her family spent a week in Georgia.  I had stupid stinking hammer toe surgery....ewwwww! (Pictures below since I'm a nurse and a storyteller)
Progress is about to take off shortly though!  I think I'm out of excuses, so we better just get to work!  Christmas break is almost here and that means we have babysitters!!!  Stay tuned for more...

So above is basically what my toe used to look like.  I luckily didn't have a real bone deformity... just an extremely tight extensor tendon of my second toe.  The toe rubs and bears weight in an abnormal way and causes discomfort and pain.  Mine wasn't awful but I had hit my deductible this year already so I HAD to get this taken care of:) Don't worry I'll take after pictures of my pretty little toe once the sutures are gone!!!  oh... you are all very welcome for this mornings Anatomy lesson.