{v-day love} warm and cozy

Valentine’s Day is one of my favorite holidays, so naturally, I’ve been planning all kinds of fun events in my head to celebrate. At one point in time, a friend told me that I should start a date planning service… He would pay me to plan cool dates for him to take girls on.  I never did it, but I still think I’ve got a knack for planning dates/mini-parties/gatherings of sorts.

This little date night was inspired by the donuts that Krispy Kremes is making in honor of Valentine’s Day!! They are super cute, and I LOVE donuts and hot cocoa.  So, how about a nice drive to somewhere pretty and snowy, then some donuts and cocoa on the trunk of the car (bundled up in plenty of blankets).  Then, the Valentine’s Day gift can be something not too mushy like these fingerless convertible mittens.

First Row: Krispy Kremes donut pic; “Silent Night” from Nick Adams Photography blog, fotoblog gumbo; Pylones mini thermos in white flower;

Second Row: Handmade Convertible Mittens from taevas; Cashmere Fingerless Flap Glove from PepperberryKnits; Mirror Image Convertible Mittens from DebzCreations;

Third Row: Orchid Thermos from Pylones; image from Salt Lake Magazine; more Krispy Kreme donut pics.

I’m totally bummed that Pylones doesn’t make the penguin thermos anymore; it was my favorite.  Oh, and that the mini thermos now costs more than the normal thermos used to (and to think I was holding out because it seemed too expensive).

There you have it.

{i’m lovin’ it}

Sorry for the blogging hiatus.  I have loads of awesome ideas stashed away; I just feel like if I’m blogging I’m not accomplishing anything lately.  But I end up accomplishing less anyways.

Here’s a discovery that I love.

Heather Bailey has the cutest fabrics and patterns.  A bit of country but a whole lotta color.  I’m loving her fabrics (and planning out tons of summer projects in my head) and her strawberry pincushions that are seriously cute.  Not to mention the lovely pictures she takes on her blog.

It’s the perfect infusion of color for the dreary days that we’ve been having lately (hello world, I haven’t seen the actual sun in days).

coraline

I am officially excited for this movie to come out on February 6th.

How About Orange posted about the movie’s genius marketing plan to send out boxes of handmade items to bloggers so the bloggers would then post about the movie.

And I’m glad they did.  The preview is promising.  I’m intrigued by the story already, yet I’m not quite sure why.  And the little clip about all the handmade items in the movie fascinates me.  And it definitely looks like a source of crafty inspiration.

I think I’ve watched the preview like three times already.

starting to ketchup

It’s been awhile since I’ve been in the blogging world, so the next few weeks will most likely be backtracks about the past little while that I’ve been away.  Going all the way back to Christmas.

I was really excited to make my sister’s Christmas present. I’d been planning a journal for ages and then once I discovered making crayons from Design Mom, I had to give it a try.

I attempted to use tin foil covered cookie cutters as a mold, but the oven was on too high and melted all the wax on the cookie sheet.  Unfortunately, it looked very similar to candy and I felt bad when I found my brother biting off a chunk later that day.

After that fiasco, I resorted to double boiling the crayons in jars and pouring them into molds.

These crayons looked much prettier.

The journal is a coptic book with a little surprise in the center.  I was so excited about the rainbow wrapped text blocks because it makes a really cool spine.  The pieces of paper also serve to make space for the many papers/pictures/tickets/receipts my sister glues into her journal.

The journal had cute little illustrations of an Asian girl and bunnies (formerly my sister’s 2nd favorite animal, but now 4th since she discovered mercows or something) that I made in Illustrator (it definitely is elementary but took me forever).

I rounded it out with a cute little Hello Kitty pouch for the crayons and a Kuromi (or something like that) pencil that’s this evil bunny (fitting) by Sanrio.

I also made an awesome hair flower for Brea for Christmas (no pictures, unfortunately) to go with her present.  And Tia got the freaking sweetest bike bell from Pylones for her Razor scooter she uses to ride down the hall to Brea’s house (I seriously LOVE this bike bell).  We all bought Kellen a super expensive Lego set which Brad and I helped him build the day after Christmas.  Those things are complicated!!

I love giving presents at Christmastime!!

Next year, my family is [tenatively] planning a “make it or break it” Christmas in which we all make each other presents and go to South America and do service instead of getting extravagant gifts.  I’m not quite sure where the “break it” part comes into play… but it does make for fun jokes.

pictures

While I finish up my wedding album, take a look at a shoot from my photographers. They’re a little bit kooky, but that’s what I love about them!!
Flowers in the Attic by Nick Adams Photography