instagram - happy little squares of our life ..

From the first time I found Instagram - I was in love.
Pictures of our lives in happy little retro squares; what's not to love?


well - I found something I don't love ...
In today's world of cellphone cameras, i-pads and computers; more often than not - our pictures live their lives forever on Facebook, a hard-drive, or SD card somewhere.


I wanted to be able to display our favorite little square pictures as well as change them out, periodically.  So, I decided to do something about it ... 

I pulled out a large 'glass-less' $2 thrift store frame from my storage and printed out way too many some instagram pictures.



I didn't like the original color of the frame, so I applied an 'espresso' stain and I couldn't be happier.
Ok - I could have been happier, had it not taken 2 days to fully 'cure.'  but .. whatever.



I stapled string to the back of the frame and attached the pictures with mini-clothespins I had bought specifically for this craft.  I hated the pins because they kept breaking, turning sideways and just pissing me off in general ... but I really loved how the craft turned out .. so it's all good!!

Where it hangs is directly underneath one of our many 'sunlights' in our house and it lights up the frame ever so nicely.   

I like it .. I like it, a lot.

I love you because ...

I won't lie; ever since making our  "_____ is awesome because.." boards - they've seen more than their fair share of ridiculous remarks.

"... because she doesn't pick her nose ... anymore."
"... because she screams when she sees Justin Bieber."
"... because she doesn't want to brush her hair.   Ever."
"... because she farted at dinner."

Haha - I know I probably cherish our sarcastic and smartass moments, a little too much.
Judge me all you want; it won't matter. 
I'll still be a smartass, tomorrow .. :)


"I love you, because ..." dry erase frames were on the agenda tonight and they were just as easy as the last ones.  
I revamped a picture frame, painting it and embellishing it with Washi Tape and a homemade button flower, replaced the glass, printed out a simple "I <3 you because ..."  and done.

for this 2nd frame all I did was cover the edges with 2 different types of washi tape 

it says 'you don't need batteries' because she spent hours playing with a toy we found at the thrift store, before she asked if we had batteries to see if it worked.

my kids rock and I must remind them why - a lot. :)

washi tape letter of love ..

This wooden 'K' followed us home, not all that long ago.
If you ask the G. man, though; you'd think we'd had the "K" since 2000.

He swears it's been around our house forever; but I clearly remember finding it after I'd fallen in love with washi tape. (.. I think??)

So I know it's only been here, taking up that valuable 8 inches of space for a month or THREE, at the MOST. (maybe 4)

We found the singular letter  out thrifting and it was a buck.
$1.
who says no to that ?
exactly.

So - I bought it and washi taped it up for our almost 17 year old. 

In fact, she liked my finished piece so much, she hung it up on her wall and told me I was 'cool.'     
COOL, guys!! 
I'll take it!

now to gather the other letters of our 'family alphabet..'

this posts made me reminisce on posts of the past ..
"letters of love ... and yarn."
and
"we'd like to buy a vowel."

do you celebrate the letters that make up your name ? :)

the Easter pretties

 super cute chicks and fluffy, little bunnies

toys and chocolate as far as you can see

family time and a hunt for colorful eggs .. 

who doesn't LOVE Easter!?!?!?

fine fine fine!

I KNOW the answer

"billions of people all over the world who aren't Christian"

fine !

I guess all that matters today is we do !!

I totally adore these shiny, happy bunnies !! 

they're too cute for words

&
 I waited until they were on "Easter's Over" clearance :)
I might adore 75% off even more than shiny, happy bunnies.

I had planned on 'cropping' this picture to be square around the bunnies;
but Senor Owl's photo bomb made me laugh...so I kept him. :)

click here for the high-quality print version of my 'oh hoppy day' print

 and of course .. I made Easter Subway art ..

Love is all you need ... sorta.

There isn't a whole lot more in this world we need to survive, other than love. 

well .. I guess we do need food .. 
water ..
shelter ..
chocolate ..
wi-fi ..

ok - FINE !
while there IS a long list of other things we need .. 

there ISN'T anything on Earth as awesome as love .   ;)
 
'to truly love and to be loved ... it's the best shit, ever.'

For my Valentine's decor, I framed a handful of prints I made; then placed 'em all around the house.  I didn't sit the prints up all by their lonesome selves.   They're hanging out with cute little friends, shiny rocks, fresh flowers and candies .. the best shit, ever. :)

I hope y'all have a super Valentine's day !

don't forget to tip your waitress and hug your single friends - they need love, too !

(click here for my Valentine's prints page)

I have now been singing 'love is all you need' for days .. 

Hershey's kisses, love birds, and little babushka dolls - WIN WIN!

'a fireplace of love'

Some  ''just because'' flowers G. gave me a couple days ago .. I'm a lucky girl.

Hoo you lookin' at?!?

hip hip - hooray hippo of love !

rotating photo cube full of my prints

all you need is love ... and a dog. ;)
*cue music* 

don't forget to be awesome ..

I'm most definitely classified as a fan of awesome.
I guess anyone prefers awesome to mediocre, so that ^^ is a redundant statement.
I can also admit that maybe ... just maybe I use the A word a little too much.
It's o.k. if you're judging me as you read this ...
I'm awesome enough to forgive your judgmental ways ;)

some of my favorite awesome things ..

my awesome family & friends
awesome books I refuse to can't put down.
awesome food from my awesome husband
awesome weather with more sunshine than pollen
awesome 27 lb. kitty foot warmers
awesome squirrels worth stalking from my kitchen window
awesome orbee eating ladybugs
                          and
awesome lego girls on awesome cork boats ... ?

Ok. I'll admit the last four sound a little weird when I read them back. 
LoL, but in my opinion - they're made of awesome and I brought pictures as proof!

This is our cross-eyed ''little'' kitty
despite being the youngest - he's the biggest kitty we own
I would hope he's the biggest, considering he is 27 pounds

he's been deemed 'the world's best foot warmer'

---

After her feet were sufficiently toasty she wanted to make mini cork sailboats.
[ corks, hot glue, foam craft sheets (for sail), & skewers ]
I didn't drink all that wine, I promise we ordered the corks from Etsy ;)

 Nobody is ever going to be able to convince me that this little lego lady
and her awesome one-piece swimming suit weren't made for this corkboat :)

---

For Christmas, she got a remote control ladybug that eats orbeez
Nugget is NOT a fan.
LoL he kept very slowly 'chasing' it down the hall

---

this is my new buddy - 'squirrel'
he comes to 'say hi' after I feed the finches

he stands off 'in the distance' .. staring .. waiting for me to go inside
only then will he come down his 'hill' to feast on seeds / nuts

---

So, in honor of the 'word of the day' - I made an awesome print. ;)
(in case I have to hold your hand and draw a picture for you - the word is awesome.)

 click here for the full-size Printable version of "Don't forget to be AWESOME."

I put it into a frame on our fire place and I just LOVE IT :)

So, don't forget to be awesome AND even more importantly, I think - don't forget to recognize the awesome that surrounds you.  It's everywhere !! :)

from a desk to an entire room ..

At the beginning of November - we moved into a new house.
Although it was an unexpected move that completely threw us off and beat us up.. it turned out for the best; so I'll just leave it at that. :)

As we unloaded box after box - I kept looking at the husband saying "I don't know how we ever fit into that tiny trailer."

I remember being super stoked about the 'craft area' we made for me exactly a year ago.  I'd never had my own 'area' before for crafts, whole crafts, and nothing but the crafts .. so it was very exciting for me.

... now imagine the excitement about having an ENTIRE ROOM.

Our new home is so big, we had a 'leftover' den area that was donated to my need for crafts.

It's even got this built in desk with a pencil sharpener (look close on the left)

there's more cabinets than I know what to do with, a sky light and shag carpet. 

It pretty much rules. :)

Just in time for winter .. the best time to craft, because you can't be in the sunshine.

105 days until the first day of spring.

our house .. finished.

I realized today, that I nicknamed my project wrong

The wordart I made didn't list our houses - it listed our streets

so, instead of 'our house' .. I guess technically it should be our street

but .. a catchy song doesn't exist that's titled - 'our street' ...

'our street' didn't blare through the half-blown speakers of my mom's green pinto

so ... pfft .. my mistake and the title OUR HOUSE stays ! :)

onto the (very simple) craft ..

• awesome husband goes out in the cold & paints frame
• cut/fit fabric to fit - plus cardboard; if your $1 thriftstore frame has no glass or back :P
• modpodge fabric onto cardboard
• secure backsides
• modpodge word art - not sure why I did this IN the frame .. I don't suggest.
• smooth paper onto the fabric, removing bubbles
• embellish with random decorations/buttons/scrapbooking stuff
• pace through the living room wait patiently for it to dry
• done

This poor fabric-podged frame may or may not have sat in a pile for over a month; because the original project for the fabric canvas was re-assigned to another frame.

MAY OR MAY NOT HAVE ...

he's crazy sweet .. I'm crazy

I won't be the first to say it - but I'll say it, anyway; I can be a brat.

by brat I mean stubborn, melodramatic, and spoiled

quite the package, eh ? :))

"I don't want you to buy me ANYTHING!!" were my exact words on my way out the door to work, in the morning.  I really can't explain it, other than I woke up on the wrong side of the bed. 

I don't mean to be moody and irrational .. I guess it's just part of my charm. :)

despite my biting his head off in the morning; my ever-so-sweet husband took time out of his day to come to work to bring me this .. 

how did he do that ? you might ask ..
In November - he was the loving husband he always is and he had made A TON of these tissue paper flowers for my good friend's baby shower.  now, he's a pro.
fast forward a few hours .. I got home and within a few minutes discovered something new on the wall.
omg ..
I have to admit that it made my heart flutter a little .. he crafted for me.
he CRAFTED for me .. that's so hot.
he used the matching 'plaque' I used for his Valentine's gift and turned it into something I'll cherish forever.  He used mod podge and ribbon and lace and doilies .. all to make me smile.

I am unbelievably lucky that he puts up with my crazy ...

what I learned today

• calm my anxiety
• irrational expectations get me nowhere 
• have a little faith in the people I love .. because they have all the faith in me.

love plaque ..

Every year, I hear friends  moaning and groaning about Valentine's day ..

'It isn't a real holiday'  .. 'you should do nice things all year'  ..

'it's just another stinkin' day'  .. 'blah blah I'm a Grumpy McStinkFace'

they're right .. we should be good to our one and only - all year. 

it could very well be a holiday made up by greeting card & candy companies 

but I still like using this 'stinkin' day' to do nice things for my fabulous G.

He looks past my 'snooze button' habit, calms my irrational fears and puts up with my brattiness in general.  Honestly he deserves an award for how good he is to me, everyday.    So .. he was gonna get one.

onto the craft ...

I wanted to use a 'text-heart' that I'd recently seen on Pinterest, for the 'base.'   At first, I toyed with the idea of putting one of 'our songs' inside the heart; but that seemed generic.  I wanted it to be nostalgic, personal, and cute.  So, I did something I hadn't done in a long time .. I wrote him a love letter.  : )

I printed and cut out my 'love note heart' then had to find something to 'mount' my project to.   Rummaging through my 'wood bits' produced these 70's plaques we bought almost 10 years ago.   

At first, I couldn't bear the thought of ruining them. But then, I reminded myself they hadn't seen the light of day in at least 5 years; so I felt better about the next step. 

I spray painted it, set it to dry and the hunt was on.  I had to find stuff from our life; things that represented us and our years together.

once I started searching, I had to cut myself off; I just found so many neat little items in our boxes.  I just didn't have room for it all ...

memorabilia I ended up using : 

our name tags .. a cook & a waitress; met, fell in love & built their life, together.

our first pictures together .. at some old, random Kmart photo booth 

Antiques Roadshow tickets .. we went & found out we had junk .. SO MUCH FUN ! 

UTA trax train tickets .. one of our favorite Salt Lake past times

membership from our 1st date .. yep - we went to a bar & had beers. judge us, not. :) 

a key from one of our many mailboxes

ant stickers .. I bought a BUNCH of these sticker packs forever ago.  we would plant them all over the house on things .. then, when we'd move - we'd always leave a few behind on walls lol

 plus other relevant scrapbooking embellishments 

I mod podged my paper elements onto the plaque and paced back and forth waited patiently for it to dry.  Then used hot glue and/or super glue for the '3D' materials.

I'm in love with how it turned out .. I'm in love with the 'love plaque' .. I'm in love with him all these years later

ok .. lol I have to admit that the moment I wrote 'love plaque' - I started mentally singing the B-52's love shack.
instead of love shack .. it was  love plaque.
"looovvee pllaaqquueee - thaaaat's where it's aaat. looovvee plaaaaaque.'   

TIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIN ROOOOF !

It took every ounce of restraint to not title this post a lyric of the song.

.. don't mind me - I digress.

*back on topic* I adore the love plaque.
and Gary ... both in ridiculous amounts.

I wonder what other people are doing for their favorite person in the whole world .. :)