team pretty - team washi

I like to pretty.   

I've always decorated around me.

rewind  - I'm 3.
My mom bought a brand new bathroom 'cover set' ..  one of those awful 80's sets of shag carpet covers for 'prettying' bathroom stuffs.  One on the toilet, one onto the back of the tank, and a couple matchers on the floor. Then, BOOM!  your bathroom is totally matching .. totally hideous

As a toddler and lover of anything colorful - I found her new pure white pieces offensively boring .. so I decided I needed to decorate for her.   

what can I say ? 

I've ALWAYS been a giver.

I took her brightest, prettiest, reddest nail polish and flung the liquid stain EVERYWHERE!  Making sure to not miss a single spot on her lovely carpet decor. 

WHAT?!?!?

I thought it was pretty.  However, she screamed and cursed a lot more than I would expect coming from someone who had just received a free bathroom makeover.

fast foward - I'm 6.

My mom hasn't changed the curtains in my room since I was a toddler.  

I don't LIKE Winnie the Pooh, ANYMORE !! So ..I randomly poked 42 billionty holes with a metal nail file.   

Voila!  

Now they are 'fancy' and let the sun into the room. Clearly not the kind of 'fancy' my mom likes.  I know this, because the next day she went out and purchased me 'whole' curtains again; throwing away my 'refashioned' curtains; without regard for all my efforts in redecorating.

fast forward 30 something years later : 

 we laugh about these stories, until we cry and/or snort.

it's apparently just in my nature to pretty :) 

and yes - I sometimes use 'pretty' as a verb .. don't judge me.

so, in my recent efforts to pretty the world - I joined the washi tape movement. 

I'm a little late on the 'craze' - but I'm Danielle and I'm far from trendy.

so what if washi tape was ''cool'' last year .. that means I'm cool this year !! right!?!?! >_<

wrong - but who cares?

moving on ..  I know someone just said - 'What is washi tape?'

it's a cute, fancy, japanese tape with the feel of masking tape. 

I may or may not have gone a little mad after seeing so many Washi crafts on Pinterest ..  which may or may not have led to me ordering a box filled with $50-60 worth of washi tape ..

special thanks to both WillowWashi as well as Consumer Crafts for contributing to my craftaddiction.

Once I opened up my box of pretties, I realized I needed somewhere to store the sticky cuteness.

chicken pot pie biscuits of ridiculousness

I've seen a lot of different versions of this recipe, online. 

Different meat, soup & prep methods; inevitably ending up with the same thing.  

A biscuit with cheese, soup, meat and veggies baked into it.

No matter the different spices, measurements or personal twists people lend to the recipe; in just about every one I saw online, people were calling them CUPCAKES. 

@#($&*@#*&%$*(%&$(*%&

At BEST I would think they'd be considered muffins.

They're missing the ever-important qualifier to receive cupcake status. 

Icing.                   *homer simpson drool*

If not having icing isn't enough to disqualify them as cupcakes

- consider this mind blowing fact -
THEY DON'T EVEN HAVE CAKE !! 

LOL .. I'll give you a minute to mull that one over.

Anyway .. I think I had a point.

Oh yea - we'll always call these 'chicken pot pie biscuits' in our house.

Enjoy!!

They're ridiculous easy & ridiculous delicious.
I'm such a girl that I ate them with a fork.
judge me all you want .. I've got cupcakes. biscuits.

Chicken Pot Pie Biscuits

2 cups cooked chicken, diced.
1 can cream of chicken soup
1 cup veggies
1 cup cheddar cheese
salt & pepper
2 cans biscuits

Preheat oven to 400 degrees

In bowl, combine the diced chicken, soup, veggies, cheese and spices.
Separate your biscuits, spreading each one slightly so they are like a tiny crust.
Oil your muffin pan and spread the dough, pressing down the sides and into the center.
place your meat mixture into the center of the 'crust'
Bake for approximately 15 minutes, checking at about 10 (just to be sure they aren't overflowing, exploding, spilling over, bursting into flames or any of the other things that float through my mind as I bake something for the first time. :) 

Valentine's printables ..

In case the seasonal backgrounds, festive crafts, Holiday puns and annoying 'singing' in blog-form wasn't enough to convince you; I'll spell it out before your pretty little eyeballs.
 

I LOVE HOLIDAYS :)

Even though Valentine's Day might be considered a 'greeting card' holiday - it's a holiday nonetheless. I don't actually need an excuse to decorate; but, I use 'em anyway. ;)

So ... for the day of hearts, pink, and all things lovey dovey; I made happy little 'vignettes' throughout the living room, that were centered around my valentine's day prints.

I made a few new prints recently, but a handful of my 'lovey doveys' are from posts of Holidays past. (ha ha).  Nevertheless, here's the links to each full size print-quality version.


Happy heart's day and don't forget to hug your single friends :)

 

Last year's "love prints" 

do what you love ...

I love this time of year .. it makes me smile.

Despite the horrible music at work .. I like the season, itself.

One of my favorite parts is each year when we choose an ornament to 'represent' that year.

If the world does end this year as millions of people are saying - I have to admit I find this ornament worthy of the title : 'last family ornament in the history of ever.'

Christmas, Merry may yours be.

Other than the Christmas music

I really do, do what I love and 

I love what I do

I don't have a dream job

but I don't have a nightmare one, either

I may work too much

and probably won't ever be rich

but I'm lucky in love

I'll take that any day of the week 

... and twice on Sunday.

I made this printable .. just because. 

click here for my FULL SIZE printable version

live a colorful life ...

the time has come and we've started to book our hotel rooms
we're for sure going on vacaaaaattttiiiooon !

it sounds weird to say type that
it'll be our very first vacation - in over a decade
we've gone on road trips here and there
a couple of 2 day outtings
camping in the mountains, etc.
... but nothing over 500 miles
we're pretty local folk

I like it that way ;)

anyway .. I'm excited and I made this printable in honor of today.
Today, being the first day of the rest of our lives.
Lives where we will be able to start a story 'when we were on vacation.'

click here for fullsize printable picture

power of positive printing

so the title leaves much to be desired .. but I think you get the point.

I love that I've printed so many of my 'words of encouragement' that I can swap them around the frames throughout the house.  These are a really nice personal touch to help bring up the mood or enhance a feeling, depending on the way the day/week is going.

if you can't tell by the prints today - this week has been a little trying on the patience.
.. but with a teenage girl; things often are.  It's hard to admit, but some days I need to remind myself of how lucky I am to only have the simple troubles of forgotten homework and a textaholic teen. :)

click here for my print size 'be grateful for this day'

click here for my print size 'break from your routine'

click here for my print size 'Enjoy the little things.'

more prints on the page :)

the best IS yet to come ..

I miss her, today
to be clear - I miss her a lot of days
but today, I miss her really a lot
I would give anything to hear her rambunctious laugh from across the house
see her sweet  smile when she found a great deal at a yard sale
feel her arms around me in one of her famous bear hugs
or to hear her opinionated unfiltered comments about everything from religion to weight gain in America

the best IS always yet to come ... we just have to remember to fight our way through it, some days.

I love and miss you, Gramma <3

click here for my free printable size version of 'pink ribbon - the best is yet to come'

of course I had to make a non-pink version ... 

click here for my free printable size version of 'the best is yet to come-flower'

rawr means I love you ...

I saw my nieces this weekend and I can't believe how much they've grown since we've seen them last.
The 13 and the 15 yr old have both joined the club of people who are taller than me.
I wish that club was a little more exclusive.. :P

I can't believe how emotional it made me, to watch all the girls playing together. 

5 giggles ..
5 laughs ..
5 unique personalities ..
5 amazing girls.  (a 6 yr old, an 8 yr old, one 13 yr old, and 2 fifteen year olds)

I couldn't stop smiling every time I saw them dancin' around, goofin' off, and playing games that only cousins would appreciate.
I wish they would stay this young forever .. sorta. :P

with all I have, I wish I could convince my 'city-slicker' sister to move to the country ..

maybe some day ... some day .. *insert dreamy nostalgic look, here*

my point .. I love my family and in turn I made some more lovey-dovey prints !
Happy President's day !! :) 

click here for my free printable - "rawr! means I love you"

click here for my free printable - "L<3VE"

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 ...

prints - shutup and try .. dare to dream

we all know someone who could really use these mantras in their lives.

you choose to be where you are ..

'if you don't like where you are; change it - you are NOT a tree.'

so .. dare to dream of new things ..

then shutup and do a lil' something each day, to achieve your dreams.  

I don't mean to achieve the 'somehow acquire a huge fortune and never have to work or worry about money again' dreams ...

the not-so-out-of-reach and/or felonious ones :)

as my friend put it on facebook : 

'Happy excuse to show the one you love, you love them day!'

click here for my printable version of 'dare to dream'

click here for my printable version of 'shutup and try'

funny kisses ..

'a life without laughter is a life wasted.'

I refuse to waste this life!

on top of being sweet, charming, and crazy-good at trivia .. Gary is hilarious.

when making valentines for friends - the teen found a 'giant tag' Hershey's kiss
Gary said something that I found ridiculously funny ..
the teen said something ELSE that was crazy funny ..
I felt I should share their funny with the world
I shot a picture
and I made this.
LOL
I love my funny family!
happy Valentine's day y'all

p.s. I <3 my awesome hand-welded steel nameplate that my amazing friend, Alex made for our entire family.  They're so cool .. my family .. the nameplates .. and my friend for making them. <3 :)

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 .. :)