Lego Box of Awesome

I honestly think I could hear my mom's heart breaking, despite the two time zones and 2,500 miles that separate us.

She was on the phone discussing upcoming Christmas gifts with our 9 year old and I only had to hear her answer, to know the question ..

"No, Gramma. I don't even like princesses OR Disney Princesses.  I like cars and guns and legos and robots and helicopters ...."

That answer, in and of itself, pretty much sums up our girls and our lives.

They're as happy as can be - living life as little, redneck tomboys.
It's nice, because I actually prefer them to be rough n' tumble versus frilly n' froofy.

Fast forward to Valentine's day .. 

our fourth grader had a fabulous idea for this year's Valentine's box.
She wanted to connect a few boxes to create a huge, three-part Tyrannosaurus Rex; complete with giant head, tiny arms and a tail.. :)

Cute.

ambitious and elaborate, but still cute.
I really did love her idea, but I knew it wouldn't be within the classroom guidelines.  So, I decided to innocently peruse pinterest for another idea that maybe, just by chance she'd like.

Within a minute or four, I'd stumbled upon the original lego box of awesome.  (ok, that might not be the actual title of the original post that inspired us.  sue me.)

I showed her the idea and she got so excited about making this, instead - that I actually thought maybe she had forgotten about the T-rex. 

until ..

"One day, mom, when I'm a grown-up and don't have a teacher to tell me how big my Valentine's box is; I'm going to build a HUGE T-Rex and you'll have to stick your hand in his mouth to give me my Valentine's card."

she smiled and laughed as she walked away to gather materials.

I didn't have a chance or the heart to tell her we don't build Valentine's boxes, as adults.

Then, I figured she already has to grow up too fast in this world.
So,  I'll save that, for another time. ;)

I also found it ironic she should mention robots in her answer to my mom;
considering her last years' Valentine's box .. lol - my kids RULE! <3 :)

supplies for our Valentine's Lego box of Awesome
a box, box-cutter, spray paint and six 'dixie cups'

I commissioned the local, hot handy man to cut holes into the box - about the same width as the middle of the cup. 

we also placed some tape onto the box, holding the cup up from underneath .. just in case.

we taped the top of the box shut, sprayed on a couple coats of paint

voila !

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" 

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* 

valentine's robot of love

I'm so relieved to see that my anxiety and picky eating habits aren't the only traits of mine the girls have picked up .. they're our crafty little monkeys and it makes me smile.

I was hoping to search through Pinterest for Valentine's box ideas with the third grader; but she made it clear early on that she had her own idea and there was no changing her mind.  Clearly, she also inherited my stubborn and independent ways.

she painted the body / arms / legs  'aluminum' 

her dad cut slits into the side and she attached the cardboard 'arms'
they had the ability to move up & down as well as back and forth -

"so he can go 'beep boop beep.'" = she explains

of course .. there was a moment she tried to run from my camera ...

but she knows .. resistance is futile!!
smile, my crafty little robot! :) 

I know it's late .. but nobody ever accused me of being punctual  ..  

I hope everyone had a happy Valentine's:) 

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 .. :)