easter basket fillers: all things girly 2

Obviously, we're loving all things Hello Kitty around here. And sparkly and rainbow-y. Yep, all things girly.

a simple surprise: Easter decor

While Ella was at school the other day, I spread some Easter love around her room. She was so surprised and thought it was wonderful! 

St. Patrick's day fun: a leprechaun trap + celebrate simply

Ella had a homework assignment this week to create a leprechaun trap.

a sweet little sentiment

 

valentine's in a box

I love, love, love everything about Valentine's Day--the colors pink & red together, chocolate, ribbon, flowers, chocolate, smooches, and having the opportunity to let my awesome hubs and family know how much I love and adore them. And chocolate. :)

This year, I really wanted to put together something sweet and simple for my daughter Kate, daughters-in-law Ashlee, Daniela, and Tayler, and a couple of my favorite girlfriends.

valentine's printable: sharing the love

digital papers and clip art from Cocoa Mint

Remember these darling matchbook valentines I made for Madi and Ella last year? I still love them. Apparently Ella Bella does too. When she saw them on the computer, she said she wants to use them again this year, only change the photo to a more current one. Is that allowed? Sure would be simple. :)

valentine's day: 10+ reasons I love you!

Last year I decided to do something silly and fun for Lynn for Valentine's Day. I jumped on the "open at ___ o'clock" band wagon and put together a package of gifts for him to unwrap each hour throughout the day. Each gift was related to a reason I love him.

The hardest part was coming up with items to go with each reason, because I didn't want it to be all soda and candy. Maybe my ideas will help spark some of your own.

easter basket fillers: all things girly

I admit to being practical when it comes to stocking stuffers, Valentine's goodies and Easter basket fillers. I'd rather purchase a few really nice items than a lot of less expensive fillers that end up being tossed or broken soon after the festivities. So what are my tricks to purchasing items that will make both me and the little ones happy? It's simple. First, I plan ahead and start gathering things early (to spread out the expenditures). I store my stash in the top drawer of my filing cabinet behind the files--shhh!  Second, I save items I'd purchase anyway if a holiday is approaching.

valentine's matchbooks 2012

With all the candy Ella received, I feel like Valentine's has become the new Halloween! So did I send the girls off to their love day parties with Valentine's goodies too? Well, of course I did! :)

I used my matchbook template again (why mess with a good thing, right?), and some darling digital papers and clip art from Cocoa Mint I found on Etsy. This year I also added photos of the girls. They loved them. And I love that it makes them feel special.

party hearty: a valentine's craft

Ella played the guilt card recently and won. :) She told me all the other mothers help at class parties and I don't. She was right. So I volunteered to do a craft for the kindergarten Valentine's party.

cooking club: Oreo cake bites

I had a bunch of friends ask where they could order the cake bites we served at Patrick and Ashlee's reception. Apparently they were amazingly delicious. I wouldn't know, I never got the time to taste one. Even more surprising, neither did Ashlee. And she helped make all 350 of them! She confessed she was on the LGN (look good naked) diet at the time. :) She cracks me up.

sharing the love: valentine's matchbook download

Remember these sweet Valentine's matchbook covers I made for the girls last year? Still love them. If I run out of time to make some new ones, I might actually have Ella use them again.

personalized father's day card

I just ordered the most darling personalized Father's Day card for Lynn.

How delightful is this? It's from tiny prints. Love their designs. And it was just .99. Yep, you read right. I got a promo code from eighteen25 and it worked great! The code is GC99. You can personalize the message inside, so I had Ella tell me what she wanted to say. Head on over, there's still time to order your own.

I'm great at purchasing cards, but sending them? I stink. I'm seriously thinking about using this service. They'll send the card to you or directly to the recipient. Sure would be simple.

***Update: I received ours in the mail already (five days) and I love it!

the flu has flown + easter fun

I had the stomach flu for three days last week. I guess it was actually two weeks ago. Wow, it's been awhile. I've been trying to play catch-up on a long list of to-dos, which translated to no time for posting.

When I first started feeling sick, Ella really wanted to play. I told her I didn't feel well at all. She said, "Oh, oh!" and ran out of the room. A minute later she returned with these:

The throw-up container (gross) and a mask (hmmm...). :) Luckily I never had to use the container, but Elles kept checking on me to make sure I was wearing the mask. Is there possibly a career in nursing in her future?

Easter was delightful. We had a simple meal with the kids--Honeybaked ham, sweet potatoes, beans and rolls. Dessert was vanilla bean ice cream with toppings.

The girls wore new dresses to church and the Easter Bunny hid purses instead of baskets.

 

I purchased these little tin totes after Valentine's Day for half off and hid them away until Easter.

happy easter!



easter basket and butterflies :: by ella m.

Wishing you a happy Easter.

easter egg garland

This past weekend was General Conference for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. On Saturday night there's a Priesthood Session for the men. When the boys were younger, Lynn used to take them (and their friends) for milkshakes at Purple Turtle after each session. They've now graduated to dinner before each session. It's a fun tradition they've had for 15 years now.

Ella and I decided we'd make it a girl's night too. I told her she could choose what we'd have for dinner and then we could do something special together. She chose pizza for dinner and then to do a craft (no surprise there).

Our craft was this simple Easter egg garland. I got the idea from the blog eighteen25.

St. Patrick's Day projects

I wasn't going to decorate for St. Patrick's Day since I actually thought it was this week (yep, duh!). I even dressed Ella is green for preschool--got her all excited. She's upset that our Patrick has a day and she doesn't. I told her big brothers have to share their day with little sisters. She thinks that's great. :)

I found these simple and delightful St. Patty's Day projects over at The Tomkat Studio. I've seen a lot of fun ideas for goin' with the green lately, but these are my favorite. LOVE them!

photo source: The Tomkat Studio

photo source: The Tomkat Studio

I'll have just enough time to make them. Kim Stoegbauer (designer/editor of TTS) designed them for HGTV. There are tutorials and free downloads for both projects, and some other great projects on the post too. I LOVE Kim's simple design style--both projects and styling. Her princess party is my favorite.

happy valentine's day!

image source: pj taylor on flickr

sharing the love--valentine's matchbook template

I saw some darling matchbook valentines and decided to make some for Ella and Madi to take to their friends at school and daycare. I searched everywhere and couldn't find a tutorial or template download so I decided I could figure it out on my own.

simple valentines

A few things I've had tucked in my "Valentine's" idea folder:

This one is my favorite--simply beautiful and perfect--from Urban Comfort.