Free Valentine Printable!

Happy Sunday!

Valentine's day is almost here! So in the loving spirit I'm sharing the valentine card I created with you! Use it as a card, a print or a cute little tag for whatever creations you may be giving out this year. You're free to use it however you please! I'd love to see what you come up with! The image below is a PNG or you can download it as a PDF, whatever works better for you.

Valentine Printable PDF

If you're going to share online, I'd appreciate if you link back to my blog! Enjoy! If you have issues with downloading, please let me know and I can send it to you.

-M

A Not So Valentine Mantle

I love Christmas. So it was difficult for me to take down my pretty woodland inspired mantle– it was up halfway through January! I also didn't want to spend a whole lot of money on red and pink cupid stuff that I'd want to take down the day after the 14th. And I'm not really a cupid kind of girl. So I went more for a love inspired theme that could stay up a bit longer.

I found some free printables on Pinterest, printed off a few of our wedding photos that I still haven't done anything with (yet!), and grabbed a few things that I had elsewhere. I did buy a couple things from my favorite shop, but all were items that could stay up year round so it was worth the money! These little love blocks are so cute and I can switch the pictures out so easily. They can hold cards, or love notes too!

 

I've had these punchy yellow frames in a box for ages. They're just super cheap frames from Ikea but I thought this was the perfect chance to use them. I found these prints that were free and went together perfectly. Yes, I could have made my own, but sometimes you have to know when to appreciate someone else's hard work.

I found this awesome brass stag out in the Vintage Warehouse and decided it needed a place on the mantle too. I love it! I also got those gold flower tea light holders from the Vintage Warehouse a while back– they add the perfect romantic touch.

It still needs a touch of greenery for softness and a springy feel but everything is a work in progress, right? And if I only wrote a blog when I "finished" something I'd probably never post anything!

-M

Post Credits:
I Heart You Printable
With All My Heart Printable

My Favorite No-Bake Cookie

This cookie is not a no-bake cookie in the traditional sense.  It was once baked, but twas not I who did the baking. These White Chocolate Peppermint Oreos are so pretty and delicious, and you will not believe how easy they are. I'm not a huge peppermint fan but these have just the right touch of mint flavor to combat the sweetness of the chocolate.

Each year for Christmas my family (immediate and extended) do a gift exchange where we draw names- one cousin and one aunt/uncle. This year we decided that we would skip the name drawing and do small/ hand-made gift for each person. I will not say what the lady gift is but I feel safe in saying I made jars of cookies for all the guys.

Really all there is to it is-
Melt white chocolate chips. Dip your cookies halfway in the chocolate. Sprinkle crushed candy canes on top. Voila! I made around 130 of these in about an hour. Not bad.

 

I carefully arranged 7 cookies in each jar. While they are simple and pretty just like that- I decided to make them more festive. With a little ribbon, a bow and a simple white tag they are suddenly like a party in a jar! I really wanted a gift for the guys that wasn't a food item because I felt that was expected. Even with Pinterest on my side,  I had a really hard time coming up with something. I guess men just really like food. These make a super easy, inexpensive (about $2.15 per jar for EVERYTHING) and delicious gift. Like seriously....they're so good. 

You could also come up with different combinations of these treats with other store bought or homemade cookies– sugar cookies dipped in chocolate with crushed Reese's piece might be a tasty combo. Any others you might try?

-M

Christmas Pumpkins!

What? Christmas pumpkins? How can that be?! Well I love pumpkins and I hate throwing things away! So I was on a mission to turn my perfectly good pumpkins into a Christmas decoration because I couldn't stand the thought of tossing them out. Plus, I have no outdoor decorations since we've only lived in apartments, and really didn't have it in my budget to buy any. I remembered seeing a stack of pumpkins painted like a snowman once and thought I'd give it a try.

I really love the grey pumpkins and wanted to keep them. I decided on grey, white and gold for my color palette which meant I'd obviously have to make it a glamorous snow-lady. For the base, I painted the orange pumpkin white with Miss Lillian's No-Wax Chock Paint in Snowflake. How appropriate!

Then I realized that her head was cream colored compared to the base. Being the person that I am I decided to put a coat of paint on it so they'd match!

I painted her face and gold polka dots with acrylic paint and found some ribbon for a sweet little bow on top. She's cute but missing something. I think I'll find her a scarf.

I painted these too! I have a few small white ones that I may paint with different patterns to mix in.

 

 

-M

Holiday Swap Idea

Hi there!

I found this lovely photo this morning on Pinterest and I just had to share it. It made me feel so cozy and excited to decorate for the season. Think of the endless possibilities in your home.

Photo belongs to Sweet Something Design...check her photos out here!

THEN I had an idea! Don't you get tired of putting out the same decorations each year? But it feels wasteful buying new ones when the decorations you have are in perfectly good condition. Why not have a swap with a few friends? You could trade a few items that you feel are equal in beauty and then you each have something new to look at! And you didn't even have to spend any money. Just a thought.

Enjoy!

M