Birthday Celebration

We celebrated a birthday in our house this weekend (and earlier in the week with a few strawberries).  To surprise my now three year old on the morning of her birthday, I filled the doorway to her bedroom with pink and white polka dot and pearl-colored balloons...

She loved it.... she ran back and forth thru the balloons most of the day (and so did the older two kids).  They had a blast!

 

To hang the balloons, I tied yard to the knotted end of the balloon, then taped the opposite end of the yarn to the top of the doorway.  I varied the lengths of the yarn so the balloons would fill the entire space of the door (I bought the balloons from Hobby Lobby)...

Simple, easy.... and a huge hit (literally)!  I think I'll leave the balloons up for a few days... it'll keep the kids busy running!

Strawberry Heart Cupcakes

My baby turns three years old this week (time seems to go by a lot faster these days!).  To celebrate her precious, little life, we invited a sweet family over to eat lunch and a few piled-high-with-frosting cupcakes.  Since her birthday is so close to Valentine's Day and her favorite color is pink, we chose to decorate the cupcakes with a little pink, red and a strawberry heart on top.

To make the strawberry heart, I cut off the stem and sliced it into pieces (about 1/4" thick)....

Then I used a tiny heart-shaped cutter and pressed it into one of the strawberry pieces....

After hearts were cut-out, I placed them on top of the frosted cupcakes (note: set the strawberries in frosting no earlier than one hour before you plan to eat them- the strawberry juice will begin to run).

We served the cupcakes with chocolate covered strawberries.... yum!  Perfect for Valentine's Day or celebrating a birthday with loved ones!

Free Printables: Valentine's Day Bingo

 It's Valentine's Day next month, so to add a little (early) fun during the school week I thought we'd play Valentine bingo!  I created a few bingo cards and we've been busy calling out numbers and putting candy hearts on our numbers in hope to be the first to cover four numbers in a row....

It's been a lot of fun and what a great way for the kids to be excited about learning numbers (these bingo cards contain the numbers 1-25)!

Sixteen bingo cards and numbers (1-25) are available for your personal use for FREE!  So go ahead.... download, print or just pass along the link... enjoy!!!!

Valentine Bingo Cards

Click the link above to download the pdf file (warning: very large file). There are 8 pages, 16 total bingo cards. For the bingo cards, print on 8.5x11 paper then cut down the middle vertically.  For the bingo numbers, print on 8.5x11 paper then cut along the dotted lines.  Both the cards and numbers are perfectly fine printed on regular printer paper, but if you'd like to make them sturdy and reuse them over (and over), I suggest printing on cardstock and having them laminated.

Now it's time for a bingo party!

Heart Wreath

Valentine's Day is in about a month, so rather than wait until February to decorate the house with hearts we're doing it this week.... beginning with a heart wreath....

My daughter and I made the wreath using two wire hangers, scrapbook paper and a glue gun.  To start, I untwisted the hangers and bent them so each hanger formed one side of a heart....

... then I twisted and knotted both ends/points together (use your super human strength!).  Now the heart was connected and one piece...

We cut out several different sized hearts.... we made some really wide, some tall and narrow and some teeny tiny... there was a huge variation.  For a little extra help, heart cookie cutters are a great stencil to get an even shaped heart.  (I chose not to use the fold-the-paper-in-half-method because I didn't want a crease in the hearts.)

 

Once the hearts were cut, we used a glue gun to attach the hearts on the wire...

After the wire was covered in hearts, we then glued smaller sized hearts on top and turned them all different ways for variety....

After all that gluing, our heart wreath eventually was full of pink, white, red and gold colors and ready to be hung.  It's now hanging by twine over the mirror in the dining room.

So festive.... I'm feeling the need to celebrate with a Valentine's Day party (for the kids, of course)...

Guest Bedroom Big Reveal

The guest room is finished!!!  When I walk in the room this is what I see...

Last week, I showed part of the room when I posted about the lyrics I wrote on the black, painted wooden board using a Sharpie paint pen.  I wrote the words from U2's "One".

On the opposite side of the bedroom is a queen size bed and a newly created headboard.  To make the headboard, I took four wooden shutters that were used in the girl's room when we lived in Virginia.  I attached the shutters together using flat straight brackets, then wrapped a twin size mattress pad over the top of the shutters (sideways) and secured it using a staple gun.  Then I wrapped a white flannel sheet over the pad and stapled again.  After the cushion feeling was attached to the board, I added a gray and white striped sheet from West Elm as the fabric for the headboard.  I wrapped the striped sheet over the flannel sheet, then stapled it to the back.  Voila, new headboard!

The nightstand next to the bed is an extra wicker hamper I had.... I placed a mirrored tray on top and added a few books and accessories...

Above the nightstand is a watercolor painting I recently did....  I also gave an update to an old frame by painting it gold using Martha Stewart's liquid gilding.

Ritva curtains from Ikea are hung above the window.... I added black grosgrain ribbon along the edges just like I did in the living room and the girl's bedroom (more detailed directions on adding grosgrain ribbon here).

Along one wall, I placed a bookcase and a few pieces of art.  For the gold and white chevron print, I quickly drew chevron stripes using a Prismacolor marker (just like I used the marker in the dining room)..... they stripes are uneven, but I like the imperfectness.

And here's the best part, the before and afters pictures.  This is the look of the room when we purchased the house a year ago (I had a few ideas and inspiration photos of what I wanted the room to be)....

Then I made some progress unpacking boxes after we moved in the house and set-up a temporary design for the room....

And finally a finished room....

 

.... and ready for a few guests!

One Lyrical Artwork

We had a few guests come to stay with us during the week of Christmas so it gave me motivation to finish decorating the guest room before their arrival.  I wanted our guests to feel welcome, be comfortable and most of all have their own space to relax.

While arranging the room (using things around the house), I decided to switch up the artwork hung on the narrow wall that's sandwiched between two closet doors (so awkward).  I took a leftover piece of mdf board (perfect fit!), brushed one coat of black paint on the board, then wrote the lyrics of "One", by U2.

To write the lyrics, I used a white Sharpie paint pen...

The project was super easy!  The paint on the text looks a little faded (like when a wall could use another coat of paint).... I could go over the text again with the paint pen, but that would be time consuming and a) I'm not patient enough and b) I kinda like the look of faded text on a faded black board.

If you're like me after seeing all those "One" lyrics, you probably want to hear the song.... so here's the video.  GREAT song!

And since I'm done decorating the guest room, here's a sneak peak at the other side of the room...

I'll post more pictures soon!