Easy Valentine's Day Hoop Art

Just before Christmas, I finally managed to get some colour up on the wall with some lovely hoop art. (You can see it here.)  I loved it so much, I decided to keep it up all year, but the Christmas fabric had to go, especially with Valentine's Day fast approaching.

I acutally kept some of the hoop exactly the same, or simply added a little heart.  The red and green fabric was swapped out for some lovely vintage fabric left over from making these and these, and some grey & yellow fabric to match my newly painted walls.

I think this is my favourite. Shimmery, sparkly fabric with pockets. It's so easy to do. You can find the bunting here.

To make the pockets, fold your fabric almost in half.

Then fold it again so that 1st the raw edge is  3/4 of the way to the top and the 2nd raw edge is 1/2 way up.

Then insert the fabric into the hoop.

Next, I simply cut out some hearts from left-over wrapping paper.

On the reverse side, I wrote some activities that we could do to show kindness and love to each other. (Watch YouTube Videos is a family activity. Each night, Andrew shows the kids a YouTube video of the day. They love it.) Tuck the hearts in the pockets, and voila! Whenever the kids are looking for something to do, they can pull out a heart.

The red hoop is just as easy to make. Follow the same directions as above.

This time I took a paper bag and cut out some hearts. Then I wrote I heart u because... I used their favourite colours, so they know which is theirs and tucked them into the pockets. It's a sweet reminder of why they are loved.


Linking up here:
Someday Crafts
http://whipperberry.com/
aka Design
Today'sCreative Blog
The Girl Creative
Not Just a Housewife
Creating My Way to Success
Lil' Luna
 

Monday, Monday

The painting marathon of 2012 continues today. Instead of running 26 miles, I think I'll be painting for 26 days. It feels like that anyway. The living room is done. The hallway is done. The dining room is coming along. I haven't started the office - yet.  The kitchen is almost done. I'm painting the beadboard today.

 I'm also painting letters. Much more fun than painting walls. Or ceilings. Especially ceilings.

I'm also filling Etsy orders. Another fun thing.

And making more things for my Etsy shop.

After all the grey and snowy days this weekend,

I'm enjoying the sunshine.

And so is Sneakers. Happy Monday!

Around the House

Hello, glorious sun! I missed you yesterday. The rain stopped. The temperature dropped. Now we have sun and a dusting of snow. Still not enough snow to make a snowball or go sledding, but it's a start and a welcome break from the rain.

This morning I went on a field trip with Mr. Man and his class. Wow. There's a lot of energy in that class. I am enjoying a few moments of quiet along with my sun, before it's time to pick up the kidlywinks again. As I clean up the house, I see all the things that the kidlywinks leave behind. Like the paint that happily sits in Little Miss' room, waiting to used once again.

 
And the monkey that sits looking out Mr. Man's window.

In between painting (pictures coming shortly), I've also been working on some new items for my Etsy shop. Just in time for Vanlentine's day.

Pin It

And some for year round.

Pin It

Vintage Finds

Yesterday was Andrew's last day of vacation. Not ever. Just for a while. We took the kids to see Tintin. We all liked it.

Once back home, we realized that Andrew forgot his gloves at the theatre. Back in the car I go (Andrew was cooking up a storm). Having to go back out was the perfect excuse to stop at a couple of thrift stores along the way home. I'm so glad I did. I found some lovely vintage table cloths and fabric that will soon be made into items for my Etsy shop. I can't wait to get creating!

Getting Ready for Christmas Part One (Or hmmmm, Something's Not Quite Right With This Christmas Display, So I'll Make My Own Shutters)

Our jelly cupboard sits in the living next to the kitchen. (And yes it's full of jelly and other jarred goodness for the very first time in 16 years, but that's another post.) It normally looks like this.

About a week ago, I began to decorate it for Christmas. But something wasn't right.  The proportions were all wrong. Something was missing. And then it hit me. There wasn't enough height.  hmmmmm. Shutters would look great. But I have no shutters. So I guess I'll make some. And I did. Out of an old blind. What do think?

Yep, that's right! An old blind. A fake wood blind that no longer worked. The broken one that used to hang in our dining room. Remember this awful mess?

Well, with few cuts and a glue gun, the broken, fake wood blind turned into this. A lovely pair of shutters.

The shutters become the perfect backdrop for Christmas card holder that I made from an old frame vintage wire and bunting with vintage trim. You can get one here. It's a larger version of the frames that I made for Water for Christmas.

Pin It
And a it's a perfect backdrop for the happy snowmen.

Pin It

Making the shutters were easy. Remove the slats from a old, broken blind.

Place the slats side by side.  I chose to use seven for each shutter. Line up the slits.

Take another slat and lay it horizontally over the slits.

Mark where it needs to be cut. (I stacked all four slats and cut them with a miter saw). Glue the horizontal slats over the slits. For greater stability, cut two more slats with angles at either end. Glue them  on diagonally between the two horizontal slats. That's it! Finished!

I'm linking up here:
http://www.houseofhepworths.com/
http://whipperberry.com/
http://www.beneathmyheart.net/
http://www.lifemadelovely-blog.com/
http://todayscreativeblog.net/
http://www.homestoriesatoz.com/
http://southernhospitalityblog.com/

Etsy

It's open! Miracle-Round is now on Etsy! Friends and family have been encouraging me to sell the things I make on Etsy, and I finally did it. The shop is open. I donated items to an Etsy shop called  Water for Christmas, and to my delight, my items sold right away. You can check out the previous post for more info. Anyway, that was just the boost I needed to open my shop.

Right now, I think these are my favourite.

Africa and Etsy

One of my favourite blogs is Whatever. It was through that blog that I learned about Water for Christmas.

They were looking for crafters to donate items to their Etsy shop. I thought, "Hmmm, that's cool", but it pretty much ended there as I closed the computer and got on with all the things that children bring in life. A few days later I came across it again. This time I decided to act. I made these.

They sold. They're gone. I should have made more. But you can still shop for something else. It's awesome to give. Buy a gift for Christmas and at the same time you are giving the gift of clean water. How great is that?