14 days of Valentines... Love Notes Version

Spoiler: If your name is Jeff and you happen to by my husband- stop reading!! 

I love Valentines day!! I love that it is a holiday celebrating love... and I love that it forces my hubby to do something sweet for me! ;) ha ha 

He always gives my girls and I the most thoughtful gifts each year, so last year I decided to do something special for him too... I did the 14 days of Valentines... For each of the 14 days leading up to and including Valentines day I gave him a small gift to remind him just how much I love him. It was so fun to see his excitement each day and he really appreciated the effort I put into it.

Since it was such a hit last year, I decided to do it once again but with a different twist on it. Instead I am doing 14 days of love notes.

I wanted to do something a little more personal than a cheesy tag tied to a gift each morning. Instead, each morning he will find a small gift with a hand written note tied to it. I tried to do things a little more catered to things that he liked instead of trying to find things that I could write something clever with. Since I am totally cheesy, some of the things do have clever/cheesy sayings hand written within the note but I didn't base my purchases on it like I did last year.

A few clever/cheesy things I am doing this year are-

-Grapefruit KISS soda: "Hey Valentine... How about a KISS??"

-Kettle Corn: "This may be "CORNY" but I thought I would "POP" the question: Will you be my Valentine?"

-Cinnamon Lips Gummies: "Hey "HOT LIPS"... Wanna put them to work when you get home?" ;)

-Muddy Buddies Chex Mix: " Hey Valentine, I wanna be more than just "BUDDIES".

-Pair of socks: "Hey Valentine... I think we are a "PERFECT MATCH"!

-Riesen candybar: "Valentine- You are my "Riesen" for living!"

Another cute idea would be to wrap each of the gifts so that your Valentine gets to open on up each morning... I wrapped a couple of my hubby's gifts.

If you want to do the 14 days of Valentines love notes for your Valentine this year- feel free to print out some love note cards.

I am happy to share- all I ask is that you become a follower of my blog somehow before printing.

Via GFC (blue box on my sidebar that says "join this site") , RSS, Facebook or Twitter.

Here is a link to the printable tags- just click the print button (not the share button).

Have a happy day!

Field Study Fever

I absolutely fell in love with Anna Maria Horner's newest fabric line Field Study the moment I saw it! I love all of the rich, vibrate colors and fun prints. I was so excited to get my hands on it and start working! 

Over the weekend, I set out on a quest to make the perfect makeup bag for my little sis to take on her mission for our church. These prints were the perfect thing to use because everything about this fabric totally reminds me of her fun style.

I knew I wanted to do a quilt-as-you-go method like I used on my Quilted Weekender Bag. So I started by creating a rough pattern for the bag and cut out the panels in duck cloth and batting. Then starting adding strips of fabric and quilting with straight lines until the duck cloth panels were completely covered. 

For the inside of the bag, I used laminated cotton so that it could be wiped out in case of makeup spills. In the "lid" of the bag, I added some places to store brushes. Once my panel for the makeup brushed was done, I sewed my zipper into the correct panels and then assembled the bag. 

And of course I had to had a little "Made with Love" tag to finish it off. I got my tags from Lilla Lotta on Etsy. They are printed on cotton twill tape and I love the personal touch they add to my projects! My sister absolutely loved it! Job accomplished! :)  

 After I was done with the bag, I started a new quilt... Over the Christmas break I noticed a crazy spur of the moment quilt along pop up on Instagram and I couldn't help but join in on the Scrappy Trip Along! There is a great tutorial for the blocks here. There is a big group pool on Flickr and if you look up #scrappytripalong on instagram you will find a tons of yummy scrappy pictures there too. 

So far I only have 6 blocks done, but they are so quick and easy to put together! Probably the quickest quilt I have made so far.. I have big plans for making lots more this weekend so I will keep you posted on my progress. This is my first quilt along to follow along with and I am having lots of fun watching what everyone else makes. I just need to decide how big I want to make mine! Lap sized or queen sized for my bed... We will see how long I last! :)

I love everyones totally scrappy versions, but for some reason I can't bring myself to go totally random scrappy. I have to have some thread in each block that ties to the next so I decided to use the spotted in a crowd elizabeth blue on each diagonal so I can connect the blocks in some design at the end. I may have to get y'alls opinions for layouts when I get a bit further so stay tuned! :)

Have a great weekend!

Happy 2013!!

1- Little Miss Priss Skirt, 2- 14 Days of Valentines, 3- Tied with a Bow Carseat Canopy, 4- Mini Messenger Bag, 5- Salt Air Lattice Quilt, 6- Vintage Lace Pillowcase, 7- Zig Zag Quilt Along, 8- Vintage Modern Baby Quilt, 9- Kitschy Kids Apron, 10- Sweet Life Quilt, 11- Circus Quilt, 12- Bedroom Makeover, 13- Dolly Quilt, 14- Sewing Storage, 15- Quilted Weekender Bag, 16- Ahoy Matey Quilt, 17- Kindle Case, 18- Little House Zipper Pouch, 19- Isosceles Triangle Quilt Along

Happy New Year everyone! I know that I am a week or so late, but I thought I would do the famous "last year round up" anyways! 

Last year was a really crazy year for my family. I lost my brother at the end of February and the rest of the year was spent in a whirlwind of grieving and just trying to take things one day at a time. It is so cray how one person missing in your life can change everything.

One thing that did help me stay grounded was this blog. Having a creative outlet is so important to me. Sewing was so soothing and healing when times got rough or emotions were high. And having you readers help to brighten my day with a sweet comment, a "like" on Facebook, or a pin on Pinterest meant the world to me! So thank you to everyone that has helped me through this last year- friends, family, readers, bloggers, etc. I love you all and am so grateful to "know you"!

Here is to an awesome year!