Owl Be Your Valentine {Tutorial}

Cole and I did some more Valentine's crafting yesterday and today, so I thought I would share with you how we made these little owl Valentine's using toilet paper tubes. Aren't they cute?! I've actually been saving up our T.P. tubes for the purpose of crafting with them, so this seemed like the perfect opportunity. And the best part- I had all the other materials on hand too (minus the treats)- score!

My sweet little helper. Here he is making Valentine cards for his cousins. :)

And here's Caleb giving me the evil eye for not including him (sorry baby) :(.

"Owl Be Your Valentine" Craft

Materials you'll need:

Toilet paper cardboard tubes (or paper towel tubes cut down)

Construction paper or other scrapbooking paper

Silly eyes

Tape

Glue stick

Scissors

Marker

Treats (to fill tubes)

First I cut out circles of construction paper with tabs to fit on the bottom of the tubes (so the treats wouldn't fall out when filled later).

And taped the tabs to the sides of the tube.

Afterwards I cut out my sheets of construction paper sized to the cardboard tubes, with a little extra for overhang.

And here it is glued securely to the tube.

Then the fun part- making it look like an owl! :) I cut beaks out of yellow construction paper first by cutting diamonds, then folding them in half.

And cutting out some teardrop-shaped owl "wings".

After that I cut some more construction paper for the bellies, wrote the message on them and glued them to the front. And lastly, I glued on the wings, eyes, beak, and folded down the top of the tube to create the "ears". 

I think they're pretty cute! Silly-looking, but cute. :) Next I'll fill them (from the top) with treats and fold the "ears" back down.


And here are my boys happily having a screaming contest during lunch.

Awww ...boys. :) 

xo,

Gail

Valentine's Craft

Seeing as how Valentine's Day is only a week away, I thought it would be fun to share a little V-Day craft that I did today during the boys' nap time. I'm not really big into hearts in decorating for the house, so when I saw this on Pinterest awhile back I thought it was really adorable and decided it fit within my decorating style. And, it's so simple you can practically do it with your eyes closed (okay, minus the scissors part! ;) But you get my point....it's eeeeasy. :) I like the way it turned out. Let me know if you try it too!

XO Clothesline Craft

Materials you'll need:

Graph paper (optional)

Pencil

Scissors

Sheet of cardboard (a leftover cereal box would do)

Craft paint (I used white and red and left some unpainted)

Craft paint brushes

Twine

Mini clothespins (crafts supply store)

 First I used my graph paper to draw out the X's and O's (you could do words too). I then traced them on my cardboard and cut them out. 

 After that it was just a matter of painting them and waiting til they had dried, which only took a few minutes

And here's how it looks in my kitchen. 

I think they're kind of sweet. :)


Happy Valentine's Crafting to you!

xo,

Gail

A Happy Valentine's

Yesterday was the best day EVER. I don't know if it's because I went into it with low expectations or what, but it truly was one of the best days in our 3 1/2 years of marriage. True story.

I had fully planned on waking up early to make Matthew breakfast, but guess who beat me to it? Yep, he was up and at 'em and soon ushered me into the kitchen for this lovely treat...

It may be hard to tell, but that's scrambled eggs dyed red

with toast & butter. YUM. Not pictured (which was

equally delicious) was pomegranate green tea. So thoughtful!

Later on in the morning I got him back and blew up pink and red balloons and threw them in his office, along with sweet messages taped on his office door that read "This Office Belongs to the Man I Love" and on his chair "King of my Heart". So sappy....I know. ;0)

I also decorated our table in the afternoon for dinner....

I set the table for 4 to make it look more complete,

but it was only for the two of us. The only thing I

bought were the placemats for $1.99 each, everything

else I had on hand.

Remember these beauties I scored at a garage

sale for 25 cents for a set of 12? It's amazing

what a little bleach will do.

Valentine cookies. YUM.

Drop cloth tablecloth, pink votives, red

tapers and heart playing cards. ;0)

For lunch I surprised Matthew with this...

Tomato basil soup with Caesar salad- one of our faves!

I got a little cream-happy, thus the distorted heart.

♥ My Valentine ♥

For dinner we cooked together. Fun! Here's the table at night:

Strawberry "heart" spinach salad with red onions,

glazed pecans and a homemade dressing.

Fillet mignon, creamy scalloped potatoes,

buttered asparagus & (not pictured) sparkling

cranberry juice & bread.

And here's my studly Valentine again

sporting the pink polo. (nice shave, too.)

And if that wasn't enough already, Matthew surprised me by recreating our first date together by going iceskating! Cole had his first babysitting experience with Matt's parents while the two of us were able to get out for a little alone time. It was WONDERFUL and we laughed and smiled the entire time. Before heading home we finished out the evening by going to Braums for my favorite icecream: Cappuccino Chunky Chocolate! Perfection in a cone.

Anywho, I really didn't write this post just to brag and boast, it just made me so happy I had to share it!

I was happy to get home to this little dude though....

(Photo taken Valentine's Eve)

Love & hugs,

Gail

A {LOVE}ly Weekend

I hope you all had a wonderful Valentine's weekend! Here are a few photos of ours....

Dallas, TX got a record-breaking snowfall of 9 inches!

I've never seen snow like this in Texas in my lifetime so far,

so needless to say, I was thrilled!!!

Matty & I beside the snow igloo that we

(mostly Matt :)) built out at my folks'

house. It was so cool!!

Inside the igloo. :)

Daddy & Me with our snowman "Mr. Puddles"

in front of my childhood home.

~Valentine's Day~

My card to Matty

Tomato basil soup with cream heart for lunch :-)

*My Valentine*

Yummy Valentine cookies for dessert

My handsome hubby getting

ready for our Valentine dinner date!

Happy Valentine's Day!!!

Wreath Love

A few days ago I was inspired to make a wreath when I saw these ideas on Tip Junkie. I adapted the one made from old scraps of fabric and created a unique wreath of my own.

I started with an old wire hanger and fashioned it into the shape of a heart....

Then I took pieces of cut up fabric in different shades of pink and red and tied them securely to the wire, repeating a pattern of the different fabrics over and over (and over and over and over) until the entire form was covered.

Here's how it turned out...

I'm happy with the way it turned out...and although I think it's just a tad too small for my front door, nowhere else seemed to fit...so there it shall stay!

Have a LOVEly week!

xoxo,

Gail