Last Minute Lovelies and Excitement on the Horizon!

Love is in the air,

Everywhere I look around.
Love is in the air,
Every sight and every sound.

Does anyone out there love Strictly Ballroom as much as I do? Just wondering. With Valentine's Day coming up in less than a week, hearts and cards and candy are certainly on the brain.

We have one preschool Valentine's Day party to go to this week, and we found the absolute perfect preschool valentines on The Long Thread. They call for card stock, a printer, and crayons, and they were super fun to make. And, just in case these aren't as perfect for you as they were for us, Ellen at The Long Thread has a huge list of printable valentines.

{photo used with permission from The Long Thread}

In our household, it isn't a holiday without taking treats to friends. We plan on making Sweetie Pies using the directions from Serena at Farm Chicks. We'll probably have to make lots and lots, because I plan on eating several dozen all by myself!

{photo used with permission from The Farm Chicks}

I've been in love with everything at EmersonMade for a while now. I check the blog constantly to see what new lovelies they have stitched up (if only my husband would let me pin little fabric flower boutonnieres or tie tacks on him). Yet somehow, no pretty handcrafted flowers have made their way into my hands. Boo. However, as a Valentine's treat to myself, I plan on making a budget-friendly, time-friendly rendition using this fantastic tutorial from 100 Layer Cake. Will it looks as good as the original? It is probably safe to say "No", but if I squint my eyes and stand back from the mirror, I might even fool myself!

{photo used with permission from 100 Layer Cake}

Call me crazy, but I like to have eyes on my kids at pretty much all times. If they're playing in the backyard--which, luckily, is the size of a postage stamp--I keep the door open and check on them constantly. If I am downstairs, I expect them to play downstairs. If they want to play upstairs, I usually try to find something to do upstairs too. There's not much for a mom to do upstairs. Sometimes I straighten up, sometimes I drag the ironing board upstairs and iron (I'm a wild woman!), sometimes I sit in the rocking chair and knit or read. Last week, I decided to grab a piece of paper and a pen and doodle, a pastime to which I could devote hours upon hours. My theme was love. Here's what I came up with; feel free to borrow them if you want to. Just let me know.

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And in completely different yet wildly exciting news, Max and Ellie is lucky enough to be involved in the "blog it forward" mashup organized by Victoria of sfgirlbybay, an awesomely inspiring design blog. Usually, we find out about cool things after they happen. Every once in a while, however, fate gives us a break, and we get to be involved in something cool. The blog it forward mashup is basically a bunch of amazing blogs that will all be doing a post on what inspires them, and then linking to each other. Everybody gets assigned a day to post their little essay, and everybody gets linked up. That's a pretty poor explanation of the whole process, but it promises to be fun. And, as alphabetical luck would have it, we follow Nicole of Making It Lovely, a fabulous blog that is so amazing it was involved in Altitude Design Summit last month. I tell you, the stars are lining up for us this year! We've been considering a blog remodel for a while now, and what better time to give this place a face-lift than when lots and lots of people (that's the hope) will be stopping by?! So expect a few changes over the next few weeks (our assigned blog it forward date isn't until March), and if there are growing pains, bear with us!