Our Valentines Day in Pictures.

We didn't do much for Valentines this year. I taped some hearts up, make heart shaped food, and snuggled with my kiddos while Dru worked all day. We love each other every day, so we don't need a special day to prove that. I do like to decorate for the kidletts though. My three year old didn't understand,and told me to take the decorations down haha.

She likes to crochet.

Valentines wouldn't be complete without a dramatic tantrum on the floor.

I let him eat jello for dinner...two servings. 

Banana Bread Recipe

In a perfect world, men and women would be checking their mail in the morning, waving hello to to their neighbour who is just on their way to work.
"Good morning Mr. Smith!"
"Good morning to you too!"

In a perfect world, people would rush over to meet their new neighbours with baked goods in hand, and asking if they can help with any thing.

I want to live in that world.
So I'm going to make it happen. We have a new neighbour, and I've been watching her move her stuff in for the past few days (I know... I sound totally creepy right?)
Anyway, I started pinning neighbour gift ideas on Pinterest, but I never get to the store, and I don't really have any cash to spend...lammmmeee.
So I opened up my trusty recipe book, and got to work.




Banana bread is a big treat around here...we usually never have ripe bananas left over for baking because my husband eats them all. he will probably cry a bit because I am giving this banana bread away actually...

I didn't take any pictures of the actual baking because I never intended for this to be a blog post. I decided after I wrapped the bread up all cute, that I had to share it!

Here is my favorite recipe for banana bread. I don't remember where or who I got it from, it is not my own recipe, but I would like to share it with you :)

Banana Bread
Ingredients:
3 or 4 ripe bananas
1/3 cup melted butter
3/4 cup sugar
1 egg
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 teaspoon baking soda
pinch of salt
1 1/2 cup flour

Preheat oven to 350F
Mix mashed up bananas with the melted butter in a large mixing bowl.

add in the sugar,egg,vanilla,baking soda,salt, and flour,mix until well blended.
Pour mixture into a greased bread pan and bake for 1 hour.
then cool on rack!

Super easy, and you can add in whatever you want, like maple, or blueberries....we like blueberries.

Enjoy!

Quickest Valentines banner EVER!

Valentines is coming! But to be honest, I haven't exactly been crafting for it this week.
Instead I've buckled down with my crochet projects and finished some stuff up. I want to make enough inventory to actually be able to sell at a craft fair this year. *goals*

I would post tutorials for crochet projects, but truth be told, you would be so very confused because half the time I can't tell the difference between a double crochet, or a triple crochet, and I have to google it.

BUT I do have a quick DIY bunting idea for you! I love quick crafts because half the time I have a baby hanging off me needing my full attention. So here it is!

Quick Valentine Bunting!

You Will Need:
-paper (I used vintage sheet music I found at the thrift store for 25 cents!)
-red or pink paint
-paint brush
-scissors
-string
-hole punch (I also found this at the thrift store for $1!..you can see I still haven't removed the price tag..hah!)

 Take your paper and stack it all together so you can cut more than one piece at once. Cut it into strips. It doesn't matter what size you make them, as long as the strips stay close in size.

I cut mine into three strips. 

 Then cut those strips in half.

Cut little triangles out of the bottom

punch two holes in the top

Paint hearts on. I like that you can still see the music notes through the paint.

String some string through the holes, and your donnnnnneee!

So quick, and so very easy!

What crafts have you been doing for the big day of love?

Lemonade Makin' Mama Giveaway

Hey everyone! Just wanted to let you know that Sasha from Lemonade Makin' Mama is hosting a give away with goodies from some really beautiful,talented women!

I have been following Sasha for a while now on Instagram, and I check into her blog every so often. She has beautiful words, a lovely home, and has the most amazing Etsy Shop EVER! (It reopens on February 5th! so mark it on your calendars!)


So head on over to Lemonade Makin' Mama to enter :)

Creative Play

How do I put this...My kids watch too much TV. They play while watching, or take off and play with each other and then take a break and watch a show, but the TV is almost always on in the back ground.

I'm not the perfect mom who has dinner ready, the floors swept, and I certainly don't always have them playing something they can learn from. But sometimes, I do pretty good. Like today. Today we built a house.

I brought out all our craft sticks, a glue gun, a cardboard surface from the recycle bin, and we got to work.

I started the base, and I controlled the glue gun (obviously because glue guns are hot hot hot, and my kids are small small small!)

From there, I made exactly what Mr.Sensitive told me to make.
"Make a ladder Mamma!"
"We need a roof here!"
"This stick has to go here"

He also sang the theme song from Bob the Builder the whole time (see what I mean by too much TV?)

Then my kiddo got artsy and made a clothes pin sculpture on the very top. 

After he said we were done building, I got him some paint so he could make it his own.

I use recycled lids from plastic containers as paint trays. Acryclic paint washes right off of the plastic with hot water.

Right now, he has his transformers inside the stick house and it's their hide out, and he's been playing quietly for a good hour...which doesn't happen often.

He has a million little toys he can use to play with his new house, and there's a lot of room to build onto it in the future.

Happy Crafting!

Mini 'Pallet' Valentines Display

I have been looking for something to do with my giant bag of popcicle sticks. Seriously..I have a million wooden sticks and have no idea what to do with them.
Then yesterday, I was walking home from the park with the family, and someone had a bunch of pallets in their yard. I decided to make a 'mini pallet' with the sticks and paint it for valentines!

Polka dot Valentines 'mini pallet'

You Will Need:
-Glue Gun and Glue Sticks
-Popcicle Sticks (about 13ish of'em)
-Paint (I used white and red acrylic)
-Paint Brush
-Nail File
- Gold Polka Dots (not pictured)

Line up two popcicle sticks, and start gluing the rest of the sticks across them like the picture.

When your done it should look like the picture above. (I trimmed off the little nubs on the bottom,but it's not a must)

next your going to paint your 'pallet' whatever color you want! I realllly love this antique white.

Ta Da! all painted and dried!

If you don't want a distressed look, skip this part. If you love the distressed look, then take a nail file, and file away until you get the look you're going for.

Paint a heart

 
I added some gold polka dots because who doesn't love gold polka dots?!

And last, I found a tutorial the other day for making an easel out of paper straws over at Wants and Wishes

Happy Crafting Lovlies!