The laundry goes on and on and on and...

You know I can't imagine why laundry room messages are so popular--is it maybe because it never ends? :D

And speaking of laundry, I've got to go do my three or four loads that are waiting for me.

Have fun doing yours!

Happy Valentine's Day!

Happy Valentines Day! I hope you are all having a wonderful day. In honor of this day of love, I thought I'd post one of my favorite Valentines Day cards I've made.

The top layer is vellum. The heart is embossed in fine detail white powder.

You can see the pink layer is stamped in red flowers that will be muted by the vellum. On the backside of the vellum, I colored certain roses with a red marker. The effect is what you see above.

I think it would be great to see your twist on this card. Any ideas? Post the link to your card in your comments and I'll check it out.

More laundry... (It never ends)

My friend has a gorgeous laundry room. Seriously. It's complete with cupboards and counters and space to fold. It's truly a thing of beauty.

My laundry room (which I am grateful I have--I had a closet in the last house)--is really more of a walk-through room on the way to the garage. I have one shelf and I use the bases for my front loaders to store laundry items in. Still I am really grateful I have a laundry room--and one that I can shut the door on if I want. As I said I had a closet in my last house.

In the hallway off the kitchen.

With absolutely no space.

That was hard to hide dirty laundry in--it often overflowed into the hall and blocked the garage door.

It was a bit gross.

Don't get me wrong. I'm grateful I had a laundry and did not have to run to the laundromat constantly--a family of my size can go through an awful lot of clothes in one week). Been there and done that plenty of times before.

Still it's nice to dream.

And it's fun to liven up the laundry with cute sayings. My friend who put up this sign did not however want to go for "Laundry: Drop Your Drawers", so went with a more basic look. The great thing about vinyl is it's up to you what you want to do.

Spring Time

I know it's not spring yet, but I'm tired of cold and snow and I wanted to post something a little cheery. I confess I didn't design this one--I made it at my friend Peggy's make-n-take--but I thought it was cute enough to post here today.

Peppermint Goodness

So a couple of years ago I was asked to participate in our school's Holiday Craft Fair. I had to come up with items that I could sell to both adults and kids. (Kids accompanied their parents and bought items for their friends and siblings). I love peppermint and the holidays. The only other taste I love as much is my mom's non-alcoholic wassail. (And it smells good too).

At the time I had a very little one at home, and so did a few of my friends. I came up with this cute easy project to do for the fair. The most complicated part was spray painting the white lids, and making sure the peppermint swirls didn't fly away when I picked the vinyl.

Last post I talked about traditions--I have to tell you about another one of my favorite traditions which ties into this post--Each year when we put up the Christmas tree, we drink peppermint punch. My husband generally does not like peppermint, but this is the one time of year he looks forward to having it. We've been doing this since before I can remember, and I've carried it on with my family.

I'm going to share this long-time family recipe with you. Perhaps you'll enjoy it as much as we do.

Peppermint punch:
1 part vanilla ice cream
2 parts peppermint ice cream
Milk and Ginger Ale

The let ice cream soften a little, then mix together in a large bowl. Slowly add in milk and ginger ale until the concoction is soupy and frothy. Yum! (And seriously easy).

Do you have any family traditions you want to share?

It's Beginning to Look a Lot Like Christmas

Christmastime is here! I love this time of year--the snow, the red, green and gold everywhere, the songs about family and friends--I just love it. Every year I try to buy my presents a little early so I can enjoy the holidays to the fullest without having to worry about running around. (Nothing beats having all the essential stuff done and being able to enjoy your family with some downtime).

Last year I was still trying to get things sent off--this year I'm doing a little better. My kids are growing too fast and I want to focus on their enjoyment of the holidays.

Decorating is an essential tradition. This pictures above show a window decorated with vinyl. You can apply it from the inside or outside--just remember if you want it to show from inside the window, you need to order it reversed or mirrored so it looks correct when seen from the outside.

Hearth and Home (Happy Thanksgiving!)

Happy Thanksgiving! I hope you all have a wonderful holiday and that you don't overindulge on the great food.

I thought this sign was an appropriate one to post today since one of the things I'm most grateful for is my family. To me a home can be anywhere in the world as long as you have family. I've moved several times (I think 10 at last count), and we've been able to create a happy home wherever we've lived.

So Happy Thanksgiving! Let's all be grateful for the ones we love.

Race Results

I ran my first 5K! I didn't come anywhere near placing, but I was proud of myself for my accomplishment. I came in just under 40 minutes--which was my goal. (I haven't been running all that long). I know I will do better next year.

It's always fun to decorate for Halloween, but sometimes storing the decorations can be a bit of a pain. And if you like to change things up from time to time, it's can be tricky using the same thing each year. An easy solution to all this is buying a premade phrase to place on your walls, door or windows. When the holiday is over, just peel the letters off.

Halloween will be a bit interesting for my family this year. My oldest is at the stage where he doesn't really want to dress up. In fact last year, we hit so many parties none of the kids was interested in going to Trick or Treat.

Go figure!

I can still have fun decorating though.

Shooting for a Goal

So this spring I decided I would work my way from couch potato to running a 5k race. I know--it's not a big race, but it's one I thought I could reach. The race is in a couple of days. I'll let you know my time.