Candy Hearts Wreath

I am not a big fan of January. I love Fall and Christmas so much that I always find myself feeling a little gloomy and depressed when the New Year rolls around. This January is no exception, especially because it has been even more dreary and cold than usual. Seriously, y'all - there was literally no sunlight in Dalton for over a week. It was awful! I already have spring fever, and I have it bad.

On the bright side, I'm already getting excited about Valentine's Day. I've had the same Valentine for nine years now but I still think the holiday is a little ridiculous. We should tell everyone how much they mean to us every day, right? Anyway, I'm still a nut for any holiday because I love to decorate and Valentine's Day is just the same. I love color so Valentine's Day is so much fun because it's acceptable to make my house look like a rainbow threw up everywhere. 

I've had a styrofoam wreath form that I've been itching to use for over a year. This weekend I finally made my mind up and decided to make a wreath out of candy hearts for Valentine's Day. It was definitely time consuming but so worth it! I couldn't be happier with the result!

What you'll need:

Styrofoam wreath form

White satin ribbon - 1.5in for the wreath and .5 inch for the hanger

Hot glue gun - I use a mini glue gun

Hot glue sticks - About 5 mini sticks

Candy Hearts - I used 2 large bags of the Sweethearts brand

• First wrap the wreath with the wide ribbon to cover any uneven spots and make a nice under layer for any areas that show through. I glued the ribbon as I went to keep it as tight and even as possible.
• I glued my hearts in one row around the front of the wreath at a time - like an "O." I wanted the hearts to be as evenly spaced as possible. I would leave a teeny tiny bit of space between the first row of hearts to make spacing the following rows a little bit easier. I didn't have a specific pattern, I just made sure I didn't put any one color twice in a row. If you want a specific pattern, buy an extra bag. There are not even amounts of each color in a bag.
• Only put enough glue for about 3 hearts at a time - if you put more the hearts aren't able to set as well and may fall off. Slow and steady wins the race, y'all!
• I tried my best to "window" the following rows of hearts but it didn't always work that way. As long as you glue them as straight and evenly as you can, they will turn out just fine.
• I did about six rows deep because I wanted the wreath the lay flush against the door and not knock the candy hearts off.
• For the hanger - wrap one piece of the white ribbon around the "top" of the wreath. Glue the two ends together and glue the ribbon to the back of the wreath where there are no candy hearts. 
• I like simplicity so I tied a simple white bow and glued the knot to keep it from coming undone. I then glued it to the front of the white ribbon hanger at the very top. 
• I made a little loop with the .5in ribbon so I could hang it on the command hook on my front door. 
• If you can't tell, I chose to glue my hearts with the word side down. I like the clean look of the plain hearts. I think it would be just as cute to space out a few with the words side up.

There you have it! It took me about two hours and $10-$15 total. I absolutely love how it turned out so I encourage you to make one for yourself!

What to do with Wedding Cards?

Confession time, y'all. I am an enormous pack rat. I am pretty much a borderline hoarder at this point. Not the empty trash piled to your ceiling type; the stuff type. My family makes so much fun of me because of it. I have never really liked to throw anything away, but it has only gotten worse as I've gotten older. I am the most sentimental person you will ever meet, I guarantee it. A lot of it has to do with my grandmother - she kept everything and I am following right in her footsteps - especially anything that has to do with my grandparents since all of them have passed away. I am so afraid of getting rid of something I'll want later or need! Now that I'm a teacher (well, not literally at the moment) it's even worse! I'm always thinking to myself, will I be able to use that in Social Studies? A Science lab? You'd be amazed, right EDMS friends?

I've got a giant chest at my parents house full of middle school and high school memorabilia - cheerleading tags, notes, newspaper clippings, etc - that I can't stand to part with. I've also got a giant hat box full of anything and everything Chris and I could accumulate during our relationship  - that's 8 years worth of notes, ticket stubs, receipts, etc. I think it might have something to do with my love of history. I love learning about anything - seriously - but especially people and how they change over time. I love looking back at my grandparents dating photos, or hearing stories about my dad's childhood growing up on Black Rock. I can't wait to share my life with my children, and what better way to do that than though showing them things that meant so much to me at one point in my life? Do I need those BAR slips from my friends in Middle School? No way. But each one of them has a story attached to them that I can't wait to share. My version of "How I met your mother," I suppose...

Anyway, my hoarding tendencies only got a thousand times worse when we got engaged! I have saved every. little. thing. that has had anything to do with the engagement and wedding. I've got yet another box full of those things. I keep getting the box out to look through it and decided I wanted to do something more fun with some of my things.

If you're on Pinterest you've probably seen these things floating around for a while now and I finally decided to make my own. My first project was this "Wedding Card Book." This is all the cards we got at the showers and at the wedding. It's a pretty thick book so I had to use two large binder clips. I found the clips at Wal-Mart for less than $2.00 a pack in the office supplies section. The pack included four large clips and four small clips. All I did was use the hole punch and try to keep in centered so the cards were even. I stacked my cards from largest (in the back) to smallest (in the front) and used a pretty card for the front. Thanks to my sweet, sweet, friend Sarah Richards for this beautiful card! 

After that one I decided to make a few other ones! This next one is specifically our wedding paraphernalia. It includes: 

Wedding Invitation 

Guest accommodation card

Response card

Our three wedding shower invites

Engagement Party Invite

Rehearsal Dinner Invite

Guest responses (RSVP's, both yes and no)

This one is probably my favorite! If you registered at Gift Garden or Davis Brothers you know what these are - the cards on all the presents that say what the gift is and who it is from. Most of them have hand written notes from the giver. I kept every single one! I will cherish these forever! I love reading the sweet thoughts from the ladies at our church in their beautiful handwriting and the funny ones from my friends! This way I will never forget who gave me what gift. I put a tag from our gift bags at the wedding on the front for the "cover."

Lastly, I decided to put my post card collection on a small ring. I don't have many but my collection is growing. I decided to start this when I went to Italy last summer and it's so fun to look back at where I've been.

If you go anywhere interesting, send me a post card please!

I made one other one for miscellaneous cards but didn't take a picture of it. I only used the ones I had here in Dalton because the rest are in a box (shocker) at home. 

What do you think? Are cards worth keeping? I vote YES!

The life of a nomad

Chris and I have traveled a lot of miles in the past few days! Chris works a crazy schedule at his job with Oglethorpe Power that theoretically includes a "seven off" about once a month. I say theoretically because this is the first one in a long time where he has actually had a full seven days off. He is usually busy with meetings, trainings, and overtime shifts during his days off. We crossed our fingers and knocked on wood this time and got our wish (so far!). On Friday we headed to Athens, also known to me and mine as the happiest place on Earth, to get the last of my furniture there and run some errands. Last month we had a close call when we came back and found this: 

This is our back door - which was surprisingly still shut.

Devils helped themselves to our ladder to hop the fence!

Our cute ferocious guard wolf!

Dad and Chris replaced the door with a new, sturdy, and windowless one and we put a lock on the back gate just in case. We haven't had any problems since and hopefully it will stay that way. Our neighbor was hit three different times and several other houses on our street have been hit as well. On Friday Chris helped dad put up a glass door out back to let some light in since we put up that heavy duty door. Jasper and Lolli really enjoy it - Lolli looking out, and Jasper looking in! We spent a couple of days in Athens and hit up my favorite places: the dollar theatre, Barberitos, and Menchies to name a few. Can't resist posting a picture of my two favorite snuggles -

Lolli

Jaspy

Can I just say really quickly that I loved Snow White and The Huntsman (and not just because my ticket was $2)? I hate to admit that I've never read this original Grimm Brothers' tale but I definitely plan to now. If you haven't seen it I won't ruin it for you but I suggest you watch it. It was definitely a bit gory at parts, but if it wasn't too much for me or Haley, then you're probably good! It had a great story line without the romance Disney falsely adds to the mix. That was the best part - it had a heroine who saved her kingdom without totally relying on men or getting married. You know this Feminist loved that! Stay tuned years down the road to see if I let my girls and/or boys buy into that nonsense ;) 

Anyway, after a couple of days in Athens we headed back to Dalton to meet mom and dad at our house. They brought over the last of the furniture at their house and we had a big project party! Dad and Chris finally got the spot over the oven fixed - it has been driving me nuts! The lady before us ripped out the microwave and left a hot mess so we covered it and it looks so much better. We found that coke sign behind the oven - I'm going to make it a magnet for the fridge.

We headed to Chattanooga for dinner - my husband is obsessed with Mellow Mushroom - and then headed back home and my parents left for Habersham. Chris and I spent the next couple of days finishing up hanging pictures and organizing book cases and it looks so great. We spent one day exploring Chattanooga and shopping for goodies as usual! I'll post some pictures of everything soon but for now, here's our cute new wreath compliments of Pier 1. Hydrangeas of course...

We came back to Habersham today but we took the scenic route since it was such a beautiful day. We grabbed a peach milkshake and were on our way. We went through Elijay, Blue Ridge, Hiawassee, and around Lake Burton before heading home. It made me wish it was fall even more so we could be doing all those fun fall things instead of hiding from this heat!

My favorite!

In Blue Ridge today

I'll dream of pumpkins and a cool breeze when I lay my head down to sleep! Sweet dreams, all!

A few of my favorite things

Here's a glimpse at what I've been up to lately. Christmas seems like it came and went in a flash, didn't it? I only realized it was gone as I was walking through the mall today and saw Santa's empty chair. There is still New Year's but after that is the most depressing time of the year. I feel like an animal that goes into hibernation waiting for the first signs of spring! This year I won't be doing much hibernating - places to go, people to teach, weddings to plan! Anyway - here's a few of the things I've enjoyed the past couple of weeks.

My mother's beautiful mantle. Nothing makes me happier than these cheerful decorations! I have got to learn how to make these.

Home made sugar scrubs! They were really simple to make and smelled delicious (minus the ones I made in pickle jars... those had to be thrown out!)

You can find the tutorial I used here:

 http://www.maybematilda.com/2011/04/baby-shower-gift-homemade-sugar-scrub.html

Not sure what other people call these, but they are like homemade "turtles." Just pretzels, rolos, and pecans. SO easy and so delicious.

This is seriously my pride and joy! I am a sucker for all things involving Christmas ornaments. I've been wanting to make one of these for so long and finally got the courage to do it. I bought about 90 red ornaments from Family Dollar (less than $9), ribbon from JoAnn's ($1) and used an old wire coat hanger. It was a little more difficult than I thought but with the help of my handy-man dad it all worked out.

You can find the tutorial I used here (LOVE the six sisters' blog):

http://sixsistersstuff.blogspot.com/2011/12/6-dollar-wire-hanger-christmas-ornament.html 

These were just for fun because I thought they looked so pretty - and who doesn't love marshmallows? Just melt white or milk chocolate in the double boiler and dip them in. They would be cuter with more festive colors but these sprinkles were all I had on hand.

I made these "no bake cake batter truffles" for my mom's work Christmas party. They were deliciously easy and turned out pretty swell. They have a very different taste from real cake, so if that is what you are looking for stick to cake pops or the like. They are simple, pretty, and you can whip up enough to feed an army real quick!

You can find the tutorial for these pretty bitties here:

http://chef-n-training.blogspot.com/2011/09/no-bake-cake-batter-truffles-take-2.html

How can you not enjoy slaving away in the kitchen when you have this sweet little helper wolf? He makes everything better. If you're looking for a precious furry friend check out your local animal shelter :) Don't breed or buy while shelter pets die!

This was a "during" picture of my first candle making disaster adventure. I forgot to take an after picture. I could tell from the very beginning that this wasn't going to be as successful as I had hoped so I was a little lax on the picture taking. After melting the soy wax in my double boiler I attempted to use liquid coloring - bad idea (see that red at the very bottom...). Next time I will stick with the wax coloring. Otherwise it turned out okay - next time I know to use more wax because I didn't account for the melting, use more oil (sweet pea for this one), and non-waxed wicks because of the heat. I'll definitely be trying this one again.

You can find the tutorial I used here:

http://ruffledblog.com/diy-eco-friendly-soy-candle-favors/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+Ruffled+%28Ruffled%29 

There are several other DIY projects I have in mind. What did we ever do before pinterest? Oh yeah, productive things! Any ideas what I should try next?

Alright, sleep time! Chris and I are going to the travel agent bright and early in the morning - let's see what we can get ourselves into...