♥Valentine's Day♥

With Valentine's Day fast approaching, I found myself loving different DIY crafts and goodies on Pinterest.  I wanted to share a few of my favorite items with you.  All of the below I have pinned on my "Holidays" board if you would like to repin them for yourself!

These cute guys are easy to make and can be used as Valentines for kids to pass out at school, church, our to their neighborhood friends.  You may make them yourself with colored paper and write your own phrase around the wings...or click here for a printable template to make them in one easy step: add the tootsie pop! 

These are the cutest little phrases that you can use when making your own Valentines...or click here for the printable download so that all you have to do is print and cut! How easy :) 

I love this idea...and thinking about doing it for my anniversary :) Its easier than it looks...the premise is you prepare a SMALL gift for your honey, kids, or friend to open each hour on Valentine's Day, and of course, the 14th minute since its on 2/14.  Click here for label templates (all you need is address return labels and gift wrap of your choice).

How cute! Can you guess what main ingredient is used to make these adorable heart treats??  Left over Christmas candy canes (the small ones)...Click here for a tutorial.  All you need is small candy canes, melted white chocolate, and sprinkles!   

Love these for if you have kids who love to color and draw...simply cover matchboxes with paper and then fill with candies.  Click here for a tutorial.

This year, my husband and I will be celebrating our 2 year wedding anniversary on February 27th, it is right after Valentine's Day.  So we try to celebrate both occasions together...this year I am not quite sure yet what we will be doing (I know, its last minute).  But I did get him a card and some treats, not sure if he even has thought about getting me anything...someone should hint to him that I would love to see Wicked off Broadway in Birmingham, AL.  How fun!  You'll learn that I love musicals.  What are your plans this year for Valentine's Day?  Let us know!

By the way, Pinterest is a social community for sharing arts, crafts, photography, recipes, tips, humor with others...its easy to use and great for fetching wonderful ideas for any occasion!   If you don't already have a Pinterest account, let me know!  Its by invite-only but I would be happy to send you an invite.

Click for my Pinterest profile! 

Enjoy!

Brittany

My Grandma......

Right after Lyric was born, I stayed at Ashley's house through the night to help with the 2:00 a.m. feedings so she could get her rest.

One of those evenings, I was in the nursery feeding Lyric. I so enjoyed those moments with my new Grand baby, it was so surreal that he was actually here and we were bonding. One of those evenings, I was in the nursery giving Lyric a bottle when all of a sudden, I felt a sweet presence in the room. Now I had been praying most of the nights, giving God thanks for this precious little boy and also asking that he would sleep a little longer! But this was different, is was a comforting feeling and brought me back to a familiar time....then out of no where I thought of my Grandma (Mary) Eastwood.

I had not thought of Granny for many years, she died when I was 12 years old. She was the last of my grandparents to pass. So I had lost them all before I was even a teenager....I lived my whole adult life without Grandparents and I often tell my friends who still have them in their lives, how blessed they are.

Then, a couple of nights later I dreamed of her. Again, it had been years. Then it hit me, she was visiting me because I had now became a Grandmother myself! She was certainly the type of Grandma that I want to be.

I've been thinking of her more and more and recalling memories. She was an amazing cook, a seamstress, a crafter...she loved to laugh and was full of adventure. Some of my favorite childhood memories were with her. We went camping together, she made so many cute outfits for me, some of my favorites! She would crochet booties and make pillows. She quilted me a doll blanket and pillow. She made the most adorable barbie doll clothes. She had two chihuahua dogs, Arky and Lucky....she loved her dogs. She also made her own clothes and she was very stylish.

We are cleaning out our attic and storage areas in our house. I found a box of old pictures that were hers, so I thought I would post a few to share her personality.

This is a picture of her and my dad. He was her youngest of three boys.
I love this picture of them, looking at each other!

One of her dogs. I love that she has jeans on with a rolled up cuff.

This is a photo booth picture of her and my mom. This is before Mom and Dad where married. Mom knew Granny first. Mom lived with her sister and brother in law, in a trailer park and Granny was their neighbor. Mom started writing to her son (my dad) who was in the army.....and the rest is history!

I would imagine that this was taken on Lake Michigan in Zion.

One of her daily meals....notice it included a homemade pie. She was a great baker!

A few years later...... with me and my brother. I'm sure she knit the booties I was wearing.

Love this portrait I found of her, with the nature background. Cute dress...wonder if she made that?

Light Switch Tutorial

While spending some much needed craft time with my dear friend, Heather, we were chatting about how yucky light switch and outlet covers look in a room that you have spent time and money decorating so nicely! We decided to take off all my light switch covers in my home and very easily cover them with some papers that would match the decor in my home!  What a lovely way to modernize your essentials in every room.  Here is the step-by-step tutorial...enjoy!

What You'll Need*:

Light Switch Cover

Decorative Paper (scrapbook, old novel, phonebook, anything you want!)

Mod Podge (click for more info)

Small Artist Paint Brush

Exacto Knife/Razor Blade

*Watch the video for the steps!

This is the final product!

Let us know if you did this for yourself and how they turned out!

Enjoy!

Brittany

"Ray"framing!

It's been almost two years since my youngest daughter, Brittany, has gotten married.....and four years this coming November since my oldest, Ashley,  was married. I had yet to frame any of the wedding pictures, until today! I know - crazy! With the new world of digital photo technology, we were given disks of the professional pictures that were taken, so that we could pick, choose and have our own pictures printed. I love that convenience and the cost effectiveness of it, but without a deadline and having to make a choice of say 50 or so pictures, I just kept waiting and waiting. Between the two weddings, we have at least 1500 pictures......what a blessing, and a curse!

I had purchased several frames, in all different sizes and it had been on my "to do" list for several months, to at least get a picture of each couple in my living room and individual pictures of my girls. So, today was the day!

I purchased my frames from the Family Dollar.......they were beautiful and about 5 dollars a piece....but a little too shiny gold for me, but I knew I could fix that!

I borrowed some brown acrylic paint from Ashley's craft box and got started.

I love distressing furniture, frames, etc....because there are no mistakes! It is suppose to look weathered and messy. You can see how shiny the frames were. I loved the details and the brown paint actually draws them out.

I just applied the brown paint and then wiped it off with a cloth. After I finished, I let them dry and they dried very quickly.

I love how they turned out, it only took about 45 minutes to distress four frames and hang them. Purchasing less expensive frames, even if they were not my exact style, then distressing them to work was certainly worth it.

simple cRAYvings : chicken florentine

Do you ever go out to eat at what should be a nice restaurant and after you receive your check you say, "wow, that definitely wasn't worth $12.95!"?  I have done that several times in the past, more than several...hundreds of times!  Growing up with such an awesome cook, my thrifty mother Trisha, I have learned that sometimes even the nicest restaurants can't quench your cravings like a good home-cooked meal.

Justin, my husband, and I recently went to Ruby Tuesdays (mainly for their salad bar and awesome, soft croutons).  I ordered the Chicken Florentine.  Needless to say, it looked pretty but that's about it.  It tasted bland, the chicken was barely cooked so it had a very moist, wet taste (in a bad way), and the creamy spinach topping was below par.  It inspired me to create my own Chicken Florentine!

I was very tempted to quickly look up a recipe on the Internet but decided to make up my own recipe and share with you.  Here is how I did it...

2 chicken breasts - cut in half (makes 4 tender size)
half jar of store bought alfredo sauce
2 cups fresh spinach
tablespoon minced garlic
1/4 cup minced red onion
2 tablespoons butter
salt and pepper
fresh tomato

Brown the chicken tenders in olive oil or butter (your preference)

While the chicken is browning, in a pan melt the butter, and add the onion and garlic.  Let the pan get nicely coated with the butter, onions, and garlic then add the spinach.  Let the spinach completely welt down before adding the alfredo sauce.

Mix in the sauce and add salt and pepper to taste.  You can add other herbs as needed like parsley or oregano...again, its your taste preference.

Once your chicken is fully cooked, you may plate your chicken, topped with a tomato slice and your yummy spinach sauce!  YUMMY!

As a side, I did steamed broccoli and carrots seasoned with salt and pepper with a little mozzarella cheese on top!

Justin and I agreed my dish was MUCH better than Ruby Tuesday's.  Not to mention the calorie count and price.  Ruby Tuesday's Chicken Florentine was over 750 calories per serving.  My version was approx. 300 calories per serving (2 tenders, two tomato slices, 1/2 cup of spinach sauce).

Let me know what you think....ENJOY!

Until later,

Brit