Love is in the air...

Last weekend we hosted assorted family members (my dad, my grandma, various aunts, an uncle and a cousin or two) at our house for a 2 day sports extravaganza.  You see, I come from a long line (and a huge family) of Notre Dame fans.  And given that I live less than a mile from campus, my house has become quite popular during football and basketball season.  And I love.every.minute of being able to host my vistors.

They come from far away lands, you know...  Like Chicago, Missouri, Kansas...  and Connecticut...

Anyway, as I was preparing the house for my guests' arrival, I felt it was looking a little dull.  I had taken the Christmas decorations down a couple weeks prior, and it was feeling empty around here.  So what better time is there to start decorating for Valentines day?!

I didn't want to spend any money if I could help it, so I dug deep into my scrapbooking supplies, and here's what I came up with:

This is our "mantle".  We don't actually have a fireplace, but we have this wide ledge next to our front stairway that I have adopted as our mantle... we hang our Christmas stockings here and it serves as the home for all of our favorite family portraits.

(please excuse the glare from the window.  The sun is out for approximately the 2nd time since 

November here in Northern Indiana!)

Everything I needed to know to decorate this spot, I learned in Kindergarten.  Literally.  I just chose a bunch of different patterns of pink and red craft paper, folded it in half, and used my safety scissors cut out a bunch of different sized hearts at random.  Then a little scotch tape magic and they were up!

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Above my kitchen sink... my kiddo on her 1st Valentines day last year. 

(pink heart frame -- Goodwill, $0.50).

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The back door needed a little love too.

I just sandwiched a length of decorative ribbon between two cut-out hearts and taped it to the curtain rod.

There are a few more of these in all different sizes hanging in various windows and doorways throughout the house, but my house is too messy right now to photograph those I think you get the picture.

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And last but certainly not least, this little painting... which was made for me by my little sister (who is 10 years younger than I am) in 2005...when she was 11.  It sits in the corner of my kitchen under the microwave.

If you look closely, you'll notice that the bananas are sitting in the fruit bowl, browning away, while the small white dish that used to contain a large bag's worth of M&M's is already empty.  

That is how we roll around here.

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I have a few more projects in mind, once I get a chance (hopefully over the weekend - no sports to watch!), and I will post them as I get them done.

Until then, have a good weekend.

And spread some love around!

Ribbons and Bows

Today, a simple, quick craft.  

All you need is a basic headband, a few yards of your favorite ribbon, and a hot glue gun.

My mom used to do this for/with me when I was a little girl.

I loved having ribbons in my hair.

(Still do.)

Simple Ribbon Headband

1.  Gather your supplies - headband, ribbon of choice, hot glue gun (not pictured).

2.  Place a dollop of glue on the bottom inside surface of one of the arms of the headband and attach the ribbon.  You'll have to fold the end of the ribbon around the bottom edge of the headband's arm in order to cover the tip.  (I just played with it a couple times before gluing to make sure I had it right).

3.  Give the end a moment to dry.  Once it is secure, begin wrapping the ribbon around the headband, making sure to overlap each turn of the ribbon over the last (how much overlap depends on the width of the ribbon and how much pattern you want to show).  Be sure to add a small bead of hot glue every so often along the way to secure the ribbon to the headband.

**I am missing a few photos here of the next couple steps, but they're not too difficult to do!  Next time I'll be more diligent with my photo documentation.**

4. Once you have wrapped the ribbon enough to cover the entire headband, fold the final end under and secure with another dollop of hot glue.  

(Dollop is a fun word, no?)

5.  You can certainly stop after step 4 and have a cute, personalized headband.  

You can also keep going by adding an embellishment.  

Since this particular band was for my 1-year-old daughter, I went with a bow made from the same ribbon.  But you can use whatever decoration you like!  

A flower!

A brooch!

Feathers!

You could even Bedazzle it!  

(Bedazzle - another fun word)

(I made this bow by folding the ribbon a few times and hot gluing them together with a center band)

An in about with about 15 minutes worth of work and $5 worth of supplies, you have the perfect head adornment!

And if this headband can stand up to my daughter during a family holiday, then it's virtually indestructible.

Now if only I can figure out how to get her to keep it on her head and stop pulling it off and throwing it across the room... It probably wouldn't be good to hot glue it to her head...right?

Oh, but I love my hot glue gun.

Happy Crafting!