St. Patricks Day Wreath {Dollar Store Craft}

Now that Valentine's Day is behind me, I'm thinking forward to next month and St. Patrick's Day.  I made this cute little wreath today in less than 20 minutes and under $6!  That's my kind of project.

Here's what you'll need:

• 2-3 Dollar Store Scarves (I bought 3 but only used 2)
• Dollar Store Shamrock
• 2 yards of Hounds tooth Ribbon or any ribbon you think would contrast well with Green (I bought this after Christmas at Sam's Club for $6.  The roll has 50 yards on it!)  You need two lengths cut around 10 inches and one length cut about 12-14 inches long.  You can just measure out the remainder for the hanging part of the wreath as compared to the length of the scarves.
• White plastic zip tie (already had)
• Safety pin (who doesn't have a safety pin?)
• Floral wire (already had)

A trusty assistant is always nice to have too.


Lay the two shorter pieces of ribbon across the stem of the shamrock.  Then double one scarf and wrap it around the stem of the shamrock and the ribbons and tie a knot.  Take the other scarf and tie it around the knot of the scarf you just tied.  It should look like this.  (A picture is worth a thousand words, right?)




Take the plastic tie and pull it as tight as you can around the knot and zip it in the back, trimming the excess plastic.  This just ensures that the scarves don't come untied.



Then take the 12-14 inch piece of ribbon and wrap it around the plastic tie and knot, twisting it in the back so that the right side of the ribbon is facing the front.





The last thing you have to do is measure out the piece of ribbon to hang down with the scarves.  I doubled it and then tied it to the center of the shamrock with floral wire.  I cut the ends of the ribbons into inverted points too.

And that is it!  Easy as pie.  Here is the finished product...

p.s.  I'm linking up to I heart Naptime, It's Overflowing, My Uncommon Slice of Suburbia, Home Stories A to Z, Serendipity and Spice, Sand and Sisal and Serenity Now!

Late Night Snack

I'm loving these little heart shaped marshmallows!  I feel so festive!

It adds a little something to my hot chocolate (that little something being about 50% more calories).

Can you believe January is almost over?  I am slowly burning through my January paperwork.  It is the bain of my existence.

I'll be up late tonight until it's finished.  At least I have my cocoa to keep me company.

Valentine's Day Gift Bag

Last year McKenna and I made these cute little Valentine's Day gift bags for her preschool class.


This project was super easy and pretty cheap since the bags, pencils, Poprocks and candy all came from the Dollar Tree.  The dolled-up bubble bottles came off the clearance rack at the Dollar General after summer ended the year before last.


The lollipop sticker on top was on Avery's website.  They have a ton of cute downloads up there and you can search by the type of paper you have.  Since I didn't have the right type of paper for the lollipop printable, I saved it as a word document and re-sized it to fit 20 stickers per page and printed on the same label paper as the tags (below).



I downloaded the Happy Heart Day printable on the front here.  I also printed these on label paper and used my circle cutter to cut them out.



I typed the tags in Microsoft Word using Waltograph font.


I'm linking up to Serenity Now, Tatertots & Jello, Home Stories A to Z, It's Overflowing, My Uncommon Slice of Suburbia and I heart Naptime!

Downton Abbey

Guess what comes on tonight?

 

Source: imdb.com via Amanda on Pinterest

Yep! Downton Abbey! I have been waiting for the third season since I watched seasons 1 and 2 within a week this past spring.

Source: google.com via Amanda on Pinterest

I'm going to curled up in my pajamas at 9! I'm saving all my laundry to fold until then. {Sadly, it will most likely take the entire two hours to fold it all.} Happy Sunday!

Saturday Morning Picnic

We are being totally lazy this morning.

McKenna is always begging to eat in the living room and this morning I was too tired to argue about it.  We threw down a blanket, paper plates, frozen waffles and fresh strawberries.

Quick and easy!  And the girls are tickled to death!

2012 {in review}

I intended to post a lot more in 2012.  I had good intentions.  But time was short and my to-do list was long. I decided to give you a quick and dirty recap of our year just like I did for 2011.

I reduced my hours at work this past May. One would think I should have more time on my hands for blogging and such but as it turned out, I had less.  I tried to make sure I spent the majority of the extra time with the girls and we made Fridays "Family Day."  We did a different activity each Friday.  Sometimes they were big (like trips to Myrtle Beach) and other weeks they were less exciting (like planting a garden).  We painted pottery, played in our little plastic pool, made trips to get frozen yogurt and to the park.  Bits and pieces of those are included in the recap of 2012 below.

So without further adieu, I give you 2012 {in review} and in chronological order.

We went to Disney World last January and that was one of the highlights of our year.  We loved every minute (even the ones that were a little more stressful than others).  I can't wait to take the girls back again.  I think Avery will enjoy it a lot more now that she's a little older.

Though she seems to be enjoying it quite a bit based on the picture.




March brought Easter egg hunts, Easter baskets and the whole nine yards.





(My three favorites on Easter Sunday)

In April, we celebrated McKenna's 5th birthday with a Taylor Swift Birthday party complete with a stage and karaoke.  She is so sassy!


We also had cupcakes on her actual birthday at preschool. (Don't worry...Contrary to what the picture implies, the other kids got cupcakes too.)

We had a dance competition, recital and McKenna's preschool graduation in May.  

We also went to Denton to the Bluegrass Festival .



The girls can't leave Denton without a ride on the Handy Dandy railroad!



In June, we went to Myrtle Beach, SC with Mom.


We visited Wonderworks while we were at Broadway at the Beach.  McKenna is begging to go back.

And June wouldn't be complete without our annual trip to White Lake with our favorites! (Though I don't seem to have any pictures to document it.)

Another of our Friday activities in June was to have a "Beauty Day."  The girls needed their hair trimmed so we went to our stylist and then the girls both got their first manicure! They both sat still like they had had their nails done a thousand times.




We spent a lot of time this summer in our little garden.  The girls enjoyed running out there every afternoon to see what we could "pick."


In July, we took a day trip to Fort Macon in Atlantic Beach, NC and spent all morning in the museum and exploring the fort.   If you have an interest in history or the Civil War, it's a great spot to visit!




We walked across the parking lot to the ocean after we toured the fort and the girls couldn't resist a little dip in the water.


McKenna started school in August. 


I have to be honest here.  That rocked our world for a while.  We were in a blissful, disorganized, no-schedule paradise that came crashing down when she had to be dressed and at school by 8:10.  (I was in the habit of taking her to my Aunt's house in her pajamas.)  She had a hard time adjusting to being away from her family since she had never been to daycare or kept by anyone other than a family member.  She cried.  A lot.  For weeks.  And then she got over it.  One magical day she made peace with it and she hasn't looked back.

In September, we were beyond thrilled when my sister and her boyfriend announced that they were getting married!  I hosted a little lingerie shower for her in October and I think all the ladies in attendance had a ball.


The girls and I also took a little trip to Chapel Hill to meet up with some of our favorite ladies.

 In November, my little sweetheart turned three years old! 

She is an angel.




Can you believe it?  We celebrated with a small Rapunzel party at home.  Here's a helpful hint.  If you can't find a Rapunzel cake - just order any princess cake and pop the princesses off and replace with Rapunzel figurine toys.

November was a whirlwind as we spent the rest of the month preparing for my sister's wedding on the 17th.  She was so pretty and I'm happy to report that she and her new husband are living happily ever after.  (The picture quality is not that great on these.)

The girls were so excited to be flower girls in the wedding!

I had to throw in one of me and my man from the wedding!

And that brings us to December.  I got to volunteer in McKenna's kindergarten class for Craft Day and again for the Faculty's Christmas Breakfast.  Her teachers are awesome!  In case you didn't know, kindergarten is hard work!  I don't know how they do it everyday.  She has learned so much since August!  She is reading and doing math problems and comes home talking about things that I wouldn't even have expected them to cover (like Boxing Day, for example).  I am amazed by the shear volume of topics that they have covered in such a short time.

I'm still sad about it though.  My baby.  In Kindergarten.  I miss her.

Christmas was awesome.

We are very blessed.  I can't help but think of all of the families (especially those in Connecticut) who were not so lucky.

I'm praying for peace in 2013.

And that, my friends, was 2012.  Thanks for hanging in there, if you are still reading.  I've resolved to do better about posting in 2013!