Friday Favorites

  1.  Turkish towels

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Big, plush, soft, and stylish.  My go to kitchen towels. I found mine at TJ Maxx, but Amazon also has some good options here.

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2.  Tombow Fudenosuke brush pens

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* name and address have been made up and changed to protect privacy*

When I first started doing brush lettering, my favorite pen was the Pentel Touch.  Soon after, I ordered these Tobows.  For a while, Pentel remained my favorite.  Until I started doing 100s of invitations…. I soon began to despise the Pentel and love the Tombows.  With the Pentel, it’s really hard to get a hairline upstroke.  The Tombows deliver on this every time.

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3.  Coral Carpet Sedum

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*Image found here*

As I was perusing our little downtown farmer’s market, this plant stopped me in my tracks.  It looks like a succulent, but it acts as ground cover.  I haven’t bought any yet, but I’m in love and totally digging it… now to find where I would put it…

4.  Ikea Ektorp couch

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Two days after I bought this couch, my 3 year old took a non-washable marker and doodled all over it.  I almost cried before I remembered that I could just take off the slipcover and wash it.  In less than 2 hours, it was back on the couch in mint condition.  Not joking.  I will forever sing this couch’s praises.  (It also took me less than an hour to put together- and that’s a huge plus in my book).

5.  Simple Matters by Erin Boyle

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Finally a simple book on simple living.  The perfect coffee table book.  Beautiful to look at, practical to flip through.

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6.  Tea cups and saucers

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I love rummaging thrift stores for these.  For mere cents, these become classics in my collection.

What are some of your favorite things?

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10 DIY Classy Paper Valentine’s Day Decorations

10 DIY Classy Paper Valentine's Decorations
Images from: TheHouseThatLarsBuilt.com, JustSimpleDesigns.wordpress.com, HGTV.com, ThePerfectDIY.com, Blog.vickybarone.com, and CreativelyChristy.blogspot.com

This year, I’m trying to plan ahead a little more than in the past (read: throwing something together the night before…or day after) to make the holidays special for the whole family. I have fond memories of waking up on Valentine’s Day morning to a cute breakfast table set with decorations, a little treat for us at each table setting and pink biscuits baking in the oven. My Mom took the time to plan ahead to make even us kids feel special on Valentine’s Day. As part of my planning ahead, I’ve decided to put together some simple and cheap decorations for the month of February so of course, to Pinterest I went. So many cute ideas! I went ahead and ordered some pink, white and red construction paper via Amazon to save myself a trip to the store. Here are 10 of my favorite classy paper Valentine’s decorations.

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Photo from HGTV.com
  1. Sewn Heart Garland – How adorable is this? Sewing through paper is really easy and I love the airy look having these hang with thread provides.

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    Photo from Blog.VickyBarone.com
  2. Valentine’s Day Bunting/Garland – This one would require a trip to the craft store, but you could probably achieve the same idea with some glue instead of these cute little clothespins…you know, if you must.

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    Photo from TheHouseThatLarsBuilt.com
  3. Valentine’s Day Tree – It’s no secret that I have a penchant for bringing branches inside and decorating with all things tree related, so of course I kind of swooned over this perfectly executed Valentine’s Day tree.

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    Picture from InspiredToShare.com
  4. Paper Heart Chandelier – Forget using this just as a Valentine’s Day decoration, I’m thinking this would be pretty adorable in my girls’ room above the crib.

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    Picture from CreativelyChristy.blogspot.com
  5. Framed Hearts – This little piece of DIY artwork would make a nice gift. Those perfectly lined up teeny hearts are so sweet!

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    Photo from HowAboutOrange.blogspot.nl
  6. Wall of Paper Hearts – Have an empty wall? This would dress it up nicely…this also would be a fun surprise in an office. Cue college prank memories…

    Paper Heart Chain
    Photo from sStrumpetsCrumpets.blogspot.be
  7. Paper Heart Chain – I’m thinking I’ll make a curtain of these for at least one of our doorways to surprise the kids on Valentine’s Day Morning.

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    Photo from HoosierHomemade.com
  8. Paper Strip Hearts – Even fancier paper hearts!

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    Photo from JustSimpleDesigns.wordpress.com
  9. Coffee Filter Roses  – This post is full of ALL KINDS of gorgeous coffee filter flowers. I really hope I have time to give these a try!
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    Photo from ThePerfectdiy.com
  11. Folded Heart Garland – Such a lovely way to do a heart garland! I think this is the one we’ll make for our mantel.

So there you have it! I’m so excited to give some of these a try and hopefully include the kids on a few. What do you like to do to make Valentine’s Day special for your family?

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Gifts with a Purpose

My family has a special tradition Christmas morning, to go up to the tree and pick out a gift for someone else to open. Every year, there is at least one that I am excited to watch the recipient open; to see their eyes light up when they see it. Here are some ways to bring that same joy to others with your gift purchases, while still having something beautiful and unique to wrap.

Handcraft Gifts from World Vision:

Snowflake Ornament

World Vision
Not only are these gifts beautifully handcrafted around the world, they are also Fair Trade, helping the artisans support their families in dignity. The donation will be used by World Vision where it is most needed.

Bunny Hill Studio:

chinese Lantern Mug

Chinese Lantern Mug
Half of the price of this mug is donated to Show Hope, an organization dedicated to helping orphans. They have grants for adopting families and run an orphanage in China for children with medial needs. You get to choose the size of donation.

Baby Humans Mug

Save the Baby Humans Mug
The whole purchase price of this mug is donated to Cobb Pregnancy Center, a crisis pregnancy resource center offering free ultrasounds, counseling, baby classes, and items for the baby. Choose the size of donation.

More designs supporting various charities will continue to be added; they can also be found under the shop section:
Charity

Amazon Smile:

Amazon Smile

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Once a charity is selected, Amazon Smile donates 0.5% of the purchase (no extra charge), just be sure to shop through smile.amazon.com. Your Amazon account-passwords, wish lists, and shopping cart-remain the same. Amazon Smile supports almost one million charities, including She is Safe, World Vision, Samaritan’s Purse, Show Hope, and MUST Ministries.

Greta