Inspiration: Color Crushing on Blues from Target

Signs of Spring 🌱

Brigsby needed a bookmark.

Shuttle Pen Valentine’s Day Exchange Gifts

On Monday, a precious homeschool group we are part of met up for a Donut Shop Valentine’s Party. A family in our group owns a donut shop, so they invited everyone to come see the process of making donuts on a large scale, and then, the kids decorated mini donut king cakes (‘tis the season in Louisiana). It was so sweet (in more than one way) and special!

After the tour and decorating fun, the kids all exchanged Valentine’s cards and little gifts. Side note: homeschool kids still get to do all the fun things! I kind of had an idea of what Brigsby would bring, but didn’t make a final decision until the night before (with his help). Honestly, that’s usually how I roll.

His gift and Valentine’s card came together sooo cute, and I was proud because I created it myself. Super easy. So, thought I’d share. And bonus: IT’S NOT CANDY!

I searched Pinterest a week or so ago for some Valentine’s exchange ideas. Found some cute things, but not a combo of anything I liked (or wanted to pay for). In searching, though, I came across these cute shuttle pens! I ordered them just in case since Amazon returns are pretty simple.

I moved on from them thinking we’d do some cute stickers with a card that said, “Stuck on you.” But the night before, Brigsby and I decided we preferred the pens for the exchange.

So, Monday morning, I quickly (which isn’t usually the case) pulled up a flash card template in Canva, deleted everything except the layout, and made these “cards” that say, “You color my world.” Perfect for the colorful ink in the shuttle pens! I printed them on card stock, and they came out so nice!

I should’ve pulled out my paper trimmer to probably speed up the process a bit, but it actually didn’t take long to cut them out. And I would’ve had to do the rounded corners (which I think make things look extra nice!) with scissors anyway.

After I got them all cut, we stuck the cards in the pen clip, and voila! Homemade, purposeful, and not super cheapy Valentine’s gifts!

I’ve worn barefoot shoes (zero drop and wide toe box) almost exclusively for a month. Wore “normal” boots for two days in a row—Sunday and Monday,—and my feet ached so bad both of those evenings.

Inspiration: Valentine's Inspired Finds

Popcorn (coconut oil and salt) and dark chocolate has become one of my go to snacks lately.

Inspiration: Pretty Vases at Target

I came across a gorgeous green vase last week while browsing on Target’s website. That sparked a long search of other vases currently available at Target. There’s some goooood ones! So, with Valentine’s Day and Spring (yay for flowers picked right out of the yard!) on the way, I compiled them into this graphic to share.

Here are the links if one or twelve catch your eye and you want more info.

  1. Small Carved Cream Vase
  2. Modern Arched Ceramic Channa Vase
  3. Round Ceramic Vase
  4. Tall Swirled Clay Marble Vase
  5. Medium Ribbed Sculptural Glass Vase
  6. Tall Ceramic Textured Vase
  7. Fluted Glass Vase
  8. Small Ceramic Vase
  9. Small Footed Ceramic Vase
  10. Small Geo Pattern Vase
  11. Modern Ring Ceramic Camilla Vase
  12. Small Tinted Glass Vase

On our road trip over the last week, this is one (of many) of my favorite memories: My bud requested a coffee date with me. Never done that with him before. It did not disappoint.

my boy sipping coffee in downtown Hot Springs

Been traveling since last Tuesday. And it’s been great. On the way home today. And I’m honestly excited to get home and use my own washing machine and dryer and make my own coffee.

Bud bought his own Nintendo Switch that came in Thursday. He decided to share, so we’re having a Mario Kart family round robin this morning. ✨✨✨

Best(ish) part about being home (from traveling for Christmas) is my own coffee. Excited to sip on this all morning. Ahhhh.

Driving Ro to Paw and Man’s house today: “You’re going to laugh. There are (new to me) fast bumps. But they make you go slow. I don’t know why they’re called that!”

A Rowyn Moment

Yesterday afternoon after @mtt got home, I told the kids I was running to Target. Ro immediately runs to her room. She comes out with this “list.” She made it a few weeks ago. Very tediously, as you can see. She told me it was her birthday list (which is 3+ months away), but that I could use it as my shopping list with the stipulation that I not mess it up and bring it back. 😊

Served up some pretty smoothies for breakfast this morning. 🫐🍌 By request.

A Book and a Craft: "Because of an Acorn" + a Collage Paper Acorn

I recently (and very in the moment) put together a quick craft to go with the book, “Because of an Acorn.” I sat down at the table one morning and read the book to my kids. Then I pulled out blank paper and jars of cut up paper organized by color so we could “paint with paper.” By that, I mean that we made collages. In all honesty, I thought the kids might really want to make acorns. But their creative minds started drawing other Fall-ish things from the book (and beyond). So, I am the one who made the paper collage acorn in the photos here. And thoroughly enjoyed doing so, I’ll add.

The best part of making paper collages is that it can be tailored to different difficulty levels, so it’s great for multiple ages. It’s also soooo inexpensive. All the pieces of paper we used were scraps from previous projects. You could also cut up old magazines, newspaper, etc.

We chose to freehand our designs. The kids did trees, pumpkins, and a rabbit. 😊🐇 But I’m sure it would work great to find some simple pictures of what you want online then print them to use.

We used white card stock as our base, and the paper scraps were a mix of card stock, tissue paper, and construction paper. Gold construction paper is what I used as the main portion of my acorn.

Hoping to do more and more simple book/craft combos. My biggest hindrance is me. For some reason, I think it’s going to take a long time to plan and pull everything out. But it really, really doesn’t. And it never needs to be perfectly staged or anything like that. Just do it. Hear that, Kalena? Just do it!

Inspiration: Boho Fall Finds From Target

Fall is trickling its way into Target. I must admit, I do embrace the season early. But in more of a subtle way, if that makes sense. Like save the pumpkins and Halloween decor for a little closer to the actual turn of the seasons. I tried to mimic that here… Other than the pretty glass and chipwood pumpkins, I think this is more of a gentle way to dive into Fall early. And, I love the underlying boho feel.

*A few of the items linked are “coming soon,” so save for the near future if you love em!

Faux rusted eucalyptus wreath

Stoneware mug

Stoneware espresso brown pitcher

Natural brush with loop

Brass finish hexagon lantern

Small mushroom figure

Staggered metal taper candelabra

Large geo pattern vase

Apples still life framed wall art

Yellow glass pumpkin

Tall chipwood pumpkin

Orange glass pumpkin

Rattan round basket

Heritage plaid throw with fringe

Inspiration: Target Home Decor Color Crush (Blue)

Easy Peasy Seedsy Valentines

I went with a cheesy title to match the cheesy Valentines I’m showing you here. Honestly, I’m super proud of these. I saw a few seed Valentines floating around Instagram and loved some I saw with silly sayings stamped out like this to match the plant. So, I made my own. As far as I know, they’re original. The one on the yellow paper is a bit of a stretch, but I still like it!

Zinnias are such a FUN and easy flower to grow, so this is the perfect, long lasting Valentine to gift kids and gal pals alike! And they’re not candy, which is something I appreciate.

I used stamps and some leftover linen-y card stock paper, but if you’re in a big hurry or don’t want to take the time to stamp it out, it would still be super cute to write or print some on whatever paper you have!

Some Favorite iPhone Photos From December

I’ve been using Portrait mode on my iPhone a lot more for some reason. And that’s resulted in several pictures I super love. Here are several from December:

Making an “About Me” book (complete with a hat 😍) at our homeschool co-op day

I’d say I can’t believe I haven’t printed and framed this yet, but I totally can believe it. Planning on changing that soon. When I do print, I use Walgreens sometimes, but my very favorite place to get prints and more from is Parabo Press (use code WSNSCS for $10 off your first order).

Meet Soggy Soggy. He likes us because we feed the fish, and they feed him.

Asked to go fishing. Caught 13, I think.

All her pose. And all her choice of bow. I love both.

A Christmas art walk in his beloved, but very oversized Braves jacket

At that same art walk, but with slightly less enthusiasm and slightly more sass

🎡 at Acadian Village (A couple of our multi-year favorites: Slouch beanie and Primary lightweight puffer)

Some spontaneous Christmas crafting

A yellow kitty cat hat as a gift made this a happy girlie.

Claiming her seat

Christmas Day excitement

😋

It’s the pen, for me. 😂💙

Burger date night with my bud