Making memories and dream catchers

Carrie and I hosted our 6th annual Valentine party this past weekend for a group of friends that we know from our days of working at a scrapbook store. Seriously? Best job ever. And truly, best friends ever.

♥

We used to have everyone bring their own craft or scrapbooking project to work on during our party, but the past couple of years we've organized a common craft to share. Last year we created Valentine banners/bunting, and this year we created dream catchers. Having a common craft takes a little pressure off of coming up with something on your own, and it's also cool because everyone brings a little bit of their own stash (in this case: yarn, ribbon, feathers, doilies...) and we share with each other.

Even though we created dream catchers, each was as unique as the hands that created it. It's always so fun to see everyone's own personal style shine through.

The dream catcher in the photo above is what I was able to complete during our time together. I still want to add some embellishments to the doily (like a brooch or some flowers), but overall I just love the colors and textures.

The photo below is what my dream catcher looked like in the early stages. The doily is one from my mom's collection that I inherited. ♥

Jacie created these sweet little dream catchers to gift to her daughters for Valentine's Day. ♥ ♥

And my Carrie made this cute little piece with gold string and sequins. Love the little feather tucked in the middle!

Jenn worked on a larger piece...

I love the vintage, southwestern feel to her piece!

Not everyone was into making dream catchers. One friend worked on a Valentine wreath, and one brought a knitting project. And a couple of friends just came to chat and hang out, which is always fine by us!

♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥

This last bit has nothing to do with dream catchers, but I wanted to share this fun photo collage that Carrie created with photos of each of us holding our gifts for the exchange we do every year.

Top row: me, Betsy and Jenn
Middle row: Hollie, Carrie and Vee
Bottom row: Jacie, Barbara and Michelle

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We call it our "I ♥ it" exchange and here's how it works: We ask our guests to bring five of one item they love, costing less than $5/item. We each put our name on five slips of paper and drop them in a cup, then we pass the cup and each person draws five names. We check to make sure we don't have duplicate names and/or our own name, and pass around slips of paper until everyone has five unique names.

One by one we stand up {except for Jenn, haha...} and tell about our item, and then we read the names on the five pieces of paper we drew. Those names are the friends who get one of the items we brought.

This year my thing to share was a Sharpie marker (personalized with "Deb & Daughter's V-day Crop 2016") and a mandala kit. Others brought their favorite lotion, lip balm, dish scrubber, etc. It's so much fun, and every guest leaves the party with five different items that other people love. ♥

Oh, I love these ladies so much!!! I'm so grateful for the special friendship we have with each other, and I can't wait till next Valentine's Day to do this all over again!

As for the dream catchers, you can find more inspiration for DIYs on Pinterest. I have more embroidery hoops and a few more of my mom's doilies waiting to be turned into dream catchers, after my friendship quilt is done.

♥

Valentine Weekend Photos

Good Monday morning, blog friends.

And Happy Presidents Day (and day off work) to my U.S. readers!

♥

My favorite weekend recaps are the ones that are prepared on a Monday morning where I don't hit that publish button and then scurry to get ready to go to work. I'm off work today and have a few fun things planned for myself, but first I'll share some photos from our weekend. :o)

Carrie and I hosted our sixth annual Valentine crop with our crafting friends on Saturday. I'll share more about our party later in the week. ♥ Friday after work I played with flowers, getting ready for table decorations for Saturday afternoon. I may have overshot the number of bouquets, but really, can you ever have too many flowers? No. I think not.

I'm working on changing my language around being busy. "I'm so busy...I have no time for this-or-that..." Instead, I've chosen other things to fill my schedule and as a result I had time to make Aunt Helen's blueberry surprise cake instead of cupcakes for this year's Valentine party.

My friend Vee snapped the above photo before this table filled up with crafting projects and our Valentine gift exchange items. I love that she purposely included Eddie t. Elk in the background.

Every year Carrie and I choose a common crafting project for our party, and this year it was dream catchers. I used a doily from my mom's collection and love how it turned out. Ooooh...just wait until Wednesday when I share the dream catchers made by some of my creative friends. So. Fun!

For Valentine's Day this year, Doug and I decided to take the time to do a little shopping for our new house. Big things are happening in our backyard space right now, and we wanted to add trees to the mix before installing a flowerbed border around the perimeter. The next photo is of the Meyer lemon tree we purchased...

We also ordered two privet trees to plant along the back fence - they're evergreen shade trees. Um... who knew that tree guys work on commission and were so great at up-selling on tree size? The tree salesman totally could have talked me into purchasing more mature trees, but my sensible and frugal hubby wasn't persuaded by him. We ended up with a more mature lemon tree, but the privets will be a bit smaller to begin with. Doug's reasoning? We get to watch them grow! I love how he thinks. ♥

And we shopped for a new patio table and chairs and found something we both really loved. Hooray for the return of the red umbrella. Would it shock you to learn that I'm wishing for a different color umbrella now? Red seems so old-house...

Later in the afternoon when I snapped a photo of the mandala I was creating, I remembered a little downside of the red umbrella: pink hues in photos taken under it. Anyway, I really am glad to have it back and stuck smack in the middle of our new table! :o)

Our new trees will be delivered and planted a week from tomorrow and we are so excited. We had dinner outside at the new patio table last night, and Doug is drinking his first cup of coffee out there as I type this morning.

Today's agenda: yoga, laundry, pedicure, shopping, a sewing project, and a new recipe for dinner. Time to step away from the computer...

Wishing you a wonderful week ahead.

Keep smiling!

♥

Valentine's Day in the desert

When I say "Happy Monday" I really mean it this week.

I have today off work for President's Day.

:o) ♥

It's so fun that Valentine's Day fell on a three-day weekend for us this year. Doug and I took a picnic lunch and spent some time in the desert on Saturday. Ahhh - the weather was absolutely perfect, and we found the prettiest spot to hang out for the afternoon. Come in, let me show you...

One of the advantages of being married to an outdoorsman is that he knows some really cool and remote locations. Though, we weren't exactly alone for the afternoon. With the glorious weather there were other Arizonan's out and about as well. Gotta' share the planet...

It's been a few years since I've shot a gun {healing shoulder} and we decided we'd take some time to do a little target practicing. Now, I know gun control is a hot topic and I'm not going to get all opinionated about the political junk associated around it. I will say that guns scare the living daylights out of me but Doug has taught me how to respect them. And he's taught me how to shoot and I must say I'm a pretty good shot. It's so fun to hit the bulls-eye! Or...well...pretty darn close to it anyway!

I smile to myself when I think of the contrast between yoga and the violent power of a gun. Yin and yang, dark and light, him and me...

What a beautiful day it was! This area was west of Superior, Arizona. Sigh...I want to go back...

 

 Exploring...

What a great way to spend Valentine's Day. The fresh air and sunshine was good for both of us. ♥

On the horizon this week: I'm SO close to finishing the quilt I've been working on! I'm excited to blog about it next week. And I'm gearing up for a road trip with my girl C to meet the new baby in our family and celebrate a first birthday for my niece, Olivia.

Wishing you blue skies and sunshine this week,

and the lingering happiness of Valentine's Day.

♥

Just a Quote for Friday

"Love is a force more formidable than any other. It is invisible - it cannot be seen or measured, yet it is powerful enough to transform you in a moment, and offer you more joy than any material possession could."

~ Barbara de Angelis

This Weekend's Valentine Party

Good Monday morning, blog friends.

And Happy Valentine's week to you.

♥

Well, that might go down as the fastest weekend ever. It feels like I blinked and ~boom~ sweet memories. Ah...really sweet memories...

Carrie and I hosted our fifth annual Valentine party with our dear crafting friends. In the past, each guest brought their own craft project to work on, but we've discovered {as a group} that we love having a common craft to work on at our gatherings. We've created canvases and decorated boxes together, and this time we created Valentine banners/buntings/garlands.

 

Supplies were gathered and shared. We had such a fun time creating, chatting, snacking and just being together.

And of course, there were cupcakes...

Red velvet cupcakes by me, arrow cupcake toppers by Carrie. {She found the tutorial here.} ♥

Helium balloons weighted down with a heart shaped rock. :o) ♥

Candy. Candy. Candy. Candy.

Here's a look at my banner, and here's the part where I admit that I did not photograph anyone else's banner. How selfish of me. Ha! And shoot. I wish you could see what my creative friends made! It's always so fun to see how each of us takes the same general project and turns it in to our own unique creation. Next time...

We did our "I ♥ ____" exchange again this year. Each person brings five of one item they love and we exchange our favorites. So, everyone leaves with five different things that their friends love. I ♥ that Carrie always writes on the table cover what our favorites are. And I ♥ her cute handwriting. And I ♥ that she used a gold pen. And I totally ♥ her!

It's so fun that we have been hosting this Valentine party for five years now! We're already planning the next get together with our friends - maybe something for Easter if we're lucky. 

And with that I'm off to hit the yoga mat before I get ready for work. I have a busy week ahead, and I ♥ that I carry sweet weekend memories with me as I go.

Wishing each of you a week filled with wonderful things.

♥

Just a Quote for Friday

{heart made by Barbara, my artist friend}

♥

"Celebrate who you are in your deepest heart.
Love yourself and the world will love you."
~ Amy Leigh Mercree

Just a Quote for Friday

"But love, I've come to understand, is more than three words mumbled before bedtime. Love is sustained by action, a pattern of devotion in the things we do for each other every day."

~ Nicholas Sparks

{Happy Valentine's Day, sweet ones.}

♥

Weekend Recap and Flowers in the House

It's Valentine's week, friends!

♥

Good Monday morning, blog friends. I hope your weekends were lovely! Mine was packed with all kinds of busy, but it was all fun-busy stuff. Come on in, I'll show you...

I clipped this red rose from our garden on Saturday and snapped a few photos of her knowing I'd be linking up with Jane for "Flowers in the House" this morning. She was beautiful company in the kitchen while I labored over these babies...

Chocolate covered vanilla-cherry cupcakes. Holy smokes these were yummy. I tried new recipes for the cake and the frosting and they are both keepers! You see, Carrie and I hosted our fourth annual Valentine crop yesterday, so my weekend was spent preparing for time with our sweet crafting friends.

 

I realized this weekend that carnations might be one of my favorite scents on the planet. Love. ♥

 

And this next photo has nothing to do with flowers or Valentine party prep - just a photo I snapped of Casper enjoying clean pond water. Isn't she the cutest baby box turtle ever?

 

Anyway, back to the party...

 

Carrie hosted the event at her house this year, and I love that she came up with the idea for a photo booth. I love this photo of all of us together, and that Carrie uploaded it and printed a copy for each of us before the party was over. My girl. ♥

 

Janae, Vee{butterfly}, Michelle, me, Corri D.

Barbara, Carrie, Jenn and Kristi

Gosh, I love these women!

♥ 

We do a little gift exchange every year so I came home from the party with all kinds of little goodies - including these lovely little roses. And that cupcake just may have been my dinner last night. :o] Pretty sweet weekend, eh?

So now we work toward Friday and I love the thought of that. Not only will it be Friday, but also Valentine's Day and the start of a three-day weekend here in the U.S. I'm sure Jane will be happy when Friday evening rolls around - she works in a flower shop and this week will be all kinds of busy as she prepares pretty flowers for others to enjoy. {Catch her Flowers in the House link ups here.}

Wishing each of you a week filled with flowers and hearts and chocolate and looooove.

Go get you some!

♥

It's Valentine's Day

♥

Have a sweet and happy day.

♥

Hearts in our House

It's no secret ~ I love hearts.

♥

I had planned to post these photos as a "10 on the 10th," but I missed that window of opportunity. But, hey, it's the day before Valentine's Day, so I'm giving you my heart [pictures]. ♥

Any hearts in your house?

♥

Valentine Crop Weekend Recap

♥

Good day, blog friends.

It's kind of hard to be super grumpy about Monday morning when I pull together a blog post with photos of such a fun weekend. Actually, these photos are just from Saturday, when Carrie and I hosted our third annual Valentine crop for our sweet crafting friends.

This is the second year that we've done "Things I ♥" as our theme. Everyone brings five of one item they ♥ and then we swap. So, everyone leaves the party with five things that five friends ♥. It's so much fun to see what everyone comes up with. My thing I ♥ is cookies fresh from the oven, so I made cookie dough, froze it into cookie-dough-balls, and packaged it up with a pretty bow. Times five.

Fun = one of our sweet friends is expecting her first baby {a girl} next month, so we showered her with little gifts at the party. We ♥ babies!

I set up a Valentine card bar just in case anyone needed a little side project or inspiration. Turns out, everyone was busy with their own projects, and I'm the only one who needed the inspiration! ;o)

The cupcake of choice this year was pink lemonade with buttercream frosting. Mmmm...I wish I'd made a double batch! I'll share more about these on my blog tomorrow.

And with that, I'm off to tackle the week ahead.

It's gonna' be a busy one, but that's ok.

I'm happy and I'm ready.

♥