Hearts of love

 A woman knows the face of the man she loves
 as a sailor knows the open sea.

-Honore de Balzac

I have found the one whom my soul loves. 

Song of Solomon 3: 4

That special day of love is coming and it will be here before we know it.
You know the one I am talking about.

Valentines Day

A  special day set aside to shower love on the ones that are special to us and
the ones that we are so thankful for. 

Just a few vignettes around my home today to share with you the
love that I feel in my heart.

Are you decorating for that special day yet? I have incorporated touches of
  red and white
 in my decor this year which is shocking for me, but I love it.

Trying to get out of this blah mood that old man winter just keeps stuffing
down our throat. So sick and tired of snow...I mean SICK and TIRED!
We have another storm or two headed our way this weekend and next
week...when will it ever end?? I know it will, but right now it just doesn't
 seem like it.  I did tell hubby the other day that before we know it we will
be complaining about how hot it is.

Add to that a nationwide shortage of propane and that is not fun.
Thankfully we prepaid our gas last summer for this winter at
 1.45 a gallon.
It is now over $5 a gallon at some suppliers around here. UGH!
Praying we can squeak by with our latest fill up.

What are you up to? Are you tired of winter? Are you decorating
to keep a spring in your step? See how I did that? "SPRING"...
lol. Can't wait!!

Just a little fyi: The white hearts in the photos above were GOLD Christmas
ornaments that I purchased at Walmart after Christmas at 75% off and
I gave them the white treatment. Went back to get more and they were gone,
but I do love how these turned out.

Blessings~

A FOUR letter word that I am sick and tired of and some creativity

Did that title grab your attention? Probably not, because I know my peeps in blog land are SMART,
but I am sick and tired of SNOW!  I know that many of you are as well. We have had more than our
 fair share this year and it isn't even the end of January. We won't even talk about how bitter
 cold it is also. ugh!

So...what does a girl do when she is stuck inside? She makes warm and cozy pillows. I picked up a few
sweaters at the Goodwill several days ago specifically to make sweaters so I got my sewing vibe on
this week. lol.

I really do like how this one turned out. I did find out while making these that sweater fabric is kinda
 *stretchhhhhhhy*
so you have to watch what you are doing. I think a regular fabric backing would help next time.

I had the sweater sleeves left over after making the pillow so I also made a wine cozy.
{I could have made two , but only made one for now}

{or sparking juice cozies whatever you desire}

This is my second pillow. I left the end open that was originally the bottom of the sweater and then I made three
rosette pins and pinned it closed.

The snow does look pretty, but I am sooooo over it. Way too much this year and way too cold also! ugh!

This is our main road {3/4 miles from where we live} that is usually heavily traveled. 

SNOW...SNOW...SNOW!

Tea anyone?? 

My frozen rain chain

Home sweet home...this was taken before we got even more snow along with huge drifts.

I put on face book today that I have an offer for today only and I will extend that to my blogger friends
as well. I am giving away all the snow that will fit in your vehicle. First come first serve,  so get here fast!
Whatever is not gone tonight is headed to the Goodwill store! HAHA!

Stay warm~

Handmade Gifts ~ Calendar Journal

I made a few gifts for Christmas this year and I will admit that it was fun. I used to do handmade gifts
 a lot in years past, but somehow had gotten away from it. This year it was more out of necessity than
 anything else {remember hubby's factory closed}, but I thoroughly enjoyed it for the most part.

I found this idea on Pinterest and I decided that this looked fun and like something someone
actually might use.
{never dreaming how much date stamping I would actually have to do for several calendars}
lol

The original tutorial used vintage postcards, but I used regular greeting cards or note cards,
cut them down and it worked great! {except for the time that I cut FOUR cards in a row all
the wrong size!!}

It truly was a labor of love, but worth every minute of it...I think...*SMILE*

My sister is a shoe lover so I used cards with different shoes printed on them that I had in my stash.
WHO KNEW that I would find 12 different shoe cards...one for each month? Well...truthfully I didn't.
I think I found ten, but I did find two other cards that also fit in nicely with the shoes.

So....if you have nothing else to do today, may I suggest that you make one of these cute
calendar / journals?

All you need is index cards, {you have to cut each and every card in half...
so I needed 365 days x 5...that is a lot of cards! Oh yes, you also need about 100 more for the
mistakes you make. ha!}, some berry boxes {I purchased them on Etsy}, some type of cards
{greeting or vintage postcards} and cute twine. Oh , I almost forgot the most important part.
Go online and buy a date stamp also. They had one at Walmart for over $16 and I was having
 none of that, so I got on on ebay for about $5 including shipping!

You do have to admit...they are cute right?? The idea is to write the year such as 2014 on the
first line and just a little blip of your day. Then next year  you write 2015 on the next line
and a blip about that day...and on and on. So this way your little journal will encompass
several years in one cute little berry box.

Adorable idea, but I can't get much written on one line so I use two...or three. lol

Please share your pics if you decide to make one of these for yourself or for someone else. I would
love to see them.

For the original tutorial please click here.

I also found the free printable online for the "just for you"  gift tag.  Click here to get to
that page.

I think it is the cutest thing since sliced bread...maybe?
Hugs~

Belated Christmas

Just wanted to pop in and say hello and share a few belated Christmas photos.

We had Christmas with  my parents and our children this past weekend. Yep, kinda late
but that is what worked out best. As it turned out our oldest son and his family were sick
with that nasty flu so they didn't get to come and we missed them a lot!

My mom has always had the kids dress up at Christmas time and this year our grands were
the stars. :)

Baby Daniel playing with his drum that we bought for him.  Just look at that big
smile! Too cute!

I think at one time during the day most all the kids played with the drum. I am beginning to think that I should
have gotten a drum for everyone. Wouldn't that have made a great photo!! :)
These photos were taken at my youngest sons home.

Anticipation...

Back to my parents house again...my dad reading the Christmas story with my sister and her hubby
in the background.

So glad I got these photos of my dad...love him to pieces!

Precious memories in the making.

A new year brings new blessings...

...and a renewed hope along with the ability to try new adventures that God has laid out before
 us. We are definitely on that path this year.

I can joyfully report that hubby found a new job and he started today.
Praising God for that wonderful blessing!

Not as much money as he was making before, but the benefits are good and there is a potential for
raises so he could be right back up to what he was making in time.

He will be on first shirt for 60-90 days and then will be going on 2nd shift. This is a little bump in the
 road because he loves to race his RC cars and he will miss that, but he is happy for a job. I told him
 to race every chance he gets before he goes on 2nd. :)  He also drives 45 minutes one way to work, but
 that is only about 15 minutes farther than he was so we are just trusting that God will keep his little
 Ford Ranger running until he can get established in this new job and we can get another vehicle.
This is certainly not what we had planned for the new year, but God often throws a kink in our
 plans doesn't He?  He does know best so we are putting our faith and trust in Him.

In a span of about six weeks my husband lost his father very suddenly , had to tell his 44 year old
 brother that he is adopted and his factory closed with no warning. If that doesn't bring a person closer
 to God, then I don't know what will, but we are humbled and thankful for Gods goodness to us.

Also, my dear father was diagnosed with pneumonia this past week , but he is doing better
so we are thanking God for His healing and watch over him.  Praying that God showers you
 with blessings that overflow in this new year!!

{Note: if you are interested in any of the above candles I sell them for $10 each plus
shipping. Just shoot me an email. }

God is good ....all the time!!

Blessings~

Snow, snow and more snow!

As many of your probably already know, we are set for a big snowstorm today and
frigid temps tomorrow, Tuesday and Wednesday. Can't change it so might as well
make the best of it right?

Hubby and I took a nice, long walk down our road today before the worst hit and it
was beautiful.  I just came in from taking most of these photos at 2 pm and we have
much more snow already than we had on our walk before lunch.

Looking outside my back door

Pretty berries so maybe the birdies will have something to eat this winter.

Left over apples hanging on the trees

Hubby plowing snow to try and keep ahead of what is coming, but that may not work. lol

Home sweet home...look at the snow coming down!

Another photo taken outside the back door

my fence outside the back door

Our large pine tree looks gorgeous laden with snow

Hubby was taking pictures of me taking pictures on our walk this morning! lol

 Here I am again...lol

This was on our walk earlier today when we didn't have near the snow that we have in the photos above.

It is gorgeous , but the shoveling etc. isn't so fun. ha!

Just praying that everyone stays safe and sound and comes through this winter blast okay.
Blessings~