Valentine's Day Mix Tape

Each year I make a mix tape for my hubby for Valentine's Day. Ok, ok … so it's not really a mix tape. It's a CD that I make from iTunes. But if I could make a mix tape, I would. I ♥ old school stuff like that. Maybe I need to buy a boom box, a ghetto blaster, or just a tape recorder … remember those?

I remember making mix tapes for him back in the day when we were just dating. One tape I distinctly remember I made when we were struggling in our relationship and it had "Best of My Love" by The Eagles on it. To this day whenever I hear that song I get all warm and fuzzy thinking about our relationship and all we've been through. Saying that just makes me giggle for some reason. Oh well, it's true ♥

So here I am in the middle of making this year's mix "tape" … and I made a cool cover for it and I wanted to share:

I ♥ that cover with the mix tape. It makes me :) … since I can't make a real mix tape, this cover that I can make will do.

Each year the songs on the mix tapes range from country to jazz to cheesy 70's love songs … whatever means something to me that year. This year the CD contains some Blake Shelton, Aretha Franklin and Queen, to name a few. Last year it contained Alicia Keyes, Paul McCartney and Seal, among others. And the year before that the tape had songs from The Cure, The Beatles and Etta James. This is something my hubby looks forward to each year. And each year I look forward to creating it.

Happy Valentine's Day

♥

{Happy} Mother's Day to me ...

Saturday my dear hubby took me shopping for Mother's Day. We went to a local nursery where he normally shops for his customers, but we went to buy flowers and plants for *my* garden this time :) …

Mmmmm … Jasmine!!! I am eager to watch this grow & smell it's wonderful fragrance and train it around my garden fence ♥

Gardenia bush … can you smell it? Oh, the glorious smell of Gardenias! ♥ 

I've always wanted a Hydrangea :)

Day Lilies … ♥ the color!

I have no idea the names of half of these, but I have an idea that in no time my garden will be brimming with color and life!

Just like these girls …

Grace smelling the gardenias :)

And later he took the girls shopping for these …

I've always wanted hanging baskets and it has taken me 6 years of living in this house to get them. I ♥ them - these are what the girls picked out that they wanted to buy for me. Hanging baskets definitely make it look and feel so much more homey ♥

I hope you had a great Mother's Day … I know I did!

Easter Egg {fun}

I ♥ dyeing Easter eggs. I always have. One of the myriad of things that I love that God created is color. Lots and lots of color! As far back as I can remember I thought it was so much fun to decorate eggs with exciting colors and I looked eagerly toward it. And no, I have never in my life ever thought that the Easter bunny or Easter eggs or such were real or of any importance. It was strictly fun in our home and I always knew that Easter was all about Jesus' death on the cross for our sins and His resurrection that glorious day. I just wanted to throw that out there and settle it. In our family Easter eggs and baskets and hunts are just for fun. They are traditions that we enjoy, much like Christmas trees and lights. That being said … we did enjoy dyeing eggs last Saturday …

Grace eagerly waiting to begin …

Silly girl …

My lone egg …

Cutie Easter bunnies ♥ …

I hope you had a great Easter. 

Why do you look for the living among the dead? 

He is not here … He has risen!

Kiss Me {I'm Irish}

Y'all know I like to make wreaths, right? So I made one for March, for St. Patrick's Day. And bonus since green is my favorite color (most of the time).

Cute, right?

I decided to put the words "Kiss Me" on this one instead of lucky. After all, it's not luck that I believe in :)

And these flowers … LoVe them! No sew, and super easy to make. You can find a great tutorial here.

I love it. Too bad I'll have to take it down in a few weeks!

More {LOVE}

OK, so I like Valentine's Day. Shoot me. I don't really think it's the greeting card company-induced love fest so much as it's the hearts. I just like hearts. ♥ ♥ ♥ … I ♥ that I figured out how to make them show up on this here blog. AnYwAy … my latest craft project completed yesterday:

I ♥ that fake mantle o' mine! I really, REALLY want to finish this room, but Christmas put a halt on that project. I think it's about time to pick it back up, don't you?

So … I made a {LOVE} sign and a Be Mine Valentine bunting/garland/whatever you want to call it. I ♥ garlands!

I got the idea for the sign here and the bunting here over at Crap I've Made. But my bunting is completely made out of paper with my Cricut and Sure Cuts a Lot software.

Happy ♥ Day! {LOVE} is all you need …

mErrY CHrIsTMas

mErrY CHrIsTMas bunting complete:

♥