Bean Balls

If you loved the Bean wreath I showed you last week you are going to double LOVE (x10) this idea! The thought of doing a whole wreath might be a tad overwhelming if you've never wasted your time patiently sat for hours hot gluing 945,000 bajillion beans (don't quote me on the number it could be more) to a piece of styrofoam.

But this? THIS you can do! Easy shmeesy. And the possibilities will shock you. Seriously...read on my friend.


First find some beans-mine are old from food storage and apparently Gus Gus (our furry, uninvited, can-not-trap-to save-our-lives, definitely smarter than a 5th grader, mouse) found my beans and had his way with them.


Gross. I almost didn't even do this project because I couldn't get the gag out of my throat.


Ewww. Let's get started. This project is CHEAP. You can buy decorative balls at the store anywhere from $10-15 (at least) and this will cost you less than half that!

Price breakdown: I bought a pack of 6 styrofoam balls from Michaels for $2.99 (using a 40% off coupon) making each ball .50. If you don't already have beans you can pick some up at a grocery store for about .78-1.58 a bag depending on the type of bean you use. You'll probably use a little less than 1/4 of a bag per ball. To do all 6 balls it will cost you about $4.50(or less)!

First you'll want to spray paint your styrofoam with a light coat, the same color of the bean your using. No matter how close you put the beans some white will show though. It doesn't look terrible this way so if you don't want to buy spray paint (about $3 a can) it'll still turn out ok. I'm just OCD a little picky.


I like to start in the middle of my ball and work down. Put a small strip of hot glue across...


and start laying down your beans. One by one by one.


Until you reach back to the bean you started with making a full circle.


Start the next row by placing the bean in the middle gap of the 2 beans on top of it, like so:


I burned my fingers a few times and I'm pretty sure I cursed in 3 different languages, so heads up...watch your fingers. See how I got your back?


Half way done!


Once you've completed that half flip it over and start gluing the bottom half.


(and of course it helps to have a handsome helper)


Almost done!


WaLaa! And can we all notice that I used every bean I had poured on the plate at the beginning minus one. YOU are lucky to be my friend because that makes me pretty awesome.


Now get ready to have your mind blown pretty ladies. Endless possibilities await you in the form of a can. Spray paint will change your life. I had done black, red and green colored beans for my kitchen, but I wanted some brown ones for my living room. After searching for a dark brown bean and coming up empty-handed I opted to do an all white bean...


and cover it with this rich chocolate brown color (not the actual name of the paint). Um love.


Are you understanding what this means? How awesome would some gorgeous turquoise balls be for a fun pop of color in your living room/bedroom, or silver and red for Christmas, or HELLO red, white and blue for 4th of July, or Hot pink for a little girls room?!?! I can barely breathe I'm so excited!

And the fun doesn't stop there! There are million and one ways you could display these! Like in a cool bowl...




Or how bout a glass pitcher?! (ps this totally blew my husbands mind...he could not wrap his brain around putting a decoration in something we drink out of. pshh.)




Or maybe stacked up in a tall vase (pronounced v-A-se not vaaaa-se because I'm not classy like that).




Fun right?!?! NOT overwhelming right?!?! Go! Make some! I really think you'll love it and if you do take the plunge PLEASE let me know because I would be tickled pink to have you copy me so I could show you off!

So my dears, I leave you with this piece of wisdom...keep calm and glue on. Next up for you...PASTA!


Have a SWEETLY LOVELY day today! Thank you thank you for stopping by, and don't forget to stop by and check out my first GIVEAWAY!

Linking up to the parties in my tab above as well as:

Kidney Bean Wreath

Pick a night this week, or next, but of course the sooner the better because you will wonder how you lived your whole life without this hanging in your house; where you can sprawl out on the living room floor, watch 5 or 6 chick flicks in a row-or actions, you know whatever you're into is cool-and become best friends with your glue gun while creating this:


I actually made this wreath before I started blogging so unfortunately I don't have a step-by-step process for you with pictures, but you'll need these supplies:


I already had the spray paint, glue gun, glue sticks and bag of kidney beans (expired food storage :) ) so the only thing I had to purchase was the circle wreath (bought from JoAnns with 40% off coupon so it was $2.40) and the ribbon to hang it (Walmart for $1).

1. First you'll want to spray paint your wreath red so that the white from the styrofoam won't show through the spaces in between the kidney beans.

*A spray-painting tip: whenever you spray paint styrofoam (which I'm sure is all the time :) ) just do a light coat. I learned this lesson the hard way and spray painted a styrofoam ball one time with too heavy of a coat and it melts/shrinks/disintegrates-what have you, the styrofoam. My husband went into this way long explanation of chemical reactions and blah blah blah, but I won't bore you with that(even if I could remember it), just...don't do it. The purpose of painting it red first is just so you have a base color-not to actually create a red styrofoam wreath.

2. Next, you begin gluing the beans onto the wreath. I did mine just one row at a time. This is the best close-up picture I have where you can kind of see how the lines are created. Just don't put too much hot glue down at a time so that it dries before you can put on your beans.


3. Go all the way around and around and around the outside, front and inside of the wreath, but you don't have to do the back because no one will see that!


4. Make some kind of way to hang it up using ribbon!


5. Hang that baby on your wall!


6. See how much Sweet Love people give you on your fabulous new decoration! That YOU made! All by yourself! :)

Thanks so much for coming to visit me today! It means the world to me that you're here! Have a wonderful day wherever YOU are!

Linking up to the parties in my tab above as well as:

Copying is ok?!

So remember back in 5th grade when it was time for a test, and you were sitting a little too close to Mr. lazy-pants-never-does-his-homework, that the moment the teacher dropped that white blank sheet of intimidation in front of your nose, your hand flew up to guard peeping Tom over there from copying your hard work? So un-cool Mr. Tom.

Then you moved onto Jr. High and High school where you didn't want to be the uptight kid who actually stood up for honesty so you found cooler ways to keep all the lazy bones from cheating off of you like hunching your whole body over your desk-because now you were big enough to actually do that, or pretending like you were oh-so bored with that class that you would lean haphazardly on one elbow, laying your head on your arm, coincidentally covering your paper with your head while you nonchalantly twirled your hair, all the while secretly hoping the cool kids had no idea you were panicking they would cheat off you?! (built up feelings of anger here?...no!)

Then you went to college. And you had roommates. And they were SO cool. And you wanted to dress like them and talk like them. And all of a sudden YOU were the copier. And then you found a balance. A balance between you-the you that you grew up knowing and the you that you wanted to become. And sometimes you had original ideas and sometimes you copied ideas from people you respected and loved and that was okay because it made you, YOU!

Then one day you heard the quote "Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery"-Charles Caleb Colton and you Believed it.

Well someone imitated something I did and I am sincerely flattered!

Awhile back I posted this fun little Candy Jar. She took a little different approach and her version of candy jars are drool worthy with all that yummy glitter ribbon on the top!


Her name is Lauren and she is a friend from elementary school (and most definitely NOT the peeping Tom I was referring to above!:) ) I haven't spoken to her...well probably since elementary school but she found me on Facebook and thanked me for my inspiration (gasp!). ha ha! I was so flattered that she liked what I did and used that as inspiration to create her own craft that I asked her if I could feature it here today! She blogs over at Flour Blossoms so go check out the rest of her gorgeous spring decor there!

Thanks Lauren for letting me share your creativity over here! Go give her some Sweet Love will ya?!?!

So now we know that copying is O.K. so if you ever copy anything I do PLEASE share it with me because I would love to feature it and YOU here at Love Sweet Love! (and I'd scream and scream and scream in excitement but you wouldn't be able to hear me because I'd be behind a computer)

Love spring, love warmer weather (yay!), and love YOU for being here! Have a great day!

What's Up Weekly Board

I have a very inquisitive 4 year old and an impatiently persistent 2 year old that are both interested in time, yet at different places in their understanding of it. For example conversations with my 4 year old go like this:

Me: Are you so excited to go to the fire-station for pre-school on Thur.?!
Him: (squealing) YEEESSS! I better go get my fireman hat!
Me: No not right now, on Thursday. Like the same day we go to the library.
Him: Oh ya, after my quiet time!
Me: No after 2 more quiet times and 2 more night times.
Him: Oh...(so sad) like a looooong time away.

And the conversations with my 2 year old like this:
Me: Yay, we get to see *Sara on Wed. for playgroup!
Her: Ok, I'll go get my shoes!
Me: Oh no not today, tomorrow!
Her: (BURSTING into dramatic, heaving sobs while throwing her head back like only a real drama queen can) No mama, TODAY is Wednesday!
Me: Nope, tomorrow...like after you wear your princess jammies one time and then get dressed in the morning.
Her: (still wailing as if I've asked her to eat broccoli-heaven forbid-and has now flung herself onto the floor) Noooooo. I can't wear my princess jammies never ever again, only my shoes on!

Hmmmm....So I can't even tell you how excited i was to find THIS tutorial over at I Am Momma Hear Me Roar! Cheri explained the exact same situation we have going on over at my house and this solution has been perfect! Now I can use the same idea to help both my kids understand time in their own way. The What's Up Weekly Board!


We (Mr. Sweet Love helped out a little with the manly part of the project!) first picked up a 12x24 piece of sheet metal from Lowes and a 1x2 piece of wood which he then cut into 4 parts to create the frame for the metal. He then connected the wood by drilling in wood screws and using wood glue to make sure the joints would hold together.


After a light, all over, sanding I spray painted it a light green. Once the paint was dry he drilled the sheet of metal to the back of the wood frame with small screws. I then used a cricut to cut vinyl letters for each day of the week, as well as a narrow strip to separate each day and spaced them evenly apart down the length of the metal.


Next I picked up one of these wood stars (already painted yellow/orange) and used a red paint marker I had to draw a dotted line around the outside star and write 'Today Is' in the center.


Cheri offered her drawings for use to make the magnets for the board and I thought they were pretty stinkin' cute (and already done!) so I just printed THESE out on my computer, as well as drew a few myself that worked for our family, and took them to Staples to be laminated. I picked up a roll of magnet (with adhesive on the back) from walmart and cut a small magnet square to stick to the back of each picture and it was complete!


It sits on a small wall between the kitchen/dining area, right at the level of the light switch so the kids can move around the magnets and star themselves!


My 2 year old is still dramatically impatient learning, but my 4 year old LOVES to count the number of days till things and realizes now that even though soccer practice is over for today it'll come around again next week so there's no reason to be sad!

Thanks for coming over to my little corner of the world today to share in some of my Sweet Love! Check back soon for some fun with kidney beans! I know...who knew right?!


Linking up to the parties listed in my tab above as well as here:

Kitchen Subway Art

I'm sorta CRAZY excited to show you this project today! After seeing subway art pop up all over the place, in all sorts of forms, the right side of my brain started spinning its 'I WANT THAT but don't want to buy it so how can I make it' wheels. Anyone else got a set of these fab wheels?! I wanted something that could stay up year round (as in something not centered around a holiday-although those are SO fun too!) and not put another hole in the wall (we're in a rental).


When I saw a well-loved wood cutting board with character to match at the DI (thrift store) for $1.50 I snatched it up and new it would be the perfect canvas for some kitchen subway art!


I love that you can see all the cuts and wear and tear on the wood! It just makes it so real I think!




Next I planned out some kitcheny words that I wanted to have on the board and decided on the different directions, sizes, and fonts I wanted by sketching it out on a piece of paper.


When I was pretty sure how I wanted everything, I used my cricut to cut out the words using black and green vinyl and went to town puttin' her together! (I think all my craft projects are female. Is that normal?)






It only took watching the whole first season of Modern Family over again to get this baby done, but it was well worth the time in the end because this little piece of Sweet Love makes me happy every time I walk into the kitchen!


It's placed next to the Utensil Organizers on the counter so that I could have something to tie in the green vinyl!




Thanks for stopping by and sharing a piece of my day, YOU are the greatest! For those of you with little ones I think you will {heart} my next project, see you soon!!



Linking this project up to all the parties in my linky tab as well as here:

Versatile Blogger Award!

I was SO excited to come back from vacation to see this fun award awaiting me!

A big thank you to Kim from Little Rays of Sunshine for TOT-AL-LY making my day! Not gonna lie-I even did the happy dance! Here are the rules for receiving this award:

1. Thank the person who gave you the award and link back to them.
2. Tell seven things about yourself.

3. Pay it forward and award the Versatile Blogger to 15 recently discovered new bloggers.
4. Contact everyone and let them know they've been awarded!

1. BIG, BIG, BIG thanks to Kim for showing me some blog love!!! Just starting out as a new blogger can be kinda overwhelming and intimidating and she has been so kind to comment on several of my posts and even featured me on her blog a couple weeks ago! She blogs about life as a momma, yummy yummy treats and sweet baby crafts so make sure to check her out now! Like I'll even sit here and wait for you to go give her some love. Go ahead...just don't forget to come back! :)

2. Well just in case you don't know enough about me from the auto-biography in my About Me tab above here are 7 more things!

• I'm the oldest of 5 children (4 girls, 1 boy) and have the BOSSY genes to prove it. My mom would always tell me growing up, "Angela, I AM the mother. YOU are the child. One day when you're a mom you can make all the decisions and decide how to raise your own family." Welp, that day is here and I sure wish my mom was the one making all the decisions again. This mom thing is hard! ha ha!

• I grew up in Houston, TX and am the proudest TEXAN there is! I lived in the same house from kindergarten through my senior year of high school when I moved to Provo, UT to go to BYU. I've now lived in UT for the past 10 years so I guess this is "home" now, but if anyone ever asks where I'm from it's Texas all the way!

• I was a CHEERLEADER in high-school and still have a little of the cheerleader stereotype running through my veins as a few of my *fondest* friends like to continuously point out. I guess it's true that you can take the girl out of the blonde, but you can never take the blonde out of the girl. (And the fact that it just took me five minutes to figure out if that was the right way to say it sorta proves my point :) )

• I met Mr. SWEET LOVE (aka my husband-who has no idea this is his blog name so let's keep that between us :) ) while working at a super nerdy electronic store Radioshack. We worked at different locations but our managers set us up to go to a corporate training meeting together that was about an hour away. It was love at first sight for him (I'm sure) but it took me months a little while to come to the same conclusion. Which brings me to my next point...

• I told Mr. Sweet Love no the first time he asked me to MARRY him. Yep, that's right...poor guy right?! (first and pretty much only time I've seen him cry :( ) Don't worry, I didn't make him wait too long to ask me again! ha ha! And now we've been married almost 7 years and have 2 kids so it's all water under the bridge anyway right?!

• I am a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. My faith is what sustains me through life's trials and brings hope, happiness and gratitude into my life everyday! I know that I am a CHILD OF GOD, that He knows and loves me personally and has a plan for me. I am so thankful for this light in my life in what can, at times, be a dark and confusing world!

• I don't cook or bake. Hate them both. However let's not get confused on this point and think I don't like to EAT because my friends that is NOT a problem. I can devour a Beto's Burrito (like insanely large burrito's for those of you who do not have the pleasure of living in UT) in less than 10 min, can pound down a super-size value meal like it aint no thang, and must have mint cookies and cream ice-cream in my freezer at all times. (when I was nursing my 2nd she had an allergy to milk and that seriously about killed me...like people just stayed outta my way cause I was crazy. Not so sure, looking back, that that was beneficial for me or baby. But we're all loving dairy by the gallons here now so it's all good! :) )

3. Since I'm just a newbie in the blogging world you may very well know a lot of these fabulous bloggers already, but here are 15 new-to-me VERSATILE bloggers! Go see all the amazing things they're doing!

1. Lauren-The Elephant's Trunk
2. Jaime-Crafty Scrappy Happy
3. La-Dee-Da Creations
4. Wayward Girls' Crafts
5. Kaitlin- The Goodey Knot
6. Jaime-Stitch 2 Buttercups
7. Karen-Pocket Full of Pink
8. Trulie-scrumptious
9. Rebecca-My Girlish Whims
10. Tatum- K.I.S.S. (Keep it simple sister)
11. Maggie-Midwestern Sewing Girl
12. Jenn-Clean & Scentsible
13. Anna- Blissful Whimsy
14. Jessica-Little Miss Almost Susie Homemaker
15. Lyndsey- Lyndsey's Craft Spot

4. Thanks for inspiring me bloggers, I've notified all of you through your blogs!