Feature Friday!

I love looking through all the AMAZING ideas that are all over blogland and am so excited to share with you some of my favorite projects that the fun people following my blog have been up to this week! Go check these ladies blogs out you will be glad you did!!!

First, you know I always like to show off the people who take ideas they find on my blog and create their own project from them. It totally makes my day, and I get all warm and fuzzy inside :) so when Donna from My Sweet Things let me know she was inspired by my Tiered Planter I was so excited to show hers off to you! Here's Donna's, from My Sweet Things, Tiered Planter:


Lisa, from Simply...This.That. And The Other, is a new bloggy friend and I think her idea for a Condiment/Tea Light Swing is genius!! Wish I would have seen this before my 4th of July party!


You have to go check out how Jess from Balancing the Dream made this beautiful 3D Decoupaged Art. How fun to create custom artwork for your home!


Tasha from Frugalicious Me helped make a hats for a Mad Hatter themed 1st birthday party. You have to go see the rest of the party too! Cookies, an incredible cake and more. Talent! Talent! Talent! (Tasha also has a Pinkalicious Blog Party on Thursdays! All things pink and more! How awesome is that?! We were obviously destined to be friends :) )


And last, but not least, I wanted to re-feature a feature from my first Feature Friday because the project has become one of the top 5 finalist in a FB Coolest Space Contest! Remeber this cabintet to mantel transformation from Crafty Scrappy Happy?!


Gorgeous right?! I'm so excited for Jaime and would love it if you could take a second and go HERE to click one little button and vote for her space! The other 4 rooms in the contest are beautiful too so give them a looksy while you're at it!

Thank you so much to everyone who takes the time to stop by and visit and leave a comment every now and then and share little bits and pieces of my life with me! Thanks to the above ladies for their inspiration and talent! Have the best weekend ever you guys!!!!

(p.s. I don't have featured buttons yet, but if you'd like something to post on your blog so you remember that I think you're great feel free to grab my blog button off the sidebar :) )

Thankful Thursday-First ER visit

Today I am SOOOOO thankful for healthy children. I think too often we take for granted health as we go about our typical days of diaper changes, making meals, playing legos, dress-up and having tea parties. I think at times I can be overwhelmed by the tasks of my day and forget to be grateful for EVERY part of my children-even the tantrums, the meltdowns, the bickering and the defiance's. :) Because even though hearing my daughter scream non-stop at the top of her lungs because she can't have a popsicle for breakfast can be frustrating, it means that she is alive and healthy!

Today, my sweet little baby girl (2 1/2 yr. old) had her first trip to the ER today.


It rained for quite awhile this morning and while we were running across the parking lot from our car to the sidewalk Mr. Sweet Love, who was holding my little sweetie, slipped on the sidewalk and fell. She arched her back and flew right out of his hands directly to the concrete below (about a 3 ft fall) and smacked the back of her head on the ground. It was all we could do to keep her awake for the next hour and then she took about a 20 min. nap. She was awake off and on for the next hour and then woke up vomiting. We called our doctor's office who said to take her into the ER if she vomited again. About a half hour later she vomited again and since she had been extremely lethargic during the times she was awake we decided to go ahead and get her checked out.

After a chat with the doctor, a couple pokes and prods, and a CT scan the verdict was: Mild Concussion. (She was terrified during the scan and it made me SO sad! I hated seeing her so scared, but she was brave and stopped crying after I told her a few times to just look into my eyes and hold my hand. I think I needed to hold her hand as much as she needed mine.)


It wasn't severe enough that we had to leave her overnight at the hospital to be monitored, but the doctor did advise bed rest for the next 24 hours. And to wake her up every couple hours throughout the night to make sure she responds and wakes up! As of right now she is doing GREAT (watching Scooby Doo and eating a banana as we speak :) ) so I think we have every reason to be optimistic!

Moral of the story...never take for granted the health, happiness and love of your children or those you love. My dear friend Jaime from Crafty Scrappy Happy recently shared this quote on her blog and I think it fits my situation perfectly-

Normal day, let me be aware of the treasure you are...

Thank you for coming over and sharing a little of my day with me! I appreciate all of your sweet, kind comments and wish you a very normal, treasure filled day! :)

Whatever Wednesday-My Root Canal

Today I had my first ever-memorable-root canal. I say "memorable" because technically I've had a root canal before but I was only 3 so I didn't remember that I would want to DIE. Okay maybe I'm being a smidge dramatic but seriously...ouch. This is the picture my husband took of me right after they were done. Yes I totally made him be there.


I am not at all ashamed to admit that I am a major wuss. Like I request the epidural before I've even felt a contraction, make my little boy kill bugs in my house if my husbands not home (he thinks it's totally cool so why not make his day?!), and would never ever tell a waitress that I don't like the food I've been served, even if it's cold, flavorless or the wrong order kind of wuss.

I'm not a fan of being uncomfortable physically or in my surroundings so I tend just to play things safe. When I had to sign a waiver at the doctor's office that said I wouldn't hold them accountable for over 10 different "this could go wrong" scenarios I knew I just chucked my 'do all things safely and by the rules' book out the window. Insert husband does not have a choice in whether or not to accompany me. Not that I really had to persuade him to come when he found out I'd be on Nitrous Oxide. (Yep, I'm one of those people. I would have taken full sedation but his office doesn't offer it :) ) He really was great to have there though! Whenever I'd wiggle my fingers he'd hold my hand (like during each of the THREE shots they put into my gums to numb them) and he kept his hand on my leg the WHOLE time. I did have him laughing pretty good at one point...don't remember why but I'm sure he'd be happy to tell ya! I watched 27 Dresses on the TV on the ceiling and almost fell asleep at one point because they had the laughing gas turned up so high (it wasn't kicking in at the beginning so they cranked it up pretty good!) That sorta freaked the dentist helper person out (sorry I don't know all their technical names) and she started shouting at me "DONT fall asleep!" ha ha. Good times.

But I have to say, all things considered-now that it's been 10 hours-it wasn't the most awful thing in the world (being beaten only by child birth). I had a jamba juice for lunch, an ice cream cone for dinner and a 2 1/2 hour nap after I got home while Mr. Sweet Love watched the kids. (using the term "watched" loosely since I woke up to him sleeping on the chair across the room from me). The left half of my face was numb for about 6 hours (which was awesome-totally freaked my little guy out) and now my tooth hurts like crazy but it's nothing a little (prescribed) medication won't help with! :) Ha ha! I'm hoping in the morning it won't be as sore because I'm starving and would really like to eat without wanting to cry!

I have to go back in in a couple of weeks to get the crown put on and I'm hoping that won't be as traumatic of an ordeal. If you have any horror stories I DON'T want to hear them! If you do however want to bring me a jamba juice I would love you forever! :) Thanks for popping in today, have a Sweetly Lovely night!!!

Sweet Tute Tuesday-Family Rules Canvas

Whew! Did everybody survive the 4th of July?! I L.O.V.E. that holiday, but I have to say I am glad it's over and there won't be another holiday to plan for awhile! We hosted a party (for a couple of the blocks in our neighborhood) and were up to the wee hours of the morning this morning-but it was SO worth it!

For our Sweet Tute Tuesday I wanted to share one of my absolute favorite projects that I've ever done! They are our Family Rules/Values Canvases.

I actually did these last summer, but I wasn't blogging then so I thought I'd share the tutorial now! These canvases were all over blogland last year and the one I first saw was on my friend MaryBeth's blog here.

Okay so I'll give you a short little step-by-step for how I went from this (old pantry doors for $4 from DI):


... To this!


First we started out by sawing the doors in half so I could use the bottom of the doors as my canvas.


Ready to go "canvases"


Top of the pantry doors that are awaiting me for another project I have in the works...


Then we sanded down the doors and spray painted them a pretty bright yellow (the yellow paint I had left over from my tiered planter project.) It's actually a slight shade brighter than I wanted but the original wood was so dark we had to do an extra coat to cover it, but I think the paper we added tones it down a little.


While Mr. Sweet Love did the "manly" work, I picked out matchy scrapbook paper (which my mom had brought down for when she came for a visit) and printed out the rules and values in adorable fonts I found for free here. (This took me the longest out of the whole project because I'm SO indecisive!) And then Mod-podged them till they begged for me to stop. Okay really Mr. Sweet Love did this part too b/c I kept getting bubbles in the paper and the perfectionist in me was dying.

Rules


Values


We finally agreed on a spot to hang them...


They now sit above our kitchen table in the dining area. The picture of the temple/family proclamation was above the table before and is now off to the right which we had to do for sizing issues. They were longer and narrower than I was originally planning on making them (each panel is 12 inch. wide and 35 inch. long) so we had to adjust some things, but I think they turned out perfectly! And I love having the temple on the other wall which was blank before.


In case you can't read all the rules from the picture, I listed them below. Some are borrowed, most of them are my own.


~Learn from your mistakes
~Sing silly, dance crazy, tickle lots, laugh loudly
~Mind your manners
~Family comes first, always be there
~Make messes...and then clean them up
~Hands are for hugging not for hitting
~Laugh instead of cry
~Obey your parents
~Husband-Adore your wife always Wife-Love him forever
~Speak Kindly
~Stand for Truth and Righteousness
~Snuggle Mommy, Wrestle Daddy
~Hug, Kiss and Say I love you every day
~Pray Always
~Don't grow up too fast

Values up close:


*Total project cost: $4 (doors were $4, paint was left over from previous project, scrapbook paper was from my mom, mod podge and paint brush I've had forever, nails to hang already had...and that's it)

Story behind the rules/values:
I was sitting in the mall play area and there were very few kids playing so my little sweet loves had lots of room to run around and play and they were so happy. Just truly happy, carefree and loving every moment of there simple, wonderful life and as I watched them I thought, this is what it's all about. This is what childhood should be. It should be full of laughter, and smiles, and happiness, and enjoyment. And in this moment of inspirational, uninterrupted, bliss I pulled out a half-gnawed on pen and an old receipt and began to write down the things I wanted to have as rules in our family. What values I wanted our children to grow up with. Things we could see everyday and be reminded of-even as adults. And so, the Rules and Values were born. And I could not be happier with the way everything turned out. I giggle every time I walk past them in our kitchen and give myself a little pat on the back for the good work Mr. Sweet Love did. :)

Thanks for spending some time with me today, I love having you here!!!

Linking up to these parties as well as:

My Country Tis of Thee

My country,' tis of thee

sweet land of liberty,


of thee I sing;  

 
land where my fathers died,  

 
land of the pilgrims' pride,   


from every mountainside let freedom ring!


Happy 4th of July!!!

Giveaway Winner!

I am SUPER-DuPeR excited to announce my 200 follower giveaway winner of the Bubble Watch from J&M's Eye Candy! Since I roll the old school way, the winner was pulled straight out of a hat by my little sweet loves! Watch the video to see if it is YOU!



If for some reason you're not able to watch the video the winner, out of 51 entries, was Tammie from Pampered by Tammie!

Congratulations Tammie! Email me at loveseweetlove@gmail.com and I'll pass along your info to J&M's Eye Candy so you can choose your beautiful new watch! Thanks to all who participated and are following along with Love Sweet Love, I LOVE giveaways!!