This week’s learned, links, and thankfulness…

Once winter came along, I stopped my waking up early routine. I’m going to go back to it this week; I really miss my quiet mornings.

My sister and I worked on some more videos. Can’t wait to share them with you! Folloy my YouTube channel here!

I need to throw a party that would match this paper jungle garland.

Repainting a thrift store canvas is genius. I need to pick one up next time I go.

I want to sew a dress shaped like this for the girls.

I like the natural look of these woven sandals.

Even though this denim shift dress is for kids, I’d totally wear it.

These are the most adorable barrettes I have ever seen!

It’s been a weird couple of weeks trying to get a new schedule down. It’s made me feel a little out of sorts. I’m thankful for changes though, I can’t wait to see how God grows us through it.

Some of my babes have been sick this week. Thankfully, all is well now and we are ready for our Valentine’s Day celebrations. We have neighbors coming over later and then tomorrow afternoon we celebrate again with some friends.

Enjoy this Valentine’s weekend with your loves!

XOXO Heart Felt Bag

Supplies:
Heart Bag Template
Felt (red and white)
36″ 3mm macrame cotton cord (size may vary depending size of child)
Embroidery floss in coordinating colors
Thread in coordinating colors
Hand-sewing needle
Scissors
Thread
Sewing machine

Seam allowance: 1/2″

Directions:
1. Cut out your bag pieces: 2 pieces for bag body, 4 pieces for XOXO. Place your XOXO pieces on the front bag piece and hand-sew on with a running stitch.
2. Place the two bag pieces together (with the XOXO facing out), and sew around bottom two-thirds of the heart (see template for where to start and end), leaving the top third open.
3. Sew on your strap with a little zig-zag stitch, make sure to leave 1.5″ of the ends dangling. With your needle, fray the end of the cotton cord for a little fringe.

Stuff the bag with a heart headband and some chocolates… instant (well, after you make it) love day gifts. Two days left until Valentine’s and I think you still have just enough time to make this bag!

To see other videos, follow Cakies on YouTube here.
See other photos and videos by Christian and Reinna here.

We decided to make Ben a poster for Valentine’s Day. Our mothers loved the Mother’s Day poster we sent, so I thought one for Ben would be a nice surprise for him. We plan to either sneak in his office at work and have it up on Friday or have it covering his car windshield (with lots of balloons too!). He’s a little behind in reading my blog, so I’m pretty sure he won’t see this before then.

My sister took our pictures (as we pretended to blow kisses into the air), and I turned that into a black and white photo (and added our poem). I took it to a local copy shop to get an engineering print made. We used a paint marker and the girls excitedly drew their own hearts on the poster. If you’re still stuck on a gift for your honey, this one was quick to do, and the heart drawn hearts make it especially sweet.

I like seeing people draw hearts. There are so many different types. Brave’s tends to be rounded, and True’s are more V-shaped. Soul’s ends up with sharper edges, and Glow’s was kind of wacky (we had to help her out a little). I draw mine very similar to True’s.

I love these pictures and how loving they are with each other. Sure, they fight too, but they are definitely the best of friends. I hope it always stays that way. Soul is my little fashionista. She’s very specific about how she likes her outfit and hair. Lately, it’s been denim jacket with everything. If you’ve been following here awhile, you know she’s gone through many different phases. True and Brave try to dress similar to me, especially True. If I’m wearing something long, she’ll look for something long to wear too. We’ve been sewing them some outfits that are similar to mine, so we will share those with you soon!

on me: dress, thrifted. shoes, rachel comey. on true: maxi dress, biker boots c/o old navy. on brave: striped dress, c/o old navy. dr. martens, shoes.com. pom pom clip, handmade (see here). on soul: jersey dress & denim jacket, c/o old navy. leopard sneakers, gap kids. on glow: knit dress & socks, c/o old navy. superga kids, zappos.

This post is in partnership with Old Navy. Thank you for the support you give this space and the brands I partner with! 

This past Saturday, the big three were treated to a day out to Disneyland with some of their cousins. They have a cousin that shares their love for Star Wars, so he blessed them with this wonderful adventure. They were so excited and went to Disneyland decked out head to toe in costume. True was Leia, Brave was Rey, and Soul was a Jedi. We chose to not let Glow go because we weren’t sure she could hang all day long without melting into an exhausted tantrum in the evening. She was a little sad at first, but we went to Target and she picked out some Yoda macaroni and cheese to have all to herself on Saturday night, and she was sold. After that, if you asked her, “Do you want to go to Disneyland or stay home with mommy and papi?” She would say, “Stay home, so I can eat my Yoda macaroni.” Ha!

We asked her what other things she wanted to do that day, and she said, “Eat pizza, get ice cream from A la Minute, go to a park, and go to Michaels.”

So that’s exactly what Saturday consisted of. She was one happy baby and was fast asleep when her sisters came home from Disneyland. When she woke up the next morning, they surprised her with a Yoda backpack (it’s much cooler than the green ball we bought her at Micahels), and while they raved about their day, she regaled them with all the fun she had with us.

I’m so thankful my big three were able to have such a fun adventure, and I’m thankful we were able to give our baby some undivided attention … blessings all around!

I saw this wooden arrow class by Courtney Cerruti on the Valentine’s Day crafts page of Creativebug and knew these would be the perfect quirky thing to make my friends for Galentine’s Day. I’ve taken a couple of Courtney’s online classes before (and one in person at the Michaels Makers Summit), and I love how her ideas are always fresh and allow for a lot of creativity. She always explains each step well and makes good suggestions for other materials you can use. I also like that her projects always leave plenty of room for you to insert your own little pizazz.

With my wooden arrow, I used a much smaller dowel and used crepe paper for the feathers. I love that I didn’t need to have the exact materials she used, but was still able to get the same cute outcome. I watched it once through first to get a general idea for the project and what materials to gather. Then, I watched it two more times while I was working on it, and about an hour and a half later I was done with all 6 arrows. I didn’t use the Valentine’s messages they had, but made my own little message that says, “Roses are red, Smurfs are blue, I’m thankful for a friend like you!”

I tied the arrow onto another dowel and stuck that in a little vase of flowers. Then, I will make my Galentine’s delivery at the end of this week. My girls are asking if they get to make their own arrows, but I think they’re going to really enjoy making love bugs for their friends.

This post is in partnership with Creativebug. Since we homeschool, we are big fans of Creativebug and have used some of their classes for art.  If you want to try it out, Creativebug is currently offering a one month free trial with the code: LOVE.

Beaded Heart Headband

Supplies:
Headband
Ribbon
Beads in various colors
12″ strand of wire
Scissors
Glue gun & glue stick

Directions:
1. Cut out 1 foot strand of wire.
2. Add your beads, but leave 2″ of both ends unfilled.
3. Place the end beads together to form the bottom of the heart, shape your heart, and twist wire tightly in place.
4. Place the heart on your desired spot on your headband and wrap wire ends around the headband.
5. Starting at one end of the headband, add a dab of hot glue, and wrap the entire headband. Note: Add a dab of glue every 1.5″ to make sure the ribbon is secure. To finish, add a dab of glue at the end, and cut excess ribbon

Glow is such a little ham. We like to call her “Hammer Time” because she’s always cracking us up with her cute little antics. Well, you can see she loves the headband. Soul’s already been wearing her headband everywhere, and I just need to make two more for the older girls. The headband is a perfect Valentine’s Day gift!

To see other videos, follow Cakies on YouTube here.
See other photos and videos by Christian and Reinna here.