We’ve lived in our lovely new house for a year now and I’ve been thinking of adding some new decorative touches here and there. So I do what I always do when I want to get all crafty and such…I go on ETSY for ideas.

While there, I decide that making it would be too much work and I need to support small businesses anyway so I end up buying it on ETSY.

So, a few weeks ago I saw these beautiful yarn lettered creatures, HERE, . I envisioned them on our mantle and looked at dozens of examples and loved them all. And then, I saw the price tags. Seriously? $22 per letter? Insanity.

Not to worry, Pinterest to the rescue!

So Pinterest? Oh how I love thee. This site has opened my eyes to how very uncrafty I am and well, it’s inspired me to get my craft on ya’ll!  So, it all began with a simple trip to Michael’s Craft Store.

I had some coupons in hand and bought 6 simple wooden letters with 3 rolls of clearance yarn, (I’m classy like that).

If I had a true Do It Yourself Blog I would have taken pictures of my process, but let’s face it friends, that’s just not how I roll.

So, instead I’ll show you the finished product!

Ta-Da!

Please ignore my horrible photography.

Please ignore the smudges on my mirror.

Again, please ignore my horrible photography and please ignore the smudges on the mirror- Again.

Do you get the idea?

Price Breakdown:

Big N- $1.99 with 50% off coupon= $.99.

5 Small Letters- $.99 each with 25% off coupon= $3.71

3 Rolls of Yarn- $2.75 each= $8.25 (I only used a small amount, so I’ll be able to use these for other crafts down the road).

Total: $12.95

It would have been  $132 + Shipping had I purchased from ETSY. Now, don’t get me wrong, I L-O-V-E ETSY, but I easily did these letters myself for a fraction of the cost.

Wanna do it too? It’s easy peasy.

Just go buy some wooden letters that you like. Buy some yarn. Then, get to wrapping. Cover the entire letter with yarn tightly wrapped. You can go in different directions if you’d like. I also used hot glue at the beginning and end to secure the edges.

Need a closer look?

Look closely at my “L.”

See how the yarn is going in different directions? I like that look. Makes it look interesting I think. No?

Anyway, go have some fun and do some crafts! Also? There are ALWAYS coupons for Michaels in the Sunday paper. Check it out!

Remember how I enlisted all of the interwebs for decorating advice? As usual, you all gave me wonderful tips and ideas for decorating. If you missed it, read it here.

I still haven’t figured out what in the world to do with the staircase. I’m not ready to commit to anything so it has remained the same..however, the toy situation is much better. Wanna see?

Like the good little student I am, when you told me to get baskets for the mountains of toys, I did. I started out with these from TJ Maxx…

And they were great. Very pretty little baskets they were. However, whenever they came off the shelf they began “shedding.” You know, the little bites of brown basket dirt that new baskets have? It drove this Mama crazy. I think we have established that clean floors are very essential to keeping my crazyhead straight, so the brown baskets just wouldn’t do. So, I found these little beauties at your friend and mine, The Wal-Mart.

Much better.

Have you noticed that when you first buy toys they are all pristine in their packaging, but when they get mixed with the other 10 million pieces and toys all the sudden it’s all just JUNK? So, that’s what we have here. Baskets-O-Junk.

Thankfully my babies love their junk, so for now, it can stay.

So, whaddya think?

In any other news, any other advice on the staircase wall? It’s about to give me a heart attack thinking about it. I’m totally obsessing about what should go there and I can’t seem to land on anything that I L-O-V-E.

Do tell!

Have a happy Monday my peeps!

Happy Valentines Day my friends!

Now that I’ve got a very crafty toddler we’ve been talking a lot about Valentines Day and cutting out zillions of heart (to later tear apart, dip into water and to destroy), coloring hearts and reading lots-o-books about this blessed day of love.

What my little Bitzy Boo doesn’t know is that I’ve got quite a bit of sugar planned for her tiny future. You see, while I’m not AS psycho as I once was about her eating sugar, I’m still a little nuts, so treats in general are a real rarity around here (well, for her anyway. I cannot confirm or deny having icing stashed all over the house for my eating pleasure).

But tonight, oh tonight. We will feast on PINK!

The pink cupcakes are made and ready with 4 different varieties of sprinkles, and clearly strawberry icing awaits as well.

I also made a new deliciously easy batch of cookies and I would love to share the recipe.

This recipe is from way back when my friend Bethany and I first moved to Louisville. We ate these…um…a lot. Like, a lot, a lot. They are SO GOOD- and so very easy. Here it goes.

The ingredients:

One box of cake mix (any kind will do)

2 eggs

1/2 cup oil

1/2 teaspoon of baking powder

food coloring is optional

Do not read the directions on the back of the cake mix…do this instead- Mix together the cake mix, eggs, oil and baking powder. Mixture will be thick. Then, if you want add food coloring. I wanted purple cookies so just like my Kindergarten teacher Miss Patsy taught me, I added red and blue together. Easy Peasy.

Then, roll into round balls and cook at 350 degrees for 8 minutes.

They will look something like this:

Then, decorate however you’d like. Bethany and I used strawberry cake mix with strawberry icing a lot, or lemon cake mix with lemon icing. Amazing. Also, this receipe makes KILLER chocolate chip cookies using a Yellow cake mix with chocolate chips. Check it out!

Here’s the finished product!

Happy Valentines Day everyone!

See this phone? Ya know, the one you had back in 2002 when it was new and cool?  Well, that’s my phone now. I’m old school. It’s simple, straightforward and uncomplicated. Sure it takes me 34 minutes to send a text, but who’s counting?

Unfortunately, my old friend is dying a slow and painful death and we’re up for new contracts.

Zach’s poor old phone can only hold a charge for 15 minutes without dying. It’s bad times up in here.

I’m not gonna lie, things like “iPhone” and “Droid” have been spoken in this house by a certain husband (who shall not be named).

But to me it’s more like, “More money, blah, blah, blah, no coupons, blah, blah, blah, impossible to justify, blah, blah, blah. We should just get jitterbug phones.”

I think we’ve established that I’m, um, how you say? Frugal. And let’s face it, fancy cell phones aren’t cheap.

We do not have a home phone, nor do we really need one, so we must have cell phones.

So now I need all your powers of the world wide web to convince me why we should/shouldn’t get fancy phones. Right now we’re paying around $110 per month for both of us (and our ancient phones) on Verizon, that should be helpful to you as your convince me one way or the other.

Things I need to know:

1. Whose the best carrier?

2. Should we get a fancy phone?

3. Why/Why not?

4. Who in the world is Suri?

So whaddya think? Help a sista out!

Okay my peeps, Mama needs your help.

I’m normally pretty confident in my decorating, but this time, I’m stumped! Help me decorate my house!!!!

The following pictures show you the staircase which highlight my gorgeous babies at 6 months old. I love every single thing about these pictures, but I’m struggling with what (if anything) should go between them.

What do you think?

Is less more?

I was thinking maybe several pictures between the two? A collage perhaps? But I don’t want to take away from the amazing pictures…

See? I need your help.

Take a look at the space….

Also? I MUST figure out a way to organize the toys that are overtaking my house. Look at Picture #2. Any ideas on how to make that shelf more presentable? It looks so messy! Drives me bananas!

Help, Help, Help!!!!