Motivation Monday

Happy Monday, friends! We don't have to work today! Win!!! However, we still have lots of things to do and some places to go.

I read an article from the Ensign yesterday. It was just what I needed to hear at this time in my life. It was uplifting and promising. I loved it. Here is the link to the whole article by Richard G. Scott: Living a Life of Peace, Joy, and Purpose.

I found a few parts very touching.

As you walk to the boundary of your understanding into the twilight of uncertainty while exercising faith, you will be led to find solutions to the challenges of life you would not obtain otherwise.

Strong character is more important than what you own, what you have learned, or what goals you have accomplished. Your consistent exercise of faith builds strong character.

Life isn't always fair. That's a fact. But it's always charged with marvelous opportunities if you know how to find them.

I know these things are true. I know that the Lord will keep all the promises He has made to us. His love is pure and eternal. He understands us and will help us when we are in need.

And here are some tidbits of what we've been up to in the past week.

My really cool friend gave me another Smash book recently. I have loved these "un-scrapbooks" since they first came out. I love having a place to smash ideas and bits of life that don't fit anywhere else. Since she got me a brand new one, I decided to make this a place to journal about me and my life. I have another one that I got a long time ago that I'm going to make about me and the hubs.

My really cool friend also sold me her really cool contraption that make envelopes. Did you read that correctly?? It makes envelopes!!! I'm obsessed! You can make all sizes and shapes. It's amazing and I can't wait to write use some soon!

And Valentine's day was good. We had two date nights in a row. Here is a picture from our stake Valentine's dance. We love going to this and seeing the couples in our stake dance - whether they are good at it or not. heehee. And we have fun dancing too!

Minion Valentine's Box

My friend asked me to make her child's Valentine's box for his class party. Of course I said YES! And I made a minion.

I was giggling with glee the whole time I was making this. Just too funny! And yes, I copied some pictures from Pinterest just to make sure I got the sizing correct.

Mountain Beauty

We've had a few days straight of snow and rain. It's been great considering how little precipitation we've gotten this winter. It's been bad. We were grateful for the precipitation not only for the wet, but for clearing the grossness out of our skies.

Hello again, beautiful mountains and sky!!

The 12 Dates of 2014

I just realized (again) that I haven't shared our new 12 Dates of 2014 tradition!! Duh! I shared the date from January, but not the book I made.

So, now presenting: The 12 Dates of 2014!!

This year I went with a much simpler layout. This was for a couple reasons. 1) Last year I made cute little ticket invitations for each date, and I probably only used them to "invite" Steve to the fun date once. So I got rid of those. 2) I procrastinated a little bit. ;D

Also, this year I made all the dates free. We are saving up all the money we can for upcoming family trips, choir trips, new windows (and many other home projects), and to actually have a savings if/when it is needed. Because the dates are free, some of them are pretty cheesy. Oh well! We're saving money, right?! I used or adapted a lot of ideas from thedatingdivas.com again this year.

I'm hoping to remember to keep sharing our fun and free date nights with you!! I'll share each date later on. But if you need ideas, thedatingdivas.com have a million ideas! Go check out their extensive list and variety!

Crafty Cards

Because of the better organization in my craft room, I have been able to see all my things to make things! So I got to work making some more cards today (along with cleaning and shoveling snow). I like making cards to have on hand for events and for friends.

Making these cards has been a great way to use up scraps. I still have entirely too many scrap pieces of papers, so I need to get to work getting rid of those.

Happy crafting!

Printer's Tray

After a good 1 hour and 45 minutes of organizing and cleaning the craft room when I got home from work today, I decided to give myself a break and actually do some crafting. I deserve it, right? Right.

I have had this little printer's tray for quite some time. My mom gave it to me one day after she had cleaned out her craft space and thought I might enjoy making it cute. That was like a few years ago. It sat empty and blank for a long time. I had no idea what to do with it because I didn't know it was a "thing" to decorate these and stuff. I finally cut squares of paper and put them in there. That was probably a year ago.

Today was the day to start cute-ifying it! And it was just what I needed! I wanted to do something cute and quick. Something I didn't care a great deal about. This was perfect and it was just sitting on my desk waiting for me to start.

It's really cute. I might add to it a little here and there as the inspiration hits me. But it's good for now. I guess it'll just sit on my little cabinet looking cute for a while. Or maybe I'll hang it somewhere in the craft room. We'll see what happens when I finish cleaning out and organizing the craft room.

I'm really excited to finish up that organization project because I have a fun (and very cheap) idea for some decor. I'm hoping it will work out. Update on that soon!

Valentine's Crafts

I had so much fun crafting with some friends last night. We did some fun Valentine's things and some other just plain cute things. And it was fun to do with friends!

Here is some of what we made:

Paper Heart Wreath

Cards

Giant Clothespin Recipe Holder/Picture Holder

Do you like our Coca Cola/salt & pepper shaker collection?? We love it too!

Doing those cute little crafts inspired me to make a one more Valentine's craft this morning! I've loved using these candles to make some cute and temporary decorations for holidays.

And then I couldn't find if I had shared this craft I did for last year's Valentine's craft. I looove it!