4th of July Mantel

Happy Independence Day! I have really gotten into the spirit of this holiday this year. I'm so grateful to have been born in and to live in this magnificent country. How truly thankful I am! My son has really gotten into learning the 50 states lately, so it's been fun to teach him about our amazing country for this special holiday! I've honestly never decorated for the 4th of July before, but I was just totally feeling it this year! (Check out my 4th of July pinterest board...I'm just loving all of it!)

 

So say hello to my 4th of July Mantel. I love, love, love it!

 Once again I found about a million amazing printables from some super talented ladies, and I was SO excited to use some of them for this mantel! I'll walk you through each one and give these ladies the proper credit!

The gorgeous blue Shining Sea printable is from Bettijo over at Paging Supermom! A big thanks to her - I adore this part of the mantel! :)

I so love this God Bless America print from Melanie over at The Crafty Cupboard. Her 4th of July mantel is beyond adorable! I absolutely love everything about it! Thanks to Melanie for sharing this beautiful print! :)

The absolutely darling centerpiece of the mantel, the Map Silhouette, along with the equally adorable Statue of Liberty Silhouette, are both from Kensie Kate. This is the first time I came across Kensie's blog, and I went on a pinning spree! She designs the cutest quotes and I added quite a few pins to my Inspiration board on pinterest. I'm so glad I found Kensie's blog, and a big thank you to her for sharing her amazing work! Her Map Silhouette is just so perfect as the centerpiece and I can't help but smile when I see it. :)

 And now to talk about my darling little pom pom garland. Isn't it so sweet?! I tell you, I can't get past this craze of mine for pom pom trim! (And I don't really want to get past it!:) It is SO fun to design with! There are so many options for colors and sizes that it really can be hard to commit to which ones I finally decide to use together (like for my spring mantel garland). I'm so happy with how this one turned out though!

 I got the large white pom pom trim at the Hob Lob. I feel like this trim would be perfect for a winter mantel - you know, snow and all that wintery stuff. Some of the super adorable winter mantels out there, like this one from Landeelu, almost make me want to decorate a winter mantel in between Christmas and Valentine's Day next year. But the fact that I loathe and detest the cold weather and snow just doesn't add up with decorating a mantel dedicated to snow and cold weather. So someone pelase go buy this chunky white trim at Hobby Lobby and do something amazing with it this winter! :)

 The teeny tiny red pom pom trip is from JoAnn's. It's just too sweet! I think I have an especial weakness for the tiny pom pom trim. :) And the dark navy blue I found at Wal-Mart. Thank you Wal-Mart! (It sounds weird to say that). Hobby Lobby and JoAnn's had no sign of navy blue pom pom trim. I was pretty disappointed. And then I found this perfect trim at Wal-Mart! Yay! :)

 I made a few more felt rosette balls to go with our 4th of July décor this year. Love this little white one and the navy blue! (I used the same method that Amy at Idea Room uses for both her heart wreath and rosette balls. Tutorial here! :)

 The kids were loving some Wonder Pets time while I was snapping pictures of the mantel. Gotta love that Ming Ming! "This. Is. Sewious". :)

 I found this sweet little wooden USA, along with the wooden American flag on the right side of the mantel, at the beloved Dollar Spot at Target. YAY! 

There you have it. A happy little 4th of July mantel for a happy little 4th of July. :)

We started our festivities last night at my in-law's neighborhood party - fireworks, BBQ, and music! The kids had such a blast! Tonight was a BBQ with friends, and ANOTHER BBQ tomorrow night! You can never have too many barbecues in one weekend. I just love this holiday!

 

Happy Independence Day 2015!!!

Spring Mantel

Spring is here! Definitely one of my most favorite times of the year. Usually, after a long, cold, dark winter, I am just bursting with the anticipation of spring to finally arrive! This winter has actually been super mild (YAY!) so I haven't been quite as desperate for the warmer weather and sunshine. But I am still so happy that it is officially spring! And with that comes my new springy mantel set up. I kind of love it - a lot!

 

So much bright cheeriness. :)



This darling pom pom garland...I'd been dreaming of making it for weeks, and I think it pretty much makes this mantel! 

When I was thinking of what kind of banner or garland I wanted to make for the spring mantel, I just kind of imagined something made up mainly of different colors of pom pom trim. I seriously adore pom pom trim. Every time I see it I want to buy it in every color and size, even before knowing what kind of project I'd do with it. It tempts me every time! :)

 

 I decided to do a pinterest search to see if anyone had done anything similar to what I was dreaming about. I found this darling pom pom garland tutorial at Lolly Jane and immediately pinned it - SO cute, and along the lines of what I knew I wanted to go for! I think maybe a bit of subconscious inspiration also came from this super cute Halloween garland I saw on pinterest this past fall. It's actually from Desirée at The 36th Avenue, who is also the super talented person who designed and shared the mint printable below! I remember now that I had wanted to create a garland like Desirée's for Halloween, but never got around to it. Maybe next year! And at least it helped inspire this cute spring garland. :)

 

When I finally decided to get going on making my garland, I searched all of my favorite craft stores for the perfect pom pom trims, and I finally hit the jackpot at JoAnn's! (As I've mentioned before, I just cannot bring myself to drop the "'s" off of JoAnn. It's just so wrong to simply say JoAnn...even if that is the actual name. Lol!) I found the pink pom pom trim, the tiny, sweet white pom pom trim, and the pleated yellow trim there. The yellow just spoke to me! It wasn't anything I was planning to get or have even worked with before, which isn't surprising since I don't do much sewing or crafting with ribbon or trim (besides pom pom:) at all! But I just knew it would go perfectly with the pom pom trim!

 

When I got all of my cute trim home, I actually didn't do anything with it for a couple of weeks. It still made me smile though just to look at my pile of colorful trim and envision what I would make out of it. A few weeks ago I finally started hanging up the trims and playing around with how they looked together. I got them all pinned up on the mantel just how I liked it, and I was so happy with how the pink, white and yellow looked together!

 

I had also come across some darling mint trim at Wal-Mart and snagged it right away, but I kept debating back and forth with whether or not I wanted to add it to the garland. Jared helped me by taking pics of me holding the mint up to the garland so I could see how it would look when hung. I finally decided to add it, and I'm so glad I did! I hot glued the mint to the yellow. I LOVE how it all looks together! Yay!

I was searching and searching online for the perfect printable about the Savior, to bring Easter into this mantel, since Easter is a BIG part of Spring, and every day. :) One Sunday night I came across the beautiful print by Desirée, over at  The 36th Avenue, that you see below. It says "As for me, I know that my Redeemer lives...Job 19:25". I absolutely love it! She made it in several different colors, and it was tough for me to decide which to use! But since I have a thing for mint, I went with that one. Thanks to Desirée for creating and sharing such beautiful prints that speak of the Savior. I find such hope in His love for me, and I know that He lives. :)

Oh this little pink bird. It's just too sweet for words! Not too mention my sweet  baby girl in the picture behind it. I love that fun pic of our family! It's an oldie but a goodie. :)

The white and pink tissue balls are actually a part of my Valentine's decor, but I think they work perfectly for spring as well! I followed Amy's tutorial over at The Idea Room to make them. I've followed Amy's blog for years - love her and her blog!

 I am so loving this bright and fun "Hello, Spring!"printable by Heidi over at Happiness is Homemade. Isn't is so cute? I saw it on pinterest and knew it would be perfect up on the mantel for spring! Thanks to Heidi for sharing this adorable print!

Seriously, these two prints are just so lovely!

I love this picture of my Savior, which is one of the many beautiful pictures that can be downloaded for free at LDS.org. I love how His arms are outstretched, ready to receive us, to receive me. I love my Savior more than words can express. The link to this picture is here and also, here is a link to the entire Gospel Art collection.



Can I just say again how this sweet mantel makes me smile? :) It is so fun to create, in whatever form that may be. I guess for me, in this case, it was taking random things and putting them all together to make something bright and beautiful. Love it.

 

I can't end this post without a little word about Easter. We celebrated in such a special way this year by following along with Mercy River's observance of Holy Week, doing the activities and reading the scriptures that talk about how Christ spent each day of His final week on earth. It made the whole week, and especially Easter Sunday, that much more meaningful! I want to share my testimony that Jesus Christ lives. He overcame death, and because of Him, we and each of our loved ones will also overcome death. I think of those in my life who have passed on that I miss so dearly. And what comfort to know that they, all of us, will overcome death because of our loving Savior! And we'll be together again. Spring is new beginnings - new life. Happy spring and Happy Easter! :)

Baby Boy! :)

I feel like I've been living under a rock these past few months! A rock that induces extreme morning sickness, fatigue, encourages no motivation, and all that jazz. It's been rough. But I'm SO excited to finally be back in the land of the living, and even more excited to announce the upcoming arrival of our baby BOY!!! Jared and I are super excited for this precious boy. He'll be arriving sometime around July 25th! If he follows suit with his siblings, hopefully he'll surprise us by coming 3 to 7 days before the big due date! We'll see. :)

 

We had our big ultrasound on Wednesday and there was no doubt in our minds that we would definitely find out if baby was a boy or a girl. I just love to know. Sure, some people love finding out because they can plan and all that stuff...but I'm not really that organized anyway. I JUST LOVE KNOWING EITHER WAY! :) Can you tell how I excited I was to find out??

 

Our daughter has no clue that there is even a baby in my tummy, but big brother gets it and is SO happy that he's getting a brother! I'm pretty happy for him, and I'm glad that our sweet girl will be in the middle of two awesome brothers. :)

 

 

After the ultrasound we headed over to T.J. Maxx to pick out an outfit for our sweet little baby boy. Here I am, yesterday, with his cute, tiny little outfit!! This is my favorite outfit for baby boys - the collared romper! 



The T.J. Maxx outing has become a tradition, actually! With our first baby, after our ultrasound appointment, we decided to go right away and pick out an outfit for him! I had been just dying for weeks holding myself back from picking out clothes for both genders. So as soon as we knew he was a boy, shopping we went! Here we are at home later with the outfit we chose for our first sweet baby. :) July 2010. (Notice the collared romper again! Love those!!)

And here's a pic of me at T.J. Maxx right after our appointment to find out we were having a girl!! I couldn't just choose one outfit. Aren't those elephants just darling? August 2012.



It will be so fun to open the many diaper boxes that are filled with baby boy clothes from 4 years ago! (Aren't diaper boxes the best for storing stuff in??) My heart is just filled with love for this tiny little  boy so much already. I'm so happy that I get to be a mom again and to a sweet son! I feel so blessed.

 

While I tended to, more often than not, be very, very "woe is me" over the past few months with how sick I felt, I can't help but acknowledge all of the angels that helped our family! With little things (that were actually big things for us!) like running to the store for groceries for us, making us dinner, coming over when I really didn't feel well, setting up playdates with our kiddos, praying for us. We've been so blessed, and I thank my Heavenly Father for that!! And especially for this little boy who is joining our family! :)