Valentine's Day Fashion DIY

How many of you have seen the darling sweater with heart elbow patches floating around Instagram? I see it all the time and it inspired me to create my own version! With Valentine's Day around the corner, and McKinley's class party that afternoon, this little sweatshirt is going to be perfect! 

The top that inspired it all! Isn't it too cute?

Here's what you'll need:

A sweatshirt, a red sweater, a heart shaped cookie cutter, and a pen. This will get you started.

I found the sweatshirt at Target on the clearance rack for $9 and the red sweater at Savers for $3.99. I had a 20% off coupon at Savers from our last donation so I actually spent a little over $3 for the sweater.

Turn the sweater inside out that you're going to use to trace your heart. This way the pen mark won't be on the right side of the garment.

Place your cookie cutter on the sweater. I placed it as far down on the sweater as possible so that I have the remainder of the sweater for a different project. Also, make sure your sweater is a tightly woven fabric. You don't want it to fray once you cut it.

Guess what! The pen didn't show up so I switched to a Sharpie. 

Cut out your heart. Oh, and with the fabric doubled over, you will have two hearts! You need two anyway, right?

Two hearts!

Even though the fabric is a tight weave, I went ahead and used Fray Check to keep the hearts from fraying. Allow to dry for a minute or so before using your hearts.

 You will need someone to help you with this part. Try on the top to pin the hearts in the place you want. I knew I wanted mine slightly above the elbow. My mom measured the bottom of the heart to the top of my elbow so that each heart was as centered and roughly the same height as possible. Pin them in place with a safety pin.

Once pinned, start gluing. I left the pin in place and glued around it. I started in the center and moved around the edges and bottom of the heart and pressed down. From there, I removed the pin and glued the heart from the center up. You want to use a fabric glue for this so you can wash it and the hearts won't come away from the top. You can always go back and do a loop stitch to secure it even more.

The glue dries clear so don't worry if any seeps out the side. I tried to clean it up a little, but you won't see it in the end.

Here is the end result!

I love it!! It turned out exactly how I imagined it would! I can't wait to wear it next week! It's so soft and warm to boot. I've always known it, but now I can tell everyone that I truly wear my heart on my sleeve!

XO,

Andrea

Mama DIY: Valentine's Day Wreath

Well hello there, everyone! It's February and I haven't been around in a very long time. January was rough! I lost my mojo and honestly, I'm not sure if I've found it yet! I've been down for the count over the past week with some sort of horrible virus that apparently turned into pneumonia! I'm supposed to do nothing, which is super hard for me, so I'm thinking you may be hearing a lot more from me during this laying low period!

Even though I haven't been around, I've been busy. If it isn't being a mama to an active six year old, it's designing a gallery wall in my den or creating fun DIY projects like the one I have for you today! I made a Valentine's Day wreath for the front of my house and I love it! I had so much fun designing my front porch for the holidays that I couldn't just stop at Christmas! I had to spread the love. 

It started with an inspirational search on Pinterest which resulted in these darling wreath ideas.

And then I made this one for our booth in Louisburg! Because of this one, and how cute it turned out, I decided to document the process for the one I made for me. I didn't use flowers for mine, the one below has fake flowers I found at Michael's. The things I used for mine were on sale at Joann's. 

Let me start off by saying that I got the above grapevine wreath at Michael's, but found the one I used for mine at Savers. Check them out, people! Deals are everywhere on every day things you might use for home decor or DIY projects. Just wait until I show you one I found for the gallery wall.

You Need:

Grapevine Wreath, fun Valentine's Day decor like these felt ornaments or the above fake flowers, twine, hot glue, felt, scissors, and puff paint.

Start by stringing your twine across the wreath. You can take it across the center or at an angle. Tie the twine on the back and add a little hot glue to the knots to keep them from slipping. 

 

Now, for the felt, measure the length of your strips based on how big you want to the letters to appear in your wreath. We cute ours to 4" long and 1.5" wide. And my sweet mom used her rotary cutter to make a cleaner cut. But you can use scissors.  

 

 Fold the piece of felt in half. From one corner of the felt, cut toward the center and stop. From the opposite corner, cut to meet the original cut at the center. You are creating a V shape.

To make life easier, lay the cut piece over the additional pieces of felt and cut the V shape for the remaining pieces. Put aside.

I found these darling padded felt hearts on sale at Joann's. They came six to a pack, a perfect amount. I cut the strings off to make them more suitable for the wreath. Place them

 on the wreath before you glue. Once you've used hot glue, you're done with placement! I did this for both the top and bottom of the wreath.

Once you have them where you want them, start gluing! 

 

Next up, place your felt pieces across the twine. Spread them out across the wreath at your desired width. Using the hot glue, glue them shut. And watch out for burned fingers! It hurts!

 Then take your puff paint, in any color you desire, and write out love across the four felt pieces. 

And here is the finished product! I LOVE IT! Pun intended! It's so sweet and perfect for Valentine's Day. This doesn't have to be for outdoors. Place it anywhere your heart desires. Just spread the love where ever possible!

Of the inspired Pinterest photos, which is your favorite wreath? Which one will you recreate? I would love for your to share your creations. It's what inspires all DIY creators!

I hope to be around a lot more in the coming month. I have so much to talk about, so much crafting to share, and a ton of home decor ideas to provide. This house is always a work in progress!

Happy Monday!

XO,

Andrea

Mama Style File: Shoe Shopping

I love shoes! And if you don't believe me, come on over and see the collection for yourself! It's pretty spectacular, if I do say so myself. It's been years of cultivating the perfect pairs and I love them all. However, I do have several that I'm parting with soon as I find I'm not wearing heels as often as I used to. They are simply showing their age in trend, not wear. But, when you're getting rid of one, you replace one, right? That's how I see it anyway.

Yesterday as I was browsing Instagram, I found a darling pair of booties that one of my fashionista friends is currently wearing. And they are everything! A studded motorcycle bootie that must find its way into my closet! I headed straight to the Choies website and immediately found three more pairs of boots/booties that I loved. And while you're browsing for shoes, why stop at boots? I found slip-on sneakers, flats, and sandals. They are classic, trendy, and so chic! There are nine in total and each one is must-have!

My obsession with flamingos is strong and those flats from Zara are just the thing to cure it. Remember the wedges from Kate Spade? And if you're asking if I need two pairs of flamingo shoes, I'm going to say absolutely! Ones a wedge and ones a flat. They're completely different! The pom-pom craze is still on trend and it's made its way from handbag accessories to shoe adornment. The slip-on sneakers from Steve Madden are so cute, but those sandals from Zara are amazing for summer! And I don't care that they're velvet. Velvet for summer is what I say! 

There's those studded beauties from Choies along with a pair of tall boots designed after the Givenchy boots that were on my "only in my dreams" wishlist. And I'm totally crushing on those pink booties! I have no idea how I would style them, or what I have in my closet to wear them with, but they are darling!

And the slip-on sneaker is a must! I have several pairs and I wear them on repeat in the summer. I love the olive green pair, but those rose gold metallics are screaming my name! Thank you, Target, for designing affordable footwear to feed my shoe obsession! My wallet thanks you, I think....

If you love shoes like I do, Valentine's Day is right around the corner and now's the time to start dropping hints! You can drop subtle hints or just show your loved one the photo above! And point specifically to the pair you want and the size you wear. Whatever works! But deciding on which pair is going to be the hardest!

Which is your favorite? Are you all about trends or a classic shoe that goes with everything in the closet? I love all shoes equally! I received the best compliment ever a couple of weeks ago when I sported a pair of teal blue heels. I was told that I always wore the happiest shoes and that made me so happy! It made my feet happy too!

Happy Monday!

XO,

Andrea

Dressing McKinley: Valentine's Day

Can you believe it's February 1st? Here we go again with the "Where did the time go?" question. And it's always true. But I do love February. It's my mom's birthday month, Valentine's Day, and one month closer to spring! I'm excited for Valentine's Day this year because of all the fun things we get to do to celebrate. Because McKinley's in Kindergarten, and I'm co-room parent, it's party time and that means he has to have the cutest outfit for the festivities!

I have always been that mom that makes sure he has cute tees or sweaters for the holiday on the calendar, but it's getting harder and harder to find the older he gets. It appears that it's no longer cool to dress your child, especially boy, in sweet Valentine's Day sayings. If he were in 7th grade, I might say you're right, but not at five! He needs a cute shirt. And luckily, other retailers agree with me!

Of the ones I found, I have a fondness for a few of them. Like Snoopy! I love that those two don't scream Valentine's Day because he can wear it beyond the 14th. Same goes for the pizza hoodie. And the way my child plows through pizza, this is definitely the shirt he needs! However, how sweet is Mickey's face smiling back at you! And McKinley loves Paw Patrol and Rubbel is pretty adorable! It's going to be hard to chose.

How do you feel about dressing your child in holiday flair? Is it your thing or do you just let the day pass dressing them in whatever you could get them to wear? I don't have to go the cute tee route though. He has some really cute red things that I can put together for the day. We'll see what I come up with the day before. In the meantime, what do you think of the shirts above?

XO,

Andrea