Touches of Saint Valentine...

...here and there is all you really need. My girlfriend stopped by today and was baffled about trying to decorate for Valentine's Day. I showed her a few things that I had done that anyone can do. I took my cue from Christmas decor and just changed up a few things.

Below is my girl, Mabel. She usually wears a pretty vintage lace dress, but for Valentine's Day, I thought I would spice this little vixen up with one of my favorite leopard print jackets. I think she looks marvelous. My dear friend, Sita at Silver Spoon Scraps made this custom hat for her.




I love how she incorporated the leopard print that I love and one of my favorite words....je t'aime

I changed out my winter reindeer under the large glass cloche and added a vintage inspired Dee Foust "My sweet valentine" figure.

Simple glitter hearts in a vintage silver compote is classy without being fussy





I took out the Christmas candles from the vase and changed them to pink, white, and red

It's still so wintery here in Chicago and my silver tinsel tree still fits in but to make it look less Christmas-y, I just added some red heart ornaments and changed the skirt to a fun zebra print.

Here is that great iron stand I found with an old friend and just added some vintage Valentine images and heart ornaments

Hand painted #14 on burlap in mini frames of pink, white, and red

Leftover pearl Christmas garland in a vintage silver bowl with a few red glitter hearts

So here are just a few touches of Saint Valentine in my house. Hope you enjoy! Stay tuned because there is more to come...

xoxo,

tia & andrea

Valentine Craft Night {part 1}

Hi y'all! Craft night with the girls was so much fun and at the end of the night (1 am to be exact), we ended up with three different yummy Valentine creations to adorn our space. One of my favorite things to do are these sweet wands. They look so cute in a vintage vase or sundae cup filled with sugar. Although I must warn you that wine + the hot glue gun doesn't mix very well.

Y'all know how much I love coffee filters and after Vicki and Denise dyed some plain white filters in different shades of pinks and tans, our heart shaped wreaths turned out fabulous!

Since we had so many coffee filters and had finished our wreaths, we decided to make the coffee filter garland by stringing them on jute twine. We added some cute Valentine muffin cups in the mix and it turned out great. This was an idea that we got from the very talented Pam Garrison.

I love seeing my craft table filled with piles of coffee filters, ribbon, vintage paper, glue and glitter! It's a crafters delight!

Denise and Vicki working on the heart wreaths. We recommend using a thimble. It became our best friend half way through.

A work in progress...

Vicki moving on to work on her garland

Denise working on her garland as we dyed more filters

Good friends + good food and wine + fun crafts = 1 heck of a good time! Thanks girls...can't wait for part 2!

xoxo,

tia & andrea

Happy Birthday, Bryson...

On this day 12 years ago, my first child and Andrea's first nephew was born. It was one of the happiest AND one of the scariest days of my life. I remember bringing him home from the hospital and just staring at him waiting for him to "do" something. He has been such a joy and a blessing to our family. As the oldest of 5, he has asserted his independence and set such a good example for his 4 younger siblings. We are so proud of him.

I think back on that day he was born and little did I know that 8 years later he would be diagnosed with Juvenile Diabetes. That was a day that changed our lives forever. As most of you know, my husband and I are huge advocates for Juvenile Diabetes and do all that we can to educate others and help in the fight for a cure. Each year, Crimson Clover {my jewelry business} creates a special piece of jewelry with the help of Bryson's artistic eye to help raise awareness and money to find a cure. Because every hour of every day, someone is diagnosed with Juvenile Diabetes, the most severe form of a disease that annually accounts for almost $100 billion in healthcare costs in the U.S. alone. Not only will they be insulin dependent for life, but devastaing and life limiting and life shortening complications such as blindness, amputation, heart disease and stroke, and kidney failure are an ever present threat. Insulin is not a cure for the disease -it is merely life support.

For more information on Juvenile Diabetes and how you can help in the fight for a cure, please click here.


So happy birthday, Bryson and thank you for teaching me so much about life and dealing with adversity. We love you!

xoxo,

mom (tia) & aunt andrea

Be Mine Valentine.....

I've been working on a couple of projects for Valentines day decor. I made this banner for the mantle. It was super easy and quick and I LOVE the way that it turned out. The scalloped hearts were cut out using the cricut and then I stamped "be mine" with a stamp set from Autumn Leaves. Then I used my Crop-a-Dile to and the "eyelet" edge to the hearts. I tied some ribbons between the hearts and added a bit of berry garland and a heart from the $1 bin from Target last year in the middle.

I changed the out the snowflakes for some hearts on the grapevine tree.

This only took 4 minutes to make this. I added it to the "junk" on the my mantle.

Enjoy!!!!!

XOXO
Andrea & Tia

2 finds & a little etsy love....

My husband I went to and browsed the local antique stores this afternoon. We didn't go looking for anything particular. I did find2 items to purchase. :) I found this vase for only$2!!! I am going to put it in the bathroom and fill it with cotton balls or something. Next we found this vintage Chewbacca from 1978!!! Our son loves anything star wars so we bought it for him. Star Wars Collectible = one happy kid!!!!

Close up of Chewbacca's face

Chewbacca
He stands about 14 inches tall





I love browsing and window shopping on etsy. Here are some of my favorites that I have seen recently.

I love owls especially cute ones!!! Saw this cute stuffed owl from manicmuffintotes as soon as I opened the etsy site.


Loved this photo print from


eyeshuttertothink


Tis the season for Love!!!


Vintage Camera from sloth art
I collect vintage cameras and display them on a shelf in my living room.


I love and want this camera bag from xcessrise designs








Porcelain Owl from
kgrande





handmade LOvE pillow from nest a home

Love this monogram pillow made from buttons from

Letter perfect designs

Owl Trivet from Funkyfindsonline

And last but not least a Valentine charm from Tia's store

Love this one!!!

xoxo

Andrea & Tia

Love is in the air...

January is great because it's the start of a brand new year. It's a new beginning and a metamorphosis to some. I know it is for me! As January comes to an end, we are looking forward to the arrival of February and decorating for Valentine's Day. Some friends and I are getting together to create some wonderful Valentine crafts next week. Out with the old & in with new new! I'll post photos next week. I started a little early and hand painted some burlap with the #14 and framed them in these cute mini frames. I also did one in white and pink {my favorite}. Since love is in the air, I did these cute little leopard print and cupcake soldered charms that are perfect for Valentine's Day and all year long. You can find them here.

Here is another Valentine sampling of Crimson Clover goodies

A fun and flirty banner....AMOUR

Share with us some of the things that you LOVE!

xoxo,

tia & andrea

Happy birthday to my sweet Paige

Today I'd like to wish my youngest daugher and Andrea's 2nd neice a very happy birthday. We love you sweet Paigey Poo!!

xoxo,

mommy & aunt andrea