inside the heart jars

Inside the heart jars:

❥ Instax + Love notes

❥ Plastic Hearts

❥ Heart Banner

❥ Candy + Ribbon Flags

❥ Vintage Lace up Valentines

❥ Glitter Hearts

❥ Hearts on a stick

I found these vintage lace up valentines at a local fabric store and I adore them. Avery's going to give some to her cousins & keep a couple in the Valentine decor box. They are darling and spotted them here.

I already shared the love notes jar in my last post. I also added some photos from my beloved Instax Camera of my family when they came over yesterday. The plan is to have this chalk full of sentiments and snapshots by Valentine's Day.

The plastic hearts open and you can fill with candies.

Ribbon Flags topped with Glitter Buttons and a little bling.

our sugar coated home

Heres's Our Christmas card this year. My friend Rhonna made it easy with her House of 3 digital stuff!

The background of our family photo was not looking good so I used Photoshop CS5 to cut out each of us. First, I used the magnetic lasso tool to cut everyone out. Then resized it and moved everyone onto the card.

Hope you had a memorable Christmas from our sugar coated home to yours!

Ours was jam packed fun since both sides of our family are near. I will definitely spend some time today relaxing and doing absolutely nothing after all the hustle and bustle the last few days.

While we made the gingerbread house there was a tragic moment when Quincey bit the hat off the candy Frosty. Avery was crushed that his magic hat was now gone, "But how will Frosty come to life?"

I'm flattered that the Dear Lizzy + AC line made the Top 10 Collections at the Moxie Fab Blog.

Thanks so much!

Some great deals at 2 peas... including Dear Lizzy fabric paper.

The North Pole Express

Avery really enjoys the movie Polar Express so on Monday when we started telling her we were going to ride it and see Santa... I'm not sure she believed us. We waited to start telling her until Monday because otherwise it feels like it will never come & she talks about it all day. We learned that earlier this year when we told her about a trip to Disneyland months in advance. Pretty sure she thought we were crazy and this Disneyland place was a hoax.

But the second she saw the train she was thrilled!! It was so magical for her-- she loved singing songs, ringing her bell necklace & clenched her tickets the entire ride.

Even though Quincey is not a fan of Santa... she had so much fun & enjoyed the cookies, as you can see by the evidence on her cheeks. She also loved seeing the cows and horses out the window. It really was a beautiful ride.

Once again, Lola slept through all the fun. We were in the back by the heater so Collin was sweating to death but Lola was quite cozy.

Then the moment she was waiting for! Our car wasn't that full so Santa spent a lot of time with each child. He got down and talked to them, it was so sweet.

Even though he had an obviously fake beard & sounded very young... she couldn't tell at all.

He was Santa Claus to her.
Can't wait to add these photos to my December Daily album today and catch up on that.

DISCOUNT TICKETS: If you are local in Utah and want to ride The North Pole Express I have a discount for you!! $5 off coach tickets on December 7, 8, 9, 14, 15 & 16 Call 435-654-5601 and use the secret code: Utah Bloggers then Dear Lizzy.

Go during the day so you can see out the window the whole ride or at least at 5, like we did, so you can see out the window the first half.

bowties, burlap & blossoms: Favor Boxes/Place Setting

Ever since I was a little girl my mom put me in charge of the place cards for Thanksgiving dinner. Most of the time I would just fold a paper in half and scribble everyones name on it while I watched Macy's day parade or sometimes I'd try to be a bit more creative.

This year I made some conversation starter/favor boxes/place cards. The gentlemen receive the bowties & burlap and for the ladies-canvas blossoms & lace.

To make the rolled canvas flowers I used one of my favorite Sizzix dies: 3-D Bigz Die.

Found here at: Two Peas in a Bucket or Scrapbook.com.

You can use them for a place settings and include a simple mint inside the box. Or I like to use them as a conversation starter by adding different colored candies inside with color coded questions.

We love to do this after we've gobbled up dinner and before cutting into Collin's apple pie. (It gives you time to make room for dessert;)

Print out the conversation starters on a piece of paper for every other person and then go around the table and answer the questions that go with the color of the candy in your box.

We've enjoyed this simple game the past few years because it steers away from the typical

'what are you thankful for' answers and we hear more meaningful thoughts.

Some ideas may include:

-Something you're looking forward to

-Something you hope for

-Something you wish for the person on your left

-Something you're grateful for

-Lesson you've learned this year

-Something that makes you happy

-What you love about the person to your right

-What you hope for the person on your left

PS I am still very much pregnant.

PPS Check out Collin's entertaining post with the giveaway winners... still waiting to hear from a couple of you!

La La Love You

♪ The best part of waking up ♫... isn't Folgers in your cup but coffee filter garlands.

Since Spark, my cha Dear Lizzy Booth and now Valentine's decor I've gone through 1800 coffee filters. 3 jumbo packs. Sheesh that doesn't include Rhonna and Margie's. After we took down all the garlands for Spark, which was A LOT, even Collin missed them. So I was happy to decorate for Valentine's Day & if you've been to Dear Lizzie boutique the entrance to their store is so fabulous! Right then and there I knew I needed some filter fun strung for February.

The La La Love You print I got a couple years ago and used it for inspiration in my book. One of the jars is filled with cute plastic conversation hearts and the other one is filled with love notes. (Margie had love notes in her booth at cha and I loved reading one everyday.)

The heart boxes are my favorite-with the big chunky hanging crystals from House of 3. My Spark sister Rhonna posted a tutorial for making the coffee filter flowers on her blog. She's very serious in the video but don't let that fool you. If she could she would have been squealing and dancing around while she filmed! x0 There was a hot glue gun involved so that was probably why. ;)

The X & O are wood letters I got from Roberts then glittered the heck out of them. I forgot to spray paint them before. Painting them about the same color of the glitter helps with coverage. Since I must of been too excited to start modpodging I forgot that step, which wasn't that bad just meant lots more sparkle. Okay possibly some frustration which led to trash talking the glitter too.

Looking at this reminds me... it's time for new family photos. Any recommendations? Wish Maggie was closer!!

Loving this song: Corner by Allie Moss

sock monkey & santa

I hope everyone had a very merry cozy Christmas!

We definitely had the cozy taken care of... thanks to Kit & Camille for our new jammies.

In a flash it's all over... with evidence of wrapping paper, ribbons, and smiles.

Snippets of our Christmas morning...

Traditions

Growing up my mom & dad loved celebrating with traditions... we are still carrying on some today & starting some of our own.

Last night we carried on a tradition that we've done since I was a little girl. Grabbing all the mittens and scarves you can get your hands on & driving up to Salt Lake Temple Square to see the lights and nativity scene.

I have a bittersweet love for this tradition because it is always freezing. I remember when I was a little girl and my toes were so cold in my boots. I thought... this is crazy... but still fun.

(Camille, Chad (cousin), me, Ashley, Todd (cousin), KC (little brother)

After 20 years I'm wearing leggings again. This time around with out white socks or a perm.

The right picture throwing pennies into the fountain & making a wish. Sad... we were at the same fountain last night but forgot to make wishes. Guess we'll be back next year with extra wishes.

Here we are last night with the girls in the double wide. Bundled up so much they couldn't put their arms down & covered in pink.

The Salt Lake temple was gorgeous as usual. What are your favorite Holiday traditions?

Trade ya three Smarties for a Snickers...

Halloween is definitely the most fun when you have kiddos to dress up, fun people to run around under the stars with & our traditional homemade chili & homemade root beer... oh, and don't forget the candy.

This year Miss Q-bear was the cutest Tinkerbelle.

Woody & Jessie + two little fairies.

There are not many costumes where my retainer & a fanny pack can be an accessory. Meet the nerds... 

Our yodeling cowgirl... I kinda feel guilty that she worked so hard trick-or-treating, saying "Happy Halloween" & "thank you" to every house and now I am the one enjoying all the candy. I give her until 10 am tomorrow to use her sixth sense and find the loot... 

The rest of our trick-or-treating crew... (love all of you guys and your Halloween spirit!!)

Just laughed looking at the past 3 Kartchner Halloweens. 

diehards

Yesterday I took a nap cuddled up with Quincey while listening to the pouring rain. I had to type it so I don't forget it. It's my new 'happy place.'

I also don't want to forget how-at the moment-Avery is repeatably running in & out of my office cheering, "Ta-dah!" each time she enters. I need a Mac just so I can have photo booth and show a visual of what we're doing while I blog. :) 

 

Here's what our girlies looked like on Friday, a flower & an angel.

This Halloween was definitely one to remember. It was Avery's first experience trick-or-treating. Last year doesn't count since we were the ones holding out the pumpkin & saying "Trick or Treat":) This year was awesome!! It only took one house for her to realize what Halloween was all about. One house. The rest of the night this is what we saw... 

 

her and Buzz running from door to door. Avery figured out she could use her charm to sneak an extra treat or two. Too bad she didn't get to enjoy her hard earned treats. Oh... except when we thought they were being *too quiet* and Camille found the angel and Buzz devouring their bags of 'nummies.' I bet they thought they were in heaven. :)

 

We had a brief intermission because of the rain and I was ready to call it a night. This is where I realized that after a 12 year break from trick-or-treating with my mom and sisters-they are still diehards!! I laugh out loud when I picture my sister at the front of our circus parade saying, "keep moving, keep moving!!" haha! We couldn't even stop to chat or munch on some candy. :) 

   

 

I was Lucy. :)

We had a blast at Beth & Susan Opel's Halloween Party! 

I'm really gonna miss Cleetus. 

Happy Halloween!

We went to our friend's Halloween party and it was hilarious because Avery made this face the entire time. Just staring at us like we were crazy.

As you can see Collin dressed up as Borat! I was Sally from The Nightmare Before Christmas Movie, and Avery was half of her fairy costume. But don't worry-my mom raised me right-and she will be decked out and knocking doors til her feet hurt tonight.

It'll be fun when we go trick or treating because Collin and I will get to eat all the candy. Haha.
When I was little I was the type that hid my candy in a big pillow case somewhere that my sisters wouldn't look. Then in March I would find it and the candy would be old and nasty and I'd have to throw it away. A sad moment for a girl who had 13 cavities in one dentist visit.

I was also the best candy sorter and bargainer. That night no matter how tired I was from running from house to house I had to spread out all the candy on the floor and separate the good from the bad. Bad=smarties, sweet tarts, pennies, and those orange and brown pieces of taffy. Then you start talking your little sister into trading her snack size snickers for 3 of your smarties. Works every time!

I just remembered one year at our condo we ran out of candy, or we were so busy with school and work we never bought any candy. But the 20 minutes we were at home we were giving away granola bars and canned goods. How would you like to carry that around all night!

My favorite Halloween treat: Kit Kat Bar (Haha that reminds me of the last Office episode. "Break me off a piece of that...applesauce...Chrysler car...football cream.")