Easy, Simple Valentine's Day Gift

Happy Love Week, friends! I love Valentine's Day. I kind of always have, even when I wasn't even dating anyone. I just love all the pink and red and candy (oooh the candy) and just the celebration of love.

DEAR HUSBAND IF YOU'RE READING THIS, STOP. NOW. THANKS! :) 

February and March are busy for me as far as finding/buying/making gifts because we have Valentine's then a few days later Tay's birthday, then a month later is our anniversary. And on top of that this year (as mentioned so many times, sorry!) Tay is traveling a LOT...as in to five different schools in five different states for grad school interviews, and we have get to pay (trying to sound more optimistic!) for all the flights, hotels, rental cars, etc. So I've been having to be a little more creative and think of some less expensive gifts that will still mean a lot to Taylor.

Growing up my dad would always write little cards, notes, etc. to my mom, as well as to me and all of my siblings. Those meant more to me than any gift I received from him, especially after he passed away. So I decided I wanted to start doing more things like that for Taylor because you can keep stuff like that forever!

SO this is where I came up with this crazy idea. I decided to come up with 365 reasons I love Taylor or things I love about him. That way he'll have something to read every day until next Valentine's day. I say this idea is crazy because 365 things is a LOT of reasons to come up with on the spot, no matter how much you really do love them! But it has seriously been sooo fun to come up with so many things I love about my husband, and I think it has really helped me to focus on all of his positive attributes instead of the few small imperfections we all have and sometimes notice, right??

So I've put on here the template I'm using in case any of you need a last minute Valentine's gift for your loved one! These are 3.5"x2" (standard business card size). There are 10 little notes per 8.5x11" page (reg paper size), so if you just print 37 copies (just 37, that's all! haha) and cut them out you'll be set! I plan to have mine printed at a local copy shop and use their cutter because there's no way I'm doing this with scissors! I also plan to hole punch (I want to find a heart hole punch!) each of them and put them on a little key ring for Tay to keep. Because of that I'll probably use a light-medium weight card stock (normally I'd do heavy but I'm poor!) Feel free to do whatever you want with them! Also, if you want the heart a different color, or a different font used, I can basically use any font you find since I'm not using these commercially. Just comment below or email me with requests! I'm all for helping people give the perfect gift!

Oh, and I almost always print using .PDF files, so if you prefer that just comment or email me and I'll send it to you. Blogger doesn't let me upload .PDFs so these are .JPEG, which will work, I just love .PDF. OH and I have two different versions depending on how/what you want to write. :)

Enjoy!

And just to help us get in the mood for this fun week, watch this! I absolutely love this video because you see couples at all different stages in life and what they do to express love to each other. I watched this when Taylor and I were dating and it made me notice all the little things he did to show me he loved me. Soon after we said "I love you". Now look where we are!

The "Sock bun"....minus the dirty laundry.

Aloha everyone!


So after arriving too late to check in for our flight to Hawaii yesterday, we were able to get on the next flight after waiting standby. And I'm so happy to say we're finally here! It's been so fun hanging out with Taylor's family---especially the nieces and nephews! I'm especially excited to finally have more time to post the new recipes, crafts, styles, etc. I've been experimenting with.

Today's post is dedicated to those who are still confused about the whole "sock bun" thing...and just for anyone who is interested :) For the past few months (in Utah anyway) the "sock bun" has been the big 'it' thing. What is a sock bun? you might ask. Well, don't feel alone. I have yet to understand it fully either. Click here for a sock bun tutorial. While the idea is creative, I don't always just have a sock with the toe cut out lying around. And I won't even mention the amount of times I've tried this and had it not turn out correct/attractive:

This picture above is a sock bun I found when I Googled sock bun images. 

Here is an alternative method in easy, simple, picture form: 

This is a the magical tool you can use in place of that dirty laundry in your hair. 

Click here to learn more about them from the brand Goody. You can find them at basically any store that has a hair/makeup section. 

Ta-dah! So it has a little different look than the sock bun because I pulled all the sections (that's just my personal preference), but you can really do whatever you want with it. Anyway, there's just a fun idea if you're wanting a quick 'sock bun', messy bun, or anything. Those Good Spin Pins are just little miracles in a package. 

Colored Jeans. Happy face.

          Hello everyone! Happy June! I love that it is summer. I have so many things to blog about, so please keep following and giving feedback! Recently I've had so much fun trying new things-- many of which were inspired by Pinterest. Today's post is about D.I.Y. colored jeans. I tried this for myself after finding this gem. I LOVED this cute girl's blog post, but I decided to post about my own experience with it for you all because I did mine a little different and it's good for anyone who doesn't have as much time and doesn't mind spending a little more for pants that already fit.

           So you want colored jeans huh? Here's what you have to do:

*Be willing to experiment. There's not always a guarantee of a perfect outcome, but that's the fun of it.
*Be confident! Colors are so fun, and even if you're nervous to wear a new color as a base, so was everyone else who started the trend!
*If you want it to be a cheap and easy D.I.Y. project, don't be bummed if it's not perfect quality--you're literally saving 40 or 50 dollars.
*If you try this, I want to see what you came up with! It's such a fun thing to do.

            I'm going to make this part simple: Watch.

                                       Gap: $60. Too poor for those. Sad face.

Trip to Wal-mart. $12. I can afford that. Sort of happier face. 

(I can't figure out how to rotate this sorry!) Hobby Lobby dye. $2. 'I hope this works' face. 

I read almost all of the comments on the girl's blog who originally did this, so this is what I decided I'd take a gamble on: 

*filled my washing machine for a SMALL load with HOT water  (it's a top-loader---Whether that matters or not I have no idea)

*added 1/4 c. salt (regular table salt)

*put the pants in

*ran machine for a small colored load (12 minutes--the package says to continuously stir for 15 min, but I was worried about them being too dark, and my colored setting is only 12 min. so that worked for me). 

* When the washing was done I took the pants out. They were kind of a bright green---not what I was hoping for, but I'd still wear them. However, I wasn't done with them yet, so my cute husband reminded me to be patient (love him :) 

*I washed the pants with WARM water, with the settings again set for a small load (12 min). I put a small amount of liquid detergent in (that's just what we use). I just put a regular amount for just washing a pair of pants like normal. 

*When that cycle was done, some of the excess dye had come out and my pants were the perfect mint green I wanted (they have more green in them than the girl's pants in her post---something I was hoping for because I like green). 

*I let my pants hang dry, away from the SUN and NOT in the dryer. 

$14 Mint jeans. Happy face! 

If you love them, that's great, if you hate them, that's fine! But here's what I did and I hope you like it!

*note: aside from actually running a cycle in my wash machine instead of stirring my pants continuously for 15 min., I just followed the directions on the Tulip brand dye package. I wrote them out though just to be thorough. :)
Let me know if you have questions or comments! Feel free to pin this or anything you see on my blog onto Pinterest if you like it! I want to get more followers for more ideas and input!

xoxo,
Kelsey :)

Spring!

              Hello all! It has been a while since I last wrote! So spring and summer are in the air and I am so excited! I'm not a winter girl AT ALL (I mean, come on, I married a Hawaiian!). Anyway, I only have time for a quick post right now---my poor computer has an evil nasty virus so my cute grandma is letting me use her laptop for a little. Recently I have done LOTS of spring crafts, treats, etc. and I want to share! Here is a small genius idea that we got from Taylor's sister. We (Taylor) were making a dessert that used Cool Whip and we had some extra so Tara suggested we make this:

                  It is soooooooooooo good! Can't say it's the healthiest considering it's mostly Cool Whip, but hey, I'm no advocate for anorexia or eating disorders, so I say EAT IT! I've eaten it with apples and oranges and I like it best with apples. But literally all you do is mix some yogurt with some Cool Whip and there you go! We've only tried it with strawberry yogurt so far, but I'm sure others would work, too! Taylor and I are off to California and Hawaii for a little over a month (wahoooooo!) next week so I am going to try to get all my blogging of ideas you'll hopefully love done by then. Stay tuned for tips on how to make a cute changeable background dry-erase board, D. I. Y. colored jeans, a "sock bun" minus the dirty laundry, and a few other fun spring things!