Adorable giveaway from my friend Katie!

You know that girl who is the sweetest gal you know?


Kind? Compassionate? Hardworking? Classy, put together, all-over-just-plain fabulous?


My friend Katie from Live Originally is that girl.


She founded her own business at like, age 14 or something insanely impressive like that.


She designs and sews custom wedding gowns.


She used to run a blog about all things wedding, but after planning her own and thinking about weddings for years and years, she (understandably) got a little burnt out. Now she also runs Live Originally, an adorable (and gorgeous looking!) blog about crafting, design, sewing, homemaking, etc.--basically all things fabulous, just like her!


Katie has a great giveaway going on now, but it only lasts through today! You can win these cute as pie pouches that she sewed herself.

{photo from Live Originally}

Head on over to Katie's to enter! And even if you don't win, check out her awesome tutorial!

Valentine's decor

I always like sharing how we spruce up our apartment for the holidays, so without further ado, here's what our place is like for V-day!

Our little bookshelf in the entry way is prime decorating real estate. Here I hung up the lovely subway art from Eighteen25, along with the "Keep Calm" variant and a sparkly heart from the dolla dolla bills store. (I honestly can't recall where I got the Keep Calm print from...somewhere fo free on the blogosphere).

On the shelves below we have some awesome cheap-o decor from Target's dollar spot (LOVE & the plate), as well as my favorite quatrefoil votives and a super lovey pic of me and the fiance (thanks again, Kristine!) I kept out my red berries from Christmastime, as well as the silver & red balls and the red sparkly candle. The "plate holder" is actually a heart bookend my mom got me. (Thanks, mom!)

Now for the other V-day art I have floating around on my walls--more subway art (again, for the life of me can't recall from where...but I LOVE IT! I'll try to find the blog and link it up):

and the ABC's of looooove that I made the other day. Gotta love free art :)

Well, that's all for now!

Valentine's printable

I'm on a roll with making printables this week! Inspiration for this one completely comes from Sprik Space's blog...I just changed the font and colors to my liking. Here it is:

And the link if you'd like to print one yourself...just click on "File" and "download original" or "print." It might be a cute card design, too!

UPDATE:

Hah, just after posting this I hit up Target to get the Kitchenaid hand mixer for $39.99 + a $10 gift card. While there, I cruised the decor aisles and saw this:

$19.99! And I made it myself for free and popped it in a frame I already had on hand! Mine's a bit smaller but I like it like that.

I also stopped myself from buying this lil cutie, knowing I could likely make it myself:

Since I only decorate for V-day for a teensy bit of time, I think being thrifty and doing as much DIY as possible is very important!

Well I'm off to cook some Super Bowl snacks (and put away my Christmas decorations during the game! Whoops, I am so slow!)

Free weekly calendar printable!

I was searching the web for a cute weekly calendar to print, and I couldn't find anything that was to my liking...So with a few free font downloads and a few minutes, I created one myself!

Click here to access the PDF if you'd like one too!

What do you think? I might make some more printables in the future...and may even try to make my own planner for 2012! I really like the idea of customizing everything in there, and making it fun and colorful :)

And just for kicks, here are some of my favorite freebie organizing printables and printable shops!

• Clean Mama Printables' Etsy Store. So many adorable lists and such to keep you organized! I got her Bill Pay & Budget Kit and the Grocery Shopping Kit. I love them both!
• Mommy Tracked's FREE Party Planning Worksheet and To Do List. The party planning sheet is adorable! Can't wait to use it next time I am throwing a soiree. And I love that the To Do list has 3 columns--today, this week, and this weekend--since I usually don't get everything on my to-do list checked off :)
• Perideau Design's FREE "My Next Project" printable and "Ultimate Gift Tracker." As an obsessive listmaker, I obviously love being able to make notes about future craft projects. I'm also big gift-giver, and I often buy things in advance, so it's great to keep track of what I have and what I need.

I hope you like my weekly calendar! I'll likely make some coordinating montly or daily pages when I get the chance!