Saturday Seven Party {No. 11}

Happy Saturday!

Welcome to the party!

New to Positively Splendid? Each Saturday marks my Saturday Seven Party, a time when I open up the PS stage for YOU to share your projects!
Last week's most-viewed link:12 Ways to Reuse Diaper Boxes @ The Bean Sprout Notes

Be sure to check out my post from this morning, where I shared seven Valentine projects that caught my eye from last week's line-up. And then hurry back to link up your latest creations, because you might just find yourself featured here at PS!

A few party guidelines:

Please link back to Positively Splendid, either using a text link (Positively Splendid) or by using the button below:
<a href="http://www.positivelysplendid.com/" target="_blank"><img alt="Positively Splendid" src="http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v301/alb413/saturday7button150.png" /></a>

• Feel free to link to any project, recipe, tip or idea. Basically, if you created it, I would love to see it!
• Please do not link to giveaways, Etsy shops or anything you are selling. 
• Be sure to link up to a specific post on your blog and not your home page. 
• Please link up a new project each week to keep things exciting! 
• If you are reading via email, head over to the blog so you can join in the fun!

After you link up, visit at least two other party-goers and leave them some comment love. Because after all, who doesn't love comments? :)
Sound good? Alright - let's get this party started!!

Saturday 7 Spotlight {Valentine Ideas!}

Good morning, friends!! 
There were so many inspiring projects linked up for last week's Saturday 7 Party. It was honestly difficult to narrow it down to just seven to share this morning! 
With February just around the corner (who can believe it?!), I am finding myself gravitating toward all things Valentine's Day. Today I'm sharing with you (in no particular order) seven of the Valentine's Day projects linked up last week that caught my eye!
one.Stuffed Paper Hearts @ The Scrap Shoppe

Such a fun ideas for kiddos to hand out as favors at school!

two.

Valentine Hutch @ Lookie What I Did

Such a gorgeous display! I love the way that red pops against the black background.

Whimsy Couture Pattern Review + Giveaway!

Happy Friday, everyone! I am so glad you stopped by!

Chances are, you have heard of Whimsy Couture Sewing Patterns. If not, then allow me to introduce you!

Denise, the creative talent behind Whimsy Couture, specializes in creating fresh, fun children's and ladies' garment patterns. Best of all, every pattern in the Whimsy Couture shop is available as a PDF, so you can get straight to the business of sewing instead of having to wait on shipping for a conventional pattern. I love being able to create when the mood strikes, don't you?

Whimsy Couture patterns are not only convenient, but they are a terrific value! One thing I am always on the lookout for are patterns with a large size range, and Whimsy Couture has got me covered. Many of the children's patterns go all the way up to a size 12. I love knowing I will get the most out of my pattern investment!

And - best of all - there are so many patterns to choose from!

Darling dresses...

Sweet baby rompers...

Adorable jackets (like this one my mom made for Charlotte last year)...

and many others! 

I had the opportunity recently to work with Denise's Easy Peasant Top and Dress Pattern. I had so much fun putting this together! I loved that the pattern allows you to make the garment as detailed or simple as you wish, with options for piecing the bodice together and adding an accent ruffle or trim to put your personal stamp on things. This is a pattern that can be layered with a cardigan or over a long-sleeved tee in cold weather, and then worn on its own once spring has sprung. I will definitely be making this again!

Memory Insurance

In the wee hours of Monday morning, I huddled on my couch with a very frightened 6-year-old watching ugly radar images and praying we would be spared an encounter with a rare mid-January tornado. Thankfully, the storms left our home unscathed, but the next day as I watched news footage of the families who weren't so fortunate, my heart broke for all of those poor people whose lifetime of earthly possessions had all been scattered and destroyed in a mere matter of moments. 
When it comes to my digital photos, I have a painstaking system in place to keep then protected: both an external hard drive that I add to myself and a remote backup service for additional peace of mind. But what about the hard copies of precious photos and videos that are just one disaster away from being gone forever? I am ashamed to admit that until this week, the lion's share of our old family photos taken before the days of digital cameras - ranging from my childhood photos all the way up to the photos of our wedding - were all still boxed up in our garage, in the precise location the movers had plopped them when we moved into our home over a year ago. All of those precious memories were just one storm, one burglary, one fire away from being gone. Poof! I have known for ages that I need to do something to convert those photos into digital format so that I can preserve them in the same way I have done with the images taken with my digital camera. But let's face it: who has time to scan every single one of their hundreds of old photos by hand? I know I don't!

That's where the beauty of LiveOn Rewind lies: if you can devote just one weekend of your time to sorting through photos and choosing the ones you want converted, LiveOn Rewind will do the tedious work of digitizing them for you. Once the photos are digitized, your files are sent to you on a DVD, along with all of your original hard copies. When you place your order, you can even choose to have them send you a box to mail your media in with their pre-paid preservation kit option. So simple!

Valentine Mantel

 Let's face it: sometimes decorating your home has to take a backseat to being a mama, driving the carpool, cooking, cleaning, and all of the other standard business of maintaining a household. By planning ahead just a bit to incorporate elements that can transition well from one season to the next, you can streamline your decorating investment without sacrificing your sense of style!
As I packed away my stockings after Christmas, I realized many of the elements from my Christmas mantel display would transition very well into a Valentine motif. Instead of completely reinventing the wheel and starting from scratch for my Valentine mantel, I retained certain elements from my Christmas display (the framed silhouettes, the rolled rosette tree, and the feather boa "swag") and then put a Valentine stamp on things by adding a handful of other decorative touches, many of which I already had in my stash of seasonal decor items. What a time (and money!) saver! 
The only items I had to purchase to put together this mantel were a heart wreath form and the X and O papier mache letters. That's it! Everything else was in my creative stash. I love when I am able to do that!

12 "Why Didn't I Think of That?" Tips

I never cease to marvel at the sheer abundance of amazingly useful information available on the internet. Every once in a while, I stumble upon an idea that makes me stop and think, "Now why didn't I think of that?" In today's By the Dozen feature, I'm passing along twelve of these tips that are simple, no-nonsense ways to streamline various aspects of your life!
one. Piping Bag Trick @ Dollar Store Crafts via Karen's Cookies

Heather calls this amazing technique for filling piping bags mind-blowing, and for good reason: it really is! For anyone who has ever dealt with the hassle of filling piping bags for any project involving frosting, this is a must-read.
two. Cupcake Liner Storage @ Tidy Mom

I can finally reclaim my utensil drawer from all of those rogue cupcake liners! What a simple, brilliant idea!

Baby Boy Nursery Tour

Oh my goodness. Have you ever worked on something for so long that it feels like it's become a part of you? For months now, the lion's share of my DIY endeavors have been done for George's sweet little nursery, a space that I could not be more proud or fond of! This room is every bit of what I hoped it would be when I first started to envision it all those months ago: a vibrant, happy space, and one that is current and stylish yet entirely livable.
 Until the day of our son's arrival, we didn't know if he was a boy or a girl (the surprise of a lifetime!), so creating a space equally appropriate for either sex was somewhat of a challenge. The very first thing I decided on for the nursery was the color scheme, which evolved from my initial plan of a duo of chartreuse and navy to also include turquoise. These colors were a terrific gender-neutral selection, as they could easily be tailored for either a more masculine or feminine sensibility by incorporating different accessories and accents.
When it came to an overall theme for the nursery, I found myself gravitating toward a bee motif, since we didn't know what the baby would "bee" until the big day. As I continued adding new elements to the room, I also incorporated quite a few bird elements as well, although I can assure you that I in no way set out when planning this nursery to make it centered around the birds and the bees! ;)
This space was a true labor of love, and one that will quite possibly always be my favorite DIY project ever. With the exception of a handful of elements, everything in this space was sewn, crafted or redone with my own two hands. In knowing this would be the last nursery I would plan and execute (after sweet George, our family is complete), I poured my heart into this space to make it a little retreat where I can rock my baby boy and soak up every bit of the joy these precious days with him have to offer. 
Let's take a tour of Master George's nursery, shall we?

Saturday Seven Party {No. 10}

Happy Saturday, everyone! 

I am so glad you could make it to the party!

New to Positively Splendid? Each Saturday marks my Saturday Seven Party, a time when I open up the PS stage for YOU to share your projects!
Last week's most-viewed post:Ikea Home Organizing Ideas @ Serenity Now

Be sure to check out my post from this morning, where I shared seven projects that caught my eye from last week's line-up. And then hurry back to link up your latest creations, because you might just find yourself featured here at PS!

A few party guidelines:

Please link back to Positively Splendid, either using a text link (Positively Splendid) or by using the button below:
<a href="http://www.positivelysplendid.com/" target="_blank"><img alt="Positively Splendid" src="http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v301/alb413/saturday7button150.png" /></a>

• Feel free to link to any project, recipe, tip or idea. Basically, if you created it, I would love to see it!
• Please do not link to giveaways, Etsy shops or anything you are selling. 
• Be sure to link up to a specific post on your blog and not your home page. 
• Please link up a new project each week to keep things exciting! 
• If you are reading via email, head over to the blog so you can join in the fun!

After you link up, visit at least two other party-goers and leave them some comment love. Because after all, who doesn't love comments? :)
Sound good? Alright - let's get this party started!!

Saturday Seven Spotlight

Happy Saturday, friends!!

Last week's Saturday 7 party was our biggest yet! I just can't thank all of you enough for stopping in each week to link up your amazing ideas!

I had so much fun going through the ideas y'all shared. Below you'll find seven of the projects (in no particular order) that caught my eye!

one. I'll Fly Away Sign @ Lovely, etc.

There just aren't words enough to gush about how very much I love this.