Valentine Series 2016 Card #3

Happy Hump Day!!! 

 When I was a kid but old enough that Valentine's Day at school did not include bringing the little cards with a sucker attached to them for everyone in your class I wanted a real Valentine. I had fantasies of being the girl in school who instead of getting one of the candy grams that were being pushed by the cheerleaders I would get a real gift. I would be in the middle of a really boring class (preferably science or math, I loved english) and the office secretary would loudly stumble in interrupting the class so that all eyes were on her and her arms full of a dozen red roses, a box of heart shaped chocolates (the ones that taste terrible but it's the thought right?) and the cutest stuffed teddy bear holding an "I Love You" heart. As all the girls were holding their breath hoping that it was for them she would call my name and I would timidly raise my hand because I didn't have a boyfriend but it would all be for me and the note would be sweet and charming and signed, "you're secret admirer."  

Yeah well, none of that ever happened. What did happen every year, every Valentine's Day no matter how much I kind of rolled my eyes and said things like "Mooom it's not a real Valentine's gift" my mom would come home with a card, chocolates, and usually a stuffed animal. The card would tell me what a great kid I was and how much I was loved and would be signed by my mom and dad. Not both names by my mom but each one would sign their own. I haven't thought about this in years! Looking back on it I always loved it and it made me feel special. Looking back now I am super grateful that they did this for me. 

Long road to say that I think it is important to let the people you love know they are important to you not just your girlfriend, boyfriend or spouse. So I like to make Valentine's cards that don't necessarily scream about love and being mine forever but are just cute and a great way to say "I am thinking about you, I love you and hope you have a Happy Valentine's Day!" 

Today's card is just that type of card. I am a coffee lover and it was so much fun coloring this image, using the coffee cup paper, and even the embellishment. I will probably give this to a fellow coffee lover so that they know I love coffee but I love them more (at least after my first cup of coffee when I can think straight).  

Ingredients:

• Latte Anya stamp from The Greeting Farm (sorry couldn't find it on their site to link to it)
• paper is from my stash
• Hello sentiment is a dienamic die from My Favorite Things
• the sprinkles are from Doodlebug Designs as is the little coffee cup
• I used glossy accents on the button on the hat and her boots

Well I appreciate you stopping by and I sure hope someone makes you feel special this Valentine's Day! 

Wishing you sunshine and smiles,

Kim  :) 

Home Again!

It is so good to be home!!! I got to hold my dog Cookie whom I have missed more than I thought it was possible to miss a fur baby (but let's face it she is my precious). I got to sleep in my own bed and have my favorite coffee from my Keurig machine. I got to to snuggle down into my couch that I find so comfortable. Then, reality set in as I looked around and realized there is so much freakin' work to do around this house!!!

Now mind you when I say work I don't mean cleaning. One of my good friends stayed in our home while we were away and left it cleaner than I did when we left for Ireland. What I mean is that as I look around my house I realize that I want to change everything!

This coming February we will have lived in our house for nine years and truth be told I did not bother to decorate. Even in my room where I keep all my card making stuff most of the decorations are more functional. Just this past year I started decorating my room. I also picked out a bedspread to attempt to decorate our bedroom but truth be told I don't have a clue as to what I am doing or how to do it.

This will be a guestroom but for now it was storing our stuff while our friend was living here. 

The reason I am going on about all of this is that I want to make this house our haven. I want to come into it and love everything I see, not just make do which is what I have been doing. Now I will not be making a run to Ikea, Target, Kohl's or any other store because I do not want to pick out a room that has been put together and slap it on a room in my house. I also struggle because I don't want a bunch of stuff clogging up the house and taking up space just to take it up. I like for things to be pretty and serve a purpose.

Most of this will be fixed once I can get in there and put things away (while packing things got far flung) but I am truly hoping to have a pulled together room in the end...someday :) 

I went onto Pinterest thinking that I could pin a bunch of pictures of rooms or things that I like and I would figure out what I want the house to look like, turns out I know that I like those pictures but I am pretty sure the rooms I like are completely different decorating styles. (I have even tried to take a "What is your decorating style?" quizzes and I STILL don't know what my style is!
I am doing all this "pre-work" because since we have spent the last six months in Ireland and traveling every chance we got we are not ready to do any type of remodeling to the house (most likely not for all of 2016). I figure that I can do some decorating with things we already have around the house and pick up a few things as the year goes on but nothing major. I am struggling with the feeling that I want to change so much NOW! I want blinds instead of curtains (which will be rather expensive because a lot of the windows are large not a typical size carried in most stores), drawers in my kitchen instead of cabinets that I have to crawl into the great beyond to pull things from the depths of darkness!

The materials I took to Ireland with us that now need to be unpacked and put back in their home...

Knowing that this is how things are for now and will not be changing in the near future I need to find a way to be satisfied with my home as it is. It is a great home and an excellent space and truly more than we need so I don't like that as I write this I feel as though I sound rather ungrateful and petty, but I acknowledge that and am looking to get over it. All I can think to do for now is to come up with a list of the things that I can change now or even improve upon and then concentrate on other things until it is time to do more.

Has anyone else out there ever felt this way and what did you do to deal with it? Thanks for listening and for any help you wish to give!

Wishing you sunshine and smiles,
Kim :)