valentine paper hearts craft that made my heart melt

i know, i know, i'm about a month late posting a gorgeous, fun, easy and oh so fabulous valentine craft. better late than never though, right?

february is the time of year my cabin fever peaks and my craft ideas are dwindling, but i was determined to find something sweet and easy enough for a eager three year old crafter to be entertained. these paper hearts were the perfect valentine's day craft


you'll need:

- at least 10 sheets of paper
- scissors (or "snizzors" as we call them :)
- needle + thread
- tape

as i'm writing 'what you'll need' i'm realizing you could do a zillion variations of this. we used old maps, paper bags, scrap paper, envelopes and origami paper to make our hearts, but you could all different shades of colors, or do ombre (i might totally try that next!), or book paper sheets, etc. your possibilities are endless!

we used my favorite metallic thread to string them together, although you don't notice the shimmer as much as i was hoping, but you could use clear fishing wire to have them look like the hearts are floating in the air or a colored thread depending on the look you're going for.

and you could also mix it up by using fun washi tape instead of clear scotch tape.

step 1: cut out all of your hearts. we did a bunch of different sizes, but i think it could look really beautiful to have them the same size too.





step 2: i laid all of our hearts in rows as i wanted them to be strung up.






step 3: i single threaded my needle, but put a knot at the end of the string so your hearts don't fall off. i purposefully left a little string on the end of mine too because I'm never sure what i might morph them into in the future. i also had grand ideas of making little tails for each strand, but clearly ran out of time/effort. string your ideal rows of hearts and space them however you want. some of the hearts looked cute almost on top of one another.

step 4: be sure not to get them tangled.



step 5: have your oh-so-fabulous husband help tape them to the very high ceiling in the exact spot where you want them to cascade down and try not to be so picky down to the centimeter where you want them to be

step 6: keep them up for weeks to admire + enjoy your craftiness. we loved our valentine craft so much we kept the hearts up weeks later for cai's christening and they are still up. i'm not completely sure i ever want to take them down.

DIY dresser

since we just moved from a small 1 bedroom apartment in queens to our new spacious house, we realized we didn't have much furniture at all (especially since our IKEA dresser and armoire not-so-shockingly both broke in  transit)

i've been hunting for some great pieces and found these 2 awesome dressers on craigslist. one will be for nia's room and the lower we are thinking will be in the nursery to act as a changing table double for the first year or so.

i have so many ideas for these two dressers, i feel like we need 10 more just to do all the sweet ideas rolling around in my head.

here are a few of my favorite color ideas from pinterest...

for nia's french provincial style dresser i was thinking all solid light pink

or solid pink with the pretty handles white

or a light mint green or faint, warm blue...

and for the nursery dresser, because it's a bit less detailed than nia's desser, it could carry ombre (as you can tell, i'm slightly obsessed with) in yellow or green or mint or blue shades.

 + 

 i also love the lavender color and would just have to be sure the room as a whole wouldn't be too feminine if we have a boy. then if it's a girl i would totally want to attempt this awesome faux inlay look or a gorgeous stenciling/hand painted design.

or just stick with more gender neutral mint/grey color and switch out the knobs? 

then i also like something bolder and fun that this dresser could totally carry and could perk up the room. 

*(all images were from pinterest by searching "dresser")

ombre nails

currently obsessed with ombre nails i decided to finally test it out

pointer & thumb

middle

ring

pinky

channeling

 

april showers

one of my best girlfriends is getting married. us bridesmaids just threw her a bridal shower last weekend. and i must say, it was practically flawless. and because valerie is one of my best friends i decided to use some of my favorite "party ideas" for her shower.

i wanted to dessert table look to be inviting, beautiful + delicious. for the overall table look this was my inspiration...

and this was the result...

in hindsight we could have used more bud vases of roses. 

for the cake i fell in love with this image ages ago and was determined to use all aspects of it as possible...

here's the bunting (my current obsession)...

and the ombre...

and this one for the trim...

pretty good, no?

and then i spotted this in a martha post a few months back and just loved it. so i switched up the colors for valerie's purple wedding color. it was such a beautiful way to decorate, bring in tons of fun + pops of color and was super fun + super easy. 

*obvi it would have been nice to have the city backdrop and party on a lush rooftop.

(images courtesy of martha stewart weddings)