I won!

Julie at Vibrant Designs had a giveaway

for a $30.00 credit to an adorable Etsy shop: Simply Riveting and I won! Oh yeah!

Now for the hard part of deciding what I want!

I am trying to decide between this precious heart necklace with an initial:

Or this set of 3 hammered hand forged rings:

I love me some thumb rings!

I think these are hilarious:

Dead bird post earrings

I just don't think I could pull them off;)

Thanks again Julie!

Painting and Printables

Yesterday there was no school...Presidents Day and all;)

So during Travis' nap time Brooklyn and I did a little crafting.

We got these document frames at the Dollar Tree.

They are 8.5" x 11", which is perfect for the printables that I found.

We painted several layers of paint and then topped it with a glossy clear coat.

Me and my girl, coffee, hot chocolate, giggles and crafting.

Perfect afternoon.

YUM! See the thumbs up? She loved it.

She made me "cheers" every time we took a drink;)

Here is mine:

I got this free print here from MaryJanes and Galoshes.

She has two other colors which are gorgeous,

but you can see why I chose this one, right? YUM!

I want this on a t-shirt.

 Here is Brooklyn's print:

I got this free print here from Sprik Space.

She has TONS of other great printables too, so go check her out.

We started out just wanting this to put in her room and by the time we were done painting

we had decided to do a gallery wall in her room.

So now I am looking for fun things to add to the gallery wall.

Here's my print on the buffet in the kitchen. It is so bright and it just makes me happy!

After the gallery wall was decided upon, we painted three more frames that I have had laying around since before Brooklyn was born. No joke, they were meant for her nursery!

She will be 8 in two months...better late than never, right?

Here they are in all their glorious color drying in the sun.

It was a wonderful day and Brooklyn kept saying how she would remember this day every time she looks at these frames. *Melt* Moments like that are why I do what I do.

Linking up with these amazing blog parties.

Please check them out and join in the fun!

Spring Fling with Wildflowers and Whimsy

So, remember when I wrote about reaching 200 followers?

Yeah? I'm still screaming a little inside;)

Anyway, I mentioned that there may be a giveaway in the near future and then April from Wildflowers and Whimsy decided to set up a fabulous multi-blogger giveaway!

Perfect timing, right? Yep. So I am in, along with several other bloggers.

This is going to be awesome!

 

If you want to get in on the giveaway madness, I think there is still time.

Go say hello to April and let her know that I sent ya!

Twitter

First, please excuse any wonkiness that you see here right now. I am reformatting my blog to a wider template and I have to go through each post to change it. I am doing this so that I can use LARGER photos:)

I heart big photos.

EDIT: Okay, so really BLOGGER? 

Why are the X-Large photos like twice the size of the Large? 

I guess I will be sticking with the same size photos, but I am loving the extra white space for the text. I like that it's not so bunchy.

Second, I have succumbed to peer pressure and am now on Twitter!(Hello E)

@Amyculp03

(If you know how to add a fancy button for this please let me know)

Thanks Peeps!

Look what I won!!!!

I entered a giveaway on Toni's blog A Bowl Full of Lemons and I WON!!!!

They are TURQUOISE SEA DROP EARRINGS 

by Stella & Dot!!!

Oh, and I was comment #1.

(It can happen people)

I can't wait to find these in my mailbox!

Thanks again Toni and Mandy:)

Increasingly Domestic is on Facebook!

Hello friends!

I wanted to tell you all that Increasingly Domestic is now on Facebook! If that's your thing, I would looooooove it if you would "like" me;) The badge thing is on the sidebar.

If you know how to make it so that people don't have to go to facebook to "like", but can just click a button, please let me know. I'm new;)

As I was logging in to write this I saw some rather exciting news:
I have hit 200 followers!!!!!

Gah! Thank you so much to my readers...I love you all and appreciate all the sweet comments that you leave. I love responding back through e-mail to those of you who aren't "no-reply" and have enjoyed some wonderful conversations.

I have made some amazing friends and am in the process of making some new ones right now. This crazy world that we blog in is so full of loving and encouraging people and I am so blessed to be a part of it. You are what makes blogging so much fun.

Thank you friends!

I am kinda thinking that a giveaway may be in order soon;)

Ribbon Cake Plate

Last Wednesday a friend of mine gave me this:

The picture is from my cell phone so it's not awesome, but the plate is:)

I was so excited for an opportunity to use it!

I switched out the ribbon for Valentines Day.

I love that I can do that!

Look how pretty it is from the bottom!

It's important that your cake plate look good from all angles you know.

I'm totally going to gain weight, 

because all I want to do is bake stuff to decorate this plate with!

Isn't she lovely? *Sigh* I think I'm in love.

As always, I am linking up with these radtastic blogs:)

Upcycled Baby Food Jars to Tealight Holders

These are some of my Valentines decorations:

The vase is from the dollar spot at Target, and the silk flower is from Michaels. The jars are old baby food jars with fabric scraps mod podged around them. 

Don't you just love the fun pop of color?

My anniversary is two weeks after Valentines Day, so I like to leave up all my love decor until then. I will still be posting pink stuff for a bit. Deal with it! ;)

I love how the candles glow through the pretty fabrics!

Here's how to make these:

1.Measure your jar...any jar will work

2.Cut your fabric to size. I used pinking shears to keep my fabric from fraying.

3. Paint mod podge around the outside of the jar.

4. Place fabric on the jar, smoothing out any bubbles.

5. Paint a layer of mod podge over the fabric to seal it.

Grab a tealight and enjoy the sweet glow.

My favorite thing about these is that they are equally cute with or without a candle burning and are a great way to display tiny scraps of your favorite fabrics.

I am linking up to some of these lovely blogs.

Give them some L.O.V.E!

Photo Valentines

These are the Valentines that Brooklyn gave out to her classmates on Friday:

Did I mention that I did this whole thing on Thursday after school? Yep. I am a procrastinator to the core. For weeks I have been seeing everyone's Valentines and kept thinking "Oh that's so far away" and then Thursday I went "Oh CRAP! The party is tomorrow!!!"

I jumped into frantic freak mom mode and thankfully we got 'em done. Whew!

Here's what we did:

First we had a little photo shoot outside, where we literally ran around the yard finding the best light. We were running because the boy was left to his own devices inside the house and I was terrified of what mischief I would walk into if we were outside too long.

The heart stick is from the Dollar Tree and was snagged out of a vase on our way out the door to use as a prop. 

Then we went through the photos and Brooklyn told me which ones were her favorite. It didn't matter though because I chose my favorite.

I'm the mom, so I win.

Then using Photoshop Elements I added a digital paper from Summertime Designs 14 Days of Valentine's Kit and added the text. The only editing I did to the photo itself was lighten it up a bit as the prints usually come out darker than they appear on my computer screen(figured that one out the hard way for last years Valentines).

It is by no means professional looking as my Photoshop design skills are severely lacking, but it's still cute. Right? ;)

I had them printed at Costco and picked them up an hour later for just a few dollars!

I got home and put Brooklyn to work stuffing a photo and a sucker into baggies to hand out to friends and teachers while I made the treat for her class party.

Everyone at school thinks that I have it all together...boy do I have them fooled!

 

I am linking up with some of these lovely blogs:)

Go check them out and leave them some L.O.V.E.

Oh YUM! Valentines Treat

Tomorrow is Brooklyn's class Valentine party and I wanted to send something for her to share with the class other than cupcakes. Last year 4 parents sent in cupcakes for the Valentines Party, so each kid got 4 cupcakes. Yep, 4.

I will not add to the insanity!!!

I came across a Valentine Confetti recipe posted by This Blessed Nest. It looked so pretty and sounded so yummy, but my favorite part is that it is not a cupcake! 
No offense to the cupcake moms;)

I air popped my popcorn instead of using microwave popcorn because that’s what I had. I love getting to use my adorable little air popper…it just makes me so happy!

  I still had some of these left over from making Peppermint Bark. Oh yeah!! I melted these in the microwave and then mixed it in with the popcorn.

I poured it out onto waxed paper, took red and pink sprinkles and went a little crazy;)

To help the mixture set up I put the tray in the freezer for a few minutes.

I broke it into smaller pieces and filled a sandwich bag for each of the students. Then I had Brooklyn add a scoop of Valentine M&M’s to each bag…She loved getting to help.

Jon and Brooklyn couldn’t keep their hands off of it,
so I am pretty sure it will be a hit tomorrow.

Linking up with these awesome blogs:)

Clothespin Apron and a Rice Bag

My mom read my blog and e-mailed me, telling me that she would love one of these for her birthday:

Granny's Clothespin Apron

 When a mama gives you such a direct hint, you cannot under any circumstance ignore it! It is so hard for me to shop for her that I was thrilled to have a gift for her that I knew she was going to love. Cheating? So what!

I had some trouble with the pattern directions when I made mine, so I changed a few things on this one. I used the pattern pieces from the book One Yard Wonders, but instead of following their directions I just sewed it together using bias tape. I think this one looks so much better!

My mom loves roses and this fabric reminded me of her:) So pretty!

I had some left over fabric so I decided to make my mom a neck heating bag.

Every mom should have one of these! Seriously:)

Her birthday was the day after Christmas,

but I just realized that I never posted these.

Happy Birthday Mom! ;)

I am linking up with these fun parties.

Homemade Playdough

Homemade Playdough Recipe:

2 Cups of flour

1 Cup of salt

4 tsp Cream of Tartar

2 Cups water

3 Tbs oil

Food Coloring

Put all the dry ingredients in a pot, add the wet ingredients and stir continuously over low/medium heat until dough forms into a ball. 

When it is no longer sticky to the touch it is done!

Store in an airtight container.

Enjoy!

Travis decided that the playdough needed to be liberated from the bowl.

I love the texture of homemade playdough...it is so much better than commercial playdough in my opinion. I'm kind of a diva that way;)

I love his little tongue out as he concentrates.

{Playdough Love}

I am linking up  with some of these awesome blog parties.