Love is in the air

It’s LOVE month!! What better way to celebrate love than with a brand new baby girl!? Our teeny little niece, Audrey Joy, is here and she is as sweet as can be! I’ve been waiting to show off a few pictures of her and I figured a Valentines post was the perfect time!

Speaking of love and Valentine's Day I have two DIY crafts to show off from two of my favorite girls, Heather and Channing.

My Cousin, Heather, is super woman, I am always amazed at what she can accomplish in a day. On top of her busy schedule she took the time to make us the cutest Valentine's wreath for our front door. It is an argyle wreath made from yarn and felt hearts. Thank you, Heather, I love it! Heather also has a blog where she posts everything from recipes and crafts to parties and school projects. The name of her blog is Teaspoons & Twine and you can check it out and follow her by clicking HERE.

A while ago I made a trip to California and stayed a few nights with one of my girlfriends, Channing, who wanted to make a project that she had seen on Pinterest. So, we headed to Hobby Lobby for the supplies and went to work making decorative vases. We used left over wine bottles, jute twine, yarn, chevron burlap, buttons and a lot of hot glue. In the end we had four wrapped wine bottle vases that spelled out the word ‘love’. I think they came out really great and I love the color scheme she chose to make them in.

That is all for my Valentine's post. A lot has been going on here and I can’t wait to share the projects that are under way. Our house is slowly getting the face lift I have been daydreaming about. We still have work to do, but within the next month I’ll be able to post pics and give a sneak peak at what we are working on this week. Happy Valentine's Day to all, don't forget to show some extra love this month!

     xoxo,

              Rachele

Sign me up!

It has been over a month since I have posted anything, I don’t know how time got away from me! I started to write about a few projects in December and never got around to putting them on the blog. So, even though time has passed and the holidays are over I am going to put them up!

Today’s post: Signs. I made two signs in December, one for my niece, Audrey, and the other for my Mom as a birthday gift. (Side note… my adorable and teeny tiny niece Audrey was born one week ago!! I will definitely be posting pictures of her!) The other signs I am putting up are decorative holiday signs that my cousin made for her family this Christmas.

The sign for baby Audrey’s nursery was String Art, I have done a few of them before and posted a blog last summer showing a little ‘how to’. It is super simple: Board, stain or paint, nails, hammer and yarn or string. Choose the shape or word you would like, print and cut an outline to trace onto your wooden board, hammer the nails around the shape and then go crazy filling in the shape by stringing and wrapping the yarn from nail to nail until you are happy with how it looks.

My Mom’s birthday gift was a ‘Family Birthdays’ sign that she had seen online and liked. It’s an easy way to show all family birthdays and a reminder of whose is next. Below each month hangs the birthdays, in order, with the family members name and day! We still need to finish filling in the rest of the birthdays on hers. I made the sign with the help of my cousin and her new Silhouette Cameo. (Popular Product Alert!!)

I wrote about my very talented cousin a few months ago after I stayed with her and she helped make curtains and pillows for our home. While I was at her house she received an extremely awesome package in the mail, the Silhouette Cameo. If you don’t know what the Silhouette Cameo is I suggest you look it up, that goes for any and all crafters, moms, teachers and DIYers…men too, because your wives will want one! It is the coolest machine and does SO many things, I can’t even begin to explain everything you can make with it.

Her Silhouette was delivered right in time to make gifts for her family, so she cut, stained and painted all of the boards, decided what designs and sayings she wanted and went to work making all of the signs! I love how different they all are and how cute they turned out!

In my next post I will update with things going on around here in the Poplin house! A little shout out to Amanda and Nathan on their gorgeous baby girl, welcome to the world Audrey!!! I hope everyone is enjoying the new year so far!!

     xoxo,

              Rachele

A very Remi Christmas

Merry Christmas to all of our family and friends!! We love and miss all of you and wish we were together today. We are very grateful for the time we had in Ca a few weeks ago to celebrate Christmas a little early. We saw our families, ate delicious dinners, watched the kids tear through their presents, walked down Candy Cane Lane and were able to celebrate with my best friend on the night of her engagement!

JD is off work Christmas Eve and Christmas morning and we could not be happier about it. Last Christmas he was still in the academy and we spent Christmas across the country from each other. This year we are keeping it low key and making red velvet pancakes for breakfast, then relaxing in our pajamas all day.

We have a new member in our household this Christmas, a very handsome 8 week old chocolate lab puppy named Remi (Remington). Remi was an early Christmas present from JD, he surprised me with him about a week ago! He is so much fun, has lots of energy, loves to snuggle and is a crack up to watch. So far he has kept me on my toes, the only time I trust him is when he’s sound asleep. Remi has already proven to be the most popular in the Poplin house, and I'm sure he will be for a very long time!

This will definitely be a Christmas to remember, our first Christmas in AZ, in our own home, with a new puppy! Thank you so much to my in-laws and the Antonio's who helped JD surprise me with Remi, I know a lot of work went into making it happen and I feel so special! Congratulations to Kayleigh and Mark on their engagement, we are so happy for the two of you! From our home to yours we wish everyone a very merry love filled Christmas and we hope all of you have a happy new year!!

     xoxo,

              Rachele

Wreath making machine

Each evening for about 2 weeks I was making wreaths like a machine. I had my own assembly line going and hot glue guns spread out over our living room floor.

We celebrated Christmas with our families pretty early this year, in the beginning of December, because of JD’s work schedule. I wanted to have a small gift for everyone so I decided to make wreaths! I tried to make each wreath as different as I could, and use a lot of materials I already had. Most all of the wreaths have bits and pieces from events or things in our lives; our wedding, family baby showers, yarn from my grandma’s sweater knitting supply, paint from house projects, and our own Christmas décor. I like that they have personal touches from things that were meaningful to us at one point or another.

I made 13 wreaths and it wasn’t until we got home from our California Christmas trip that I realized I hadn’t made a wreath for our own home. I hung a few stockings on our door for some holiday cheer, but I need to get a wreath made for next year! Any input on the style I should make from looking at the pictures below?

 

     xoxo,

              Rachele

 

The Hunt

One thing that has always been popular with the Poplin men has been hunting, and I am proud to say JD has officially joined the buck club. Every year the guys in the family go on their hunting trip and JD has always missed it because of baseball or work, so this year he got the time off and headed out to Missouri.

JD was in Missouri with family and friends for about a week, and on their third day of hunting he got the buck he was hoping for; a 4x4 white tail. I cannot tell you how proud he is, he’s already addicted to the sport and is planning his next trip out there.

I am really happy for him and so glad he had a great time and spent a week with his dad, papa and one of his best friends. I'll admit that even though we weren't apart for long I am happy having my mountain man back home! I am also really grateful that a family friend took pictures of all the guys, they are awesome pictures and I’m excited to share them!

     xoxo,

              Rachele