Oh Good Golly...

I feel like I have to apologize and give a brief explanation as to why I have been slightly slacking in the blogging department lately. You see, when I found out I would be separated from the hubs for the holidays, I decided it would be an awesome idea to come home to be with my family.
(Technically both of our families, since they only live a few miles apart from each other.)

It has been amazing to be back and visiting with everyone.
My boys finally get to be with their cousins and they are loving every minute of it!

There were just a couple of things I did NOT think about, one of them was my little blog.
I had a bunch of pics ready for about 10 future posts, and I didn't even think to e-mail them or put them on a memory card before we left.

I know... I know.
I am quite literally hitting my head against the table.

Just thinking about it makes me frustrated all over again.
...
Okay, enough feeling sorry for myself.

The good news is I DID bring my camera with me!!
I have been working on some cute crafts for the holidays and am taking pictures galore.
I am also starting to work on a gorgeous
Buggy Wheel quilt that my wonderful grandma is helping me with.
(Seriously, she is a quilting genius!)

Keep stopping by, I am still here and as always

Happy Crafting!

What I'm grateful for.

Today I am grateful for my family.
I'm grateful to for my two healthy beautiful boys.
I'm grateful for a hardworking and loving husband.
I'm grateful for my wonderful parents.
I'm grateful for all of my extended family &
that I can be so close to all of these amazing people for the holidays.

I'm grateful that it is this time of year again.
It's a time for turkeys, twinkle lights, and soon to be put up Christmas trees.
It's a time for reconnecting with good friends over hot cocoa
and graham cracker gingerbread houses.
It's a time for celebration.
It's a time where it's hard for me to find an excuse NOT to be happy.

It's time for the holidays, and I just love it.

So from me to you have a
Happy & Lovely Thanksgiving!!

What are you grateful for this holiday season?

And the winner is...

As some of you know we've this last we you had a chance to enter

for some lovely crafts from the Crafting Over Sweeting Challenge.
It's time to finally announce a winner!

There was still just enough entries to use my mason jar method, which I must say I love.

Lovely strips of cardstock for all the entries.



Fill my little mason jar and give it a couple good shakes and swirls.



And the winner is...


...


...


*I had to use last initials because I had two wonderful Sarah's that entered.*

Sarah L. had this to say in her comment:


"ummm i would be excited to win any of these!!! but i think the felt flower or the tie it on hair accessory. :)"

Congratulations Sarah! I'll be in contact with you soon so I can get your prizes to you.

Thank you so much to all who entered!

Keep visiting to see more crafts and giveaways here at LizalouLOVES and as always

HAPPY CRAFTING!!

Clean It Up Wednesday #3: The Craft Room

Hello everybody! Welcome to


Whoo! Things have been a little crazy this week. I'm trying to get so many things done before we leave on vacation that I almost forgot it was Wednesday! Thank goodness I remembered because I have been so excited to share this next room.

This week's featured room is
The 4th Bedroom
(or Craft Room)

I feel like I need to insert a "Bum bum bum" sound here. Our fourth bedroom has truly been the bane of my house cleaning existence. It deceived me by making me believe it could just be used to hide my messes.

"It's okay, dump whatever you need to. You can always close the door. It's like I'm not even here," it would whisper seductively in my mind.

Evil, pure evil I tell you!

It has been my secret little room that I just wanted to keep locked up and never show anyone, EVER.
I then decided I couldn't take it anymore. The room looked like it could be right at home on a hoarder tv show, and I knew I would just have to roll up my sleeves and clean it.
So I did.

Here it is:



Pretty great, right?

Neat and organized crafting corner. LOVE.


Place to cut and store my fabric. Also LOVE.


I must tell you that I tried to time myself, I really did. It just got a little depressing.
I will tell you this, this project took me about a day.
I would say maybe 3 or 4 hours altogether, but I didn't do it all at once.
I would work on it for an hour or so and then go do something else.
Doing it that way kept me from getting discouraged, and I think it also kept me sane.

Tips & Tricks:

-Like I said above, take your time. If you can do 3 hours at a time, then you should. If you can only do 30 minutes at a time, then you should. Do whatever works for you. If you feel yourself getting discouraged, STOP working and take a break.

- I liked to focus on one task at a time, some of these were: picking up all the clothes, picking up all the toys, throw away any trash, put away any crafting items. When I was able to focus on just something little I was able to stop focusing on the bigger mess at hand.

-Organize, organize, organize. As you can see I had about two desks I was able to store any crafting items in and it was a BIG help when it came to putting things away. I also had about 4 laundry baskets so I could sort, carry and put away any items that didn't belong in the room.

I hope this was helpful. I know it can be hard and discouraging when faced with a huge, beyond gigantic mess. Just remember it CAN be clean. It might take just a little time, but it can be.

Have a good week and
Happy Cleaning!

Felt Flower Headband

I feel like I've been in a creative slump lately.
Ideas come then go. Some of these ideas I test out, but most of them have turned into epic fails.
I think sometimes your creative vision can get blurred.
You can look and look at something but you just can't see it.
You know that it can be turned into something a-mazing, you just can't see what.

Then today I had one of my friends come over for a visit. We chatted and looked at some awesome 90's craft books We talked about ideas we had about things to make, and about doing some craft fairs in a year or so.

After our visit something seemed to just click. It seemed like all of sudden I had five ideas for headbands I wanted to make. I knew what I wanted them to look like and how I was going to make them. I then sat down and actually made one,
and it turned out how I wanted it to on the first try!

It took all my willpower not to shout
HALLELUJAH!

So, for all those in a creative slump, keep trying.
No matter what your vision will always clear and something will always click.

Here it is, the felt flower headband:


Isn't it just lovely?

Aww, felt. There is a reason I love you so much. You just make everything gosh darn adorable.

These flowers are similar to the ones in the tutorial I did here.
To achieve the look of the flowers in the headband, don't scallop the edges.

I will also be posting a tutorial for the headband soon.
They are super easy and absolutely perfect for winter!

Happy Crafting!

There is still 4 more days to enter the Crafting Over Sweeting giveaway.
Go here to enter!

Linked up to:
Fabric, Bows, & More
Lil' Luna
My Girlish Whims
Sew Much Ado
Blue Cricket Design
Organize & Decorate Everything
Mommy by Day, Crafter by Night
the Creative Itch
We are THAT family
JAQS Studio
Southern Lovely
Someday Crafts
Rae Gun Ramblings
Between U & Me

Who doesn't love a giveaway?

** This giveaway is now closed. Thank you to everyone who participated!**

I am so exciting to be doing another giveaway here at LizalouLOVES!

When I did the Crafting Over Sweeting challenge, I really wanted to do a giveaway that had a selection of the different crafts that I featured during it.
Now that things have gotten a bit less crazy, I finally get do it!

This giveaway will feature these 6 items that 1 lucky person will win:

#1- the Felt Flower

Originally featured here.

Oh my goodness, this is probably one of my most favorite accessories. It's more versatile than it may appear. I use mine for my hair, my purse, and even as a little accent for my jacket.

#2- the Felt Rosette Clip

Originally featured here.

I believe that felt and tulle were a match made in cuteness heaven,
and I believe these clips prove my point.

#3- Harvest Cupcake Wraps by WiltonOriginally featured here.

These aren't just for creating cute designs on pumpkins. Thanksgiving is right around the corner and these would be a perfect addition to any dessert table.

#4- Tie It On hair accessory with Fabric Rosettes

Originally featured here and here.

I have to tell you guys, this is my favorite one. The eyelet lace, green ribbon, cute fabric, and bronze buttons combine to make something oh so gorgeous.


#5- Black Sparkle Letters
I used these on my "I See You" Halloween wreath, but they are becoming one of my favorite little somethings to have around. They are just perfect for adding that little sparkle to a craft.

#6 - Halloween-themed Brads
These brads are cute and perfect for this year's Halloween scrapbook pages.

Originally featured here and here.

There you have it!
Are you guys excited yet??

They're are two ways to enter this giveaway.
Each of the options will give you one entry.
If you do both you get two entries and double the chances!

1. Leave a comment telling me which of the featured items you
would be most excited about winning.

2. Become a follower of this blog then leave a message in your comment saying you did so.
(If you already follow my blog you can still have 1 entry... I love you that much! :D)

This giveaway will be open for a week, and I will announce the winner next Saturday.
Remember to make sure I have a way to contact you, whether through your profile or the comment.

Good Luck!!

Clean It Up Wednesday #2

Welcome to the second

Today's featured room is the:

Kid's Bedroom

I don't know if this is the norm for kids, but mine LOVE to take all their toys and dump them right into the middle of the room. At the end of each day I find myself holding my breath as I pass their room and think to myself, "Please don't let it be that bad... don't let it be that bad."


It's ALWAYS this bad.
The good news is that with just under a half hour it can be fixed to look like this:


26 minutes broken down:

-- Picked up and organized toys.
--Made beds and changed sheets if necessary.
--Gathered dirty clothes and began a load in the washing machine.
--Vacuumed... my favorite part.

TIPS & TRICKS:

1.) Having something to organize any toys is key.
This is my boys' toy shelf.

find this here.

This is absolutely perfect. There are lots of bins for all their different toys, and the great thing is that they can be taken out separately and played with a bin at a time.

2) Make cleaning into a game.
This trick was more for my kids, but I had a lot of fun too. My kids are still a little too young to grasp the concept of why we need to clean up, but once I started making up games even my 16 month old started helping.

Next week I will hopefully be featuring my craft room,
which is sadly the second worst room in my house.
Until then...

Happy Cleaning!


I'm interested in seeing your messy room transformations!
If you have a room you would like to have featured here at LizalouLOVES,
e-mail me at lizalouloves@gmail.com.

When you're in a pinch...

I always find the most gorgeous big flowers on Pinterest.
When deciding what to use for decorations for a Halloween party, I knew I wanted to make one of them. The problem was the most popular material for big, wonderful flowers is either crepe or tissue paper... neither of which I had.
*I should note that in planning ahead I could have easily picked up some, however this was 2 hours before the party and I was in a serious pinch!*

I DID however have plastic tablecloth that was too big for my table.
Ahh, necessity is indeed the mother of invention.

For this craft you will need:

A plastic tablecoth
*any color you want, go crazy!!*

Vase
*I actually used a water pitcher because the curved neck was perfect for holding the flower.
If you don't have one though, you can use a vase with the same structure.*

Crepe Ribbon & Sparkly Ribbon
*the bottom of the flower will not fill the entire vase, so I used the crepe ribbon for a filler.The sparkly ribbon is used because it pretty andwill also cover up the divide between the crepe and flower.Play around with these. There are many different fillers you can use, and ribbon does not have to be sparkly... though it's just so lovely when it is.*

Step 1: Cut a square(ish) shape from your tablecloth. No need to be precise with the lines.

Step 2: Fold the entire square accordian style.

Step 3: Fold it in half so the ends meet.


Step 4: Take the folded end and twist it about half the length of your now folded tablecloth.

Step 5: Fold the twisted portion in half & twist together.

Step 6: Fold it in half again & twist if you can.
**This is going to make a base for your flower so it's able to stay in the vase.**


Step 7: Take the base you've created and stick in the vase or pitcher.

Step 8: This is what the ends of the folded tablecloth will look like when in the vase.
Now it's time to get creative! Start by shmuzching the ends of the table cloth that will be your flower. Shmuzching is just my word for fluffing and shaping. There is no exact way to do it, just play around and see what you like.


Step 9 & 10: If you like the floral shape, start by forming your table cloth ends around the center. I used some of the ends to create petals, simply by taking the end
and tucking it into the vase.

So pretty!

Total cost: 97 cents for the tablecloth... I didn't even use all of it.
Everything else I had on hand already.
A-mazing!
I can't wait to use these for another party.
In pink or blue they would be perfect for a baby shower.

Happy Crafting!

Linked up to:
C.R.A.F.T.
Craftomaniac
Polish the Stars
Running With Glitter
Making the World Cuter
The Girl Creative
Sew Can Do
Sumo's Sweet Stuff
Keeping It Simple
Home Stories A2Z
Tip Junkie
My Backyard Eden
Hope Studios
Sugar Bee Crafts
Today's Creative Blog

Sunday Sweeting

I love Sundays!

They are just so relaxing and a great way to get ready for the week.

My usual Sunday schedule is:

Go to church
Family time
Sunday dinner
Littlest boy gets in bed & oldest boy gets some IPad time.

After this I like to plan out what sort of crafty things I might do for the week, and
that involves perusing around on my favoritest of sites, PINTEREST.
I call this my Sunday Sweeting (check here).

Here are some of my most loved finds today:

FASHION
We are trying so to save money right now, and that means no extra money for new clothes.
The amazing thing is I'm actually excited about this because it means I'm going to have to get creative. Pinterest is filled with fantastic ideas & tutorials that will help revamp my current wardrobe. I can't wait to try some of these out!


This shirt is from blog Ruffles & Stuff. I love it!
She just does the most a-mazing and creative projects, and this is just one of them.
If you haven't checked out her site DO... it's awesome!

How cute is this?! This scarf is from Desiree over at Cozihome.
Looking at this actually makes me excited for winter!

KIDS
This pic is from Jessica over at A Simple Kind of Life. and
had originally gotten the idea from here. These are just so oh-my-gosh gorgeous!
Love love love them!

Have you seen these everywhere? Because I have!
So adorable! You can buy them at this shop.
I'm hoping at some point I can find someway to make them.


BURLAP
I can't believe how much I've been seeing this material pop up lately. I've seen it used in pillows, wreaths, accents for decor, frames, and pretty much anything you could think of!
I love it's rustic feel and it just seems oh so perfect fall.

A-mazing! I just can't express enough how much I love this. The shape it creates is so stunning.
Check it out at Smilemonsters blog.

This came from Style Me Pretty.
So simple, yet so beautiful. The combination with the glass and the silver just makes me happy... it's that stunning.

What are you planning on creating this week?

Clean It Up Wednesday: #1

Welcome to the first ever

I'm so excited to be doing this new feature!
Every Wednesday I will be featuring a part of my house that
is some serious need of TLC (or Tender Loving Cleaning).
Now I'm talking SERIOUS cleaning.
This is not going to be about your average pick up and go, everyday routine cleaning.
This will be a "Fight the Hoarding" battle cleaning.

My hopes for this feature are:

1. To break my own messy habits, and create a clean and happy home.

I am a slob... for reals. I just never really learned to pick up after myself,
and I married someone who doesn't pick up after himself either.
Add two kids and you have disaster.

2. To show others like me that it is easy to clean a super messy home
(and those not like me can say "Hey at least, my house isn't THAT bad!" or
"Hey, if she can do it in a half hour just think how fast I could do it!")

As I was perusing Pinterest I found a pin that linked to an article about how to get a clean home in 15 minutes. I was ecstatic! Finally, someone was going to fill me in on what the secret is.
Someone was going to let me know what I could do to fix my living situation. Sadly, I was in for a disappointment. What it should have been titled was "How to MAINTAIN a clean home in 15 minutes." Not exactly what I was looking for. As I continued to look online, I just couldn't find any good inspiration for CLEANING a truly messy home.
I might be a slob, but I don't actually like living in a messy home.
You just get to a point where the mess is disheartening and you think to your self

"It's easier to just live in this, then clean it."

I want to prove that this is so NOT true.
It is not hard to clean up a super messy house.
It may not take 15 minutes, but with a little work and an hour of your time it CAN be done!

The first room I want to feature today is:

THE MASTER BEDROOM

Have I mentioned I'm totally nervous to show you these pics?
It's like letting you in on a very personal secret.
Here goes...

A view from the doorway:

A view from in front of the dresser:

Decor I can now thoroughly enjoy!


Total amount of time spent cleaning: 50 minutes

Can you believe it?!
For under an hour I think it was quite a transformation!
I also put everything where it was supposed to go, I didn't just stuff it in a closet to make it look clean. I would say I spent about 15 minutes putting things back where they belonged (such as books, toys, laundry, trash, etc.).

Here are my
TIPS & TRICKS
for tackling a mess like this.

-Breath in & out.

-Make one spot your inspiration point...
something you can look at to let you know that you can do this!
I started with my bed. A nice, made bed is the perfect boost to get you cleaning.

-Have trash bags and storage containers handy.
It makes sorting and transporting things easier.

- Organize the things that are not going to stay in the room into piles/sections/containers.
I did this in my hallway so that I could a little breathing room, and my categories were
Laundry, Toys, Shoes, and Trash.
Anything that was going to stay in the room (clothes, blankets, books, etc.) I immediately put in their appropriate places. When you are done cleaning the room, put everything in these piles/sections/containers where they are supposed to go.
DON'T GET DISTRACTED!

-Get a clean floor! Once you see that floor you will get a kick of adrenaline to get the rest of the room cleaned.

-Vaccum... it's soothing, relaxing, and just seems to hum "You're done.... you're done."

Now, enjoy your beautiful room!

Happy Cleaning!

P.S. I want to know what cleaning tricks you have up your sleeves!
What do you do to clean a super messy room?

Linked up to:
Someday Crafts
The Idea Room
The Shabby Creek Cottage
House of Hepworths
Somewhat Simple
Momnivore's Dilemma
Southern Lovely
Mommy by Day, Crafter by Night
Organize & Decorate Everything
Fireflies & Jellybeans
A Glimpse Inside
Every Creative Endeavor
Sew Much Ado
Blue Cricket Design
Tidy Mom
Blissful & Domestic
New Nostalgia

Here's wishing you...

A lovely & oh-so-happy Halloween!

Here's a taste of some of the final decorations that
are going to be adorning our house tonight.


I made five of this cute little guys for our table.
I have a potpourri filled wrought iron pumpkin that they will be residing on for the evening.
They even have little bow ties for the occasion!


I was so frustrated when I couldn't find a tutorial on making big flowers for a centerpiece
that didn't involve tissue paper.
Don't get me wrong, I do love the stuff... it's just I wanted something a little different.

That's when I came up with this. It's made out of a plastic tablecloth,
the kind you would find by the party goods.
It gave me the big flower look I wanted, and I absolutely love it!!

I'm going to be posting the tutorials of these tonight and tomorrow.
I also am planning 5 days of giveaways for this week, so PLEASE keep checking in as I want
you readers to win some fun stuff again!

Happy Crafting &
Happy Halloween!

Day 21: A whole lot of flowers...

This is the final craft I made for the

Crafting Over Sweeting Challenge.
Twenty-one days just flew by and I just can't believe that is over.

This featured craft is the:
Floral Monogram


If you recall, I had a whole lot of flowers left over from this craft and
I had been thinking and thinking about what to do with them.
I just love their colors and I didn't just want to throw them away... what a waste!
I decided that I really wanted to use them in a monogram and this was the result.

For this craft you will need:


Flowers... lots and lots
*choose any color and variety you would like. Make sure to cut them down as close to the flower as you can.*
1 large cardboard letter
*JoAnn's Etc... I love that store!*

Hot glue gun
*with tons, and I'm talking TONS, of glue. I almost used up a 30 pack of glue sticks... so stock up!*

Start gluing your flowers on.
I started on the sides, but then decided to do the top of the letter first.
**This is where you're going to want to turn a movie on...
my movie of choice was The Proposal.**


Keep gluing

and gluing.

Did I mention to keep gluing?
Good, I didn't think that I had.

That's it!!

So simple and it turns out oh so beautiful.
I'm excited to finally have a monogram in our home!

Happy Crafting!

Linked up to:
Southern Lovely
Home Stories A to Z
Lil' Luna
Someday Crafts
Sew Much Ado

Finished...

This weekend marked the end of the
Crafting Over Sweeting Challenge.
It's just oh so bittersweet.
I definitely would describe this challenge as a crash course in self control.
Sweets are still a weakness of mine, but at least I know now I am strong enough to resist.
I think that is the most important lesson I learned:

You're only as strong as you allow yourself to be.

That being said, after the 21 days I did do a little celebrating sweet wise.
How did I celebrate you might ask?

Buttermilk syrup and homemade pancakes, 3 slices of my Mom's famous cheesecake, and Martinelli's...
all over the course of a couple days of course!
It was heavenly and oh so yummy.

I still eat sweets, but not as much as I did before the challenge.
My favorite is a handful of semi-sweet chocolate chips,
which I must say is vast improvement over
the half dozen or so chocolate chip cookies I used to consume.

Now that the challenge is over,
I've been contemplating what to do with this blog
and I finally decided I'm going to keep doing it.

I've learned that I LOVE blogging!
It is such a fantastic way to have fun and meet new people.

I've learned that I LOVE crafting.
I love creating, and I love sharing my ideas with everyone.
It's my passion, and I can't imagine NOT doing it.

I have so much more I want to share and so many crafts that I still want to do!
Even if there is just one person reading this, I will be here writing.
So please stick around, and as always

Happy Crafting!

I love yardsales..

Who doesn't love a good yard sale??
I always get a little sad when those chilly fall days roll around because I know
that it brings with it the end of yard sale season.

As I was finishing up the final crafts of the
Crafting Over Sweeting Challenge
I decided I wanted to make something could put in my boy's room.
I've been dying to do their room in a beach theme ever since I saw this photo:

*From here.*

One of my many yard sale finds was a surfboard. I knew I wanted to do something lasting with it, because I loved it oh so much. I came up with this...


I just loved the idea of making this surfboard into a height tracker!
This way it becomes a piece of decor I'll always love to have around.

I painted on the numbers, inch markers and hibiscus.
*I did this by printing out the numbers in different fonts and sizes, cutting them out, trace them onto the board, and finally painted them by hand. Vinyl would have been oh so easier, but alas! I didn't have any on hand.*


I got these beach themed wooden painted lovelies.
*I have no idea what these are actually called, but I found them at JoAnn's Etc for about 60 cents a piece.*


Each of my boys got to choose their own, which they loved.
I measured them and wrote down their name, height and date on the front.


Voila!


My boys have so much fun seeing how tall they are getting,
and now I think I have that motivation to finally get their room done.

Happy Crafting!

Melted crayons... who knew?

If you have not seen melted crayon art simply type those words into

Google and see what you have been missing.
I have seen this all over the place. It can be found on multiple blogs, Pinterst, Tumblr...it is pretty much everywhere!
(You can find the originals here. Her Etsy shop is so much fun!)

Needless to say once I saw it I knew I had to try it!

For this craft you will need:

1 blank canvas

Crayons
*Enough to extend across the whole top.
Mine was a rather long canvas so I used the 120 pack.*

Hair dryer or a heat gun

Hot glue gun

Ooh, so many colors!!


Organize the crayons in the order you find most appealing.


Use your hot glue to attach them to the canvas.


Get your hair dryer and heat gun and start melting!
**Helpful Tip: If you are using a hair dryer, keep it as close to the crayons and situate it near the middle of them. If you get too close to tips, the melting wax will splatter instead of run. This was a trick I learned a little too late, so I had to kind of roll with the splattered look.**

This is no good,
massive amounts of splattering is about to happen and I was clueless.


This is much better! You can see that it is beginning to run instead of splatter.


So cool!!


You can tell I was really working the splatters at the end.
I just went with it, and ended up really loving it!

This is such an awesome project and all the materials only cost me around $10,
which is another major plus.

Who know melting crayons could be so much fun??

Happy Crafting!!