{Diner Inspired Valentine Printable}

For the last month, I have been pinning Valentine's Day ideas for the boys like a MAD WOMAN.

To say that I love Valentine's Day is a bit of an understatement. So....the fact that the boys have their first school Valentine's Day party has had me just a bit excited.

And I must say, left me a bit deflated when Ben decided he wanted the boxed Spiderman cards.

Waa waaa waaaaaa

But...we did find fun Spiderman candy to attach to them. AND THEN Landon decided he wanted to give all of his friends these cute little diner notepads...

So I said, "Sure!" And then I thought..."What the heck am I going to do with these?!"

No one on Pinterest had provided me with a printable for such an item.

So I made my own!

 These are super simple to put together.

All you need are diner notepads {I scored mine for 25 cents each at Party City}, pencils, clear tape, and this printable.

Simply tape the pencil to the side of the notepad, wrap the printable around the whole shebang, and tape it in place.

SUPER simple and so cute, right? 

I even included a place on the back for your child to write their name and the name of their Valentine.

Download it HERE!

To use the printable, simply cut them out lengthwise and fold in the middle. I cut mine so there wasn't a white edge around the design, but it would look cute either way. 

I can't wait for Landon to give these to his friends!

{8 awesome free fonts)

 Who doesn't love a good font? And a free one is even better, right?

I thought it would be fun to put together 8 awesome free fonts from one of my favorite sites, dafont.com...

You can find them here...

Iron Furnaces

Global Village

Orniste

Somebody to Love

Skyscraper

Summer Jams

Out of Toon

Poor Weekdays

Happy fonting!

{instagram friday}

I'm currently sitting on the couch, eating chex mix {just the chex if I am being totally honest}, watching Project Runway, and enjoying an hour of me time after a long and tiring day.

I have been so exhausted this past week for some reason, so I'm so happy to say that tomorrow is Friday {even if I do have to sit in board meetings almost all day tomorrow...blargh}.

If you don't follow me on Instagram {I'm mandy_ford}...here is a peek into my past week!

I love catching moments like this...the boys were doing puzzles together on the touch pad...

I got some fun happy mail full of scrapbooking goodness...

And put together this quick instagram mini album on Sunday morning...

I had a super awesome happy mail day...

I was super lucky last month and won blog giveaways from Knitty Bitties and The Forge and feel so spoiled with all of the goodies I received {plus a gorgeous necklace c/o A Tad Monroe...I'll be doing a giveaway from them later this month!}

How cute is that hat from my friend Sophie at The Forge?!

Our chalkboard got a Valentine's Day makeover...

The blog hit 500 followers! SO exciting!

We spent the time at the boys' favorite indoor playground...Best Buy :)

And I found an awesome clearance deal at Kohl's...

Pit & Peak...

I'd say the pit of my week was just feeling so dang tired. I'm going to blame it on being a female if you know what I mean.

The peak was getting some scrapbooking time in. I love how my insta mini album turned out and I can't wait to make one for February!

What did your week look like?

Linking up with...


 

{better life bag giveaway}

I'm so excited to be one of the 28 ladies participating in this exciting giveaway hosted by Brin of Bold Butter Baby. Here's Brin to tell you all about it!

If you have not heard of Better Life Bags you have probably been living under a rock. If you don't know the story you can check that out here! Once you check that out and want to buy a bag head over here! 

One of my {Mandy's} favorite bags from BLB...

Now here is the best part. You might have looked at those bags and thought that you can't afford one right now. Well you are in luck! Myself along with 28 lovely ladies have teamed up to give TWO lucky people some shop credit to Better Life Bags. 

That's right, TWO people!

ONE of you will get a $50 Shop Credit and ONE of you will win a $100 Shop Credit. The $100 Shop Credit requires more effort so that is why that price is more. More work, more payoff! 

I could not have put this all together without the help of Allie. Thank YOU times a million. Your PicMonkey stills are much appreciated. Now get to entering!

Honesty is appreciated.

a Rafflecopter giveawaya Rafflecopter giveaway


 

{instagram mini album}

I spent about an hour of my Sunday morning making a super fun and simple Instagram mini album using some new supplies...

See all of the yumminess from Studio Calico, Amy Tangerine and Dear Lizzy?! SO.FUN.

Thanks to my Instagram friend, and fellow awesome blogger, Angie, I discovered an easy new way to print my insta photos and pick them up at Walgreens. Printicular is a great app and makes is so easy to get quick Instagram prints...especially when Walgreens is right down the street like mine is. :)

So back to my album. I used two different 6 x 6 paper pads, some American Crafts thickers and Dear Lizzy stickers, January calendar pocket from Studio Calico, washi tape, Smash pen {LOVE this thing}, binder rings and my Crop-A-Dile.

I started with the cover...

LOVE this paper...it is my favorite out of both stacks. I used the thickers, washi tape, a Dear Lizzy sticker, and cut apart the January calendar pocket from Studio Calico to complete the cover. 

Then for each page, I used a simple equation of paper + photo + washi tape and maybe another sticker/journaling tag or writing...here are some of my favorite pages...

And some of the details...

I also used something new for me...pieces of glassine paper. I love how they tone down the patterned paper and give another dimension to the pages. The Crop-A-Dile made it easy to punch holes for the binder rings because I could do 4-5 pages at a time. If you don't have a Crop-A-Dile, you can always use a traditional paper punch but you'll have to do 1-2 pages at a time.

I think this might become a monthly thing...it was such a quick and fun project.

Do you scrapbook your instagram photos?

{Valentine's Day Free Printable}

Who doesn't love some good chalkboard art?

I know I'm a *tad* bit obsessed with it. Whether it be the real thing or some cute "faux" chalk art. 

I've been trying to come up with a Valentine's Day quote to write on our entryway chalkboard...something with a meaningful message. While listening to one of my favorite songs, I found it...

This quote is from the song Broken Hearts and Shooting Stars by Kaitlin Klotz. If you haven't heard of her, you can check out her music here. She is one of my favorites, and she is a fellow Hoosier!

You know who "the author" is, right? :) It is very comforting to me to know that God created my heart and my soul, and knows what will make my heart truly happy. I deeply believe that He leads us in that direction as long as we listen to Him.

So I'm very excited to be sharing this free printable with you...designing is one of my favorite hobbies. I will definitely be adding more down the road.

You can download it HERE!

And I would love it if you would pin it and share it with your friends. You all are awesome like that. :)

Remember, this is just for personal use friends.

What is your favorite quote for Valentine's Day?

Linking up with...

{Ooh Baby Designs Giveaway!}

Hellloooo February!

I hate to say that I'm glad a month is over, but I'm not very sorry to see January go. Spring weather is one step closer, and my favorite holiday is this month.

That's right...Valentine's Day!

So when Stephanie from Ooh Baby Designs contacted me about doing a giveaway for one of her adorable red and white chevron totes with a matching can coozie, I knew it would be the perfect way to ring in the month.

How cute is this tote?!

It is perfect for so many uses...a trip to the beach, an impromptu baby bag, or for packing a quick picnic. And who doesn't like a chevron coozie to keep their soda (or other beverage *wink*) icy cold?

Ooh Baby Designs has so many cute items...I love her monogrammed tote and coozie sets...

And let's not forget her adorable infinity scarves! I loved wearing my reindeer print one this Christmas...

Enter to win via the Rafflecopter widget below!

a Rafflecopter giveaway