12 of 12 for February...

This month's 12 of 12 fell on a fun day. We were busy celebrating Valentine's Day at school and also had a Valentine's Banquet for our church. Here are some pics of my day...

These were a sampling of the decorations I made for our banquet. The 'cooty catcher' candy dishes were really fun to make. You could do those in any color for any theme! The vase is filled with red hot candies...

This is what I saw when I got in the car to go to school this morning. Marco is great about special days. He gave me a gift card for the Bare Escentuals store and a bottle of Still by Jennifer Lopez (perfume). I'm a lucky girl! (blessed)

These were also in each of the kids' spots...they get something too!

Not a great shot, but this is the little mailbox my Taryn asked me to make for her Valentine Buddy exchange at school. The girl's name is Allie. Taryn filled it with Allie's favorite candies.

Here's little Naomi (and class mate Sydney) enjoying her first Valentine's Day party at school.

This is my new favorite indulgence. I've tried to not drink soda at all, but when I do - this is it now. Remember the commercial, "Sugar-free Dr. Pepper, tastes fattening but it's not..." Yeah, it really does taste that good! =]

One of my sweet students brought me this lovely candle...made my day!

Another student gave me this beautiful tulip. So beautiful!

Had to rush home and get ready for the banquet. We have had it at the same restaurant for a few years now and really like it. Great food and fun.

Here are some of the things I made..."Set Your Heart In Order" was the theme.

I had steak (medium rare), veggies and loaded mashed potatoes. Yes, I did eat the potatoes!!

Oh....and did I mention the pie? Yeah. Ate all of that too. =]
Well, that was it...It was a great night. Lots of good food, fun games and a great challenge by Marco. I went home and went straight to bed. Great day!

Friday Find: Great Deals and Great Ideas!

I've been up all night trying to get things in order for our Ladies Banquet on Saturday. I will be spending all day tomorrow with my oldest at the LA Museum of Tolerance. (I'm sure that will be an interesting blog entry)

Anyway, I needed to do a few centerpieces and some favors and what not. Our theme is Spring Clean Up! Our verse is Psalm 51:10 "Create in me a clean heart, O God; and renew a right spirit within me." Here is what I've come up with.



These were flooring sample chips from a hardware store. They were going to be thrown out - so yay for me! I cut up a sponge to make a bunch of little ones. Glued on a little wooden heart, some Prima flowers and added the text with a fine-tipped paint marker. On the back, I hot glued a small magnet. There are some in English and some in SpanishHere is a close up:



I needed center pieces for the tables. I got these items at the dollar store and then put them together. I still need to add verse tags to each item, but you get the idea. Scrub brushes, mini broom and dust pan, dish soap, all-purpose spray, sponges. Just hot glued the flowers on the brushes and tied ribbon to the bottles.

I am also going to use these for photo ops and general decor. They were props at the Bath & Body Works my sister worked for. They were going to throw them out. They are about as tall as me. I bought them for about $4.00 each. Yay for me again!

How Sweet It Is...

I was totally out of commission yesterday. This cold has tried to get the best of me, but it will not have the victory...the way my voice sounds right now, I could yell this like a Spartan!

Anyway, we had our church Valentine's Banquet this past Thursday night. We reserved the Marie Callender's Banquet Room. Our church's theme for the year is "Emmanuel, God With Us". So, the banquet theme was "God In Our Sweet Relationship" and we did it in a candy theme. The colors were pink and brown. I (with the help of Hannah) made some really cute centerpieces.

We made giant candy, candy bars, and lollipops. They looked good enough to eat. I just wrapped styrofoam with colored tissue paper and cellophane. Easy! I also made little matchbox treats. You take a matchbox, ditch the matches, and then decorate the box. You fill each box with a mini candybar. Nice. Another inexpensive and easy thing to tie all the colors together were the candles I decorated. I took some of the paper that I was using on the other items, cut a strip to fit around the candle, taped it in place, and then added "love" words that I stamped.

The last thing I made was the famous Target mailboxes. You need to watch for these at Target every year in the $1 spot. They are fun and easy to decorate. The only tricky part - and I am nice enough to tell you the secret - is to use a 1/2" circle punch where the flag would go. Press the paper against the screw in the flag so that you know where you need to punch. Then punch the circle. Take your scissors and cut a slit to open up the circle. Then you slide the paper around the flag and Voila! it's ready to tape or mod podge down! Decorate with embellishments and fill with your favorite treats or notes.

We had 30 in attendance. That's great considering this is only our second one ever. We could choose from a menu of three choices: Tri-tip with grilled or fried shrimp, Salmon (Cajun or lemon-peppered) with grilled shrimp, or Lemon Garlic Chicken. All of the meals came with cornbread, salad, drinks, and pie. Oh yeah, that's what I'm talking about! Bring on the corn bread and pie!!...ehem...where was I?

Oh and we had fun games and fellowship and a very nice challenge from our Pastor (who happens to be very handsome =D ), and music from Moises, Maria and Jonathan. Over-all it was a great night. I am already thinking of ideas for next year. I want the couples to dress according to whatever theme I choose...this is going to be fun!