Valentine's Day Chalkboard

Confession time, I've never decorated for Valentine's Day before. Shocking I know!  ;)

This year I decided to put in a pinch more effort and at least switch up my chalkboard to something a little bit romantic.

I've seen this Beetle's quote floating around pinterest for the last month or so, and then when I saw this desktop background I knew exactly what I wanted on my board.

Seeing as it was a nice and simple design I free-handed it. I just pulled my board down off the wall, worked with it flat on the beach and used a chalk pen. It's not perfect, but it's definitely good enough for me!

There are heaps of great tutorials out there if you're looking to do something a little more elaborate on your chalkboard. This one from Ella Clare shows you how to use grids to create your masterpiece and My Sweet Savannah has a great post about how she traces hers.

Tell me, are you planning on decorating for Valentine's Day or do you stick to the main holidays?

5/52 + Our Weekend Away

Last week I misplaced my camera battery charger so I really didn't get any great snaps of my boys during the week. I did of course get plenty of them on my iPhone. Better than nothing right!?

Max - This weekend a friend of mine and I took our kids down to my Dad's place for the weekend. Max loved playing with his little friend Chloe, they had their moments, but were generally very sweet to each other.

Lincoln - Not a great photo, but I love his little smush-face sleeping on Dad's shoulder. He slept right through the night while we were on the Gold Coast, and I couldn't be prouder!

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A weekend on the Coast was just what I needed, I actually felt like I'd had a holiday! We swam, had a barbeque, relaxed out by the water and had some quality family time. Bliss :)

Dad, his Fiance Cathy and my beautiful, chubby little baby

Dad and Cathy's new place on the Gold Coast

Max's first ride on a Jetski. I made Dad keep his speed to 6 knots, but I still found it completely terrifying

 

The view from the deck

Max and Chloe once they ran out of patience at Church on Sunday morning

 I hope you all had a gorgeous weekend too!

Love Bites

I don't know if I've confessed to this before, but I don't really enjoy cooking meals. Baking on the other hand is something that I love to do, and what better excuse than Valentine's Day! These recipes are perfect for V day and I promise they won't disappoint. Enjoy!!

Skinny Mini Cheesecake from The Recipe Critic

Homemade Valentine's Day Gumdrops from Mom on Timeout

Magnolia Bakery Vanilla Vanilla Cupcakes from The Baker Upstairs

Valentine's Cheesecakes from Max & Me

Red Velvet Cupcakes from High Heels & Grills

Homemade Cherry Cordials from Inside BruCrew Life

Marshmallow Heart Brownie Bites from A Pumpkin & A Princess

Brown Bag Microwave Popcorn (and a free printable!) from Hubby Made Me

Chocolate Chip Peanut Butter Blondies from The Recipe Critic

Heart Munch from Crazy for Crust

Edible Teacups from 504 Main

Rice Krispies Hearts from Love, Pomegranate House

Homemade Valentine Gummies from Mama Miss

Chocolate Covered Strawberries from Chef in Training

Vanilla Bean Valentine's Cookies from Shugary Sweets

Valentine's Day Treats from Happy Go Lucky

Happy Baking xxoo

Thrift Shop Challenge

The other day the Heavens aligned and two of my current favourite things (the Thrift Shop Song and Young House Love) merged to create the (completely unofficial) Macklemore Thrift Shop Challenge. Fun!!

After playing the song for my sister Jenny (who had heard of it, but had never actually heard it) we teamed up and hit the op shops (that's Aussie slang for thrift shops).

The plan was this: Head into the shops with $20 to spend, buy some really cool stuff with that $20, and find & photograph some items that were mentioned in the song.

Now when it comes to thrifting Jenny is a seasoned professional. She knows all the tricks and is so good at finding bargains. Me, not so much. I always have high hopes about what I'll find, but never actually come home with much of anything. Yesterday was no exception. While Jen found a heap of cool things (check them out on her blog), all I managed to find was some burlap. Which I love, but it only cost me $2.. I guess I'll just have to spend my remaining $18 next time!!

I had much better luck with the scavenger hunt... Jen found a big a$$ coat and I found myself an all pink outfit (none of which came home with us for obvious reasons!).

End result: thrifting is fun, but harder than it looks :).

I would love to hear about your thrifting adventures too. Do you like op shopping? What's the coolest thing you've ever found?