Let’s Hear It for the Moms

Posted on May 10, 2013 by Danielle

With Mother’s Day just around the corner, I’ve asked my family not to make a big hoopla this year. I don’t mean that in a “don’t do anything, but I’m secretly hoping for a parade” kinda way. I mean it in a “pleeeease don’t do anything” kinda way. Next month I’ll be traveling to see my mom, so Mother’s Day already feels sufficiently covered. I’d rather just keep things simple instead.

But trust me… I normally want the parade.

However, that’s not to say that I don’t have some picks that would brighten someone’s day. I think these are some sweet little ways to pamper mom and they’d also be nice for a friend, neighbor or even teacher appreciation.

Dove Sea Salt Caramel Dark Chocolate.

Honestly, I picked these up because they matched my table decor perfectly, but they did not disappoint. You’ve got sea salt, caramel, AND dark chocolate… what’s not to love?! Fair warning: my family who typically turns down the sea salt and dark chocolate combo devoured these.

Archer Farms Shortbread Cookies.

These little treats are courtesy of Target and they are A-MAH-ZING. They are buttery, sugar goodness looking like an innocent cookie. A little strawberries and cream and they would be the most divine mini-strawberry shortcakes EVER.

Daisies.

Flowers are always a safe bet for Mother’s Day, but I love daisies for their simple elegance.

Cute Napkins

Decorative napkins are always a fun and practical way to dress up a meal together.

Homemade Breakfast

Nothing says “I love you” like cooking for me. Tess has been making this Easy French Toast since she got The Gourmet Cookbook for Christmas. It’s so delicious! Also, this recipe can be made ahead of time… even the night before. Then while it’s cooking, you can really impress by making homemade syrup (from the same cookbook). It will blow your mama’s mind!

Happy Mother’s Day to all the mom’s in my life!

To my own mom,

To my sister-in-law, mother-in-law, step mother-in-law, cousin-in-law and aunt,

To my California moms,

To my Oregon moms,

To my blogger moms,

And to all the sweet gals (moms or not) who pour into my kids and make-up for my own shortcomings as a mom. I’m not going to say “it takes a village”… only that I am forever thankful for your presence in their lives.

Have a great day, ladies!

**The Gourmet Cookbook is an Amazon Affiliate link and has been provided for your additional information.

May Flowers

Posted on May 1, 2013 by Danielle

Happy May Day! I can hardly believe we are already into May 2013. Just a few more weeks and the kids will be out of school and BBQ season will be upon us. Portland has been annoyingly rainy this year and the sight of the sun is making for a very happy household.

So to welcome in May and the warm weather ahead, I made some paper flowers to brighten up our place.

I’ve been wanting to make these decorative paper balls from cupcake liners for over a year now. They are all over Pinterest and super easy to create.

I picked up paper cupcake liners in several bright colors and 3″ styrofoam balls.

To begin you’ll want to fold the paper liner in half:

Then in quarters:

Then in eighths:

Once your liner is folded, you can easily glue it onto the styrofoam using a hot glue gun. I had read to apply the liner with a pin (which you can see in these photos), but I found that this was an unnecessary step and the hot glue holds fine without it.

I also found that it’s much easier to add the glue directly onto the styrofoam instead of the liner.

Repeat a bunch more times. For each ball, I used about 60 cupcake liners.

Since this is such a repetitive project, Tess helped me out. I folded all the paper and she worked the glue gun. It’s all about the team work.

When the glue has dried, the paper easily fluff’s out to fill any gaps that may have occurred. This is a very forgiving craft.

We’ll be enjoying these with a little Cinco de Mayo fest this weekend and they will transition us right into Mother’s Day. However, I think they would make really cute decorations for a birthday or baby shower too.

With the warmer weather are you adding any new decor to your home? Have you tried anything new projects from Pinterest? Does anyone else hear giggles when you say “decorative balls”? Yeah… that’s life with teenagers sometimes.

Linking up with:

Post Christmas Post

Posted on January 3, 2013 by Danielle

Back in November, I shared that I was working on holiday crafts for family and friends. I really love giving homemade gifts and was particularly excited about the ones I decided on for this year. However, keeping them a secret on this blog was trickier than I expected. I almost spilled the beans a few times! So… without further ado, here is what I was up to this season.

Project #1:

Our church collected handmade scarves and hats for our friends who are missionaries in Africa.

I made a scarf in the soft green yarn and it was a sweet blessing to slow down during such a crazy time of year and be thinking and praying for the gal that would receive this on the other side of the world.

Project #2:

I picked up this fabric when I was working on my brother’s quilt. Mike can make a pretty great monkey face and may or may not have earned a nickname because of that talent. So when I saw this fabric, I bought a yard. When I realized it wouldn’t work in my brother’s quilt, I knew I needed to use it to make something for my nephew instead.

David is almost two, so I made a tiny quilt that they can send back to me to make bigger as he grows.

I used remnants from my brothers quilt so David would have something just like his daddy’s. And since David has been eyeing his daddy’s larger quilt, I’m glad they won’t have to share.

Project #3:

I used both of these elements to make cross-stitch family portraits for my mom and sister-in-law.

I first found the design on MarthaStewart.com and I tucked the idea away for this Christmas season. My mom taught me to needle point and cross-stitch when I was a pre-teen and I still love doing it. This project was extra fun; making personalized mini versions of my brother, his wife, and my nieces and nephew. I also made one of all of the grandchildren for my mom. It’d be really cool to show you the final versions of these framed, but somehow over the holidays I managed to delete the photos I took.

Awesome.

I’m highly annoyed with myself, but I think you get the idea.

The biggest surprise gift of all came when I found out Christmas morning that my sister-in-law is pregnant with Baby #6! Both of the portraits will need to be sent back to add another little person. Getting to be an aunt again… totally worth it!!

Speaking of my mom… Today is her birthday. Happy Birthday, Mom!

This lady is one of my best friends and is the most selfless person I’ve ever known. I adore her completely and am incredibly blessed to have her in my life. Mom… I wish I could be there to celebrate with you.

Celebrate Good Times… Come On!!

Posted on December 31, 2012 by Danielle

Happy New Year! I hope you all had an awesome Christmas with family and friends. I spent most of last week (and the holiday) with a head cold. So now that I’m starting to feel better, I’m getting super excited about what lies ahead… new year, new goals, new possibilities.

And as the fog has lifted and all kinds of ideas for the upcoming year have started swirling around my brain, I realized that THIS is my 100th post. I can hardly believe it!! Couldn’t have even planned that if I’d tried.

Okay… I guess I could’ve planned it, but the point is, I didn’t and I love a happy accident.

It was about this time last year that I started seriously thinking about writing a blog and I had no idea the depth of what that would mean. I’ve made some amazing new friends, learned a ton about myself and this medium, and I’m continually humbled by the fact that anyone bothers to read any of it.

So on this 100th post and last day of 2012, I thought it would be fun to take a quick look back:

First “Like”/Blog reader/Pinned Post -

All of which came from Nova at LittlePrince68. She happened to “like” Storypiece within the first 15 minutes of my very first post. I immediately thought blogging was AWESOME! I quickly learned that this kind of reaction is NOT the blogging norm. However, she was also the first to start regularly following this blog and to pin a project and all of Nova’s encouragement is truly treasured.

Secondary Creative Outlet -

Next to this blog, Instagram has been the most amazing creative outlet resulting in over 500 crazy fun photos. It might be time for an intervention. But then I wouldn’t be able to try out something new for 2013. Oh, the possibilities!

3 time (Blog) Award Nominated - The only thing more humbling than knowing someone is reading what I share, is having you think it’s good enough to tell others to stop in and read it too. Thanks!

4 Commenters - According to WordPress Stacey, Victoria, Alex and Tamara have chatted me up the most and I have to tell you… they are some of the funniest and most creative gals I’ve ever met. The fact that I can call them friends is huge to me!

Top 5 Posts - (Also according to WordPress)

Pinterest Paint Chip Art

The Picaken Pinterest Challenge

Fall Pinterest Challenge: Give Thanks

The Purple Palace

Colorama

Most Meaningful - (According to Me)

Following Your Heart - You all weighed in with some very personal perspectives on blogging… what and why you share… all of which I’m still blown away by.

Most Spam Worthy Photo –

I have no idea, but the spammers STILL love this photo. So weird!

Thank you all for a truly wonderful 2012! I appreciate you taking the time to follow along, leaving encouragement and inspiring me. You continue to make me laugh and make me think. I can’t wait to see what stories lie ahead in 2013.

Cheers!

Storypiece

Stories About Life & Home

Category Archives: holiday

Let’s Hear It for the Moms

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May Flowers

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Post Christmas Post

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Celebrate Good Times… Come On!!

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