Our Week

We have had quite the week since we talked last!

If you follow me on Instagram (@Nestling_Designs) you saw me post this picture with our little Boo just looking absolutely miserable last week:

And for good reason....while I was getting the kid's valentine's stuff put together, Jason took him up to the ER where he was diagnosed & admitted for pneumonia in both of his lugs! Poor little guy can't catch a break :(

Although we were short one member, here's a look at how our Valentines was spent:

Poor Braden had to get his basket and balloons at the hospital (the first smile we saw in days was when he saw the chocolate!):

For the next few days we spent a lot of time snuggling, watching movies, & painting. 

It was really difficult because the hospital currently has a no kid's policy for visitors due to this year's bad flu, so we had to constantly find friends to help watch our older two while Jason and I basically tagged each other in and out of the hospital. Finally, on Saturday they let him go with a book of discharge papers and a small pharmacy of meds.

We have spent the past two days catching up on stuff around the house. I finally bought myself a new planner. (yes, I am aware that it is halfway through February!)

I also tried some of the pink popcorn we bought from Target during Valentines. I had been thinking about making some pink popcorn for Cayden's birthday and when I saw this (and didn't have to make it!!) I stocked up. 

Of course, the cat's schedules weren't interrupted at all :)

(why yes, that is my new Coach purse he is sleeping on, ha!)

Remnants of the holiday are still around, like the balloons still floating up high in our living room:

(okay, and let's be honest - all our decorations are still up and I have no plans to change that soon!)

One major perk was coming home to a bunch of happy mail! The week before Braden was admitted into the hospital, he was just so miserably sick that he laid around all day, watching tv and demanding that I sit with him. Of course I did....and I snuck in plenty of online shopping as well :)

Here's a sneak peak at some of the goodies I got for Cayden's party:

I even picked up a few fun things for myself: 

(yes, that's a calendar. yes, I do know it's mid February LOL)

And then, to cap off our lovely weekend, Jason whipped up some goodies to make up for our lousy V-Day:

So, that's where I've been :)

 But, I am back, and so excited to show you some of the greatness that has come from our cheap-o makeover with our kitchen this week!!

xo,

Rachel

Valentine Entry & A 'Wild' Valentine DIY

I have a bit of confession to make. 

I didn't even get our Valentine decorations up until this past weekend. I honestly think I would have just skipped the entire thing if we didn't have kids to call us out on it!

So, I compromised by just doing a small vignette in our entry. 

The heart was a craft I did a few years back using a wooden heart I found at Goodwill. I just used scrap paper and embellishments I already had. 

I'm sorta in love with this arrow print and want to have it stay forever :) So don't be surprised if you see it somewhere else in this house in a different color scheme!

The arrows were made from our chopsticks, scrapbook paper, and tape.

I also wanted to share with you the valentines I made for our little guys' class party. I don't think I mentioned it here on the blog, but shortly after our little Boo's hospital stay, he started preschool! It's a program our state does through the school system for children with delays- in our case it's a speech delay. Although it broke my heart to send him off in a bus, he absolutely adores his new school and we are thrilled with the entire experience so far. His class is a new one and only has three children in it at the moment, so I thought it would be nice to do something really cute. 

I always love the little boxes of animal crackers and since I already have a jungle themed party collection in my shop, I simply took those and turned them into valentines. 

I love how they still look boy-ish. Perfect for our little man :)

You can download your own tags HERE and make your own. 

Happy Wednesday!

xo,

Rachel

Free Printables :: Valentine Juice Wrappers & Bag Toppers

This weekend I tried to spend some time coming up with cute ways to wrap the juice boxes for both boy's parties. Creating labels and just printing and taping was really just the easiest way :)

I printed out three different options. Then, I also cut one of them down to a smaller strip and used it with a doily for a new look: 

All three options can be downloaded for free HERE.

The other thing we did was come up with a cute little way to make candy bracelets. I did this as a fun project with our daughter while the boys spent the day at the monster truck show ;)

I wrapped the finished bracelets around a piece of cardstock that I cut two slits into:

Next, I placed them in a plastic Ziploc bag and placed a bag topper on top: 

I also tried printing it on kraft paper: 

The back has a place to sign:

...But of course, it all comes down to the taste test ;)

The bag toppers can be downloaded HERE.

Can you believe Valentine's Day is just around the corner?! I'll be back tomorrow to share a sweet vignette I  made in our entrance :)

Happy Tuesday!

xo,

Rachel

Valentine's Day Candy Bingo

Hello, friends :)

I wanted to share with you the simple and sweet Valentine Bingo I made for my son's class party. 

Since he's in the first grade, I thought it would be cute to model it after the cute conversation heart candy since they can now READ! Pair it with some yummy candy place markers, and you have quite the game ;)

I designed them to print two to a page, which worked out nicely since I had to make 20 different cards since there are that many students in his class. 

I printed up larger hearts to keep in a small linen bag to pull and call during the party. 

You can print the entire collection (all TWENTY different cards!) for free right HERE.

xo,

Rachel

Linking Up...

Robot Valentine's Party

Hello!

I can't believe how close we are to Valentine's Day! We honestly still have our boxed up Christmas decorations still in the garage, nowhere closer to being put into the attic than they were a week ago. Which also means that our Valentine's decorations are nowhere near being closer to being down here :) So in the mean time, I thought it might be fun to repost a little bit of the holiday from year. 

Last year I threw together a quick little party for a few of the kid's friends. The party was about 1 week before we moved into our current place (and only two weeks after we even found out we were moving!), so it was a little hectic at that time to say the least :) 

My obsession with Chevron was in full swing, and I was really excited to get started on creating a digital party (my first one to ever be added to my Etsy store!)

I made a DIY Robot Wreath to welcome our guests with items from the dollar store - 

and included a FREE ROBOT PRINTABLE to make your own. 

Slinkies were a big deal at this party - I used them to make a robot, jazz up some vases, and hung them from the ceiling for decoration:

...I even used a cute heart shaped one as a napkin ring :)

As decoration, I built a Robot out of boxes and wrapping paper. 

Guests got some cute goody bags...

...as well as some fun DIY Robot Candy Valentines

The whole collection (including printable valentines) are available this year again in my Etsy Shop.

Happy Hump Day!

xo, 

Rachel

Linking Up.....

.