Easter Mantel...

 I can't believe Easter is already just a week away!  I haven't had a spare minute to take any updated photos of my Easter decor this year, so you get to enjoy a few shots of my mantel from last year.  :)  And I was in such a rush even getting these up, I'm just now noticing an "oops" with my watermark on one of the photos.  ugh.  Oh well, maybe if I don't point out exactly where it's at, you won't even notice.  ;)  Anyway, here is last year's Easter Mantel...

 I created the "He is Risen" sign in Photoshop.  I also made the egg bunting and bunny silhouette.

I hope everyone has a fabulous Easter weekend!  My kids new bedrooms are finally coming together, I hope to share my progress with you soon!

Personalized Easter Buckets & a Touch of Spring...

Easter has been sneaking up on me every year since my oldest was 2.  It's always the same story; I'm scrambling 2 or 3 days before to find Easter basket goodies, AND a cheap Easter basket to fill said goodies with.  I'm always on a budget, so I usually find the cheapest basket I can find, and then that basket never holds up to be used again the following year.  This year I purposely put on my calendar a day to go out and get all of my Easter things well in advance.  I even collected a bunch of coupons so I was not paying full price for anything.  (Go Me!)  The main thing on my list was to find an Easter basket that was going to hold up to my children!  I found myself running into one little problem though: I couldn't find such a basket that was within my price range.  My favorite baskets I stumbled upon were these personalized fabric ones:

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Cute huh?!?  I loved that they also seemed like an easy thing to store when not in use.  But as much as I loved them, I simply could not pay the $18 price tag per basket plus shipping.  (I wanted three baskets, (an extra so I wouldn't have to search again next year after child #3 was here)

Once again, Pinterest came to my rescue: Personalized buckets!!

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Mine are much simpler than the ones pictured above, but they met all my wants and needs:  Sturdy, cute, affordable, size was perfect (not so small you can't fit anything, and not so huge that I'd be scrambling to fill it up within budget) and SOOO easy to personalize!  Check, check, check, check and CHECK!

 I found my buckets at Target for $5 a piece. (Not quite as cheap as the dollar store, but MUCH cheaper than $18, plus I really liked the way these looked.)  There were four different colors, and I went ahead and bought one of each variety.  (I needed 3, and I ended up getting one more "just in case")  ;)  I let my oldest choose her own basket, her font and color of vinyl.  And I cut out the vinyl lettering using my silouhette cameo!  It took me literally less than 10 minutes to create and attach their names onto their buckets.  When all was said and done, all four of my buckets cost me about the same as ONE of those fabric buckets.  (even with the vinyl)  I am one happy Momma!  And my kids love them too.  What kid doesn't love anything with their name on it?  :)

And because it's been snowing the past couple of days in these parts of the woods, I thought I'd quickly share a touch of spring in my home:

 I celebrated my birthday recently and received that pretty rose from some friends of mine.  :)

 I seriously LOVE decorating with all these little nests, eggs and birds.  :)  

Happy Spring everyone!!  (Even if it is snowing)  :)