DIY Friday

Today's  episode of DIY Friday is brought to you by... Valentine's Day.

Yep, I know its a a few days gone, but oh well.  You get my recap today! 
TJ's had to take valentine's for his preschool class as well as his parent preschool class.  I love making things.  I know to some mom's its stressful.  To me, it's a huge stress reliever.  Doing stuff with my hands makes me happy.  So, of course, making TJ's valentine's was the only option!

So I found this (courtesy of pintrest)  ...

and put my mad photoshopping skills to work. (Ha! I know how to crop and add a text box. And that is the end of my photoshop knowledge.)  And ended up with this...

 Of course, it had to be paired with some yummy homemade heart donuts (that I forgot to take a picture of!)


And that's that.  TJ was thrilled, I was happy, all was good! 

But it gets even better!!  The summer before James and I got married, I got James a print of his favorite picture. 

photo from here

We were beyond broke, so framing wasn't an option at the time, but I planned on getting it framed for Christmas.  Then Christmas came and we were SO broke because James had to have surgery on both of his wrists, so he was out of work for the first 3 and half months we were married and our wedding was 2 weeks after Christmas.  I thought, no big deal, I can buy a simple frame and do it myself.  Turns out, big deal.  The print I got was an odd size.  A very large odd size.  So, in order to frame it, I either had to buy a frame that was huge and figure out something with a mat or had to custom frame it.  Several times over the past years, I have priced out getting it framed or matted.  The cheapest I have been able to get anything done was $340.  Gag.  Then a couple weeks ago, I had a coupon for an additional 20% off custom framing at Michael's.  I figured, what the heck, I'd give them another go. I mean, it's 70% off, it can't be that bad, right.  Ha!  They quoted me $380 AFTER the discount.  So, I wandered for a while because I kind of love craft stores.  And I saw a frame that was on sale.  It was regularly $190 on sale for $39!!  And it was big enough!  Cautiously, I asked how much a custom mat would be.  Well, I guess the lady took pity on me because she said it was only $38!!  So for less than $80, I got everything I needed to frame his picture.  I put in on our bed while he was out running an errand and then asked him to grab my shoes before our date.  He was SHOCKED!!  It was the best suprise ever!  And by doing it myself, I saved over $300!!