Love My Valentine's Mantel

I'm really happy with my mantel this year.  NOT that I didn't love my mantel last year!!  But this year...I have a Silhouette (thanks again, Emily!!)!  I made the Love My Valentine's bunting banner with the Silhouette.

Now, I have wanted to make a paper flower wreath like the famous Stephanie Lynn Paper Rose Wreath for over year now.  I FINALLY did it!!  With help from my Silhouette!  I never got around to cutting a zillion spirals from paper.  The Silhouette did it for me 6 at a time!!

Isn't she amazing!!  I am in love!!  She looks great on the shutters, too.  I was going to take down the heart bunting but I kinda like it there with the wreath.

I added my Valentine ribbon candles which I made with Kassi of Truly Lovely's tutorial.  The flowers are from my husband.  He gave them too me last week after he came back from a business trip.  It was so sweet.  And even sweeter that Alice kept looking at me with my flowers and saying "You're getting married?"  I told her "I am married, I married your daddy".  And she would giggle!!  Oh, those cute lil love bears are from the GW in AZ.  The Bless This Family Birds my husband picked out at Michael's one night while I stood and stared at the beading aisle for an hour.

Red ceramic hearts are also from the GW in AZ.  The pretty wire candle holder I found 75% off at Bed Bath and Beyond a few weeks back.  It's really pretty with a lit candle inside.  I love that it says Laugh and Dance at the bottom.  Makes me think of Alice.

I almost left my mantel like this, thinking it didn't need a wreath.

Here is another before...

OH! And a before with a smiling "take my picture for your blog mommy!"....

Ya know, she plays on her kiddie laptop and says "I'm working on my blog" It's TOO CUTE!!!

So, here is my Valentine's Day Mantel!

 What do y'all think??  Do you love it as much as I do??

Thanks so much for stopping by!

I'm linking up at Beth's Valentine's Day link party!!  Are you??

linking up here:{M} Making The World Cuter ~ The Creative Girl ~ Skip To My Lou ~ Between Naps On The Porch ~ C.R.A.F.T. ~ Craft-O-Maniac ~ Dittle Dattle~ DIY Home Sweet Home ~ {T} Bella Before and After ~ Today's Creative Blog ~ Home Stories A 2 Z ~ A Stoll Thru Life ~ Tip Junkie ~ Sugar Bee ~I'm Topsy Turvy ~ Funky Polkadot Giraffe ~Not JUST a Housewife ~ Running With Glitter ~ A Bowl Full of Lemons ~ Homework ~Vintage Wanna Bee ~{W} Night Owl Crafting ~ Someday Crafts ~Blue Cricket Design ~Sew Much Ado ~ Lil' Luna ~ Handy Man, Crafty Woman {T} House Of Hepworths ~ The Shabby Chic Cottage ~ Somewhat Simple ~What Allie's Making Now {F} Fingerprints On The Fridge ~ Tidymom ~Simply Designing ~The Shabby Nest ~Chic On A Shoestring Decorating ~Simply Sweet Home ~My Romantic Home ~ Homemaker In Heals ~ Truly Lovely ~ A Little Knick Knack~ Lovely Crafty Home ~ Whipperberry ~ 30 Days ~ Remodelaholic ~ Craftionary{S} Be Different...Act Normal~Funky Junk Interiors ~Tater Tots And Jello ~Along For The Ride ~ Lolly Jane ~ To Sew With Love ~Homemaker In Heels ~ {Sn} I Heart Naptime ~Under The Table And Dreaming ~ Homemaker on a Dime ~ Nifty Thrifty Things ~ Flamingo Toes

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AliLilly Blog Critique

I joined the Blog Critique party at Truly Lovely last week.  I signed up to have two critiques done and to give two critiques.  For my critiques, one was from Megan of Some Good Times and the other from Elena of World Wide Mom.  We all followed the blog critique list created by Carolina at Crafterminds.
They both gave me great critiques.  Here is a summary of their critiques and my responses in red. 

• Finding the blog:  You are doing great on Google. I Google-d the term “Ali Lilly” and your Blog was number Your Etsy shop was number 2, and your Facebook page for your Blog was number 3 !

Seriously?  That is super awesome!! 

• Finding your blog on Google was easy and fast.

• Blog Loading:  Your blog loaded quickly in Google Chrome, which I use, within a few seconds. I also tried in Safari and IE and both were slower to load your page, but I tend to have that issue with any website with these browsers.  

• Blog loading was pretty fast

• First Impression:  I love the background and the Title image, though my eye was drawn to the top banner Ad more than to your content at first. I love the many quick links at the top. I really appreciate when I go to a blog looking for something specific and find a link to it at the top!

• First Impression: the first thing I notice is that you have the adv banner after your header and I would put it before at the very top of the page. So that after your header would follow the green menu, that I like because it gives right away some useful tools and info where to find what.

They were both instantly drawn to the banner ad.  Which is both good and bad.  But, I did move the ad to the very top.  I think it keeps the blog flowing a little better.  I LOVE having those tab links up there and equally love when other bloggers have them as well.  Makes it so much easier on us readers. 

• Sidebar:  The Sidebar is organized well. It is easy for people to follow you in their preferred way and to find you on other medias (facebook, etsy).I love the photos of your family included ! They are great.  I find that it’s easy to feel like bloggers aren't “real” and one of the ways to counteract this is to include photos like these of the people/things/events that are important to you.

• I love that you put pictures of your daughter. I never thought doing that but I really think that showing a little bit of you and your family, is something that people may like. It is like getting you know better!

Social media buttons are so important.  You want to give your readers every opportunity to follow in which ever way they prefer.  I find so many blogs out there without these. 


I love having pictures of my family up. I will say that has I gain more and more followers it makes me a little nervous to have them.  Especially Alie. I've had to block a few followers that were more than R rated! (Thanks Kassi for the heads up!)  I'm not quite sure how to go about this.  I LOVE letting y'all into my world and my world is my sweet Alie and my hubby.  I see quite a few bloggers that do not post pics of their kids or they post without their faces.  Right now, I think the best thing to do is TRUST that God has my life in His hands and that includes this blog! 

• I would put your amazing etsy shop more on the top of the site.  What you create is beautiful and should be more visible!

Thank you so much!!  I actually widened the widget on the side bar.  I also have a tab up top that takes you to a larger widget which includes prices. 

• Misc: I did look you up on Alexa.com and it looks like 231 site have links to your blog which is great and that the number one search that lead to you is “Felt Flower Tutorial” http://www.alexa.com/siteinfo/alililly.blogspot.com

This is pretty dang cool!!  I didn't even KNOW about Alexa.com!!

• The font style is very nice and simple I wouldn't change that only the bold effect. 

I've been posting in bold since the beginning of the blog.  Once it was brought to my attention, THEN I suddenly noticed how annoying it was!!  Sorry y'all!! I even share my AMAZING TACO RECIPE yesterday for taco Tuesday and changed the font.  I guess I'll slowly change them all.  I like it better like this. 

• I like how you gave space to your sponsors. They have a good spot and the size of the buttons is just right (in some blogs the sponsor buttons are so tiny you cannot understand what they are even selling!)

I agree, there are a lot of sponsor buttons on blogs that are really really small.  I've seen lots of interesting ideas behind sponsors.  Now, yes, most of my sponsors right now are friends and we both sponsor each other.  And yes I am terrible at doing sponsor features. I am working on that!  I do have a few sponsors that pay.  Some big blogs out there have SO MANY sponsors I think they get lost in all the buttons.  If your paying for sponsorship you want to be seen and you want a feature post, whether it be a single or multi-feature post as long as the blog your paying is putting YOU out there. I saw one really great sponsor idea.  One blog out there only has 10 sponsor spaces open and she only runs your space for one month.  That way there isn't too many sponsors and there is the opportunity for anyone who wants a space to eventually have one.  I heard too, that she has a wait list and bloggers fighting for a spot!!  

Even though, she liked the size I changed my sponsor button sizes.  Perhaps a bit of guilt for not so many sponsor features??  Absolutely!  And...well...it's a bit more symmetrical now. 

• On your sidebar you have two times the Popular Posts Gadget.

I have two because one the popular post from the past 30 days and the other is popular posts from all time.  I edited the titles so that it was clear why I had two. 

• About me:  From your about me I learned a lot about how you became interested in your shop and crafting/blogging which I enjoyed. I think it would be nice to learn how you met your Husband as well. Your daughter is adorable !

Well, it's actually a funny story.  I was in the "talking about going out" part of the relationship with someone.  I went to hang out one night at this certain someones house.  In the kitchen stood this GORGEOUS man in a crazy looking super tight (like spandex tight) orange and blue Nautica shirt.  Lucky for him orange is my favorite color.  BUT, I didn't pay attention to the shirt for long.  David had the most haunting hazel eyes I had ever seen.  Those eyes have held my heart in soul in them ever since.  We have been together since THAT DAY.  I prayed the whole time I was pregnant with Alice that she would have her daddy's eyes. 

So, there is my critique. Thanks so much, Megan and Elena.  You both gave my wonderful critiques and really helped me make this a better blog.  Thank you, Kassi for hosting.  I really learned a lot!!  And thanks to Crafterminds for setting up a great critique check list.  :)

I want to add too... I have learned a lot this past weekend.  Someone on Facebook had a page up FULL of awesome looking wreaths, wall hangers, kids clothes, and other stuff for sale.  Only problem.  It. Wasn't. Her. Stuff!!  She had MY FALL YARN WREATH for sale for $35 ANY color you want!  Really?  I was LIVID!!  She had MANY MANY other images stolen from lots of bloggers, including Jen with Craft-o-Maniac and Amy with The Idea Room.  Her page has been shut down by Facebook.  But, I learned from all of this that any image that is yours whether it is watermarked or not is YOURS. PERIOD!  And no one can use it with out your consent.  I have added a NEW tab to the top of my page called Copyright.  I have added a few links that have some interesting info us bloggers should know. 

I hope this was helpful to you. Thanks so much for stopping by.

Click here to join or browse through the Blog Critique Party at Truly Lovely. 

linking up here:{M} Making The World Cuter ~ The Creative Girl ~ Skip To My Lou ~ Between Naps On The Porch ~ C.R.A.F.T. ~ Craft-O-Maniac ~ Dittle Dattle~ DIY Home Sweet Home ~ {T} Bella Before and After ~ Today's Creative Blog ~ Home Stories A 2 Z ~ A Stoll Thru Life ~ Tip Junkie ~ Sugar Bee ~I'm Topsy Turvy ~ Funky Polkadot Giraffe ~Not JUST a Housewife ~ Running With Glitter ~ A Bowl Full of Lemons ~ Homework ~Vintage Wanna Bee ~{W} Night Owl Crafting ~ Someday Crafts ~Blue Cricket Design ~Sew Much Ado ~ Lil' Luna ~ Handy Man, Crafty Woman {T} House Of Hepworths ~ The Shabby Chic Cottage ~ Somewhat Simple ~What Allie's Making Now {F} Fingerprints On The Fridge ~ Tidymom ~Simply Designing ~The Shabby Nest ~Chic On A Shoestring Decorating ~Simply Sweet Home ~My Romantic Home ~ Homemaker In Heals ~ Truly Lovely ~ A Little Knick Knack~ Lovely Crafty Home ~ Whipperberry ~ 30 Days ~ Remodelaholic ~ Craftionary{S} Be Different...Act Normal~Funky Junk Interiors ~Tater Tots And Jello ~Along For The Ride ~ Lolly Jane ~ To Sew With Love {Sn} I Heart Naptime ~Under The Table And Dreaming ~ Homemaker on a Dime ~ Nifty Thrifty Things ~ Flamingo Toes

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Valentine's Day Bunting Banner

I have a SILHOUETTE!!  YES!!  And I'm totally in love with it.  My Sister in Law Emily aka Decor Chick gave me her Silhouette SD!  So super nice, eh?  I have already began about 5 other projects with it.  Ya know, to add to the 50 or so I have going on right now!! 

I used my new Silhouette SD to cut the paper bunting, circles and letters for this banner. 

My banner says <3 My Valentine's.  I cut burlap and glued the paper bunting to it.  Then I made some folded paper pinwheels.  Glued a circle and letter to each pinwheel and then glued the pinwheel to the paper and burlap bunting.  I attached each flag to a piece of twine with hot glue.  Folded Paper Pinwheel Tutorial Here. 

I also cut out some hearts then lined them with burlap and used those in between the words.  I made a few smaller burlap lined hearts and a couple ribbon and burlap bows and adorned the rest of the banner with those. 

Do you remember Kassi's SUPER CUTE AND EASY Candle Revamp?? If you don't you should check it out!  I used it here, to make these cute Valentine's Day candles. 

I originally had these on the banner, but it made it WAY TOO LONG.  So I cut them out and added the smaller hearts.  These guys were just too cute to toss so I made a small bunting banner for my shutters.  I have a Valentine's Day Wreath in the making....

What do y'all think?  I love it!  I can't wait to show y'all everything I've already started with the Silhouette SD! 
Thanks again Emily!!  Thanks everyone else for stopping by! 

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Linking up here:

linking up here:{M} Making The World Cuter ~ The Creative Girl ~ Skip To My Lou ~ Between Naps On The Porch ~ C.R.A.F.T. ~ Craft-O-Maniac ~ Dittle Dattle~ DIY Home Sweet Home ~ {T} Bella Before and After ~ Today's Creative Blog ~ Home Stories A 2 Z ~ A Stoll Thru Life ~ Tip Junkie ~ Sugar Bee ~I'm Topsy Turvy ~ Funky Polkadot Giraffe ~Not JUST a Housewife ~ Running With Glitter ~ A Bowl Full of Lemons ~ Homework ~Vintage Wanna Bee ~{W} Night Owl Crafting ~ Someday Crafts ~Blue Cricket Design ~Sew Much Ado ~ Lil' Luna ~ Handy Man, Crafty Woman {T} House Of Hepworths ~ The Shabby Chic Cottage ~ Somewhat Simple ~What Allie's Making Now {F} Fingerprints On The Fridge ~ Tidymom ~Simply Designing ~The Shabby Nest ~Chic On A Shoestring Decorating ~Simply Sweet Home ~My Romantic Home ~ Homemaker In Heals ~ Truly Lovely ~ A Little Knick Knack~ Lovely Crafty Home ~ Whipperberry ~ 30 Days ~ Remodelaholic ~ Craftionary{S} Be Different...Act Normal~Funky Junk Interiors ~Tater Tots And Jello ~Along For The Ride ~ Lolly Jane ~ To Sew With Love {Sn} I Heart Naptime ~Under The Table And Dreaming ~ Homemaker on a Dime ~ Nifty Thrifty Things ~ Flamingo Toes

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