Valentine Re-Cap

Oh my goodness, it has been soooo long! Life has been way too busy to blog and my crafting projects are fewer and farther between, BUT...it still comes to my mind and I miss it! In an effort to get back on track, I'm going to try to get back in the groove with a re-cap post on a few past Valentine projects. Valentine's Day has become a favorite "little" holiday for me since my daughter got old enough to participate. Now I look forward to it every year and am always looking for fun new things to incorporate.  Hope you enjoy, and let me know if you have any questions!

Check out some of these fun and easy projects!

Felt Heart Garland
Great on a mantle, too, but I don't have one of those. :)

 Nugget Purses
















Valentine Word Fun



Valentine Tweak







Valentine Mail Pouches
 These are my favorite! My family has so much fun writing notes to each other from Feb.1-14. Try it, but beware...you will do it EVERY year forevermore!


That's enough faves for today. Pick out a few and see how it goes!
Take care,

{Sweet Valentine Treats: Little Nugget 'Purses'}

I made these sweet little treat 'purses' for the staff at my preschool. I love how they turned out!

Although they really are more for chocolate nuggets, I just wanted to use Kisses.

I followed the tutorial (mostly) over at Chic 'n Scratch. She has a great site with TONS of free video tutorials. Whenever I'm drawing a blank in the creativity department I head over there for a little inspiration (and great directions, ha!). 

I embossed these with my Cuttlebug, stamped the heart on the front, and punched the circles. The ribbon is from one of those sets on the $1 Spot at Target. I think I might actually have had that ribbon for 3 years. It was time for it to GO finally! It worked great because those rolls are too small to do much with anyway.

I ended up adding 3 Hershey Kisses, although only 2 are shown in this pic. I used just a little Tombow Snail to hold them in place, but not make them permanent or hard to pull off. I don't want to have to "work" to get my chocolate! :)

These whip up really quickly and are fun to make. I love to mass produce!

I'll be placing these on a red platter in the workroom at my school, so each teacher can grab a 'purse' and go!

I have some super cute felt foods to share with you next time. Until then, have a great week!

{Burlap Hearts Revisited}

Thought I would re-post these cute little burlap hearts from last year. They look so sweet in a small bathroom dish, or with several in an apothecary or antique bowl on the kitchen table. Burlap goes with almost everything!
Enjoy!

Here's how I made these:

I cut the burlap and some solid red cotton with my standby Nestie hearts (second from the largest I think). Then I stitched them together with red thread, leaving an opening. It actually took more stuffing than I thought, but still not much to fill them. You need a solid color fabric to go between so the stuffing doesn't fall through the burlap.

Then I finished stitching them up and voila! I love how they turned out.

I used scrap felt, as well as scraps from my Valentine Mail Pouches to make a few more to add to the mix.

So cute!

Take care!

{Fave Shirt Turned Pillow}

A great way to make a cute tee last...turn it into a pillow!

My daughter occasionally has a tee that she is bummed about growing out of because it has a cute animal picture or applique on it. We salvaged this one ( a $5 tee from Target), and will now use it as a decorative Valentine pillow on her bed...next year. :) She's in love with puppies, cats, and horses, so when I told her this shirt had lived its life, she immediately said, "Mommy make a pillow out of it!" We share a brain.

Here's the tee before we cut it apart:

And after...a cute little pillow to add to our Valentine deco box.

Plus it's super snuggly! It will be a nice little surprise when we open our V-Day box next year.

You could do this with any tee that has a cool logo, applique, or pic on it.

Thanks for stopping by!

 

Market Yourself Monday-Sumo's Sweet Stuff 

 

{Happy Heart Day!}

Happy, Happy Heart Day!!

Here's a little of what we'll be doing to celebrate today....

Enjoying ice cold "Love Potion" (aka Crystal Light Pink Lemonade)......

Delivering special messages to each other with our fancy new Mail Pouches ......

And watching the kiddo look for her Valentine surprises by reading 10 heart clues on our Valentine's Day Scavenger Hunt...........

This is the first year for doing this, and I'm looking forward to it. I'm going to brag and tell you that my Kindergartener is reading like crazy at a high second grade level (backflips from literacy mom!), so this is the perfect activity this year. I've laid out 10 clues that lead to a linen closet where she will find her surprises!

In addition to the above, we'll also be eating LOTS of candy. :)  

How are you celebrating today? 

Whatever you are doing, make sure to have fun and enjoy the ones you LOVE today!!

Happy Valentine's Day!!

XOXO,

{Valentine's Countdown Clipboard}

My kiddo has been begging me to put up a Valentine's Countdown this year! I didn't see a printable that I liked, and I didn't really want to do a treat thing with it (although those are so cute!). We'll be doing a scavenger hunt for her to actually FIND her Valentine this year, so I wanted the countdown to be just that...numbers.

So since I love Mod Podge, and I could make clipboards all day with it, I decided to go with a cute and basic clipboard countdown. It's easy!

YOU NEED:

Mod Podge and foam brush

clipboard

heavier patterned paper

ink (optional)

printer

scrap ribbon

cardstock

sticky strip or other strong adhesive

Start by cutting down your paper to ABOUT the size of your clipboard. You could also cut it smaller, leaving the clipboard as the framing around the paper. Apply mod podge generously directly onto the clipboard.

REALLY press your paper down, smoothing from the middle outward. If you have a brayer, this helps, but you don't need one. Just KEEP RUBBING OUTWARD. Then wait a couple of minutes and rub AGAIN. I have had bubbling once or twice, but only when the paper I was using was really thin -OR- if I didn't press it really, really well.

When you think you're done, rub it out one more time! :)  Trim any long edges, then take a sanding block and sand all around the edges. (You can skip this step if you make your paper smaller than the clipboard.) Distress the edges when you're done sanding.

Now apply mod podge again, even sealing over the edges, too.

Set it aside to dry, and print off your numbers on cardstock. Also print a final day sign and "...days 'til Valentines" for the bottom of your board. Trim to desired size and distress the edges if you want. (I have to distress edges. It's a sickness.)

Once it's all dry, add your strip to the bottom with a strong adhesive. I used sticky strip from Walmart.

I stuck my last day sign to some coordinating cardstock, but the rest of my numbers were on white. Clip them on in order, then tie scrap ribbon around the edges of your top clip for the cuteness factor. There you have it! Put this in a tabletop easel or hang.

Whatcha think? If you have any questions, feel free to let me know!! :) The hardest part of this was deciding how big I wanted my numbers to be. I had a brain lapse when I started it, but that might have been because it was 1AM...., ya think?

This would be cute for a vacation countdown, or other special event, too. (I'm seeing Disney paper on the clipboard and countdown numbers 'til vacation??) 

Enjoy!

 I'm linking up @:

{Valentines for Grandparents}

I don't know about you, but we always do a special Valentine craft for the 2 sets of grandparents in our family. My daughter is 6 1/2 now, and I've always tried to do this with 2 requirements: a)it includes a photo of her; and b)it's something that she makes almost exclusively without me.

This year we wanted to try something with conversation hearts, since they're so cute but nobody really wants to eat them (at least we don't)!  :) So during our second consecutive snow day today, she got busy on these little cuties.

THINGS YOU NEED:

recycled food boxes or cardboard

conversation hearts

scissors

Valentine themed photo (or any photo)

hole punch or Crop-A-Dile

jute or yarn

patterned paper

Aleene's Quick Grab Glue  (or Elmer's!)

First go through your recycle basket for food boxes. I usually cut these up before I put them in and file in my craft room. They are the best FREE chipboard! Then choose some patterned paper to cover it.

Cut your cardboard and paper to size, then glue it to the picture side with glue stick. Punch holes with your Crop-A-Dile and tie on yarn or jute for hanging.

Have your kiddo write a Valentine's message on the back, and date. Cute nails, huh?

Now you have your hanging background, a photo, and your conversation hearts ready. We have 2 of each. We used a photo of her in a Valentine's tee next to our "Love Tree."  (I got this idea here. )

Last year it was her and a Valentine Build-A-Bear. :)

Center your photo and glue on, then start adding hearts all around the picture. I used my Aleene's Quick Grab because I thought in the end that it would be stronger than Elmer's.

In no time it's finished! You could also distress the edges, but my kiddo didn't like that look so she won. :)

Let it dry. They are a bit heavy, so if you mail yours like we do, be sure to bubble wrap or put in a padded envelope.

The best part is that my kiddo loves how it turned out. She sang the whole time she worked, which is always my favorite part. :) Grandma & Grandpa can hang this anywhere and feel the love all the way from our house!

Take care,