Thumbs Up!

Who doesn't love a good handmade Valentine? But what I really love even more is knocking off a fantastic creative idea and making it work for me! None of the guts, all of the glory, I always say! This year, while cruising a favorite craft blog, U Create, (who has been so kind as to feature us before) I found these.

After school we had our photoshoot. This angle takes a bit of practice.


Then I got to work selecting the best photos, adding text, and printing them at Costco for $.13 each:

How can I NOT prominently feature kindergarten's toothless wonder?

As always, sweet.

Now here is the part where I am multi-tasking and making dinner (Meatless Thursday - whole wheat waffles with a 4 berry sauce) and slicing the photos to make slits for the blow pops and I didn't have a 3rd hand to take a picture. I used a rotary cutter because I couldn't find my X-Acto knife quickly. I just made about a 1/2 slit at the top and bottom of the fist and honestly, I think the rotary cutter was easier than the X-Acto would have been. I just pressed the blade to the picture (on a cutting mat) and it made the perfect slit.

While I was gone last night I left my kiddos and husband assembling the Valentines. I came home to these piles on the sofa and chair:



I think these are a total riot! They were super fun to make and oh so unique. Even my husband, who is pretty jaded by the crafting around here, was impressed.

Happy Valentine's Day

Felt inspired to be a little fancy on Friday.

Needed a few Valentine's for friends and I felt like trying to make my own version of a fancy cupcake. I am a novice at icing a sophisticated cupcake so bear with me. I love this recipe: Darn Good Chocolate Cake (a triple chocolate cake that I like to make as cupcakes - yields about 3 dozen, this time I made two doz. and a heart shape cake for our family dinner tomorrow.) Iced it with pale pink butter cream/cream cheese frosting and just a dash of sprinkles. I found these darling silver boxes at Dollar Tree that fits two cupcakes nicely. Tie with a pretty ribbon and tag...so sweet!

Have a great weekend with your sweeties!

Will you be mine?

Officially Tuesday

Project #13
"Be Mine" Valentine's Day Pennant Banner

Our inspiration:
Images courtesy of Moda Bakeshop and Martha Stewart

The triangle pockets, the darling yo-yo's, the eclectic mix of fabrics, the super sweet paper medallions all inspired me to make a...

"Be Mine" paper flag and medallion pennant banner

(Who doesn't love a pennant banner?)

This was to be a:

no cost (times are tight, you know - use our stash)
no sew (babies are sleeping in sewing room)
actually finish it on one Tuesday (because sometimes these drag on...)
before the holiday is over (yup - it happens...life gets in the way)

Project.

We are again using our silver glittery letters from Wal-Mart. For those of you keeping count, we have used 3 packs (about $4 each) of glitter letters between the two of us and made:
2 Tis The Season banners/garlands
2 Happy Birthday! banners/garlands
and today, 2 "Be Mine" banners

(and have lots of leftovers)

We had to get a little creative and do some delicate micro surgery on the letters...
(F + L = E and K was chopped to become an I)


Sort through your mountainous stash of scrapbook and craft papers. You know you have one. Pull anything that may work in your color scheme. Not everything will make the cut but it's nice to have options!

To make the medallions:
(Molly said she would rather me teach her the medallions than watch the Martha Stewart tutorial on the website from her show. Last year Molly got to attend a taping of her show - she said she was , well, a little Martha. So, here is your tutorial. )

Trim a piece of 12x12 paper to strips of 1.5" x 12" I used a scallop rotary cutting tool on one edge, straight trim on other edge. (From the Martha line at Michael's - the irony...) Not necessary but creates a darling edge and makes the folding easier.

Accordion fold and make into a tiny "lampshade." Secure ends with glue.

Flatten the "lampshade" and dot the center with a (generous) dot of glue. Weigh it down a bit while it dries. We started with Elmer's but moved on to Elaine's quick grab tacky glue. The Elmer's would work fine but needed to be held a little longer while it dries.

At this point embellish as you wish. We added a 1" circle to the center - this is where we would eventually add the glittery letters - the letters needed something to help them pop.

For our flags:
We cut triangle banner flags 6" wide by 8" tall/long. Does that make sense?
Cut 3/4" strips of paper for tails to hang below the medallion and pieces to embellish your flags - we cut a 2" strips of our pattern papers with the scallop cutter and 1" strips of glitter paper to layer on the flag.

Now comes the fun (or sometimes nerve racking part) of mixing and matching medallions, flags, and layering strips of paper to create the perfect "imperfect" randomness.

Assemble and trim all the final pieces. We used an adhesive runner thingy for the layered papers and a hot glue gun for the medallion pieces and letters.


String together and hang where all your special Valentines will see and know they are loved! I used a slot punch and 1/2 inch twill tape (any ribbon or cord will do) to string my flags.

I just love to imagine the possibilities with this cute pennant banner and sweet medallions. Birthday banner? Child's name? Classroom? Center embellishments - buttons, flowers, seasonal iconic images. And the tails - you could add names or sentiments or holiday phrases. Go nuts!

And you know we need to show you what we ate for lunch today:

Fried eggs on wheat toast, oranges and tangeloes, and orange juice.

PS: We had hoped to have this be a totally one day project but it took a little longer than we planned, of course, life got in the way again! (a very sick baby K...urgent care, sleepless night, all that fun stuff) But, here it is on Wednesday and it is done!

(Does the sometimes seem strange and small, like not on purpose? I cannot correct it. Oh well...)