HAPPY DAY AFTER-VALENTINES DAY!

This is my favorite part of Valentine's Day: sharing a special date (or two) with my sweetheart. And recognizing our love for each other.

He is so smart - first thing Valentine's morning started out with him handing me a giant box of these favorite treats. He is so lovely - he knows I love them and gives them to me even though my diet is "starting soon".

We went to dinner here because we LOVE this place!
Then we came home (because there were no tables left - it was very very busy - which made it fun to watch all the couples kissing to get their free entree!) and ate our dinner at home while watching our DVR'ed SNL episodes.

Earlier, my sweet sweetheart surprised me by buying theatre tickets at the Denver Center for the Performing Arts.

We will be going to these shows:

This one is our OFFICIAL Valentine's Date, later this month.

This one in March - for no particular occasion.

This one in May - for our 17th anniversary!

So yes it was a great Valentine's Day - not that it had to be February 14th to celebrate our love...right?

But I do not usually get caught up in the decorations and everything of this holiday. HOWEVER. Pinterest has entered my life and I cannot help myself with all of the CUTE and irresistible crafty things to make and do for every holiday under the sun. (Note: I have always been crafty - mostly "sew"-y - but have managed to filter out a lot of it based on time constraints or whatever other reason I come up with at the time). But this year...

My Pinterest to-do list was very lengthy, as I believe it will be for years to come now. And I'm OK with that. Now. I don't want anyone to start thinking I have become a sucker and am now at the mercy of Pinterest's siren call...but I do have to say that this renewed desire to craft and create beyond my normal things is a beautiful thing. Because it makes me happy. And it makes me awesome!

I did get few things created that I had "pinned":

I sewed Heart Chains with my sewing students.

I made and taught a class to make Hearts & Pompoms Garland.

{Crayon Hearts}I made these delightful melted crayon art hearts.

Here's our version of Martha Stewart's craft. We did not hang ours up yet though - next year we will figure out a cool way to do it.

For now, they are stuck to the sliding glass door, against our snowy backdrop.

The process of making these was actually pretty cool, though labor intensive (peeling crayons, shaving them into bits, melting them with the iron between waxed paper, trying to get the stain off the table because we did not follow the directions explicitly - they really mean it when they say put layers of craft paper underneath your ironing)

I think they're pretty and can't wait to pull them out of the bin next year and hang them properly.

{Chocolate Marshmallow Cookies}
Don't these look amazingly delicious? I made them for my kids for V-day. But I adapted a little bit...

I added pink "cherry"-flavored frosting instead of the chocolate. I love chocolate and cherry (almond, really) flavors together. And it looks Valentine-y with the pink.

Some got more frosting than others. Still so yummy!

{Red Velvet Crepes}
I made these for my kids' dinner last night before Tyler and I left for Qdoba.



Here's a few of the Pins that never got done but I do, thankfully, have the peace that I can do them "next year":

{Heart Wreath}

{Conversation Hearts}

{Wood Grain}

{Faux Patchwork Heart}

{Ice Art}

{Love Note Pillows}

{Cinnamon Cookie Crunch Popcorn}

{Ruffled Heart Shirt Dress}

{Stuffed Hearts}I love this because it uses red snowflakes from the previous season...Christmas. Nice transition.



A few more Things Valentine:

I got "Heart Attacked" by my church class. Nice heartwarming surprise!

My kindergartener brought home this wreath he had made at his school Valentine's day party. I love it!

It looks like an easy craft, made from a paper plate with a circle cut out of the middle and hearts glued to it.

I keep these things for next year too. {LOVE}

My daughter made this darling lollipop flower for me in her Home Ec class. {LOVE}



~If you are interested in receiving updates and future posts from this blog, please sign up to "FOLLOW" on the top right of this page. Let's keep in touch!~

Valentine Table Setting Ideas

I have this empty basket that I received as a gift basket one year - it is so darling but I cannot figure out what to put in it now. So I tried to come up with an idea. It really was an experiment but it turned out to be quite fun and a good craft with a few of my kiddos.

First thing I did was get out my trusty red felt (Holy COW! I have used this a lot for my Valentine crafts this year!) I embroidered the names of each family member that I love (I guess that's all of them - 8 total in the house). I left lots of space on the felt so I could cut it into hearts later.

Then I traced around each name with my largest heart cookie cutter. I always use soap chips for marking.

Then I cut around each heart leaving more than 1/2" around the tracing.

Then I cut another layer similar in size and put it underneath. This will be the back of my heart.

Sew around the heart, starting to the right of the bottom point, just above the point, going all the way around (clockwise), leaving a hole to stuff it. Use pinking shears to cut close to the sewn edge, about 1/4" or a little more.

Then stuff the heart with polyfill or small batting scraps. I told my 6-year-old helper: "Stuff the bumps first, then stuff the point". He was eager to stuff. (Less eager to clip his nails. Sorry. He's a boy and couldn't care less. I'll get right on that...)

Then sew that last section shut, with your needle to the left. Be sure to backstitch.

Then I filled my basket with my family hearts. Pretty cute. I could use this for a centerpiece. At least on Valentine's Day. (Until then, the boys just walk around with it and play with the "stuffed name hearts".)

There sure is a lot of us...maybe I need a larger basket for these. Oh well, it will do for now.

Ooh, I just thought of another idea I could use them for...

Sorry they are a little wrinkly - just pulled then out of the bin and they will flatten when the plates get on them...yeah that was lazy).

I had made these placemats for my family several years ago. I still need to make one more - there have been 8 of us for a few years and now the "baby" permanently eats at the table...

Inspired by Conversation Hearts candy

(I also did this set for a client in totally different colorways. Different than traditional but still cute!)

This is how my table is set for tonight's dinner (for the kids). I am using these stuffed hearts for placecards! I put clear glass dinner plates so everyone can see their placemats!

Totally cute - they are excited to be "served dinner" on Valentine's Day. Then I get to go out with MY VALENTINE...heehee!



I am linked up to:




~If you are interested in receiving updates and future posts from this blog, please sign up to "FOLLOW" on the top right of this page. Let's keep in touch!~

Heart Chains

I was looking for a cute but very simple idea for my Beginning Sewing students' group class. This group was ages 7-9 and they were literally on their second lesson with their brand new machines. I saw this on Pinterest and knew it would be a perfect way for them to practice their straight stitches.

{Sweet Bee Buzzings}

Here's what I did to prep:

1. Gather felt fabric to cut hearts.
2. Cut in strips a few inches wide. Fold in half longways with the fold toward you.
3. Cut half hearts on the fold with fabric scissors. When you open the fold, your heart is full. ;)
4. Sort your hearts in piles by color.

Lots of hearts to make lots of chains.

I thought the strips were really cool too, and I did not throw them away...I'm sure they can turn into something really cool later...

Sew them together in a chain. Basically, I had my students start with one heart - start at the top between the two bumps - sew a straight line from there to the bottom point. About halfway to the point, though, stop sewing and choose your next heart (this was good for them to make their own "pattern" too - red, white, pink - or random, however they wanted). Put your next heart right under the bottom point. The pieces nested perfectly into one another. Then they just kept going in that manner, sewing in a straight line through all the heart pieces.

They did a beautiful job! I sent them home with tons of hearts to "practice" and make chains to hang all over their houses or bedrooms for Valentine's Day.

Mine are hanging on the door of my Sewing Studio.



Would you like to learn to sew?



I am linked up to:




~If you are interested in receiving updates and future posts from this blog, please sign up to "FOLLOW" on the top right of this page. Let's keep in touch!~