Happy Valentine - tutorial style!

Just a little post to say thanks to all you crafty geniuses who provide awesome tutorials and free printables!

And to everyone reading, I hope you had a lovely Valentine's Day.  

Wild Thing took all the heart crayon valentines (I mentioned them before, but here is the link that includes the printable card too - Thanks to Ellen at The Long Thread!) for his class.  Also, he and I painted this canvas tote bag based on this tutorial at V & Co. for his teacher. It turned out really nice!

Teen Wonder helped decorate a batch of Grandmother Orr's Sugar Cookies (secret family recipe normally used for Christmas cookies - this is the first time I've used it for another holiday!) cut out in various heart shapes for Wild Things class party and for her to pass out to some friends. But I didn't take a photo and now they are mostly eaten or given away.  Oh well!

We had a nice family dinner and traded Valentines here at home - everyone got chocolate of some sort - then finished watching "Mary Poppins".  It doesn't sound very romantic, does it?  But it was a nice evening nonetheless.  And not bad for a holiday that many people consider a "made-up" holiday anyway!

Put a pin in it!

One cute little project I've been meaning to make for ages.  A pin cushion!  Now I realize that I need at least a couple more.

Nothing like a little instant gratification, right?  Whoop Whoop!

I've been busy getting life back in order after being sick so much in the past 3 months - work, home, husband, kids - every piece of my life has been pretty neglected. I have a long list of home and craft projects - but some have to take priority. Like making these heart shaped crayons for Wild Thing's class valentine. We need 26 of them, so our thumbs are sore from peeling paper off broken crayons.  

There are several tutorials on the web of how to melt pieces of crayon in a mold to get multi-colored crayons in fun shapes.  The one we used is on FamilyFun.com: http://familyfun.go.com/valentines-day/valentines-day-cards/crayon-hearts-671639/

We'll need to smooth the back edges by rubbing on paper, then pick a valentine message to put on card stock, and stick the hearts on. But we'll do that another day.

I found the molds at IKEA yesterday. I also bought some stuff to help organize my craft space - it is a complete mess!  And while I was browsing through the fun fabrics they have (I was good and didn't buy any this time!) I found some curtains for Teen Wonder's room.  I don't have a before picture, but it would have just been darkness anyway. The heavy denim curtains were still there from when it was Wild Thing's nursery, and when we replaced all our windows with new energy efficient ones that matched the style of the house better than '70s single pane aluminum sliders, the awesome (and expensive) custom shade for that window wouldn't fit.  Teen Wonder kept the dark curtains shut ALL THE TIME and that bedroom gets the best light of the 3 we have. She said she didn't like the "no privacy" feeling when they were open.  Well, I cut them to length and hemmed them and pressed them and hung them up before she got home as a surprise.  She loves them, and even closed completely, some light comes through. They are double layer, so she can put back only the print panels and have night filtered light.  So today, what do I see?  They are totally open!

Teen Wonder - a wonderful mystery to us all!

Add caption

sshhh...it's a secret surprise Valentine

I only have a few minutes during my lunch hour to put this up. I hope this isn't the first day ever that the recipient of this Valentine will actually visit my blog...  I won't link up to FB until later, so probably no one will see this post today anyway.

So, I am married to this wonderful man - Mr. Wonderful.  In honor of Valentine's day we had a nice dinner on Saturday and went to a performance at the Berkeley Rep. I bought a big bouquet of roses for our table, and baked a cake to have tonight with the kids.  So we agreed we were done with Valentine's day save maybe a card and a little chocolate (for him). And also I bought myself a new car (!!yay), with Mr. Wonderful's blessing. So yeah, spending more money seemed silly right now.

But, I had seen some of the last minute Valentine craft roundups on blogs in the past week, and this tutorial for a "Pocket Full of Love" popped up on craftzine.com.  Actually, the tutorial itself is from Cloud Nine Fabrics (yummy organic, soft...)

So, I hurriedly went through my stash and scraps to find something to use, printed out the instructions, made up my own template because I couldn't print the template provided on 11x17 paper, and got to it!

Admittedly, the quality of this little pillow would have been a little higher if I'd given myself more time. But I had to work fast in little pieces of the day that I could steal away to my corner in the basement (pretending to do laundry).  Remember, I was also making last-minute Valentine's with Wild Thing.

(our house is a mess.)

I took two seconds to admire it before I hid it away in my closet.  You can't find anything in there unless you know my system. hehe.

This morning, I filled it with messages of love and with chocolate!  I left propped up on Mr. Wonderful's pillow.

Is it OCD to not let go of your idea to create something romantic for this commercial holiday, even though you haven't had time to plan a project ahead of time and even though you've agreed with your sweetheart that we've marked the occasion enough already?

Maybe so. Yes, probably. But Mr. Wonderful is such a perfect fit for me - the partner I want to grow old with (am already growing old with!). So I couldn't stop the obsessing until I compulsively acted out to make this little pocket of love.

I know he will understand.

( btw, the image on the card tucked inside the pocket is a free download from a talented artist named Samantha Hahn that I also found through craftzine.com - it's perfect for us and works better than any of the choices I looked at in the stores. I just printed it out, trimmed it down and stitched it to a blank card I had laying around...)

Last minute Valentines - yikes!

For weeks (at least 2 or 3), I've been thinking to myself "hey, Wild Thing needs Valentines for his class - we'd better get on it!" 

 

Some years I'm good with the standard Spider Man valentines - especially if I find something early enough that all the good designs are not gone from the shelves. 

That didn't happen this year.

BUT - I know that there are all kinds of talented designers out there who offer free printables for just such an occasion.  I visited one of my favorite papercraft sites, The Toymaker - and in the Holiday section under Valentine's are these adorable heart cookie cards.  I love love love this website!

So, some cardstock, scissors, dumdums, and gluestick later - plus Wild Thing signing his name to 24 of these babies - we had a bag full of Valentine goodness for his class party tomorrow.

Yay!

(I actually have another last-minute Valentine project to post, but I haven't taken a photo yet. Plus the recipient may actually see this post before he sees the Valentine...so that one will have to wait.