Valentine's Day

Valentine's Day is Monday and we are working hard to create some cards for friends and family. I saw this idea in Martha Stewart Living last year and decided this is what Jillian will give to her friends this year. I like how adding the lollipop makes the hearts look like flowers.

They were super simple, just a little time consuming. I had to do the cutting and assembling of the hearts, but Jillian selected the lollipop and put it in for the final touch.

We still need to figure out what to send to family and we're going to be cutting it close. This has been a crazy week. Daddy had outpatient surgery on Monday, keeping me out of the house all day, then other commitments have kept us running the rest of the week. I'm sure we can get it all done and shipped out tomorrow just in time to let everyone know how much they mean to us.

More Valentine Ideas

I love this Valentine card idea from the Erin at house on hill road.

She says that she must have seen it somewhere else and now that I have seen it, I'm going to file it away until next year. How cute would these be to hand these out to friends? Of course, JillyBean would have to add a bit of glitter and sparkle to hers. The possibilities are limitless.

Valentine's Week

In spite of the 18 inches of snow outside our front door, it is a lovely day today. However, Jilly and I had some catch-up work to do in preparation for Valentine's Day. We started early this morning finalizing Valentine cards to get in the mail and made a couple of other crafts. I knew that I was on the right track when JillyBean looked up at me, smiled and said, "mommy, I have so much fun with you." It made my heart melt.
First things first, we had to complete the Valentine's cards that we started a couple of weeks ago. I got the idea from the February issue of Martha Stewart's Living. These cards were made by rolling up pieces of corrugated cardboard and turning them into stamps. Martha's idea was that they would look like roses (you can also cut a piece of cork to make the stem), but I thought that they turned out looking like hearts, which was perfect.

Jilly dabbed the stamps in red ink and went to town. Each person who receives one of her cards this year gets an original and no two are alike. As I mentioned, we did these a couple of weeks ago. I don't know if it was the paper that we used or if she overdid it on the ink, but they needed some time to dry before flipping them over to complete.
On the other side, we wrote a personalized Happy Valentine's Day note to each recipient, attached a photo and stuck on a couple of festive stickers. I think that they're cute and unique and will be cherished by each family member and friend who receives one. Plus, other than the writing, the cards were completely decorated and designed by Jilly. I didn't give any suggestions to her about the amount of ink she used or the placement or amount of stamping she did. She was very proud of the final product as well.

In addition, Jilly and I completed our Valentine chandelier that I mentioned last week. It turned out just as lovely as I had hoped and spices up the dining room quite nicely. We decided to hang it in there to surprise Daddy when he gets home tonight. Hopefully he'll notice. Jilly helped glue the hearts together with her trusty glue stick. She is such a pro!

Spending a morning doing crafts with Jilly is one of my favorite things to do. It gives us time to work together and talk about not only what we are doing at that moment but other things going on around us. I treasure mornings like this.

Getting Crafty

I don't make New Year's resolutions, but I have a couple of goals that I have set out for 2010. One is to send at least one hand-written letter to a friend each month. Birthday wishes, a thank you note, or other events don't count. This is my way of getting back to the simple pleasures in life - receiving a little something in the mail box that isn't a bill or junk. Plus, it's a way for me to let my friends know how much I care for them. So far I'm on target with that goal.

Secondly I have decided that I am going to explore the crafty side myself. I have never been all that creative. Yes, I used to make money as a writer, but that was as a news writer/reporter. I simply took facts and presented them in a readable format. I suppose some creativity crept up from time to time, but not much.

I know that I am not very imaginative. I have ideas but don't know how to put them into play. So, to kick things off I will allow myself to become inspired by others.

Since January is in the books, and I now view that month as a time to get back to normal after the fall and winter holidays, Jilly and I are going to get cracking on some fun projects. I also view February as the perfect month to start this since it's the month of Valentine's Day. We have already borrowed an idea for making cards from Martha Stewart and now we're on to some cute decor.

The woman who is responsible for our MOPS blog posted these ideas and Jilly and I plan to tackle at least one today.

I like this banner from Crafting Chicks. I made a cute birthday banner for JillyBean's birthday last year, but I like the style of this. I will probably use this to help create her Thomas birthday banner this year.


And our second project is a Valentine chandelier that is featured on the My Little Gems blog.

I think that this will look cute all year long in Jilly's play room.