Homemade Valentine Card

This year for our Valentine's cards for grandparents and aunts and uncles, we made three, big poster board signs. One said, "I", another said, "LOVE" and the last one said, "YOU". I took a picture of my kids holding each sign and then went to the store and picked out a design and made the cards. These cost $2 each which was so much cheaper than the cards in the stores..... AND, this is so much more personal and memorable!!!

"Handmade" Valentine's Gifts

I used the simple homemade lotion recipe of 1 jar vitamin E cream, a large tub of Vaseline and a large bottle of baby lotion (I chose the pink lotion for this one because it was for Valentine's gifts). I mixed all of those together in a bowl with a mixer and then I started "bottling" them. I had my husband drill holes in the lids of the old Mason jars I had. I then inserted recycled pumps I have kept from other "pumped bottles". I added a tag and a ribbon that said, "Hands down, you are a great teacher!". This is what I gave the teachers and then I also made tags that said, "You deserve a hand for being a great 5th grade buddy!" for the 5th grader that helps my kindergartner at school. I also recycled the canister that the Vitamin E cream came in. I just cleaned it out and wrapped it with scrapbook paper and put some paper on the lid and then added a tag and ribbon. Cute and fun "handmade" Valentine's gifts!

Happy Valentine's Day!

Valentine's Day Tradition

A few years ago, I started a fun Valentine's Day tradition with my family. Every Valentine's Day, we have dessert for dinner!!! Yeah, really!!! It has become one of our favorite traditions.

This is a picture of the beginning of the tablescape. The kids were too excited and it was all over before I got a picture of the end display!





This year the menu will be:

• Half Heart Carmelita's (Apples/Pears and caramel dip)




• Cupid's Arrow with Clouds (Strawberries and angel food cake skewers)




• French Silk Mini Pies (graham cracker crust, chocolate pudding, topped with Cool Whip)




• Speckled Chocolate Shakes (Frozen Yogurt, milk and Oreo shakes)




• Chocolate Lovin' (Melted Chocolate for dippin' apples, pound cake, brownie balls, pretzels, marshmallows, etc.)




• Bubbly (Sparkling Juice)




• I spread Hershey Hugs and Kisses around the table

This is just our way of making Valentine's Day a little extra special!!!

Valentine Scrabble Messages!

I made these for Christmas this year (I blogged those as well) and thought they would be cute for Valentine's Day this year. I painted the stands pink and red and glued the letters on to make cute sayings for Valentine's Day. Some of the words I put on there were: Valentines, We (heart) You, Feb. 14, Yummy (I am going to put this on the Valentines cookies we hand out), XOXOXOXOXOXO. I put little hooks on the sides of each one (my husband just drilled little holes and the hooks just screw right in) so I can tie them easily onto gifts and or cookie trays. There are millions of things you could say with these! Fun little addition to any gift or just a decoration for your desk. Cute way to send a message this Valentine's Day!!!

DIY Valentine Decoration

When I was using my Cricut to cut out "tags" for my kids' Valentines, I cut two that were way too big for what I needed (they were 10" long). I loved the way they looked though - I really liked the paper and the shape. So, I came up with an idea. My husband cut some scrap wood that was the same shape and size as the "tags" and drilled out holes to correspond with the holes on the paper "tags". I Modge Podged the paper "tags" onto the wood templates. I then tied some ribbon onto the top. They make a perfect Valentine decoration - I hung them on my front door!

Creative and Cute Valentine's Gift!

This would make a perfect Valentine's gift for anyone (grandparents, teachers, moms and dads, aunts and uncles, etc). I took pictures of siblings when they were giving each other a kiss and in the other picture, they were hugging each other. I put the pictures on the inside walls of a glass jar so you could see each picture. Then, I filled the jar with Hershey's Hugs and Kisses. On the top of the jar, I made a tag that said, "Kisses and Hugs to You!" So Cute!!!

Entertain Your Child For Hours! Cookie Tray Fun!

Kids love this! When the weather outside keeps you inside, this idea will keep your child entertained for a long time! I put oatmeal, rice, raisins, cereal (whatever I have on hand) on a cookie sheet. We then gather all our trucks, tractors and cars and the kids push, dump, roll, crush (and sometimes eat) what's on the cookie sheet. The girls will sometimes bring the dollhouse dolls and/or Polly Pockets to play too. I give each child their own tray so there aren't any conflicts.

Hours of entertainment with little effort = PURE BLISS FOR MOM!

Cute Valentines Gumball Machines and Mailboxes

These little crafts turned out so cute and they were pretty simple to do. To make the first one, I just spray painted clay pots and their bases red. I then turned the pot upside down and glued (with strong glue from the craft section) a glass bowl to it (the bowl is upright on the pot). The base just "rests" on the top of the bowl. You take the base off the top which enables you to get the "goodies" inside. I added some ribbon on the outside. I made these for the teachers this year for Valentine's Day, but you could do this for any holiday. Spray paint them black and use orange ribbon for Halloween or red and green for Christmas. The possibilities are endless! You can make tiny ones for birthday parties and the guests can take them home! How cute!

This is a picture of them all done and put together. Pretty cute!

With this craft, I took the mailboxes they have in the $1 bins at Target and glued them to a candlestick that I spray painted red. I made a pink one for my daughter and a red one for my son. I will fill these mailboxes for them on Valentine's Day.

Happy Valentine Crafting!