Valentine's Day Cards

I don't know why, but when I think of Valentine's Day cards, I always think of cute little "punny" sayings. And the one that always comes to mind is from an old Simpsons' episode, where Lisa give Ralph a Valentine that says: "It says I choo-choo-choose you." And there's a picture of a train on it. Very cute!

So, I decided, in the spirit of love and puns, (& because, well, I love puns!) to make some Valentines for those who are dear to my heart. And what better way, than to dive into my scraps!

For the first couple I made, I thought about using my tools to make shapes. So, I cut a larger circle and then trimmed it off and punched it with my scalloped edge punch. I made an umbrella...

Supplies used: Daisy D's pp (from the Feb. kit), Bella Blvd pp & an Autumn Leaves stamp.


And a cupcake...

Supplies used: Collage Press pp (from the Jan. kit), Pink Paislee pp & glitter brad.


Then, as I was digging through my supplies, I realized that I had quite a few chipboard shapes that could easily be used for cards. Here's what I came up with...

Supplies used: My Mind's Eye & Crate pp, an American Crafts bird and an Autumn Leaves stamp.


Supplies used: Pink Paislee pp & Cosmo Cricket cherries (from the June add-on kit).


Supplies used: My Mind's Eye pp, an American Crafts butterfly and an SEI stamp.


Supplies used: Crate Paper pp, My Mind's Eye chipboard mug and Bazzill cardstock.

So, what about you? Do you plan on making some Valentines this year?

Valentine's Day

Valentine's Day has always been one of my favourite holidays.  I love making little crafts for the kids (and some for me).

Here are a few that I've made in the past couple years that I have loved:

I bought these plain little buckets at Walmart.  I filled them with small treats for the kids and the hubby.  I put their names on them with American Craft Thickers and tied some ribbon on the handles.  For the girls, I embellished the buckets a little more.  They were placed on their plates at our fondue dinner, something we do each year for Valentine's Day.

I also used some of my left over letters as monograms on the presents.  I love the simple touch it gives our gifts and I'm using the letters which I don't have enough of to spell any words!!

Hope your Valentine's Day is filled with love!

Don't underestimate simple

I too saw Elizabeth's valentines display on the weekend and loved it. How I'd love to find a spot in my home and decorate. Especially those glittery XO's! Yum.

But realistically the hours in my day are full full full. With work. With kids. With work... oh yah... I said that already!! ;)

So in my 2 minutes of free time I whipped up this.

Super simple.

Fold a sheet of 5.5"x8.5" cardstock in half.

Cut out a red heart.

Adhere.

Sew (optional).

Seriously simple. But oh so classic and cute!

I also made a couple of these into little booklets (they'll be up on the site shortly).

Valentines Week!

This week on the blog is dedicated to all things red and pink, as we spend the week focusing on Valentines Day!

I don't know about you, but I was never much of a Valentines Day type of girl. The most romantic Valentines Day was when dh proposed, and even then I didn't see it coming (yeah, I kind of feel completely idiotic thinking about that now). I suppose when your little brother is born unexpectedly on Valentines Day it kind of kills it for you. So, needless to say, I don't do much for this day. But there are lots of cute ideas floating around, which if I was a total Valentine-a-holic, I would swoon over. Check them out:

I saw this idea on Gigi Kennedy's blog back around Christmastime and fell in love. It was a little too late for me to actually make these back then though. The above picture is actually from Davinie, who had her own spin on Gigi's idea. How cute are these for kid Valentines treats?

I saw this on Elizabeth Kartchner's blog yesterday. C-uuuute! Lovin the punch of baby blue with the red. I also love how she used the 7 gypsies ATC holder and hung all sorts of family pictures on there.

These are such adorable little Valentines boxes and would be super easy to make!


There are a few cute ideas on this site with this same idea.

So tell me - how are you celebrating Valentines Day? Are you and dh planning a romantic night out, or staying at home with the kids? We're having some friends over to watch the premiere of the Amazing Race on Sunday, but planning a pretty low-key just us day on holiday Monday filled with lots of Olympics! Leave me a comment telling me what your plans are and I'll draw for a special Valentines themed prize next week.

Two for one

With today's online crop, I thought I'd get a jump on things and post a couple of early bird challenges.

Two challenges for one layout.

The first challenge, based off of on of this week's Sqotd: Create a layout using photos without people in them.

Here's my layout, using photos that my husband took while I was driving on our trip this past summer:



I used some Bazzill cardstock, Pink Paislee chipboard letters and letter stickers and some Little Yellow Bicycle stickers, all from the Shoppe.

You might notice that I didn't use any patterned paper on this layout (a true rarity for me!), so this brings me to the second challenge: Create a layout without patterned paper.

Once the online crop forum is up, I'll post these challenges there. Post your layouts in the gallery and link them to the forum for the crop. Remember, names will be drawn from all who participate and there are prizes to be won!

My take on an old concept.

I like to record the details of my life.  The everyday little things that I will forget if I don't write them down.  So, with my impending trip I've decided to pre-make an art journal. 
I used the February kit, a sheet of October Afternoon, a sheet of lace cardstock and some page protectors. 

I just got a Fuji Instax Mini 7 camera which takes the most adorable little instant photos.  I'm definitely taking this camera with me when I go, so I decided to take some clear sheet protectors and cut them a little larger than the photos, and sewed them onto my pages...waiting for the photos to be taken. 

I will bind the book together with two 1" binder rings, and I'll take it with me to Vegas to record all of those little things that I want to scrapbook later and will forget if I don't write them down!!

Now, I just can't wait to actually use it!!

February Kits

Hey everyone! February kits are now instore and online and can be seen here.

I just thought I'd share my favourite layout I made using this kit.

This was made using all of the Studio Calico pps in the kit, which is fitting since the line is called Home Front and the layout is about our first house. It's a really simple layout, so I think the bright colours of the pp are what makes it stand out. I misted the floor plan paper that's behind the photo since it was white and just felt like it washed the picture out, and I didn't want to mat the picture. The flower stamp is an exclusive MSS stamp Marcy designed, which I cut out and used buttons and bakers twine to embellish.

To see what the rest of the DT made with the kit, check out the rest of the gallery.