~diy hand stamped valentines~

i've been making my own valentines since i can remember.

as a kid i would use whatever we had available at home...

which wasn't much some years. a few years back i came

across one i'd made way way way back and

i had used pink toilet paper! 

what the?

do you remember when they used to make colored t.p.?

do they still? 

 

my mom always made ours too.

i'm sure that's where the seeds were planted for me.

i still have some of them that my mom made me.

i treasure them. 

 

some years i've gone all out and made spectacular valentines.

this year, i decided to keep it simple...at least for 

the ones i'll send my parents and siblings.

i have bigger plans for my own lil family's valentines this year.

 

i saw this idea awhile ago (i can't remember where) and 

thought the kids would have fun doing it.

i like it because it was super easy and cheap.

 

 heart shaped stamps with empty toilet paper rolls.

it looks something like this:

 

 just take the toilet paper rolls and bend them to

the shape you want, dip them in your paint and stamp away!

 

 

we did a couple different projects with this.

my kids each stamped a 12 x 12 piece of paper

and

we stamped these onto some blank pink and red greeting cards.

(i got the blank cards at target for $1/package)

 

 

 

these are the valentines we'll send out to our family.

for an art project that will appeal to kids (and adults) of every age,

try this!

we all had a blast with this!

it was cheap, easy, and believe it or not...

easy to clean up. 

i highly recommend using the washable paints for easy clean-up.

hope you all have fun getting your valentines craft on!

muah!

 

~valentines for schoolmates & teacher~

 The valentines we ended up doing for my son's

class weren't any of the ideas I listed before.

I needed something fast, easy and cheap.

I found a free printable from Positively Splendid

and went with that. Check them out:

     You too can print these for free by clicking (here). 

This is what we did for his teacher: 

 As you can see, I made her a heart wire bracelet and

we traced his hand to attach it to.

I had him decorate it with stickers and sign it.

Now that it's done I think the proper way to say it

would have been "stolen my heart".....

but when I write that again it still doesn't seem right.  

What is it?   

However the proper way to say it may be....

I'm sure she gets the meaning behind it.

Are you done with your valentines?

Now I'm working on my family cards.

I'll share those later this week.    

~kids pilgrim ship art project~

I'm the room mother for my kid's classroom.

This is the project we will be doing tomorrow

after their Thanksgiving Feast.

I found it on Pinterest (here).

So simple.....a ship with their hand print.

We'll see if I'm saying "so simple" after

trying to stamp 18 different 5 year olds

hands and clean it off before they end up

with hand prints all over their clothes too. 

   

~baby shower brunch~

Last Saturday I had a little get-together 

for a good friend who's 

pregnant with her 2nd baby.

Because it's her 2nd baby and another boy,

she didn't want another baby shower.

However, I was able to talk her into an

intimate little brunch, celebrating her 

and her soon to arrive baby :)

At first I was thinking I would do fancy and

pretty. I had all sorts of great ideas but as

the time got closer, I decided to go with

a bright, cheery and youthful decor instead.

 A good friend of ours made these cute place
setting cards with her new Silhouette machine....
JEALOUS! Aren't they adorable?
I made the holder with a couple blocks
from my kids' toy stash. I just glued them together
and attached a clothes pin to the back with
a dab of hot glue.

 I made these jars filled with goodies 
for each lady to take home with her. 
A small mason jar adorned with fabric scraps
and a baby's safety pin. I found the 
cute safety pins at the dollar store.
They were filled with brownie bites and 
chocolate dipped macaroons. 

 I used all my plain white plates for the
settings and I realized once I got the table
set up that I didn't have any more for the 
3-tiered tray I was going to put the food on.
I had to do a little improv....
I took some colored tissue paper I had on 
hand and covered the plates (that didn't match)
before placing the food on them. It ended up 
looking alright once I got the food on the trays.

I can't believe I forgot to take pics of the food!
I served quiche, hash-brown casserole, croissants,
carrot cake-cream cheese filled muffins and fruit. 

For the table decorations I used bright colored
toys from my kids :) cheap and easy. 

 

I made these fabric scrap covered styrofoam balls

and attached them to a dowel to put in with 

the flowers. I liked the simplistic statement 

they made incorporated with the white tulips. 

 I used my plain white table ware for the settings

and topped each plate off with an individual little 

fruit cup. I used fabric scraps I had on hand

for ALL of these things.

 I got this book and had each guest sign it
with a personalized message. LOVED this idea
instead of signing a guest book.

 

For the finishing touches on the window behind

the table I put these ADORABLE medallions

made by my friend and her famous 

Silhouette machine. Have I mentioned how

badly I want to get my hands on one of them? 

 To make the bunting strung across the window,
I went to the dollar store and got a colorful kids book.
The book was Dumbo. I used
the pages to make the bunting and I didn't feel
so badly about ripping up a perfectly good book
because it was only a dollar. The illustrations
and colors were exactly what I had in mind 
when I envisioned the project initially.

 It ended up being exactly what we
intended when we planned it.....
small, intimate, laid back and celebratory. 
We missed you ladies who couldn't be with us
(you know who you are).
Megan-thank you so much for your help with 
the decorations.....they were PERFECT!

Congrats Adrianne and Dom!
We can't wait to meet the little fella. 

Linking up with Kojo Designs
and
Positively Splendid