Ariana's Handmade Valentine's

I love handmade valentine's. I knew that we would be making valentines for all of Ariana's friends instead of getting the store bought kind with characters on them. I also knew I didn't want to go too fancy. Pinterest can get a little crazy this time of year with mamas overdoing what should be a simple fun project for the kids. Don't get me wrong there are a lot of cute ideas out there, but some of them took too much parent involvement and I wanted something she could do as a weekend craft that would be cute and have a handmade touch.


We decided on something pretty simple. I had lots of different valentine patterned paper in my paper stash so I pulled out all the ones I could find and gave her a heart hole puncher and she went to town.

We cut some pink and white card stock (pink for the girls, white for the boys) into about 4x5 size and I rounded the corners. I helped her draw a heart in the center of her paper and she stamped "Happy Valentine's Day" in the center. Then we randomly glued on all those confetti hearts that she had cut out and finished off the whole thing with some red or gold glitter glue trim.

There are only 8 kids in her class, including her, so it wasn't too many to make. But she ended up making some for her teachers and us too, it was sweet. Making these valentines kept her entertained for a long time and we actually did it over the course of 2 days because gluing the hearts ended up being pretty time consuming.

On the back she stamped "love" (she loves stamps) and then wrote her name. Each valentine was personalized with the child's name on the front too.

My Valentine

Valentine's day is a great excuse to be extra cheesy and romantic and take time in a sometimes busy life to make sure that the person you love gets extra spoiled with love (and lavish gifts) Just kidding about the last part, but most people I know won't turn down a good gift!

I got some new perfume (Vera Wang, Anniversary) and some sleepwear from Victoria's Secret. Both were things I asked for, isn't he sweet?! Oh and band-aids, I asked for those too. The shoes I wore on Valentine's night were horrible and Rich bought me band-aids to keep from getting blisters when walking.

Ariana and I made cupcakes! She loves helping me bake and cupcakes are some of our favorites. She helps with everything from putting the cupcake papers in the pan, pouring everything in the mixing bowl and helping me whisk it all together. Of course, her favorite is probably putting sprinkles on top!

She was especially proud of these cupcakes!

Rich and I took advantage of this romantic holiday and had a rare date. Ariana got to go play with Miss Jordynn and a few of her little friends while we enjoyed our alone time.

We went to see the movie Love And Other Drugs and I HIGHLY recommend it. It was the best romantic comedy I've seen in a LONG time. Soo funny and sweet!

We went to a wonderful German restaurant called Rosenof for a amazing dinner. Silly me didn't even think to take my camera out until the end of the meal and we were almost through eating dessert. We had some yummy food though. Crayfish and pineapple cocktail to start, fruity tomato cream soup with pesto, filet of perch with spinach and noodles and a yummy cake to finish.  These were the only pictures I got and they weren't even that good.

We had such a good time. We laughed, we cried, we planned vacations, we reminisced about past valentine's and all in all just enjoyed some quiet company and good food!

Oh yea, and from the looks of this photo above of some stickers we bought, someone probably lost their job at the sticker factory! Ooops! hehehe!!

xo's

Cat

Colorful Hearts! {Valentine Craft with Ariana}

HAPPY VALENTINE'S DAY!!

A few weeks ago Ariana and I made these cute and colorful "stained glass" hearts! It was a fun and easy Valentine craft for kids.

A few weeks ago Ariana and I made these cute and easy little "stained glass" hearts! It didn't start out being cute little hearts. Actually, it started from this project I found about melted crayons and watercolor. I was ironing pieces of crayon on paper and the crayon made pretty designs on the wax paper when I ironed it. So, I decided to iron 2 pieces of wax paper together with the pieces of crayon in between and see what happened. Low and behold, it actually worked and the wax paper melted together to hold in the crayons!

I loved the pretty colors that this made. I wasn't sure what to do with the pretty wax paper but loved the way it looked when I taped them up on the glass door to display them. That's when I decided they should be little stained glass hearts. I cut a heart shape out and glued it in between two pieces of construction paper to make the frame. Then I glued a bit of yarn to the back to hang it with.

I mailed these out to some family and friends, along with handmade cards from Ariana and a few pictures I took of Ariana from our photo shoot last week!

See how cute the hearts turned out!! 

Basically all Ariana did was design the crayon pattern. I grated the crayons with our cheese grater...probably not the best idea cause that was a MAJOR pain to clean afterward.

Then I put the grated crayons in separate bowls and let her do her thing. 

She watched me while I ironed and when I was putting it all together I gave her some of my valentine stamps and a red ink pad and let her stamp away on her cards she made! She loved that.

So anyways, this was a super fun craft. Probably would have been more fun with an older kid who can use scissors and that sort of thing, but I didn't think about that when I was coming up with the idea. Definitely something I'll do again when she's older!

HAPPY VALENTINE'S DAY TO ALL MY FAMILY, FRIENDS, AND BLOG READERS!!

Lots of x's and o's today!!

Cat

Valentine Love

Hi Ladies! I've been a little distracted lately. I wanted to post and share my lovely Valentine's Day with y'all!

Of course I did a Valentine Swap! It was so much fun, thanks to all the people who swapped cards with me! Y'all are awesome!! I loved getting everyone of them, glittery, layered paper, cute store bought, even the cute little Valentine's that come in a package. Some special ladies surprised me with packages of Valentine goodies! Super sweet! I sent a few packages of my own out!

I decorated these plain mailboxes and made them cute for Valentine's day! I filled them with candy and small goodies! 

My sister got this one:

 

 

  

 I made her a little octopus, another no pattern thing I crocheted.

Maggie got this mailbox:

  

  

  

 Hers was filled with candies and small goodies, and I also made her this plushie owl too!

My Momma got this one:

  

  

 I had so much fun making them, and if you want to do this fun project next year, just check the $1 section at your Target right before Valentine's and they've had them there the past few years.

We got a package from my Momma and sister filled with goodies and books for all of us. Ariana got 5 books total for Valentine's this year! She loves to read, and so do we!

 

Oh and here are some of the cards I made, I thought I was done but then ended up making more!

♥

I was actually sick for the weekend of Valentine's. Crappy I know, but my hubby is the BEST, and he took good care of me. We enjoyed snuggling and watching the Winter Olympics!

On actually Valentine's Day, we cooked (well he did most of the cooking) 2 amazing meals. For lunch we had one of my favorite dishes, his sauteed ravioli and creamy spinach mushroom sauce. I took a picture but can't seem to find it.
 

For dinner, he really outdid himself!!

 

 wine and candles of course!

 

beautiful flowers, these are so pretty!

  

 Escargot to start! (these aren't as bad as they look, really!)

  

 Filet Mignon, Butternut Squash Risotto, and sauteed Rainbow Chard!

I told you he was an awesome chef!!!

And of course I got a sweet card! (One thing not many people know about my husband is he writes the sweetest things in cards. He can really put his feeling in words!  Gets me every time!)

 I love you babe!! :)

♥

Of course he got gifts too!

 

 I covered a carboard box and made it into a gift box to hold some yummies that I was making him!

  

 chocolate peanut butter mini cupcakes!

I also made him a card (not pictured) and put lots of love into making him this book.

  

 Inside there are 5 pockets and each pocket holds a tag where I listed something that I loved about him.

  

 One of the tags.

  

 Here are the pockets with the tags inside.

♥

And of course for dessert...

  

 Devil's Food cupcakes with cream cheese frosting! :)

I hope everyone had a lovely Valentine's Day. 

I'm behind on some of my blogs so I want to hear how everyone spent the day. Let me know if you blogged about it so I can check it out!

xoxo,

Cat

Kissy Cookies (Recipe)

 

I thought this recipe might be fun to share for Valentine's Day. You could make them for your sweetheart, or bake them as a fun project with your kids.

Kissy Cookies:

1- 20 ounce package of sugar cookie dough. *the refridgerated rolls, you could also use peanut butter*

Hershey Kisses (52, maybe half a bag)

1. Cut cookie dough into 13 even slices, cut each slice into quarters.

2. Place paper baking cups in mini cupcake pans

3. Place 1 dough quarter in each cup

4. Bake at 375 for 7-8 minutes until lightly browned (be careful not to overcook)

5. Remove from oven and press a chocolate kiss into the center of each cookie before it's cooled.

6. Let cool in pan. Makes 52 cookies.

Enjoy these sweet kisses!!

xoxo,

Cat

Be Mine? Valentine Card Swap!

Happy Friday everyone!

Since making all those crocheted hearts, I'm in the mood for Valentine's Day! I know a lot of people hate the day because they think it's too commercialized, but personally I love it. Why not make a day all about LOVE!?

I started making some Valentine's cards the other day. The mood hit me and I couldn't stop making them. :D I would love to do a VALENTINE'S DAY CARD SWAP with my bloggers and friends. Would anyone else be interested in this? If so let me know and we can exchange addresses (if I don't already have yours). I think it will be really fun!

I'm so bummed we've been snowed in AGAIN. Snowed in = NO mail! I haven't gotten any mail in like 3 days! I feel so shut off from the outside world PLUS, I'm waiting to get my first letter from my Happy Mail person and I want to send out more but our post offices are closed!

I found some LOVELY pictures that might get you LOVELY ladies in the Valentine mood!

source

source

 

source

 

 source

 source

And these little Valentine owls make me smile!!

Let me know if you want to do the Valentine card swap!

 Email your address to me at AFCat84(at)aol(dot)com and I'll send you mine!

Happy weekend everyone!

xoxo,

Cat

Little hearts

I have learned how to crochet little hearts. These are some that I made yesterday morning while sipping my coffee, since then I've made more and in more colors! I'm feeling very lovey dovey and I'm ready for Valentine's Day I guess! Not sure what I'm going to do with all of them but some are going to be hung on my finger garland in my kitchen where my Christmas cards were.

Yesterday was my first day since my Mom left. She came for a week for Christmas and ended up staying 5 extra days. Somehow Delta overbooked her first flight home so she volunteered to get off the flight and stayed here longer. (with compensation of course). Sunday we packed her back up and I took her to the airport for the second time. Amazing they had overbooked her flight again! You would think they could get to together! She had to get back to her job so she couldn't volunteer to stay again, although that would have been nice. I had such a good time with her here. It's been a long time since I got to just spend time with her!

Yesterday my husband got sick. I had to run out the the store and medicine and saltines and Gatorade and and 2 cans of Lysol and other things to make him feel better. I was trying to be his nurse, while at the same time trying to keep Ariana and I as far away from him as possible. He's still sleeping, so I hope he feels better this morning!

I also started a blog for my Project 365! I hope everyone takes the time to check it out every now and then and let me know how I'm doing. I might need some encouragement as the year wears on and the newness wears off!

Happy Day Everyone!

xoxo,

Cat