Great Source for Last Minute Valentine's Day Ideas - The Dating Divas

Happy Valentine's Day!  If you're like me and ran short on time, hop on over to The Dating Divas for plenty of last minute projects and date ideas!  Last night I used one of their printables to make this fun candy gram for my husband.  So cute!

The Dating Divas is such a fun site packed full of everyday ideas and ways to strengthen your marriage.  Subscribe to their newsletter to receive updates and special codes for fun printables (like the candy gram above).

 

Easy Valentine's Day Snacks

Looking for some quick and easy ways to make fun Valentine's Day snacks?  We recently hosted a Valentine's party for my daughter's play group.  I wasn't up to making time consuming goodies but I did manage to turn some easy snacks into "love food" for our party.  I purchased a set of heart cookie cutters from Target and used them on easy food items.

I put out a tray of deli meat and cheese along with peanut butter and jelly to accompany our heart shaped bread.  It was the perfect sandwich spread for our party.

I used the same heart cookie cutter to shape some brownies.  Conversation hearts brightened up the brownies.

A different heart cookie cutter transformed the jello jigglers into a fun addition to our desserts!

Have fun putting together some fun Love Day snacks!

 

Sewing with Sheets - New Valentines Outfit

I had so much fun making my daughter an outfit for Valentines Day this week.  Surprisingly she was very willing to model it for some pictures too.

I didn't purchase anything to make the outfit.  I used embellishments, a stained shirt, and two bed sheets! 

We recently upgraded my daughter's bed and were left with a pantry full of cute toddler sheets.  Last week I came across the sheets and knew I could turn them into something fun.

I picked two sheets to use for the skirt and ruffled heart on the shirt.

The sheets were fitted so I started by cutting off the elastic.

I didn't have a pattern but cut pieces for a very simply (very very simple) skirt.  The dotted fabric made perfect little pockets on the front of the skirt.

I sewed the two skirt pieces together, hemmed the bottom, and sewed in elastic.

The pockets were dressed up by a couple of hearts.

The shirt was really easy to make.  Instead of using a new shirt or making my own I used my daughter's stained owl shirt.  She has outgrown the sleeves but the length of the shirt is still okay.  The cotton made it easy to alter the sleeves - just cut them off!  No hemming was necessary.

I made a heart template that would fit over the owl and stain.  I traced the heart directly onto the shirt and cut it out.

Next I cut strips of fabric from the sheets and changed the tension on my sewing machine to make ruffles.  If anyone is interested, my birthday is at the end of the month and I really really want a ruffler foot for my Singer sewing machine!

Adding the ruffled heart to the shirt was time consuming, but not difficult.  First I cut a heart out of white cotton fabric to serve as a base.  Next I pinned the ruffles directly onto the heart, sewed around the heart edges, stitched directly down the center of each ruffle, and then trimmed the edges.

Finally, sew your heart in the shirt.  Stitch around the edges of the heart opening on the shirt with the ruffled heart behind it.

I added a few embellishments to the shirt when I was finished.

My daughter had so much fun wearing her new skirt and shirt yesterday!

This project cost nothing and I still have plenty of sheets for more sewing fun!

I'm linking this post here.

 

Wowzer Wednesday - Missing Memory Card...and a Valentines Rosette Frame

Last night I was working on a fun Valentines frame.  I took a lot of pictures as I working on the project.  Then as I went to upload my photos for this post I realized my memory card was not in my camera.  Having no clue how to get the photos from my camera's internal memory to this post (and having no idea where the cord is), I have no tutorial photos to show you.  Sorry!


But that doesn't mean my frame didn't turn out really pretty!

I used a piece of self adhesive felt to make the rosettes.  Eliminating the need for glue while rolling each little rosette was great!  I used the glue gun to attach them to the frame.

I hadn't decided if I wanted a picture or if I should make a print to put in the frame.  I went to my computer and got caught up in all the fun blogs I follow.  Amy from Positively Splendid had the perfect print for my new frame!  When my daughter was really little my husband would sing that song to her in a silly voice to make her laugh.  I instantly smiled when I saw the print and knew it was exactly what I was looking for.  Thanks Amy!

 

Fun Find Friday - Martha's Valentine's Day Cards

Each year I've sent valentines to our out of town relatives from my daughter.  I love that this year she is old enough to get really excited about making cards.  I've been looking for some fun ideas and stumbled across the February edition of Martha Stewart Living.  I then went to her website for more ideas.  Have you seen the collection of Valentine's Day cards Martha Stewart has online?  If you're looking for inspiration, with instructions, go to her Valentine Card-Making Center and spend hours deciding which cards you should make!  Here are some of my favorites:

Folded Cards

Chalkboard Photo Valentine Card

Crayon Stained Glass Heart Cards

Valentine's Day Sign Card

Pop-up Cards

I plan to spend an afternoon making fun cards with my daughter next week!

 

Hand Prints

I love doing hand prints with my kids. It is a great way to track their growth in a creative form. I am always looking for new ways to display the hand prints. This time I found a cute idea on someone's blog (sorry I can't remember which one) where they created a canvas for the print. I decided to make a paper version and give them out at our Valentine's Day party this year. These are great for any time of the year, but the heart and colors fit perfectly for our party.

(just in case you can't see it says "These hands (your child's hand print) hold my heart."

If you would like your own copy simply comment on this post and include an email address we can send a copy to. I printed mine on tag board and framed it so I can look at it all year round.

The Love Tin

Recently my husband and I read a book about love languages together. We learned a little about each other and had fun discussing the book. I learned my husband's dominant love language is quality time. Unfortunately I don't always put that first. I spend my days with our two year old and then clean and craft when she goes to bed. After reading the book I promised my husband at least two evenings per week for us to spend quality time. With quality time in mind, I made him a "love tin" for his Valentine's Day gift. In addition to being a big fan of quality time, he also has a real interest in classic films. I never sit and watch an old movie with him...I either fall asleep or lose interest and get up to do something else. For part of his gift, I committed to watching the entire Gone With the Wind movie!

We need some popcorn for a long movie!

Milk Duds are also necessary!

My husband loves Jones cream soda!

I put everything together in a tin and added a little note telling him this date was redeemable any night next week...this week is super busy for me and I wanted to set the right expectations. :) I purchased the tin from Michael's for $4.99. I really wanted a metal paint can but waited until the last minute and ended up with the clear tin instead. Worked out perfectly! I used Valentine's Day window clings to decorate the tin. Inexpensive and quick!

My husband loved it! This was a Valentine's Day gift but a "Love Tin" can be made for any holiday...or even as a "just because" gift.

 

Wowzer Wednesday - how to get a streak free mirror

Since moving into our new house I've had a really difficult time cleaning the mirror in our living room. In our previous house, the sunlight never directly hit the mirror so I guess I never noticed all the streaks. It looked terrible! This picture was taken after I cleaned the mirror for the fifth time in one day with windex and paper towels. Major streaks!

It was driving me crazy! I reached out to my facebook friends for suggestions on getting a streak free mirror. I received quite a few different suggestions. I tried windex and newspaper, vinegar and paper towels, diluted vinegar and paper towels, vinegar and newspaper, diluted vinegar and newspaper, windex and coffee filters, vinegar and coffee filters, and diluted vinegar and coffee filters. I planned on taking pictures of the mirror after each attempt but I lost my motivation after I started cleaning. The winning combination was diluted vinegar and coffee filters! Take a look at my new streak free mirror. Pretty!

Now that we have that out of the way, I'll show you what is currently decorating the mirror and piano. I mentioned previously that I don't have a mantel. Hopefully that changes soon but for now I recently (yesterday) decorated the piano with a few more Valentine's Day decorations.

I needed some sticky hearts to finish a Valentine's Day gift (more to come on that project later this month) so I picked up a page of bright heart decals from Target. I used the extras to decorate the mirror.

I'm a big fan of my new love frame. If you missed this post, see it here. In addition to the frame, I have my favorite picture of my nephew wearing mickey ears and a little frame my daughter and her BFF made this month.

These prints of my daughter are always on the piano but they fit right into the Valentine's Day decor.

I used my cricut to cut out vinyl hearts to add some fun to the lamp. I'm looking forward to changing this up for different holidays. I also have a framed picture of my nephew, kisses in a heart dish, and another project displaying my daughter's crafting skills.

Lastly, I have a paper love banner hanging on the mirror. Find the free printable here.

Hopefully I'm the only person that was temporarily driven crazy by a streaky mirror...but just in case you need some mirror cleaning tips, I hope this helped!