Easy Valentine's Day Ideas

Valentine's Day is supposed to be the day of love and romance. Sometimes when you're a mom, there's plenty of love, but maybe not so much romance. I know we should show our love every day, and not save it for one special day, but I admit to falling victim to the allure of paper hearts, heart-shaped boxes of chocolate and all things red and pink.

But Valentine's Day has a habit of sneaking up on me. I don't really "decorate" for Valentine's ahead of time, but I do comb the house to find things that will work for easy Valentine's Day decorating ideas.

Typically, I decorate the dining room table after the kids go to bed on the night before Valentine's Day. I put out red place mats, Valentine's Day plates and cups (when they were younger). I sprinkle candy hearts, hang some balloons . . .just some little touches to let them know I think they are special.

Maybe an easy Valentine's Day centerpiece, using things I have around the house and adding some candy hearts.

I typically buy them cards. Sometimes I make them handmade Valentine's Day cards. They may get a small present if time and budget permit. Of course there is candy.

A heart-shaped cake is nice. Maybe Red Velvet or Chocolate. Setting it on a white cake stand with sprinkles or some little candy hearts can add a festive touch. I've also been known to make a heart-shaped pizza and Valentine Sprinkle Pancakes!

How does your family celebrate Valentine's Day? For even more ideas and inspiration, check out my Valentine's Day Pinterest Board.

catch you soon -

Easy Valentine's Day Centerpiece

Each year for Valentine's Day, I set a special table for the kids the night before. I don't put a lot of other decorations up around the house (I do admit to having a heart-filled shower curtain), but I like to surprise them with a festive tablescape on Valentine's Day morning.

This year, while perusing Pinterest for Valentine's Day ideas, I got a flash to combine three of my current favorite things: milk bottles, washi tape and conversation hearts.

I pulled out a plain white serving dish I picked up at Target and set to work to create an easy, fun and festive centerpiece.

What you need:

• Milk Bottles, small glass bottles or vases (I picked these up in the Target Dollar Spot)
• Serving Dish (again, picked up at Target)
• Festive Washi Tape (this was also from Target, but you could use plain pink and red)
• 1 Bag of Conversation  Hearts (yes - Target)

What you do:

Decide on a pattern for your washi tape and adhere it to your bottles. I used scissors to make a rounded edge.

Line up your bottles on your serving tray.

Sprinkle conversation hearts on the tray all around the bottles (don't eat too many).

And that's it. In about a half-hour I had a fun and festive, easy-to-make Valentine's Day Centerpiece. If you didn't want to leave the hearts out, you could just put them out on Valentine's Day. Foil-wrapped chocolate hearts and kisses would look adorable too.

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How-To: Make Your Own Valentines

Inspired by an article I saw in Real Simple Magazine. . .I decided to make Valentines for John and the boys this year. The valentines I saw, used items you may already have hanging out in your junk drawer, like puzzle pieces or a matchbook.

While you can use plain cardstock and cut it to size, I like to buy pre-cut card kits at Michael's or AC Moore when they are on sale and/or I have a coupon. They are easy to use AND already have an envelope that fits.

So I took my three blank cards, and gathered my materials. For these cards, I needed a playing card, four candles and a plastic bug. Stay with me here - it makes sense, I promise.

I took a scrap of red cardstock and punched out some hearts using my Stampin Up paper punch. I also used a red marker to write my own sentiments on the front of each card.

For my first card, I glued on the King of Hearts playing card and added a few red hearts to the corner.

For my second card, I glued on four pink birthday candles, and attached a small paper heart above each one.

For my third card, I used a Glue Dot and attached a plastic toy bug to the front. I added some red paper hearts around the top.

What items can you think of that you could re-purpose to make Valentine's?

catch you soon -

wordless wednesday. . .

a quick and easy (AND edible) Valentine's decoration.

to make flags:  Get a lollipop stick, tie festive ribbon at the top, glue on a gem.

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gettin crafty. . .Easy Valentine's Day Tags

So I was skimming blogs today - and caught Stacy Julian's FIVE for Friday. . .fell in love with the Sizzix flower she had on there, but I do not own a die cut machine (shocking I know).

Since I was inspired, I pulled out my circle punch, my scalloped circle punch and my heart punch - and made this easy Valentine's Day tag with a scrap of red and scrap of pink cardstock from my stash.

Not too shabby - and I think there may be a whole lot more of them by the end of the weekend.

catch you soon -

Valentine's Day Crafts to Make With or For Kids

A little bit of crafting going on here today.

I put this little mailbox together for Ryan's teacher today - he helped pick out the papers. The mailbox was in the Target Dollar Spot.  I measured and cut paper, attached it with some modpodge and tied some ribbons onto the flag. Filled up with candy kisses, it makes a great gift!



Using a Stampin Up stamp set, I made little treat bags for his class too - to go with his spiffy NASCAR valentine's.



Using the same Stamp Set and some colored pencils and markers, I made these bags of animal crackers to be Owen's valentines for his daycare class. I stamped the imaged on large sized mailing labels and used them to seal the bags.



Hope your week is full of candy, hearts and roses.

catch you soon -