V-Day 2012

Valentine's Day started out at my house with heart pancakes.  Pancakes are pretty basic, but I added a squirt of raspberry agave nectar in for flavoring, and some raspberry puree for color in 1/3 of the batter to pipe the hearts.

The boys were excited to start their day right.

CG and I exchanged cards.  Along with getting me the first season of Downton Abbey(an obsession of mine) on DVD,

CG gifted me with a morning of antiquing.  I love to wander around antique shops.  I love victorian furniture and this grouping cought my eye.

Tea carts are all the rage right now dressed up as dry bars.  This bamboo tea cart was in great shape.

Along with your more typical furniture offerings, you can find some pretty unique items when you go antiquing.  I have no idea why anyone would want a vintage doctor's examining table, but I found one.

I love vintage tools, and this booth was full of them.  I've never seen a block plane as large as the 28" one here.

My nerdy husband(I say that with the utmost affection,) was so excited to find this basket of Atari games.  There were exclamations of, "I remember this one," and "this one was so much fun!"

This is what I ended up coming home with.  A serving platter with a silverplate base for $8.

A set of random dishes for $5.

And a couple of bone dishes, perfect for an intimate table setting for 2 for $1 each.

Heading off to school for SB's Valentine's party.  Thanks for popping in and checking out my Valentine's Day.

Happy Valentine's Day

Way back, a gazillion years ago, when CG and I were first dating he asked what I'd like for Valentine's Day and I replied that all I wanted was a handmade card.  It's nice to know that your man spent an hour with some scissors and glue thinking about you.  And every year since, he's made me a card.  I have quite the collection going.  Every year, I make him a card, too.

This is this year's card.  It's hard to see, but one of the m&ms is upside down.  His name starts with a W, mine with an M.  There's some mushy stuff on the inside, too.

Thanks for popping in and checking out this year's card.  Have a Happy Valentine's Day, everyone.

Tissue Paper Flowers

For as long as my boys have been in school and sports, I've always been room mom, team mom, etc.  One of the duties of a room mom is to organize the class parties.  That usually means coming up with a theme, snacks (like the snowmen cookies for the winter party,) book to read, and age appropriate craft.  For this year's Valentine's party we'll be having a chocolate fondue with fruit & pretzels, and making bouquets for the kids to give their moms or someone else special.

Tissue Paper Flowers are easy to make and make great decorations that can be brought out every year.  You first start by cutting out tissue paper squares.

I stack 3 sheets and begin accordian folding.  Stacking more sheets will create a fuller mum-like flower.

Once the sheets have been completely folded,

I take a pipe cleaner and wrap it around the middle, securing it tightly.

Begin pulling apart the layers.

Your rose should look like this.

After accordian folding, you can use scissors

to cut the ends into a point or rounded curve

to create different looking petals.

Tissue paper flowers look great pulled together in a bud vase or en masse on a wreath form.

Thanks for popping in and crafting with me.

Heart it Up

One of my most popular posts last year was my Valentine's Rag Wreath.

Tutorial here

These wreaths are so simple to make.  When I found a wire hanger hiding in the back of my closet during my most recent closet reorganization, a new Valentine's Wreath was born - this one in the shape of a heart.

I grabbed the scrap of silk panne leftover from this year's Halloween costume(I was Little Red Riding Hood,) and cut it up into 3/4"  wide strips.

The tying process can be done in front of the tv, it's pretty mindless work.

After an hour or so, the entire hanger is covered in fabric.

And here it is on our door.

Thanks for popping in and crafting with me.

Love is in the Air

I've been slow to decorate for Valentine's Day this year.  I think it took me so long to take down Christmas, that I wanted to revel in just winter for a while.  You can see my winter mantel here.  I left up the ornaments in my front window, because they looked good with my winter decor.

But after seeing the pink explosion across blogland, I'm ready for Valentine's Day.  Pam at diy Design Fanatic shared her wax paper heart ornaments the other day, and I remembered how fun these were to make.  Do you remember making stained glass sun catchers with wax paper as a kid?  I do.  So I set about replacing my winter window with a Valentine's one.  First I needed crayons and a crayon sharpener.

I made crayon shavings,

and after shaving a good amount(the wax paper doesn't have to be completely covered,)

I folded the wax paper over, sandwiched it between some newspaper, and ironed it.  The iron should be on your hot setting without steam. 

A quick pass will melt everything together.

I cut out hearts from my sheets of melted wax, and punched holes in the tops of the hearts.

I actually have a heart punch, but I'd have needed to punch it upside down to use it, so I just used a rectangle punch.

I strung them up on some yarn and hung them in the window.  I love how they look with the light streaming through.

I also made a Valentine's placemat pillow.  For a tutorial, click here.

Thanks for popping in and crafting with me.