Recycled Valentine Boxes

We picked up baked goods at the grocery store last weekend as a treat. Bell didn't have the heart to toss the plastic muffin and cookie containers away, so we decided to recycle them.

Check out the girl's valentine boxes. Aren't they sweet?

This one was made by Bug. Didn't she do a great job?

And here is Bell's valentine box. She used some cut outs I had left from my cricut and left over scrapbook paper.

Boy didn't want to make one. Apparently, valentine boxes are only for girls.  I think it has something to do with all the pink and red for the day!

Happy Valentine's Day!

String of Hearts Banner

I don't usually do a lot of decorating for Valentine's day, but I got this simple and cute idea from over at Megity's Handmade Blog. They didn't take long to make the kids and I had fun putting them together. I think Bug just liked using my pink stapler while Bell put the strips together with me and Boy picked the paper designs.

We used some red and with baker's twine to hang them across the archway in the dinning room. (Sorry the picture is a little fuzzy, I'm still learning how to use this new phone camera.)

I might just leave this string of hearts up after valentine's day, but we'll see. I'm sure the kids will want to make something new for the next holiday.

What do you think? Can I keep my string of hearts banner up always?

Valentines' Day Gift Wrap

Last Valentine's Day I needed some gift wrap to put together a package for my husband. Many times I'll use postal paper to wrap things going out in the mail and decided to design some heartfelt paper of my own.

If you're looking for a fun way to wrap up that Valentine's day present you can check out my article, How To Make DIY Stampin' It Up Gift Wrap Paper.

Have fun stamping!

Love Stinks Autograph Guest Book Album

Isn't he cute?

I got this skunk paper in with a woodlands theme paper pack and just immediate thought: "LOVE STINKS" seeing him in red with the little heart on his chest.

It took me back to those Warner Brother's cartoons I used to watch growing up. You know the ones with Bugs Bunny and Daffy Duck? Well this skunk had me thinking of Pepe' La Pew. Poor little skunk who chased a cat and was desperately in love. sigh... love stinks.

I punched this album and laced it with white and silver 1/2" ribbon.

There are 48 signature pages made of sketch paper that I stamped with black hearts down each edge. These pages are thicker than a regular piece of copy paper and so you can use colored pencils or even markers for guests to draw, write notes, and leave signatures.

Also works well for journaling and keeping your own "book of firsts" this valentine's day.

In the back, you'll find twenty pages of black card stock (acid-free and lingign-free). I had a bunch of heart confetti from punching the A Love Like Ours Album and so I stuck these hearts at the corners of the pages.

I wanted to keep the inside black and white, with the cover being red. It also leaves the option of signing this book in red pen or marker.

I don't know about you, but I think love smells pretty sweet. Especially, when it comes to this album. :)

Amore Album Video

So I uploaded a new video of the Amore Video. I tried something different with videoing this album. No song or dance, just me, the pages, and a commentary of the book.

So compared to the A Lifetime of Love Video, what do you think? Song and dance or Commentary through pages?

Valentine Corner Bookmarks

With Valentine's day only a few weeks away, I decided to use up a few of my scrap papers on making some bookmarks to included in with my packaging for orders. These ones, however, have been claimed by my older daughter to give away as Valentines for her class.

We'll probably personalize them on the front with her classmate's names before the big V-Day arrives. Recognize some of the papers? They're small left over cuts from the A Lifetime of Love Album and Amore Album.

Imagine one of these bookmarks to remind you of where you left off reading each time you opened the pages of a book. I think I'd pick that book up quite often.


I love the idea of giving kids something both useful and inspiring at the same time, don't you?

**You can still get a hold of my Valentine's bookmarks from now till Valentine's Day when you make an order in my shop.

A Lifetime of Love Photo Memory Album

I put this together last week.

With the stores replacing all the Christmas stuff in preparation for Valentine's day, it had me thinking about my sister. Her anniversary is on Valentine's day. She's been married now for over twenty years.. sorry sis but I can' t keep track of exactly how long.

Anyway, with those two factors, I was inspired and put together this memory album. Everyone knows a book has got to have a title, so I'm calling this one, "A Lifetime of Love."

I picked up some great Valentine's papers right after Christmas when they were first putting them on the shelves, and those same little hands that helped me make book covers, threaded and laced the hearts on the front cover.

What do you think?

There's eleven inside pages, twenty-two if you count front and back, and not counting the various flaps and tags that I stuck inside.

I had gotten this corner rounder punch about a year ago and picked up the wrong kind. Didn't know what to do with it until now. Great for punching corners to stick tags in the album!

Here are just a few photos of the inside pages.

I made a felt envelope to slide the album in and protect it. The idea came from Martha Stewart for gift wrapping alternatives. I used buttons on mine instead of ribbon and added the double hearts to match the theme of the album.

The two hearts on the outside, and the cover of the album can actually be personalized with names, too.

There are so many details of this album I'd like to show off, but it would take a hundred pictures to capture them all, so I tried to make a video of the book. I'll see if I can't get it loaded to share with you all soon.

March Madness Journal Challenge #21

I appologize, last evening Chad and I headed out to celebrate Valentine's day with a little bit of TobyMac and Skillet. It was a long night, but full of great music and lots of jumping up and down!!

As this evening ends take some time to go back and reflect on your most memorial Valentine's day. Write it down in your journal.

This may have well become mine.