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WORDS OF LOVE
Happy Valentines Day to everyone out there!
I design and create cards everyday so this year for a change I made bookmarks for each of my kids. As a family we love to read so this was the perfect choice. I simply raided my scrapbooking drawers and cut and glued the papers onto precut bookmarks, then wrote a personal message to each of my kids on the reverse, just to let them know how much they are loved XOXO
Even our breakfast wanted to share the love!
Maybe I’m taking this valentine theme a little too far!
Adam’s away in the UK on business at the moment but I slipped this card into his bag before he left, with instructions not to open until today. If he hasn’t already lost it!
I love this quote, it pretty much describes our first meeting all those years ago!
Love and Hugs to all
Karen
XOXO
LOVE … LOVE … LOVE
Most of our retail orders for Valentines are out the door right after Christmas but I still like to make something special for my hubby and kids. To get me in the mood I’ve been looking around the web for craft ideas we can make together and here are a few of my favourites. Adam’s away this weekend and Holly has a sleepover planned so with a total of 7 kids in the house we may need something to do!
1. Valentine Garland – Courhome.net A free printable so easy to do
2. Crayon Hearts – Martha Stewart These are an old favourite we’ve made before but I still love them.
3. Framed hearts – LittleBirdieSecrets
4. Valentine heart pins – Purlbee.com
5. Valentine Mittens – Womansday.com
6. DIY Paper Heart Garland – Myownlabels.com A great idea and easy to add your own special messages
7. Valentines Day Banner – mymommatoldme.com
So now there’s no excuse to spread the love in your home too! Enjoy the weekend everyone!
MOST UNUSUAL VALENTINE CARDS
Kate Harper, artist and greeting card designer extraordinare ran a competition on her blog GREETING CARD DESIGNER to find the most unusual valentine cards and I submitted a few designs and forgot all about it, until I received an email from her yesterday to say I had been named as a finalist.
I’m really chuffed as the winner and finalists were chosen by Kathy Krassner, a longtime stationery-industry veteran. Check out this link to her blog to see all the winning designs. For anyone involved in the greeting card industry Kate’s blog is a wealth of information and a must read
Our “unvalentine” winning design.
Christmas Countdown!
The best part about Christmas for me is the anticipation. Each year, ever since we were kids, we’ve had an advent calendar and dutifully opened it each day counting down to the Big Day. With our busy lives we usually buy an advent calendar but a couple of years ago we made this one and so we decided to try it again this year. I’ve been searching the web for ideas and narrowed it down to these favourites.
matchbox advent tree from the happyhomeblog.com
This is such a great idea to use glass topped metal tins with magnets on the bottom, arranged on the fridge for everyone to admire. Read how to make it here
This colourful advent calendar is available as a kit from Sew Unique.
A cone-iferous advent! This is a fun new twist on the traditional advent calendar, a forest of paper cones that hide tiny treasures
We chose this year to make an advent tree using matchboxes bought at the dollar store The whole lot cost $5.00. This was a great sunday afternoon craft with my girls, we put on christmas music to get us in the mood and simply wrapped the outside of the boxes with scrapbook paper and then decorated with stickers and cut out images and numbers
I hot glued a magnet onto the back of each of the boxes (a couple on the big one) and then arranged them on the side of the fridge in the shape of a tree. Of course we first had to take down all the other notes and reminders etc that were on the fridge and store them carefully in a drawer until after Christmas!
I slipped a little note inside each one with a treat or fun activity to do each day, trying to come up with ideas that were mostly about spending time together and pretty much free. Santa’s on a budget this time of year! Here are a few examples but you can do whatever you like, start some new traditions.
Cut out paper snowflakes and decorate the windows; Choose some festive foods and deliver to the food bank; Make popcorn and watch a holiday movie together; Make christmas cookies; Make a treat for the birds; Go for a walk and see the christmas lights; Watch the santa claus parade; Wear something red today; Wish at least 3 people merry christmas (not including your family)
Red nosed reindeer cookies
Its week 3 of the DIY challenge over at NewlyWoodwards. Bake and share your recipe for some tasty holiday cookies was the task set. To those of you who know me, you’ll know I don’t enjoy cooking, but I love food especially cookies! So after I picked the kids up from school today, I enlisted the help of my youngest daughter Ruby, to make shortbread Reindeer. I got the idea here but changed the recipe a little.
I’ve been making these shortbread cookies since I was a little girl, its my grandmother’s recipe, and so simple. All you need is butter 4oz, sugar 2oz, and flour 6oz. First you beat the butter in a bowl with a wooden spoon until its soft and then beat in the sugar and then the sifted flour. You need to use your hands to bring the mixture together, the kids love this part. Sprinkle a little sugar on the counter and roll out the mixture, start cutting out your shapes. We chose hearts and then bake in the oven on 300F for 25 mins.
Once they had cooled we covered them with icing and added pretzels for the antlers, a red smartie for the nose and chocolate chips for the eyes.
As a variation we sprinkled some of the cookies with smashed candy canes. To keep mess to a minimum, place a candy cane in a ziploc bag, making sure its sealed, and then hit with a rolling pin – this was Ruby’s favourite part!!
I had to take this photo really quickly as they disappeared fast.