U Rock: DIY Pet Rock Valentine Cards

I have been seeing a ton of adorable diy Valentine's this year in the blogosphere, that I will likely show you soon. But my kindergartner's party is Friday, so I had to go ahead and make something for his class now.
 

So we headed to Micheal's to check out their V-Day offerings. They have tons of cute stamps on sale for 49 cents. We originally got a cute robot holding hearts, and a hedgehog that said "I'm stuck on you".. but the "U Rock" stamp caught my eye. So after going down aisle by aisle, I wasn't really seeing anything that was a) affordable and b) not too girly or c) had enough for each child... and I *almost* resorted to forgetting the diy thing and getting a store bought boxed set, (no offense to those who do, I still love the Strawberry Shortcake and My Little Pony ones I got as a kid), I was just determined to do something crafty. When I saw these bags of rocks, the "U Rock" stamp entered my mind and I thought, Pet Rock Valentines! Don't kids love rocks? My son was sold on the idea.

So, you need a few pieces of scrapbook paper, ink pad and a stamp (or just write the message out), hot glue and glue gun, rocks, paintbrushes and paint. I had most all of these supplies, so it was pretty easy and inexpensive to do. I tested my permanent markers on a rock, and they didn't show up well enough, so I settled for paint.

Stamp on the two outer/parallel edges of paper, then cut the paper in half. You can get about 12 cards from one large square piece of scrapbook paper. Once they are all cut out, fold in half and hot glue your rock above the stamp, and write your message inside. Perfect, original and cute for non-candy Valentines.

But...  on the rest of the Valentines, I accidentally folded the paper wrong and had already written on the backs, so I had to get creative with that extra flap.. I hot glued the Starburst on both sides and stuffed it in there for a little pocket. Just enough glue to keep it in place, so the kids will be able to still get to the candy quite easily. The rocks can be peeled off pretty easily too.

Not as cute in my opinion, but hey, they are for little kids who are going to be on the hunt for candy anyways, right?

My girl rocks have little hearts on the cheek, and my boy rocks have eyebrows. If you know the kids well though, it would be cute to make them more original with eye and hair color, glasses, freckles, or even go silly with mustaches, pirate patches, eyelashes and that sort of craziness... The two below are the ones I made for my kiddos.

If you make a Pet Rock Valentine, I'd love to see it! Happy crafting :)

 

Sweet Treats: Valentine's Cupcakes

Today, I made cupcakes. Once again, I used the rainbow chip mix, and dyed my frosting with the gel food coloring. Gel coloring seems to be much brighter than the liquid ones.

The little scribbles are so cute and easy. Just melt chocolate, stir it ( food color it if you wish) and pour into a ziplock bag. Lay out a long strip of wax paper and snip a tiny hole in the corner of the bag. Pipe the chocolate into shapes on the wax paper and allow to dry. Before piping, you can draw shapes on paper and place the sheet under the wax paper so you can trace those shapes. After about 20 mins or so, carefully remove and place on frosted cupcakes, (this is why I made tons of extras, for all the ones that I broke while removing). A much, much better tutorial (with pics) of this technique is here on i am baker.

Our family delivered some cupcakes to neighbors, friends and children I teach in Sunday school. But it got dark early and people weren't home, and we were getting hungry...

 ...so we grabbed pizza, went home, and gobbled cupcakes, along with these ginormously, beautiful strawberries the hubs brought home.

Aren't you loving our 5year old's, double black eye? He acquired it yesterday from jumping from our coffee table to the sofa and banged his pour little nose on the sofa arm. The same day, our 3 year old got a bead stuck up his nose. Oh the painful joys of childhood!

Our 3 year old having a melt down b/c the wrapper wasn't peeled perfectly from his cupcake.

Oh, and my husband brought flowers too. These lovely purple ones, because he didn't want to be "too cliche'" and get roses.

I hope your Valentine's Day was as sweet as ours!

Homefront: Valentine's Mantel Decorating

 My mantel post is late this month! I kept it low key with only one obvious Valentine decoration, my large glittery red love bird heart. I couldn't find my Valentine decor box, but that's fine. After seeing the photos, there are some changes I would make, but I'm trying to not be too fussy right now. One thing I miss though, was my heart doily arch from last year in our old home.

 This little tiny pic of us was when we were engaged about 8 years ago. Our first Valentine's Day, was a tad over a month after we met. We exchanged Fossil watches (total coincidence) and was the first time he officially told me the "L" word... unless you count the other time he said it on accident when we were hanging up the phone one night, so we totally pretended it didn't happen ;)

I finally found our family pictures, so while I have no frames, I thought it looked cute on the clipboard for now.

I made my paper heart garland out of a newspaper and twine, it took 15 minutes to make, and my 5 year old helped. Just cut out lots of hearts, stick some tape on the backs and hole punch over the tape. Thread it on the twine and you're done. I got lucky in that my paper had lots of valentine and marriage references in it. Justiana Blakeney has a good tutorial on this at Design*Sponge.

I am rally wanting to hang this mirror above the mantel shelf. Can you spy something that doesn't belong in this photo?
 

*More beautiful mantles here and here.*

Valentines Favorites

valentine arrows tutorial by the thompson family via design sponge

As with all holidays, I enjoy learning a bit of the history, who was the Saint, what were the pagan beliefs, how was it commercialized and spread worldwide? Go here for some excellent reading on Valentine's Day.

 But I also love the treats, the warm feelings declared by not only lovers, but friends and family as well. The decorations and of course, the treats are definately a huge plus as well! What is your favorite association or anti-reasoning of this holiday?

valentine cookies by i am mommy ... cookie and frosting recipe here

valentine fort tutorial by justina blankeney via design sponge

shakespearean paper garland by bookity

 valentine heart cake tutorial by i am mommy

vintage inspired paper heart garland by edge inspired

love swan valentine shadow by by jessica jane

 lots of free valentine printables  complied at living locurto (those shown by pepto girl)

valentine cards free pdf images and garland idea from vanessa of a fanciful twist

 valentine mice by betz white

valentines mantel by the stories of a2z linky

(her mantle here

valentine strawberry chocolate cupcakes recipe by tidy mom

*Bakerella's valentine baking round up. 

*Living Locurto's valentine baking round-up

*I am mommy valentine baking round-up

Homefront: My Paper Valentine

 

I put my 4th "A" on my Christmas wreath. We have an A for each of us, so I need to hunt down another!

   

This little "love" sign is just 2 pipe cleaners shaped together. Easy, fun and cheap. You can see my mantle last year, I added a feather boa, a few extra goodies and some red Swarovski crystal and vintage glass hearts for some extra color and sparkle. The display looks off to me, but I am satisfied.

 

  

The white paper doily heart garland has just been tied loosely with white string.

  

I love this archway. A few strands of taped white doily hearts hanging from string make a sweet, inexpensive garland. The simple and pretty garland adds a bit of modern and airy romance to an unexpected space.

   

 

Whether you are single, in a "complicated" relationship, or ready for a romantic adventure, may you know that you are loved on this Valentine's day! Oh, and watch this little video with your sweetheart, family or friends for a heartwarming, special message on truly loving another. It is a little excerpt but the full talk can be seen here, or read here in it's entirety.