happy heart day!

I recently sent secret packages out to some of my friends

as a surprise Valentine treat. 

I LOVE sending surprises in the mail ~

how often do you get fun surprises in the mail

over the age of 10??

I had a lot of fun making these simple cards. 

I stamped the heart image,

filled in the heart with red glitter glue,

and punched it out with my Stampin' Up circle scallop punch.

Then, I took red cards,

stitched three random width lines

with red thread on my sewing machine and

attached the heart punchy with a foam square.

I tucked in a heart garland and mailed them off this week.

I hope my friends enjoyed them as much as I enjoyed making them.

This weekend, we held our 3rd Annual Valentine Par-tay! 

And yes, you have to say it like that :)

Here are the cousins enjoying their red velvet

Valentine cupcakes made by Aunt Kim.

How do you spread the love on Valentine's Day?

Fun Stuff

Last weekend we had our little Valentine party. The kids had a great time hanging out with their cousins, getting in their jammies, and watching a movie together.

The adults had a great time playing Balderdash ~ lots of laughs and funny stuff ~ if you've never played, you have to try!!

My mom and dad gave each of the boys a Valentine's day treat: Lightning McQueen sippy cups, Cars stickers, and these cu-ute felt Valentine cookies for their play kitchen [YES, my boys have a play kitchen! And it's one of the best toys we've ever gotten them!]


But, enough with the Valentine stuff.

I can never say I never win anything anymore.

I received a package of bloggy goodness in the mail this week from one of my scrapbooking friends, Kristin. We met through the Creating Keepsakes message board, have scrapped together twice, and met up at the CKC in Valley Forge last summer. She has a fun blog and I won some scrapbooking goodies just for posting a comment.

She sent me the NEW Jenni Bowlin Farmer's Wife 4 x 4 paper pack along with some adorable Jenni Bowlin Trendy journaling cards. I cannot wait to play around with this stuff. I'll post some pics once I break into them. Thank you again, Kristin!!!!!

Some Valentine Advice...

....from my 3 year old:

"only kiss on the cheek, not on the wips."

I just hope he's saying the same thing in 12 years! :)

Valentine Goodies

We decided to throw an impromptu Valentine Party tonight and invite the cousins over for "dinner & a movie." So, the boys and I spent all morning making decorations.



I pulled out all the pink and purple scrapbooking paper out of my stacks [not much need for those colors around here, so we've got plenty of that!]



It was so much fun ~ 2 hours flew by before we knew it [and then, of course, there was the mad dash to eat lunch, get Evan dressed for school, and drive to the bus stop with the rest of us still in our p.j.'s just to make it in time!]




Our house looks so cheery now....just walking into the kitchen makes me smile. Might have to keep them up for a while [read: until I get a spurt of energy to take them down :)]

And while I'm sharing....

thought I'd share the treats I made for Evan's Valentine Party at school...

They are heart banana cupcake lollipops with chocolate icing. And they are SO yummy!! I only had one though....weigh-in is tomorrow morning.

Evan and I also made each one of his classmates a heart-shaped crayon using all the little bits and pieces of crayons I've collected. It was super easy!! I used a Wilton silicone heart mold for both the cupcakes and the crayons [don't worry, Mark ate the cupcakes that had a little bit of leftover coloring on them from the crayon project - HA! ;)]

Evan broke the crayons up and put them in each mold (which we sprayed with Pam cooking spray first) We popped it in the oven at 250 for 10-15 minutes and then let them cool completely.

I cannot take any credit for either of these projects ~ my sister, Jill, made them for Ava's birthday and they were a hit. I'm just a copycat! :)

I'll have to post some pics of the Valentine Party next week.

Hope you have a wonderful Valentine's Day with the ones you love...