mason jar + felt = love

I've been addicted to Pinterest (who isn't, right?) for a long while now. It's just the most amazing place to find new recipes, projects, and inspiration. I came across these Valentines day jars and happened to have everything to make them on hand (love when that happens).

First off I dyed my doilies in coffee. Don't worry, it was cold, old, stale coffee from the morning (wouldn't want to go wasting good coffee now would we?). I basically just let the doilies soak in the coffee for a few min, then placed them on a paper towel to dry. The rule of thumb is that the longer you leave them in, the darker they get.

 Then you just cut some hearts out of felt, and wrap the doilies and felt hearts around the jar with your bakers twine. I used a variety of jars I had on hand, so anything goes. Then you can fill your jars with candy or even use them as small flower vases. Easy peasy.

 If you want to check out the original blog post on how to make these click on over to this blog.

handmade valentines

While the husband and I were grocery shopping the other day Ella spotted a box of Princess valentines. She screamed "Cinderella! Princess!" in the middle of the store so I let her hold the box while we finished shopping. When it was time to checkout, Travis and I did the whole "distract and hide" bit to get the valentines out of her hands (if you have kids you know exactly what that is). 

I had borrowed a silicone heart mold from a friend and planned to make some homemade crayons as valentines. It was a really really easy project and they turned out so cute! I can't wait to package them up and give them to her friends.

Here's how to do it:

Peel the paper off of the crayons and break them up into small pieces. Fill the mold with the crayon bits (not too full, you don't want the melted crayons to spill over) and stick the mold on a baking sheet lined with foil (in case any crayon spills over). Put it in the oven at 250 degrees for 10-15 minutes. You'll be able to see when all the crayon bits are completely melted. It's optional but before I put the crayon pieces into the mold I gave each mold a shake or two of glitter. Once the crayons are completely melted take them out and let them cool in the mold on the counter or for faster cooling you can put it in the freezer. Then just pop them out of their molds. And just like that, brand new crayons!

 Here they are cooled in the mold.

 I separated my red, pink and purple bits together and green and blue bits together. You can mix all  your colors together or separate them for a more uniform look. It's up to you!

 I bought some 4" clear cellophane bags at Michaels to package them up in and plan on making a bag topper to attach to the top. Of course this is not only a great project for Valentines, but for anytime you have a million broken crayons lying around. I think her little friends will really enjoy their sparkly crayon Valentines. <3

feelin' the love

It's February 2nd! That means only 12 more days until Valentines day. We were at Lowe's the other night and I stocked up on paint swatches in shades of red and pink knowing that I'd need to decorate something for the holiday this month. I used the same method as my Halloween paint swatch garland (you can find my tutorial here). The only difference this time is that I glued my paint swatches together first (right sides out) and instead of using a 2" hole punch, I freehand cut hearts. The hearts are by no means exactly the same but they look cute hanging from the mantle nonetheless. It was so fast and easy that it got me wanting to start on another Valentines day project. I'll share that one next week!