Valentine's day 2012

I am, and continue to be, suffering from crafter's block.  Yes, writer's block for those who craft.  Sigh.  I am sure inspiration will strike soon BUT for now, I'll share some of my Valentine's inspired creations from last year.

Finger paint animal silhouette Valentine's along with some puns.

 
Hand print Valentine's. 

Eraser to stamp tutorial. 

 

5 minute Valentine's day decor, you are guaranteed to love.

Embroidered 'loved' tee shirt.

Doggie Bag Tutorial.  Perfect bag to collect all those Valentine's day cards in.

Heart shaped bird seed ornaments. 

Heart shaped, stamped, clay ornaments.

Dino-mite Valentine Day Cards.

'Love is all you need, all you need is love' garland.

Though I am creatively uninspired at the moment, I hope this look back on Valentine's day 2012 makes you feel inspired.

All You Need Is Love - Silhouette Style

I realize not everyone decorates for Valentine's Day. I obviously do. For me, trying to survive the cold {sometimes dark} days of winter, I look forward to brightening up my house with some Valentine's Day decorations. I also like being reminded that:

So I dug out a few pages of colorful card stock and my silhouette to cut out some cheerful letters.

I taped my bright, colorful letters to some fishing line...

and then hung up my Valentine's Day garland.

No matter how you look at it, neither can be argued.
All you need is love. Love is all you need.

Finger Painting Valentine's Day Cards

No matter how old your little one is, this is the perfect option for a personalized, meaningful Valentine's day card, thank you card or just because card.

What you'll need:
Finger paints
Card stock {white to paint on and colored to create your card out of}
Silhouette shapes {we did a Google image search for animal shapes}
Scissors
Glue
Stamps, markers or pen {to write your card out}

And a willing artist...

When the finger painting masterpiece, your little artist created, has completely dried, trace out a few silhouette shapes of animals {or whatever shape you decide}.

Either you or your little artist {depending on how skilled they are with scissors} can cut the finger painting shapes out.

Using either stamps, markers or a pen add a caption to your card. I am a fan of adding some sort of a pun to my cards. As if ewe hadn't already guessed.

I guarantee, anyone that receives one of these cards will think they are purr-fect.

This is such an easy way to involve your little one {regardless of age} so they can create something truly unforgettable.

What a sweet way to let some bunny, any bunny know how much you care.

I hope you and your little artist have fun making some of your own cards and creating some memories in the process.

For the love of birds...

Yes, we have begun to think about Valentine's Day around here. If you feel like hearts and love and all other things Valentine's Day related are for the birds, you might be right!

While poking around Land of Nod's blog I came across a tutorial for making bird seed ornaments from Homemade by Cameron. So, with an ample supply of heart shaped cookie cutters, I decided to show our birds a little love.

After adding bird seed to my husband's Home Depot list, I had everything I needed to make my own bird seed ornaments {full tutorial here}...

including a willing helper.

To hang our bird feeder, we filled our cookie cutters halfway up, added a looped ribbon and then with the bird seed mixture covered the ribbon and filled the cookie cutter the rest of the way up.

This recipe yielded 10 bird seed feeders, which happened to be more than the number of heart shaped cookie cutters I had SO we improvised with some non heart shapes.

After the gelatine set, I removed the cookie cutter and added a few hearts to our flower boxes {which I suspect will be more for the love of the squirrels}.

And we hung a few.

Ironically, the same weekend Grace and I made our bird seed ornaments, a good friend of mine and her son also showed the birds some love.

What I love about her bird seed ornaments is the simplicity. She used some stale bread, peanut butter {to act as a binding agent}, bird seed and cookie cutters. Her version is perfect for toddlers that want to do everything themselves.

*In the Made by Cameron's version, there is a step that requires boiling water to dissolve the gelatin in, definitely requiring adult assistance/supervision depending on how old your little helper is.