Freebie Friday: Valentine Box

"candies, chocolates, promises you don't intend to keep . . . " what are you going to fill your box with? (Ah, and can you name that movie?)

These little boxes measure 2 1/4 inches square. I've added tabs on the sides of the top to keep it in place a little better than the Thanksgiving ones. (after I took pictures of course). Anyway, get the valentine box here.



If you'd rather have a pillow box, I made some last year, here, but since that link no longer works, I've uploaded them again to scribd. If you would like these instead, get them here.



Next week the plan is cupcake toppers . . . aka cookie, candy, goody seals. If you have a style request (aka. bright, quirky, simple, etc.) I'm open to suggestions (although I may still stick with the simple light pink heart theme we've got going. . . it might be too boring for toppers though) Enough parenthesis yet? Never!

enjoy!

a cut out card

simple, but unique . . . i like.

I just printed it and cut it out with an exact o knife-carefully.

Freebie Friday: Heart Notes & The Poster

Aren't these 2 x 3 inch Heart Notes fun? I'm going to use them as part of a "14 days of Valentines" . . . (don't worry the hunny never reads my blog).

They would also be fun to write an activity or short love poem on for a valentine advent.

Or you could use a hole punch and punch out the number and use them as gift tags . . . now or anytime of year. (lunch bag love notes . . .)

**oh, also, I used a corner punch to round the corners**

Fun. Simple. Versatile. Enjoy!



As mentioned previously, my "you chase me" poster also as a freebie. This one today only! Get it here.

You are welcome to share the link to my blog, but please no sharing the "you chase me" file (I really want to buy a decent printer (one that doesn't do pixilated banded printing, ugh)).

Happy Running! Or Chasing . . .

Chase Me

So, my Great Grandpa is a funny guy. (Yep in his 90s and going strong). When I was younger and he was a bit livelier he'd entertain us with stories and songs sung with his accordion and tell us poems he made up. Cool guy. This was my favorite poem:

Roses are red,
Violets are blue,
You chase me and
I'll run slow.

We all thought it was hilarious and would laugh and laugh. Well, I still laugh.

I've put a printable poster up in my shop today-but because I really love my Grandpa, come back tomorrow and get it as a freebie friday. Yeah, it will ONLY be available FRIDAY. After that it will just be in my etsy shop.

come come.

headbands & clips

This last week I and a friend made a bunch of headbands-well, most of them are clips that can clip onto a headband. I was inspired by these headbands on Homemade by Jill. I learned two things-they are very addicting to make-even now I have more ideas of things I want to try. And two, they take more time than I think they are going to-pretty much like every craft I think I can whip up in a few minutes, eh? Anyway, they were fun, and now the little sweetie is more identifiable as a girl even with her little fuzzy duckling hair :)

Freebie Friday-Simple Valentine Cards

By simple I mean both a classic scalloped heart, and that all you have to do is print** it out on a letter size sheet of card stock, cut it in half and fold it. wala. Besides, what better way to celebrate January 14th? Only a month guys . . .

The next couple of Fridays will be full of valentine cards/embellishments/cupcake toppers . . . it's going to be love-ly;)!

Get the simple valentine card here. (and please note: one of them, not pictured, is meant to have part of the heart cut off-I kind of like the asymmetrical look-but of course I changed it after the sun went down, hence the no picture)

Enjoy!

**If you're cards aren't centered right when printed see here.

red goodness.

First, I've just put a fun subway art Valentine poster up in my shop.

Second, I thought I'd share the yummiest cherry cheese cake recipe-but it's a no cook cheese cake and very sweet. If you're into a heavy cooked "real" cheesecake, this isn't it. But mmmm m m m my mouth is watering now. Kids LOVE it!

yep, this is a birthday cake. Every year this is the hunny's request.

Cherry Cheese Cake

2 1/2 c. cracker crumbs
1/2 c. margarine
1 pkg of dream whip
8 oz. cream cheese
1 t. vanilla
3 T. milk
1 c. powdered sugar
can of cherry pie filling

Melt the margarine and mix with cracker crumbs and spread out in an 9x13 inch pan. Prepare the dream whip according to package directions. Add cream cheese, sugar, vanilla and milk and mix until smooth or almost. Spread out over crumb crust, top with cherries (don't spread, just drop) Chill and serve.

Freebie Friday- Track It!

Goals are important. So are sticker charts! I think they are great for bribing kids, focusing on the positive and keeping track of goals!

Here are two different sticker charts. We've been using a slightly altered sticker chart for the buddy for probably 8 months now (it has a personalized header that says the "buddy" is a good listener). It's been very helpful.

This first chart entitled "Sticker Chart" (I'm a creative genius, I know) has 10 rows of 10 squares for one broad goal or incentive. Great for children, or focusing in on one thing to make it a habit.

The second one, entitled "The Chart" (also genius)is geared to several (6) different items all at once each with one row of 10 squares. Great for a list of goals, or as a chore/responsibility chart for the kids, or whatever you're working towards and want to reward yourself for.

I need one to motivate me too. Never to old for a sticker chart! My top 3 goals?

1. Believe. Spend more time coming closer to my Savior and getting to know him personally.

2. Focus on helping the kids grow (aka-get the buddy potty trained, and the sweetie to sleep in her own bed all night long-among other things).

3. Spend less time on the computer-yes that means blogging. It's easy for me to get into the bad habit of crafting to blog about it instead of crafting for fun or as a useful endeavor. I want to keep the balance of crafting as part of my life, and blogging as a way to document it. I also want more mental time spent enjoying the moment and day rather than planning blogs or crafts in my head. Alas. I'm going to try not to blog more than three times a week, one of which will be the freebie friday. that's a doable realistic amount for me, without feeling like I'm crafting to blog.

What's on your list?

The Buddy's Calendar

We sent the grandparent's 2011 Calendars for Christmas using the template I made here.
We tried to do a variety of simple crafty projects for every other month, and then just put a picture on the other months. He was really into the glitter. He wanted to glitter EVERYTHING! I also forgot to tell him to keep his coloring to the top portion on the first one and it got a little wild. Since I wanted them to be able to write in the bottom portion we had to reprint that one. Not a biggie. I did learn one lesson though: the little buddy doesn't like me micro managing him. huh. weird. joking. (about it being weird, not about him not liking it). I think I need to back off a little more and let him do his thing. That's hard for me when we're making something for some one else-but I also don't want to destroy his confidence in his own creative abilities. A fine line. I ended up letting him pick colors and placement while I directed the theme for the most part.

When I went to get it bound they said the couldn't have it done for several hours-and I needed to get it off in the mail that day- so I used two rings instead.

This was a potato print I cut and the buddy stamped.

finger print shamrocks . . .

finger print dots on cupcake papers . . .
We did a little glitter under some of the pictures . . .
simple stars and stripes out of construction paper . . .
stickers . . .
glittered handprint turkey and a little marker . . .

fairly simple. It would have been fun to make an extra one for us to keep!

buy clearance bulbs now

First, sorry about the terrible pictures, I should have taken pictures while the sun was out-because it was out and beautiful today! I also have to apologize for being MIA-My husband took all last week off and we had a fun filled week being a family . . .

So, I bought these blue bulbs today (I'm all about plastic-shatterproof bulbs) at Target for $5, that's 10 cents each! (50 bulbs) Too bad I'd already made this wreath . . . I got the bulbs for this one last week on 50% off clearance rather than the current 75% off . . . but I am in love. Now to figure out a way to store it until next year. . .