Bunny Cakes

Love is in the Air

Less than a month till Valentine's Day!  This is the last year my older boys will be passing out Valentine's Day cards to their classmates (*sniff, sniff*) and I really do not know what to make for them.  Since they are in 5th grade they are too cool for most of the Valentine's Day cutsie stuff and are not allowed to bring in any sweets or food.  I need some serious inspiration!  I turned to my V-day Pinterest board (ah, I love Pinterest) and though I feel more inspired, I am still at a loss.  But just in case you need a little inspiration here are some pictures to get you in the mood...

-K

This Year's Valentine's Day Cards

Now that the boys are getting older (4th grade), they have a lot more opinions on what their Valentine's Day cards should be like.  When trying to come up with this year's theme we first decided on what to include with the cards.  After some searching we went with the classic novelty gift, a whoopee cushion.  From there we came up with a skunk theme and added our own version of Roses Are Red to our cards.  A flower lollipop completed them and added the obligatory sweet element.  

The cards were assembled by folding the whoopee cushions in half (use a craft glue dot to keep them folded), then we added a card on top, which read: Roses are Red, Flamingos are Pink, I Hope Your Valentine's Day Doesn't Stink.  Finally we placed the cut-out skunk on top and tied it up with the lollipop.  We later ended up having to drop the lollipop from our cards due to changes in the county v-day policy prohibiting candy, but they still turned out cute!

I hope you have a wonderful Valentine's Day!

-K

Stylish Valentines

Check it out, our Zebra and Sweetheart Valentine's Day cards showed up on Stylelist, one of my favorite fashion & style sites!  I feel so honored and stylish!

-K

Valentine's Day Update

If you are a regular reader of our blog, then you will know Valentine's Day is one of my favorite holidays.  And you will also know I haven't posted in a long while.  One of my New Year's resolutions this year was to post more frequently, but as you can see the opposite has happened.  The truth is, I haven't been feeling well and have been utterly useless outside of my regular work hours.  Somehow I can keep it together for work, but as soon as I come home I am worthless.  For this reason I was planning on passing on personalizing Valentine's Day cards this year.  However, it only took one person to ask and I found myself opening up my etsy shop.  So if you are interested in getting your hands on a personalized version of our cards please check out our shop.  The personalized cards are $4.50 for a PDF file (with 6 cards) you can print as often as you want.  The non-personalized cards are free to download: Zebra cards, Sweetheart cards, Love is All You Need cards, Playbill Valentine's Day cards, Love Big cards & Penguin Treat Holder cards.

-K

Valentine's Day Prep

The weekend before Valentine's Day was very busy to say the least.  All my mini-projects, which were in various stages of completion, had to wrap up before Monday.  By Saturday afternoon some of them were in good shape, but others still only existing in my head.  Luckily by Sunday night all were complete and ready for prime time.  Here is a look at the during and after pictures.

A and her family came over Sunday morning for a Valentine's Day Photo Shoot for Baby O.  Look how cute and flirty he was during the shoot...he is actually like that most of the time I see him.  I like to think its me, but I often hear reports of him being flirty with other women...the nerve! and so young!

Here is C$ working on tying little tags to choclate bars to hand out as Valentine's Day Cards to his third grade classmates. 

Here is a better look at our disastorous kitchen table...gasp!  I did save two clear spots at the table so the boys could eat like humans--Hubby's request.  If I had it my way they would have just eaten fallen M&M's scrounged from the floor (kidding of course, they would have had a few brownie & cookie crumbs to eat too).

The final results for the boys' Valentine's Day cards...(for more check out here).

The boys' teachers (past and present) got tented Penguin Cards stuffed with a heart-shaped brownie, M&Ms, a Valentine's Day sugar cookie and a hershey kiss.  My coworkers and A's also received a version of this Valentine's Day treat.  Here are the brownies awaiting their cookie partners.

A look at the Valentine's Day Sugar Cookies...I made mostly bite-sized cookies that would fit nicely in the treat bags.

The Teacher Valentine's Day Cards for this year...(for downloadable file click here).

 -K

Valentine's Day Gold & Ice

Here is a look at what the boys and I created for for this year's *Classroom Valentine's Day Cards*. 

We first settled on what treat the boys were going to hand out--chocolate bars.  Then we figured out how we could incorporate our penguin card and our panda idea (panda theif stealing hearts).  For the penguin cards we made our chocolate bars into icebergs and attached little tags with our penguin Valentine's Day message: Wishing You a Sweet Valentine's Day.  For the panda cards, we made our chocolate bars into bricks of gold and attached a tag with our panda theif message: Love is More Precious Than Gold.

I am still working on finished up their cards, but if I can finish today I will be in good shape.  These cards are definitely not for those who don't enjoy crafting as it involves a lot of cutting, punching, folding, taping and tying.  To get the boys involved in the process I had them tie on the tags.

Here are the steps:

1.  Print and cut out chocolate bar labels.

2.  Fold along the four edges that will define the chocolate bar shape.  Be sure to use a bone folder to get crisp edges.

3.  Tape one side of the label to the back of the chocolate bar using regular tape--one piece in the middle will do fine.  Then apply double-sided tape to the two corners of the opposite side of the label and press down.

4.  Punch out your tag and attach to the cholocate bar.

5.  Deliver!

-K

Quilled Hearts - Updated Valentine's Ceiling Love

Somehow I misplaced our Winter Ceiling Love (felted polar bears and snowballs) along with the Valentine's Day accessories so I had to come up with something new this year.  As soon as I saw the quilled heart kit in Paper Source I knew I had found my replacement. 

I decided to pass on the kit and make the hearts on my own.  I bought three sheets of scrapbooking paper (12 x12): 2 red and 1 pink.  I cut the paper in strips about 1.25 inches wide (the width of my ruler) and 12 inches long.  Then I folded all the strips in half.  Finally I used a long screw driver to tightly roll the edges of the paper strips inward to create hearts.  After all the hearts were complete I strung them on red and white baker's twine.  To do this, cut a tiny triangle in the middle of 'V' part of the heart.  String the twine through and knot where you want the bottom of the heart to rest (you may have to do 2 or three knots depending on how big you cut your triangle.  Finally use double-sided tape to keep the lobes of the heart together.

-K

Happy February!

February is here!  I love all the pinks and reds that accompany February.  I wish Valentine's Day was at the end of the month so we could enjoy all the hearts, blushes, fuchsias and flora longer.  What's your idea of the perfect Valentine's Day gift?  Mine?...an exquisite arrangement of flowers presented with a lovely tray of French macarons. Have a wonderful month!

Sources (starting at upper left going clockwise):  Heart Whoopie Pies from Williams Sonoma; Flower arrangement from Martha Stewart Weddings; Pave Posy necklace from Kate Spade; Treat Boxes from Martha Stewart Crafts; Sweetheart candies; V-Day stamp from Paper Source; Heart Sprinkles; Macarons from Laduree; Valentine's Day craft tape from Martha Stewart Crafts; Flower from Martha Stewart Weddings; Lexington purse from Kate Spade.

-K

Penguin Valentine's Day Treat Holder Cards

The boys and I are still deciding on what they will pass out this Valentine's Day to their classmates.  For the last four years we have designed and made our own cards, but I was beginning to wonder if I was forcing my craft upon the boys.  When I asked them if they wanted to do store bought cards this year, they looked at me like I was crazy.  'No, Mom. Why would we want to do that!?! We always make them.'  Their response definitely made me smile.  When I then asked if they had any ideas for this year, C$ suggested featuring his favorite stuffed animal, Waddle Do.  Waddle Do is a cute little penguin he won at a boardwalk carnival game over the summer and seemed like the perfect subject for a Valentine's Day card.  We added a festive cupcake to the card and the line, 'Wishing you a Sweet Valentine's Day'.  All Valentine's Day cards go best with a treat so modified the format of the card so it could be folded to hold a little something sweet.  If you would like to make your own cards, here is the link: Download the Penguin Valentine's Day Treat Holder file.

The inspiration for the card, Waddle Do...

 

Steps for making the treat holder cards:

1.  Print card, then cut around edges.  Use a corner punch to easily round the corners.  Fold card along the guidelines (thin gray lines).

2.  Align the top of the front and the top of the back.  Then using a hold puncher, punch a hole through the front and back the card.

3.  Put both ends of your ribbon from the front to the back of the card.

4.  Pull the ends of the ribbon back through the ribbon loop (on the front of the card) to create a knot.  Then slide in treat.

5.  Distribute to your friends and secret crush.

-K

Personalized Valentine's Day Cards

Healthy living and organization dominate my New Year's Resolution list.  I have 14 items on my list.  I know it sounds like a lot, but I feel very energized to make some positive changes in my life.  About half the items on my list focus on organization.  I want to be more organized so I can get things done faster and easier and ultimately get more done.  For example, I have already designed and printed out my address labels for my 2011 Christmas cards.  So now when Christmas rolls around and I am working on a million projects, the house is a total mess and I have tons of shopping left at least I have one thing less to do and just maybe I will get my cards out on time.  In that line of thinking, I am making my *Personalized Valentine's Day Cards* available now via my Etsy shop so you can get a head start on Valentine's Day.  There are currently 4 designs to select from, but hopefully I will be adding a few more soon.  For $9.50 you get a downloadable PDF file with the design and name of your choice.  Of course you can always download the cards for free and write in your name.  

-K