Wild Valentine's

I made these at the last minute for the students I work with at school. They were a huge success with the kids and didn't take long to make or cost much either. 

I went to the dollar store and bought three packages of stretchy lizards and dinosaurs (I was looking for anything wild). They were quite a bargain because you got eight animals per bag. I made up the cards on the computer - I found I could comfortably fit four cards per page, but it would depend on the size of your animal. I printed the cards up, poked small holes for the pipe cleaners using scissors, and attached the animals.  String would have been better because pieces of pipe cleaner fuzz stuck to the animals - not that the kids cared though.  I would love to have used baker's twine tied into a sweet little bow on the wild thing's back, but alas all I had was pipe cleaners so that is what I used.

I just thought I would pass along an idea to store away for next year.

Linked to Lovely Wreath Link Party at Bower Power

Happy Valentine's Day

Happy Valentine's Day my friends. What are you doing to celebrate? Valentine's Day also happens to be our wedding anniversary so we will be having some fun treats for dinner, a nice bottle of wine, and I'll be giving this card to my husband. I made it in art class this week using Japanese mulberry paper that I painted with bold colours a la Kandinsky and then cut up and shaped into a heart. 

I recently read that in Finland Valentine's Day is called "Friend's Day" and is a day to celebrate friendship. Women in particular have embraced these holiday and now send cards and give gifts to their friends. Don't you love that - it's about remembering all your loved ones not just the ones you are romantically involved with. So my friends, I'm wishing you all a Happy Valentine's day - blowing you kisses and sending my love.

Happy Valentine's Day

I haven't done much decorating for Valentine's Day this year, but inspiration finally hit on the weekend and I pulled out the heart garland I made last year (which you can see on the mantel here) and attached it to the picture frame above the sideboard.

Jonathan gave me these mini roses for my birthday last week and they really seemed to make the sideboard have just the right Valentine's Day look. 

We have another reason for celebrating love on February 14th as it is our wedding anniversary.  

We don't have elaborate plans for Valentine's Day and our anniversary, but I am going to cook something a little extra special.  I've been waiting for a special occasion to use the Chicken Biryani mix that Jacob, my airplane friend, bought for me so I'll make that along with something special for dessert (yet to be decided).
Do you go all out for Valentine's Day, or are you more low key like we are, or maybe you don't celebrate it all.  Whatever your situation, I'm wishing you a little extra love and a hug on Valentine's Day.

***********************************Also, a final reminder to put your name in for the SmartSilk pillow giveaway as today is the last day and you will definitely want a chance to own these super cuddly pillows (details HERE).

WISH Wednesday #17

I had another WISH (Weekly Inspiration for a Seasonal Home) Wednesday photo ready to go and realized that this is my last opportunity to post a room decorated for Valentine's Day, so I went back to the inspiration photos and found one that I love (by the way, in the process I pinned a lot of gorgeous Valentine's Day decorating inspiration photos over on Pintrest, which you can see here).
I love how simple this room is - white, wood, and wicker - which serve as a neutral backdrop to the simple framed heart art.  It looks like a room that would be comfortable and fun to be in, but easy to keep clean (which matters a lot too).

a few things from my life

Sarah and Bendrix, whose home this is,  also own an Etsy shop (which you can see here) and sell amazing heart art similar to some of the pieces on the wall.

a few things from my life

Are you decorating for Valentine's Day?  Anyone else itching to put hearts all over their walls?

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Pillows anyone?  Don't forget to put your name in for the SmartSilk pillow giveaway (see here for details).

Anniversary Memory Book

Valentine's Day also happens to be our wedding anniversary.  Since this year is our thirtieth anniversay we decided to go out for dinner to an Indian restaurant with all the kids and some friends to celebrate.  After dinner we all came home and had some champagne and cupcakes (which you can see pictures of here).  It was a lovely evening and I can't think of a better way to spend our anniversary than being with family and friends eating yummy food. 

I have been working on an anniversary memory book in secret over the past month and now that I have given it to hubby, I can share it with you.   I made him a scrapbook with a page for each year we were married containing a brief description of what we did, where we went, and how old the children were, along with some photos from each year.  

First page from our thirtieth anniversary book.

Fortunately I had done the first twenty years we were married on our twentieth anniversary so I only had to do the next ten years.  

First page from our twentieth anniversary book (the wedding invitation was taped to the inside of the cover).

These just happened to be very busy years, though, so there was lots to remember.  There were emails flying off to all the kids peppering them with questions about what year they had done this or that and how old they were when such and such happened.  I think I got most of the facts right, which is good as my memory for the details is not going to get any better than it is now.  I kept a little book with me at all times for a few weeks in which I would jot things down as I remembered them.  When I finally had all the details right, I wrote up each year in a little text box and then printed them off.

One of the pages from the twentieth anniversary book (which might account for why I look so young).

Then Kate helped me decide on the photos.  This was no small feat since half the photos were in actual photographs and half were on discs.  We did some rapid sorting and then I colour photocopied all the photographs and printed off the ones that we wanted from the CDs.    I cropped the pictures and played with the arrangement so they would fit on a page.

Detail of one of the pages from the thirtieth anniversary book.

I used some scrap-booking paper to add a bit of colour to each page.  I had far less time to make the book this time so I just did my best to get all the information in, some representative photos from each event in that year, and a fairly even number of photos of each person in the family.  

It is a fair amount of work to do, but so worth it to remember the main events of each year.  I was shocked how much I had forgotten when I re-read the twentieth anniversary book.  If  you have weak memories like we do then this is a great present to make for a significant anniversary.

There are plenty more pages in the thirtieth anniversary book so I will be adding to it for our fortieth - or maybe I should start doing it every five years so it isn't such a strain to remember everything.

at the Indian restaurant

 Happy anniversary love.  I'm looking forward to the next thirty years!

Linked to Inspiration Friday at At the Picket Fence

Heart Bunting on our Valentine's Day Mantel

I usually don't change the decoratations on our mantel very often, but I rose to the challenge this year and decided to decorate for Valentine's Day.  After all, not only is it Valentine's Day, but it is our 30th Wedding Anniversary on February 14th so it seemed like the perfect time to do a little something special.

Right beside the fireplace is a brown and gold sofa that just doesn't look very good with red and pink so I thought I'd be creative and decorate with cream and blue.  I decided I wanted  the mantel to have something a bit sentimental after all it is a celebration of love; something with hearts only they couldn't be red or pink; and I wanted to use things from around the house.

 

 My first inspiration was to use books that represented something everyone in the family is interested in.  The fireplace is in our family room and has an entire wall of windows so it is quite sunny which means that I didn't want to put any of our good books on the mantel.  So I stuck to using paperbacks that nobody would mind if they got a bit faded in the sun.  There were fossil and English literature books for the hubster, books by C. S. Lewis and Tolkien for Malcolm, for Kate books about New York City and Harry Potter (notice how the spine is upside down - that's how they print books in France), an Eastern philosopy book for William, and a book on Bangladesh for me.  I tied them all with a jute twine and put a couple of heart-shaped rocks on top.

I thought our tea cups would look pretty across the middle of the mantel - a sweet combination of delicate flowers and gold trim and a reminder of a relaxing cup of tea.  The tea cups were bought by my mother shortly after they were married over 55 years ago.  My parents no longer used them so they passed six on to us and we use them when we play bridge.   I think they are all so pretty that I can never decide which tea cup is my favourite.

I've been a bit obsessed with how cute those mini-bunting flags look strung across cakes that I see all over blogland and decided I wanted to try my hand at making a Valentine's Day one.  Now there are some people in the family who don't like my bunting, but then again long-haired 16-year old guys aren't usually the ones you poll for opinions on your Valentine's Day crafts.

To make the bunting I cut heart-shapes out of some drop-cloth material and then taped them all side-by-side so I could sew them together without them moving around.  I sewed a little closer to the top of the hearts than the bottom so that gravity would hold them upright and I used the bottom edge of the masking tape as my guide for sewing.  I also made sure I left long threads on both ends so that I had enough to tie it to the sticks.  When they were sewn together, I removed the tape, tied the bunting to the bbq skewers, and put a dab of glue to hold it in place.

I had some serious issues getting them to stay up-right in the tea cup and I'm sure there were better solutions than the one I found, but here is what I did.  I used a lump of sticky tack at the bottom of the cup with the skewer stuck into it, then put some rocks over top and then covered them with white pea beans.  It was an efficient, but not necessarily elegant solution.

 
On the right-hand side of the mantel I put a chocolate-coloured Valentine's Day subway art that I got free from Today's Fabulous Finds.  They are available in ten different colours and are yours free for the printing - thanks Janet!   I chose the brown one so it would balance the weight of the books on the other end of the mantel and would coordinate with the sofa.

I put our last tea cup on this side, because I wanted an uneven number across the centre and this one is brighter than all the other ones. 

 
Since the tea cup was turquoise, I wanted to have two more aqua blue accents so added my new mason jar and a Tiffany box.  Aren't those bubbles in the mason jar too much - I love them.

Don't think I'm too silly, but I still haven't opened my present from Tiffany's that I got for Christmas.  I didn't want to ruin the bow so I'm waiting to open it for my birthday which is just before Valentine's Day - I know I'm strange.  What can I say?  It seemed appropriate to include the Tiffany box since the Valentine's Day mantel is about love and family and this was bought for me by Kate and hubby in New York City just before Christmas.

The sun was shining brightly this morning and I just kept clicking photos as it moved across the mantel.  A lovely way to spend a chilly morning.

And one last view of the whole mantel.

Linked to DIY Project Parade at The DIY Show Off,
Project Party Weekend at Bubbly Nature Creations
Valentine's Mantel Linky party at The Stories of A to Z 
Metamorphosis Monday at Between Naps on the Porch
Strut Your Stuff Valentine's at Somewhat Simple
The Valentine's Party at The Holiday Haven

Happy Valentine's Day

  

Around our house we had -  

 

 

a few Valentine's Day decorations 

(with emphasis on "a few"),

a little pink and red happening at the table (I didn't iron the tablecloth - just keeping it real),

and a heart-shaped brownie.

It was also our wedding anniversary.  So hubby and I went out to lunch then went home to our houseful of kiddos.

What about you?  How did you celebrate Valentine's Day?