Interchangeable Holiday Decorations.

I am so blessed to have a talented mother. See that cute crochet heart?  She made that and about 50 more just for me. A banner was made with some and the rest I snuck in around the house. I'm thinking I may be using the mini ones on cards this year.  

They are soooo cute. 

So now to my interchangeable holiday decorations thought. I made this burlap wreath before Christmas and I love it.  I was going to add our family initials to it, but  I have decided to change it with each season.  This really helps with budget and time. Plus, my wreath goes perfect with my regular home decor. For Christmas I used mini clothes pins to hang our Christmas cards on.  For my daughter's birthday it turned into a pirate wreath and now it's a Valentine's wreath.  I'm really hoping my mom learns how to make crochet shamrocks.... that would really rock. During off seasons, I will be using mini clothes pins to hang inspirational words or family pictures. 

Sad the L-O-V-E is Over

I'm quite sad Valentine's day is over. I pretty much missed it due to the flu.  I'm the only one in the family to have gotten it (so far), but I was DOWN.  Thankfully the kids and I had a small party at our house before I got sick, but they missed the big homeschool party we do every year.  So here's the Valentine's we ended up making this year.  I thought they turned out GREAT and the kids LOVED them. Now there's more for them!

1. My teenager was inspired by all the glow stick Valentine's found on Pinterest.  She in turn used www.picmonkey.com and created her own.  

2. I found the mustache whistles at Hobby Lobby and thought they would be perfect for the baby.  I opted to use a printable I found on Pinterest rather than create my own because, hey, I loved it. You can find it here by Lou la Belle Designs. 

3. My 11 year old is a HUGE Lord of the Rings fan. I had seen a few done around the internet, but made this one using an imported image and picmonkey.

4. Used picmonkey again!  Love that site.  My 3 year old was Minnie for Halloween, so we used that photo to make it more personalized. 

5. I used the printable found here.  Since it ended up being my 9 year old who wanted it and not the baby, we opted to make chocolate duckies rather than buy rubber duckies. 

6. My 6 year old is my mini me.  She loves to craft!  I had wanted to make the chapstick holder for her, but she wanted to be more involved.  So she found a pad with hello kitty stickers and coloring pages and inserted those into a party bag and decorated the bags.  I think they are perfect!

All You Need Is Love - Printable

My husband is a HUGE Beatles fan!  I thought I'd put this on his phone for Valentine's Day!  

Chapstick or Twix Valentine Holder

If you've checked out my Etsy Shop, you might have seen my Christmas Chapstick/ Twix Candy Holder Kit.  Well, I've created this same item as a Valentine's digital download. I suggest printing at a print shop on cardstock. Use ribbon to turn into a purse or just staple or glue together.  Use any regular sized chapsticks or mini Twix bars.  Since it's a pdf, you can add wording to personalize using the new Adobe Reader.  Whoa... now that all the directions are taken care of, I think I'm going to make a Hello Kitty one for my 6 year old. 

I'll share it once I'm done!

{Click Here or on Picture for Download}

FONDUE NIGHT! with Pinterest.

Yes, I'm on a Valentine Kick!  Every year our family does pretty  much the same thing for Valentine's Day.  We have the kiddo parties and then our dinner at home is a Fondue Night!  I have been using Sandra Lee's recipes for about 10 years now and have loved it every year.  We usually have a cheese fondue with chicken, steamed veggies, and bread and then a chocolate fondue to dip strawberries and pound cake. Since our family has grown significantly in the past 10 years, as of last year, we now have our own bowl of each to dip in to.... 8 people can not dig into one little pot without someone getting hurt.  Anyways, now that we have Pinterest, I thought I'd start looking for new fondue recipes. 

{click on photo to find the recipes}  

What are your favorite Valentine Traditions?