Panda Valentines

I adore Valentines Day!  

And oh how I loved it in elementary school!

 Making pretty boxes. Selecting She-Ra valentines. Carefully picking out which valentine pun on the cards best suited the boy I had a crush on.  Making sure I took extra time to write his name on it and sign mine with an extra heart or two.  Yup… loved it all!  

When Scooter, my oldest,  first started school I had both her box and Valentines thought out a month in advance.  And then came child two… and then three.  After multiple kids needing boxes and Valentines year after year the magic was a bit um… lost.   Last year Scooter used the same box she had used for the two years previous.  Yep, three years in a row with the same box.  Every year we would dust it off and perform a little light surgery and reattachment to a few hearts.    However this summer while cleaning out the basement my husband came across our immortal Valentine box and said "No more".  

It was thrashed.  

Poor… sad …valentine box .  

It was time we parted ways.  

This morning my girls reminded me that they would need boxes on Valentines (ahem… in two days).  So I pulled out a couple boxes and stared at them.  I kept hoping some fabulous idea would come.  5, 10, 15 minutes later…I then looked at the boxes and said "Nope …I've got nothing."  (I have no issues talking to inanimate objects).     I then thought "This box thing is not doing it for me."  They are hard to decorate (only so many things come in rectangle).  And they can be a pain for little hands and arms to cart around.  

What if we used a bag?  

Now a little something about me… when I change the rules of the game, even just an itsy bit, the creative problem solving side of me comes out.  Light bulbs tend to come on.  Then I get all giddy.  

And that is exactly what happened.  

So Momo and I ran to the store and got supplies, and when the girls got home this is what we made…

 We used the reusable grocery bags.  These are from Target (I wanted red for obvious holiday color coordinating).  We glued furry fabric to the front and back of the bags.  Then I made a template of the panda pieces on card stock.  We cut and glued away.

I forgot to take a photo of the back, but we put a little heart for a tail. 

You really could do this for any furry animal.  Monkeys, bears, kitties, dogs, foxes, monsters.  

(I can think of valentine play on words to go along with everyone of those…. 'Cause I'm Bananas over you).  

Now everyone knows that when you take what should be an oval shape and cut it as a heart it immediately becomes valentineized. 

Do you remember in elementary school cutting hearts out of construction paper and putting them together to make an animal?  I clearly recall a valentine elephant I made.  Small heart for the head, large heart for the body and I used Red Hots for his eyes.  

Same general idea.  

Now here is the ironic part.  I was all excited to be using something different… not a box.  But the weight of everything made it so the bag wouldn't stand upright.  So I had to put a box in it to get it to stand up.  (I used cereal boxes, the big type from Costco.  I keep them around for projects).  Here is another ironic part… you wouldn't have to use a bag to make these.  A box would do just fine. I sure do like the panda bags though.

And the nice thing is they could use them for other things too.  Even if it's just to pack some toys for long car rides.  

Well I'm off.  It's late and apparently it's crazy hair day at school tomorrow.  Nothin' like packing in as much as they can in one week.

I hope you have a beary happy valentines, 'cause your the cat's meow, you're so doggone cute, and I like you so much it's scary!

xoxo

anj.


Update… 
Here is a photo of my girlies on Valentine morning with their bags.   They were pretty excited!  Do you see the photo bomb in the window?  LOL.  Momo mopes every morning when they head to school.  He is crushed again.

XOXO

Snow home custom for valentines is a special breakfast.  Pink pancakes, pink strawberry milk etc... However because this year V-day landed on the day of rest I deviated from the norm.  Knowing I wouldn't be going out on the town with my beau, I elected to do a Valentine dinner instead of breakfast.

On the menu....

Spicy Enchiladas and

Black Beans with Rice

For dessert...

-Raise your hand if you devour Girl Scout Thin Mints by the sleeve...

(Especially if they are straight from the freezer, the perfect way enjoy them, in my opinion)

-Raise your hand if you love ice cream...

-Raise your hand if you consider chocolate a food group...

Is your hand still up?

Then you will La La Love this...

Thin Mint Ice Cream Mud Pie

We have a little family recipe blog.  Just click on your desired dish and by the power of internet linking it will whisk you away to the recipe.  In other words I'm just too lazy to post each one twice.

After dinner we exchanged Valentines.  The girls set up a game of hot or cold for us to find the valentines they had made for us.

Here was Scooters.

How cute is that?  

Then after the exchange, Ride had prepared a program. 

This is something that goes down at our home at least 5 evenings of the week.  Before she can retire to bed Ride dances for us.  She pretends she is on SYTYCD.  Oddly enough, Ride is our shy one.  But she has no reservations presenting her sweet moves on the living room floor... I mean stage.  She has me introduce her and everything.  (I possess neither the short skirts nor the legs to properly portray Cat Deeley.  And my attempt at an British accent is laughable). 

 I remember mimicking a certain dance show at her age.  I clearly recall stating that when I grew up I wanted to be a Solid Gold dancer.  My mom pointed out that their attire was "not nice."  Which was true, they loved their high cut leotards in the 80's.  However my 5 year old eyes didn't notice that.  These dancers dazzled... strutting to the trendiest music around, and they did it all in gold high heels.  Mesmerizing.  

We recorded Rides performance, but J said if I posted it she may never forgive me.  I argued that I doubted that my blog would be around when she would be old enough to care.  But I still gave in... perhaps one day I'll post it.  Instead, for those of you who would like to dance down memory lane with me, enjoy...

Pure awesome!

Dress Up Valentines

I adore decorating for holidays.  Valentines is no exception.

Most of the valentines decor I already had. (Or is stuff I temporarily borrowed from other rooms in the house). 

This year I added 2 things...

The L.O.V.E. letters hung to an old door above the TV armoire.

But really I only added the letter V. It said NOEL for christmas (I bought those letters years ago) and suddenly it dawned on me that if I simply buy a V, take down the N and rearrange the letters I've got LOVE. And only for $5.39, I used a coupon. (Those letters came from JoAnns)

And then I added all those fabulous pom pom flowers.

They are super easy and darn cheap. They are made of coffee filters.  There is a link of a great video tutorial on how to make them at the end of this post.  But I added a twist of my own, which I'll explain first.

When I went to pick up the filters they only had white.  I also wanted to get them in that lovely tan color.  I had my kids with me. I did not want to take 3 kids into another grocery store.  Does anyone else leave grocery shopping on the verge of tears?  It's not my girls.... it's the BOY.  Who hates hates HATES being buckled into the cart.  He wiggles and worms until he gets loose. No matter how tight I make that darn strap.  And throws a mighty fit until he accomplishes his mission.

So looking at my son, I knew I was seconds away from disaster.  And a light bulb appears.  Blessed blessed light bulb.  What if I dyed them?  So I hightailed it down to the laundry detergent aisle and picked myself up some dye.  Taupe and pink.

Here is how I did it...

I started with the pink. I followed the directions for the stovetop (I was worried the washer would destroy them).  I also halved everything.  So I still have half a packet of color for some other project.  Then after I rinsed them I skipped the "wash them with detergent" step and stuck them in the dryer... look how pretty.

For the taupe I tried something different.  I wanted different shades of taupe.  So I put a few in at beginning. Then I waited 5 minutes and added more and repeated this until I only had 15 minutes left on the timer.

Sooo super thrilled with the outcome.  I wish I had done that on the pink. Oh well.

  

Then I made some out of news paper.  Simply trace circles onto the paper (don't use a red marker... I did that so you could see it... you'll want a pencil). Now just pretend they are coffee filters and follow the same instructions as in the video.

While I was doing all this Ride and Scooter were creating there own masterpieces...

Cool huh?

Apparently Ride learned this in preschool.  I asked her for help and made one of my own.  Take a marker (kids washable marker is what we used) color around the edges of the circle.  Add a little water and watch the colors bleed.  I then used a hair dryer to dry them.  I did't want them as crinkly as the filters I tossed in the dryer.

(Ride showing me how it's done)


 Here is the result.

It looks like a giant carnation.

Perfect.

Now to make this... 

I simply tied a knot at the end of a string. a

Added a dab of hot glue to it.  Then with a needle I strung the filters, newspaper circles, cupcake liners, and even a couple of spools of ribbon (that were down to the end, so not to waist ribbon) on to the string.  I'd then end a section with another knot and dab of glue and start a new one about a foot away.

  

This year J and his brothers started a new company.  Does anyone need anything shipped?;)

Because of this we have been pinching our pennies.  It's been good for both of us.  Here is the break down on the cost of all those fun flower pom poms...

Large coffee filters...$1.18

Small coffee filters...$1.12

Rit dye pink...$2.99

Rit dye taupe...$2.49

Newspaper... free (from the neighbor) 

Ribbon & String... already had loads, so no additional cost there

Grand total to take my meh valentines decorations to... I live in anthropologie decorations (ok, so that's wishful thinking)... 

$7.78

(of course I'd need to add tax too)

So fun!  So thrifty!  So easy-peasy!

Here is the video tutorial link 

Rhonna Farrer 

She has some other great tutorials as well.  I'm love love loving her Lollies.

Wouldn't these pom poms be great for a baby shower or birthday?

So many possibilities.

HAPPY HEARTS DAY!

ip❤d valentines

J's friend Matt married a girl named Steff.  She is beautiful.  She just had a baby.  They named her Lucy (sigh...one of my adored names). Beautiful Steff put a picture and link on facebook of the valentines she had made for her sons class.  They were soooo stinkin' darling, that I too HAD to make these for the girls classes.
Here is how mine turned out...

Ummmm.... super cute!

I think they'd be fun for a birthday party too.

So recently I took some flack for not posting instructions for some of the projects I've posted.  I'm going to try to be better.

I will post a link with the original instructions at the end of this post. 

But I do have a few tips.

1. Make a template of the paper that wraps around the conversation hearts package.  Draw lines where each fold should be. With double sided tape, attach it to your countertop.  This will keep it from moving around. Then place the colored paper below the template, use a ruler and a bone folder to create your lines and folds.  No pencil marks.  No need to measure it out multiple times.  And you'll get crisp perfect folds.

2. You'll download the ipod screen and circle thing (I have no idea what its technical name is) from the link.  If you shrink it down a tad in photoshop you then can use a 1.5" circle punch... instead of cutting out each circle with scissors.

3. Print it off onto sticker or full sheet label paper. LOVE that stuff. No glue required.

4. I didn't use Reeses peanut butter cups, as the instructions will suggest.  I just used Hershey kisses.  You won't need to wrap foil around them (as the instructions tell you).  And you'll avoid a problem for kids with peanut allergies.

Scooter wanted the silver wrapped kisses. Ride opted for pink.

This is what I put on the back.

Again printed on sticker paper.

Here's the link...

family fun rock candy

Oh... how do you like new look of the blog?  

I'm kinda in love with its simplicity.