Valentines Review

Here are some of the craft projects and decorations we had around the house for Valentines Day.

Owen made these valentines for school.  I got the idea from Becky Higgins site and had him draw a valentine on a piece of paper, then I scanned it, shrunk it down to size and printed many copies.  This way, each person in his class got a Valentine with his writing and we did not have the typical battles around writing 25+ Valentines by hand...it was the perfect solution. 

 I took the kids to the Bulk Barn and let them choose which candies they wanted to include in their friend's Valentines.  I filled candy bags (you could also use ziplock) with the candy - folded the scanned images over the top and stapled...voila!  Here is Bella's.  She is really into printing right now and loves to  follow the dots - so I did "dots" here for Happy Valentines Day...she did her name all on her own.

I found a craft on Martha Stewart's site where you take crayon shavings and melt them between 2 pieces of wax paper and then cut them into heart shapes.  Why is it that everything on Martha's site looks so easy and perfect?  This craft was NOT FUN to do!  Shaving the crayons took a few hours, they do not do well in a pencil sharpener, they do not do well in a crayon sharpener, I eventually used my Pampered Chef cheese grater.  Then the cutting - not really great for the kids because the melted crayon made it hard to cut through.  Anyway, we made a ton of hearts, some hung above the kitchen sink, most were on our seasonal tree.  Despite the difficulties with the craft, I loved the results:

Owen made this beautiful card at school for his sister.  Love the bond between those two!

This is a card Owen made for Nora one day at home.  He made the part where her name was into a bit of a puzzle where she had to unscramble the letters...he loves word puzzles like that...I love that he is making his own...so creative!

This is a card that Isabelle made for Daddy.  She started drawing hearts right after we did our crayon craft and I love them so much.  She did all the printing herself, including spelling daddy backwards!

Owen had a Valentine's day party at school and we all pitched in and made cupcakes.  The kids each had their own pan to decorate however they wanted.  Those 2 love helping out in the kitchen...especially when there is icing, sprinkles and candy involved.

10 Things : January 2010

:two teeth lost in two days. He created scavenger hunts for the tooth fairy to figure out to find his teeth, and she created scavenger hunts for him to solve to find his money...fun!

:home
:star wars lego
:family "chill" time after dinner and before the bedtime battles begin
:relaxing watching tv in jammies on weekend mornings...and lying on Auntie's quilt...xo
:homework time after dinner most nights...love the intensity
:skating
:this boy
:this girl
:these two battling it out on star wars lego wiiSo many little things to notice and record that make up our lives right now.

photo wall

Beauty is in the eye of the beholder. That statement is no more true than when shopping for art. We have many unadorned walls in our home due to our individual interpretation of beauty...well, that and budget :) We have a lovely fireplace in the family room and the space above that spent many months empty while we searched for and tried out several different art pieces before finally deciding on a mirror. We have a king sized bed and spent over 3 years searching for artwork for above it before finding one we could agree on. This brings us to the 'other' wall in the bedroom, the one we lie in bed and look at first thing in the morning, the one we can peek at over our books as we lie in bed at night...the (until last week) big empty wall that was screaming for something to make it pretty.

Now it is glorius and adorned with our favourite photos. All converted to black and white. The shelf is from IKEA and comes in white, black and in many different lengths. The frames also came from IKEA and come in 9 different sizes from 4x6 all the way up to 20x27. I converted the photos to black & white using photoshop and printed them online at Costco. I think the entire project cost less than $50...certainly money well spent. Our shelf is 6" long and the frames range in size from 4x6 up to 15x20; we have 16 prints in total on display. Sorry for the crummy pictures - it is our bedroom light you see making the yellow spots on some of the photos.
I wake up in the morning and the first thing I see are the faces of my family...now what could be better than that?
Here are some closeups:

Nature Table Tree

Months ago, I started reading Amanda Soule’s book The Creative Family and was inspired to start a Nature Table. In essence it is a seasonal area for bits of nature to reside, but more than that it is intended to be a place to enjoy the beauty of nature, perhaps a place for quiet reflection...a very special place. I talked to the kids about this and we immediately labeled the table on our front porch The Nature Table and the kids would put all of their treasures on that table. It quickly became covered in acorns, twigs, pinecones, rocks and other wonderful items. Yes, it was a nature table, but it was not very visually appealing or inspiring. Not something that one would want to come back to again and again to look at. So I have been thinking and searching and trying to figure out where, inside my house, did I dare set up a nature table. The front hall table seemed to me to be the best place, but for all sorts of reasons I could not figure out how to do it. Until I took a peek at Martha Stewart’s website this morning. She has a Christmas Workshop that has 6 weeks of projects leading into Christmas. Decorating, baking, gift making. I clicked on Week 5 interior decorations, saw this greetings tree and it was like a lightbulb went off. Perfection.


I love the idea of the branches giving some structure to the nature table. The little pots can be changed seasonally and added to as the kids find new treasures. It will work in all seasons and we will be able to incorporate some of our crafts – decorate with hand made paper snowflakes after Christmas is over, tissue paper flowers in the spring, green paper leaves in the summer and so many great colours in the fall – leaf rubbings in red, yellow and orange. It will work with all of our holidays – red hearts for Valentines day, decorated eggs hanging at Easter, tiny flags for Canada day…the ideas are endless.

I cannot wait to get home tonight and get started on our new Nature Table Tree.

these are a few of my favourite things

I have been reflecting lately on our blessings and how very lucky we are. As I look around our home, there are so many things that make me smile.
A basket full of warm hats and scarves and mittens - reminding me we will not be cold this winter.

A shelf in my kitchen with cookbooks, new and old - reminding me we have lots of food to eat and time to be creative and make wonderful meals.

Fresh flowers in my home - reminding me of the beauty that exists somewhere when our world is covered in snow and ice - thanks dad & Barb
Photos of my children and loved ones that remind me every moment how very lucky I am and how much I am loved.

Take a moment today to reflect on your blessings and what you love in your life right now.