baby girls christening

We were invited to a christening last weekend.  I offered to make some sugar cookies and decided to use a cross cookie cutter.  I decorated them simply with some white icing and some lavender flowers that I found at our local cake decorating shop.  I continued the lavender and white theme with my wrapping paper too.  I attached a small white frame that I found at Michael's and tucked an Irish blessing inside.  The frame would also be cute as a gift tag, with a picture of someone special or even a gift certificate tucked inside.  For only $1 it is an inexpensive way to make a gift more unique and personal. 

dino-mite

If you have been following my blog for a while you'll remember that on Valentine's Day we like to take our kids on a field trip. Since Valentines Day is all about spending time with the ones you love I figure why not do something fun together as a family. We call it our "Valentine Adventure." In the past we've made teddy bears and last year we went ice skating. This year was all about dinosaurs. We decided to go on our adventure yesterday since my husband didn't have to go to work and my daughter was home from school. When the kids woke up they came down and found the word "dinosaur" on the wall. Since my children aren't reading yet I put little red hearts with clues on each of the letters to help them figure out what it said. On the "D" was the word "Dan" for "Dino Dan" a show they like to watch. On the letter "R" was the word reptile. I think my daughter figured out what the word spelled by the time we got to the clue on the letter "S." It was fun watching her take the clues and read the word. After we got dressed we headed to a local dinosaur museum to see real tracks that were found right here in Ct. You can see in the picture above the kids are following the painted dinosaur tracks on the sidewalk into the museum. I continued the theme for the boys Valentine presents as well. My toddler got the book "How do Dinosaurs Say I Love You" along with a stuffed dinosaur holding a heart and the baby got some red dinosaur slippers. We all had a wonderful time at the museum and learned more about dinosaurs. I hope that all of you have a wonderful Valentines day filled with lots of love and adventure!

cute as a button

Have you seen these gigantic button candies in the stores yet? I found them at a local I Party here in Connecticut and couldn't resist them. I knew I would find a use for them and Valentines Day seemed like the perfect opportunity. I remembered seeing these from Martha Stewart using the small button candies. These are to large so instead I cut them into rectangles and put them in petite white bags which I stamped with "cute as a button." I think they would make darling Valentines for the young and old.

kiss, kiss

I found these cute heart mirrors at IKEA around Christmas time. I thought they would make adorable little presents for Valentine's Day with a tube of lip gloss and some chocolate lips. I put them all in a glittery take out box and added a gift tag with a lipstick kiss sticker. A cute gift for a girl friend, teacher, or mom!

candy necklace

As I mentioned last year I enjoy making my own Valentines. These candy necklaces are what my daughter will be giving to her pre school friends this year. I saw these plastic hearts here and thought that they would make darling necklaces. Since they were for my daughter's friends I had her help me with this project. We did it in small steps over a few days and she enjoyed the whole process. She is only four but she was able to fill the hearts with the candy, place them in the bags, cut the paper tags and sign her name on each one. She can't wait to bring them to school next week.

sweet heart

With all of the snow that we have had in the past few weeks here in Ct. and a newborn in the house I have had a good excuse to stay home and work on Valentine projects. Since my baby was born in mid Jan. I knew that by the time I took a picture, had it printed, and could get it in the mail it would be the beginning of Feb. So, I decided to combine our baby announcement with a Valentine. I thought that by the time you had your third baby people would be done showering you with gifts. I was completely wrong. This baby got new clothes, books, toys, blankets and I didn't have to cook for the first three weeks after we got home from the hospital! We are so lucky. For those friends and family that went above and beyond I packaged the announcement/valentine cards into red boxes and added some heart confetti and candy. I wrote thank you notes in the cards and either hand delivered them or mailed them right in the red boxes (I just added white labels to the top.) The little extra detail and time that it took me to make these was nothing compared to the love and friendship I have received.