Happy Valentine’s Day! What a sweet day! This year we made bookmarks for Maya’s class as a Valentine gift. 1st grade is all about learning to read and so I thought it appropriate that we make “I love Reading” bookmarks. Useful and cute, and not too lovey dovey to give out to friends. Maya also had an extra special Valentine’s card and home made cookies for her sweet heart…you know with Maya there is always someone she admires!

I was really pleased how the bookmarks turned turned out. They were a great environmentally friendly option, and are a much better health option than giving chocolate or candy. I had the idea yesterday morning and so before Maya went to school I had her paint a large sheet of 180gms water colour paper. I then cut it into strips with an exacto blade, and did the hole punches. I carved a little heart stamp for the LOVE. Then when Maya got home she worked on the stamping. We raided our ribbon drawer for a finishing touch, and there you have it, 24 lovely handmade Valentine’s bookmarks.

Last year I made cupids arrows, (but not for everyone in Maya’s class). The year before that we had a Valentine’s party that we made feather heart headbands for our guest to wear.

I hope you all have a wonderful Valentine’s day! Love, Love, LOVE!

Valentine’s Day is just around the corner and so we have been busy with Valentine craft. You might recall the Feather Heart Headbands that we gave to our friends at our Valentine’s Party last year. This year Maya’s class is having a party, which we will be making cupcakes for, and I have made a Cupid’s arrow for Maya and Elle (I considered one for each in the class…but then realised I was crazy!). I had seen some cute twig and felt arrows on Pinterest and then developed this version with painted sticks and hearts on the end. Elle and I collected the sticks from our yard, I painted them while she chose to paint something else. I then cut out felt hearts and tail feathers and hand stitched it all together – using a little craft glue to securer the felt to the sticks. I am excited to announce, during this project Elle started sewing for the first time…making Mummy very proud…it all seems to have happened so soon, and it comes as no surprise she is a natural with the needle and thread. I am considering making some bows too as I think the Girls might enjoy bow & arrow out door play…and while they might not ignite their heart as Cupid’s arrow is said to, they are sure to spark their imaginations!

Our valentines party was a lot of fun. The sun poured in the kitchen windows, bathing the dinning table in light. Mothers sat around sipping tea and talking about real estate and education, and then later in the day we shared our birth stories (0ne of my favorite things to do!). In between a song circle and valentine card exchanges, making and baking cookies, and eating lunch the Children played together so well. Imaginations were alive and when I stopped at the end of the day to count, Maya had 5 different outfit changes based upon her various whims – from ballerina to Native American ‘Indian’. At one point I went into Maya’s room to find almost all of the children standing in Maya’s wardrobe. I was promptly told “No grown ups allowed!” and so to my pleasure, I left.

We had a lovely brunch of fresh blueberry muffins, homemade popcorn, Mexican wedding cakes, clementines and almonds. I was up early busy baking, which to me is so worth it to have everything homemade and fresh! For lunch I made the children pizza and for the Mothers I made butternut soup served with farmhouse multi-grain bread. Our party lingered into the afternoon and the Children had to be coaxed to leave. We bid happy farewells and thank yous on the back patio, all commenting that it felt like Spring was in the air…and that we should soon have a Spring party!

Look at our fun new garland! A pretty ribbon garland for the valentines party that we are having tomorrow. I had intensions of making paper flags (like these I made for Elle’s 2nd Birthday) with some kind of heart pattern on them. I kept forgetting to ask Cam to print some patterned paper out for me and we are without a printer and so when Friday night came around and I had missed the opportunity to use Cam’s work printer I had to put on my thinking cap…what will I do for decorations…hmmm? Saturday morning I rummaged around my craft cupboard. I sat staring at the boxes of ribbons, one of them full of short scraps and left over ribbons. I then had the idea to make a ribbon garland….which is just so cute and whimsical. Can you imagine it in rainbow or pastels and whites and lace…wouldn’t that be lovely for a spring garden tea party! Well, anyway, now my imagination is having another party…but first we have to have our Valentine Party! Looking forward to seeing those that can make it. Happy Valentine Day to you…may you get lots of hugs and kisses. xoxo

Finished, and all ready to wear at the Valentines party! Today I was able to sew the stitches and bring the headbands together. You can find some process photos here. I picked up some elastic headbands from the Chemist that I sewed in between the hearts. I had intended to use silver elastic and then could not find what I was looking for at the local craft store. I did not want to make a trip to the city just for elastic, and then by chance I spotted a packet of 8 elastic headbands at the Pharmacy and so bought two packets. The fact that the headbands were already a circle, meant it eliminated a step in the DIY process of fastening the elastic ends together. I was very pleased about this! I also loved the variety of colour the headband elastics were, making the feather heart headband even cuter. The daughter of my friend Faith was over playing today and the  Girls just loved wearing them, Maya still had hers on at dinner time! They looked so pretty with the afternoon sun shining through the feathers.