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valentine’s cookie for a friend

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Last night when I picked my daughter up from Girl Scouts she had a huge iced heart cookie with her. My initial thoughts were: More icing? Not before bedtime! Combined with Valentine’s candy and cupcake decorating club…

“Mom! Look what I made for Mallory! Can we drop it off tonight? I made her a card, too!”

I love how excited she was to make this for her friend. I love how Girl Scouts encourages her to do kind things for others without a thought of getting anything in return.

Most of all, with five cupcakes coming home each week from club, I’m glad this cookie was a gift for someone else!

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“return to julie-k” crochet heart necklace

I love e-window shopping on the Tiffany website. I get all happy when they send me a new email. Their product photography is so perfect and their jewelry designs are so timeless. My favorites are the pieces in their sterling silver collection.

tiffanys inspired heart necklace

With Valentine’s Day just around the corner, I’ve been getting (almost) daily emails filled with all sorts of beautiful hearts. Whenever I see the Return to Tiffany heart, I think of my little crochet heart pattern. They are about the same size and shape. I thought it would be cool to turn my little heart into a Tiffany-inspired charm.

tiffanys inspired heart necklace

I made a few and decided the less fuzzy the yarn the better. The pink heart is Koigu, I think. It makes a nice loop without interfering with the heart shape. I really wanted the sparkly silver and gray yarn to work better, but the loop was too bulky. It looks nice all by itself, though.

This is something that’s been bouncing around in my head for awhile. I’m glad I finally took a few minutes to sort it out. It really only took a few minutes, too. Love those little crochet hearts!

stash: pink yarn from the bits and bobs, silver and gray yarn from a recycled sweater, crochet heart pattern from the archives

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valentine’s day pencil cards

valentine's day pencil toppers

We are doing very simple Valentine’s Day cards this year. I wanted to keep my daughter involved in the process, but between preschool and nature school, she’s got over 30 classmates. Even though she loves crafts, I can’t imagine her staying interested in such a big project.

valentine's day pencil toppers

We picked out Valentine’s pencils together and we used what we had for the cards. You’ll notice that she didn’t use any of the supplies I gathered, but chose her own stickers and pencil for the project — such crafty independence!

Using the big scallop paper punch, I cut out a bunch of flowers. I told her she could decorate them anyway she liked, but she had to make sure she put her name on them. Once finished, we taped them to the pencils.

We started this project early and she’s been doing a few a day. We’ll see if they get finished by next week or if I’ll have to make up the last few.

What do you do for Valentine’s Day cards? Buy or make? Include candy or not? Is your child involved in the process?

from the archives: handmade valentine’s cards, valentine’s day heart bunting, tiny crochet heart pattern

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handmade valentine’s day cards

handmade valentine's day card

My daughter’s preschool is having a valentine exchange tomorrow. Usually the rule for school treats is no candy, but this time they’ve made an exception: one small piece is allowed. I found this cute valentine flower on Martha’s website.

The first thing I did was trace and cut out some leaves. I gave them to my daughter to sign while I traced and cut out the hearts. After she went to bed, I added the “from:” to her leaves and glued the flowers. The next day, she helped me put in the lollipops.

Even though she’s too young to use scissors, I think my daughter had fun with this project. Signing her name to all of those leaves made her feel really involved.

stash: Paper from my never-ending stash of graphic design paper samples. Lollipops are always on hand around here. You never know when you need an emergency “treat.”

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valentine’s day heart bunting

Last year I made a paper heart bunting for our kitchen window. When I went to hang it this year, it was gone. Maybe I stored it in a safe place? Maybe I recycled it? I wish I could remember. Anyway, it was a good excuse to make a new one. I forgot to take a before picture of the tea towel I used, but you can see part of it in this creative space.

valentine heart garland

It was basically a grid of small and big hearts. I cut along the small hearts and then serged the side and bottom raw edges, trimming the small hearts off as I went along. I folded over some bias tape and stitched in the top edges.

valentine heart garland

I managed to create this from start to finish during my daughter’s “quiet time.” I don’t remember the last time I completed a sewing project so fast. Plus, I think I’m finally figuring out how to master the tension on my serger!

recycle: Garage sale tea towel: 25 cents. Bias tape part of a Goodwill grab bag.

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my creative space (a day late)

scarf, bunting and zipper bag

I can’t believe I missed the first Creative Space of 2010! I was so busy last night playing around with my “new yarn” that I totally forgot to write a blog post. Whoops!

My creative space for today, and most of this weekend, is filled with the color red and lots of pretty hearts. I’m making good progress on my red scarf for Craft Hope. I have to take pictures of a sweetheart zipper bag that I finished up yesterday. And last, but not least, I plan on making a Valentine’s Day bunting out of this tea towel.

I’ve been missing Kirsty’s Creative Spaces and I’m so glad she’s hosting them again. You really should check out all of the wonderful blogs listed!

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tiny crochet heart pattern

I wanted to make some really small hearts for Valentine’s Day crafts, but couldn’t find any patterns online that I liked. After a few tries, I came up with these little cuties.

tiny crochet hearts

Tiny Crochet Heart Pattern
worsted weight yarn
size F/5 (3.75mm) crochet hook
tapestry needle for weaving ends

hdc: half double crochet
sc: single crochet
sl st: slip stitch

gauge: not important, but mine are about 1 1/2 – 1 1/4 inches across

“Big” Tiny Heart (the one on the left)
Make a magic ring.
R1: chain 1, sc into loop 7 times, pull loop closed, join with sl st to chain 1
R2: sl st into 1st stitch, 5 hdc into second stitch, hdc in next two stitches, hdc then chain 1 and hdc again in the bottom stitch, hdc in next two stitches, 5 hdc into next stitch, sl st in original sl st.

Give the tail a little tug to help form the heart V at the top, tie knot, weave ends.

Give the bottom stitches a little tug to make the V point at the bottom.

“Small” Tiny Heart (the one on the right)
Repeat pattern, but replace sc for hdc.

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valentine’s crafting

After looking over this post, it seems like I was in full Valentine’s Day mode for the past week, but I really wasn’t. All of these were really fast and easy to put together. I had a pretty busy week, so fast and easy was just what I needed!

Last year we colored and put stickers on blank cards. This year we made cards out of M’s existing artwork. She’s been drawing with her magic markers on a stack of make ready sheets T brought home from work and one looked particularly valentine-y.

valentines

You can download my heart template here and if you print it at 100%, the cards will fit in standard invitation size envelopes. I also used the template to cut out some hearts for a garland. I always try to hang something in this window for holidays and birthdays. You can see it from both the living room and kitchen and it’s right behind our table. That little touch always makes our house feel festive.

garland

I also made some quick gifts for T and M. After falling in love with the ball I made for Brady, I felt like M needed one of her own. I made it with leftover fabric from her bibs.

bella ball

I also whipped up a quick sweater sleeve scarf for T, complete with a roundel. I’m not sure if he really likes it or was being polite. There is a fine line between cool and too crafty for T. I think the scarf is sitting on that line! (I really like it, though!)

bmw scarf

We had a really nice day. M played in the snow, I did some sewing, and T cooked up some awesome Valentine’s chili for dinner. The best part of the day was watching M open her gifts and give her dad his Valentine.

valentine

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more felted wool coffee sleeves

I am overwhelmed at the response to my coffee sleeves on etsy. They are selling like hot cakes! I listed my last one yesterday. All of the others have sold out and I just finished up a custom order for three. I’ll be making more this weekend. I’m glad I went out and stocked up on sweaters last weekend. Thank you to everyone who has purchased one!

coffee sleeves

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felted wool sweater coffee sleeves

I think I have officially made use of all of the sweater parts I recycle into felted wool accessories. Here’s my latest, made from the leftover cuffs of my sweater sleeve scarves. More photos in my shop. I have a few more I’ll be posting over the next few days. These were fun, small projects to do after finishing up M’s blanket. I also have one more project idea up my sleeve (ha, ha) that uses the neck ribbing of the sweater. Stay tuned!

felted coffee sleeves