My Tardy Valentine

Nothing like posting all of your Valentine stuff AFTER Valentine’s Day.  Things have been CRAZY at work so any crafting that I’ve done has been in the wee hours and not much for enjoyment, mostly for others.  I have a few things that didn’t get pics.  Oh, well.

This was a gift for a birthday T3 went to.  Her friend is obsessed with the Hunger Games so we put a mockingjay on a snappy top bag (see my tutorials to make one of your own).  I got the iron-on vinyl from Expressions Vinyl.  Do check them out, they have a great selection, prices and FAST shipping. (If you click on the link here or my side bar, I do get a referring reward the next time I order 🙂 )

I made this almost a month ago with the Mr. T.  I plan to change the signs out with the season.  Again, I used outdoor (permanent) vinyl from Expressions Vinyl.

Yep, this came from Pinterest. Follow me if you want! We changed it up a bit and wrapped mini Hershey’s with camo and stuck the soldier to them.  Love me some Pinterest!

T4 made his own Valentine box.  I helped with the duct tape and paper on top.  He used glue dots (and loved them, actually snuck them into his backpack and I had to take them back!) and stuck all the stuff down.  We knew he wouldn’t win the contest but I was up to my elbows in Valentine Banquet decorations and this is about what I could manage.  The competition is ridiculous anyway (see next pic) and I will NEVER have time in February to make a winning Valentine box. Yep, that’s a submarine the size of the table, moving propeller in the back and all.

I was also asked to decorate for the Valentine banquet at church.  I love helping out with things like this and I thought it turned out pretty good.  Of course, I forgot to take pics of the place once it was done, but here are the flower centerpieces.

And here’s what my table looked like while making them (please ignore the dirty dishes in the kitchen!!!)

We did make some goodies for Valentine’s day.  T1 & 2 made sugar cookies and I made the red velvet cake balls posted on Pinterest (recipe here). Now, to be honest, we couldn’t eat very many of the cake balls because when you leave out a cup of flour from the recipe, it’s a bit, sort of, EXTREMELY oily.  Oh well, they looked cute.

I also made a purse for T2 from some burlap coffee sacks we were given.  It was such a hit that I made another and SOLD it. I have two more sacks and one is earmarked for T1’s purse.  I would love to keep the other sack for a basket for me, but I have at least 3 other people who would buy a purse from me.  (money, basket, money, basket – such a tough decision)

I also found a duct tape basket idea on Pinterest (original post here).  I had some duct tape left over from T4’s Valentine box so he and I made a no sew basket.  You staple it together and tape it with duct tape.  It was fun to make and is a good idea if you need a wipeable lining for something.  I would definitely sew it the next time, but T4 thinks he might be able to make these himself.  It would be a fun activity for a birthday party. Last but not least is one of the gifts I made for my sister for her birthday (almost a month ago.)  My parents are just making it out to see her this weekend and taking the gifts.  She had seen a window when she was home for Christmas and wanted me to make her one.  This is a slight variation of what she saw but I think she will love it the same. Have a few requests for some more of these too.  Luckily my Dad has some old windows in his shed he is letting me have.  I have the best family!

Well, I hope I didn’t lose you along the way.  I feel like I’ve been typing for hours.  Since this is a long weekend for education, I have some projects planned.  Hope I can get the Mr. T along for a few of them 🙂 and I hope to post again before I return to school on Tuesday!  Happy crafting.

Are you reaaady for Valentine’s Day

**Imagine the title in the “are you ready to rumble voice.”**

Finished up T4’s Valentine box when we got back from Nana’s surprise birthday party.  I’ll post pics of the party later this week; I was in charge of decorations. His box goes along with his valentine’s he’s giving out.  They are having a contest (which I greatly dislike) so now he want’s to win and we didn’t put “win” amount of time into this.  Hope he’s not too disappointed.  It’s cute enough. We used some leftover material from the Ben Ten jacket and we tied the frog to the lily pad so it wasn’t damaged.  We stuck heart stickers on the frog. The LEAP has accordion fold paper attaching it so it “leaps” off the box.  All the letters were cut with my Silhouette – go awesome machine!

Remember T3’s request to make upcycled pouches for Valentine’s Day?  Well, crazy mom did it.  We only used the first initial and made them smaller.  We put a Hershey bar in them and called them treasure pouches.  The saying on the front of the card reads “Valentine you are a treasure.”  The back says “this treasure pouch was made for you from recycled t-shirts” and has a heart made with the recycle arrows on it.  It took about 5 hours, but T3 was super excited when they were finished.

With the surprise party and such an ambitious valentine project, I’m exhausted.  Have some papers to grade though.

Wishing all of you a very happy Valentine’ Day.

Headband Valentine

T2 had a Valentine party with her friends last night and we made headbands  for everyone.  The card read “good friends band together-Happy Valentine’s Day”  I didn’t spend much time on the cards, so they are NOT great, but the idea was good.  I can’t wait to pick T2 up this morning and see how the party went.  We also took love potions like we made last year.  I have attached the love potion label if you would like to download it for your Valentine.

I didn’t use a tutorial, but here are some links to others if you like. Reversible Headband :: elastic covered :: list of headband tutorials

Click on the label picture above and it should open a bigger image to right click and save.

Re-Vamped Valentine Exchange

You may have noticed the sign on the side of my blog for the re-vamped valentine exchange sponsored by Craft Goodies.  This was my first exchange and I thought it was very fun.  I exchanged with a very talented lady from Utah and received a re-vamped flour sack pillow. Thanks Kimberly!

I sent her a re-vamped plate, a re-vamped tin and a basket (no it wasn’t re-vamped).

Thankgs Craft Goodies and Kimberly for a fun exchange.

Re-Vamp link party

froggy boy valentine

T4 found some cool frogs at the dollar store and wanted to make some valentine’s out of them.  After some thought, I decided on a lily pad wrapped mini Hershey bar, the ones in a pack 8 for $1 at Wal-Mart.  He sat with me as we typed in all the names and he helped put the frogs on with glue dots.  His name is written on the back with sharpie.  I have included the free printable if you want some froggy valentines of your own.

Click on the image below and it should open full size for you to save and print.

If not, put it in Word or Photoshop and make it 8.5 x 11.

The green polka dot paper is cut at 2.75 x 3 to fit the mini Hersheys.

I changed the saying so to My heart leaps for you.

Sharing at

more snow-more projects

I’m feeling much better today and have crossed a few projects off my list. First project was a PB Valentine plate knock off. They are floating around blogland and PB has sold out (not that I would have purchased one from them anyway.) So I found this super cute red polka dot plate at Target and decided it would make a perfect backdrop for the Pride and Prejudice saying.

DOWNLOAD SILHOUETTE CUT FILE

I have attached the cut file that I used.  The saying is from a book, so I think it’s ok to share it.  Let me know if this is breaking some kind of copyright law and I’ll take the link off.  The cut file is designed for a 9″ plate.

The next project is one I’ve had in my mind for awhile.  I ordered some chalkboard vinyl from Expressions Vinyl and have been saving it.  I used some of it to create a chalkboard sword for T4’s wall so we can write his memory verses on it.  I didn’t make it as big as I should have, but it works for now.  I might need to rework it later.

Project 3 was a cooking project with all my kids.  I saw these cute heart pies the other day and wanted to make some for us. Everyone had a part, and they turned out cute and YUMMY! I used the French pastry crust recipe from allrecipes.com.

T1 spent some time outside taking pictures in the snow.  She realized blizzard conditions are not conducive for picture taking, but this one did turn out good.

Last project is the start of another baby gift.  I got the basket finished and need to work on the burp cloths and a little something else tomorrow.  Yes, we have another snow day in the wake of the blizzard.

sharing at :: Today’s Creative Blog – Get Your Craft On :: Creative Itch-Sew Cute Tuesday :: My Delicious Ambiguity: Tot Tuesday :: All Things Related :: Sugar Bee-Take a Look Tuesday :: 733-sugar and spice :: Making it with Allie ::

Happy Blogiversary

Thanks to all of you who entered my drawing to help me celebrate my first year in blog land.  The winner of the Valentine fabric basket is Courtney.

Courtney (22:43:50)

How cute are these? I heard about your giveaway from Somday Crafts giveaway link list.

I will contact you and get specifics. Congrats!

Don’t be sad if you didn’t win, I have a freebie for you below.  If you have a Silhouette machine, I have the cut file for the Subway art.

click to download Silhouette cut file

Since my first post was Valentine related, let me start year 2 by showing you my Valentine decorations for this year.  Yesterday I made a subway art Valentine sign inspired by Tatertots and Jello but on a much smaller scale because I already had a piece of mdf and a small piece of left over trim. I had another small little piece of trim and I made the little hugs and kisses sign.  And I fell in love with the sewn heart garland from little birdie secret (or you can see it on my pinterest) and made one for myself.  The poms are a smaller version of some I saw on diary of a craftaholic. The rest of the decoration you have seen before. There are a few more empty spaces to be filled and I bought pieces for another apothecary jar at a thrift store (50 cents each, yay) so I’m not done with the Valentine crafting AND we still have the whole Valentine party thing to create for!

Thanks again for a great first year and I hope to see you in blog year 2.

Valentine baskets and a giveaway

In honor of my blogiversary coming up on January 24th I wanted to have my first giveaway. And since my first blog posts were Valentine related, I thought it would be appropriate to give away a Valentine item.  I love making baskets and wanted to create some Valentine ones for a craft swap and for myself.  Why not make a few extras and give one away?

I made the labels using printable cotton.  I made my fabric labels for my sewing projects with it and they have been washed in my kids pajamas many times and the ink is still on the labels with minimal fading.  The label inspiration came from Sweetwater.  I would LOVE to be able to subscribe to their label crew each month, but right now it’s not in the budget, so making my own is the next best thing. I used Photoshop and some brushes I found around the internet to create the graphics for the labels. It’ not Sweetwater, but still kinda sweet 🙂

To enter the drawing, please leave a comment on this post letting me know where you heard about the giveaway or what link party you came from.

If you want a second entry, subscribe to my blog and leave a second comment telling me you subscribed.

The winner will get to choose between the two baskets in the photo below.

The drawing will be on Monday, January 24th, so check back to see if you are the winner.

Good Luck!Sharing at these linky parties:

<a href=”http://www.dittledattle.blogspot.com/”><img border=”o” src=”http://i1019.photobucket.com/albums/af320/oproot/Blog-Party-000-Page-1.jpg&#8221; /></a>

Valentine’s Day decoration

I have two of these frames purchased at the Dollar General last year.  I found them when unpacking a box the other day and was super excited to do something with them. Using my Silhouette machine, I cut the letters out of black card stock using the font cheri liney.  I also found the little boy and girl on clker.com a website with royalty free clipart.  The background paper is my design and you can download it from this site.  I did shrink it a bit in Photoshop to use behind the words.  I have another project I’m working on with this same paper and some scrabble tiles (my Dad bought me an old set at an auction – go Dad!)

12 x 12 Love Notes paper-download link above

Yes, I finally made a signature and watermark for my photos.  It only took almost a year 🙂

Sharing at

Valentine Apothecary Jar

I LOVE apothecary jars and have wanted to try my had at making them.  On the morning of snow day #3, I asked the Mr. T to run me to Goodwill so I could get some craft on (I had stuff to do here, but really wanted to find stuff to make this.)  The candle stick was to tall, but I think it still looks good.  The jar I found had a plastic insert, but I took it out so it looked less cheap.  I used e6000 glue, my go to glue, and jazzed it up with some vinyl.  I can’t wait to get some candy to put in it.

I did sand the bottom of the jar and the top of the candlestick a little before I applied the glue.

I used the font Freebooter Script from fontgarden and the hearts are a Photoshop brush called harts brushes by hawksmont.  I don’t know where I downloaded them from, maybe deviantart.com

Sharing at