So even though this is after Valentine's, here are a few decorations the kids had me put up. I know it isn't much, but after the Christmas staying up a few months longer than expected due to me being so busy with their schools and all, I was worried if I put up much more it would never come down.Blackberries and raspberries, whipping cream, condensed milk make for a nice bowl of homemade, hand cranked, ice-cream. Hope you have a lovely day.
Recipe:
Mix all ingredients except berries in a bowl. When combined, place in electric ice-cream mixer, if you have one. Add berries at this time. Mix as per your machine's instructions. We don't have an electric mixer, so the children volunteer their labor; they think it is fun for a little while. Then the adults have to get into the act at the end because it gets stiffer. Place in a container in the freezer for a few hours and serve. Enjoy
If you are thinking of Valentine's Day and want a simple ornament or gift tag, you can always make one of these hearts; follow the last link to the tutorial. If you do make one, please feel free to join flickr felt creations group and add your photo; I would love to see them.
This would be real cute with tatted flowers, too, instead of embroidered ones. I may have to try that. If you make a tatted version, join "the mad tatter" group on flicker and add tatting ones there. If you have no idea what tatting is, check out this site the 25 motif tatting challenge.
No! I am not getting a new heart, at least not in that way. I made a heart for Dana and it now resides with her and she has made one for me and it now lives with me, so our hearts have been transplanted into each other's homes, so to speak. This heart is needle felted. I think it would make a lovely Valentine's picture or even the center of a seasonal pillow; not sure yet. I will have to think on that for a while.
I was in a heart swap at Valentine's. After I posted my finished pieces on my blog, Dana said she wanted to trade for a heart. So this is the heart I made for her. I worked on this while taking care of my daughter at the hospital on and off these last few weeks. The fabrics are the same as the ones I used in my swag/garland at Christmas. Plus a strawberry one I received from my friend Berries at MJF.
Some of the buttons are new; some are vintage. The pearl cotton bordering the heart is antique pearl cotton.
This item is meant to be finished by the recipient. It can be added to in any way she wants, such as boarders to make it a little bigger to make a small pillow out of it; make it into an appliqué; or make it a pocket on an apron, you name it; what ever she can think off. I hope she likes it, too, because I did a different technique than I did before. Some love and some worry for my daughter are in this heart -- every stitch.
For family fun about 1 week ago we made candy crystals. You can make them, too. You will need adult supervision because this requires cooking water and sugar on the stove.
Supplies needed:
Mix together the 1 cup water with 2 cups of sugar in the sauce pan place on stove . Heat the mixture over medium-high heat until it boils, or bubbles rapidly. (Keep children away from this part.)
Now tie 1 end of the cotton cord around the sticks. Next lay the sticks across the top of the glasses (we used mugs; I don't recommend them because it was hard to get the crystals out). Let the cords hang into the mixture.
If you remember, a while back I made two Russian needle punch hearts for a Valentine's Day heart swap. I just got my two in the mail today.
The bright pink one to the left is from Donna Deen. The white one with pink embroidery
is from Melissa, the person in charge of the swap. I wonder if the swap went straight across or if people didn't get the person they swapped with. I never thought to ask. I wonder who got mine. The two hearts I got work together well. I don't think I am going to do anything with them for awhile; I may end up in more swaps and get more hearts. If so, then I can make a small Holiday wall picture out of them.
I have never been fond of this day 'till having kids. They think the day is great, and it is rubbing off on me. Doing things with them and making things with them shows our love for each other. It doesn't have to be store bought; just fun making a mess together as we make cookies. Have a lovely day and remember it is about love not gifts.
Friday
Junebug sent a real precious little valentine. Silly it had little velvety hearts and I felt like a little kid again; just had to 
rub the fuzzy. It is hard to see in the scan, but the card has iridescent rick rack on it.
Monday, February 5,
The card is stunning that came from her. She did some layering of stickers and a paper doily; the back ground is pretty cool, too. It has a lot of flower meanings and different things hidden on it discreetly. Very nice job.
We have confetti from Mommom . This is actually a very big card. She did some rubber stamping in the middle and colored it in, too. She also put rubber stamps on the back of the envelope (shown at the bottom of the Valentine).
Whisperingpines: Very unique in the shape she has chosen. We have confetti again. I think these were glued on, originally, but they came off in the post. A little decoupage and puffy paint, too.
From suzyhomemaker we have a very cute Valentine that has six hearts hand stitched on with pearl cotton. She had the theme going from the start with the stamp, of course, the kiss and three stickers on the outside of the envelope. Very sweet.
Last night we had family time. This is something we do on Mondays. So last night it was valentine making fun. Get one silly husband and three little 
girls together and silliness will ensue. Don't forget to get the art supplies from Mom's sewing room and be careful while doing it. Lastly and most important, cover the table with plastic so then you have fun and not worries about all the glitter glue the 5 year old is using on her papers and herself.
From owwlady; I just got a good old laugh when I open this one. Most of the people in this group either live on a farm, want to, or have (I am a "have"). So this makes perfect, funny sense to all of us, a rooster valentine. We have the continuing them of the kiss stamp; when completed, I think I might count how many of those came. Isn't this little fairy precious. I love that she put glitter in the middle of the roses. Very sweet card, and pretty, too.
From Bluewrenn came this card that looks like it would be a good snack with whipped cream. In the scan, it almost doesn't look hand made, but it is; a very nice job indeed.
This one is from Jennifer Juniper. She had flower stickers and love doves and piglet all on the out side of the envelope, even before you opened it up and saw the lovely card she made. 
So we have a new cute stamp, different than the kiss stamp. The script stamps she used for the word LOVE are very Victorian-looking.
Sweetharvesthomested sent this lovely bookmark she made and a lovely card. 
Plus, the fun of confetti strikes my husbands office again. I love the on-going themes we have here with confetti and stamps. I am getting better at opening these. I now purposely open them up over the scanner, so if anything falls out it lands on the scanner bed and is ready to be scanned in. I love this little picture of a rose; very sweet. It is amazing how many different types of confetti must be made and used.
This one is from Bramble. She sent it in a bubble wrap envelope as a lot of the cards have had issues going through the mail if they where even slightly bulky. This one was well beyond bulky, in a good way of course. There was the lovely hand made card on the left top side of the scan. Then there was the envelope that is shown open in the bottom right of the scan. Inside of the flower envelope on the bottom were the two things of candy, the chocolate heart, and the bag of sweet hearts. I love all the work that went into this card. It was well thought out. Very lovely for the eye to behold.
I have all of these cards hanging in a long doorway leading to our bedrooms. I am sure my husband must be hitting his head on them, but he hasn't complained, yet. I am starting to think I won't have enough room on this garland to hang them all.
Luzy's was cute from outside to inside. First she cut out a heart to use as the closer on the back of the card (look to left of this post). Then, when you opened up the card, there was decoration on both the front and the back of the card as well. I have no idea how long it would take to make thirty-four cards like this, but my guess is a long, long time. It didn't stop there; when you opened the card you were greeted by even more items she cut out and drew on and glued. I think she must have become a little kid all over again doing all of these. As you can tell the theme from the other day of the kiss stamp is continuing on. I like it; makes it all the more fun.
This is the lovely card I was sent from summerbreeze. She took a lot of time coloring in the rubber stamp. There is a rubber stamp image inside that reads "Sending you a great big hug." It is hard to tell in the scan, but the little rubber stamp image on the left of the screen is actually raised up off the face of the card. I love the deep dark red of this Valentine. She also embellished with ribbon; we have a theme other than hearts.
Here is the card made by sewgirlie. She used a red paper doily and stickers. Very cute! The red divider part of this picture was put in by me so I could show the sticker that was on the back of the envelope too.
This is the card from Mary Beth. It had confetti in it, and it had a cute little paper clip that she embellished to make into a book marker. Once again my husband's office had confetti all over it. I need to be more careful when I open these things; some of them just attack. I took two scans of it because the inside was as cute as the outside. The stamp was even in the Valentine theme, just like Willowtreecreek's. Ahhh another theme. Paper doily again; we just have themes everywhere. 
My baby bug felt left out of the Valentine fun. So she went digging around in the cards she got from the barter party we went to during the summer. She found one that was the right colors and decided that was a good card to give me. She drew inside of it first, then gave it to me. She is only five so she can't read very well yet. As you can tell, it reads "Happy Mother's Day". It was a happy mother's day too. I am her mother and I was grinning from ear to ear when she gave it to me.
There is a swap going on at MJF. It is already closed to sign ups. I thought I would post these as I got them, 'till Valentine's Day.Thus far there are four.
DLantz ?
and Poneyexpress.
If you are into making valentines and making yo-yos, I have a group on flicker about yo-yos. Within that group there is a challenge going on; it is to make Valentines using Yo-yos (not the toy, but the fabric). I would be ever so happy to see what every one can do with this. You can add as many embellishments as you want as long as one yo-yo is in the mix. There is a great tutorial at Heather's site if you don't know how to make one (a yo-yo, that is).
Here is a sample I made; this has three yo-yos in it, plus
other stuff.
We will have a vote here on the week of Valentines.
1st - 3rd will get prizes. Your items must be posted on flickr in this group to be judged. See rules here and on flicker (same rules just posted in two spots).
1. Come up with an idea using yo-yos and make it into a valentine card. The card is yours to keep and do with as you wish I just want to see the finished item ( a photo). (please keep them clean this is a child friendly group)
2. Post finished photos here in this group.
3. Item must have at least one yo-yo in it to compete.
4. Type in yo-yo challenge in your title area of picture along with title of Valentine
5.The week of Valentine's there will be a vote ( 1 vote per person please pick your top 3). This will be on my blog sunshinescreations.blogspot.com/
6. If you have questions let me know here or on flickr.
7. Enter as many different valentines as as you want.
8. After contest I will contact you through flickr mail to get your address to mail your prize if you are one of the three winners.
9. WINNERS will be announced one week after Valentine's
Deadlines
1. Due by February 11 the Sunday before Valentines Day ( in the United states) This gives the people on the other side of the world 1 more day. I don't want to figure out time zones.
2. The Judging will begin on the 12th Monday and go through and end on the 18th Sunday (USA, Utah time)
3. Winners announced on February 24th
Good luck and have fun crafting
Yep they are stuff I have been using to make Valentines. I would show you one of the finished ones, but the people getting these look at this blog. So, you will just have to guess from what is in this photo of the remnants of the supplies .
