"Dino"mite valentines + Free Printables!

                                             

*please excuse my horrible iphone photos, the nice camera is on its way to the shop for repairs, apparently two year olds and nice things don't mix*

Now that Little Miss is in "school"(Mother's Day out), I get a little too excited about all her class parties and the holidays she gets to celebrate with other little people. Valentine's Day is no exception.

I will willingly admit I'm one of those moms. The ones who don't like to keep junk food in the house. Who try their hardest not to give their kids candy. And mostly it's a personal choice. Because if there's a box of Oreos in the pantry I will eat them all and not share a single one (because Oreos + kids = huge mushy chocolate mess. Am I right?!). So I wanted to give out cute little valentines with no candy. Because let's face it, they will get enough from their grandparents. 

                                          

We have a ton of little plastic dinosaurs laying around the house. So I hunted down all the cute colorful ones (those things will hide everywhere, they're sneaky!) and of course I consulted Pinterest for inspiration. I came up with this design and I made it into a free printable just for you!

https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/s/q4ldcuysmqkxm4x/dinovalentines.pdf? dl=1&token_hash=AAHb_JVErzdmzUA792IzP_sqwlQWKgSCFEt2B4BMOPQIDQ

(Please let me know if it doesn't work, I've never done this before! Learn new things everyday!)  

                                

Supplies needed:

Pack or two of Dollar Tree dinosaurs 

Cardstock

Twine 

Hole punch 

Friends to give them to :)

                                               

I hope your little Valentine enjoys these as much as mine does. She already asked if she can have one sent to her as well. 

Xo Stacie 

A few Lovely decorations

Valentine's Day is quickly approaching now. Are you ready? We don't really buy presents for V-day, mostly chocolates, so I like to wait till the last minute and then scrounge around for whatever's left. He does the same. It's almost like a game.

This year I wanted to add a little color in our house for Valentine's day. The hubs said I couldn't spend any money doing so. Challenge accepted. Here's the few decorations I threw up. 

                                 

Throw some paint on some already cute wood scraps and you have some easy decor!

                                              

I punched out hearts from all those paint chips I had the hubs and Little Miss pilfer for me. Glue them on some string and you have a super cute garland!

                                             

The felt ball garland I made has a new home on our gallery wall. The tutorial for how to make one is here. 

                                         

Little Miss requested a garland in her room too so I just glued the punched out hearts on string again. This is her favorite decoration. 

I couldn't not put up the small pink tinsel tree we picked up the day after Christmas. I let the Littles decorate it and I even stopped myself from redecorating it!

                                              

Not bad for zero money spent! And I'll most likely hang my garlands up in my craft room after the holiday is over!

Do you decorate for Valentine's Day? 

Xo Stacie

A Valentine's Felt Ball Garland

   

I've wanted to attempt to make felt balls for decoration ever since I saw them on Pinterest (pinterest, that dirty dog, making us want to do things).  So I finally broke down and bought some wool roving off Amazon (Hobby Lobby also sells it) in pinks and purples.  There are many stores on Etsy that sell the felt balls already made, but, like a crazy person, I thought, I can do that myself.   So here's how:

What you need:

-wool roving

-scissors

-hot water

-dish soap

-string ( I used embroidery thread)

-a needle (on the larger side)

-patience

-a good show on Netflix (I started Scandal and am. hooked.)

Cut your wool roving into small even pieces (obviously mine were not very even), about 2-3 inches.  Pull a tiny bit off each section and set aside.  I added a squirt of soap to a small container of hot water to use.  Dip your wool into the water solution and get it soapy.

 Start rolling your hands around to make it into a ball (think snowballs).  Once it's a ball, rinse it, roll some more, and rinse again.  If the ball is a little messy, take that extra piece you set aside and wrap it around your ball, dip in the water and roll again.  These took a while, you end up with VERY water logged hands, but they sure are pretty.

Will I make these again? Probably because like I said above, I'm a crazy person.  Do I recommend it? Not really.  Spend the extra five dollars and just buy them pre made.  It would save you some hassle, although my hands were super clean.

I let mine dry over night and then some because life got in the way.  When your felt balls are dry, line them up in the color order you want.  String your needle and start threading.  The best thing about these? They stay in place on the thread so all you have to do is string them on!

Putting the garland together was a cinch and took about five minutes (but I still sat and watched an entire episode of Scandal).  I'm using my pink and purple garland as a Valentine's Day decoration, but it will most likely end up in Little Misses room after the holiday.

Whats a craft project you thought you could make at home easier and it turned out buying premade would of saved you your sanity?

xo Stacie