Valentine's craftiness...

I know I've said this before, but to me VALENTINE'S is so much more than a day for romance.

It's an excuse to show others in your life how much they mean to you.

Even with the smallest of gestures.

This year I was in my crafting glory- with homemade teacher gifts, candy and hostess gifts.

I even like to make sure my lady friends get a little special note.

It was fun to see the girls get in on part of the action too.

I like when they get to take ownership in their own gifts to others.

The girls also went on their first official "daddy date."

It was a daddy-daughter dance that our church Ocean Hills puts on.

They got all dolled up, and had so much fun.

This love day had something for everyone to get excited about!

enjoy the pic(k)s!

sort of chopped James's head here a bit!

first up, my valentine baby shower hostess gifts-
I bought jelly jars and red candles at Michael's

and these adorable heart doilies....

the lighting here is due to the fact that most of my crafting happens around midnight!

and wrapped it all up!

second... personalized aprons

pounce on fabric paint and use the doily as a stencil
I used a spray glue from Michaels to get it to adhere so it wouldn't move around on me
These cute cream aprons came from Michaels too!
they already had the lace detail 

then I used some letter stencils that I already had with some black fabric paint

let dry

and voila! such a cute little personalized apron

teacher/trash guys/postman/cleaning lady/ etc etc gifts...

We made valentine bark and packaged them up in cute little gift bags I found from the dollar bin at Target

this bark is so easy and yummy- its also a great activity for small children 

this bark is simply melted chocolate of your choosing (I chose ghiradelli milk chocolate chips)
then pour melted chocolate into a smooth layer on a cookie sheet lined with parchment paper
put in fridge for a half hour to set
next step, melt light pink candy melts from Michael's (I like to use a glass bowl and set in the micro at 20 sec intervals, stirring in between, pretty foolproof)
pour over milk chocolate layer
then BEFORE it sets sprinkle valentine M&Ms, and valentine sprinkles

gently press candy into the chocolate
let it sit in the fridge until it hardens
then you can break it into pieces and package it up!
This is always a hit!

It wouldn't be a holiday without a themed breakfast (at least in my house)
here we have Nutella "heart" french toast, heart bacon and strawberries

I made coffee cozies for teacher gifts
I used a starbucks sleeve as a stencil on a piece of light pink fleece
and sewed a zig zag stitch as a detail
then I cut out a heart in red fleece and sewed it onto my sleeve
Before doing so though I took some embroidery thread and sewed their initial
I left the top open so I could stick a gift card in it.
I mean cause at the end of the day its all about the packaging right? ;)

I used the nice recyclable/resuable cups 

In between the two pieces of felt I placed a hair tie
then I sewed over it with a zigzag stitch
I sewed a button to the other side and now you have a cute little closure

I also made these INCREDIBLY YUMMY sugar scrubs for my baby shower hostess gifts.
You have to understand, my baby shower had so many amazing crafty DIY details I knew I had to go big for these ladies.
This idea I found on Pinterest from Oh So Pretty.
The recipe and printable labels were all there so it made for a super easy and fun project.
Not to mention it smells AMAZING!
The jars are also from Michael's.

ah, homemade gifts are the best!