Pretty Paper Flowers

A few weeks ago, I was browsing Craftgawker (a habit I am trying to break) and I stumbled across these really cute paper flowers. I've always liked origami, so I thought I'd give them a try. You've probably seen these all over Pinterest or other forums like I have but I did really like the tutorial link she provides on her blog. It was easy to follow and in no time I was making tons of these little buds.

Just in time for Valentine's Day! My mom had found this pretty little basket at Michael's but wasn't sure what to put in it. We agreed that the floppy stems looked perfect hanging over the little "picket fence" style basket.

These flowers aren't hard at all and they are very addicting, but may I suggest that you use a bone tool when folding? I completely destroyed my thumb nail folding all of these. Also, since I used hot glue to glue these all together, I used a clothes pin to pinch each petal together while the glue dried. This allowed me to hurry on to the next petal rather than having to hold each one while they dried. For the stems I used doubled up pipe cleaners wrapped in floral tape. Not perfect with the weight of paper I used, but as I said before, the floppy stems sort of worked with this project!

Happy folding!!

Pineapple Gift Bags (not what you'd think...)

Browsing around online a few weeks ago, I stumbled across a crochet pineapple heart, similar to this one. This wasn't the exact heart, but it was so alike I was surprised to see it wasn't even the same person who had made it. The picture didn't come with a pattern, so I decided to take on a challenge and see if I could make one up myself. I make up patterns quite often, and I have crocheted pineapples before, but I have never made up a pineapple pattern before.

After my first attempt, I was extremely pleased, but wanted it a bit smaller, so I tried again.

I was so happy with the turnout, I whipped up a matching one, crocheted them together and made them into a little gift bag for Valentine's Day.

You can probably see more detail here:

For the women I visit teach and my companion, I dipped some gummy cherry hearts and cinnamon lips in milk chocolate, bagged them up and put each bag inside the pineapple heart gift bags with a little handmade Valentine (which I forgot to get pictures of).

As pleased as they were with their goodies, the words "chocolate dipped" brought truly happy smiles to the face of each!

Puffy Heart Wreath

A few weeks ago, my mom saw a wreath at Michael's. It was made up of a circle of wooden hearts, all decorated for Valentine's Day. She loved it and wanted it for her door, but doesn't care for wooden deco because they tend to bang around in the wind.

Easy enough. Make one in something other than wood.

This was such a fun and easy project, it only took me a day to make. Don't you just love the puffy hearts? My mom also pointed out the star in middle created by the tips of the hearts. I'm sure you could do something just like this with felt or foam, as well!

I'm Having A Heart Attack!

I see hearts.... EVERYWHERE!

'Tis the season, right?So, why so many? Well, I'm the Visiting Teaching Coordinator in my ward. When I found out that we were planning on doing Visiting Teaching Interviews around Valentine's Day, a crafting light bulb went off in my head.
Me and my big ideas...
Actually, though, I gave myself plenty of time to get these done, and was pleasantly surprised when I had them done in no time!

Luckily, I already had the heart pattern from a pattern I designed last Valentine's Day. Even better, after making more than 80 of them, I fixed all the little bugs and perfected my pattern! I can't wait to hand these out to each visiting teacher who comes for their interview!

Honey Bear

I'm sure that by now you've noticed that I like to "re-use" items that most people would throw away. Well, today is no different. When I saw an empty honey bear, I just couldn't "bear" (sorry, too easy) to throw him away! Especially with Valentine's Day right around the corner. If you happen to have an empty honey bear sitting around, this is a fun and easy craft you could do with your kids! I believe that I have also seen empty honey bears at Macey's for around $1.00. If you are going to purchase one, though, I would recommend going to Dollar Tree, buy a full honey bear, pour the honey into another container and use that!

The hat is made of foam, his bow tie of red felt and I used a spare crochet heart to cover the label. Most of all, though, I have to give creative props where they are due. It was my husbands' idea to fill the bear with conversation hearts.

Thanks "Honey"!

I just realized that this would be a cute Visiting Teaching treat for February! If you purchase the bears from Dollar Tree, leave the honey in them and on the front of the heart, put a little message, conversation heart style, that says "You're Sweet"! Oooooh....

Vine Wreath

When I got my decorations out, I realized that I didn't have a Valentine's Day wreath. There are so many ideas out there for pretty wreaths, but I wanted something completely different. After all is said and done, I couldn't be more pleased with the results!

Luckily, after I crocheted the hearts, I had everything on hand that I needed. A wire hanger, pearl stems, leaves leftover from another project, floral wire, and green floral tape. Don't you love how you can take such random, everyday items and make something so pretty?

Crochet Valentine's Day Heart Bunting

This Valentine's Day bunting worked up pretty quick and came out really pretty.

I love all the different styles of hearts, especially the ones with flowers.

Valentine's Day paper crafts

There were so many fun Valentine crafts I wanted to do this year that I was excited to find some that were quick, easy and, best of all, beautiful in their simplicity!!

These paper hearts were so much fun and so addicting to make. They come together super fast and all you need is strips of pretty paper and tape, glue, or a stapler. I, personally, used a stapler. This is a great way to use up some of your leftover scraps of paper.

After making several, I had to try using my edging paper punch. So pretty!!!

Unfortunately, I haven't done anything with the hearts yet. My niece found them and had to have some, so I need to start over. I have a few ideas in mind, though...

My next paper project took longer, but was just as fun. This project cost.... absolutely nothing but time! Unless you look super close, you wouldn't know that these are made with empty jell-o, pudding, and band-aid boxes. I used tid bits that I had on hand and crocheted up a few little hearts. I "LOVE" how it turned out!

I Heart Valentine's Day!

Typically, I get really annoyed at the way stores start displaying Valentine's Day before Christmas is even over. This year, however, my mind turned to hearts pretty early in January. Here are some sweet heart Valentine's Day (or any day) hair clips.

The headband turned out so pretty, it made me wish, once again, that I didn't look so ridiculous in them!

What's Valentine's Day without jewelery? I may have to make the rose ring in every color I have, it turned out so sweet.

With luck, this is only the beginning...