Make A Little Love

Free kids valentines printable   Fringed love cake topper tutorial,   

Paper straws and washi tape arrows tutorial,     pretty flowers for the table picture inspiration,  

You're dynamite valentines tutorial,    Love and hugs painted wrapping paper idea,  

 date idea arrows tutorial,  Secret message puzzle tutorial, 

Glitter heart cake toppers tutorial,   free WILD about you printables 

OK so the fringed LOVE letters don't have to be sticking out from the top of a giant homemade cake... out of a fresh croissant brought along with the morning newspaper says it just as well  better.  Fill the stick of dynamite with messages of memories we've shared along the way, and fill every jar, every jug with fresh flowers until there's no room to eat at the table, lets get the children to make little love puzzles for each other without the other knowing, lets wrap up secret gifts, things we've been hinting for for a long time and just because we love them.... but wrap them in painted X O 's paper. Because I love you everyday but today I want you you to know that THAT is the most important thing.

However you celebrate Valentines have a lovely one

xx

Give A Little Love

Three little words; I love you. Though traditionally valentines day is reserved for romantic love I think its a great excuse to remind all those that we love how we feel.  Of course we like to go completely overboard, shouting it from the rooftops having valentines breakfasts, blowing up balloons and turning it a celebration. 

Give that someone, be it your partner, son, daughter, friend, mother father, sister (you get my drift) something to make them feel loved, be it balloons blown up to fill a room or sent ready to fly out of a box, a message in a bottle (the modern version with a selection of favourite photos or video saved to a memory card), favourite homemade goodies always say i love you, and flowers, be it paper, freshly cut or a potted something that can grow can never be wrong.

If you're looking for a card that holds the right sentiment for children perhaps rather than an 'I love you' card which might not necessarily mark the day as any different, write an invitation for something you love to do together. Filling the day with memories of all those things you love to do.

Give children a personalised packet of seeds wrapped up with pretty paper and a big bow. Something to plant that can be nurtured, that will grow, blossom and just like love grow bigger every day. 

Make something together there's lots of ideas to be found here and here and take a look at a few more ideas here. 

Here's a few of our favourites

PICS left to right : DIY message balloons, pink balloons, balloon heart idea, amazing DIY message in a bottle tutorial,  Love Light card , tinted marshmallows .... yum yum simply dip marshmallows into a water with food dye, LOVE necklace , love you long time neon lights, shooting star headband, pink clouds,  Hugs and Kisses garland, paper fans and paper honeycomb balls,    Just A little Note card, flowers and strawberry drinks  

No matter how you say it, make sure you do.

Monday Makery - Patchwork Flowerpots

Valentines Day and Mothers day is soon upon us and both days are days we show our love and appreciation. We want to make sure we give the people we love something that will last and something they can keep as reminder of our love. I love the idea of giving people seeds or bulbs as a gift, something that can grow bigger each day. So we've set about making fabric covered flower pots. As you can see they're still wet but once they're dry we'll get planting.

I'm going to make pretty envelopes with seeds inside with the words 'love grows bigger every day' written upon them to give to the girls on valentines morning. They'll have fun planting the seeds and taking care of them as they watch them grow and blossom into beautiful flowers. 

They're so easy and so fun to make and with little materials you can turn a boring plastic pot into a beautiful planter or storage pot. 

I'm planning on making a small stack of pots for my mama too for Mothers Day with her favourite flowers panted in each one. I'd like to have a row of them upon my desk for keeping my pens and pencils in too! So I'll be sure the girls show their daddy how to make them. 

Here's what you'll need:

• flower pots - we used standard plastic ones
• PVA glue
• bowl
• water
• fabric

Here's how:

1. Cut strips of fabric, 
2. mix PVA glue with water in a 50/50 ratio 
3. glue your strips of fabric onto the pot as neatly or as randomly as you like, smoothing out each piece as you go to avoid creases.

Even though I took a more mathematical approach to mine; measuring the top of the flower pot dividing that number between the number of fabric strips to get the width of each fabric and then the same for tapering the fabric at the bottom I think Oona's looks so much better for having just gone with the flow of it.

If you'd like to have your pots kept outside you will have to varnish them to make them waterproof and to seal the fabric from the elements. 

Happy Making

If you're looking for more craft ideas for a token of love why not try these here

or these here :

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Monday Makery - love strings

Valentine's Day is coming and as I'm the queen of leaving things til the last minute I wanted to plan a day after which we fall asleep with our hearts full. So this week I'm starting to pull together all my creative ideas to  make a day extraordinarily love-ly. 

Saint Valentine's Day traditionally clelebrates romantic love but I think its a great excuse to remind all of those we love how we feel. My Husband is away for the week of Valentines, escaping all the potential pitfalls of choosing that oh so perfect gift, that token that says 'I love you' more than the words, the gestures we share all the other 364 days of the year. I have left plenty of hints, with magazine pages left open on the coffee table and commenting on how beautiful 'this' and 'that' is.

So, it'll be me and my girls and my mama too. With Valentine's Day falling on a monday we're going to celebrate over the weekend with a day full of suprises, treats and a house decorated with symbols of love. Look out for next weeks 'Monday Makery' to see more of our Valentines creations. In the meantime why not try these hanging heart strings. They're easy to make and its a great way for children to start to think about the meaning behind that little-big word 'love'.

You'll need:

• coloured card
• heart templates or heart cookie cutters in various sizes
• scissors
• sticky tape
• wool or string

How to :

1. Measuring the width of paper you will need for your heart template fold the card back and forth like a concertina. This will save a lot drawing and cutting.
2. Draw around your cookie cutter or template to create a guidline for cutting. Younger children may find it easier to draw around the inside of the cutter rather than the outside.
3. Cut along the outline of the heart. If you have any childrens' craft scissors these would be a great way to give the hearts a pretty edge.
4. Lay your hearts across the table, leaving equal space between each shape, and place a long strand of wool over the top.
5. Stick the wool using sticky tape. If you'd like to, you can fold the sticky tape back on itself to make it 'double-sided' and stick another heart on top to make them look a little neater though this is a little fiddly for little hands.
6. Continue adding your decorations along the wool until your garland is the desired length. Then cut the length and hang. The strings below were made to hang vertically but if you'd prefer to hang horizontal garlands simply stick the hearts left to right rather than top to bottom.

You can personalise your garlands with other simple images. Make templates of your family, pets and those you hold dear. Perhaps write messages on each heart....'love is.....' , 'I love your.....' .

Whilst chosing the colour of the card I asked Sessi (Sophia) what colour came to mind when she thought about how much she loves Oona. "White" she said. So, Oona was white, Daddy was blue and orange and I was yellow. 

Each of us had a different coloured garland with different messages for the all those things we love about them.

Our garlands look so beautiful hanging there as a reminder of  those we love and feel most strongly for and I think there'll be there for a long time. And perhaps they should. It shouldn't be only Valentine's Day that we make such efforts to tell those we love just how much we really truly deeply do. However, forget about it and you'll not be forgiven!

Our garlands are now extending as Sessi has been thinking about all the people she loves. It'll be interesting to see what colours those people will be.