Valentine's Day

Hey hey hey!  I was working on valentines this weekend and accidentally stayed up until 2am watching crime shows.  But I thought I'd show you what I'm working on because we have 1.5 weekends between now and Valentine's day, which makes this coming weekend Glitterpalooza, an obligatory holiday of the Church of What's Happening Now.  

First up, Molly's class valentine.  We are handing out ring pops, so naturally a Single Ladies reference was in order.  We had a quick photo shoot.  No money spent, no heat-styling tools used....but I didn't want it to be too good, you know?  

I had these food/favor bags lying around so we stuck the ring pops in there to add yellow, her signature color, and printed the photos at home to save money (and time) and stapled it on the bag.  Quick tip for staples--color the top of your bar of staples with a sharpie to give them some color; its hard to see in this photo, but we colored ours to match the pink text.  

Next up is Charlotte.  We bought bubble tape at Target--its about a dollar each, but overall $25 isn't too bad for class valentines.  

Charlotte did extensive Google research to find an appropriate image and/or pun for bubbletape.  In the end, this image trumped the "I chews you" and "you blow my heart up." If you google "marilyn monroe bubblegum" you will find multiple options with this image and quote.  A little double-sided tape and we are done.  

So what have I been working on?  I'm playing with a traditional, doily and glitter based aesthetic.  I like to pair it with a little randomness. 

I have to give credit to the cartoon, Gravity Falls, for reminding me of this gem...and spurring a family discussion on existentialism.  I might rework this guy with some nicer hand lettering.

Then there is Molly's favorite The Weeknd hit:

This is a work-in-progress.  Did I mention I bought myself a Minc?  It adheres foil to anything printed with a laser printer.  I'm having a little trouble on how to incorporate glitter and doilies with mirror-like foil--it lends itself to a cleaner aesthetic.  

I'm also going old school, St. Valentine style.  Thinking I need to find an image of him in his bishop's hat in flames.

And then this is how I stayed up until 2am....Zentangle Valentines.

If you aren't up on Zentangle, check it out.  Its a weird sub-culture; it is supposed to be relaxing and "zen".  I do not find it relaxing, but it is one of those drawing for dummies type exercises--no skill needed, so it is not stressful at all and it is enjoyable.  Also, you can do a google search whenever you are stumped for a pattern.  I have only done a couple of these, but I think they turned out OK.  If you are a natural doodler, you could blow these out of the water.  Maybe I'll float a name or a valentine message on top, or scan it and print it out with my foil machine :)

Two ideas from the girls--the sticker mosaics turned out super cute and work in simpler heart shapes, and cutting up those "adult coloring books."

So get out there and make some Valentines!  (Send me a pic if you like).

Supplies?  Sources?  I thought you'd never ask.

Glue--if you only buy one thing, and you don't have a ton of craft supplies, upgrade your glue.  You need a non-shrinking glue--Elmers won't cut it.  I used Paper Source's PVA glue for the first time...it is the consistency of Mod Podge but it dries SUPER fast, which is actually really handy in this context.  I believe Alene's tacky glue doesn't shrink?, and it is good for heavier embellishments.  This Martha Stewart Glue Pen is the BEST THING EVER.  It writes sticky (with no "dimension").  There is a ball point version I need to buy....And of course Mod Podge is another good option.

Doilies--ours are from Target (dollar spot).  I really like Paper Source's doilies, but the best are usually found somewhere random like a dollar store or international grocery

Glitter--we don't discriminate--Target, Amazon, whatever.  But Martha's fine glitter is the best for Valentine's cards IMO.  Don't forget that most iridescent glitter is translucent while metallic glitter is opaque.   If you are having kids over, just going with the glitter glue pens can save some head ache.

Want to foil valentines but don't want to spend $60 on a foil-er?  Well, don't forget you can justify the purchase if you throw it on a future party budget, but the internet says that a regular $20 laminator will also work with the Minc foil (at Michaels, Amazon, etc.) and laser toner (Kinko's copies use the right toner, according to the internet).  Also, I bought this little foil kit for $10 from Joanne's--you cut the adhesive sheets into shapes and then apply foil (it is from Jennifer Garner's new craft line).  

Paper/Cards--Paper Source is amazing.  You should go there.  Otherwise, I just use basic card stock; I buy these stacks at Michaels.  If you want to use foil, you'll need a smooth finish.

Scissors--if you haven't been to the craft store recently, check out the little "detail scissors" in the paper crafts aisle.  They are pretty awesome.

Pizazz (also known as Ephemera):  I grabbed the vintage ephemera from Vintage Holliday Crafts, The Graphics Fairy, The Vintage Moth, and Just Something I Made.  And I grabbed these vintage beauties from The Vintage Moth--they are a good size for printing.

You can buy all this stuff printed and cut out at Michaels etc.  I totally forgot I bought some dresden trim (its on the St. Augustine Card) on clearance at Michaels, and randomly found it looking for something else entirely (its with the Martha furniture and paint stuff).

The internet is the best place for inspiration.  Google vintage valentine and be amazed.  There are too many free printable valentines to link here--just search on google or Pinterest.  But look what else I found:

Camus

James Franco

Cutesy and insensitive

Also, card round-ups are pretty awesome inspiration (another Weeknd card!) as well.   

I use Pixlr and PicMonkey for free, online photo editing.  And fotor.com lets you selectively black & white your photos (use Color Splash tool under Effects), which can be cute with kid pics--less cute with my blog photo example for you all, but the tool was hard to find for me :)