Home-baked and Handmade

Hooray, it's Friday! Whether you celebrate Valentine's Day or not, it's always a good excuse to send cards, exchange gifts or have a party.

Did you know that Julia Child and her husband Paul sent out Valentine cards? In her book "My Life in France", she says: Valentine cards had become a tradition of ours, born of the fact that we could never get ourselves organized in time to send out Christmas cards. With our ever-enlarging network of family, friends, and Foreign Service colleagues, we found that Paul's hand-designed valentine cards -- usually a woodcut or drawing, sometimes a photograph -- were a nice way to keep in touch.

I'm a fan of their creativity, sense of humor and how supportive they were of each other.

Darcy Miller, the editorial director at Martha Stewart Weddings, marks Valentine's Day as a red letter day. She mails presents to dear friends, usually beautifully packaged candy with personalized cards featuring her three daughters.  What lucky friends she has -- I bet they look forward to these Valentines every year! 

And since I didn't do any baking during the holidays, I'll make Valentine's Day a reason to make some treats!

 I made a batch of chocolate crinkles.

Just enough chocolate-y sweetness! 

I packaged them in these reusable containers. 

 Then added these fancy "hats" made of red tissue.

Add a ribbon and a tag made from blah scrap paper. 

 TADA! These are ready to be handed out.

Home baked & hand made --

 always TADA!

Cuddly and Sweet

I was at the drugstore the other day and

I found this really adorable gift:

It's a plush toy with a built-in pouch {similar to a backpack}. You're supposed to stuff it with little thoughtful things like snacks, pencils or wishes to say "good luck", "congratulations", "get well soon" or "just because". I love the concept! Here's my version:

blah: what was once a jewelry pouch

in the perfect Valentine color

Fill it with sweet delights like candy

and pair with a teddy bear.

TADA! A present that will melt anyone's heart!

Wear Your Heart on Your Sleeve

Very nice to see you today!

Yesterday, I made this vanity bag inspired by a Marc Jacobs clutch. It's made from an old airline amenity kit and felt.

I had a few extra hearts.

I'm drawing inspiration from these

heart-shaped pins by ban.do

These ban.do hearts can be worn as a corsage,

shoe accents or as a hair accessory

All we need are two pieces of the felt hearts,

needle & thread, a lapel pin, sequins, scissors

Sew the sequins on to the felt

You can put as little or as many

sequins as you want -- in the same

color or in a contrasting shade

You'll notice that the wrong side of the sequined heart has the stitches {not pretty}. So what we'll do is cover it with another felt heart. Sandwich a piece of cardboard in between the felt hearts to provide structure. Hot glue will keep everything together, then finish off by sewing a lapel pin at the back.

TADA! A shimmery heart pin!

Lots of Hearts

If you're looking for some Valentine's Day projects,

you've come to the right place.

Today's inspiration is this Marc Jacobs clutch that I spied at the mall. It stood out in a shelf of black and tan bags with its blushing color and medley of leather hearts. Wouldn't it be fun to recreate?

blah: an empty amenity bag snagged from an airplane

blah: heart-shaped felt cutouts

Attach the hearts to the face of the bag

It's best to lay out the hearts before

securing them with hot glue

TADA! This bag's got to be in love!

Fill it with beauty products for a favorite friend!

Gearing Up for Valentine's Day

How was your weekend lovelies? I hope you had time for rest, relaxation and some exciting Super Bowl action. Last week, I told you about the Special Delivery Project, spearheaded by Etsy and Citymeals-on-Wheels. Handmade Valentine cards are being collected for distribution to the elderly -- that's kindness in action right there! If you want to participate, the deadline's tomorrow. You'll find all the details here.

Today, I'm sharing some of the cards I crafted. I made quite a bunch over two evenings, while sipping some tea and listening to mushy love songs. Please don't laugh, I wanted to be productive during these cold winter nights!

TADA! cards made from those blah tags

you find attached to new clothing

Made from magazine cutouts

mounted on recycled cardboard

Vintage postcards jazzed up with

rubber stamps & stickers

Blah boxes {ex. pasta, tea, cookies} made pretty

with scrapbook paper

More blah boxes get a new look with colorful

paper, craft punches & sweet notes

Brown paper bags are accessorized!

Hearts & glitter, Champagne & flowers

Doilies & stick-on hearts add

texture and dimension

Trader Joe's paper bags are given

a new life as Valentine cards

These spoons are cut out from the Trader Joe's paper bag...I think these go well with the theme of "sharing food and love." If you plan to make your own Valentine's Day cards, I hope these cards will inspire you!

A Birthday Card in 3-D

Happy Friday!

I like to shop for crafting supplies such as these tiny fabric flowers.

I use them in many different ways like embellishing this heart-shaped ornament made from a cereal box and yarn.

When I used up all the flowers, I thought about using the cardboard backing and plastic circle too. Blah to TADA! baby!

I wrapped the cardboard in gift wrap, punched a hole on top and inserted a luxurious ribbon.

I made a birthday message with rubber stamps, collected some sequins and handmade confetti. I put these in the center of the card...

...and tucked them inside the plastic circle that I eventually secured in place with hot glue.

I like the 3-D effect that's going on.

It's interactive too!

I wish you a relaxing weekend!

A Series of Stripes

Do you like to use decorative tissue paper? I like to use them to line gifts before I put them in a gift box or bag, as an extra layer before the surprise is revealed. I sometimes use them as the actual gift wrapper too. That's why I have a few left overs just waiting to be used.

To avoid creases and tears, roll them up. Secure the ends with tape or tie a ribbon around it. Keep them in an empty jar or inside a properly labeled box.

The tissue sheets are fun for crafting. Turn them into lanterns, flowers, mood lighting, votive holders or placemats. Today, we'll use them to dress up a blah piece of card stock.

TADA!: Pastel stripes made of tissue paper

Use it for someone's birthday or

for any occasion!