Happy Valentines Day!

Valentines Day is probably one of my favorite holidays. It’s not because of all the mushiness or getting gifts from that someone special. I love it because it’s a day all about love. Yes, you should show your loved ones that you love them everyday, but I see nothing wrong with having one day a year to celebrate that. Single? Who cares!! You don’t need to be in a relationship, thats the beauty of it! Show a family member or friend (or pet!) that you are thinking of them. One of the other reason I love Valentines Day so much is there really isn’t any pressure on gift giving. You can have a great Valentines Day on any budget, it can be as simple or extravagant as you want.

Being a little bit on the crafty side, I always make some of the gifts I give. This year I made Valentines for all of my coworkers. Once Pete saw them, I then had to make more for his.

Seriously, these cost less than $10 to make and everyone LOVED them.

Next, I needed some ideas on how to display Pete’s candy. Yes, I could have given it to him in a heart shaped box or the bag that it came in…but to me that takes no thought at all. So I decided, after a little research, I found these neat ideas:

I think I MIGHT have spent about $6 on both of those (candy not included.) Much more visually appealing, in my opinion. Also, I feel like to adds a little sense of whimsy, which is what this entire holiday is about.

Now that I had my human Valentine squared away, my 3 little 4 legged Valentines were next! After recently going around the entire house and collecting all of their toys, I realized this year they would NOT get new toys. Toys add up super fast when you are buying 3 at a time. I then decided that treats would be the next best option (and also SO MUCH CHEAPER!!) I decided to make pink chicken and peanut butter cookies (I’m not sure if I posted that recipe in a previous post…if not I’ll add it in!) I already had a bunch of the ingredients so I think I spent maybe $5 on odds and ends and then another $5 on the heart shaped cookie cutters. The dogs went crazy for them and I’m pretty sure they didn’t realize they didn’t get any presents.

Finally, my last crafty project for the holiday was Valentines Day T-Shirts! I have made shirts other years, but it was usually with Puffy Paint and it was a very meticulous and long process (especially when you add in drying time.) This year I did bleach shirts and spent $6 and that was it.

All you need is bleach, your shirts, cut out the images you want on the shirts. This was a little easier for me since I used my Cricut to do the letters and hearts, so I was thankful for that. All you do is just lay your images down, spray bleach on them, peel the paper up and you are done! I read that you should use contact paper, but I had no problem just using a heavier card stock paper. Both of these shirts took me about 15 minutes to make. Can’t get any better than that!

As you can see, I choose to do a more “hand made” Valentines Day…you can take personalization to a whole new level! I would love to hear some of your ideas for Valentines Day!

Now, I will leave you with this years Valentines Day Puppy Photo Shoot!

(When Wren is done- she is DONE.)