Family Valentine Pouches by Angela

Last year I let the kids make their own cute Valentine pouches, which I still have... but this year I thought I'd come up with something different and unique.
A short while back I bought this bathroom organizer thing at the Dollar Store (found in the toiletries section) just because I thought I could use it somewhere in the house. I hung it on the back of my bathroom door but never got around to filling it with anything. I'm glad I had it because it inspired me to turn it into something fab! So... first go check the dollar store for this organizer thing...

It has 9 pouches on it (one on top and 8 going down). We only have 6 in our family so I simply snipped off the bottom 2.

With Valentine scrapbook paper on hand, I had to measure each pocket before cutting so I could get an accurate fit. (Remember, this from the dollar store so it's not perfect. All the pockets were just slightly different in size by a quarter of an inch here and there.)

Now you can cut the paper with a straight cutter.

Slide the paper into the pockets.

After you have them all in their places, just take a gluestick to the top part of the paper and stick it down.

I used this scrapbook paper (that I bought at Craft Warehouse in Boise) and cut some of the small squares out to put over some of the corners where I glued down the paper.

This other scrapbook page (found at Craft Warehouse too) is so cute with 12 Valentine cards on it. I cut them up to use in the top pouch for decoration.

I happened to already have some red satin ribbon, so I simply fed it through the holes at the top and tied a bow to hang from. Then I just garnished it with one of the Valentines I cut from the big sheet and a little clothes-pin I had. Here is a closer-up look at the finished product...


Oh, and the name plates... I got the "bookplates" and lettering from Marie at FreeDigitalScrapbooking.com! Thanks Marie!!

I'm not as efficiant as Heather when it comes to the Valentine ideas for the kids. I'm lucky if I can get something, anything in their pouch before they arrive home from school. My valentines to my kids each day (for only the one week leading up to the 14th) consist of a piece of paper cut into a heart with a short note on it, taped to a small (party favor-like toy) or peice of candy. Works for us! Pin It

Message of LOVE {day 6}

I love magnets so with this idea instead of hanging them I wanted to turn them into a magnet they could use.


1-Our trusty tool to "grating" the crayon onto the wax paper.


2-I had these lids so I put a bead of glue and applied red glitter.


3-I only had small magnets that is why I put 4 so it would be a strong magnet. Pin It

Message of LOVE {day 5}

These personalized games turned out so much better than I imagined. I have to give many thanks to Him above for the inspiration.


1-I found these old music reels with a box at Deseret Industries(second hand store) and knew these would be perfect.


2-I made the "gameboard" by using tracing paper and placing it over the patterned paper to draw a maze. Then I just counted to where I needed to draw the lines with my sharpie.


3-Directions to playing the Heart 2 Heart game. Contents: 2 dice, 1 place marker, hearts (with "I Love you" stamped on it), gameboard. Object: to give as many {I love you} hearts aqay as you can. How to Play: the player{name} will roll the dice and move the correct amount of spaces. if she/he lands on a "heart" then she/he will pick out an {i love you} heart and give to someone. If she/he lands on an "xo" then she/he is to give someone a hug and kiss. If she/he happens to roll doubles she/he can move 5 extra spaces.


4-Pocket for gamepiece: hearts. I had a stamp that I used.


5-Gameboard finished with red dice(found at the dollar store) and "marker"(gamepiece from another game). I randomly stamped 7 "hearts" and 4 "xo" in the squares along the maze.



Finished game- inside and out. For the outside I just used a piece of scrapbook paper to fit box and put some contact paper over that so it will last a bit longer. Then I applied some vinyl lettering.
I'm so excited for our kids to play this. They will get their own but could also play together. I love it! Pin It

Message of LOVE {day 4}

I love fortune cookies because they are fun, tasty and bring hope to the mind & soul! I found these simple ones and they work great for our kids.

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Better Than _ _ _ Cake & Strengthening Marriage

Do I DARE say the word??... Do you have a husband? If so, then _ _ _ is a beautiful, clean, sacred, and wonderful word!! This cake is wonderful too, but never "better" than _ _ _, especially in marriage! I am not saying this because it's one of my hobbies or anything of the sort... actually, it's rarely on my mind... the cake? Yes... _ _ _? NO!
(recipe at end of post)

Most of the time I would say that I could live without _ _ _. But there ARE those that cannot. And maybe YOU are one of those (you lucky girl). But for a guy, _ _ _ is more important than we women could ever realize, especially in their marriage!
That is why I want to introduce you (again) to my biggest inspiration for strengthening my own marriage... Her name is Laura Brotherson, author of the best book ever- "And They Were Not Ashamed". Do you have this book? If not I highly recommend it, whether you have a strong marriage or not!

I've met Laura personally (after reading her book) and we have become friends. She lives in my town and is an amazing person. She is passionate about teaching other women (and men) how to strengthen their marriages through _ _ _ual intimacy.

Now ladies, if you struggle with this in your marriage.... Please take my advice and GET OVER to Laura's website right now!!! SAVE your marriage! "Fire-proof" it! Strengthen it NOW in time for Valentine's Day! ♥ ♥ Laura has the "recipe" for this. And YOU will benefit greatly as well as your husband. (We all know that!)

**I want you know that I am not getting any kind of "kick-back" or freebies from Laura B for posting her info, nor am I doing it because she's a friend. I am simply sharing this because I am a tried and true believer and I know how "s_ _ _" can bring the magic back into any marriage.
DON'T SETTLE FOR THE CAKE. IT'S NOT BETTER!! (Well unless you promise to have BOTH!) {{winks}} Here's my recipe...

Cake:
1 yellow cake mix
1 small pkg instant chocolate pudding
2 c water
2 eggs
-Bake above ingredients at 350 for about 25 min. Do not overbake! Let cake cool completely.

Frosting:
1 cube butter (melted & cooled)
1 c (heaping) powdered sugar
1 T water
-Mix above, then fold in
8oz tub Cool Whip

-Sprinkle 3 Heath candybars (crushed up) over cake. MMmmmmm! BUT... not better! :o)

**UPDATE: I had to take the "3-letter word" out of this post so that search engines don't bring in the wrong kind of people. We're just not "in Kansas anymore" these days!! A friend of mine told me that she can no longer access this blog from work (and I think it's because I have that certain word in a post). That's good! Shows the internet protection programs are working!! :o) Pin It

Message of LOVE {day 3}

I had saved a clipping from my Family Fun Magazine about this site. You can make your own comic stripes and then print them. And the best part is, that it is FREE. You could have the characters say something but I wanted my kids to have fun making up what the characters would say. I even titled it and put the Author in their name. It looks so official. I love it! Pin It

Message of LOVE {day 2}

I know I'm a day off of a 14 day countdown-sorry. This year for me its a 13 day countdown. Owell-there's always next year.


I love these type of "hidden" messages. I figured out that Koolaid works just as great as paint BUT it smells better and if the kids happen to drink some of it, its not a 911!


1-Write your message on a white piece of paper with a white crayon.


2-Mix 1/2 tsp. {cherry} Koolaid and 1 Tbl. water for the "paint".


3-Uncover the hidden message by using the "paint". Pin It

Message of LOVE {day 1}

OOPs-Sorry its sideways! To go with each days' message I made faux "envelopes" with a stamp and their names.


On the back I write the LOVE message. Today my love message was a spinner with a saying "you make my world SPIN". Pin It

Kids Valentine "MailBag"

I love Valentine's Day (actually the whole month for that matter). It truely is a great month to be able to let others know how much you love them and be reminded to share that LOVE all year long.

This year I wanted my children to have some sort of a "mailbox". Then in it, I could put my messages of love to them. I am going to mix it up with candy, activities and toys(from the Dollar store of course). It will be FUN. I will share everyday what I did.


1-Simple fabric bag from the Dollar Store(I have 3 girls and 1 boy, thats why there is a blue one).


2-Cut off handle from back side of bag.


3-I cut fabric to fit in between the exsisting panels. I gave it a frayed look by pulling the edge strings.


4-Sew on the fabric to the bag(denim needle)


5-Using a cut off piece from the unused handle, sew it to the back of the bag.


6-Cut a piece of velcro with sticky backs to adhere to the front of the bag & the "latch" piece.


7-To make the front "latch" look pretty I used an acrylic heart backed with "aged" fabric, metal heart and a diamond brad. I just poked it thru on the latch just above the Velcro.


8-I wanted this specific shape but I like the rugged look so I figured out this technique. I got the "aged" look by taking the edge of the scissors and scrapping it across the blade(kind of like ribbon you want to make curly). It seemed to work.


9-Embellishments!


10-I just hung it on the front of their bedroom doors with the Removable Hooks.


11-The "mail flag". I got a clothes pin and Mod Podged some coordinating fabric. I put stickers on one side and then did a another coat of Mod Podge. The other side is blank which = no mail.

I hope this month you will share your LOVE with the people that matter most! {And maybe in some FUN ways!}

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Chocolate Cookies

4 squares Baker's Unsweetened Chocolate
3/4 c (1 1/2 sticks) butter
2 c sugar
3 eggs
1 tsp vanilla
2 1/2 c flour

1 tub (8oz) frozen Cool Whip
6 squares Baker's Semi-Sweet Baking Chocolate

PREHEAT oven to 350 degrees. Microwave unsweetened chocolate and butter in large micro-safe bowl for 2 min. (or until butter is melted). Stir until chocolate is completely melted. Stir in sugar. Blend in eggs and vanilla. Add flour; mix well. Cover and refridgerate 1 hour or until easy to handle. (I don't bother chilling the dough.)

SHAPE dough into 1-inch balls; place 2 inches apart on greased baking sheets. (I just use my Pampered Chef cookie scooper- I used the small sized one for the ones pictured above. Oh, and I don't bother greasing the baking sheet- works just fine.)

BAKE 8 minutes or just until set. (Do not overbake!) Let stand on baking sheet 1 minute; transfer to wire racks. Cool completely.

GLAZE TOPPING: PLACE frozen Cool Whip and Semi-Sweet chocolate in micro-safe bowl. Microwave on high 1 minute. Stir. Micro 30 seconds or until chocolate is melted and mixture is shiny and smooth. Let stand 15 min. to thicken. Spread over cookies. Let stand until glaze is set.

MAKES 5 dozen or 30 servings, 2 cookies each.

MY VARIATIONS: I have never bothered to do the glaze- it's just more work. I like to put in chocolate chips and/or peanut butter chips. The ones in the picture have some milk-chocolate chips, some semi-sweets, and some peanut butters. Delish!!

Are you salivating yet? YUM-O!! Happy Valentine's Day!! Pin It

♥ ♥ VaLeNtInE's DaY ♥ ♥

♥ Valentine's Day is one of my most favorite holidays. I have fond memories, growing up, of it being a special day with special family traditions. I continue those traditions today with my own family, as well as added a few more of my own. It's a perfect time of year to express and strengthen LOVE at HOME, and build the self-esteems of our spouse and children!!

Heather and I will be sharing lots of our own traditions and ideas for strengthening our families and marriages this month, as well as some great Valentine's day inspiration! Here are the posts from last year. There are some great links from them to some other gals as well!

Here is a tradition that I loved, growing up! (This is my Valentine's day dinner table, but Mom's looked similar.) We always had the traditional heart-shaped meat-loaf, pink mashed potatoes, heart-shaped bisquets, and some kind of red jello sometimes cut in heart-shaped servings. (Of course we also had a green veggie with it too.) Dessert was heart-shaped whatever as well. These are the actual plates Mom used, and guess who inherited them? Yay!! There was always a small gift for each of us kids on our plates from Mom. I love this tradition.

Last year after Christmas I bought some red chargers on clearance and HEATHER made some vinyl words/designs for them. (OH, did I ever mention that she has a vinyl cutter and will take orders for stuff?) Yep! So if you are interested in any of these designs, email us and we can hook you up!

Go HERE to read about this YOU ARE SPECAIL plate tradition!!
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♥ Happy February ♥

(pic taken from a cute blog!)

♥ I LOVE February! ♥ This month most of our posts will be centered around LoVe. ♥ LOVE at home, ♥ Valentine Projects, ♥ Strengthening marraige, and more... It's going to be fun! Stay tuned ♥ ♥ ♥ Pin It