Past Valentine’s Day Projects

hearts and heart
[Knit heart, thrifted garland]

9.365: plate of cupcakes
[Cupcake containers]

heart crayons [1]
[Heart crayons]

amigurumi heart
[Amigurumi heart friend]

scoop of love
[Heart pins]

My husband has been in Las Vegas 4 out of the past 5 Valentine’s Days. He works for an apparel company and so he’s there for the men’s fashion convention, MAGIC (ha). The first few years it really bummed me out, but now I’m used to it. These days, I consider it more of a kid’s holiday. We get to play with pinks! Reds! Whites! Hearts! Cupcakes! It’s a crafty holiday and so I really dig it. How about you?

Do you like Valentine’s Day or do you ditch it? Is it more of a romantic or fun holiday for you?

I’ll be back soon with a super simple under-five-minutes crochet heart pattern.

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Day O’Love

hearts and hearts
Heart knit from pattern found in Elizabeth Zimmermann’s Knitting Workshop. It’s the back of the “Heart Hat” knit with Lion Brand’s Thick and Quick

Happy Valentine's Day to me!

I might not be around the interwebs, tomorrow. My hubs leaves for a convention in Las Vegas (a men’s fashion convention–ha!), on Monday, so we’ll be spending Valentine’s Day packing and dealing with the emotions (mine. anxiety, hello!) of his departure. I’m trying my best to focus on the positives like:

-Andy & I get the bed to ourselves.
-I don’t have to practically beat him up to get him to wake in the mornings.
-I can practice taking photos with my brand-new Lensbaby.
-I can fart whenever I please.
-I can knit after the kids go to sleep without feeling like I’m neglecting someone.

But I’m finding my mind settling on the things I’ll miss. Like his help with evening meltdowns. His laugh. The way his hair smells. And his middle-of-the-night cuddles. It’s only 4 days. Only. Only. Only.

you COLOR my world!

Valentine’s Day is less than a week away! Yeah, I know, it’s a faux-holiday invented by major corporate scum to steal all our money! And blah blah blah. It’s also one of the few times a year I get to play with pink! I think I’ve said this before, but being a mom to boys means I don’t often see pink. You could say that’s my fault for following gender rules, but really, my son loves pink! He just doesn’t choose it as often as he chooses red or orange. It’s ok with me, because I do love me some orange. I just get a little tired of passing over pink, is all.

Anyway…This weekend, my sister chipped in and helped me with the single party favor I had my heart [!] set on making for Nate’s pre-k class. Heart crayons. Though stripping them of their paper and breaking them into small enough pieces was an absolute [and literal! my thumb still hurts] pain, they came out lovely.

heart crayons [1]

Most how-to’s on the subject of heart crayons show an aluminum pan filled with crayon bits. Well, I went out and bought an aluminum pan, made a batch, but could NOT get them out! It was awful. So, I went out again and found a silicone pan and these lovely hearts were easily achieved.

heart crayons [3]heart crayons [4]

I actually didn’t have enough crayon scraps (and I wasted a lot in the aluminum pan), so I bought 2 boxes of 64 Rose Art crayons ($2 each) for these. We split them up by color group and filled the slots accordingly. The aluminum pan fiasco taught me that contrasting colors didn’t go too well together in this project. I tried my best to keep them all within the same color group. I love the marbled–spin-art-ish–look!

heart crayons [2]

I made a cheesy little tag with the line “you color my world” on it. Valentine’s Day party is this Friday!

ETA (some years later)
I’ve been emailed a few times to post some actual instructions. It’s super easy if you have the right tools! I bought THIS PAN from amazon because I couldn’t find it at my local stores.

Separate your crayons by color groups: reds/pinks, purples, blues, greens, oranges/yellows. To get the paper off easily, cut a slit down the length of the crayon with a knife. Break them into ~1/3″ – 1/2″ pieces and place like colors into pans. You get a better result if you mix lighter shades of a certain group with darker shades. I also like to add a piece or of contrasting color. Go wild! It makes a great sorting game. My kiddo liked it and then when I let him break the crayons? pssssh. Dream come true!

Bake between 225F and 250F for about 10 minutes. Take a look at them after 10 and if they are completely melted, gently take them out, and let them cool for at least 10 minutes. If there are still some chunks after 10 minutes, let them go for another minute or two. Keep an eye on them!

Have fun!

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scoop of hearts

little heart pins made with guidance from the purl bee. check out the tutorial.

My initial plans were to make a few as little Valentine’s day favors. Well, I started and then couldn’t stop making them! Andrew was napping and before I knew it, I had finished my first sheet of red felt (it made 6) and so I started with pink, then white, and then I made another batch of red. What I’m trying to say is…I have about 24 little heart pins sitting in my cool Regaline bowl, now. I made them throughout the weekend. During naps, late-night movies, when my kids left on a lunch with grandma, etc. I’m all out of felt, now!

see more photos on flickr.

‘Tis the season for Cupcakes!

cupcake

365.184: cupcake-open

365.197: cupcake family

If you would like to see more photographs, please click HERE.