We are fast approaching that big ‘ol love day. And who doesn’t like to give (and receive) some love?!

I remember being back in elementary school waiting in anticipation for my little Valentine’s mailbox. It was so fun to receive all the teeny cards my classmates would make and/or write. I also found it humorous how many ways you can spell ‘Elaine’ (apparently)… “Elan”, “Elinea”, “Elane”, “Eleanor”, “Eileen”… ah, good times.

Chace (my four-year-old) is in daycare with about 20 other little munchkins. I thought it would be fun to help him make some Valentine’s that he could hand out. It was also a nice way to talk to him about – and show him – a good example of friendship.

… But has anyone noticed how girly Valentines are? Not that there is anything wrong with that (Seinfeld) but it’s fun to have a somewhat boyish Valentine for my little BOY to hand out. I wasn’t sure how he’d feel about handing out a card filled with cupids, hearts, cute doggies and jellybeans. He’s been known to exclaim (in dramatic four-year-old fashion) “oh no, not agaaaain!” when “Sophia the First” or “Strawberry Shortcake” comes on TV. He makes a bee-line for his lego at that point.

So, I came up with a ‘beary’ cute boyish idea instead… black bears, and bear paws. Raaarrrr!

The first thing I did was design the header cards. On the front I wrote “I’m so BEARY happy that we are friends” and of course, have the bear image. On the back I wrote “Happy Valentine’s Day” and then had a blank spot that said “from your friend,” and had room for Chace to write his name. Across the bottom I put “Mom and Dads: These are ‘Dare Bear Paws’ and are peanut free!” just in case there were any allergies in the home.

I set the cards as ‘four-up’ on a page to make the most out of each sheet. I included crop marks (for cutting) and score marks (for folding guides). If you’d like to make you own, you can download a copy of this file here. Enjoy!

The first assignment in my sweat sweet shop was to unwrap all of the bear paws. I thought they’d look better out of the packaging, and in clear cellophane bags. You must have your tongue out in concentration for this step.

While Chace was doing this, I used my trimmer/scorer to score the header cards. Scoring creates an indent or depression in the paper that allows the card to fold easily. This is not a necessary step but I find it helps make the finished project look clean and polished. I printed my header cards on 100lb cover stock so they were pretty thick. Scoring the paper helps them fold easier. You can use a bone scorer, or even the backside of a butter knife along the edge of a ruler to achieve the same effect.

After I scored the cards, I trimmed them down.

Once the header cards were trimmed, Chace started writing his name on each one.

After he completed this step, we put two bear paws in each bag. The bags that I used were from Michaels. They are 4″ wide by 9.5″ deep. They have about a 2″ gusset on the sides (to hold the cookies). We placed the bear paws back-to-back so that the ‘good side’ faced out each side of the bag.

After that, I rolled down the top of the bag and gave them a quick staple.

I had some help with this step too.

Then I placed the folded header on each bag and added one more staple.

And with that, we were done!

Chace is really excited to hand these out at school next week!

What about you? Any childhood Valentines’ memories? Any fun projects for the kids planned? I have a few other little ideas planned for the big day but I will keep those a secret for now. I don’t want my Valentine to have any hints :).

Holy camole! Where has the time gone!? I can’t believe it’s been SO long since I’ve posted. If anyone follows regularly, sorry, sorry. I blame life. Or the busyness of it at least. And I blame how much I miss blogging for the reason that I have returned.

And with my return, I bring my mantel. All decked out in Valentine’s goodness.

It’s pretty similar to what I did last year, but I liked the elements I had created and wanted to use them again.

Last year I shared with you how I created this ‘love’ art.

And this whimsical Valentine’s Day bunting.

Those were the two main elements on the mantel this year. I wanted to keep it clean and simple. To finish off the look I used two rock vases and a matching votive. Those say ‘love’ to me too as I actually go them on my honeymoon.

Ahhhh memories…

I placed a few flowers in the vases. I love orchids. They were actually in my wedding bouquet so there is another nod to love for ya.

In the small votive holder I placed a little flower tea light. I picked up a package of these on vacation last summer and think they are so cute!

I love the colour in this particular one. It matches the orchids, art and bunting perfectly.

So LOVEly 😉

And a parting orchid shot just for fun.

Have any of you decorated for Valentine’s Day? Any big plans or crafts in store? I have a fun one planned to do with Chace (my four-year-old) this weekend. I’ll share the deets when we are done!

It’s June! How did that happen? Oh well, half way to Christmas 😉

Here is the roundup of calendars that caught my eye this month. Simply click on the link below each one to be redirected to the download.

Mom’s Crafty Space

Shop Ruche

Love Creative

Blog a la carte

Paper Leaf

Nicole’s Classes

Red Stamp

Pepper & Buttons

Oh Happy Friday

Today I’m Bobbi

bhmpics

Wild Olive

Which is your fave? This last one makes me hungry 😉 Yum. Happy June everyone!

    

I did it. I finally bought my first Stella & Dot jewellery pieces!

This is my second time to a hosted Stella & Dot party. I LOVE their stuff but due to the cost (it is quite pricey for ‘costume jewellery’) I held out purchasing until now. I even put about 40 pieces (not kidding) on my Christmas list but alas, no takers.

I actually revamped some jewellery not too long ago and restyled one piece with a Stella & Dot necklace in mind. You can read that post here. Needless to say, I love their stuff.

So, I took the leap and dove right in. I mean really, how could ladies + appies + wine + kid free zone + amazing jewellery NOT = a good time?

And a good time it was. The hardest part was deciding what to buy. Seriously. I probably stressed about it too much. But in the end I decided.

And here is what I purchased:

RAINA earrings. I love these as they have multiple tones of metal which make them look amazing with anything. Plus they really catch the light so are a great statement piece. They will really stand out when my hair is tied back, but are still bold enough to hold their own when I wear my hair down.

I also purchased two bracelets which will be fantastic layering pieces. I could wear them on their own of course, but love the look of multiple bangles. I have a bunch that will look great with the two I decided on.

GILDED ARROW BANGLE

and JULEP BANGLE

Like most home based parties, you place an order for the product so you don’t actually come home with it that night. So the wait is officially on. I am really excited to receive my new treats!

Tick tock.

What about you? I know I am a bit late to hop on the Stella & Dot train but now that I have arrived I’d love to hear your experiences with their product. What pieces do you own? What are your faves?

    

Chef Kev has been at it again! Soup in da’ house! I’ve told Chef Kev that if he ever tried out for “Master Chef” (I’d totally make him if it came to Canada) then he’d HAVE to audition with one of his soups. He rolled his eyes at me as usual, but I ignored him. He’s really perfected his soups and they are G.O.O.D! Here is his latest…

Potato Leek Soup

You will need:
3 large leeks
6-7 large yellow flesh potatoes
chicken bouillon (Chef Kev likes ‘Better Than Bouillon’ brand)
Salt and Pepper
thyme (dry or fresh)
2-3 garlic cloves (minced)
1/3 cup ‘table’ or ‘heavy’ cream
1/2 package bacon
2 shallots
flour or cornstarch (used for dusting)
chives
paprika

To make:
Cut the bottom section of the leeks into 1/4″ rings. You only want to trim the bottom part of the leek (which is the ‘white’ part) up to where the leaves meet the stalk. You discard the leaves as well as the bottom ‘bulb’ bit. Fill a large bowl with cold water and add the leek sections, seperating them into rings in the water. Let sit for a bit so that the dirt falls to the bottom of the bowl.

Peel your potatoes and place them in a pot of chicken stock (follow the direction on the bouillon container to make enough stock to boil your potatoes in). Place on high heat to start boiling.

In the meantime, heat some vegetable oil in a sauté pan on medium-low heat. Once the pan is hot, drain the leeks carefully (so as not to disturb the dirt that has sunk to the bottom of the bowl). Pat the leek rings dry and add to your pan to sauté. Season the leeks with salt, pepper and thyme. Just as your leeks start to darken/caramelize, add the minced garlic. Once the garlic cooks down a few minutes, add a cup of water to the pan to deglaze it. Turn heat off.

Once your potatoes have boiled (you want them to be soft enough so that you can push a spoon right through them) drain some of the stock, but make sure there is enough in the pot so that your potatoes are still fully submerged.

Add the leek mixture into the pot and simmer on medium heat for about 10 minutes or until leeks are really soft.

Use a hand emulsifier blender and blend it (right in the pot) until you achieve a creamy texture/consistency. If you don’t have a hand emulsifier blender you can use a regular good quality blender but be really careful transferring your soup and also blending. Hot contents like this can cause your blender top to blow! As needed, add more water to get the right consistency (you are aiming for something along the lines of a pea soup thickness). Add your cream. Spoon in bouillon a little bit at a time as needed to achieve the right salt level for your taste.

To make the bacon bits you will want to cut up your bacon into ‘bit’ sized pieces and fry. The crispier the better 🙂

To make the crispy shallots. thinly slice your shallots into rings. Separate and dust them (all over) in your bowl of flour or cornstarch. In a hot pan on med-high heat, cook the dusted shallots in the leftover bacon grease (or vegetable oil would work too). The shallots cook really fast so keep your eye on them (you only need about 30 seconds to 1 minute). Remove from the pan as soon as they brown.

Serve your soup topped with bacon bits, crispy shallots, chive and paprika.

Enjoy!

Like what the chef is serving? See all of Chef Kev’s creations here.

    

It was time to plant our herb garden for the season and this year I decided to shake things up a bit. I usually plant them in three hanging planters that my dad built (and I refinished), however they didn’t always thrive quite as well as I’d hoped. The herbs always grew, but didn’t always regenerate as fast as we’d like, which had us purchasing fresh herbs at the grocery store again from time-to-time (kind of defeats the purpose right)!?

Anyway, last year there was one sage plant still alive come Spring so I took it out and put it in our large garden bed ‘just because’. Well, it went crazy and grew, and grew, and grew! So, a seed was planted (pun intended). This year I thought I’d put the herb garden into my existing large garden bed and see what happened.

Here is how the garden looked in it’s current state a few days ago (not the nicest weather lately as you can see).

(taken from my office window which overlooks the back area)