Valentine's for the Classroom

I was back at crafting this weekend. I spent all day Thursday & Friday making Save the Date's for Leigh Anne's wedding. I also used my Silhouette Cameo all weekend and then I spent Sunday making Valentine's for TJ to take to school yesterday. I prefer a cute homemade Valentine over the traditional cards that are perforated with images of cartoon characters and the red suckers with the white writing. I don't think TJ really cares too much about what he takes to school so I just make whatever I want to. You can see the Match Books I made for him last year HERE.

This year I knew I would be busy hand crafting each Save the Date for Leigh Anne so I wouldn't have much time to invest in the Valentines. So I decided to just personalize some candy wrappers and package them up with a nice bow. Wal-Mart had mini KitKat bars on sale for $1 a package {each contained 6 bars} so I bought 9 packages with the intention of putting 2 KitKat's in each bag. Somewhere between when I bought them on my lunch break Wednesday and when I put them together on Sunday, I ended up with only 8 packages. Hmmmm, I think my hips found them??? Well at least they were the mini's.... There are 23 kids in TJ's class, plus the teacher so 8 was all I needed anyway.

I designed the labels, printed & cut and then wrapped each one around the candy bar, securing with double sided tape. Then I stuffed them into a pretzel bag and secured with a bow. I already had the pretzel bags & the ribbon so I only paid $8 for the candy.

Then I made TJ's teacher a crayon wreath like the ones I've seen all over pinterest lately. All of my supplies came from the dollar tree or my craft closet.

• Foam floral wreath
• 2 large boxes of crayons (54 count)
• Grosgrain ribbon
• Embellishments

I wrapped some tulle all the way around the foam wreath and secured with a pin and hot glue. Then I began to secure the crayons to the wreath with a little dab of hot glue. I did sort of a N, E, S, W compass look to begin with and then filled in the gaps. I was worried that if I started at the top and just went around it would be uneven at the end. I added 2 layers of crayons. Then I used some of the ribbon on the inside of the wreath to cover any unevenness or gaps with the crayons and to secure a loop for hanging. Then I added letters and a butterfly just for looks.

When I got to work this morning I had this email waiting for me...hopefully you can read that.

And while I was putting it together, Deuce decided that I needed to do it barefoot. Because if his shoes are off then mine need to be too.

And then he proceeded to play with his reflection in the stove.

Here is my front door decor for winter. I added some hearts for Valentine's.

And Deuce loved his frog Valentine so he took it with him in the car. I hope you all had a great day! I know I did, listening to my new Adele CD from honey. :)

Happy Valentine's Day!

Over 16 years ago I met my honey. At Chapel Hill High School. I was a freshman and he was a junior. Luckily he was blessed with the ability to converse with anybody, otherwise we would have never met. I surely would have never spoke to him. He became my best friend. Two years later he left me for college. Two years after that I left for college. We were in two different cities, leading two totally different lives. But not one year went by from 1995 through 2006 that he didn't call me to tell me Happy Birthday. And every now and then we would cross paths. We spent a lot of time together during the summer of 2000 when he was home working at UNC and I was home from school. We would meet up during the holidays at various parties where we had mini high school reunions. We would get together if I happened to be in Greensboro or he happened to come home.

And then Christmas Day 2006 he called me to tell me Merry Christmas. And we talked. And talked. And talked. And a few weeks later when my spring semester at Elon started back up, we met after class for dinner. And then we never stopped. 3 years later we were married and 9 months later came Deuce.

I can't imagine my life any other way and I can't remember my life before. I can't remember {not sure I want to remember} the person that I was in those years between 2000 and 2006. I am stronger. I am wiser. I am better now than I've ever been before and thank heaven that I've had my best friend by my side the whole time. Even if I didn't know it.

Happy Valentine's Day honey!

Happy Valentine's Day!

Happy Valentine's Day from our family to yours!

We spent the weekend at what else?  A basketball tournament.  TJ's first game on Saturday was at 1:30pm in High Point.  When we got there, Deuce had not had a nap.  I couldn't believe he didn't go to sleep in the car on the way.  So he was extremely fussy when we arrived.  And I mean full on temper tantrum, screaming, arching his back and flailing his head.  I knew he was exhausted because he kept closing his eyes but there was just so much going on around him he just wouldn't give in.  Plus it was like 500 degrees in the gym.  I am sure people were staring at me while he was screaming thinking that girl needs to tame her child but whatever.  After a good 15 minutes he finally just gave up on the nap and decided he was going to skip it.  So I gave him some snacks and he was over it.  Then my mom & sister arrived.  HALLELUJAH!  All he needed was some of his Nana.

Out.  Like a light.  Looking HUGE!  He slept for 2 solid hours amongst all of the whistles, horns, dribbling and screaming parents from a last second shot that won the game for TJ's team.  There was a lot of energy in that gym and he wasn't phased the slightest!

Check out the insane hair!  It is wild, curly & all over the place!

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So today is Valentine's Day and I wanted to make TJ's Valentine's for his class this year.  The easy thing to do is go buy the box of perforated cards (oh, how we have done this before) but I thought I would try something new this year.  Seriously, the craft bug is living in my head right now.  I got this idea from eighteen25.  Follow the link for the tutorial and some free printables.

This project cost about $10.  I know it's more than the $2.99 box of premade cards but I think these are much cuter!  Valentine's Match Books.  I made 2 different styles and added pictures that Regan took of us (check out the link for a peak at our shoot!).  I had to buy the black card stock, double sided tape and the candy.  I had all of the other supplies.  I downloaded the free printable and added the pictures.  I then printed them onto mailing labels and attached the labels to the card stock.  I think they came out great!

I made 40 of them so he could pass them out to his class, his teachers, his after school group and take one to his momma, of course!  I'm sure she'll love it.

I hope everyone has a wonderful day!