Valentine's Day* wrap up*

No pun intended! However, I did have a lot of fun coming up with fun ways to celebrate Valentine's Day this year and get everyone checked off my list! My husband said,"Isn't Valentine's Day supposed to be a romantic holiday and not so much a "friend" holiday?" to which I replied,"It is both!". I love Valentine's Day way too much not to do fun things for everyone.

It is my tradition to make chocolate dipped strawberries to deliver to friends and family on Valentine's Day and this year was no exception.I also package them the same year after year, the only difference from year to year is the tag. This year I chose to go with the doily theme as I did on my banner a few posts down. I mean, come on, Valentine's Day is the doily holiday. Every year I go to "Dollar Tree" and purchase the faux silver trays (they really are metal, though; not the plastic ones). The strawberries look a little fancier but I don't have to spend an arm and a leg in the process. I used the "Heart Prints" stamp set from PTI for the tags. Simple stamping, but I love how they turned out. I made quite a few different variations using different papers and sentiments, but I didn't have a chance to get them all photographed. In fact, forgive my photography for all of these projects.

I also whipped up a batch of yummy raspberry caramels to give to Emma's dance teacher and a few friends from church. The best thing about these caramels is that I made them pink!! They were so cute! You can't see very well from the photo, but maybe if you squint really hard at the bottom you can see one peeking through the cellophane. It is hard to see from the photo, but for the packaging, I simply used a cellophane bag with a sheet of patterned paper slipped down into the back. Then I attached a doily/label embellishment using sticky strip, tied it up with coordinating ribbon and called it good. I mean, who needs fancy packaging when there are pink caramels inside? Just kidding; you always need fancy packaging. That is my motto. Well...except if you are giving said caramels to small children who would tear said packaging apart in two seconds! LOL!

Speaking of children; Emma's dance class always does a Valentine's exchange and this year I thought I would do something fun. The girls have to have their hair pulled up for class, of course, so I decided to make some fun bows for them to wear. I have purchased a few elastic/bows like this for Emma and every time I use it in her hair I think how easy they would be to make. I chose pink and black for the theme since their dance attire is pink and black.

When you purchase them at the store, they are on a card to hang on the rack so I thought I would make my own. I used a nestabilities die for the tag and "Heart Prints" for the sentiments. I also used one of the label stamp sets from PTI for the border, but I can't think of the name right now. Sorry.

It was fun to see some of the girls wearing their new bows at dance class this week. I also made some coordinating tissue cozies. I had seen this idea with the joke last year, but I saw it after Valentine's Day so I couldn't wait to make some this year.Emma asked if I would make one for her, too, so she could put it into her backpack. I thought the fabric looked cute with the hair bows. I packaged everything up int heart shaped dollar spot baskets with some candy in the bottom. Emma was so excited to take them to dance class for all of her friends. I hope that even though Valentine's Day has passed, you can find some inspiration that you can incorporate somewhere else, or maybe save for next year. I was thrilled that I got so much done for all of the "Valentines" in my life. Thanks for fluttering by!