St. Valentine's Day

I big ole puffy heart this holiday! ♥

I know it's a "money maker" for Hallmark, but I've been making handmade valentines since I was barely old enough to hold a crayon. I like to think I've passed that tradition down to my own kids.

Here's my youngest munchkin creating some Valentines for his grandma and his dad.
♥♥♥♥♥

He is using my simple tutorial of folding a heart into an envelope and writing on the inside:) And I love that he decided to "nest" them inside each other and make it super interactive for the recipients too! 

See here for a full tutorial.

And here are the school valentines we made for his class this year. 

He was so excited and would not stop gushing about them *smile*

The back of the glow bracelet "Light Saber" is simply adhered with a piece of washi tape!

Now, I have a recipe for you today but in the interest of full disclosure...

I am THAT mom. 

You know which one I mean.

The health nut freak who doesn't allow her kids HFCS, synthetic food dyes, preservatives, GMO ingredients, processed sugars, white bleached flours, and hormone filled dairy. 

That mom.

Yep, that's me!

(I can hear your eyes rolling)

*chuckle*

So I usually opt for an alternative "treat" when it comes to school functions and gatherings of any kind. I mean, the other kids get plenty of "crap" on a regular basis, and a school Valentine Party is no exception, so I like to have an alternative to all the sweet, red dyed, junk that I KNOW will be present.

We've done fruit kebabs, mini boxes of organic raisins, veggies and dip, homemade cheese crackers, etc.

This year it's healthy Granola Bites!

(please excuse the terrible photos. They were taken in my kitchen last night around 9 pm.)

These mini treats are loved by anyone who makes them, and they take less than 5 minutes to make. They are also incredibly adaptable to your individual tastes. 

Don't like cherries? Use cranberries!

Don't like almond butter? Use peanut butter!

Granola Bites

1/3 cup raw honey

1/3 cup organic nut butter (I use almond)

2 Tbsp. organic coconut oil

1 cup of crisp rice cereal (or whatever other cereal floats your boat)

1 cup old fashioned organic oats

1/3 cup chopped dried fruit 

(cherries, cranberries and blueberries were used here, but we've done raisins, dried apples, dried apricots, currants, dried pineapple, etc)

1/4 cup of any other add-in

 (this time I used mini chocolate chips, but shredded coconut, pumpkin seeds, chopped nuts, flax seed, mini marshmallows, protein powder, etc. all work)

1. Over very low heat, melt the honey, nut butter and coconut oil together just until combined. Do not "cook" the ingredients, merely warm them up enough that they meld together. 

2. Pour this over the rest of the ingredients and mix thoroughly. 

3. Pack tightly into balls and chill for about an hour to set. (sometimes we eat them seconds after they have been rolled into balls with no waiting time:)

I'm wishing all of you a very happy St. Valentine's Day! 

♥♥♥♥♥♥♥

Thanks for stopping by,

XOXO

Robot birthday

Hello. Today I'm sharing a card I made for my soon-to-be 9 year old. His birthday is coming up and he loves robots!

 Here he is on the first day of school last week. He's a doll:)

ETA: Yes, for those of you who emailed me, those are indeed leaves on the ground. We had some cold weather here a few weeks ago and the trees began turning color and dropping their leaves. *pout*

I love this friendly robot stamp. 

It's actually the first stamp I ever bought/used from Denami. (See this post here!)

And today it happens to be in the Spotlight!

All this week it is 10% off! 

Supplies used:

Friendly Robot

Happy Birthday

Twine

Ruby Red Buttons

Check out all the ideas using this Friendly Robot stamp on the Denami Blog today. 

Thanks for stopping by,

XOXO

Loving my Casual Fridays Stamps!

Hi all! *wave*

I'm so excited that Spring is almost here (theoretically) in upstate NY. The snow is melting and my driveway is a muddy mess, but I'm delighted:) Hunting for Easter eggs in the snow is not so bad (we do it every year) but I want this snow GONE!

I pulled out some CFS sets that help me feel Spring-like and created this card. Orange is my all time favorite color, and of course green is a must.

Stamps used:

Beanstalks

Casual Elegance

What signs of Spring do you look forward to the most? Birds, flowers, rain?

I love that asparagus prices drop because its in season! *chuckle*  We eat a lot of green vegetables in my house and asparagus is one of my boys' favorites. 

I always serve it for Easter.

So what do vegetarians eat on Holidays?

Grilled fresh pineapple, Roasted asparagus, Seitan Ham with pineapple dijon sauce, Corn spoonbread with chives, Ginger glazed carrots, Smashed red skinned potatoes with herbs...And for dessert?

Triple Lemon Cheesecake with my own vegan lemon curd on top:)

Two Favorite photos from our celebration this year:

(My youngest with his father-egg hunting)

(Both boys excited about finding eggs)

Thanks for stopping by today, 

XOXO

Some Valentines

Hello hello! 

My boys and I made valentines for friends, family, and classmates this weekend.

I allowed them to use my Copic markers for the first time *biting my nails* and they were thrilled!

I created this card which is a total case of this one, because I fell in love with this sassy, glasses-wearing girl image after seeing it, and immediately went and purchased several designs by the digital artist, Lori Boyd. This particular image is called Peyton. Isn't she a hoot?

Lori also sent me a few other images as a bonus and I have to admit to falling for them too:)

Talk about awesome Customer Service. That kind of  generosity really makes me glad to support such artists!

 

Here are the ones my older son made, also using some digital stamps by Lori Designs.

And after my youngest picked out what small "gift" he wanted to give his classmates this year (mini magnifying lenses), he and I created these: 

They say: "Hey Valentine, I've had my eye on you!"

So there you have it...a few things for St. Valentine's Day!

Thanks for stopping by,

XOXO

Adorable Animals Blog Hop

*swoon*

Isn't my youngest so cute? 

I'm allowed to say that because I'm the Momma, right? Lol.

If you are here hopping along with Denami, I'll bet you came from the AMAZING Ruza's blog. How am I supposed to follow that girl? What a tall order!

Because there are some prizes to be given away, I recommend starting at the beginning of the hop and increasing your chances of winning one of TWO $20 gift certificates to the Denami Store by commenting at each stop!

I created this card FOR my son actually. He loves to ask about when he was younger (he's eight now), and to see photos of when he was a toddler. I always tell him how sweet he was too:)

Denami Supplies used:

Safari Animals stamp set

Small side-view sheep

Giraffe

You are sweet (cling)

This hop has some awesome talent and I am sandwiched between two of them! 

Tenia is your next eye-candy stop, and I know she will NOT disappoint!

Thanks for stopping by, 

XOXO

School Valentines

Thanks to Pinterest I found some really great ideas for the kiddos' Valentines this year. For the ones above we attempted pencils instead, because I hate to give out candy (yes. I'm THAT mom), but they just weren't working :(

We were almost out of our prefered brand (Yummy Earth) of all natural lollipops with no dye or HFCS and made with natural juice, so a quick trip to the local mini-mart/gas station produced Tootsie Pops!

These fun love bug jar Valentines are for my 7 year old who loves insects as much as I do!

We stamped a canning jar onto white cardstock, then scanned it and enlarged it on our computer to print out the perfect size jars for the insects we purchased (Safari Ltd. Toob insects). They are held in place with a large glue dot.

Thanks for stopping by today,

*mwah*

Jumbled amalgam of stuff

I made a bunch of thank you cards for a local business last month, and this one was one of my favorites. They wanted simple but bold, and easily mail-able. This seemed to fit the bill. 

Unless requested, I try not to make all of them the same, but still supply multiples of several different designs.

I could NOT get good lighting for this card. *shrug*

It just looked off no matter where I took the photo. 

This one above was taken with my phone in my studio at night. Blah.

Although my kids get bused 45 minutes away to private school, I had to drive them in on Tuesday because the local public schools had the day off.  It is truly Autumn here in Western New York and I could not resist taking this photo of them with the gorgeous backdrop of changing leaves. The grass was still covered in dew and it was chilly, but the sun was peeking out from over the hills behind us and shining on the tops of those trees.

This was taken at night with my phone (ignore the graininess!) as a quick image text to my husband who was out. Even though a terrible photo from a photography perspective, I adore it! Our happy, goofy smiles make me laugh!

Thanks for stopping by,

*mwah*

CAS-ual Friday loopy

Get this. The school calls me at work yesterday and says my oldest has pink eye.

What the heck is pink eye?

(I'm thinking he got marker in his eye or something)

They tell me it's really conjunctivitis and is highly contagious.

WHAT? They want me to bring him HOME?

Are they serious? 

I don't want any contagious diseases in my house, who are they kidding? He can stay there with all the other walking, talking petri dishes. And that's final.

*sigh*

Okay. I'll come get him.

Poor kid. 12 years old and can't run in the school Marathon today because he's contagious. And I have to take the day off from work. Poor me.

NOT!

So things are a little loopy around here, to say the least. 

I am running around after him with a spray bottle of vinegar and a cloth, wiping everything he touches, telling him not to touch his eyes/face/nose every 15 seconds, and making him drink colloidal silver. 

Which brings me to this week's CAS-ual Friday challenge...

Make loops of some sort on your project this week!

We were sponsored by the AWESOME ribboncarousel.com folks who make the coolest ribbon storage system on the planet!

I had a lot of fun with this challenge and made oodles of loops on my card!

I hope you'll play along with us and join in the loopy fun.

Now I have to get back to my son with pink eye and make sure he hasn't infected the rest of us yet. I don't personally care for the color pink. *wink*

Thanks for stopping by today,

*mwah*

Birthday Party

My youngest is headed to a birthday party for his classmate today. 

The birthday girl is turning 8, and I wanted to make her a fun card but also something a bit more grown-up. She's new in the school, so he wasn't sure what she liked, but I thought brights would work, *fingers crossed*

I even stamped the inside! (and drew tiny purple flowers with a glitter pen.)

THEN...my youngest asked if he could make her a card too.

He loves to stamp with me and make cards, so I said yes and he got to work.

Before I show you what he made, let me tell you that he's only 6, and did everything by himself (except for the dispensing of glue). 

He picked the papers, the colors, inked and stamped the stamp himself, did most of the punching (I helped with the border), and decided on the placement of each item. 

He even took the photo on his own using my iphone.

Isn't this great?

I was so proud of him!

And when he was done he was pretty happy with it, saying, "It's good Mama, just like one of yours!" 

*sniff sniff*

I'll leave you with a photo of my boys early this month.

Thanks for stopping by today!

Hope you have a good one,

*mwah*

Little Bundles of Joy

Happy Thursday!

Did you get your new Little Bundle stamp set yet? It was released at midnight last night at Practicing Creativity Designs!

Aren't all the sentiments the sweetest things? I particularly like this one (but maybe I'm just partial to boys?). Although I didn't know my children from birth (they were adopted), they have definitely brought sunshine and joy into our house. And loud, rambunctious, craziness too! LOL

CrumbGrabber (6) and StickyFingers (11). March 3, 2011

Thanks for stopping by today, hugs all around.

*mwah*

Christmas Banner

Howdy all!

I couldn't resist using Everyday Prints to make this super festive banner!

It just came together so quickly and easily with a few pieces of fabric tape in between each tag. Of course I had to heat emboss "joy" with gold e.p. to make it really stand out, but it didn't take long because I stamped them all at the same time on the same sheet of CS!

Here's a bigger picture so you can see the entire banner.

Terrible lighting, I know, but it's my upstairs foyer and there is only one window on this side.

Know what my favorite part of this banner is? The adorable little Christmas trees in the top section! They are just too cute!

Now that I realize just how simple it is to make a banner using these easy-to-cut-out tag images I can't wait to make one for other occasions too! How about New Year's with blue and gold? Or St. Valentine's Day with pink and purple and the words "Love You"? 

Eeeek, I'm already excited about the myriad of possibilities!

Be sure to stop by Karen, Paulina, and Courtney's blogs to see all the other projects the DT created for this release. You won't be disappointed!

Both Rejoice and Everyday Prints will be released at midnight tonight at Practicing Creativity Designs so be there or be square! *giggle*

Let me know what you all think,

Hugs,

Dana