Is it Valentine's Day yet?

Every year after Christmas I say I am going to keep my decorations up for a few weeks.  After all, they take forever to get up  , and even thought I tend to start decorating before Halloween I'm never ready to take them down.  But, there is this thing inside me that turns on December 26th and the only thing I can do to shut up this little monster that is on my shoulders is take down ALL of the decorations.  And, I really think there is nothing sadder than the empty depressed look of my house.  What's my solution?!  VALENTINE'S DAY!  It's pink, it's cheerful, and it's something.  Now, I definitely do not go all out for v-day like I do for Christmas but I definitely like to just have a few things here and there to gradually work my way back to how my house normally looks.

After all of the Christmas decorations came down I explained to #1 about v-day.  She was very excited or another holiday to be coming but of course following Christmas she was excited to be getting another round of presents.  Especially, since "Santa" didn't get her a hula hoop.  I then disappointed her by letter her know the holiday did not come with presents the same way Christmas did.  Though, she will be getting a little something on February 14th that will be park of her new big girl room!

So what's so great about Valentine's Day anyway?  I'm married and have been or several years now, we exchanged date nights at fancy restaurants for Pizza at home, and considering I always worry about the rings I wear cutting the kids, necklaces getting ripped off my neck, and bracelets hurting their back while I hold them jewelry has become a distant last on a long list of things I want/need.  So who cares, right?  I DO!!!  

Valentine's day is a great reason to craft!  And, as much as I enjoy making crafts to display around my house and give to my loved ones, who already know how talented I am, I enjoy showing off to strangers even more!  Enter #1 and the delight that is pre-school!  Every silly holiday requires a class party and some sort of treat for the kids.  But, for me, it's a chance to get creative and show off how well I do it to strangers.

I am almost 100% decided as to what I will be making for #1's party but yesterday came to my final choice as to the Valentines she will be giving out.  I had been scouring Pinterest for quite some time trying to come up with the best option.  Nothing too showy, as we are trying to save money nothing that would be too expensive, and definitely something that included at least a little bit of candy.  My first thought was a paper cell phone and instead of the keypad candy buttons but that seemed a little plain as well too tine consuming.  Next I had decided on Pop Rocks with a stapled on note that said "You Rock!"  Though, even as I was looking at that, the fact that I needed to staple my tiny note on just seemed a little flimsy.  It was just going to be a tiny note stapled (or glued) on-where is the creativity in that?!

After discussing and doing a few prototypes with DH we decided on a Starburst candy theme based on one we had seen online.  It combined the right about of using the Cricut, printing, & cuteness I wanted without looking like I tried too hard.  I immediately went into Gimp to make a replicated version of what I saw online.  Even though the valentine was available to download for free (my favorite) http://bethproudfoot.blogspot.com/2012/01/youre-star.html I wanted to personalize it with #1's name.  Two seconds after starting to make my own i remember I could just DL the template and "photoshop" #1's name right in.  After doing that and printing the outcome.  I came to this point.

This morning i purchased a 25 pack of Valentine's Day themed card stock at Michales on clearence or $1.99.  Which is a great deal!  As you can see from above I prepared my paper by cutting it 6" wide to go inside my Cricut. The next step involved me cutting out the white rectangles.

I actually could have just cut out the whole rectangle and left the background pink but right now what's trendier than chevron stripes and, personally, I think nothing looks nicer and high end like layered paper.  

To get the rectangles the right size that I needed I would have to use Cricut's Craft Room program-which I hate!  The concept is amazing and there is so much you can do with it, but it's so buggy and only works half the time.  I think I spend three times more time turning my machine on and off than actually doing any cutting.

After several frustrating attempts and two updates Craftroom FINALLY worked and I got all of my chevron stripped rectangles cut out.  Next, was gluing.  There are several types of glue out there that people swear by , my favorite is still Elmers.  It always does the trick, it dries clear, and is cheap.  

Finally the finished product.  I was planning on buying the packs of Starburst that had two or three in an individually wrapped package but I just happened to have a few individual  ones around the house that I was able to use to my pictures and decided i like the look of just the one Starburst.  I still will have to go to the supermarket this weekend and see what's available to know for sure how they will go to preschool, but I am definitely very happy with the finished product!