Or...Keeping it real, or lack of planning, or whatever you want to call it...

It was the 11th hour and I hadn't gotten Valentines for Reese or Blair's classes. I am a room parent for both grades in two different schools so I was really only thinking about the snacks that day.

So with some leftover gold paper and foam hearts that I used for a church dance last weekend, I made some quick and easy Valentines. When I got to Blair's, I only had 10 foam hearts for 20 kids so what to do?

I cut them in half, each time cutting them a little differently, wrote a saying on the back, "Valentine, half my heart beats for you!" and other sayings that had to do with "Half" a heart and then stuck a Hershey's Bliss candy on the front of each side. Bing.Bam.Boom.

 

 

 

 

 

I told Blair to tell her friends that they should look for the person who matched their half of the heart, like a game. She thought that would be really fun and was hoping they could do it.

When she came home and I asked how her day was, she was beaming. She said they got to match their hearts and then they had to go around the room and share something about their Valentines. They all shared hers and loved having an impromptu game.

You can never go wrong with keeping things simple nor should you ever feel bad for doing so.

P.S. I guess Grant said that he and Blair "have a special friendship" which turned Blair all red in the face. Settle down there, Cowboy...

Have a great day,
xo
Laura






The Shabby Nest

The egg diorama - an Easter/Spring craft

After some drying time, the first two little egg dioramas are complete but they are not so little after all. I plan on hanging them from the light over the dinner table as the Easter centerpiece.

For the supplies I used 7 inch balloons and made a mixture of paste by using one part flour to 5 parts water. I also sprinkled in some salt thinking that may help avoid any mold.

I boiled it to get a nice smooth consistency, like that of Cream of Wheat, and then let it cool a bit. Using book pages and tissue paper, I cut strips and squares and just dipped the paper into the "glue" and pasted it to the balloon, over and over, until it was covered and set it on a jar to dry. It was fun being a 2nd grader again and dipping my hands into paper mache.

After it was dry, I cut an opening which was my favorite part because of the hissing noises the balloon made when it popped and shrunk. Reese and I laughed about that - simple pleasures you know.

I trimmed it with paper as well as glued a decorative paper to the inside (back) of the egg to make it look like wallpaper. The nest was made by adding Easter basket grass and moss. But I felt that it was still a little bland. These are stylish chicks after all so I styled their house with a framed picture and/or wall sconce and a chandelier made from an old earring.

The next one will have to be more masculine so I'm thinking a bachelor pad style birdhouse with sticks and maybe even a velvet Elvis and mini fridge!

By poking a hole through the top and simply twisting a wire to form an "eye," the ribbon could hang easily from it.

And now I sound like Barry, Steve Carell's character in "Dinner for Schmucks.
Oh well, I'm a schmuck who just impressed the heck out of her kids. These were a trial run for me so the kids get to make their own tomorrow. I'm sure theirs will be even better.

Thanks for letting me share and humoring me!

Craft paper scalloped edge and tissue paper ribbon.

Crepe paper Cherry blossoms

Have a great day and an even better Easter weekend!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Linking to

Romantic Home

The Shabby Nest

The Lettered Cottage

Funky Junk

Personal cakes and my Valentine

This morning I awoke to a card and a love note on my pillow from my husband. I am always surprised how he is able to write just a few sentences and make them so poetic. It is one of his gifts.
He has done the same for the kids, not just on Feb 14, and I take the notes and tuck them away because I know that one day it will make them happy to read them over and over and will be reminded how much they are loved.

Some of my favorite Valentine's gifts from him was an antique box filled with potpourri and a sweet love note tucked inside. Another was a big basket full of apples and chocolate covered strawberries with rose petals tossed about the basket.

Other than a sweet note and treats, we really don't do much else. We have 364 other days of the year to appreciate each other, as well as the kids, but it's fun to make things so I am pulling out the Bosch to make personal Valentine cakes from scratch.

I am also using the small cake molds that make any cake look instantly cute by their floral shape. Some will be frosted with a simple chocolate glaze and others will get a dusting of powdered sugar and sprinkles of course.

One thing I received today and had to show is a necklace fashioned by Blair. She took an old locket out of my jewelry box and placed a picture of herself holding a Valentine inside and put it on a green string. Too cute.

Have a happy day everyone! Any fun plans?

Egg-cellent placecards

Filling the eggshells with soil and seeds.

Chubby fingers.

Trae couldn't resist a taste test.

Does planting grass in egg cups sound fun to you?

It did to us so that's what the kids did last week.

I made the crack on the tops of the eggs and opened it to save 2/3 of the eggshell. Luckily, my kids love to eat eggs so none were wasted. After washing them out, we filled them with soil and a generous pinch of grass seed.
When the grass has finished growing, and hopefully the quick seed will do the trick, we should have lush, green grass growing from the tops of these eggs.

We are going to use them as placecard holders on the dinner table. Each person's name will be written on cardstock and we'll place it between the blades of grass. And since eggs don't stand up straight too well, I'll help them out by using egg cups.

I think most kids love to do projects like this. It may just be a way to get mine to help set the table a little more egg-citedly...okay, I couldn't resist.
Fingers crossed for a nice crop of grass eggs!