We worked on a couple of Valentine’s Day treat prototypes and were happy with how they came out! Ryan is still laughing at the very large bag of corks I ordered off eBay. I deal, a grand deal I tell you. Someone’s Two-Buck Chuck obsession was my advantage.

We tested the boats out and they indeed float! Our inspiration came from this tutorial by Jonah Lisa Land. I simplified ours a tiny bit since we have to crank out twenty five.

A few Valentines ideas I’m bookmarking for years ahead:
Love Bug Valentines | Secret Message | Color Theory Cards

And maybe, just maybe you were curious as to the depth of my nerdiness? Well, a couple years back I designed a couple of Twilight Valentines that you can download. Because it wasn’t enough that I was obsessed with the books at the time. I had to go out of my way to illustrate my passion. Um…tada?

I first thought Pantone’s color of the year Tangerine Tango was a bit of a doozy until I happened upon a few pieces that executed the bold color choice in a more subtle way. And I loved it! See sources for items above and more at my guest post for DotcomsForMoms.

And to Kristine and Miranda, I’ll be sending you some Valentine cards! Thanks for all the romantic movie recs too. I’ve got Elizabethtown, The Road Home, and North and South queued up on my watch list (thanks Lindsay, Susan, and Abby!)

My friend Allison, who writes the awesome blog All for the Boys, did a fun post showcasing real boys’ rooms. Click over to see what inspired her and view some other kid rooms in situ!

You can see that my boys’ room is nearly devoid of any decor. Sad. I’d like to use the excuse that we’ve moved here only in July, but six months is ample time to at least get a couple photographs on the walls! So, I’ll use the baby excuse instead. That one gets me out of all sorts of things! Besides, the boys are totally into decorating their room by themselves. See?

One thing I had never anticipated with raising boys is how sentimental they are with treasured objects. Now that they’re a little older and more conscious of their living environment, they’re wanting to save and display their creations or little prizes they earn. Time I start thinking of ways to organize it all.

And one last thought. Have any of you ever stumbled upon anything gross/weird in your kids room? For me it was a black, BLACK half-eaten banana hidden under Kai’s bed. This AR mommy nearly had a heart-attack coming across that one!

Even though Valentine’s Day isn’t as impressive of a holiday as Christmas and New Years, I’m determined to not let this one sneak up on me as the last two did! I came up with a cute idea for Kai’s class Valentines and pitched the idea to him. Thankfully, he’s on board (and not asking for something Transformers themed like last year) so we’ll be working on that soon. No last-minute scrambling/crafting here, no sir-ree!

Now, let’s discuss romance films. There are very, VERY few romance/chick flicks I’m able to tolerate. My short list of favorites reads Moulin Rouge, Romeo + Juliet (Baz Luhrman version), pretty much anything Audrey Hepburn, The Notebook, Jane Eyre (LOVED the latest one), and…can’t think of anything else right now. Where do you stand on romance and chick flicks, and what are your favorites? Should I take Mindy Kaling’s advice and treat the genre as if it were sci-fi and enjoy by suspending all disbelief? I have an extremely low cheese threshold, so I think that’s my big hangup when it comes to anything starring Jennifer Lopez or Jennifer Garner, but cheese is relative and I’m sure there are many out there who think The Notebook reeks of Gruyere!

I’ve posted these little Moulin Rouge inspired Valentines in the past, but I’m re-posting the download here for the new year.

And I actually have a couple of 24-count packs left over from my Etsy shop days that I’d like to give away if you’re interested. Just leave a comment, and I’ll pick two winners a week from now!

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And congrats to Jocelyn, comment number 40 and winner of the Paper Coterie giveaway!

Happy / Surprised / Scrunched up

Here’s a simple project that is a craft and rudimentary lesson in color theory all wrapped in one.

What you’ll need:
*self-sealing laminating sheets or pouches
*tissue paper in cyan, magenta, and yellow
*a CD or DVD for tracing
*metal brads
*permanent marker

Step 1:
Using permanent marker, trace around the DVD/CD onto laminate sheet. Mark a dot in the center. Cut out circle, making sure to cut inside the line (so that marker line is cut off), and cut center dot out. Use the tip of your scissor, a craft knife, or hole punch if you have one long enough. Just make sure this center hole is large enough to accomodate your metal brad. Repeat all of Step 1 so you have two circles.

Step 2:
Make a small stack of all the colors of the tissue paper and cut out various shapes. These will eventually be layered on top of each other, so have multiples of each shape in all three colors (eg. a cloud in cyan, magenta, and yellow, etc).

Step 3:
Unpeel laminate circle. Set aside the non-sticky side for sealing later on, and lay the other part of the circle on work surface, sticky-side up. Carefully stick on tissue paper shapes. My younger son free-styled this part, placing shapes arbitrarily, whereas my older son created a pattern. The laminate is very sticky and unforgiving, so your child may need your steady hand for help! We made a couple mistakes, but built any wayward tissue pieces into our pattern.

Step 4:
When finished, seal up your circle with the non-sticky side you set aside earlier. Now lightly (I used just two small pieces) tape this circle down to your work surface, just to keep it steady and in place for the next step.

Step 5:
Expose the sticky side of your second circle, setting aside the non-sticky side for sealing later on. Sticky side up, lay the circle down on top of your previous circle. Remember making multiples of your shapes in Step 2? Carefully stick on same shapes to align with the shapes on the circle below. This is essentially a duplicate of the first circle, but use different tissue paper colors. Here’s where the lesson in color theory comes in; your child can see how adding a blue cloud on top of the yellow cloud makes it green. When all the shapes have been added in, seal up this circle with the non-sticky side you set aside earlier.

Kai’s two completed circles. Shapes don’t overlap exactly. That’s okay!

Step 6:
Remove your first circle from the tape and off your work surface. Use the metal brad to attach the two circles together and you’re done! Hold and spin the circles against a light-source to get a really neat kaleidoscope effect. Video (no sound) at the end of this post to show kaleidoscope in action.

I made my own ‘kaleidoscope’ using three layers of circles instead of just two. Each circle had stripes in a single color.

This is also my craft contribution this month to the always great Bloesem Kids. I would hasten to subscribe if you haven’t already done so!

A new year and new resolutions can often be synonymous with the goal of being more organized. Paper Coterie is offering a $50 store credit plus free shipping to one lucky reader! Amongst stationery items, Paper Coterie also carries calenders, keepsake journals, recipe cards, and planners. Super helpful if you’re like me and could use some of these tools to manage your day-to-day.

To enter, leave a comment below. Giveaway ends next Tuesday, January 17 at midnight EST. Good luck!

And I’ll be posting a new kiddie craft tomorrow, probably my most favorite yet!

We’ve been eating up all the smiles and coos and trumpety noises by Mara. Kai is weirdly talented in making realistic sound effects and can almost flawlessly mimic Mara, so they’d converse and have a grand time. It’s a secret language.

And in other news, Kai has taught himself to do forward tumbles in the air. It freaks me out yet awes me at the same time!

The days left till Christmas is winding down, but the craziness certainly isn’t! Between chores, two high-energy boys, and a baby that wants to be held all the time, there is no time for peace and to pee (alone). But Ryan’s brother flies in tonight and his parents tomorrow, so despite all the busy, it’ll be nice to have a change of pace and feel some CA love. We live fairly close to the NASCAR Speedway, so we plan on viewing their Christmas spectacular and live nativity where you can hear Mary, Joseph, and Roman centurions say their lines with a southern drawwwwl.

And I’d like to say thank you for reading this blog and for your supportive and friendly comments. It’s been nice getting to know some of you online and making new friends, IRL even. It’s meant a great deal to me since I’m still in mourning over our move and missing my besties back in Ventura. But if I could sit down and enjoy a hot cup of cocoa with you (unless you’re a killer or kidnapper), I would. The closest thing would be to share our simple hot cocoa recipe:

Hope you enjoy the season with all of its gingerbread-baking, gift-wrapping, spending-time-with-family goodness! And I try to remind myself that I’m too blessed to be stressed.

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Congrats to Kendall, comment #84. She is the winner of the JetPens giveaway.

My latest project for Bloesem Kids can be found here.
An easy project using things you may already have on hand;
tin foil, permanent markers, cardboard or foam core, and glue.