Happy Valentine’s Day!

Valentine’s Day always been a favorite holiday of mine, and I was especially glad to have something to celebrate something in the midst of the deep-freeze we’ve been having around here. (Not that it’s the coldest place in the country, by far, but too cold to comfortably be outside for very long.) 

One of our many blessings is being in a bubble with Matt, Betsy, and the three girls. Skylar, Ella, and Maddy spent the afternoon with us yesterday baking and decorating Valentine cookies, making valentines, and doing Valentine coloring sheets, word, and number puzzles. Matt and Betsy came back for dinner. The girls helped set the table with a red tablecloth, Valentine napkins, and heart-shaped candle holders. It was quite festive. Getting decent photos while being so engaged is always a challenge, but here are a few. All three of the girls are adept at rolling out the dough and cutting out the cookies.

I saved the cards I made for the grandchildren to share today. Like the valentines I shared yesterday, they are mini-slimlines. I’ll be sharing one of these with Just Us Girls. Their new challenge is a trend challenge: Slimline Cards.

Once again, the cards are the same, but different. I started out by coloring five cute little bears with Copic markers and fussy cutting them. The bear was one of the images from Simon Says “Love You Bearly Much” from the February card kit. I was inspired by this watercolored card by Debbie Hughes.

First off, the card for Caleb. I used a piece of red cardstock embossed with Honey Bee’s “Fluttering Hearts” die, and added some striped paper from My Favorite Things. Then I added the cute “Love Speech Bubbles” die.

For Hannah, I used  a piece of white card stenciled with Nuvo Glitter Paste using Echo Park’s “Falling for You” stencil, added some patterned paper from The Stamp Market and three Doodle Bug enamel dots.

Next up, Maddy’s valentine—very similar to Hannah’s but I used the XOXO border stamp from the Simon Says set and no patterned paper.

Ella’s valentine also uses a stencil, but this time I used the stencil that came in the kit, “Tumbling Hearts” and added a ribbon and three pearl hearts.

The last of the bears was for Skylar with the same stencil as Ella’s but with patterned paper from MFT and some glittery heart stickers I found in my stash.

I’m also sharing one of these cards at the Inspirational Challenge: Hearts.

The girls all received their valentines when they were here yesterday to make Valentine cookies. Caleb’s and Hannah’s arrived in Wisconsin earlier this week, and I imagine we’ll get to see them open them when we do FaceTime later today. 

For Tracy’s valentine, I chose a stamp by Anita Jeram who illustrates wonderful children’s books. It might seem odd, but I chose it for the sweet sentiments that are included for the front and the inside of cards. And I have another one in mind for our anniversary! I ordered the well-known Guess How Much I Love You book to accompany it. I’m quite sure both sets of grandchildren already own the book, but we do not. Colorado Craft Company has put out a variety of stamps illustrated by Anita Jeram, and they are all charming. You’ll see another one next month for sure.

After watercoloring the image, I die cut it with the Gina K Layers die.  I had to add a little pink for Valentine’s Day but chose a soft gray for the card.

Tracy and I’ll be celebrating on our own tonight. We’re planning to knock the snow off the grill and move it just outside the kitchen door to grill a steak. Years ago when the kids were very young, Tracy grilled a steak during a snowstorm for New Year’s Eve so the weather doesn’t usually deter him. 

Hope you’ve had a good day! We’ve had lots of sunshine which does make up for the frigid temperatures.