I’m back again this week, joining and waving to Sian and friends who post something new they did or used for the first time over the weekend ( or in my case during the week.) I saw some Valentine products I couldn’t resist this year. Now that I have grandchildren who I can create for, this holiday is ramping up for me. 

First off, my favorite and an almost total case of a project Danielle Flanders did for the release of this stamp and die set: “Petite Places: Home & Garden.” I’ve resisted this whole line of product from Papertrey Ink, but Danielle got me on this one. I knew Skylar would love it, and I made a second one for a crafty friend who loves this kind of thing. She makes wonderful creations from paper, but she’s not a stamper, so I knew she wouldn’t have seen it. Got to say, both loved it, and for a first try, I was pretty pleased with how it came out. By using different colors, you can change out the look of the project so it would be great for other occasions.

The clear dome makes photos pretty tricky, but in this one you can see the cute little swing hanging from the tree. There are also lots of other little additions I didn’t add this time. I added a strip of adhesive cork paper to made the walkway, and combined some green Flower Soft and glitter to made the “grass.” I threw in a few flower sequins as well.

The card for Skylar and Ella used Simon Says “Baby Party Animals” which I’ve used before, but the sentiment is from “Paper Hugs,” included in last year’s February card kit which I had never used.

With all the stamping, sequins, and die cut foil hearts, this is definitely a busier card than I usually come up with.

I ordered a die and some clear totes from Reverse Confetti to made Caleb’s valentine gift. This combo is sure to get lots of use; it’s perfect for hostess gifts, small birthday gifts . . . I can think of almost endless possibilities. The patterned papers are “Pure Poppy + White,” from Papertrey Ink, and the heart border die is also an older Papertrey die.

Here’s the tote with the card, which also uses new stamps and dies from Papertrey’s “Valentine Pin-up” kit. I have plenty of material in that kit to create for grandchildren for several years to come. The little fox was one of my favorites.

I used a Simon Says heart die to make the balloons, and used another new die, “Balloon Strings” from Papertrey. It’s been on backorder for awhile, and just came in the last order.

We have a wonderful homemade candy shop nearby, and that’s where the Valentine candy corn and the chocolates in Caleb’s valentine came from. I was thrilled to find little chocolate cars wrapped much like the Matchbox cars Caleb loves.

And here’s what the tote looks like from the side.

We had quite a lovely Valentine’s Day. It started with some car trouble due to the extreme cold, so we ended up coming in at the end of the first hymn for church. It was worth the effort to get there, though, since we had an excellent guest preacher and some beautiful solos by the bass section leader in our choir. From there I went to Sunday Seminar presented by Ann Meredith, a professor of religion at the University of Rochester. One of my friends was amazed that I had never attended one of her presentations, and said I would love it. Indeed, I did, and luckily it was the first of a three part series. It’s days like this when I realize what wonderful resources we have in Rochester.

We played duplicate bridge in the afternoon. The last couple of times we’ve played we haven’t done very well, but yesterday was much better. There are several couples in the group who play bridge regularly, and two who play competitively. We play only in this group, and do not study or practice, so it’s quite a miracle that we can keep up with them. We rarely come in first (and we didn’t yesterday) but we seem to hold our own, and have been playing with one of the couples for 42 years. The group started the year we were married. We came home for an hour, and then met friends for dinner. Quite an usual (and different-“new”) Valentine’s Day for us. I hope your weekend treated you well.