I'm Back! with A Little Love Day Goodness

Wow, readers, what a whirlwind of a week it was!

I am 85% sure that there will be some great news coming out for me at the end of this coming week, so I don't want to jinx it and mum's the word for right now. But THANK YOU for hanging in there with me!

Last Year's Valentine's Day Handmade Goodies

With all of the craziness going on the last few weeks with this possible new change, I have completely forgotten about Valentine's Day (or Love Day, as my boy calls it). Last year I was a sewing crazy lady and pumped out about ten fun gifts for family and friends. No such luck this year!

I know, me, the woman that always tries to make handmade cards and gifts took the store bought route this year. Sometimes you just have to know what to let go of to make your life simpler, and this year I thank Hallmark for stepping in and delivering my messages of love.

I hope you all have a wonderful weekend, and a sweet as chocolate Love Day!

Anthro-Inspired Valentine's Tea Towels

Have you seen the fabulous vintage-inspired applique tea towels in Anthropologie lately? I love them all and they remind me of the real ones that my Mom carried in her shop for so many years. I have been wanting to make some of my own, and when I recently participated in a Pay it Forward Handmade Craft Challenge on Facebook I knew just what to make.

A friend of mine had this as her status:

Pay it Forward 2011: I promise to send something handmade
to the first 5 people who leave a comment here.
They must in turn post this and send something they make
to the first 5 people who comment on their status.
*The rules are that it must be handmade by you and it
must be sent to your 5 people sometime in 2011.

I love a challenge and I was intrigued by who might sign up with me so I went for it. I already knew that I was going to be working on some of these pins, but I also wanted to do something for Valentine's Day. I thought about the Anthroplogie tea towels and remembered that I had bought some tea towels at Target.


I was surprised when I opened them up that the towels were HUGE and far too big to be comfortably used as a tea towel, so I cut them in half and planned to bind the cut side later.

Next I needed to think about fabric. I went to my stash and found these two fun Valentine's Day appropriate prints:


Next I ironed some heat and bond to a large square of each piece of fabric, and then I drew up a template and began cutting out hearts.



I ironed the hearts to the tea towels and then I zig-zag stitch appliqued them to the towels. I finished them off with a little Fray Check to be sure they would make it through the wash.


I had a happy accident while I was sewing up the open side. I remembered seeing somewhere that I could zig-zag stitch up the side and the machine would sort of gather the material into what would eventually look as though I had used a Serger. It worked!


I am so happy with them!


Cute and sweet and handmade by me.


Stay tuned for tomorrow's Tell Me Tuesday--we had 30 entries this past week and if we hit 50 I will host a giveaway.

And MANY THANKS to the ladies at Three Sisterz for guest posting for me over the weekend. I had a nasty virus on my computer and was out of commission for a bit. Thank you ladies for keeping my little place in Blogland vibrant over the weekend!

This post is a part of the following link parties:

Making the World Cuter Monday
Sumo's Sweet Stuff
Mad in Crafts Mad Skills Mondays
Making Monday's Marvelous at CRAFT

Three Sisterz Guest Post: Valentines Gifts

Hello--Three Sisterz here. Allison asked us to guest post this week because her computer is in the shop being fixed (tear). Shhh.....don't tell her BUT we're secretly thrilled to be here (no matter what the reason)! We're really getting in the mood for Valentine's Day and this post is Part I in a series of V-Day inspired posts we're doing. Hop on over to Three Sisterz on Monday for Part II.

We love to give little Valentine gifts to special people (daughters, nieces and nephews) but sometimes get stumped with what to give. If you get stumped too here's an idea to get you started... it won't break your bank... and then YOU can improvise!

First, we started with this darling polka dot bowl that we picked up at Pier 1 Imports in the clearance section. It was part of a set that cost about $3. You can also find lots of little containers at JoAnn's, Michaels, Target, etc. Then we added a Three Sisterz headband wrapped in a cellophane bag but you could add a small box of chocolates, a gift card, heart shaped earrings, conversation hearts, matchbox cars, playmobil figures, anything personal for your sweetheart. We tied it with our favorite grosgrain ribbon and added a handmade gift tag for extra goodness.

Gift tags? We did a Christmas tag tutorial a few weeks back. Here's our Valentines version!

Supplies:

cardstock, stamps from JoAnn's dollar bins,

stamp pads, scissors, hole punch,

any color ribbon that coordinates with cardstock and a cellophane bag

**Side note: Etsy has some ADORABLE and unique stamps. You can do a search under handmade for "Valentine rubber stamps" and find some handmade stamps that you won't find anywhere else. My favorite stamp seller is Nikoart. Her little critters would make a great addition to your Valentine gift card. I just love her owl, bunny, fox and hedgehog. Can't you just imagine a bunny stamp with the words, "Some bunny loves you!" on your gift card??!! So sweet!

Here are the stamps, stamp pad and bowl.

Stamp evenly on the cardstock, leaving room to cut them out. Then cut them out in circles and squares, with regular scissors and pinking shears. Love that zig zag edge!

Sign your name on the front or back of the card. Put a hole punch in the corner, slip ribbon through.

Put your gift in the cellophane, tie it up, add your personalized tag to it and you're done!

Now, wouldn't these handmade onesies make a cute gift for your little sweetheart?

You can find them in our Etsy shop.

Thank you to Allison for having us! Hope to see you over at Three Sisterz.