We Make a Great Pair - Sock Vase Valentine

I love socks, especially kooky knee high ones. If you want to know the way to my heart buy me some socks. Nothing says I love you and Happy Valentine's Day like toasty toes. The trick is how to give a pair of socks and make it look cute and festive. Today for I Love to Create I'm gonna show you how to do just that.

SUPPLIES

Cute socks

Glasses and bottles

This part is super easy. Roll your sock over your glass or bottle. Thanks Design Sponge for the great idea! At this point you can fill your vase with anything you want. Lollipops, roses or cupcake liner flowers. Lemme show you what I did.

SUPPLIES

Aleene's Tacky Glue

Sticks

Cupcake liners

Pen

Baxter, my right hand crafty man and I gathered up our supplies and got busy. There are a million tutorials online for making flowers out of cupcake liners. I just sorted twisted and glued to the top of my stick. I added the occasional pom pom for good measure.

Make a little card or floral pick that says something catchy like "Valentine - We Make a Great Pair!". Give to your loved one and watch their heart melt and feet warm up

***I was compensated & given free supplies by I Love to Create. Mama has gotta pay the bills somehow and really who in their right mind would say no to free craft supplies***

Shell Tiaras - The Ultimate Mermaid Party Accessory

Once my mother-in-law gave Tallulah a giant bag of shells she gathered at the beach. At the time I thought "what are we going to do with all of these really not that awesome shells?". I should have known they would eventually get used. Tallulah paints them, they have lived in the sand box, several are floating at the bottom of her mermaid themed sensory bin and today we used them to make a tiara.

This afternoon we were invited to a mermaid themed birthday party and encouraged to dress the part. I just so happen to have some plastic tiaras in the studio (doesn't everyone) and then I went to our trusty bag of shells. Tallulah happily sat and painted and glittered this afternoon. I gave her colors that matched the dress she was going to wear to the party.

When the paint dried Tallulah helped me select which shell went where and we got to gluing. The end result was a little top heavy and by the time we got to the party she had an ear ache and was not happy about me making her pose in her creation, but I thought the tiara came out great. More importantly she had a great time making it. I guess next time my mother-in-law brings me a random bag of something I should not luck a gift horse in the mouth.

Kitschy Vintage Valentine's Deer a Flocking with Sand Tutorial

I love flocking. From fabric with texture to nodding chihuahuas in a rear window - flocking makes my heart flutter. The kids and I have been dabbling in sand art lately and that is when I had the idea to flock with sand. I have Valentine's Day tunnel vision so today for I Love to Create I grabbed a kitschy deer I had on hand and got to flocking.

SUPPLIES

Craft Sand

Figurine

Aleene's Tacky Glue

Paint Brush

This project is super easy. First up paint your figurine with glue. While the glue is still wet sprinkle on your sand.

Once your glue is dry shake off your excess sand. I went in and added glue polka dots that I sprinkled with hot pink sand.

When your glue is dry display with pride! I can't wait to flock more figurines!

Pop over to BlogHer to read all about how to make a terrarium with sand art.

***I was compensated & given free supplies by I Love to Create. Mama has gotta pay the bills somehow and really who in their right mind would say no to free craft supplies***

Give a Box of Valentine Candy a Festive Owl Themed Makeover (TUTORIAL)

You can't think of Valentine's Day without a box of chocolates coming to mind. Too bad the boxes these days ain't got nuthin on the frilly boxes of yesteryear. I love the look of vintage Valentine candy boxes, so much so today for I Love to Create I decided to make my own.

SUPPLIES

Craft felt

Heart shaped boxes of chocolate

Scissors

Craft Paper

Aleene's Tacky Glue

Paint brush

Valentine's stickers

Carnival tickets

This project is inspired by some felt owl ornaments that Karen of Midwest Maude fame made for Issue #2 of Kids Crafts 1-2-3. Sure issue #3 of Kids Crafts 1-2-3 is out at Walmart and chocked full of fun Valentine projects, but I never got a chance to make these owl ornaments. Whoooo loves you? The owl Valentine greetings are endless.

The first thing I did was cover my box. I traced the lid on a piece of paper, cut it out and glued it to the top of my box. I applied Tacky Glue all over the lid and spread it evenly with a paint brush.

If you can eyeball the owl image good for you. I cropped the picture and blew my owl up and printed it out to use as a template. Using said template I cut out two owls in pink and red.

Using Tacky Glue I attached my owls to the chocolate box. I used some fun felt flower stickers for the eyes. Sure they were stickers, but I went ahead and added some Tacky Glue for good measure.

Tacky Glue and a few strategic gem stones gave my owl a little sparkle.

Using a hot glue gun I added some foil trim around the edge of my box.

I must admit I dumped all the candy out and glued my boxes shut. A) The candy had peanuts and I can't have that around with Baxter's allergy. B) I'm on a diet. I love the way they turned out. Check out another version of the box on BlogHer.

***I was compensated & given free supplies by I Love to Create. Mama has gotta pay the bills somehow and really who in their right mind would say no to free craft supplies***

Crafting a Sensory Bin

My kids love them a sensory bin. So much so that Tallulah will ask me to Google them and she was just sit and look at the pictures. She is always dreaming up new sensory bins we should make. Today she requested water, pom poms and horses. I said no. Instead we opted for excavating dinosaurs from stale Rice Crispies cereal.

Did you happen to see the Thinking Outside the Crayon Box article I wrote for Issue #2 of Kids Crafts 1-2-3 about Crafting a Sensory Bin? Don't worry you can still order back issues.

Looking back on it I was making sensory bins for Tallulah before I knew what a sensory bin was or had Pinterest to use as inspiration. This is a very early version when Tallulah was obsessed with pom poms. She called them sugarplums.

No Halloween party at my house is complete without a sensory bin. Fill a giant tupperware bin with rice, pumpkins, plastic bugs and scoops presto happy toddlers!

With my kids if water is involved it is going to be a hit. That goes for sensory bins too. At any given time my daughter has a sensory bin in the backyard filled with sea creatures, gravel and mermaids. A few Playmobil pirates have recently joined the party. Don't feel like you need to race out and buy supplies for a themed bin. Left over plastic Easter eggs, dishwashing soap and water in a bin entertained my kids for a whole afternoon this past fall. No rhyme or reason to the bin, just fun.

Last year for my kids lumberjack themed party we had an Earthy sensory bin made with birdseed, toy saws, ball moss, pieces of wood and more.

Sensory bins are super easy to make and can be as elaborate or bare bones as you want them to be. Use what you have on hand like stale cereal. The idea is to give kids something to explore with their senses. Make it colorful and textual and something they can interact with and explore. Do you make sensory bins for your kids? What are some of your favorite bins?

Decorating for Valentine's Day (AKA My Excuse For Not Taking Down My Tinsel Christmas Trees) + A Craft Tutorial

I didn't realize back in November that when I was putting my Christmas trees up I was also decorating for Valentine's Day. My menagerie of pink, red, silver and purple trees atop the entertainment center were so cute I wanted to keep them up just a bit longer. All I did was swap out a few ornaments, added some hearts and love was in the air.

Of course the entertainment center is not the only place in the house seeing a little Valentine's Day action. You know me better than that. One of the things I love about decorating seasonly is changing out all my picture frames. That way I get to have new pictures up all the time. I spy a picture of Baxter in his adorable little heart elbow patch Valentine's cardigan I made last year.

The inspiration for my Christmasaurus sits proudly in the center of my kitchen table. I need to fill the little dishes with conversation hearts.

I gathered the rest of the Valentine's Day colored trees from around the house and decorated them with my collection of vintage Valentines. Look close and you can see the Valentine's Day picture frame I made last year.

Ok, back to the sea of trees on the entertainment center.

Where there were Christmas decorations there are now hearts and cupcakes. This whole area is a work in progress and I am sure I will be crafting up some new decorations as Valentine's Day approaches

I need to add some pictures of Baxter to my Valentine's Day Photo Strip Banner.

As much as I hate my giant black entertainment center that is so 80's it looks like it should live on the set of Less Than Zero, I do love all the shelving.

Not only does decorating seasonly allow me to change out my picture frames, it also let's me display some of my fun collection of kitsch that usually sits in less prominent places in the house. Special rubber faced dolls, dream pets and kissing nodders fill the shelves for the next couple of months.

So about that craft tutorial I mentioned.... Yesterday when I was at the thrift store I happened upon two vintage nut choppers that begged to be made over. The green one is soon to be a terrarium and the aqua one is now a Valentine's decoration. Today for I Love to Create I will show you how to make your own. Why should Mason Jars have all the fun? Just about anything you can do to a mason jar, you can do to a nut chopper or any glass container for that matter.

SUPPLIES

Nut chopper

Crafty Chica Paint red

Scissors

White pom pom fringe

Aleene's Tacky Glue

Washi tape

Heart sticker

Tulip Fashion Glitter - Silver

First I decided to decorate the lid to my nut chopper. Using washi tape I made a little flag. All I did was fold a piece in half onto it's self and then cut a triangle.

Everything is better with pom pom fringe, nut chopper Valentine decorations included. Using Aleene's Tacky Glue I attached the fringe to the nut chopper lid.

While the glue was drying on my fringe I took the glass jar outside and filled it with a good amount of red Crafty Chica Paint. Swirl your jar to ensure even coverage.

On the outside of my jar I painted the shape of a heart with a paint brush and Tacky Glue. While the glue was still wet I sprinkled it with glitter. All that was left to do was shake off the excess glitter, screw on the lid, add a heart sticker to the flag and display.

So what do you think? Would you walk into my house and think "Why hasn't she taken her trees down?" or would you suddenly feel the love?

***I was compensated & given free supplies by I Love to Create. Mama has gotta pay the bills somehow and really who in their right mind would say no to free craft supplies***