I love Valentine's Day treats!  But most of the commercial packaging, while descriptive, doesn't rock my world.  So take a few minutes and dress up your treats for your favorite Valentine with cute patterned paper and embellishments.  These can be super simple or a little more involved.  But they are so much fun to make!  These papers are from last year's We R Memory Keepers "Heart Attack" line.  I just read from Stacy Julian's Facebook page that Pantone has announced that Turquoise is the "in" color this year.  I guess that WRMK was ahead of their time since they definitely use strategically place turq in this line!  Love that turq! The instructions are really easy: measure the dimension around the box, add about 1/2" and then cut a strip the height of the box.  Wrap around the box, secure with a sturdy tape (red line) and then embellish.  You can do this with any paper line!  Too cute!

Anyone that has a Target in their neighborhood (or on their shopping route) knows all about those dollar bins in the front of the store.  I know that it tends to be that "shiny" thing that distracts us from what we are actually shopping for – mostly really fun junk that we don't need, but heck…for a dollar…we can afford that!  But we don't NEED it.  Anyway, I usually just avoid shopping PERIOD because I really don't need anything.  But yesterday, Megan came home with some fun Valentine stuff from the dollar bins.  So while there's still the possibility of you being able to find some of the products, I'm making REALLY inexpensive Valentines, care of Target and their dollar bins, with a little help from stamps from Michaels dollar stamps!   There are patterned card blanks, 8-count with coordinating envelopes, but no text.  There are also dimensional stickers, die-cut patterned papers, rub-ons (not my favorite), clear and cardstock stickers, even doilies.  Here's just a few ideas! Have fun with your super dollar deal finds!

 Beautiful frilly, lace adorned, romantic versed Valentine cards are great for adults, but all that effort is lost on almost anyone under the legal age for chewing bubble gum.  But that doesn't mean that they must be condemned to receive only cards that are packaged in bulk from those "big box" stores or the corner pharmacy.  You can create fun Valentines for kids as well as those for adults. Inside the skunk card…  What sort of cards appeal to children?  Traditionally, children like funny Valentines, and have easily tickled funny bones.  You can take lead from jokes that are super silly…perfect for kids!  I have a box of cute die cut chipboard shapes from Die Cuts With a View from their Green Stack collection that I have been waiting to use.  When I noticed all those cute little faces looking at me out of the packaging window, I thought "Perfect!"   They then inspired me to go online and look for jokes that included beavers, skunks and squirrels.  I am including them in the download section if you are interested.  But you can choose any sort of pre-made die cuts or make up something of your own.  Then go looking for "clean" jokes – the goofier the better!  They don't have to be Valentine related, but don't forget that important little bit of text under the punchline!  Here are some examples! Aren't making Valentine cards fun?  I will get to

 To a casual passerby, the small pile of what appears to be snow next to our front sidewalk may appear to be remnants of a trip to the mountains, since actual snow in San Diego is HIGHLY unlikely.  To the residents of our house, a once in a blue moon occurrence has happened.  While trying to fit our frozen food purchases in our outside freezer today, it was determined by Meg that this could not be accomplished without first defrosting our 20 plus year old upright freezer.  Megan was the official "defroster", and I was her assistant, carrying big pots of ice chunks and shaved ice outside.  Not really enough to build an actual snowman (5' X 2' by 1'high), but funny to see how many pots it took to carry it out.  While at the grocery store, we were just talking about how little we had actually gotten accomplished today, and now we can end the day with a feeling of success, knowing that there is plenty of room to add more frozen goods to the shelf.  One of these days, we are going to need to get a new freezer, but until then, I am happy with the hand-me-down upright from my MIL, grateful that my husband is clever enough to figure out a way to add a latched lock to it so it doesn't accidentally get left slightly ajar.  This is

 Okay…not quite technically DONE!  When I say done, I mean I am ready to move past the the decorations, the tree, the baking (at least for now:), shopping and wrapping presents, hiding things, really…the projects that go along with the season.  I'm done with the green and ready to combine my reds with a little, or a lot, of pink!  Don't get me wrong…I love the traditions of the Christmas season: the excitement, the time spent with family and friends, the parties and service projects, sharing our time and energies.  I get in the mood for Christmas starting about mid-July and can keep going for months.  But Christmas is so BIG and I am ready for simple.  I want to move on to an uncluttered house (easier to dust!), sweet words of love, romance, fresh flowers and definitely different shapes, maybe along the line of…hearts!  I have banned myself from going to my office so that I could spend time with my family, but now the last of the overnight company is gone (boohoo) and although the putting away of the decorations is weighing heavy on my mind, I feel the need to do something different.  Besides, the boys (required for getting all the Christmas bins down from the attic) are out camping in the desert, so the finishing of the clean-up will just have to wait!  Like it or not, I am ready for a change.  So here come the Valentines!   Pinecone