Aaargh! Simple Pirate's Booty Valentines

With Cooper's Valentines in the bag (twice over even!), Ryder and I have been working on his lately. This is my baby, my little guy that goes just about everywhere with me. He and I conquer the world (or, the errands at least) while Cooper rocks the first grade :)

So recently he was bashing through Target with me and got excited over this crunchy bag of smaller bags of Pirate's Booty. Don't get me wrong, this white cheddar popcorn (it's kinda like part rice cake, part popcorn, honestly)... is super yummy and healthy at that. But really the best part is the name- what kid won't go for a snack called "Pirate's Booty"?!

Simple Valentines Gum and Washi Tape Arrows

I might have all boys around here, but lucky for me, they dig Pinterest. :) Oftentimes they look over my shoulder for ideas for boredom busters, or costumes... or Valentines. Cooper happened to see these Valentines arrows...

 and got super excited! He immediately decided he wanted to give arrows to his classmates instead of Nerds :) I actually lit up over them too- super cute. I wanted to be able to make them our own! (We actually tried using the tinsel at the base and it got really frustrating.) 

And so, this cute cute washi tape version was born! Cooper can actually help put these together, beyond just signing his name, and he loves that part. They are pretty self explanatory, but I'll share some more details just in case. :)

Wood Creations of Idaho Falls Giveaway!

Last month kinda got skipped and I'm glad to be back in the swing of sharing a Wood Creations giveaway with you! I LOVE their Valentines collection- had a hard time picking this month! I decided on this super door hanging decor above and made it my own, as usual ;) 

(This was my second favorite!)

'Might as Well be Nerds Together' Valentines

I might be surrounded by boys around here, but somehow Valentines is still a favorite holiday. Cooper absolutely loves this time of year... before Christmas, he actually asked me how much longer there was until Valentines- silly boy :)

At night, when I lay with the boys to get them to sleep, he and I brainstormed ideas for what he could give out to his class. Last year we came up with his fun Valentines Snakes. In the process of coming up with an idea this year, he mentioned that he loves "those little tiny candies in the mini boxes." He meant Nerds- one of my favorites too!

Heart Owl Valentines with your Kids' Art

Why does it feel like it's been so long since I've had #myfavoritebloggers over for a get together?! It's really only been a month... it's just that a lot has gone in that month! It's time already to get into Valentines mode and this post gets to start the love day train around here!

It hasn't come soon enough for Cooper- this is his favorite time of year! We've been brewing Valentines ideas and I have some fun stuff to share in the works! For today, I get to share a cute, simple heart idea, along with these awesome gals:

From left to right, top to bottom: Marilyn from 4 You with Love, Me! , Adrianne from Happy Hour Projects, Bethany from Pitter and Glink, Lauren from Thinking Closet, Tara from Suburble, Nancy from Do Small Things with Love, Emily from The Benson Street, Kara from Happy Go Lucky, Sarah from Repeat Crafter Me,  ChiWei from 1 Dog Woof,  Melanie from It Happens in a Blink, and Kara from Petals to Picots.

Happy Mail: Recent Valentine Swap

 

I love sending happy mail!

And, you already know that we love Valentines season around here, so I was happy when

I got to join in on a Blogger Swap for Valentines Daythrough The Adventures of Brad and Kendra. 

!yaD senitnelaV yppaH

Happy Valentines Day!

I can't wait for the boys to wake up to their Valentines Treasure Hunt! I also can't wait to spend the rest of my life with my best friend, my Valentine. Didn't we look cute down in Mexico six years ago?! I always put this pic up as part of our Valentine decor :)

Valentine Happy Mail

I love sending Valentines mail!

Last year I got to send a fun package to a super talented lady I now consider a friend,

Kadie from Seven Alive. I was excited when I saw a similar type of thing happening at Create.Craft.Love!

Lovin' this Valentine Wreath

I love how my little Valentine wreath creation for my front door turned out!

Valentines Flashback

It occurred to me recently that Valentines season is always a pretty full time for us- we do a lot of projects together and I do quite a bit on my own too! I love the creative energy I always get- somehow late winter isn't quite so overwhelming as Christmas I guess. :)

Anyway, I thought I'd post some of my posts from Valentines past here in one place...

Daily Valentine Surprises

We've been getting ready to start our daily Valentine surprises again, starting this Friday on the 1st! For the last two years, I've made boxes for the boys that we put a small treat in each night for them to find in the morning- they LOVE this tradition and, I confess, I love it just as much! It's kinda like "Elf on the Shelf" for Valentines season!

I saved the boxes I used last year- I just took a box that was about the right size, modified a titch to get the hinge opening that I attached a knob to, and covered it in kraft paper. I re-covered them this year so the boys could decorate for a new year. I cut their names out of a red scrap of vinyl with my Cricut.

 I gave the boys these Valentines papers that I got in a pack from the dollar spot at Target. For some reason, I thought they would cut little hearts, given its Valentines. But, I had to smile at the reminder of what a boys life it is around here when Cooper cut out pieces to create a shark! Love it :)

And then, of course, Ry needed a shark too and hacked this one out himself!

I told him his looked like a jet and he liked that even better.

Have I mentioned recently that Boys Rule? :)

The boy-ness continued as Coop drew a monitor lizard on top of his- it turned out awesome! I have really been trying hard to just put things in front of the boys and let them create as they will, instead of interjecting so much. I want them to grow up knowing that what they do is great, instead of that I always had to follow behind and "fix" it. I can be kinda particular, so this is hard sometimes, even though it shouldn't be!

Now we are ready to go for them to wake up to the first fun Valentines surprise on Friday morning!

Here's a few ideas I've pinned that I'll be trying to make for them- most of the daily surprises are homemade. Either that, or I get them at the Target dollar spot or Dollar Tree :)

Source: busilyspinningmomma.com via Sky on Pinterest

I LOVE this idea- a pillow fight shield! I wanted to whip these up for Christmas but ran out of time :)

Source: livingwithpunks.com via Sky on Pinterest

These cool scarves have a slot for tucking in, instead of having to tie,

plus a treasure pocket on the back side- the boys will love that!

Source: playathomemom3.blogspot.com via Sky on Pinterest

Laminated faces (another idea was laminated flash cards- I may try that too)

and include dry erase markers :)

Source: alittlelearningfortwo.blogspot.com via Sky on Pinterest

You blow on the straw when it's tucked in to make these fly!

You can see the simple things I've included in their boxes in the past

HERE and HERE  and HERE :)

Cute Fabric Valentine Snakes

Hooray for sharing my first Valentine idea of the year!

We LOVE, love, love Valentines season around here- yes, indeed, it is a season, not just a day :) This is Cooper's favorite holiday and he loves helping come up with ideas for what to give his classmates. Recently we laid in bed together, when he was supposed to be falling asleep, and came up with a fun Valentines idea that is right up his alley- these adorable candy-filled fabric snakes!

Exchanging Valentines Crafty Mom Style :)

I recently participated in a Valentines Exchange at Happy Hour Projects and met another bloggy bestie in the process- Kadie from Seven Alive! She is such a sweet, talented lady! She has five kids and does some awesome crochet projects, among other things. And what a small world it is after all- she grew up not far from us in Idaho!

The boys were totally excited to help me open the package and enjoyed seeing all the goodies inside! The cute little heart masks were just for them- right up their alley :)

 

She also included these fun little extras- some sweet little bookmarks and some really pretty resin flower earrings. Isn't that little crocheted flower bookmark adorable! I love how dainty it is! You can get more info about how Kadie makes these HERE and how she makes the jumbo paperclip ones HERE.

The real star of the show is this amazing scarf- beautiful, huh?! It is so soft and "ruffles" or "curls" so beautifully! I love how I felt when I tried this on! I'm sure that this took a fair amount of time to complete and I know how frustrating it can get to complete anything with kids needing something at every turn- I am so grateful for such a thoughtful gift :) I had told her I loved purple and Stephen actually got me a purple jacket for Christmas that this will go really nicely with.

And I really don't share pics of myself, certainly not by myself, very often- for good reason!

But I wanted to show you how cute this looks on,

so here I am in all my everyday glory- no makeup and a braid!

Aren't the curly strands so fun?! 

That white square is a drawing Cooper did of our  family that I have taped to my mirror... just so you know :)

Thank You again Kadie and Adrianne for a fabulous gift and a fun exchange! While I love the goodies, I'm even happier to have found someone new to stay in close touch with :) 

And for a parting laugh,

here's a few outtakes from my Adventures-in-Self-Portraiture!

Ya know, because you really wanted to see

my toilet and dirty mirror and

particularly weird mouth thing I've got going on there... :P

You can see the fun apron and fabric bucket,

along with other small goodies,

that I sent to Kadie by clicking HERE :)

Preschool Valentines

Cooper had been scoping out lots of different cute Valentine ideas on Pinterest

over my shoulder for the past few weeks.

He's liked a lot of them, but none that he seemed super stoked over.

He was excited when he saw these cheese and breadstick snacks at the grocery store,

so I grabbed them and thought we'd turn them into Valentines somehow!

Along the line, I noticed several cute owl things made out of hearts

and we came up with these little cuties! 

These are actually the only two we have done so far!

I'm waiting to pick up more googly eyes at Dollar Tree before doing anymore-

the buttons were just to make sure we liked the finished product.

And while the ones with wings and feet are cute as cute,

I'm thinkin' we'll go with the bigger heart that Cooper can color himself-

simpler to put together and more from him!

EDIT: This pic below is what we actually ended up with- we loved them!

He also loved the idea of giving a treat to his preschool teacher, Miss Stacie.

(The Anne of Green Gables fan in me loves that she is "Miss Stacie") :P

I'm certain it's been done before, but when I saw this measuring cup, the saying

"You Measure Up to be a really Sweet teacher!"

came to me and I went with it! Cooper picked the treats that he thought Miss Stacie would like

(and I filtered out the superhero taffy...) :)

On the off chance that anyone out there can use these ideas this late in the game,

you can download to print a sheet of the notes and tags by clicking below! I printed the "It's a Hoot" one on full sheet label paper so that I could just stick them on the back of the crackers!

Measure Up Sweet Teacher Valentines Tags

'Hoot Being your Friend' Valentines Notes 

Happy Valentines!

PS... This little beauty is on it's way to my Happy Hour Valentines Exchange partner!...