Wow...I did it!

I managed to get 14 Valentine's Cards made and mailed for the Valentine's card swap organized by Little Birdie Secrets. I finished them all this afternoon and got them off in a Priority Mail envelope so they'll make the deadline!

I had never done anything like this before. I was excited to try it and I must say, I was pleased with how well they turned out. I started with little purple heart doilies that I picked up on clearance last year. The doilies dictated the color scheme, so I didn't go with the typical red/pink/white Valentine's theme. I found some scrapbooking paper in my stash that had the purple. Since they also had spring green those were my two colors. After I added ribbons and utilized my sewing machine to attach the ribbon to the cards and the card fronts to the card stock. I printed some graphic versions of "love" on the back and added an embossed embellishment on the front and, viola, a Valentine's card!

Valentine's Day will arrive before you know it...

Boys don't really care about Valentine's Day, so it has only been since Buttercup has been old enough to voice an opinion (strongly, I might add), that we've really acknowledge Valentine's Day in our family. Oh, I've always gotten the kids a little present to celebrate the day, but we really haven't done much more. Plus, both Charming and Valiant celebrate their birthdays in February, so trust me, they were interested in those days, not some "kissing" holiday!

Well, along came the girl, and that all changed. So, today I'll be whipping up a pair of pajama pants out of this fabric. Pajama pants are easy peasy and she likes to celebrate each season with an appropriate pair.

Then, later this week, we'll be working on this cool Valentine's Wreath from Little Birdie Secret's...I found the wreath form at Jo-Ann's (Michael's didn't carry it)...unfortunately, Jo-Ann's was packed and so we'll head back later in the week to get the fabric.

Also, I was very brave and I've committed to being part of Little Birdie Secret's Valentine's Card swap? What was I thinking?...I've only made a few hand-made cards in my life. I guess this is one way to make sure I try new things.

This is what I'll be doing today...what about you?

Thank You Letters

Do you write thank-you letters? Do you have your children write thank-you letters? We write thank-you letters in our house whenever we receive gifts. I was raised that it was just the polite thing to do. Sometimes it takes a heck of a lot of badgering to get the kids to write their thank-yous and other times, they shock the heck out of me. This year, Buttercup decided to shock us all by getting her thank-you's written on the 26th! That means she got them done well before I did. Can you believe it? A nine-year old voluntarily writing all her thank-you's the day after Christmas? I was stunned. Not so stunned that I didn't encourage her to lord it over her brothers in the hopes that competition would do some of the hard work for me. Unfortunately, that didn't work - darn it!

So, while I was shown up by my 9-year old daughter (I am sooo proud!), I, too, am done with my thank-you's. She used fairy stationary she found in her room and I used these awesome Olliephant notecards that the awesome Penny at Sew Take a Hike made up. I added the "Thank You" with a rubber stamp. I even made my own envelopes with Penny's template. Aren't they cute? So, if you're keeping score, the ladies in the Nagle household are done with their thank-yous. Men?