One of my favorite things in Elementary school was writing "to's" and "from's" on little valentine cards for friends and carefully pouring over each valentine deciding which friend to give which "Be Mine, Valentine!", "You're too cool for school, Valentine!", or "You're the Bee's Knees!". The very best ones were when we were lucky and Mom got the box of valentines that came with fun riddles on each card:
Q. What did the stamp say to the envelope on Valentine's Day?
A. I'm stuck on you!
Every year, we'd sit down as a family and have one great big crafty afternoon/evening of making handmade valentines from construction paper, paper lace doilies, stickers, crayons, and glue to send to grandparents, aunts and uncles, cousins, and close friends. That is a tradition I'm teaching to my own kids, and every year I make sure I am well stocked on paper heart-shaped doilies.
And then when I was 11, one of my little sisters was born on Valentine's Day, bringing another fun meaning to the day as a way of celebrating her life. Valentine's Day forever more will not be complete without a pink heart-shaped birthday cake for dessert.
Of course, Valentine's Day would also not be complete without some fun decorations around the house. Paper hearts on doors, hanging garland, fun knick-knacks, etc. I loved growing up around fun seasonal decorations, so I'm working on building my own decoration supply for our own home so my kids can enjoy it as well. Which brings me around to my newest Valentine's decoration!
When I saw this fun Christmas "Jolly Festive Bunting" at Attic24, I knew I would have to try and make my own! I was too late for a Christmas one, but Valentine's Day proved to be the perfect opportunity.
I love the Spring-y pastel colors! So nice, light, and fresh after all the rich Christmas colors in December. Despite the fact that Mr. Groundhog saw his shadow last week, I'm still dreaming of an early Spring, and living in Texas usually delivers just that.
I made this from yarn I already had lying around--it's the perfect project for leftover pieces from other projects, and it helped me finish up a few balls of yarn I'd had just waiting for the right project. Then I printed the letters in a large font and size, used them to trace and cut out the felt letters, and stitched them on with a white yarn running stitch. You could probably skip the stitching step and just hot glue them, or use fusible Wonder Under to stick them on each pennant. I just loved the look that the white stitching gave it, so I used that method.
I'm also toying around with the idea of turning it over and re-using this for an Easter banner. 17 little pennants, I'm thinking flowers around a "Happy Easter" would be cute. Just loving the fun, fresh addition to my decor!
This would be so fun as a birthday banner with bright colors, for other holidays, or spelling out names for kids' bedrooms, etc. I don't think I'm done with this bunting idea!
So Happy Valentine's Day to you and yours! I hope you all have a fun time celebrating a day of love, friendship, family, etc.!
I'm linking to the CSI Project
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