Things we LOVE!

Hope everyone had an enjoyable Valentine's Day.

We didn't do anything for each other mainly because we have been celebrating, designing and thinking Valentine's for the past two months. So yesterday was all about the kids (when isn't it?). The whole day was full of things they love to do. So we played games, did crafts made brownies and cookies which we decorated after dinner and watched some Valentine's specials that we DVR'd.

Today got us thinking about things we love and we thought we would share some for today's post since February is the month of love. So here are a few things that make us swoon (of course we aren't going to list family or friends... that's a given!)

• We LOVE curling up in a big chair next to a window when the sunlight is pouring in.

• We LOVE visiting our favorite blogs to read their new posts of the day.

• We LOVE going to the bookstore and discovering new holiday themed magazines and books. Counting down the minutes to all the new Easter/Spring issues.

• We LOVE the feeling minutes after we send out our e~mailer announcing our new ornament collection is online.

• We LOVE reading and listening (podcasts) about other artists and crafters work and how they create. Here are a few of our top favorites:
Podcasts:
Escape from illustration Island and Ask Tara Reed
Blogs:
the creative mind of Holli Conger illustration tips series and Blu Penny Sketchbook stories

• We LOVE a clean and organized studio

• We LOVE getting mail and receiving packages. How exciting it is to get little (or sometime large: we are expecting our shipment of clay for the year any day now) gifts delivered right to our front door.

• We LOVE making lists and being able to cross off completed tasks when done....Like this weeks post which is our 200th!

Comment and share with us some of the things you LOVE about the simple things in life.
Enjoy the week:)

Happy Valentine's Day

Valentine Garland How-to

This project is for personal, non-commercial use.

We thought we would share the love this week and post a sweet little Valentine garland how-to. Try these simple steps so you can create your own festive heart garland to decorate your Valentine's tree, drape over a doorway or string along a bookcase.
Materials
• Color cover stock
• Craft glue
• White string or thin ribbon
• 1/16" circle puncher
• Heart shape puncher
• Paper mini flowers
• Hot glue gun
• Scissors




Step 1.
Choose some nice heavy weight color paper. We went with two different colors (pink & red) for a two tone heart look. With your heart puncher (if you don't have a heart punch you can make a paper template and trace it and cut it out by hand). Punch out a bunch of hearts; you will need the same amount of hearts in each color.


Step 2.
Take one of each color heart and with your scissors cut a slit in the bottom of one heart and a slit in the top of the other heart.


Step 3.
Slide the hearts together




Step 4.
Make as many as you wish.


Step 5.
Use your glue and run a bead of glue down the heart for extra strength.


Step 6.
Once your paper hearts have dried take your 1/16" puncher and make a hole for the string.


Step 7.
Cut a piece of string or ribbon to whatever length you need and make a loop at one end. We made our garland approx 20" long.


Step 8.
String your hearts through the string and loop the other end. Equally space your heart on your string.


Step 9.
Now with your glue gun add a dab of glue on each side of the heart so your hearts won't slide. (we used a glue gun because the glue dries super fast but you could use regular glue if you wish)


Step 10.
Then glue your paper flowers in between the paper hearts.


There you have it.... your Valentine Hearts & Flowers garland.




Have fun... be creative... use your own imagination to create your own lovely Valentine's garland!

Our How-to is also linked up to these creative DIY sites: Whipperberry & The DIY showoff

Still time to get your Swirly Valentine!

There's still time to order! Our last trip to the post office will be Monday Feb 7th to ensure delivery in time for Valentine's Day any orders after Feb 7th we can't guarantee but we will try. Enjoy Super Bowl Sunday!

Crafting with the kids

Now that our Valentine's collection is completed and online for all to see....(There are still a few more lovely ornaments left waiting for homes so you can check out the designs here)..we now can dedicate this whole week to our favorite little love bugs and spend this week creating some fun Valentine's crafts. A bit less stressful, dontcha think?

Today, on this cloudy, cold and rainy day we made some pretty neat stained glass hearts.


We came across this project in a magazine recently and after reading the supply list we realized that we have everything on hand, which is a big plus. Wax paper, scissors, an iron, ribbon, hole punch and crayon bits are all we needed, we just had to try it.


The kids ready got into it. Spreading the bits of crayons all over the wax paper.


Our little one watching very closely and she didn't even eat the crayons. Yeah!


Stand back iron is HOT! Make sure you iron onto a paper towel because the crayon will bleed through onto your table. Thanks goodness these were washable crayons.


Pretty! A nice kaleidoscope of colors. We let it cool and then had the kids trace a heart and cut it out and hung it in the window.


Happy Valentine's Day!

Our 2011 Valentine's Collection has arrived

HOORAY!! Today is the day our new 2011 handmade Valentine's Day ornaments are up for all to see. We have been busy all January preparing for this day and we are so happy with the response we are getting so far for our designs. We think this collection is pretty sweet if we say so ourselves.

We have you'll agree that we have a nice mix of designs, colors of course unique embellishments. New materials that we tried this are paper heart danglers, resin and a mini flower bouquets. We also added more mini designs to our collection this year for all those cute table top trees that are out in stores now.

Here are some outtakes from yesterdays photo shoot of this years Be Our Swirly Valentine! ornament designs.






























FYI: We were a little behind with the email launch today because we switched email services and we had to figure out all the bells and whistles and how this new service worked. Hopefully everyone has received our email OK.

Happy Valentine's Day!
~ Lianne & Paul