Friday Finds: Valentine's Day

Valentine's Day is a week away! We don't usually give the boys anything big, but we like to have a little something (and a sweet note) waiting for them when they come down in the morning (and occasionally we go out for a doughnut breakfast). In the past it has usually been something from the $1 bin at Target or stickers. This year N is receiving a book and I have no clue what T may find. Here's a few picks if you need some ideas:

1. Paper-Source Scratch and Sniff Stickers - I LOVED scratch and sniff stickers when I was little. My boys love the ones they get at Trader Joes, so I can only imagine how much they'd love a pack of them (and how many they would end up wearing to school that day). These are out of stock online, but I'm guessing Paper Source has them in store.

2. ban.do mini heart clips - Glittery hearts for your hair (and I love the colors). 

3. Lip Smacker - Lip Balm is a huge deal in our house (we label the tops with initials to avoid confusion). I can only imagine how popular these flavors would be (and how many reminders I'd need to give not to eat it). 

4. Drinking Glasses - These are a go-to for gifts for us (and popular in our house as well). I do think they are a bit of a pain to clean, but they are awesome fun when they're on. The only thing is it takes a lot of sucking to get the liquid to your mouth, but hopefully seeing it circling your eyes is motivation to keep going.

5. Junie B Jones and the Mushy Gushy Valentine - This will be N's Valentine's surprise. I know I've said how much he loves Junie B, so I'm sure this will be finished by Saturday morning. T may be receiving an Elephant and Piggie Book - possibly this one.

I hope everyone has a great weekend! We have a completely free weekend which seems a little unheard of, but I'm excited. 

Hearts Everywhere (more Valentine's Day finds)

If I'm completely honest, I'm not a huge Valentine's Day fan. Chris and I haven't celebrated since before we were married (unless you count the one year we had N's big ultrasound and then had dinner in his work breakroom - he is a CPA so Jan-Mar used to not exist for us). With the boys though, they get excited. The enjoy passing out Valentine's and receiving them, even if they don't quite get the meaning of the day. Usually I put them in some cute clothes, but this year the guys options are struggling. The girls options are rather awesome though - so many choices. 

Crewcuts Cardigan with hearts on the elbows. 

I mentioned this one a few weeks ago when I saw it in store and it wasn't online yet. It is adorable and not too Valentine's day-ish.

Marled Ruffle Dress 

While this isn't hearts or love-ish it would pair perfectly with cute heart tights and a pink shirt or a heart cardigan

Cherokee Heart Tights and Pink Heart Tights

I love the pink hearts on the knees in the one pair. The pink pair is adorable too and would look so cute under the ruffle dress. And the price is totally worth buying both.

Heart Cardigan

A classic little Valentine's Day sweater, this would look cute with so many different looks (dresses, jeans, skirts - it's the perfect topper).

Heart Sweater Dress - $15!!

This dress is just so sweet, and such a great price!! Even the buttons on the shoulder are heart shaped.

Heart PJs

These are sold out online, but I bet they are still in store.  The pattern is perfect for the big day!

Homemade Valentines

Over the past few preschool years we've given out mostly homemade valentines. I thought I'd share a few (some were super cute and fun to make).  

Last year we decided to try and use things we already had. I saw this idea here and changed it just slightly (to make it a bit easier). 

I handled making the pompoms and the boys glued on the eyes, feet (which were just foam hearts), the antennas, and the note. We made pink and blue, but only because we had pink and blue yarn (again working with what we had).

These candy robots might be my favorite valentine we've made. I know I saw the idea somewhere, but I cannot figure out where (it was pre-pinterest). 

We covered Nerds boxes with pink paper and then used glue dots to attach the candy. We made larger ones using conversation heart boxes for our playgroup. N chose all the decorations and placements.

T was too little to participate so he handed out gummy bears with a note attached.

We've also made general paper ones, but they weren't as cute. 

We try to make a little something special for teachers as well. I shared the window heart last week, here are two more ideas (with terrible pics). These corsage flowers are super easy. Paint more coffee filters, then bunch them up and tie with a pipe cleaner. You can do more than one together so it's a more layered look. N made me one of these at Sunday school on Mother's Day three years ago and it's still on my dresser next to a photo of us.

 Last year, we made another easy project I saw on pinterest. I traced their hand (and cut T's). They glued the heart and the pipe cleaner. We handed them over with flowers.

This year we are attempting these mixed with these because we have a ton of plastic animal figures (and the boys received two more buckets of them for Christmas this year). Although I should probably get started already...

Sunshine Heart Garland

It is supposed to snow today! I love how it looks outside before it snows. The gray clouds and the soft light, on any other day it would seem gloomy, but today it's exciting. I have a little art project to share today. The boys and I have created different versions of this, but what I'm sharing today is my favorite one by far (even N was surprised how pretty it was this morning - we put it up last night when the sun had already set).

Sunshine Heart Garland

Here's what you need:
coffee filters
washable paint and brushes
contact paper
scissors
hole punch
ribbon or yarn

This project is super easy (but does require a bit of adult help). To start, get as many coffee filters as you think you can paint and washable paint (not watercolors, they will barely show up but definitely washable because the paint will be EVERYWHERE).

 Then paint away - try and not golp it on. If you want a smooth look, then use a paint brush, if you like the tie-dye/stained glass look, glop it in spots and fold it over.

 Leave them out to dry. Once dry, stack them and cut a heart shape. (My 6 year old is giving one to his teacher and cut his own, I did the rest). Notice all the paint on my table.

 Roll out the contact paper and lay the hearts on it flat. Then top them off with another layer of paper (basically you are laminating them). Cut out the heart shape one more time.

 Hole punch the sides and tie the hearts together.  I used yarn because I had it and it looked sweet.

Then the last step is to hang it in front of a window and wait for the sunshine.

The boys made single hearts for their teachers. I attached a pretty ribbon for it to hang from and a little note that says "You fill my heart with sunshine. Happy Valentine's Day!"

Valentine's Day Clothing

Valentine's Day Outfits

pink tights, striped jean, ruffle shirt, gray heart dress, striped heart dress (unfortunately this won't ship until after the big day), heart tights, fisherman sweater, check shirt, belt

There are so many great options for girls this year for Valentine's Day! It seems boys are somewhat limited (my big guy will be wearing a button down and a sweater vest and my little guy will most likely pick out something crazy). Some items I couldn't find online, and wish I'd taken a picture of instore. JCrew has the cutest pink sweater with hearts on the elbows. Gap had a ton of adorable heart items. If you have a teeny tiny one Kissy Kissy had some of the sweetest Valentine's items. I look forward to seeing what all those little cuties out there wear on the 14th (I'm missing all the adorable Christmas clothes that disappeared this month).

Kid Designed Valentine's Day Decoration

Valentine's Day is just around the corner. To help get us in the mood (we are still currently listening to Christmas music and even today in the Starbucks drive thru T asked if we could go look at Christmas lights tonight), I am putting out some of our decorations. It includes this super easy and cherished project from N's preschool class two years ago. 

Sorry for the terrible pic!

Supplies:

frame

scrapbook paper

paint

glue

foam heart stickers

Prep Work for the Project:

These frames are $1 at Michaels. They come just as plain wood and since this was a class project, I went ahead and painted them all white (but if you do this at home, it would be super cute to let the little ones paint it). I printed out the Bible verse (my boys attend a Christian preschool, so it was more than appropriate to have a verse about the perfect love), glued it on scrapbook paper and put it in the frame. 

Project:

The actual project just involved the children decorating the frame with foam stickers (also from Michaels). Some children made patterns or covered the whole frame, N went for sporadic and then asked for his cookie ;).  Either way I have a cute decoration to put out year after year that reminds me of this sweet little guy.