Valentine 8.5×11 printable freebie – My Valentine to you!

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I wanted to bring a little love to all my blog friends and readers in the way of this free colorful Valentine printable! I was inspired to do a radiating color rainbow heart after seeing a fun design using rays on a Hallmark card last night…mine’s different though. I get so inspired going to the Hallmark store. Such great illustration, typography and lettering by their amazing team of designers and lettering artists!

valentine printable

Click here to download and print for your wall!
Until next time Swellions!

Alexa

P.S. I added this to the following linky parties:

Show and Tell at Blue Cricket Designs
We Did It! Wednesday at Sew Much Ado
Make it Yours Day at My Backyard Eden!
Strut Your Stuff Thursday at Somewhat Simple
Weekend Wrapup at Tatertots and Jello

Sand Hearts & other Valentine photo ideas

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valentine in the sand

This is a post from last year that I thought I would reshare. Enjoy…

I wanted to create something special for my nephews and niece for Valentine’s Day now that I’m so far away. I really was struggling with an idea, but when I went to the beach, the idea popped into my head to write their names in the sand in a heart. I was going to make cards out of this, but decided to put them in frames for them to display in their room. I hope it reminds them that though I’m far away, I still love them very much and think about them.

Here’s me drawing Taylor’s Valentine in the sand:

sand heart

You could create a more elaborate frame, but I just put mine in a basic whitewashed (and cheap – only $2 each) frame from Big Lots. Big Lots has some really great frames!

I’m all about the quick craft. I like that it only really took me 15 minutes in all to draw, resize, print, and insert. It’s more about the sentiment than anything else. I think that’s the best kind of Valentine!

You can translate this idea into other photo image messages. Try photographing these ideas:

1) Write it in the snow
2) Spell it out with branches, nuts, or rocks (anything natural).
3) Arrange candies like red hots, conversation hearts, or M&M’s
4) Photograph a ribbon heart and name (satin ribbon would make beautiful cursive type)
5) Make a name and heart with buttons, rhinestones, or poor out glitter on a plain surface
6) Spell out the name in rose petals
7) Put a prized pet in the picture and write out the pet lover’s name in dog or cat food (or kitty litter if you decide to go there, but that may be an anti-valentine, huh?)
8) Spell it out in their favorite food (think the opening them of Napoleon Dynamite). Use Fruit Loops, Alphabet soup,ketchup etc. to share a special sentiment.

I guess if you didn’t have enough of one object to spell out something, you could always just do an initial instead.

I hope you find this project inspiring!

Until next time Swellions!

Alexa

Valentine Ribbon & Felt Brooches

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Valentine Brooches

So tonight I wanted to do a quick and easy craft for Valentine’s! Valentine’s is my 3rd favorite holiday after Halloween & Christmas. While I usually don’t have a Valentine on the big day, I still love the holiday. I think people get too caught up in the drama of it sometimes that they forget to think about love as being universal, not just between a person and their significant other. I like to think of Valentine’s more as the way I did in 1st grade, when you made a crafty Valentine box from a shoebox (decorating w/ doilies & glitter, of course) and stuffing it with little notes and from friends. So, with this in mind, I suggest you whip up a few of these, not just for you, but also as a way to say “I love you” to your pals! They’re fast and fun and you can do something a little different with each one!

Valentine Ribbon & Felt Brooches

Supplies
– thick felt sheets
– wood disks
– markers
– various ribbons
– various rhinestones
– pearl accents (I purchased mine…the heart and dots from Michaels)
– Fast Grab Tacky Glue
– Scribbles paint
– Glossy Collage Pauge
– Scissors
– pin backs

Instructions
If you notice, my pins are very “rough” around the edges. I wanted them to be organic…that’s how I craft. Basically, I just sat down with the felt and the ribbons and played. I folded the ribbons, cut them into pieces and layed them down onto circles I cut out of felt. I arranged the ribbons and accents until I was happy with their arrangement.

For the wood disks, I used my markers and colored them in as desired. I covered it in Glossy Collage Pauge to seal when I was finished. For the one with the leopard, you also notice that I collaged on some magazine pages. I love magazines for small little projects like this, cause you can cut out colors and patterns from ads and whatnot. I found the leopard print on a jacket on an ad actually.

I glued all the elements together using Fast Grab Tacky Glue. It’s great cause it bonds really quickly. You just need to hold it together several seconds to get it to bond into place.

I also added some Scribbles dimensional paint on the pink and black one as well, but there really are limitless materials and embellishments you can add! Glue or sew on beads, buttons, dimensional stickers or add your own embroidery touches! Have fun with them and go to town.

I finished them off by adding felt to the backs of all of them and adding the brooches with the Fast Grab. Let dry, then wear and enjoy!

Here’s a photo of some of the steps in my process of making these…

creating ribbon brooches

Here’s a closeup of each one of them!

Leopard Love Brooche

Faux Bois Ribbon

Hot Pink and Black Bow

This would make for a fun craft if you are holding a crafty Valentine’s party or a Valentine’s party for little girls! You could also adapt this idea to go on a headband or hairclip as well!

Hope you enjoyed this project!

Until next time Swellions!

Alexa