I (Heart) Pillows

My amazing neighbor friend is a master at quilting. She also loves to share her talent with the rest of us non-quilters. There have been many non-quilters in our neighborhood that have turned to the other side - myself being one of them. Since I am new, I will show what I put together without a tutorial. There was a lot of cutting, sewing and more cutting. They turned out cute. Thanks Jayme.

I am linking up to:
Tea Rose Home Party

Be Mine/Easter Blocks

I went to a local craft store and priced the cutest 'Be Mine' blocks for $25. My friend and I decided to make them for the price of scrap paper and get two uses out of the blocks.

Find a 2x4 in your shed or garage or go to your local hardware store.

Cut 2 - 5" blocks and 4 - 3 1/2" blocks.

Use three coordinating colors of paper and cut them to size.

Mod podge them onto your blocks.

Sand the edges down for a worn look.

Use brown shoe polish or distress ink to give it an aged look.

I printed my letters in Lucinda Handwriting on the computer and increased the size to 230.

After cutting the letters out, use a Sharpie marker to color the white lines around the letters.

Mod podge the letters on and let dry, then mod podge over the letters for the finishing touch.

Waste not, want not...turn the blocks around and what do you have?

You're ready for Easter!

I'm linking up to:

Strut Your Stuff Thursday and Valentine SYS Party at Somewhat Simple

Get Your Craft On Thursday at Life As Lori

Show off your Stuff at Fireflies and Jellybeans

My Sweethearts and I'm So Lucky

I saw this idea here and loved the 2 in 1 use for it. My friend and I made them for.... not for teachers nor for grandmas, we made them for us.

Flip the blocks around and you are ready for March.

The idea doesn't stop here. You can make an autumn version that says 'I'm thankful for...' and flip them around for a Christmas version that says, 'My Little Angels'.

Thanks Alison for the great idea at How Does She...

Love is Spoken Here

This easy fast project was made with a group of Washington church ladies for a Valentine project. It is the title of a Primary song that our children sing in their Sunday classes. I love it so much that I have it hanging up all year long.

4 easy fast steps:

1. Sand and stain a piece of plywood (mine is 24 inches long).

2. Write 'Love is spoken here' (or a favorite love song) with permanent marker.

3. Glue painted red hearts on - I did tie some twine around the last heart.

4. Drill two holes for the wire and hang up.

That's it! Now go find some old plywood lying around.

My Love Heart

I stumbled on Dawn's cute blog the other day and saw the easiest and cutest way to wrap and frame Valentine's Day. She made it even easier and offered her 'Love' file from her heart to mine. Her heart frame idea is here.

Thanks Dawn.

I already had a frame painted black (can't have too many of those) to place my printed 'love' heart into and used the last of my left over Valentine material to tie around the frame. I cut the heart out and glued it onto pink paper to add more color.

I found this little cutie at the thrift store for .75 yesterday. I normally never have knickknacks laying around, but his cute little bottom was too hard to resist. He had to come home with me.

Sweet Treats

What a perfect treat for my sweetheart!

What a great idea! I love the date on the bag

The brownie bags can be found here.

I printed it out on white paper and taped the sides to form a bag.

This brownie recipe is a keeper!

The gal at Crafty Chicks wasn't kidding when she said that her mom makes the best brownies. I am a brownie lover and have tested and tasted many recipes. This one is a blue ribbon winner! It now has the #1 brownie spot in my recipe book. She said that they are still delicious even after days in their dried-out state. I guess I will never know - they only lasted an hour after coming out of the oven. I halved the recipe into a 9X13 pan in fear that I would eat more than I should - I did.

Mom's Brownies
1 1/4 cups butter
4 cups sugar
8 eggs
2 cups flour
1 1/4 cups cocoa powder
1 tsp. salt
2 tsp. vanilla
walnuts are optional

Cream butter and sugar. Add the remaining ingredients in order. Bake in a greased 13 x 18" pan (cookie sheet) at 325º for 40-45 minutes.

Valentine Rag Wreath

This is what I found after a trip to my junk closet... an old wire hanger, forgotten Valentine material, left over burlap material and a ribbon from my daughter's birthday wrapping.

Total price: free

Put it all together and what do you get?

A sweet Valentine rag wreath.

Here is a tutorial for a burlap wreath. Mine is a spin off - I cut the material into strips and tied them around the wire hanger into a single knot - I suppose you could say that I actually created something on my own - yeah for me.