Hearts

Josh and I have never been big on Valentines Day. Our tradition is to order a pizza and watch a movie on that day. We acknowledge it, but without any of the forced romance of red roses and boxed chocolate (although, mmmm, boxed chocolate). Josh is my best friend, partner and love of my life every single day of the year and I don't need Hallmark to tell me when to make that known.

But, like everything else, having Dash has made the holiday more fun for me to embrace. I like paper crafts and small, easy projects, and making valentines fits the bill perfectly.


These are the goody bags for family and Dash's classmates. The baggies are filled with pink and red Hershey's Kisses and a few Sweet Hearts. For the tags, I printed old vintage valentines onto sticker paper, cut them out and stuck them onto hang tags. Dash signed some.

Dash's teachers and staff at his school will get slightly more elaborate packages. The little paper baskets & tissue paper are from Target. These will have the Kisses and Hearts, along with home-baked cookies cut into Xs and Os.

Dash had a little, live Christmas tree in his room over the holidays that I hadn't the faintest idea what to do with after January 1. The tag that came with it suggested I plant it in the yard after the holidays, but I have no idea what size this thing could grow to or even if it could survive in So Cal. So I stuck it in the kitchen window and am hoping for the best. I've decided it will be my celebration tree. I'll decorate it for whatever holiday or season approaches. The little Valentine characters are stuck onto the silver balls left over from Christmas with double-sided tape. I printed the images from Country Living Magazine (last page).

I saw these doily hearts at the market and couldn't resist them. I stuck a piece of double-sided tape onto the backs and let Dash loose with them. His efforts all landed about three feet from the floor, so I helped a little with placement.