heart patch & embroidered blanket

I meant to have this up by Valentine's Day, as you might've already guessed, but it just didn't happen.

No worries though! There's always next year :)

I picked up this plain fleece blanket at Ikea for a few bucks. I think it was actually like, $3. Super cheap! The red felt I got from Michael's.

I attached the heart patches with variously colored embroidery floss and I loved the way the other side of the blanket looked so much that I added a few embroidered heart without the felt patches. This would be a cute gift for a young one. It would be a great project for a kiddo (with supervision of course!).

I think I may, over time, add more heart patches and embroidered hearts, as I have time to do so. There's plenty of space left, so why not fill it up? :)

A super simple and sweet project for a gift to a loved one or yourself!

Peace,
-A.

happy valentine's day!

I love Valentine's Day--and not just because I have an amazing boyfriend.

I've seen a lot of people this week, shaming couples for being happy on Valentine's Day and I think that's sad.

I have spent my fair share of Valentine's Days alone and I'll admit that it's great to have someone to go on a date with, but that's not all it should be about.

There are so many different kinds of love. Valentine's Day should be about celebrating all of those kinds in your life.

For instance, I always try to send my sister and niece a Valentine's Day card and a few little gifts (. . . okay, so I haven't sent them yet this year. . . . But I WILL). I've been doing that the last few years, so even when I haven't had a Valentine of my own, I still had someone for whom I could express my love :)

Growing up, our parents always got us little gifts. They would be on the kitchen table in the morning when we woke up. Little stuffed animals or bags of Hershey Kisses.

So, whether you are in a relationship or not, who cares? Celebrate the love you have for friends and family!

It's all about LOVE! Not strictly boyfriends, or girlfriends.

And I mean, Tom really wins Valentine's Day, but not all boyfriends do. I've found in the past that sometimes a V-Day with a romantic partner can be more disappointing than being on my own! Anyone with me on that?

Happy Valentine's Day!

Love,
-A

a simple garland

For this garland you will need the following:

paint swatches (free at Home Depot, I used Martha Stewart colors)
embroidery floss
a heart-shaped cookie cutter or stencil
a needle
scissors
cotton balls
red felt

Cut your hearts out of the paint swatches in pairs, same with smaller hearts from the felt.

Use your needle to string the cotton balls, as many or as few as you'd like, then glue the sides of the hearts together over the string. Be sure not to lay the string too high or low in your heart because it'll tilt forward or backward if it's not balanced.

If your paint swatch hearts aren't even around the edges, you can trim them. I left mine for a more handmade look.


<3,
-A.

heart shaped frame

I found this cute little frame at Michael's several weeks ago. It was only a buck so I picked it up. At the time it was just unfinished wood.

I painted it an antique white and at first I tried to paint the lines of words, but I found that a Sharpie worked much better.

It was a really simple craft that didn't take much time, but in my opinion turned out really cute!

Valentine's day is coming up! Last year Tom surprised me by showing up at my work with flowers, and because I was just becoming vegan that very week, some fresh berries instead of chocolates. It was very sweet and exciting because we had not been together long and it'd been a few years since I'd last had someone to celebrate with.

Tom and I agreed that our gifts for each other this year was our vacation, but we are also going to go out to dinner on Thursday (to beat the Friday Valentine's crowd). I'm looking forward to a quiet evening in on Friday :)

Love,
-A.