Valentine Breakfast...

We decided to have a Valentine breakfast this morning while Daddy was home vs. tomorrow morning when things are rushed. (Back to work) Thought I'd share today in case any of you wanted to give it a try! Here is where we started...

Red food coloring in the pancake mix & then we cut out hearts with a cookie cutter...

Ta-da! A pink & delicious breakfast for M1 & M2 that included pink milk as well...

Enjoying every bite...

This is sooooo yummy, thanks mom!

Happy Valentines Day (tomorrow) to all!

Enjoy! s.b.

Heart Mitten Garland

I found the inspiration for this adorable craft HERE on the blog Two Straight Lines. I thought it would be a fun project for M1 & I to do together. After we started, I quickly realized it was a bit difficult and ended up doing most of it myself. M1 definitely helped & it turned out great!

Supplies- Red/White Construction Paper, Newspaper, Glue, Red Ribbon, Scissors, Hole Punch

1. Cut out several (we did 7) mitten shapes. I just did this free hand but if you're interested there are 100's of templates on the web. The mittens are approx. 8 inches long.

2. Because the newspaper is very flimsy, I glued each of the mittens onto white construction paper & cut them out as well to reinforce them a bit.

3. Using the red construction paper, cut out as many small red hearts as there are mittens.

4. Glue the hearts onto the mittens. M1 was glad to finally be able to help a bit!

5. Use the hole punch to punch out holes around the exterior of each mitten. (Another step that M1 enjoyed... they really liked all of the small circles that the hole punch created. Homemade confetti!)

6. String the red ribbon through the tops of each mitten & you're done!

We hung ours in the entry to our sun room & it looks great.

Definitely a fun winter-like Valentine decoration.

Enjoy! s.b.

Valentine Love Bugs

This has always been one of our favorite books to read to the girls...

Love Bug by Sandra Magsamen. We could read it a hundred times a day, M1 & M2 love the very end when we tickle them like crazy. After reading it a few times this morning, we created our own little love bugs...or butterflies, but who's paying attention?!

Supplies- Glue, Colored Construction Paper, Scissors, (not pictured) Scotch Tape, Pipe Cleaners, Paint, Paint Brush, Toilet Paper Tube, Google Eyes (or a small circle of black paper for the eyes), Black Marker

 1. Paint the toilet paper tube the desired color.

(*If you don't have paint or don't feel like painting, have your little one wrap the tp tube with construction paper instead.)

2. While the tube dries a bit, cut out the love bug wings using a piece of construction paper.

Fold the paper in half & be sure that the bottom of the heart connects to the fold, as pictured below.

3. Glue the wings to the back of the tp tube. (We also placed a small piece of tape over the top to help hold the wings in place while they dried.)

4. Cut the pipe cleaner in half.

5. Tape a small colored paper heart to the end of each pipe cleaner.

6. Tape the empty end of each pipe cleaner to the inside top of the tp tube, as pictured below.

7. Glue the google eyes to the front of the love bug.

8. Add a smile using a black marker.

9. Decorate the wings with some more paper hearts, attaching them with glue.

And there you've got it... two cute little love bugs!

M2 made hers GREEN & GOLD in honor of the Packers...we're looking forward to the big game this weekend! Go Packers!!!

Enjoy! s.b.

Cute Valentine Printables

It's official, we've made it to February & today was our first morning placing a small sticker on our Countdown to Valentines Tree.

Only 13 more days until the big day of LOVE celebration. With that being said, I wanted to share these...

Adorable Valentine printables that I printed for M1 & M2 yesterday. I found them on the Crafts & Sutch blog. Here is the link... Valentine Printables

I plan on giving each of our girls a little valentine message each day leading up to February 14th, when they'll both get a special valentine present.

Both girls were thrilled to get their first little message this morning & have been carrying the small notes around with them where ever they go all morning. (M1 even brought hers to school this a.m. in her pocket!) And if your little one goes to school all day, they'd be a great little addition to a lunch box as well.

Enjoy! s.b.

Just in time to get one more cute kids craft in before the big holiday tomorrow. This one is pretty easy & takes little time to complete. (minus drying time) I added a magnet to the back & it made a great fridge magnet. M1 is so proud of her work & was happy to display it on the fridge. You could also glue a ribbon to it & hang to display. Perfect little last minute valentine for someone!

~Supplies: *4 craft sticks, *Glue, *A picture of your child, *Conversation hearts, *Magnet or ribbon
To Begin- 1. Glue the four sticks together as shown in picture #1. I would give this a few minutes to dry so the sticks don't move while you're working with the frame.
2.Once it's dry, go ahead & place dots of glue around the frame & allow your child to place the hearts around the frame. If they are anything like M1 it went like this... place one on the frame, eat one, place one on the frame, etc. She'd do projects all day if they always included candy!
3.Once finished, I would let this set for at least an hour, if not more so it dries completely. Then go ahead & cut/glue your picture to the back, add a magnet & you've got yourself one very festive frame.!

Sweet Heart Treats

Ok, so this might be more of a mom project but M1 had a ton of fun helping & decorating herself. I have a new love for baking & decorating cookies. (I will post the baby shower cookies again soon.) I found a great recipe HERE that I just love. They are easy & freeze well. These hearts were made a few weeks ago & taken out of the freezer yesterday to be frosted. I started by frosting a "base" layer. Then I mixed more frosting & put it into bottles that I purchased @ Michael's. If you don't have them, you can put the frosting in a ziploc bag & cut the corner off... which also works well if you're doing it yourself, not if you're allowing your toddler to decorate! M1 did take her turn decorating a few of her cookies. (If you look closely @ the top of picture #3, you'll see a few of her masterpieces!) Then I placed them in clear plastic bags (also found @ Michael's) & tied with a white ribbon. We're looking forward to delivering our valentine treats to friends later today. Enjoy! s.b.

Valentine's Day Pretzels

 

 

Ok, here we go! My first official blog post as s.b.creatively! We'll see how this progresses as the time passes. For those of you who frequent my personal blog, this post will be a repeat. (Sorry for that.) In honor of Valentines Day, yesterday we decided to make heart shaped pretzels. I found the recipe here @ Food Network. They turned out so well & it was definitely a fun project for M&M. It was especially fun for M1, she loved being able to assist with all the different steps, such as painting the olive oil onto the parchment paper & rolling out the dough. Watching the pretzels in the boiling H2O also created a whole lot of excitement. We'll definitely make these again very soon. Maybe shamrocks next month for St. Patty's day??!! Let me know if you decide to give it a try... comments ENCOURAGED!!! s.b.