Another cute DIY idea for kid's Valentines

As I mentioned in yesterday's post I really like the idea of a kid's Valentine that can also be used for fun play even after Valentine's Day has past. How cute are these Valentine Pirate's patches?

via Daily Candy

via Daily Candy

via Daily Candy

via Daily Candy

A very simple and fun project to prepare with your kids in anticipation for Valentine's day. I have to mention that the kids in this video tutorial are absolutely adorable!

via Daily Candy

Friday Fabulous Finds!: Perfect to set the mood...

I saw these while browsing Pinterest.  How beautiful are they to set the mood for Valentine's day or any day!

Via Hunkydory Home

Via Tindra4u

Via Tindra4u

You can definitely make these yourself.  I found a tutorial on Save on Crafts' website.  Click here for details.

Via Save on Crafts

Really, you can write just about any message with these, even, "Marry Me"!

Friday Fabulous Finds: Smart & Fun DIY Valentine for classmates

I've been trying to find ideas for little Valentine gifts to give my son's classmates this year. I would normally find some fun Valentine chocolate or candy and wrap it up in a cellophane bag with a Valentine card and bow but I thought this was really original and a useful gift too.

It's a pack of crayons with a custom Valentine artsy label with messages like "you color my world" or "you brighten my day". Very cute. You can find the easy tutorial here via Daily Candy via Prudent Baby.

I Swear by this Product: The Pandora craze!

Like any trend, you think that after a while it will not last and it will lose its appeal.  I have said this about Pandora bracelets and charms year after year and yet, everyone around me is still adding charms, changing bracelets, etc.  And I totally get why!  These charms are the easiest gifts to give, yet they have an emotional, sentimental, personal and lasting element.

If you know anyone with a bracelet, get them a charm and they would be happy...well that is the case with the ladies in my family, in my circle of friends and at my work.  A friend at work even buys one charm for her daughter every time she loses a tooth.  She hopes it will make a nice keepsake for her daughter as she gets older.  She got the idea from another friend at work who has a charm bracelet of her own (of course not Pandora - didn't exist at the time) from her parents who did the same thing when she was losing teeth.  Such a great idea!

At this time of year, I would be happy with any charm from Pandora's 2013 Valentine collection.

Turtle Doves - Via Pandora

Heart Pave - Via Pandora

Love of my Life - Via Pandora

Heart Pave - Via Pandora

Ring dangle - Via Pandora

My Tip of the Week: the power of a picture

I recently went from seeing my son 12 hours a day to only 3 hours, because I went back to work and he started going to day care.  Now all day long I cannot stop looking at pictures of him and really understand how my husband felt when he went back to work after some time off with us while I was home this past year.  So as part of his Valentine's Day gift, I am thinking of doing something for his office with pictures of our son (and even me - assuming he misses me too!).

I think this is such a great gift for a working dad who sees his children just a few hours a day.  It would definitely put a smile on his face especially because I know he would never go out and buy himself a frame or put something together with different pictures.  Here are a few ideas:

Snow globe

Via Black's Photography

Digital photo frame

Via Best Buy

Via Best Buy

Easel Art

Via Tiny Prints

Via Tiny Prints

Via Tiny Prints

Picasa collage in a frame

Create your own collage on Picasa and get it developed and then frame it or develop it on just about any type of photo gift.

Via Skip to my Lou - check it out for a tutorial on making collages in Picasa

Have fun!

Loot Bags....hmmmm

I have read on many mommy blogs that mom's hate loot bags!  They hate making them and receiving them.  But kids absolutely love them! I on the hand love loot bags and couldn't wait to put them together for my son's birthday, but I have to admit I almost started hating them because I just couldn't find anything good enough to put in the loot bags.  But after bouncing from one store to another it finally came together.

It all started with the Penguins...to clarify the theme of the party was Winter ONEderland and I found a super cute penguin Beanie Baby named Waddles at Chapters (Chapters had the lowest price and they had bags of this guy, which was perfect as I needed 34) and I fell in love.  So I walked out of Chapters with bags of Penguins!  The salespeople had a good laugh.  I thought it was nice to give the kids a collectible, keepsake they can always have from my son's birthday.  

Via Toys R Us

Then I got lucky at Michael's and found take out boxes that had candy cane swirls on them to use as my packaging.  They went perfectly with my theme.

Because of the size of the penguin I didn't have much space for the "fun" items so it limited my options.  I found the best places to shop for the little trinkets were:

- Michael's - this store had a very big selection and the prizes were much better than other places.
- Mrs. Tiggy Winkles - this store had cute little things that I didn't see anywhere else but the selection wasn't overwhelming.
- Winners - good for random things
- Chapters

For the boys I included some of the following items with the penguin and some chocolates:

From Toy R Us

From Michael's

Via Mrs. Tiggy Winkles

From Mrs. Tiggy Winkles

For the girls I included the following items with the penguin and some chocolates:

From Michael's

From Winners

 For the babies/young toddles I included some of the following items with the penguin:

From Shopper's Drug Mart

From Winners

From Winners

Via Ikea

The end result looked like this!

A big thank you to Gwynn Wasson for the theme inspiration and the beautiful favour tags! Check out her work on the catchmyparty.com website.

Hello Monday!: Favourite birthday gifts received

This weekend's birthday party for my son was a success.  Everyone had a great time and we were so lucky to have wonderful weather for playing outside.  The adults had a snowball fight and the kids built snowmen and just played in the snow!  The little man received so many great gifts but these following two really stood out.

Birthday Memory Keeper

Via MSK Sales

My sister-in-law thought I would enjoy saving a synopsis of each of his birthdays for the years to come.  I love the idea.  It will be nice to look back and remember the funniest and most memorable moments of each birthday celebration.  

Unfortunately, I cannot find where this book would be sold. She bought it from a merchant that had a temporary kiosk in her building.  I found it online at MSK Sales and they are only a wholesaler.  I will try my best to keep searching for other merchants and keep you posted.   

Ikea's Duktig 4 piece cookware

Via Ikea

These are absolutely amazing.  My son loves playing with my pots and pans so this set of cookware has become his favourite toy.  They look and feel like the real thing, so he is definitely fooled!  He bangs them together, makes music, and attempts to close the lid for a good few minutes.

Just a couple more ideas suitable for a one year old.