In the Shop - Conversation Heart Valentines

Oh, it's that time of year again. Valentine season. One of my very favorite holidays, for its tiny gifts full of sentiment. Again this year we've got sweet little Valentine pins perfect for all your friends. I've even toned down the sentiment this year, after all the agonizing my first grader did last year over who should receive the "xoxo". All of our messages can be given to anyone as a token of sweet, simple friendship. They come in sets of 5 pins attached to a simple card that reads "Happy Valentine's Day" on the front and "to" and "from" on the back. The card/pin colors are mixed to make each card as much fun (and as gender neutral) as possible. Our set of conversation hearts is perfect for flexible classroom giving, party favors, or place cards at a special dinner. 

Get your own in the SweetKM Etsy Shop.

 We'll be wearing all 5!

KCW Inspiration : Kid Art

Today I'm over at the Kid's Clothes Week blog brainstorming ideas for kid's clothes based on kid's art. When you're finished here, do stop by and check it out.

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My kids, and I would imagine most kids, generate enormous quantities of art. I have a thick stack of artwork too precious to part with, and another thick stack of art work destined for other projects. We make greeting cards out of it, wrap presents in it, cut it up and make new art with it. As I'm brainstorming my (kid art themed) Kid's Clothes Week must-sew list, I thought it might be helpful to get some of that thick stack of artwork up on the virtual wall. I thought maybe seeing it pinned next to possible sewing patterns and fabrics might trigger a few sewing ideas.

L is dedicated to works on paper, many of her recent pieces are below. J is more into installations, which don't photograph nearly as consistently, but you can see a few of them here.

My guys have been into layering lately. Blobby watercolor, or marker with something finer on top. (Hmmm...layering)

L painted this series of moody blues, and blacks while recovering from a 25 minute freak out (oh the metaphor), initiated by my allowing one of J's friends to ride her scooter home from the park (mean mommy!), while she was seated quite comfortably in the stroller. (Hmmm...color palette)

This is a yellow nest with blue eggs.

This is a rainbow nest with rainbow eggs. (Hmmm...variation on a theme. Okay, not sure where I'm going with that.)

And this, well I'm not sure quite what to do with this (and this), but there must be a jumping off point for a mama sewn outfit in there somewhere.

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Wondering where all this is headed? Stop in at the Kid's Clothes Week blog to see where this brainstorm leads, or check out my KCW inspiration board on Pinterest. 

Do you have a KCW planning blog post, Pinterst board, or scribble on a napkin? Link to it in the comments, I would love to check it out.

Olympic Medal Valentine

We've been churning out Valentines, and binge watching figure skating all week. Somewhere in the mess of construction paper and glue, our Valentines turned into medals. We started out with corrugated cardboard and construction paper, just enough for J & L's charming rendition of the Olympic Medal Ceremony. I should have known to stop there. J thought our gold medals could be mistaken for bronze, resulting in a $25 craft store metallic paint shopping spree. These medals are worthy of the grandest pretend podium. Tomorrow we'll work on replicating the Flower Award Ceremony bouquets. With all the snow in the forecast, by Monday I'll be sewing spandex bodysuits, and the kids will have built themselves a bobsled. 

These, of course, are mine. The glitter glue is still drying on the ones J and L made.

School is already canceled for tomorrow (uffa, not again!). Here are a few other paper crafts I have in the back of my mind for when the library books (is it wrong that I'm hiding them until tomorrow), and legos lose their luster. Break out the popsicle sticks and empty toilet paper rolls, its gonna be a long weekend.

Popsicle Stick Skiers.
Tissue Paper Torch
Skewer Flags

Printable Valentine Treat Bag Labels

You may have heard me at the playground railing against the overload of sugary snacks that come home in my kid's backpack after any school holiday party. Eighteen candy canes. A bushel of candy corn. I sent nothing to school on those occasions (except for the specific requests of room mom and teacher, which I can promise you were healthy), and you can be sure I never will. As J was inventorying his 14th Christmas candy cane, it occurred to me that maybe another kid somewhere in the vicinity was taking particular note of the lack of candy cane from my kid. So, for the sake of the kindergarten status quo, I am going to try to put my scrooginess aside, and come up with some sort of treat for my favorite school holiday, Valentines Day. There is nothing I love more than a paper reflection of my love.  Finding a homemade way around the box of trademarked cartoon characters with a caned message from the mega mart, brings me more joy than a truck load of candy ever could.

This year's class is enormous, too big for all the cutting required of last year's recycled finger painting masterpieces. The solutions: Printable Cracker Valentine Treat Bag Labels. LOVE is spelled out on the front is Scrabble Jr. Cheez-its and the card is made to fold over a snack sized zip-lock bag filled with the actual cracker. J wrote his name once and I photoshopped it to the back of the card. Cut, fold, staple, done! Not a particularly healthy snack, but a shade or two better than the boxes of candy hearts I am bracing myself for.

You can download a copy of the Cracker Valentine Treat Lables to print on your own. I printed mine in color on white card stock at a copy center. Feel free to share the PDF with friends by giving them the link directly to this post.

Say it with bunting.

We hope it will be happy, we know it will be memorable.
Happy Birthday to YOU!
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Made with 50% recycled artwork.

(Apparently, I am too cheap to buy construction paper.)

Hey Valentine!

Hey friend, did you get the birthday card I sent you? How about the anniversary wishes? No, well I'm not so great in the card department. Its not that I'm not thinking about you, just that my mind and the card stand, aren't often in the same place at the same time.

Every so often the stack of finger paintings, the scissors, and a few random envelopes are in the same place, and I have the presence of mind to send out some good wishes before the birthday cake is completely eaten.

Happy Valentine's Day

Family Party

One good space shuttle party deserves another. My mother worked her cake decorating magic to match the t-shirt I made a few weeks ago.
I reused the friend party cupcake toppers in my standard balloon centerpiece.
Now that we have thoroughly celebrated the milestone, we can get on with the business of being 4.

Four

J turned 4 last week. I tried hard to keep the celebration manageable. Just a few friends at the playground with snacks and cupcakes. Of course, it rained and we couldn't play, so I got some last minute bubbles and play dough. Had I remembered to bring my camera, I would show you the face painting and finished cupcakes, but...at least its the only thing I forgot. I guess a homemade t-shirt and cupcake toppers is only manageable compared to last year's last minute home made pinata.
I found the space shuttle image online, and added color in Photoshop, then printed it out on some fancy schmancy iron on paper from Michael's.

Be Mine

Crayon stained glass is my favorite valentine kid craft. I like to think J made this one, but it was hard for me not to take over, its so much fun.

I let him make another one to make up for it.