Wednesday, February 12, 2014

Alexander's First Valentines

It's been quite awhile since I've posted, and I'm so sorry for that. Life has had its up and downs in a big way over the past year. I'll tell a little bit more about things at the end of the post, but I'll begin with a craft I made. And this craft is a milestone of sorts too: the first valentines I have made for Alexander to give to his classmates. :)


Last September Alexander began going to a preschool for a few hours each week, and I imagine there will be dozens if not hundreds more valentines to make over the next few years! ;)

You might notice that there isn't any stamping on the tags. I love to stamp, but I got a Silhouette machine and it has been getting a lot of use. When you have a two year old running around everywhere, then minimizing materials, time and clean up is so important. Using the Silhouette helped me to start crafting again, when I went through a time that I worried I might never craft again. I will still post projects using stamps and dies too, and many will also now use the Silhouette.

I cut out a variety of tags. Here's another.


The Silhouette shapes were all bought from the Silhouette store: onlinesilhouettestore.com. I have a subscription there and LOVE their images. If you are interested, I could list which of the 6-7 cut files I used.

And here's another tag.


I taped a Smartees to the front using patterned washi tape. Who doesn't love Smartees? I discovered that my son definitely does. I had to hide them from him. ;)

And another with a different color scheme.


They were so much fun to make and assemble! A tip for making these is to use ribbon not glue to hold them together. Despite the layers, I didn't have to use adhesive because I tied the ribbon tightly at the top. It's really a time saver!


All of them lined up and ready to hand out!


I realize it's also been awhile since I've posted a pic of Alexander and me. He's doing very well. He is so genuinely sweet, loving (he constantly comes up to me, hugs my leg and softly says, "I vuve you, Mama."), friendly and smart too. At 2 years old, he knew his alphabet, phonics, numbers, colors, shapes, etc. His memory is amazing, and he definitely did not get that from me. :)


To tell a little bit more about what's been going on, last year both of my grandparents passed away. While growing up, they lived only a couple streets away from us, so they have really been like a second set of parents to my siblings and me. They were both truly amazing and caring people, and I'm so grateful they were in our lives. I'm also in the process of moving back to Florida. I haven't told many people about what's been going on, but it's a long, unfortunate story and without going into too many personal details, just Alexander and I will be moving down here for now. But after a long and hard year, I will say that things are starting to look much happier, so I have hope that things will get better.

Hope you are doing well and keeping warm in this cold weather wherever you are. May you have a truly wonderful, sunny and a great Valentine's Day!
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