Valentine Crafternoon!

I hosted a Valentine's Day "crafternoon" for a few friends the other weekend. It was such fun! We had tea and sweets and gathered around the table to potter on our various Valentine's day projects. It was such a fun way to relax, make something pretty AND catch up on gossip that we may even turn it into a regular thing!

I used a regular yellow cake mix doctored with a tablespoon of hibiscus extract. The frosting is from scratch- a bit of sour cream and lime zest keep it interesting. The little candy roses are pressed sugar- I'll post a DIY soon!


These peanut butter and jelly thumbprints were a big hit. They are a cinch to make too (for a Martha recipe anyway!).

You know The Fab Miss B- Any excuse to break out my tea set and Bando sequin heart!
Here is the Valentine I made- feel free to download it to print your own! I used Paper Source 5X5 cardstock in blossom and made my own envelopes with vellum. It's a quote from the film Annie Hall. Have you ever seen it? I highly recommend it for Valentine's Day viewing, though you should know ahead of time that the boy does not get the girl in the end. (Thank goodness!)

Are you working on anything special for Valentine's Day?

DIY with The Fab Miss B: Gussy Boring Invitations with Glitter

As I've been unpacking my supply stash into our new (smaller!) space, I've tried to be ruthless about narrowing it down. I'm pretty good about getting rid of things I no longer need, want or use, but when it comes to my art supplies, I'm a bit of a hoarder. (Do any of you have this problem?)

I came across a stash of wedding invitations I bought on super clearance at Target- I loved the pattern. I wanted to make them feel a bit more special, lively and a little less formal. I've noticed that pops of neon are a big trend lately (especially over at J-Crew!) and I was inspired to try it with glitter.

I used Martha Stewart Ballpoint Glue Pen, a stash of neon glitter and my brand new glitter pan (it has a built in funnel!) from Ace to add some drama and fun to these rather staid & conservative invitations.


This tool does a great job of giving fine lines of glue, but you have to be quick! I picked out just few scrolls and curlie ques to highlight with glue.

Then I coated the lines with glitter, carefully shaking the excess into my glitter pan.

Afterwards, I tipped the extra glitter back into the bag with the handy dandy spout and sealed it back up again with the rubber plug.


I'm quite pleased with the results. The superfine glitter always reminds me of decorative sanding sugars and I think it gave a lot more pizazz to these invites. I'm planning to use them as stationary, or perhaps as Thank You cards when shipping out Love Birds. I think writing on them in a bold hand with a really thick flat edged sharpie would look fantastic.

Do you use personal stationery? What do you choose for those increasingly rare personal pieces of snail mail?