Valentines Treat Bags

Countdown Gifts for My Grandchildren

As soon as my grandchildren started opening their Christmas advent presents they began asking about Valentines and Easter countdown gifts. 

I really should have seen it coming. There is no way I can repeat the elaborate Christmas advent for each holiday, so I made little gift bags. The same concept, just a smaller scale so that I can actually follow through. 

Fortunately, I had already purchased adorable Valentines Treat Bags from the Close to My Heart Seasonal Expressions catalog, along with a cute stamp set. 

The treat bags are now safely on top of their 'fridge (where all parents put items they don't want gotten into, right?), waiting for tomorrow morning. We took them out to dinner so that they wouldn't drive their parents crazy until bedtime. 

Of course I made a video showing how the little treat bags came together. If you need any of these items for yourself, I have direct  links to all of the them on my CTMH website, listed below the video.

Supply List
Valentines Treat Bags 
Love Ya Silly Stamp Set 
EZ Dots Adhesive Runner 
Barn Red Exclusive Ink Pad 
Hollyhock Exclusive Ink Pad 
Outdoor Denim Exclusive Ink Pad 
Thistle Exclusive Ink Pad 

Are you doing any special crafts for Valentines Day? Let me know in the comments below.

THE VALENTINE'S TREE

A New Family Tradition

Some people may call it lazy, I prefer to think of it as an unplanned, new family tradition.  Yes, our Christmas tree is still up. Let's just say that January has flown by so far. My grandchildren were due for a visit, and I suddenly had a brilliant idea.

I pulled out all the stamps, paper, stickers, ribbon, etc, that were remotely Valentine's Day themed, and set up an extra work area in my craft room. Since my grandchildren are six and seven years old, they were all in. I love this age, they are so willing to agree to things, like The Valentine's Tree, even if they have never heard of it before.

They made some really cute decorations, and some that were . . . umm . . . interesting. My grandson added hearts to a drawing of Portal, his favorite video game to date. I guess if you add hearts to something it is automatically sweet, and befitting of The Valentine's Tree. They also had a little trouble making things that were ornament sized.

Adorable, right? You know what this means? I am obligated to leave the tree up year round. 

There were several discussions about future holidays. Easter will be easy, and Halloween is the most highly anticipated. My grandson explained that our 4th of July tree will need "George Washington, and some dead Red Coats." We may need to negotiate a little before July.