Valentine Cards Going to England

After finishing the Valentine Bookmarks for Evie and Canaan, see tutorial here..........

....I still needed to make them Valentine Cards.

Jessica, their mom, my daughter, was coming for a quick visit form England and time was running out.

I was able to get them finished.  As I make cards for loved ones, I think what a pleasant experience it is....to think of the person receiving the card and trying to make that card special for them.  My cards are very simple, but from my heart.

This card is for Canaan......

 Front of Card

 Inside of Canaan's Card

This card is for Evie

 Front of Card

Inside of Card

The cards will be flying to England...for....Evie and Canaan......

We love you both, Papa and Nanny

Valentine Gifts

It was really a delight to make Valentine's Day gifts this year.  Even though I did not get as many done as I originally wanted to.......the joy of giving was very present.

I am privileged to have a personal trainer Ray at the local Fitness 19 where I work out.  He is so positive, nice, and a gentleman.  I decided to make him a little crocheted basket to put tea bags in.  Jessica (sunnystitching) had brought me some really delicious organic tea bags from England so a few of those went into the basket.

I used Lily's Sugar and Cream warm brown cotton yarn for the basket and was inspired by the basket tutorial here.  The card is made from red and white cardstock.

Then there were the traditional sugar cookies for Corey and Henry, my grandchildren who live only 5 minutes away; and for the neighbors.  I do not ever remember using icing on cupcakes or cookies; and definitely have only made homemade sugar cookies.  However, this year I used a Betty Crocker Sugar Cookie Mix, some white frosting, and little red sprinkles.

 Cookies baked and frosted.  I used a small cookie cutter and was able to get 36 instead of 18.....

Cookies packed with cards and ready for delivery to the neighbors.

The cookies above are going to Corey and Henry along with the bookmarks and cards pictured below.
 See the bookmarks I made for my 2 grandchildren in England here.
(Tutorial for the felt heart shaped bookmark is here.)

Still a few gifts to make........giving can be anytime

My Valentine's Day

My only commitment this Valentine's Day was  going to workout at the local gym at 8am-9am.  To make the time at the gym special I wore a pretty crocheted heart bracelet that I made the night of February 13.  It is pictured below.  I am in the process of adding the leaves to the bracelet and redoing the back, but I felt special wearing it today. (pattern for bracelet is here)

I came home and decided to make it a special celebration day so I made a decaf cafe latte.  I used what I believe is the first Starbuck's Espresso Machine  that Starbuck's sold.  It was a gift to me and Jerry on our 25th anniversary from our son Joel and two daughters Mary and Jessica.

Served the Cafe Latte in a small espresso cup.

Cafe Latte and a pretty crocheted heart bracelet.

The rest of the day I finished gifts for my grandchildren Corey and Henry who live nearby, and made cookies for the neighbors.  I will be sending a post with those photos in a few days.

It was a lovely day....

Sally and Brave Lion Part 2

Sally and Brave Lion belong to my precious grandchildren Evie and Canaan who live in England with their mom and dad.  Their mom just happens to be one of my two daughters and the owner of a very beautiful blog Sunnystitching.

This is Part 2 of the story, Beds for Sally and Brave Lion.  

To see Part 1 click here

Evie and Canaan's wonderful grandmother named Nanny had finished the beds for Sally and Brave Lion.  She wondered about also making blankets and pillows for each of these special animals.  Finally, she made a decision...YES!!.....she would also make blankets and pillows.

Nanny looked in her baskets with fabric that was leftover from other sewing projects.  Delighted, she found some pink and blue fleece that would work just perfect for what she had in mind.

The scrap of pink felt was large enough to be cut as one piece into the blanket with a remaining piece for the pillow.

There were several pieces of the blue felt, but Nanny sewed two of them together to be one piece for the blanket and had enough leftover to be the pillow.

Nanny started by embroidering pictures on the little pillows.  She decided to use colors of embroidery thread that would go with the 3 colors in the beds.  Pink, Purple and White for Sally. Blue, Yellow and Green for Brave Lion.

Nanny could not decide what to embroider on the blankets.  She thought and thought, and then had an idea for a design for each blanket.

As Nanny embroidered the pillow and blankets. she thought lovingly of Evie, Canaan, Sally and Brave Lion.
The design on the blue one in the middle reminded her of the grass (green square) sky (blue circle) and of course the bright yellow sun.  The french knots in the middle of the flower on the pink one reminded her of flowers blooming!

The embroidery was finished!  However the blankets now needed something around their edges.  So, Nanny looked in her chest where bits of binding are stored and found the perfect binding...a leftover piece of binding that Jessica had made to sew on a quilt for Evie.

But what about binding for the blanket for Brave Lion.....oh....there was just the right amount of soft blue fabric that Nanny could use to make binding for the blue fleece blanket.

Nanny sewed on the bindings and the blankets were finished!......They looked just right!

Nanny lovingly placed them inside the crocheted baskets.

Later she wrapped them in tissue paper and Jessica (who was visiting Nanny) took them with her on the airplane to give to Evie, Canaan, Sally and Brave Lion.

Nanny can hardly wait to see Sally and Brave Lion in their new beds, snuggled on their new blankets on pillows in the third and final part of this endearing story.

Continuing..........

Crochet Heart Cards

Sometime ago I pinned a photo of a lovely Valentine's Card decorated with a crocheted heart....see here.

I found a really simple heart pattern and used a thinner yarn and also changed the top of the heart so the extra length of yarn could hang the heart on the card.  These hearts are really fun to make.

 The front of the card.

Closeup of the crocheted heart.

 Closeup of the 3 beads; two are very sparkley and the other is a simple red bead.

 Glue I use regularly.  It adheres very quickly.  I used it at the very tip of the yarn, and then again on the ribbon bow that covers the end.  Also used a dot in middle of straight piece of yarn and on the back of the crocheted heart.

Another closeup of the heart with the three beads before it was glued to the card front.

Front of Valentine's Card.

Inside of the card.  (Hearts are cut out of cardstock)

Happy Valentine's Day

Beautiful Valentine Cards

I wanted to encourage my grandchildren Corey and Henry to make some Valentine Cards about a week ago.  I had been inspired by my daughter Jessica when she posted on her very creative blog the Valentine Cards she made with her children (also my grandchildren:)). Click here to see her post and here to get instructions to make the cards.

I purchased a package of blank cards from Michael's Art and Craft Store. Also bought some new crayons and watercolor paints from our local Walmart. The cards from Michael's are so great...there are 50 cards and envelopes in a pack.  I use them regularly.  They were on sale the day I purchased them but if they are not on sale, I usually use a discount coupon.

My husband Jerry who teaches a Special Education class (ages 8-11 years old) in a local elementary school is going to have his students make these this week.  It really is a great project for kids.

Corey, Henry and I had so much fun making these cards.  I just addressed the envelopes and they will be mailed tomorrow!

 Here are Corey and Henry with two of their favorite cards.

 As you can tell we had fun also taking the photos.

 I sure love these two ....Corey, so fun and artistic...

.... Henry, so tender hearted and happy.

 The beautiful Valentine Cards.

I love you Corey and Henry.......Love Nanny

Beds for Sally and Brave Lion

Once upon a time there was a wonderful grandmother named Nanny.  Nanny had two grandchildren who lived in England.  Their names were  Evie and Canaan.  At Christmas Evie and Canaan each received a new small animal.

One of the animals was a Brave Lion.  The other animal was a fluffy white puppy. 

Evie named her new fluffy white puppy Sally.  Canaan named his new lion Brave Lion.

But.....Brave Lion and Sally did not have a bed. Nanny decided to make them each a bed.

She found a pattern here that a really nice person shared and used it to crochet the new beds.

 Nanny made a white, pink and violet bed for Sally, the fluffy white puppy.

Nanny made a green, blue and yellow bed for Brave Lion.

The beds are a surprise for Evie and Canaan, Sally and Brave Lion.

Evie and Canaan's nice Mommy Jessica is taking a trip to see Nanny.
She will bring the new beds back to England for Sally and Brave Lion
But........
Will Sally and Brave Lion really like their new beds.......

More to come..........