Self-Love Valentines

I made you all some Galentines because goodness knows that the upcoming holiday of romance and unrealistic expectations could use a dash more of self-love. Whether spending the day with your sweetie or flying solo with your best gals don't forget who is no. 1. (That's you!)

Feel free to download and share with your best ladies (or gents, up to you), just make sure to credit back to me :) (Link at end of post)

Download your valentines here and have a happy Valentine's Day!

Stay lovely,

Corin

FREE Printable Valentine's Bingo!

Happy Galentine's Day! Thanks to Leslie Knope, today has totally caught on as a day of "ladies celebrating ladies," whether it be for brunch, movie night, or whatever else sounds fun! Regardless of your plans today though, I thought I'd jump into the game with a little gift for my readers--free printable bingo filled with conversation heart phrases and pastel colors! (And I guess the guys can use it too, if they feel so inclined.)

It's 16 cards to play on, along with cards to draw from at the end of the file. And for markers, I definitely recommend conversation hearts. I hope you love all the colors as much as I do!

CUPID'S BINGO! <3

I wish you a wonderful Galentine's Day today and lovely Valentine's Day tomorrow! It just makes me so happy to celebrate love in all forms. Okay, and treat myself a little. That seems to be one of the main points of this anyway right?!

Now if you'll excuse me,  have a farmer's market to attend, and some Tangled to watch!

Stay lovely,

Strawberry Rose Lemonade Punch

A couple weeks ago I made some super cute Valentine’s Day Shirley Temples, and in the process discovered Rose Lemonade! And to be honest, I was totally shocked by how much I liked it! I’ve always thought that florals were meant to be used as a scent and nothing more, but in the right dosage they actually do add something quite elegant and wonderful to a beverage. Inspired by that lemonade (I originally purchased this brand), I set out to make my own, and then that somehow turned into this nifty little Valentine’s Day punch recipe! Think of it as classic sherbet punch, but with an extra dash of girly flirtiness—and not just because it is pink!

Strawberry Rose Lemonade Punch

By the glass:

4 oz lemonade

3 oz sparkling water

1-2 tsp rose water (adjust to taste)

1 rounded spoonful Strawberries and Cream Sherbet

Add your sherbet to the glass, followed by club soda, and stir until the ice cream completely dissolves, then add in the lemonade and rose water! It’s that easy!

By the pitcher (or Mason jar, whatever floats your boat):

2 cups lemonade

1 1/2 cup club soda (1 can!)

2 tablespoons rose water (again, you may adjust to taste)

2 small scoops sherbet

Add all ingredients and stir until dissolved.

I included both quantities because I usually will just make a classy beverage for myself to enjoy, but you could totally whip up more for that amazing Galentine’s Day brunch that you are hosting! (I mean, it’s cool if you want to make this for the boys too, just make sure they are a-okay with drinking pink!) I love how this is fruity, a little fizzy, and has just a dash of that rose water goodness, which makes me feel just a little bit like a fairy princess when I drink it! Plus roses and Valentine’s Day—classic.

Now I just have to pick my favorite between this and some Shirley Temples! Do you have any Galentine’s Day plans?

Stay lovely,

Conversation Heart Printables

Hello there! So. I had some fantastic plans to bring you an adorable Monday in Wonderland download today, but seeing as it is already after 8pm here and my technology still hates me, I think we'll save that evil plan for another day. For now, here are some cute little conversation heart printables for you to use to your heart's content, made by yours truly. I love you all and will write again soon!

Stay lovely,

DIY Valentine's Day Inspired Sleep Masks!

When I shuttled myself up to Aggieland last August to start the whole college business, I gained an absolutely beautiful room! I’m slowly building up wall décor for this space, but lucky for me, I get to skip a whole wall! Why you ask? (And this is even luckier.) Absolutely giant windows!!! They are incredibly beautiful and make everything feel so airy and fun. The only problem then is that when it starts getting light outside, my brain goes, “time to wake up!” Early rising like this would be an awesome thing, except for the fact that I regularly stay up far too late! So as we blissfully glide into spring (yes, that it what the transition feels like to me), I decided to whip up some fun sleep masks for that rising sun in the early morn!

DIY sleep masks aren’t really new, a quick Pinterest search will show you that, but I’ve been dying to try out my own embellishments. And then a day full of hearts and pink and love and stuff comes barreling towards me so I said, “why not Valentine’s Day inspired sleep masks?” (Check out me and my dialogue tonight. Obviously, I am now a fiction author.) I mean talk about a fun and personalized gift!! AND I get to once again use the fabulously sparkly glitter fabric I purchased for my Bright Side/Monday Side Pillow—it comes in so many colors! Yayyyy!

You will need:

A sleep mask to use as a pattern or this nifty template I made ya

1/4 yard black satin fabric

Glitter fabric sheets in the desired color (You could probably also spray on glitter with a product like this one!)

Scissors of the craft and fabric persuasions

Scrap fleece

Fabric glue (I used this brand)

Needle ‘n thread

Sewing machine

Fold over elastic (also nifty for a DIY Elastic JournalClosure *shameless self-promotion* or hair ties)

Step 1

Click here to download a sleep mask template and print it on computer paper! Or if you don’t like my overall shape, use your own mask as a template (or in my case my sister’s mask)! A quick Pinterest search will also get you what you desire and you can create the embellishment templates in a word processing program! All those are 2.5” in height, just to give you all the options you could possibly want.

Step 2

Cut out the mask template from the computer paper. Fold the satin parallel to the selvage to the height of the pattern and pin on the template, then cut both layers at once! (You can trust me, it’s pretty easy.) The fleece will also be cut from the shape inside the seam allowance if you would like to do that at this step.

Step 3

Trace and cut your embellishment from the glitter fabric! It is actually easiest to cut with regular scissors, for the record. Make sure if you are using certain letters such as “L” or “C” that you trace and cut these face down, or they will come out backwards!

Step 4

Attach the glittery embellishments to the right side of one of the satin pieces. I put just a little glue in the center to tack them in place, then made a running stitch by hand around the perimeter of the shapes to be all fancy-like! I would also recommend tacking down the points of a letter such as the x with a needle and thread even if you decide to glue everything. Otherwise, these points tend to stick out and look awkward, especially when the mask goes with the curves of your face.

Step 5

Cut your fold over elastic so that it comfortably stretches around the back of your head from temple to temple. Mine ended up being 13.”

Step 6

Now you will stack and pin your pieces for sewing. Start with the unembellished satin piece, right side up, followed by the elastic, also right side up. Since the elastic will be wider than the mask, you can go ahead and pin the ends down straight across from one another. Place the embellished satin piece face down on top, and pin everything together, sandwiching the ends of the elastic between the two satin layers.

Step 7

Stitch it all up, leaving a 2” gap at the top for turning, and using a narrow seam allowance.

Step 8

Notch the curves of the sleep mask by cutting out little triangle shapes. This will make everything lay out more smoothly and beautifully at the end.

Step 9

Turn the mask right sides out and push out the curved edges, then iron them on a low setting from the unembellished side to get pretty, clean curves (without melting your glitter vinyl).

Step 10

Insert the fleece piece you cut earlier and smooth it out between the layers. If it is too bunchy, you may need to trim it down a little. Once its’s in place, slip stitch that gap closed.

Step 11

Now take a gosh darn nap, because you worked very hard and have something pretty to help you out!

One of these babies is soon to be on a trip to Ohio to wish my bestie a very Happy Valentine’s Day—sorry for the spoiler Theresa dear! Sweet dreams love!

I do have to say that this little guy is so SO comfy! Between the satin, fleece insert, and fold over elastic at the back, this is one of the comfiest sleep masks I have ever tried on. I mean I might be a little biased because I get to look a little like my favorite emoji now, but I’m not completely lying! And it is well suited for that very beautiful and very bright window.

Some other cute variations on this idea include animal masks, the classic Breakfast at Tiffany’s eyes, or the addition of puns and other lovely words! What kind of sleep mask would you put together? Maybe one with emoji eyes?! (I mean, really, they’re emoji eyes.)

Stay lovely,

DIY Mini Children's Book Valentines

I’m about to make you all nostalgic for a moment, but does anyone else remember receiving boxes full of Valentines in elementary school?! I remember everything from Scooby Doo, to notoriously cute puppies, to, as was one of my favorites, the original female power trio—the Powerpuff Girls! I know people that continued this trend into High School and it was just such great fun!

Well, as a nod to those boxes of paper cards and candies, I thought it would be fun to make my own little upgrade on these Valentines featuring one of my favorite children’s books. The fun part is that you can use almost any book about love to make this prettiness happen, and just how sweet is that? You could even use the little poem I wrote for all you lovely people (just keep reading, just keep reading...) After all, it is a Monday in Wonderland!

Before we begin, I will warn you that this is a more technology-heavy tutorial, and I personally used Microsoft Word to make it happen, so that is what my steps will be based around. I don’t have any experience at all with the Apple equivalent of such a program, but none of this is too complicated, so hopefully you can make it happen with whatever word processing program you have!

You will need:

Computer

Photo scanner

Color printer (A duplex option, or double sided, makes this easier but it is not necessary)

Cardstock

Scissors/Paper cutter

Stapler

Pliers

Washi tape

Step 1

Scan in the desired pages of your book. Crop the images, and adjust colors as necessary using a photo editor. (I usually go with PicMonkey!) My scans came up a little washed out, so upping the contrast and saturation helped me out! I also added “Happy Valentine’s Day” and to/from labels to a couple of the images using a text style and colors similar to what was already in the book!

Step 2

Measure the dimensions of your book, and reduce them to roughly the dimensions of a normal paper Valentine. The original measurements on my book were 9” x 7 1/2", and I reduced that to 3” x 2 1/2".

Step 3

In Word, create a table that is 3 x 2. (This is for a 12 page book). Highlight all the squares and select the tab for “layout” under table tools. Here you should be able to type in the desired dimensions of each box on the table according to your calculations in the previous step. (I just included the grid lines as a visual aid).

Step 4

Enter a page break below the table, and on the second page, enter another table with the exact same dimensions. The only difference is that this one should be aligned right instead of aligned left. This will allow your book pages to be printed double sided!

Step 5

Determine where each page of the book will be in the 2 tables. To get this order, I cut up some scratch paper, stacked it, and creased the pages down the center. Then I flipped through this little “book,” numbering the pages in order from one to twelve. When I separated them again, I could easily put in the numbers for my order! So if you are making a 12 page book, you can use the order pictured above.

Step 6

To insert each image into the correct box, click inside a section of the table, then click insert > pictures, and select the corresponding book page. Select the picture, then the tab for “format” under “picture tools.” All the way to the right of this bar, you can type in either the width or height of the page according to your downsizing earlier. (When you type in one dimension, the other should automatically follow suit.) Change the “text wrapping” on the image to be “behind text”, and from there you should be able to click and drag the image to fill up the square of the table. Any small difference from the table dimensions, due to something like cropping, will also be hidden this way.

Step 7

If you don’t like the black dividing lines, feel free to change their color to white or transparent. Then just print using the duplex option and “flip page on LONG side.” It is not totally necessary to have a printer that can go double sided. If you don’t have access to this, you can make a mark at the top of a scratch piece of paper and print on that sheet to determine how the paper twists and turns while printing. You will then have to print the first table, put the paper back in the tray in a way that compensates for its rotation, and then print the other side.

Step 8

Cut each row of the chart out separately. (Do NOT cut down the center into columns.) Stack the pages in order, and fold in half. Insert one staple in the center fold of the book. You may need to staple on top of a bulletin board with your stapler flat, gently pull the pages off the board, and bend down the prongs of the staple with pliers. Seal the edge with cute washi tape to just be safe and sound.

Step 9

Sign your Valentine, and close up with a cute sticker or piece of washi tape if desired!

If you want to make just some simple single-layer fold-over Valentines instead, use the numbers above for inserting the scanned page images.

You could also draw up your own line designs, and water color each page of the book before you fold them. In fact, I thought that that idea was so cute, that I made you a template! I would love to just give you a template for original book, but since I didn’t write/illustrate the book, that would be no bueno!

I did kind of write my own version though and it is all set up and ready to print and color! This is my way of saying “I love you all” and “Happy Valentine’s Day,” even if it is pretty early and not quite as cute as the original! Okay, and honestly, I did it for myself, because sometimes I get really excited about an idea and don’t want to stop cranking out cuteness.

Mini book template

What children’s book makes you feel all warm, fuzzy and loved? Will you be passing out any Valentines this year?

Stay lovely,

DIY Valentine's Paper Straw Banner

Do you ever see something completely intended to be functional, but really only understand it as pretty? For me, watches are a big one. I know they obviously tell time (like duh Corin), but they make such beautiful accessories that that purpose seems totally secondary to me. Another thing that fell in that category for a long time was paper straws. Why would they need to be anything other than adorable, right? Well last weekend I published a cute little tutorial for sweet and sour variations on Shirley Temples, and in the background of those pics was a fun little straw banner made just for Valentine’s Day as well. This thing was so easy and inexpensive to make that I decided to do a tutorial for it too, so that those paper straws can shine in all their adorableness!

You will need:

Paper straws (I used 15, bought in the Target dollar section)

Ruler

String

Needle (larger is better)

Scissors

Step 1

Measure one straws and cut each into 3 pieces. You can cut the first one, then use one of those pieces as a reference for all the others to make things less fussy!

Step 2

With the string attached to the spool (cuz it’s hard to know exactly how much you need), thread the needle and string 3 straw pieces on. The weight of the needle will just make it easier for everything to thread through. Then feed the string back through the first straw piece in the same direction as before. This will create a triangle shape. Also, we are going to now call that double-strung piece the base!

Step 3

Slide the triangle down the string toward the spool by grasping the base and gently pulling—if you grip somewhere else, your triangle might not seem inclined to slide! Repeat again and again and again and… (I didn’t think it was necessary to say “again” 14 more times…)

Step 4

Unthread the needle and loop that end of the string around the corner of the last triangle and tie a knot as seen above. Cut off the string from the spool side, and slide the triangles toward the tied end until taut. Tie off the remaining end in the same fashion.

Step 5

Add a length of string to each end if necessary, for hanging purposes. Since I strung them together with green so you could follow, I added white to the ends to it would hang up discreetly.

Step 6

If you would like, bend each base in the center to create a nod to a little heart shape!

I know that is a lot of words for something “super easy” but hopefully you got this! (If you don’t, please ask!) Because about $4 and 20 minutes later you have a really cute banner! You can even make fancy drinks to match it, as well as the plethora of other cute V-Day crafts found in every nook and cranny of Pinterest.

All the fun little backdrop additions were crafted with glittered scrapbook paper (found at Hobby Lobby) and paper doilies left over from my Thanksgiving Table Runner! I kind of had to rapidly style this up during a lunch break, but I think it beautifully does the job.

Are you up to any Valentine’s Day crafting or busy admiring any sneakily functional cuteness?

Stay lovely,

Valentine's Shirley Temples for the Sweet and Sour

In case the glittery pink chocolate boxes and copious amounts of conversation hearts didn’t give you a heads up, Valentine’s Day is coming very soon! And if we are being honest, nothing quite sparks DIY inspiration like a sparkly holiday. Better yet, today’s DIY is appropriate whether you are cynical about a day of Hallmark Cards and bouquets of roses, or if you just love a day dedicated to love, no matter how cheesy that may be. (You can count me in camp number 2 on that one!)

I wanted to give the classic Shirley temple a little remix by trying it out with some different flavors! Now although I had to forgo the maraschino cherries for reasons of “forget to get that at the grocery store,” I think these layered drinks are still super cute and fun!

For the sourpuss:

Rose water lemonade (we bought this brand)

Grenadine (you can make your own!)

To get the ombre effect in this one, pour in the lemonade to the desired level, then add a little grenadine. It will fall to the bottom, but not without leaving some beautiful and romantic gradation!

For the sweetheart:

Raspberry seltzer soda (we bought this!)

Grenadine, also

Ice

This time, add a little grenadine to the bottom of the glass, then add 6-7 ice cubes on top. Slowly pour in the soda. The ice barrier and slow pouring creates a more definite division of colors!

I think any lightly colored or clear soda would be just about fantastic for this, so obviously modify based on your color and taste preferences. We bought both our sodas at World Market, but I’ve seen similar products at the grocery store, and even something like Izzie might do the trick. And oh yeah, the cute paper straw with hearts is definitely a requirement. (Target dollar section say whaaaaat?)

What kind of fun beverages are you thinking ‘bout stirring up this Valentine’s Day?

Stay lovely,