FREE PRINTABLE - last minute mini Valentines Day cards.

Just in case...Mini Valentines Cards

St. Valentine's Day

                  Happy Valentine's Day !Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. Love never fails. 1Corinthians 13 7-8

Valentine Bunting

Don't throw away your old sheets and pillow cases!!!!You never know when you might need them for a craft project. Using satin ribbon, free hand cut scrapbook hearts, Cricut machine cut  keys,  free Valentine's printables from B Nutre Blog and yes, a vintage looking sheet from the thrift store, I went to work. I knew the sheet would serve well as a layering piece for the dessert table under the

Valentine's Treats Part 3

Just in case you need a little more inspiration!In keeping with the Key To My Heart theme, we recycles t.p. rolls into favor crackers. The keys were made using the Cricut machine, and dollar store foam glitter hearts were attached with double sided tape. We stuffed the favors with dollar store candy. Aren't these the cutest things?! We love them. Found these mini Hershey bar wrappers here , for 

Key To My Heart Sweets Part 2

Who doesn't love lemon? These sweet little lemon pound cakes were very easy to make using a box of lemon cake mix and box of lemon pudding! Baked in a silicon mold and drizzled with powdered sugar and vanilla glaze.Lace and Valentine's Day just seem to go so well together. I choose a free label from WorldLabel.com to use for all the dessert table foods. Layered the label onto DCWV scrapbook paper

Key To My Heart Sweets

In keeping with the vintage Valentine theme I choose sweets I remembered from childhood.My mother would serve angel food cake at family gatherings and it was perfect for this tea.I used store bought angel food cake, whipped topping flavored with a hint of raspberry, pale pink pearls found at Michael's (which we also used for our heart sugar cookies) and crystal sugar. Budget minded, pretty and

Vintage Valentines Day Tea

Vintage Valentine's Tea PartyWelcome! Thank you for stopping by. Allow me to introduce ourselves to you. We are a mother and daughter team starting our very first blog on homemade crafts, parties, recipes and more. We are excited to get started bringing you all of our ideas in the hope that we may inspire you in some small or large way on your next project. Bear with us as we get up and rolling

Forget Flowers and Candy - Give Them a Romance Novel!

This Valentine's Day, don't go the old worn-out route of giving the person you love flowers or candy (In the past I would have a basket of flowers and candy delivered to my hunny. Men love that kind of stuff, too.)

This year, give them a romance novel, but with an added bonus. Use a highlighter to emphasize the juicy parts, then add little stick-it tabs to show him where to look. ;) You might also want to offer to read some of those scenes aloud to him.

What have you got to lose?

Do I Want Valentine's Day Presents?

Well, of course I do...I am human.
And Female.

But it doesn't have to be about "ME" all the time does it?
Why can't it be about "someone ELSE" once in a while??"

Possibly even people we don't even know or will never meet.
I have a confession to make.
Please don't think I'm a "Holiday party pooper" but I must tell you this.

Commercialism GROSSES me out big time. I hate it.
Whew...okay I said it.

Are you still with me?

I struggle with this fact VERY much at Christmas time and Valentine's Day more than any other Holidays. Maybe it has something with the "giving of gifts???"
And the "needy" throughout the world who receive nothing.
Those who are just trying to survive day to day.

I'm not against the "giving of gifts."

What I am against is our motives for doing it.
Why must we feel so pressured at certain times?
I mean can't we give love and gifts......ALL the time. Or does it have to be on specific dates?

What if we missed "that date?"

I mean will we go to "Hades?"


I don't think so.

Don't get me wrong LOVE to give gifts. I love to GET gifts too. Who doesn't?

I am a "giver" have been all of my life. I don't know why I am so conflicted in my soul about these types of holidays.

IF OUR hearts are in it....for the good and not for the GUILT. Then I haven't an issue with that.
But if we give out of pressure.....and because we are "told to" by the various "Consumer Marketing Agencies"....then I struggle with it.

Maybe that is the rebel in me.

I am a writer.....
I love to send handwritten letters and cards to people.
I've bought and have also "hand made" cards all my life.

I keep a certain card store" in business........really, trust me on this one.
Hallmark estimates that "200 Million cards will be purchased" for this Valentines Day.
This doesn't include the little "cutesy cartoon" type cards that little kids give away in their classrooms.(the lady who started it all.....Esther Howland.")

What I DO like to see is the various "home made" gifts and CARDS that various ladies and gents....make, give and sell on their blog sites.

I appreciate all of their creativity and their time spent on doing this. I think it is so awesome and IF we were going to give cards and gifts....
I would rather it be this way.
"Home made and filled with special thoughts and love."

Yet I know we all are not all talented. I'm not. I do some things but I am by no means not an artist in that realm. I LOVE it when people are gifted in that way.... and I try to support them.
I do what I can and used to do crafts and such so much more than I do now...but so many others are so much more brilliant in their creating.

This year I came across some statistics that troubled me.

Let me share a few of them with you and maybe you will agree and maybe it's not just "me" that feels so strongly about these things.

~~~Valentine's Day Statics for 2009~~~

17 BILLION DOLLARS will be spent on buying Valentine Day gifts.I work retail and have for a long time.
I see the "other side" of people just grabbing something for the sake of having a gift. There's not thought....there's only pressure.

Look, I'm all about "stimulating the economy" although not through a stimulus package.

I myself like to support "small business and the various cottage industries" that are out there. I'm VERY passionate about keeping my money in my "neighborhood" shops and restaurants to help them stay alive.
I DO SEE first hand how people constantly push their selves into DEBT because of the hard sell of advertisers.
If we don't do this or that or have a certain BRAND of card or gift....then we are "failures."

~$1.1 Billion dollars will be spent on Chocolate.
I love me some Chocolate, but that is a bit absurd when people are starving in the world. Sadly.
~$540 Million dollars on flowers.....110 million ROSES will be sold.

Note:
If your a florist please don't hate me. I love your business. I can understand why you need to capitalize on this "moment."
Again I work in retail, and the store I work at must capitalize on this holiday.

I am a "flower person".....ask my family. I have always bought fresh flowers for our kitchen table. I've cut back a LOT on buying them this year due to the economy.

Hence my point....flowers die in a very short period of time and are generally costly. They smell wonderful....I want them...they add life to a room.
From time to time...we all need them to cheer us or someone else up.
Anymore for funerals.....my family TRIES to give money or donate to a person's "cause" rather than buy flowers.

Maybe even buy a "blooming plant" so that it will last longer.
Just a thought.
There is more I can say on this subject.....but my point is.......
"Can I invest my money into a wiser, longer living situation where more people than my self are benefited?"

The answer to that is YES.

I say we spend some of our money on someone who needs love.

Someone who can NEVER do anything to "give back to us."

That my friends is is true love.


This is just a "consideration" but if you feel like I do and you don't have any thoughts of how to change this "treadmill" we are on as a people....then watch this video and reconsider how much GOOD you can do during these holidays and other days as well.

Got any gift ideas for Valentine's Day? We do. from Angel Mission on Vimeo.

I made a decision this year to send the bulk of my "gift spending" money for all my kids and husband for Valentine's Day this direction.

You can find many various organizations that can benefit from your donations....just check them out and make sure they do what they say they do.
If you know of an important need that someone has....or another cause.....maybe in your neighborhood, or your distant family, or someone at work or church.
Give to them.

I DO have a box of chocolates for Miss Priss....she's been having a melt down because she and "Italian Boy" have broken up after a year of being best friends and dating.So she needs chocolate of course.

I have a card for my husband who I love very much.
After 30 years of marriage...I don't have to prove my love to him by gifts.
He loves me for me.

Don't think me "bitter" because I don't receive nice gifts or some thing like that. I have gotten MANY wonderful gifts through the years...so this isn't the issue.
And I can't take ANY of those gifts with me when I leave this planet one day.
Today I feel that my money, sent to a worthy and VALIDATED cause will have a longer, lasting impact than the box of chocolate.


Miss Priss will probably bite the ones she doesn't like and leave them in the box.

One thing I've learned......is that we American's "waste" all the time.

Hope you still love me now.
Cheers,
Joyce

Valentines Day Tea with "Tea Ladies"

This past Saturday my special "Tea Friends" all came together for a special Valentine's Day Tea.

Tricia hosted this Tea party.
She had just gotten back in town the night before from being over in Mississippi taken care of her elderly Mother too so I know she was tired from the trip but she still persevered in doing this tea for all of us.
There were wee little gifts even. I brought everyone a "Godiva" candy bar.
Here we have the "Tea Barroness" Marsha, helping to pour tea. Diane is beside her.
Tricia and myself on the other side of the table.

"Tomato sandwhiches on toast with bacon crumbs, Salmon salad. Both of these were so delicious!

This however was my FAVORITE! This was a "puff pastry with diced chicken and spices in a sauce." It was SO good.
Marsha brought the scones..AND homemade lemon curd..because she makes the best scones and lemon curd in the world of course.
For dessert there were little "key lime cheescakes" in pastry.
Before we were done with our tea, Tricia presented us all with this book.
"The Gentle Art of Hospitality" by Alda Ellis

I have a ton of Tea books but I didn't have this one in my collection and it is very nice. I highly recommend it if you are in the market for a book like this.

The day was lovely outside....78 degrees in fact. So after our Tea Time we went out onto Tricia's patio for a bit to chat and we took these photos to seal the moments we had shared together.
Marsha, Joyce in back, Diane and Tricia seated.

Joyce, Marsha, Diane, Tricia.When we were done outside we came in a visited a bit more with Tricia's younger daughter.

Now, this little girl I LOVED and wanted to bring her home for my middle son! HA!
Listen to this story...
For graduation last year.....she took all her money and bought....CHINA!
She brought it out (at our request) and showed us and it was grand.

Then we toured her bedroom.....because it's decorated as "Gone With The WIND!"
Of all things. I had never seen anything like it before.
Her Mama (Tricia) had even made her the "Green Curtains with the Gold Fringe" like Scarlett's curtains at Tara that she had Mammy make into a dress for her before she met Rhett.
I came right home and talked to Caleb about this sweet girl right away. I ad told her he has a "Big Truck" but she told me she wasn't looking for a new boyfriend. She has just broken up with someone.
Hummm...I say we can possibly work on that. HA!
Tricia....if your reading this...I am thinking...."Tea Matchmaking."
Here's my son. What do you think.....? That's the big truck in the snowy background. HA! HA!
My son would have a FIT if he knew I put this on the internet. HA!

What a GREAT day. With great friends.
I love that.

Wistful Wednesday

Valentine's Day is now upon is.

Last night my husband took "Miss Priss" out for a "date" to a nice Italian Restaurant. They had a very nice time. He wanted to spend "special time" with her and I of course was very encouraging of this.
She growing up fast and will not be with us forever. We have to make these precious memories while we are able to.

My husband had been at a seminar all day and was in driving rain and bad traffic on his way home so he didn't have time to stop and get her flowers. But he asked her if she would "like to stop and get a bouquet of flowers" while they were on their way to the restaurant and she said "No Dad, I'm fine. Besides I have some."

Which was true.....some "young man" whom she is "only friends" with had given her a bouquet of VERY NICE red roses the other night. Hummmm.....interesting. They sit on our kitchen table even now.

I just want to remind the Mom's to not forget the "sons" and the Dad's to not forget the "daughters" not just on Valentines Day.....but always.

This is a good way to "train" them for their relationships in the future and to spend quality time with them. I already mailed a card and a bit of "cash" off to our son in Connecticut....we are missing him.They can move away but they never leave your heart.
My heart is heavy today for the countless Mom's who can't send Valentine's Day cards out to their children. Maybe because their child has left the "earth" or they are possibly disconnected from them in some way.

I'm wishing you all a wonderful day.