Candy Filled Paper Valentines

I discovered this idea a year ago here on Dana's blog, Made. I made a couple changes, but it's still the same basic concept.

I use Photoshop for most everything I do, and this was no exception. I created a black-and-white template of hearts (fronts and backs) for my daughter to color in.

Once they were all colored, we had to take a little break so that the work could be admired by all. Of course, the hearts needed to be in all the girly colors possible, but she did throw in a tiny bit of green and orange to appease the boys in the class.

Once all the coloring had been completed, it was time for me to cut out the hearts and get them ready to be mutilated, stuffed and closed.

The front of the hearts said "Be Mine" (though of course you could pick any phrase you wanted) and on the back was a "crack" as well as an arrow showing the kiddos where to tear open the hearts to discover all the goodies inside.

The next step, and probably the most difficult, was to stitch the hearts partially closed, fill them with M&Ms (the easiest candy for this project, in my opinion) and then continue to stitch them closed.

A few tips on sewing these little valentines:

• Be prepared to clean the plates and needle on your machine. They will get a little waxy.
• Set your straight stitch to the widest setting. You don't want to perforate the paper.
• Start at right side of the dip at the top of the heart. Finish just shy of where you started. Do NOT backstitch on either side. This will make sure the hearts are easily opened.

And there you have it. A cute little stack of easy-to-make and customized valentines that your little one can be proud of.

Fluffy Chiffon Pettiskirt

For my daughter's 5th birthday, I wanted to make her something special. She is every bit the girly girl and loves anything that twirls and spins and makes her feel like a princess. When I saw the tutorial on Make It and Love It for the Full and fluffy Pettiskirt, I knew I had found my next project.

I went to the website where I purchased my chiffon (which I would highly recommend for quality and customer service) and let Leah pick out her 2 favorite colors, without letting on what it was for. I must admit, I was surprised by her choices, but went with it anyway. Turns out, she made an excellent choice!

As soon as I got the chiffon in the mail, I got started on all the ruffles. Holy cow, there were so many ruffles!!! Seriously, 60 yards of turquoise ruffles!!


Once I got the ruffles done, I took a couple weeks off, figuring I had plenty of time to finish (her party wasn't for another month, no sweat). Well, being me, I procrastinated until the day of the party. I was rushing to get the skirt done and finished with 4 hours to spare, not to mention I still had to get all the party decorations up and food prepared. I'll never learn.

But it was all so worth it. She loved it and it looked fantastic on her. And a bonus, the pettiskirt doubles as a fluffifier (yeah, I made that up) under all her dress up princess clothes.


This skirt was definitely a labor of love and I don't really look forward to making any more, but seeing as how we're expecting a little girl in February, I'm pretty sure another pettiskirt is in my future. At least it will be on a smaller scale this time :)