Valentine's...Free Printables...

Here's our Valentine's wrap up from this year - heart straws, bubbles and goldfish crackers.

Straw Valentines: You are Ex-STRAW special Valentine
We found heart straws at Hobby Lobby in large packages for just $4. Hallie carefully cut out every circle and taped the straw to the card. We had plenty of straws leftover and the other kids have made it a point to use them every day. I find them everywhere!




Bubbles Valentines: You blow me away Valentine
Hunter went with bubbles this year. It's not too boy or girl so he figured everyone would like them. Knowing that he didn't need to write everyone's names, I only left a space for him to sign his name. A short time after he started, I walked into the kitchen to see that he was signing his name, as well as a classmates name. I was worried because I knew he would forget someone, so I questioned what he was doing. He matter of factly said, "I know all the kids in my class mom and I won't forget anyone because I'm going in order of their classroom number." Sure enough, that kid had memorized every kid based on their number 1-27. I even quizzed him by throwing out different numbers and he quickly shot back who the person was assigned to the number. I was impressed and he didn't forget anyone!




Goldfish Valentine: I'm happy we're in the same school
It's funny to think last year it took him forever to write his name 24 times and this year he did it so quickly and with such ease. We found the goldfish at Target in the Valentine's section and we bought them a while ago. It was like torture for the poor guy to have them so early and not be able to take them to school. Note to self: buy his Valentine's two days in advance!





Download Ex-STRAW Special Valentine
Download Bubbles Valentine
Download Goldfish Valentine

Check out more Valentine's day printables for kids here.

Valentine Printable Round-up...

Here's a round-up of some free printable valentine's - which is a kind reminder to myself that we've got to get on this year's cards ASAP!


Download Airhead Valentine


Download "Write" Valentine


Download Glowstick Valentine


Download Gumball Valentine


Download Main Squeeze Valentine


Download Dino Valentine


Download Cookies and Milke Valentine

Valentine's Printable Banner...

Here's a Valentine's craft I shared over at HowDoesShe.com.

After the Christmas decor comes down and I've finished sweeping the red and green glitter - I like to get my house back in order. It always feels like Valentine's sneaks up on me and it seems I'm never quite ready to deck the house out again in holiday decor. Don't get me wrong - I love to decorate for the holidays, but some holidays I'm go for simple and Valentine's is one of them.

This year I made a Valentine's rag banner and had the kids make their own decoration with a printable banner I designed for them.





For full instructions and the free printable download, go to howdoesshe.com.

2016 YW Theme; Free Printables...

The 2016 theme for the Young Women and Young Men for our church is “Wherefore, ye must press forward with a steadfastness in Christ, having a perfect brightness of hope, and a love of God and of all men. Wherefore, if ye shall press forward, feasting upon the word of Christ, and endure to the end, behold, thus saith the Father: Ye shall have eternal life” (2 Nephi 31:20).

Every year I design printables around the new theme and this year I ran into a dilemma. I've really been liking some watercolor floral prints lately - which is not usually the case. So I designed the theme with this in mind. I completed the theme and sat with it on my computer for almost two weeks without touching it again. Although I really liked it, it just wasn't me no how matter how hard I tried. It's official. Floral prints still aren't my thing as much as I like them. I even tried buying a floral print shirt I saw on someone else and loved it on them. I put it on and promptly removed it. Not me.

So I reworked the theme to more of a geometric pattern which is 100% me. But the work is done on the first design so I offer you two options this year!

Free downloads include a binder cover, 5x7 print, 4x6 print and the stand alone logos. Feel free to use as you please (personal use only). Enjoy!





Find previous years here, here, here and here.

Download All 2016 YW Theme as a ZIP file (Geometric Design)
Download All 2016 YW Theme as a ZIP file (Floral Design)

Download 2016 YW Theme Binder Cover (Geometric Design)
Download 2016 YW Theme 5x7 print (Geometric Design)
Download 2016 YW Theme 4x6 print (Geometric Design)
Download 2016 YW Theme Logo (Geometric Design)

Download 2016 YW Theme Binder Cover (Floral Design)
Download 2016 YW Theme 5x7 print (Floral Design)
Download 2016 YW Theme 4x6 print (Floral Design)
Download 2016 YW Theme Logo (Floral Design)

Valentines...Free Printables...

This is what our table looked like this afternoon, Valentine's is in full swing!


Saturday, each of the kids decided what they wanted for their class valentine, here's what they chose:

Capri-Sun Valentines: You are my main squeeze
Bennett's biggest hurdle was having to write his name 24 times. That's a lot for a three year old. After the first row he asked for a break! We printed these on 2 1/2" stickers from Avery.




Dinosaur Valentines: You are Dino-mite Valentine
We found these plastic dinosaurs on Amazon and because we only needed 27 - we now have a nice collection for ourselves!




Oreos and paper straw: We go together like cookies and milk
Hallie really wanted to do slap bracelets. All the bracelets that came in value packs were girly and Hallie was conscious that boys wouldn't want a purple heart bracelet. She opted for something a little more gender neutral.





Download Main Squeeze Valentine
Download Dino Valentine
Download Cookies and Milke Valentine

Check out more Valentine's day printables for kids here.

Valentine's Round-up...Free Printables...

Check out more free printable Valentine's day cards here.

Is Valentine's Day seriously just around the corner? Hallie's ready to start on her box - I told her to make sure she needs a box before we start going down that road. I think I have her worried that third graders don't exchange Valentines!

It will be hard to beat the last two years. I think we need to bring it down a notch just so next year the expectations will be simple again. When I suggested a cereal box covered in card stock she laughed at me. Lets be honest - Hallie will throw out some idea and I'll agree it's the best idea and we'll run with it. Neither one of us is afraid of a little time and energy!


Click for more details about Hallie's gumball machine


Click for more details about Hallie's Bumble Bee


Download Airhead Valentine


Download "Write" Valentine


Download Glowstick Valentine


Download Gumball Valentine

Chalkboard Halloween Town...

When my bff and crafting buddy came to visit a couple weeks back, I taught her how to use the jig saw. She had never used one before and she made these with ease, that's how easy this is. You might remember my large scale Halloween town that sits behind my dining room table. I created a pattern off of them and made a table size Halloween town that is just as fun and cute.

Download the pattern and print it to scale over a couple pages - the tallest house is 22". Trace the pattern onto MDF and cut using the jigsaw.




We painted the houses with chalkboard paint - however I'm thinking black glitter would also be fantastic.


In order for the houses to stand up connect them using small hinges. One tip: when installing the hinges, space the houses apart as far as possible which will give you more movement of the hinge.



Dress them up with some chalk drawings and you're set.