Five on Friday ... Valentine's Edition

Joining Amy of Love Made My Home today (just one day late!) for her world-famous "Five on Friday"!!! Yay!!! Thank you Amy for keeping this link party open until later on Saturday, otherwise I would have not been able to join up this week. On to the five with a Valentine's theme predominating of course :)

One:

I helped my daycare kids make a special Valentine's keepsake for their parents (thank you Pinterest). These are made from Sculpey clay, first rolled into a ball and then flattened to about a 1/4-inch thick. We pressed their teeny tiny little fingers into the clay ... first angled to the left, then angled to the right ... to make a heart shape. I was a bit rushed for time at the end, so while the kids slept, I painted the heart shape to make it a bit more clear. I think they look really cute, and hope the parents like them.

Two:

Of course you can't give a Valentine's present without a card, so a card was also made. The kids loved making these, and I had to control their enthusiasm before they painted my entire kitchen! We used cotton balls clipped onto a clothespeg to dab the paint colours all over the card. The heart shape was achieved by taping a heart cut from waxed paper onto the construction paper. When the kids had finished painting, I very gently peeled the waxed paper heart and tape off the front and voila! A masterpiece!

Three:

For the school-aged kids I made up some little felt pouches filled with chocolate hearts and tied a little Valentine card on each one. I get the cards at the dollar store, and they came with these cute little pins attached. I use this bulletin board in the hallway where the kids come into my house through the basement. For a creative person, you'd think I could come up with something really great on this board, but I always seem to go with the minimum ... maybe a bit lazy? Uhuh. I just hung up hearts that I knit last year together with a sign from the dollar store.

Four:

This little guy brightens every day he comes to my house. I've never had such a sweet and funny little kid in my care as this boy. He reminds me a lot of my own son when he was very young. This cute t-shirt gave me quite a laugh when he came in yesterday. It's just perfect because everyone loves this happy kid! His dad works at an airport in the design of airplanes ... so very fitting!

Five: (already?!)

During nap times (the kids' not mine!), I got to a little sewing this week. I don't like to give chocolates to the toddlers since I'm pretty sure the parents will just eat them instead and then the kids have nothing for Valentines,  so I decided to make a couple of doll and bear blankets for the two toddlers in my care. Did I remember to take a photo of either of those blankets?! No, I did not. But you can envision them ... I just cut a 20-inch square of top and bottom fabrics, did a couple rows of topstitching around the edges, and also cut out a fat heart from felt and stitched that on the front with a couple of rows of topstitching on that as well. 

I used these two fabrics for one blanket ...

... and these two fabrics for the other.

They were cute, and I think the kids will like them as they both like playing with the dolls and teddy bears here. They are always setting them around this little "spool" table I have with thrifted doll chairs, all of which I painted up a few years ago. Apparently, even bears take time for tea ;)

Cheers guys!

Six (it turns to "Six on Saturday" btw):

We've had a very mild winter this year, with next to no snow. A big change from the last two years. I think it was two weeks ago that the temperatures rose to a very unseasonable +15C. This morning, however, we're all looking out on sunshine and thinking "what a beautiful day"! But in reality, this is what we are feeling ...

This is outside my kitchen window. I see the pine tree branches are frozen stiff when the wind blows ... oh yeah, there's a wind, making a wind chill f**er of -40C ... lovely.

But! we are expecting a "high" of -20C, so not too bad at all, eh?!

Now let's all share a little love with someone in our lives tomorrow, eh!

Happy Valentine's Day to all of you, 

and thank you so much for dropping by today :)

Wendy

Bottoms Up!