valentine's day

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Love is in the air...

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Since I was quite unprepared for Christmas this year I thought I'd start thinking about Valentine's Day early. I think Valentine's Day is tons of fun. I haven't been too creative with it in the past though so I thought that it's about time I put a bit more effort into it. I want to come up with something really creative and fun this year. Please feel free to share your ideas with me.

The two posters above are from www.allposters.com.
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Last year Jay's gift was a heart shaped thick glass photo frame with a picture of Sienna and me in it. Ikea sells those frames and they are perfect for Valentine's Day gifts no matter who is on your list. Another idea is to buy a photo weight kit and make a paper weight for someone. I don't use paper weights (who does?) but they'd still be cute. You don't have to put a picture in it. Perhaps a love poem or words of your favorite love song...

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www.photoweights.com

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Ikea sells these perfectly colored tea lights as well. Another candle idea (of course you have to have a candle lit dinner that night) is to use various cream colored pillar candles and arrange them on a platter and then fill the bottom with kidney beans. Yep, kidney beans. :) I think I saw that idea in one of my ooooold Martha Stewart magazines. It looked really cute. I'd use a wood platter. Heart garland made out of scrapbooking paper, felt or thick material would be easy to make. And there's always the "put branches in a vase" (you get extra points if you do it early enough for small pink or white buds to show up) and hang little heart love notes/ornaments on it. Lots of ideas. Please share yours. :)
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Cards are always nice. I find that after this many years of marriage it's hard to come up with something original to say in them. Somehow I need to find how to put some spark in my card as well.
www.marthastewart.com
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Handmade heart shaped ice-cream sandwiches!!! I love this idea. www.marthastewart.com (of course)
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Almost too beautiful to eat.
www.marthastewart.com (of course)
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I loved this idea as well. I'm the only one in our family who drinks herbal tea. I started thinking about other places to hide little heart love sayings. It would be fun to change almost everything into heart labels.
www.marthastewart.com (of course)
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family fun - valentine's day ideas
You can read the history of Valentine's Day from the link above. Family Fun always has tons of ideas geared towards kids. Party & treat & craft ideas etc.
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I think a heart shaped pancake breakfast is a must. With strawberries and whipping cream of course. If you cut the strawberries in half vertically they'll look like hearts too. Aah! So cute! :) That reminds me that my dear Jay always likes to say "what's so cute about it?" when someone calls something cute. He demands to know what makes something cute. :)
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So, more ideas please everyone. Let's get this LOVE party going! :)
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ps. The kidney beans I was talking about should of course be DRIED kidney beans. :)

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ps2. To easily make heart shaped pancakes, put the batter in a squeeze bottle (clean syrup bottle f.ex.) and then you can "draw" with the batter. For those using North American recipe - add a bit more milk to the recipe so the batter won't be so thick.

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