One in a Minion

Believe it or not, I just about have my Valentines done. This is the first year that I have just one kid to make Valentines for because apparently it's not cool to hand out Valentines in middle school.

I don't even care, I love our Valentines so much this year that I'm going to give Valentines to my teacher friends even though I'm in middle school.

I originally saw this idea on Pinterest, of course. When I saw them, I knew I had to make them because I love Twinkies and I love Minions.

I took step-by-step pictures in case any one cares. Honestly though, they were super easy to put together.

I started by buying all the Twinkies at Walmart. And then I had to go back for more because my Twinkies were disappearing faster than I could wrap them in overalls.

In my defense, it wasn't just me. My whole family loves Twinkies.

Basically the rule was that if a Twinkie had overalls on it, it was safe. No overalls and it was a free for all. There is ugliness in this house, I'm telling you.

We are a rule abiding household though. For example we have rules governing cat barf and the dishwasher. Not at the same time mind you, but the first person to spy the cat barf has to clean it up. And when you accidentally step in it with bare feet, it's impossible not to give yourself away. Likewise, the first person to open the dishwasher after the clean cycle has to empty it.

Last week I made the mistake of cleaning up after myself and opened the dishwasher when I was in a hurry. "AAAARGH!" I exclaimed, and Zoe snickered at me and replied "Caught in your own trap, Mom. That's awesome."

The little brat.

So Minions. Let's get to it, shall we?

Here's pretty much what I started with. And Twinkies. No Twinkie and you don't have a Minion.

I made myself a sheet of little Minion overalls and copied them onto blue copy paper. If you want to use mine, which by the way are not excellent, I've included them and the hearts at the bottom of this post.

Before I could start, Stinkerbell spent a week cutting out overalls and hearts, and that is when we lost a lot of Twinkies. 

This is going to seem like overkill, but I found it necessary to stick a looped piece of tape on the back of the overalls to keep them from sliding around on the Twinkie while I was positioning them. It's an OCD thing. Crooked overalls make me twitchy.

Next, I taped the two ends of the overalls to the back of the Twinkie.

Then I taped a 1/2 inch thick strip of black card stock around the Twinkie to serve as the strap for its goggles.

I used my Mini Circle punch to cut out the frames for the goggles.

And I used hot glue to glue googly eyes to the goggles.

Once the eyes were ready, I hot glued the be-goggled eyes to the strap. This is when the Twinkies really become Minions. When they can see.

Some Minions have one eye and some have two.

The hearts were taped to the back of the Twinkies.

And as a finishing touch I drew mouths on the Minions with a Sharpie.

All in all, they were pretty simple Valentines to put together.

Here are the hearts, you can print them on pink or red printer paper and cut them out.

The overalls should be printed on blue printer paper. Of course both could be printed on white paper and copied onto colored paper. Whichever works best for you. 

The overalls should be printed "full-bleed" or "borderless" so that they print to the edge of the paper. Otherwise, they might be too small.

The hearts could be smaller and not matter.

Now if you'll excuse me, I have some Minions to dress before they are prematurely executed.

Valentine Paint Cans

I'm so excited to share these Valentine paint cans with you today because they are a result of an e-mail I sent out way back in August.

I absolutely adore the artist Kate Hadfield and her digital designs, so I asked her if I could create a Valentine paint can insert with her Love and Romance digital kit and then share the template with you on my blog.

Well, I feel so special because she doesn't normally allow this sort of thing, but she said yes! She must have been feeling the love in her heart.

Yay Us!

I made two sizes of the same template. One is for the quart sized paint cans and the other is for the itty bitty cans that are just three inches tall. 

First click on the templates to get the best resolution, then save them to your computer. From there, upload them to your favorite photo center that prints 11" x 14" enlargements. I use Sam's Club Photo Center for my enlargements. Each template will decorate two cans.

Once you get your templates, simply cut them out, roll them with the printed side facing out, and insert them inside the paint cans. Then gently flatten them against the paint can, starting at one end of the template and continuing to the other end. Don't bother adhering them to the cans. They stay pretty secure once you get them in.

I cutified my cans even more by adhering some pretty ribbon to the outside of the paint can using double-sided tape and adhering a circle of scrapbook paper to the lid. Peanut Head drilled a hole in the lid of the larger can so I could screw a small knob onto it. It makes opening the larger paint can easier, and it looks super duper cute, don't you think?

Oh yeah, don't forget to tie some pieces of ribbon to the handle. Like bacon, everything is better with ribbon.

These cans are perfect for filling with chocolate for your sweetheart, a teacher, or a BFF. Or perhaps someone that you loathe and you just want to creep out. That's what I'm doing with mine.

On second thought, I can't really think of anyone I loathe right now. 

Maybe next year.

Here are the templates. Enjoy! Oh yeah, and would you be a love and go visit Kate and send her some comment love for the super awesome digital kit? Thanks. You're the best!

She is Not Amused

I'm feeling very on top of things right now, because I just finished our Valentines nine days ahead of schedule. As in not seven hours before school starts on Valentine's Day. Whoo hoo!

I'd like to kick back and bask in the glory and all that, but the real truth is that the only reason I am done with plenty of time to spare is because I'm avoiding some other very important things.

Deadline looming like the Cloud of Death important things.

I don't want to think about those things right now though. I don't want to harsh my mellow.

I've been itching to try these hand-my-friends-a-lollipop Valentines for a couple years now. I know that everyone and their brother is doing them, but they are so cute, so I'm copying.

I've also been eyeing the cute "I mustache you a question" Valentines. I thought they would be perfect for Stinkerbell because she's so anti-girly.

Sadly, she was not amused.

I think she's warming up to them though. I told her that they're all the rage for boys this year.

I don't think I've mentioned this, but she has completely banished anything remotely girly from her wardrobe. In fact, she insists that all of her clothes come from the boys' department.

It kills me.

It has been unfolding in stages. It started when she was three and I unveiled her very girly flower room.

That was when I learned that three is not too young to stick your fingers down your throat and pretend to violently vomit.

You could say that there were early signs that we were in trouble.

It has been a rough road for a Mama dressing vicariously through her children.

My days of dressing my baby were numbered.

It started out subtly. Like she wouldn't hug anyone that had buttons on their clothes. Then it expanded to jewels and bling.

Then she wouldn't even play with Zoe Bug if she had glitter or bling on her clothes.

Then she started wearing the clothes that she hated inside out, because we wouldn't let her go to school naked.

In the end she showed us by passive aggressively wearing the clothes she hated without underwear.

It has been one big, exhausting, exasperating, power struggle.

I think it's a control thing. I have no idea where she gets it from, but this school year I finally gave up the fight. She wins. I lose.

And because she gets her passive aggressive gene from me, her Valentines get a mustache.

BOOM!

I made these Valentines for the monsters in my classroom. I heart them.

But not in a creepy way.

You always have to qualify that statement when you're gushing over sixth graders, lest they be grossed out.

Just in case you can't tell, I wrapped Rolos in Valentine paper and added the little tag. Another Pinterest inspired Valentine.

I'm going to share these Justin Bieber cupcakes with them tomorrow, on account of my birthday was yesterday and I believe in celebrating birthdays at school with cupcakes.

I'm betting that they're going to take one look at the Bieber Heads and stick their fingers down their throats and pretend to violently vomit.

At least that's what I'm hoping for.

Valentine Ideas

I just realized that Valentine's Day is just a little more than two weeks away and I have not done anything about making Valentines for my kiddos. I know what I want to do, but I need the time to do it. I'm sure you're familiar with that dilemma.

Not to worry, it will get done, now that I'm thinking about it.

In the process of thinking about Valentine treats, I figured I should probably remind people about my magnetic Valentine bookmarks. You know, because they are buried somewhere on this blog and Pinterest wasn't around when I posted them. And maybe you've never seen them.

And maybe you don't care, but it's nice to have options.

You can find the printable bookmarks pictured above, here.

Or maybe you'd rather have some boy bookmarks. For those, you can go here.

Or camo bookmarks, boy and girl, go here.

Or maybe you are lacking in the sugar department, a tragedy, and you might like to make these.

You know, to hold you over until the Girl Scout cookies arrive.

Now that I'm looking at this picture, I think they should be heart-shaped, don't you? What was I thinking?

These Valentine Oreos generated a lot of traffic last year, and I promise they will not disappoint, but sadly I sort of owe all the credit to Peanut Head. It's rather hard to swallow.

You see I thought it was a dumb idea when he came up with it. My bad. He can make these into little Oreo Crows and I will gladly eat them.

Caw. Caw.

Valentine Banner

This is very likely the very last banner I will ever make. On account of the eyelets have all gone. 

I can't say I'm super disappointed because the banners don't go together all that quickly. I started this one over a year ago.

I'm using a new list app though and I have to say that I've been cranking through my "To Do" list like a madwoman. And yes, I am a madwoman, but I'm speaking relatively here.

Never mind that there are still 125 things on my list, and I keep adding new ones.

I know you want to know what my app is, right? I'll get back to the banner in a minute. The new app that I absolutely love is called Toodledo. Mattie Cake hooked me up with it, and it runs on Apple devices, Droids, and even the Crackberry.

I like it because I have the ability to categorize my tasks in multiple ways and the app prioritizes them for me based on the due date I input, the priority level, and whether or not I star it.

The part that has been super convenient for me is the ability to have things recur as a To Do item based on completion date, due date, or just a specific day or date. It's incredibly versatile. I've only just begun to scratch the surface of what this app can do.

Anyway, I seriously love it and I credit it for lighting a fire under my bum thereby forcing me to get things done this year.

Yesterday I even scraped all the old caulk from around my windows and re-caulked them, just so I could check it off my list. 

Well that and it was way overdue. We had some serious drafts whistling through our house.

But my point is that it was on my list for at least two years before I got around to it. The app made me do it.

Back to the banner. Even though it took me over a year to get this done, you know I made two so I could give one away to one of my lucky Peeps, right?

So here's what I want you to do if you want to win this. I want you to leave a comment telling me three things that have been on your list for an embarrassingly long time, and what motivates you to get things on your list done. I can't wait to read your comments. Good luck!

Oh yeah, you have until 3:00 p.m. Friday, Siberia time. Whatever that is.

I Was Going to . . .

Here I sit, at 10:00 p.m. on Valentine's Eve, having just finished with our Valentines for tomorrow. I had grand plans for projects that I wanted to complete for Valentine's Day this year. Just like last year. 

I have some Valentine blocks that are so cute, I could just faint from the cuteness, but they are only 98% finished. My dirty little secret is that they've been 98% finished for two years now. Oopsie.

I started a "Be Mine" Valentine banner, and it's 50% finished. Actually, I started two of them because I was going to give one of them to one of my lucky readers. Now it will have to wait until next year. Stick around.

I was going to make Valentine paint cans . . .  didn't even get that one started.

I was going to finish the Valentine chair bags that I started last year.

And do you know what the surprising thing is? I'm still hopeful that all of these things will get done in time for next year. They will.

I will conquer procrastination! Just wait.

Hee hee. I stole that from a magnet my SIL gave to me. She knows me so well.

These Valentines are proof that I do get things done. Eventually.

Even if I don't always get them done when I initially plan to get them done. I saw these cute little matchbook Valentine's at least two years ago, and that's when I bought the templates for them. I finally got around to making them for my girlies this year, and I love how they turned out.

I couldn't resist using this picture for Annika's Valentines. She's such a goofball, and this picture sums her up pretty well. It was taken at the San Diego Zoo.

Here is Zoe at the same place, but I couldn't bring myself to put this picture on her Valentines. It's not the most attractive picture and all.

After I put the girls' pictures on the templates and added their names, I just printed them three to a piece of cardstock, cut and folded them, and finally stapled a treat inside. Easy peasy.

Next, the girls wrote their classmates' names on the matchbooks. I'm glad I won't be there when their classmates rip them open to get at the chocolate and cast aside the panda cuteness. 

I don't think I could watch.

Valentine Bookmarks Take Three

I made a couple more Valentine bookmarks to add to the bazeeeeeelion I made last year. You can never have too many Valentine bookmarks, right?

I made these because the boys in my class last year requested some that were a little more manly. Apparently pandas and hearts don't cut it for them. Picky, picky.

It took me awhile to get around to it, but I came up with these camo ditties. They're a little plain, but they're manly, so I don't want to hear any more complaining about cutesy bookmarks. The cutesy will not stop, but I can be reined in from time to time.

For short little bursts.

Anyway, these new bookmarks were inspired by the boys, but you know I'm all about equal rights for women, so I had to do a girl camo version too.

The digi bookmarks are posted below for you. Make sure to click on them first to get the best resolution, then save them to your desktop. Upload them to your favorite photo center and order as 4x6 prints. Cut them in half lengthwise, then fold each bookmark in half and attach small magnet pieces to the inside. See this post if you want the step-by-step.

If you want last year's mostly girlie bookmarks, go here. If you want the subsequent boy bookmarks, go here. Happy Valentine's Day, Peeps!