Wont You be my Valentine?

How I always look forward to Valentine's Day, Friend! There's just something so fun and special about making a valentine for a friend or loved one. Memories of elementary school parties and boxes filled to the brim with notes and brightly colored paper (and of course...candy!) fill my head as I sit down to write this. Valentine's Day is one of my most favorite holidays because it's a day anyone can be a little crafty, whether they have amazing skills or not! The gift of a personal valentine, made with lots of time and care, is simply a lovely present, wouldn't you agree?

This last week I decided to make a whole stack of valentines! Crepe paper, embelishments, stickers, and glitter were spread all over the table - it may have been hard to see me as I was so burried in crafting supplies, haha! Oh, but what a fun time I had! It's been a long while since I sat down and crafted for hours. Here's a little rundown of what I did if you would like to replicate the valentines I made:

There really is nothing to it! I cut out a heart template from some scrap paper and traced it onto scrapbooking paper and cut them out. Then I scrunched up crepe paper ribbons and slowly made my way around the hearts, taping the crepe paper down as I went. After the crepe paper ruffles are all done, I tape another heart to the back so the valentine is pretty from both sides. Then, you simply have to decorate it in whatever way you wish!

But it wasn't just me who has been busy with Valentine's Day preperations. The dolls over in Melissa's doll house have been busy bees as well! I may have given them some tips for their valentine making, but they learned very quickly and had a whole party making valentines for their friends.

Their table may have been even messier than mine! Well, maybe...

I sent out a whole stack of my valentines to my penpals and friends far away. It was rather humorous when I went to the post office with them - I had written 'DO NOT BEND' on all the pretty packages and what does the post office clerk do? He takes the first one and bends it completely in half! I think my husband and I must have looked at him with a little shock because he asked "Are these really not supposed to be bent? Or do you just not want them to be creased?" Oh well, so much for that, haha!

After hearing of my plight at the post office, the dolls decided to give theirs to their friends personally, rather than risk more rude post office clerks. It turned into a sort of game, as they had a lovely time hiding the valentines all over the house for sisters and friends to find. Some were even given special treatment and personally delivered, along with a 'how-do-you-do' and a jar of strawberry preserves from last summer.

Since I made so many valentines, I have one special one leftover! I would love to send it to one of you, Dear Friends. If you would like to join a little giveaway for a valentine from me to you, simply leave a comment down below telling me your favorite part of Valentine's Day. I'll randomly pick a winner this coming Friday! Make sure you don't comment anonymously, for I wont be able to contact you.

I pray your Valentine's Day is full of family, friends, and all those you love and cherish. And may your February be filled with joy! Have a happy Valentine's Day Dear Friend!

"We love because he first loved us."

1 John 4:19

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A Doll Post Office

Quite awhile ago I showed you photos, Dear Reader, of a doll Post Office Quinn and I had made for my mother-in-law Melissa as a Valentine's Day present. I had planned to share with you all the particulars of making said Post Office but we were busy and I never got around to it. Until today that is!

Melissa has been enchanted by dolls since she was very young: She was gifted her first Madame Alexander doll as a Christmas present from the local drug store when her presents had not arrived in time by the post. Since then she has been collecting and putting together her own delightful doll house which now resides in a big wardrobe upstairs in her room.

She introduced me to Tasha Tudor and her amazing world of miniature shortly after we first met, and we have been fawning over her dolls ever since!

Tasha made what she called "Sparrow Post" with her young children, where they would send minuscule letters back and forth with the dolls that lived with them. In one of her books, "A Time To Keep" you can see a painting of what one such post office looked like:

The Tasha Tudor website has a tutorial for making a mini post box, but I wanted to make mom something on a bit of a grander scale, and something more similar to another Post Office pictured in a different book of Tasha's:

(Image taken from Tasha's website)

This Post Office was large enough to fit the dolls, which is exactly what I hoped to accomplish! With Quinn helping, we set about to make a pattern and a list of materials. I kidnapped one of the dolls from mom's wardrobe (for size reference) and started work!

I had scoured over Pinterest looking for easy and inexpensive ideas for the Post Office, and had come up with quite a few. I wanted the building to be light and easy to carry, but strong enough to stand the test of time and playing. We chose thick cardboard for the walls and floor and doubled it up with hot glue. I would wallpaper the inside with high-quality wrapping paper with a wainscoting of balsa wood painted white. The floor I was most proud of: large popsicle sticks with the rounded ends cut off stained to look like floor boards. They turned out perfectly!

I wanted the windows to look pretty so I drafted some designs and then went crazy and wanted to have one wall sort of stick out  like a gazebo style window. This was hard to figure out but I love how it turned out in the end! And doesn't the floor look marvelous?!

I made a tall cabinet for the back wall for the dolls to sort mail. I made this out of cardboard and masking tape and then covered it with spackle and paint to give it more wood-like texture. Quinn made the front desk for the Post Office out of extra balsa wood and a little bit of cardboard. Greta of course, was always a big help... 

The project took longer than we thought, and our hope of giving it as a Valentine's Day present turned to hoping to give it as an early Mother's Day present (which we did). 

Wallpapering the walls was rather difficult because the paper was so finicky, but patience prevailed! The last things to do were to spackle the outside of the cardboard walls, paint them, and then install some stonework along the bottom, thanks to Quinn! He likes to make miniature terrain for games he plays with his friends, so he was already an expert at carving rock walls out of foam, lucky me!

Decorating the Post Office was of course the most fun. I made lots of tiny packages and parcels, and found a template online for printing off tiny envelopes! This Post Office would need some mail after all...

By the time we gave mom her belated-Valentine's present, I think the cat had gotten out of the bag about what it was, but I think she was still thrilled. All in all it took us several weeks to finish, but we were by no means working on it every evening so I certainly think we could have made it sooner if we had been less busy. But tell me Dear Reader, what do you think of how it turned out?

To make the front edges look cleaner, I hot-glued some lace to the cardboard (as you could see the edges of the wood paneling and the floor boards and they weren't the prettiest). And let me show you a photo of the lovely rock wall Quinn carved!

He painted it and everything - didn't he do a marvelous job? The trellis idea I got off of Pinterest, and there's also a larger one on the opposite wall:

I think the dolls really love their new Post Office. It must be so nice for them to be able to send packages and presents to all their friends far away, wouldn't you agree?

The Post Master for Tasha's Office was named Augustus Sparrow, a very robust name indeed. In Juneau, ravens are more abundant than sparrows so Melissa has a Postmistress named Miss Minerva Raven. She does a very good job of helping customers and no letter is lost under her watchful eye. 

A large number of pretty stamps, as well as envelopes and greetings cards are available for purchase at the Post Office.  Mail delivery isn't yet available (Miss Raven is currently looking for a quick young robin to take the job, but as of yet none have applied), but the walk is quite short from the doll wardrobe to the Post Office. 

Quinn and I had a grand time making this present for mom, and I hope you are inspired to create something on a smaller scale as well today! I don't yet have a large doll collection of my own, as Melissa does, but I am lucky in the fact that she lets me play with hers whenever I like! 

May you have a wonderful day!

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On The Making of Valentines

My goodness it's been quiet here on the blog these past few weeks. I truly am sorry Dear Reader but I needed a break after my week as a 50's housewife, and then right after that I visited my family down in Seattle for ten days. It was a wonderful time, and I hope to share those times with you later this week, so be watching out for that post!

Right before leaving to Seattle however, I got the prettiest piece of mail! You see my dear friend and penpal Jaclyn (of Mail & Breakfast fame) just opened an Etsy store delightfully called "Leaving a Paper Trail"! You wouldn't believe the cute things she has over there, so you should probably go and see just for yourself - I promise you'll be happy you did!

Well as soon as she opened it I was so excited, and of course with Valentine's Day being so near I picked out a Valentine's day themed package, filled with the perfect things to craft some Valentines. And how sad I was when it came right before I left for Seattle! I wanted to start using those darling decorations right now! Oh well. I would have to wait, but I laid every single thing out on my counter so I could admire it all, and just look at her darling packaging! Jaclyn is just amazing at putting lovely mail together!

I mean, how can you not be happy looking at the contents? Doesn't it just make you smile?

In this Valentine's Day themed package were postcards, envelopes, washi tape samples, confetti, labels, fancy stick-on jewels and pearls, and all sorts of ephemera for crafting! If you're reading this right now and thinking "That's all fine and dandy Miss Emily, but I can't craft something worth a hoot." Don't worry! "Leaving a Paper Trail" has pre-made envelopes, beautiful hand-crafted postcards, and pocket letter kits (Don't know what a pocket letter is? You're missing out! Click hear to learn more.). Let's get on to the crafting shall we?

As I said above, I had to wait what seemed like forever to be able to dig into that pile of red and pink, But I'm glad I waited, as I found the cutest scrapbooking paper in Washington! 

Now, if while looking at the following pictures makes you think "Wow, she's such a mess maker!", please know that my sister Bethany is out there somewhere nodding her head and agreeing with you. I like to craft with everything laid out in front of me, is that so terrible? Haha!

The only other things I used to make these Valentine's (besides what was included in my order from "Leaving a Paper Trail") were the papers I bought in Seattle along with a bit of colored baker's twine - and some tape and glue of course! I have written poems for Quinn and his family since we'll be having a party come Valentine's Day. Since my mother-in-law Melissa is an avid reader of my blog and might be reading along at this very moment I won't share those poems now (though if you'd like I can share them after the party!). And Melissa if you are reading STOP! I don't want you to see these Valentine's before the big reveal! 

And now that that's over with, let's continue! 

The scrapbooking papers I bought in Seattle had the silliest sayings! I'm sure you'll laugh right along with me as we work our way through making them. The glittery washi tapes Jaclyn included in the package were the perfect colors to go with the paper I bought - which hadn't been planned at all! Score one for us!

I think Valentines need to be at least a little sparkly, so the tapes and the red gems were the perfect touch, wouldn't you agree? In this photo above I was trying to decide if I liked the purple star under the wording of the Valentine, but I decided to do a different charm there instead.

And now a poem from my poetry journal:

Red, white & pink with lacy trim,

Signing anonymously on a whim.

"From me to you,

with love most true."

Unfortunately, even if I sign these Valentines anonymously Quinn's family will still know they're from me! Haha!

And now for my favorite Valentine, because that saying is just the cutest!

"Never mind love, I'd rather fall in chocolate!"

I also love the 50's style prom queen on the card! For this one I used a strand of the pearls, along with all the cuteness I could fit on to it! I'm crossing my fingers that the recipient will check the "Yes" box, haha!

The only downside to making Valentines with Quinn taking pictures is that of course he sees the one I'm making for him! He was a good sport about it though, and the poem inside will still be a big surprise, so he still has something to look forward to!

For his Valentine I used some of the shiny confetti, it was in the perfect red and black to match the design on the paper!

Mental Note: I think I need to get a dress like that...

I went a little overboard on the shiny/sparkly things on this card, but it's for Quinn - and he truly is my Prince Charming so he deserves all the sparkle! And how lucky I was that the gold washi tape matched the gold on the paper perfectly! 

The last card I made took me quite a while. So long did I sit silently staring at the blank card that Quinn asked "Is everything okay?" The paper for this Valentine had quite a bit of blank space in one corner and I wasn't sure what to use to cover it. But after sifting through the pretty things from Jaclyn I found the perfect thing! What do you think of my choice?

The envelope was perfect for the mail man pictured on the card! It even has a little piece of white cardstock in it so you can write a message on it, isn't that clever? 

That's five Valentines over and done with, and I still have so much material! I didn't even get to use my favorite pieces from the package, the victorian paper cutouts! I guess that means I'll be making more Valentines! After all, Quinn and his family won't mind getting several more, right? So tell me! What do you think of the finished Valentines, let me know which one is your favorite in the comments below! And don't forget to go check out Jaclyn's lovely store "Leaving a Paper Trail"! You'll love it, I promise!

 

P.S. - This bowl of Valentine's Day candy was full a day ago. Oh dear... And if you're wondering who ate all the mini Snickers bars...it wasn't me!

Tune in later this week to hear about my trip to Seattle, and maybe see the barn decorated for Valentine's Day! Until next time Dear Reader, have a wonderful day!

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