valentine's day: random inspiration

It's hard to believe that Valentine's Day is tomorrow.

Today's post is not profound. It's random.

It was a long week but I missed you too much

and wanted to offer you a little inspiration.

I ran across some photos of items I created last year

and shared on our old WordPress blog.

These pictures were taken before we upgraded our camera

and lighting so they have a "reflective" quality!

They were also created during my,

"Let's collage EVERYTHING!" phase!

First up is my favorite project from last year....

The red plastic heart boxes sat in a drawer in my office for about 5 years!

I bought them for $.37 on clearance, stuck them in a drawer

and always ran across them in July or October.

I created mini "thanks." cards to match the mini envelopes

which fit perfectly in the heart box.

I topped the box with a polka dot bow and my tag line,

"a heart full of thanks." to tie it all together.

I had so much fun handing these out to our friends!

I felt the same excitement I did as a kid

handing out Valentine's in school!

Next up, Family Valentine's...

All of our family members live in other states

so I love to create extra special cards for them.

My work schedule tends to leave me with little time

to create my own cards so I use as many simple

elements and time-saving techniques as I can.

I used the same heart punch, heart wingding, brad

technique and two fonts on all of the cards.

I am blessed {and cursed} to have a stock of random supplies

left from client orders or maybe I would have used

the same size and style of card for all of them.

Changing the paper design, the color of the fonts and wingdings

and subtle layout changes are easy ways to create

a unique card for everyone on your Valentine's list!

In case you missed it, here's a simple and easy way

to dress up your Valentine's table!

Click here for the tutorial and free template download.

Finally, a little inspiration for budget-friendly Valentine's

celebrations from the two {inspiration parties} we created.

Click here for a ROCKin' Valentine's Day!

Click here for a SUGARy Sweet Valentine's Day!

I hope your inspired to create a lil' somethin' special

for your loved ones near and far!

Stay tuned to Oink! for more inspiration...