Valentine's

February 

The shortest month of the year

The month my niece celebrated her 21st birthday

also the month we celebrate Valentine's Day

A fellow blogger refers to it as Lover's Holiday which I think is charming 

I can thank all the recent snow days we've had for my creative crafting spark being lit

We dedicated some time the weekend prior to Lover's Holiday creating Valentine's boxes and Valentine's for the bigs classroom parties

We 100% lifted (that's a craft term for any non-crafters that may read this post) the ideas from the www and Pinterest

We used an empty cereal box for the body of Gabrielle's owl then recycled some crepe paper streamers I had sewn for previous party decor to create its feathers, corrugated card stock for the eyes and feet and an over abundance of hot glue to attach everything

What can I say? Girlfriend {Gabi} worked the glue gun like a boss

We confiscated Papa and Mema's oatmeal cylinder for Dawson's shark

We wrapped the cylinder in aluminum foil (I would have loved to use silver wrapping paper but used what we had on hand) and simply cut slits to insert the fins & tail

Travis free handed the body parts and cut them from craft foam

I honestly can't recall where I stumbled upon this free printable Valentine but just did a google search and found it here

I give this quick valentine exchange a big thumbs up for cost, ease and cuteness

Valentine day was spent celebrating with my 3 favorite little peeps

As we were heading out for a full day of activities, we were surprised with a super fun love package from Lynee, Micah and Makayla

She knows the way to our hearts is straight access through our sweet tooth!!

I tweaked our mantel a bit this year by removing the glass hurricane candy holders from the black candle bases and replaced them with tin mailboxes I picked up at Target a few years back

I added the La La Love You print from the girls 2012 birthday decor to a fun magnetic board we received from Aunt Linda

I anchored the left side of the mantel with a feather heart wreath

And everyone's favorite new addition is this adorable red and pink dachshund 

She fits right in with our dachsie lovin' family!