Tea Time

I love Fort Collins, there are so many cool places to visit.  My friend Deb invited me to go to Happy Lucky's Tea House with her.  I have been to many coffee houses but this was my first trip to a tea house. 

We sat in the back on the comfy couches and worked on our knitting projects.  Here is Deb.

Here is me.

Here is our tea. 

We had a tea that tasted like chocolate, and one that tasted like roses.  They were both really good, as were the pastries and peanut butter cookie that we shared.  Yum. 

I like the tea shop atmosphere.  It's cozy and warm, and a little bit arty and fair-trade worldly.  They also had a cool paper crane chain.  I love paper cranes. 

So if you find yourself in Old Town Fort Collins, grab a friend, mosey on over to Happy Lucky's and have yourself a spot of tea.

Valentine Making Party

Here is a confession:  I wasn't planning on making any Valentines this year.  "But what about your last post?" you claim.  Well, those were from 3 years ago, when I didn't have 2 jobs and I had a huge craft room.  I thought I'd just lay low this year and reminisce about my cool Valentine craftiness of the past.  However, Colleen encouraged me to get crafty, so get crafty we did. 

She drove up for the day, and two other friends, Jenna and Katie joined us. 

Michael even came over and mingled for a little. 

There was paper everywhere.  I loved it.  There is just something about a messy table that gets my creative juices flowing. 

Colleen was the Valentine making machine.  She made a lot. 

Jenna kept wowing us all with her fun ideas. 

Here's my measly contribution.  I made a bunch more later but forgot to take pictures (oops). 

Katie didn't actually make any.

She was having more fun drinking yarn and playing with Katya.  Both of which still make for a good time. 

My parents always send me a fun Valentine package every year and it arrived while we were crafting.  I opened it and found this awesome pair of pajamas.  Thanks mom and dad! 

I also have to include the Valentine my best friend, Meghan sent me, just because it is so cute and if she lived nearby, she definitely would have been crafting with us. 

But my favorite Valentine of all was the one Michael gave me.  He's the best :-) 

So here's to good friends, a messy table, and sharing the Valentine love. 

Happy Valentines!

I love making Valentine cards.  I have my mom to thank for that.  When my sister and I were kids, my mom rarely bought us the pre-made cards to pass out to our classmates in school.  Instead she bought us the Valentine card making kit, complete with sparkly heart stickers and all kinds of good stuff. 

I always liked to throw other things into the mix, too.  I remember pouring over the pages of a wallpaper book one year, and picking out all the pink patterns.  This was before the day of sweet scrapbooking paper, so a wallpaper book was pretty exciting stuff. 

I still love getting scrappy when it comes to Valentines.  I save things all year round in preparation for the crafty event.  Here are some of the scrappies that have made it into my Valentines (in addition to the obvious scraps of red, pink, and white paper):  canceled stamps, playing cards, a tag from a new shirt, the insides of envelopes, brown paper bags, a rescued hymnal, snippets from magazines and the newspaper, doilies, candy packaging, wrapping paper, and the leftovers from a used up sheet of heart stickers.  (It's too bad I don't have a picture of that last one, that was a good one.)

I know mainstream culture says that Valentine's Day is supposed to be a romantical day to get all mushy gushy with your significant other.  Well, my husband is not really the mushy gushy type, not that he doesn't participate by giving me a great card (I love cards) and something equally great like Snickers, but it in his words, "It's not like it's Reformation Day, or the opening of a new superhero movie."  And that's okay with me, because I see Valentine's Day as a great excuse to get crafty, put out cute decorations, and celebrate with girlfriends. 

Which brings me to another point.  Valentine card making is a great way to have fun with your friends, and even to make new ones.  Having moved around quite a bit, I've found that it's always pretty easy to round up a bunch of girls to make Valentine cards. 

So, keep your eyes open for the Valentine goodness.  Grab your glue, paper, and scissors and go to town.  And have a happy and crafty Valentine's Day.