Valentine Pin Spin

I'm sitting here in my Cookie Monster Footie Pajamas (yes...I'm that grown up) with my cup of hot lemon water (with MiO added so I can even get it down...basically it's hot lemonade, but it sure helps jump start my day) and a major case of bed head. I'm sure that was just the picture the hubby wanted to see when he came down the hall this morning. "Happy Valentine's Day!" was the first thing I said in my awesome morning croaky voice. And now I sit here at the computer and he sits on the couch with his Kindle.  Breakfast? Maybe we'll hit Sonic on the way to work. We're so romantic. Bahahaha. So we're not huge into Valentine's Day, but we don't hate it. We'll do dinner tonight and sometime this week hopefully I'll finish my Valentine Project I've slowly been working on, but that's about it. Valentine's Day wasn't ever a holiday I worried over much...sure, the candy was fun and it was fun to give my friends Valentines, but I never was mad when I was single, and when I wasn't single, it wasn't a hugely important day. I usually gave out the generic little Valentines in my class. It's always been fun to watch those that do really get into Valentine's Day. There were always a few kids who brought in the awesome homemade Valentines and treats. I always looked forward to seeing what they would bring because I knew there'd be something yummy. 

Today we have a Pin Spin featuring just such Valentines. Amber combined 3 pins into one big Pin Spin to send with her daughter for her Valentines Day party at school. Here were the 3 Original Pins:

Original Pins:

http://www.pleasant-home.com/2010/01/quick-and-easy-valentines-treats.html

http://www2.fiskars.com/Crafting/Projects/Cards/Holiday/Hand-Crafted-Valentines#.URz9LaWTiqg

http://www.eddaphotography.com/blog/2010/02/happy-valentines-day/

And here's Amber's story of how she came to her Pin Spin:

"First up was the candy cane hearts. I had a HUGE tub of the mini candy canes left over from a work event in December.  I easy convinced her that they were cute and told her she could help me make them.  All was going well until I tried putting the sticks in with the white chocolate. I think the weight of the candy canes and candy was too much once you held them by the stick and the white chocolate kept breaking. Our pin spin #1 was to just omit the sticks. We easily assembled the remaining 30 hearts for her class and set them aside."

"In the meantime she saw me pin the pop rock valentine as an idea for her brother. She liked the idea and wanted to give out pop rocks, but we already had 30 hearts sitting on the counter. Working together we came up on the saying "You make my heart pop" so that she could give both the candy cane hearts and pop rocks.  Pin Spin #2!!"

"I decided to incorporate pin #3 and I put my Photoshop to good use.  I designed a topper for the bag both treats would go in. As well as a bookmark sized insert for in the bag with the new phrase. The bag toppers are a vertical 4x6 printed photo folded in half. The front had a space for her to write her name. The back had a large red heart for her to write the classmates name. The book markers were also printed as vertical 4x6 photos and then cut in half and trimmed.  Our local Walgreen's always has a sale on 4x6 prints around Valentine's Day and I can upload and pick them up in an hour. Much easier than trying to print at home with three kids."

I loved these and thought they were awesome. I thought I was doing awesome last night by sticking some candy, some Bon-bon nail polish and lip gloss, and an Avengers Valentine in a bag for the girls I work with at church...and then I see this. Maybe next year I'll be on the ball and do something awesome. Great job Amber! I love the combination and creativity! 

Happy Valentines Day everyone!