heart (hard) work

mr. cz was very much hands-on when it came to valentines for his sweets this year.
he handcrafted THREE freezer paper stenciled shirts.
I witnessed the two he made for the Ls and admired his patience and eye for detail but that was nothing compared to the one he made (secretly) for me.

since big L has recently discovered her love for books I was very excited when i found this image (here)
now it was time to hand over the project to the master of patience!

he printed the image on freezer paper, cut out the image and then arranged it on the shirts. the stencil was then ironed on.

he then added two coats of fabric paint with a sponge-brush (very carefully to not push paint under the "seams" of the stencil).

ironed over the completely dried (24 hours at least),
image et voila ...

two lovely "love to read" shirts for his Ls.

they proudly wore them all day on v-day, all night and the next day again :)
big L even broke her uniform rule at school to show off her papa's art.

well done papa!!!! we LOVE those shirts!

but if you think this was cumbersome then take a look at his midnight project of 02/13.
not only did he create a logo for heart and soul works but he also cut out this VERY detailed image and ... over night made me a heart and soul works shirt.

i absolutely LOVE it!

we'll add wings we decided (partly to resemble the soul part of the name and partly for my Willie boy ... of course he is always on my mind!) and then make shirts for everyone!!!

families and friends ... get ready for many shirts for b-days and such :)

we celebrated v-day very quietly with lovely flowers.
these were for big Ls teacher, with her hand made can-vase wrapped in wool and decorated with red buttons.

more flowers for the girls of the house.

and a sweet v-day party with good friends!
little L created lovely little heart baskets and filled them with little goodies for our honorable guests.

i went all out and printed labels for the refreshments,

filled the dishes with sweet love,

and more sweet love,

 and even more sweet love :)

we sang "happy valentines to you" and enjoyed our sweets and great company.

the little people insisted on candles ... so we had candles and made v-day wishes and sang v-day songs.

all in all a wonderful day and now i am VERY happy it's over.

if you have two kids in school valentines day is almost as involved as christmas!
the crossing guard, the secretaries, the teacherS, the friends and class mates, family and friends ... it never ends. once you start you can't stop and the Ls would come up with more and more to shower with love.
i drew the line at the grocery store employees!
we treated them for x-mas already ... we don't want to over-spoil the neighborhood :)

this is the round up for v-day. now back to regular crafting and making.

~be well

language of the heart

mr. cz created this for me for heart-day and I ABSOLUTELY LOVE IT!!!

heart and soul works just got a logo :)
we decided to add some angel wings to symbolize the soul (and secretly, in my heart, for my forever dog) ...
but oh what a lovely gesture, what brilliant idea, what amazing work my soul-mate created.

i heart and soul you!!!
lum ... forever!

i paw you!

this one came to me as i was , yet again, watching in utter disbelieve, how dork tried to play with little devil (aka Zoe, the cat) and fatty (the white, fluffy queen of the house).

no matter how often they beat him up, he never gives up and runs after them with a waggy tail, ready for yet another beating and scratch session.
because maybe, just maybe, today will be the day they will turn their hate into love for him.

we thought we'd help him along the way a bit.
nothing says "i paw you!" more than a paw print heart v-day for your two lovely enemies :)

we hung one of for the queen, right next to her thrown

and one was hung a bit lower for the little devil.

she looked at it, smelled it ...

... and then took off

... poor dork was left behind to wait for her "i paw you too"

... and still is waiting!

But one day surely they will change their minds and he'll be there, ready to embrace their love with a waggy tail and a dorky look on his dorky face.

love is everywhere :)

~ be well

the heart of the matter

is ... hearts, of course!

there were/are a LOT of hearty projects going on in our house right now.
red and red is everywhere ;)

there are heart shaped (embroidered by big L) 

bookmarks for teachers

paper hearts created by little L ...

giving an old paper bag a third life.

 finished by big L

stuffed and laced up for display.

 treasures found by Little Red and Darth on their last walk with Dork 

(aka Eddie, household dog)

were "glitterfied"

and hung on our Solstice Tree (now turned into a Love Tree) for display.

big L has been hiding hearts for us everywhere 

and whenever I find one I add it to the love tree.

the stuffed paper heart crowns the top.

i also had the pleasure of running a v-day project at little Ls class last week.
we made awesome heart crowns out of paper plates.

these lovely creations were the talk of the school today and were worn during the prestigious v-day celebration at little Ls class.

and we also made some very special bookmarks for little Ls BFFs

i used instructions from "Handmade Home" by soulemama for the bookmarks and jumped over to my most favorite hands-on-kids-craft blog filthwizardry for instructions for the paper plate hearts.

I have two more hearty projects up my sleeve but I won't reveal them until tomorrow since they are not finished.
the heart angels (as little L calls Cupid) better work hard tonight to get it all ready for the day of love ;)

jump over to my blogger friends sites and join in the lovely fun :)

~ be well