valentine’s day card | Jillian In Italy

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San Valentino

Valentine’s Day is fast approaching and the internets are abuzz with everything from heart shaped foods, to quirky Valentine’s cards to the ULTIMATE gifts to make your loved ones swoon. Personally I like to keep the whole holiday pretty low-key and relaxed (easy here in Italy where it’s not so celebrated). I usually bake something sweet (and yes, heart shaped) and maybe make a little card or handmade gift to leave on the breakfast table for when the family wakes up. Here are a few of my favourite V-day recipes, diy projects, Valentine’s inspiration and cards that will make you giggle.

For over a month my lovely friend Giova has been posting a handmade heart a day on her blog One Bunting Away. She is a talented embroiderer and paper artist and I’ve really loved reading each and every heart post. Read her passionate Valentine’s Day manifesto here.

These seemingly rude Valentine’s cards from Etsy Shop Sunny and Susan really make me laugh.

I’m going to try and make these Red Velvet Cupcakes in a Jar (because we all know that desserts in jars taste so much better!). And as I do every year I’ll also whip up a batch of my grandmother’s rich and buttery Brown Sugar Shortbreads. And I’m thinking this heart shaped bacon and heart shaped egg in the hole would be perfect for a Valentine’s breakfast or brunch (although I think I’ll pass on these Weiner and Cheese hearts).

This round-up of Nerds in Love Valentine’s cards by Mighty Girl had me in stitches.

Last year my daughters and I sewed up some of these little puffy heart necklaces for their friends. Easy to make and really cute to see a little gaggle of girls wearing them. These necklaces were featured on some really great Valentine’s round-ups here, here and here.

Tags: baking, cookies, handmade, san valentino, valentine's day, valentine's day card

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Categories Creative, Family/Kids, gift ideas, photography, Recipes, Sewing

Surprise Message Bunting Cards

4 Feb

The other day I was chatting with one of my twin daughters about Valentine’s Day and all the fun we’ve had in the past making up special treats and cards for their classmates over the years. Over here in Italy (and I think generally in Europe) Valentine’s Day is a day reserved for couples and adults and not something kids celebrate like in North America. So even though my kids have always been one of the few that celebrate it in school it has still become a lovely yearly tradition to make something together for their friends.

This year we decided to make simple cards with sewn paper buntings that have little hidden messages. Easy, quick and fun for kids of just about any age.

This is all you need to make these sweet little cards. I used glassine for the actual bunting paper so that you can see the pretty patterned paper through it. If you don’t have glassine paper any type of paper would be fine.

I cut the glassine paper in long strips and folded it in half to have a square piece of paper. I then sewed the pieces of glassine squares together with the sewing machine (making sure the folded edge is on the bottom). This way the glassine paper is sewn on the top, closed by the fold on the bottom and open on the two sides (to make it easier to slip in the small pieces of paper with message on the back).After sewing the bunting together we slipped in little square pieces of paper with our special messages on the back. Seeing as the glassine is open on both sides the messages are easy to slip in and out. We then simply attached the sewn paper bunting to our cards with tiny heart stickers (pieces of washi would also be nice).

Now to come up with all the short little messages to go inside. Some of my favourites that my kids have suggested for their classmates are: ‘you have nice handwriting’, ‘you are pretty smart’, ‘you have the best snacks’ and ‘you don’t smell’. Let’s hope their romantic sides develop a little more in the years to come.