Showing posts with label Valentine's Day. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Valentine's Day. Show all posts

Wednesday, February 18, 2009

Balloon Capers

One of the families at school were Cupid's Helpers for Valentine's Day. They offered a variety of gifts that they would personalize and deliver directly to the kids during their school day last Friday. Tony and I took advantage of the offer and ordered one mylar balloon anchored with a large Hershey bar for each of our girls. Needless to say, they were excited when they came home with them in tow.

The Hershey bars were devoured pretty quickly (I was surprised there was any left to BRING home!) but the balloons still linger. They have been used for indoor volleyball practice. They have been caught in a balloon gathering against the cold air return. And one balloon even got stuck in the very large, wide open space above our stairway. You should have seen the whole family throwing Janae's and Kerrigan's entire stuffed animal menagerie at it to get it down! Britnee wished later that she would have had the video camera going.

But I think the funniest thing to date was two nights ago, when in the middle of the night, I woke to use the bathroom and then check the girls, as I often do. When I returned, a balloon had somehow sneaked up the stairway and lodged itself in the corner of the ceiling and wall outside our bedroom door. The string was hanging in our doorway and liked to made me jump out of my skin. But that's not the end of this silly tale. I must have woken Tony when I climbed back into bed, who proceeded to get out of bed and go check the girls, not knowing that I had just been in there. He stirred the air when he walked past the balloon and I watched it slowly come down from it's corner and hover smack dab in the middle of the doorway, right at eye level. I laid quietly in bed and waited with a grin for his return. His reaction did not disappoint me.

Half-asleep, he found his way back through the hall and came face to face with the balloon. He about jumped out of his skin and I laid in bed laughing my fool head off. He was NOT amused.

Last night, the balloon was inside our room, dancing in slow motion as only mylar balloons that are losing their helium dance. It just didn't seem right to stab a heart balloon with a sharp object to deflate and dispose of it. I told Tony he'd better anchor that stupid thing somewhere or one of us would get freaked in the night. I assumed he would tie it to a doorknob, the office chair or the shelf bracket.

This morning when he left to take the girls to school, he was a in a hurry and I heard him grumbling about having the untie the balloon from his belt. I combed the girls hair and then settled back down to get a couple more hours of sleep. But sleep did not come easy. The house was quiet, the balloon was dancing and I slept with one eye open fully expecting that silly balloon to get in my face and try and coax me to dance along with it!

Tuesday, March 4, 2008

Valentine's Day Cans

I am really behind for posting these. But for some reason, I have been leaving my pictures on my camera rather than download a few at a time.

I found this adorable project for Valentine’s Day around the beginning of February. Using a can with a pop-top, remove the bottom with a safety can opener. Empty the contents and clean it then fill it with goodies. Replace the original label with your own and decorate as desired (the example used a little tag and lots of fun fibers and ribbons so I did too.)

After verifying that one of my friends had that kind of opener, I purchased and downloaded the template for the “labels” then went out and selected my goodies for filling and the size cans I needed See the end of this post for dimensions. I used Beans and Weenies (cute li’l things) for the girls and a large pineapple can (I think I got the wrong size since I had to alter that particular label to make it fit) for Tony.

Flipping the cans top-side down, I filled them first with a little pink and red shredded paper, then the goodies, then more paper. Janae and Kerrigan got a set of Polly Pets in theirs, Britnee got two puppies (those cute little animals with a German brand name sold at Target and TSC-can anyone help me out here?) And Tony got Hershey’s kisses in his. To make the gifts look even more special I re-packaged them in a clear cellophane bag from the cake and cookie decorating dept at Hobby Lobby (100 ct for $1.99).


Many thanks to fellow blogger, Bobbie, for her help in getting the lids off the cans and even cleaning them out for me! That was totally not necessary but very, very kind. Thanks a bunch!

Interestingly enough, I had so much fun with this project that I bought my own safety can opener for my own Valentine’s Day gift! I see many more of these nifty little cans in my gift-giving future! And I think the coolest part is that the recipients think you are so awesome and clever!

You'll definitely want to click on the photo for better detail.

*Here are some approximate measuring. Each brand varies a little bit. 7.75 oz. individual serving size can of beans and weenies (2.75”h x 8.5” w), 11 oz. can of mandarin oranges (3”h x 9.5”w) or 20 oz. can of pineapple (4.25”h x 9.5”w)