Boats and Bows

Things have been busy at the Amylou office (aka my house).  I had the awesome opportunity to go visit my brother Dave in St. Thomas 2 weeks ago.  That and neighboring island, St. John, were the most beautiful places I have ever seen!  Chris and I went without the kids, and our parents took turns watching the kiddos.  I missed them a lot, but it was so nice to get away and have some alone (plus Dave) time.

Chris and I on a romantic sunset cruise (on Valentine's Day)

My handsome brother Dave "working" on his boat Castaway Girl, which takes cruise boat visitors on snorkelling tours (which we were able to go on twice!)

It's been really hard to get back into the swing of things.  I'm one of those people who takes forever to unpack (especially when the suitcase is filled with clothes I won't be needing for a couple months).  I've been home for about a week and a half and  FINALLY have all the laundry from the trip done and put away.  Now, back to "work"....posted some new bows today.  Some of them I just made for fun, and some were special ordered for an upcoming wedding.  Check them out!

Easy, Fast, and FUN Valentines

Here's a Valentine that is sure to impress anyone.  Best of all, they are super easy to make, AND you can get them done, start to finish, in just a little over an hour!  I got the inspiration for this from this photography blog: Fresh Art Photography , but thought I'd change it up a little and instead of using a sucker, making a little bag of kisses.

The hardest part is getting the right picture.  After, several attempts, we got a good one!  These were all ok, but the candy would have covered his face since his hand is pretty much directly in front of his face.  

 A little better...the arm is out.

Yay!  Perfect!

 Next, I just uploaded the picture to Walgreens.  They have several different options for Valentine's Day cards.  This was a 5x7 card.  I liked it because it was simple and the design allowed for a horizontal photo.  It was ready for pick-up in an hour.  While you're there, grab a bag of candy.  I used Hershey's Kisses. (If you're not a procrastinator like me and have a little more time to do these, I'd recommend getting them printed at a more professional quality photo place.  The picture quality of the photo wasn't great.)

Next, poke a hole right above the hand and below the hand.  I used a hole punch for the bottom hole, but the hole punch wouldn't fit all the way over to the top of the hand, so I just used the point of a scissors.

 Then, put some candy in a sandwich bag and tie it with yarn or ribbon.  I used skinny yarn.

 Then, cut off the top of the bag and twist the top of your new little baggie it so that it's skinny enough to feed through the holes on the picture.

 From the front of the card, feed it through the bottom hole, then back out the top hole to the front.

 And voila!  Your child is holding a little baggie of candy.  The Valentine is finished.

 It's also cute with a sucker.

Happy Valentine's Day!