Hugs and Kisses abound on Valentine's Day! And this darling little bracelet says it all - XOXO - how adorable! On my recent trip to California I came across a number of great bead shops but one of the best shops I visited was Legendary Beads . Their selection of beads and jewellery supplies is excellent and I found lots of goodies to bring home with me. But it wasn't until I was at the cash register finalising my purchases that I saw the fabulous little XOXO bracelet kit. It was very smart placement to have it at the counter - like lollies at the checkout in the supermarket! The display was so cute that I couldn't resist bringing one home with me. You only need some basic jewellery making skills to put it together but it didn't come with any instructions so here's a few photos that should be helpful. The wirework XOXO is already preformed for you so you don't need any wireworking skills at all. Firstly, you'll need to tape the end of the mouse tail. Cut the ......

Today's project is for the romantic at heart. Candle light is one of the most important ingredients of a romantic Valentine's dinner for two and what could be more appropriate than a heart of tealights. You can make this simple "heart wreath" in no time at all and all you need is a hot glue gun and some tea lights. I suggest you make this project on a sturdy surface that you can transport easily to the dinner table as the hot glue is not very strong. I've used a combination of 20 unscented Glimma tealights in red and scented Tindra tealights in shades of  ink from Ikea. Just lay the tealights out in a heart shape and play with the colour arrangement until you are happy. Take a sheet of paper larger than the heart and press it down over the top so that it leaves an outline of each tealight. Place the paper on a firm, portable surface and move each of the tealights into its position on the paper. Glue each tealight to the one next to it. Gently remove the pape......

What says Valentine's more than anything else? Well, there are hearts.... and of course, there are chocolates. But if there is any one thing that symbolises romance it would have to be red roses - the flower of love! Can't afford a dozen long stemmed roses this Valentine's Day? Well how about some artificial roses to dress up your dinner table instead. I picked up mine for just $2-50/bunch from Crazy Clarks.   To pad the bunches out I added some hessian (burlap) ribbon from Joann's and some red picks - mine are a combination of Christmas decorations and party picks from decorations that I'd stored away from parties past, but you can pick these up from your local party store for just a few dollars. Here's what I did. Firstly, I cut lengths of hessian ribbon, placed the ends together and threaded a length of 26 gauge wire along the edge. You want to make sure you're about a centimetre from the bottom edge so that it doesn't fray.  Pull the wire to gather t......

A few days ago I shared the monogrammed napkin rings for the engagement party and I'll have more table decorations for you in the next few days but today I'm turning my attention to decorating the party room. To tie the bride and groom's favourite colours of red and blue together, we used hessian/burlap and a white lacy edging. Continuing with that theme, we created some bunting to be hung across the doorways and over the gift table. It's a quick, easy and very inexpensive decorating idea. The total cost for 4 lengths of bunting was under $5 and all we needed was hessian/burlap, a stencil, paper doilies and acrylic paint. Using a template for the triangles makes it easy to get them all the same size and also helps you get the best economy from your hessian. I found it also helped me keep the weave of the fabric straight which will make the stencilling step much easier. Use a permanent marker to trace out one triangle for each letter or space that you will need. Cut out ......

Over the next week or so I'll be sharing some projects with you that were made for a special couple for their engagement celebration but with some minor tweaking you could easily make them into Valentine's Day projects. The happy couple is a no nonsense couple but even still, it was nice to decorate to make the occasion even more memorable. First things, first. We needed a theme to work with. The bride and groom's favourite colours of red and blue combined with their initials was a good starting point. Red and Blue on their own don't exactly conjure up a romantic mood but with the addition of some white and a bit of hessian (burlap) we were heading in the right direction. The bride (and the groom!) got involved and stamped up the monograms and then punched them out whilst I was away at CHA. It was great to have this job already done when I got home. Neither of them has ever stamped or paper crafted before. Didn't they do an amazing job? The stamp set is from Just Ri......

Valentine's Day is a pretty simple affair at my place but we do indulge our sweet tooths and find it the perfect excuse to share some sweet morsels. From my husband, a deliciously moist, chocolate covered mudcake....... and some soft and squishy marshmallows from me. Two of my favourite treats: chocolate and marshmallows. Mmmmm...... Oh what delightfully, sweet indulgences! I hope that you too have treated yourself to some of your favourite sweet things today. Happy Valentines Day to you all! 'Til next time..... If you can't get enough of My Tutorials and you want even more inspiration,  click here to find my books and printable pdfs...

Ah, Valentine's Day! And romance is in the air! When I walked into the office this morning I was greeted with a beautiful bunch of roses in shades of pink and red, and then shortly after by a box of exquisite foil wrapped chocolates in a heart shaped box. How romantic! Before a minute had passed the cutest little kitten with a red bow tied around it's neck appeared. Romantic image after romantic image flashed across my computer screen - what a lovely start to the day. I bet you were thinking how spoiled I am? Well, perhaps I'm not quite that spoiled but my sweetheart and I did exchange boxes of chocolates this morning and we'll sit down quietly tonight to share them as we watch Sleepless in Seattle together - mushy stuff, I know, but very romantic! And that leads me on to today's post - Zentangle inspired Valentine's Cards. One of the wonderful things about Zentangle is that there really are no rules so there is nothing to say that your doodle has to fill a squ......