FRIDAYS I'M IN LOVE

Hooded Trench from Boden

Fabulous Patent Bag from Boden

Classic Dark Wash Jeans from Banana Republic

Classic Ballet Flats from J.Crew

Note: I know I've been MIA for a bit but it is all for a very good cause, I promise. I will be back on Monday to launch my spring line of invitations, stationary and party accessories. Look for a giveaway or two next week as well. My little celebration of spring!

AMERICAN GIRL MYSTERY PARTY

If you have a little girl who loves American Girl Dolls as much as Petunia, you definitely want to read this.  While casually perusing the sale page of the American Girl website, I came across a kit for an American Girl Mystery Party. The concept is that each girl at the party is assigned a role and given a script. As the girls play out the story they will find/receive clues and at the end of the story, they will solve the mystery. When Petunia saw this, she fell in love with the idea and we ordered the kit for her March birthday party. But wait! I haven't told you the best part yet. Remember how I said I was perusing the sale section? Well, the party kit, including invitations, clue cards and props, beautiful scripts for each child and instructions for the parent in charge, was only $5 (regularly $16.95)!!!! Here is the direct link to the kit.

I honestly didn't know what to expect when I ordered the party kit, but for only five dollars, I figured I couldn't go wrong. I'm not really a party-in-a-box type of person, always choosing to take the long way around and do everything myself ( you're shocked, I'm sure!). But I thought at the very least, we would have the concept of the party in hand and I could discard and recreate anything that was not up to par. So when we opened the box, I was thrilled to see a beautiful, well-thought-out party with lovely invitations, nicely bound scripts and adorable cards to include in the invites describing the character that each guest will play (pictured above). 

The invitations urge guests to dress for their part before arriving at the party, but I will likely include a note saying that we will take care of that as the party begins. As for our plans for the rest of the party, you'll just have to wait and see. We don't want to spoil our surprises! But I just had to share the scoop on this beautiful bargain before it sells out. So grab one while they're still available and I promise I'll be back in March with tons of ideas to make this party even more special.

Oh, and one more thing: a Molly Mystery Party is also available.

LAST MINUTE VALENTINES: FREE PRINTABLES

I know I said no more Valentines, but I couldn't resist. I was asked to make a fortune teller (a/k/a cootie catcher. I never know what to call these. I always referred to them as fortune teller, but it seems cootie catcher is the more common term) template for a little girl's Valentine's Day Birthday, and it turned out so cute that I just had to modify it for a Valentine. Just click on the image to enlarge and drag to your desktop. Once it's printed, trim to a 7X7 square and fold.

For more printable, last-minute Valentines, check out these great freebies:

Owl Valentines from Living Locurto.

Fun and Colorful Valentines from Secret Agent Josephine

Lollipop Holder Valentines from Tricia Rennea

Snail Valentines from Zakka Life

My Matchbook Notebook Valentines

and 

Beautiful Je T'aime Valentines from none other than The Black Apple

All ready to print so noone will ever know that you were a last-minute Suzy. So go ahead, spread the love!

ETA: I couldn't resist adding one more from No Fuss Fabulous. It's too fun to pass up!

USELESS CUTENESS

Lilly Pulitzer Monopoly: Limited Edition

OK, so it's not completely useless. You can play a pretty, preppy, colorful game of monopoly - but it's certainly not a necessity. For the Lilly lover who has everything!

WE ♥ SICK DAYS

Petunia was home sick last week and since she's my crafty little bug, we decided to <3 sick days. Not to be confused with loving sick days, because noone loves to be sick, but since it was the week before Valentines Day, Petunia made the best of her time home and ♥ ed to her hearts content.

Since we were house-bound, we had to use supplies we had on hand. One project she especially enjoyed used only some old, yellowing, legal-size copy paper, leftover red paint and a paintbrush. She painted hearts, and lots of them, onto the paper, cut them out and we used them all over the house!

We made a garland for the fireplace.

Which Petunia requested be shown at several angles for the best effect.

Tucked one in a teacup.

And spruced up our dining room lampshade.

We also added our flock of birds to the mantle, worked on classroom Valentines and enjoyed countless other projects during her time home. She's back to school today and while she was excited to see her teacher and friends, I have to admit that the day is not nearly as fun as when we were ♥ing her sick days.

I had planned on showing some classroom valentines as well, but looking back on the past week, I think we have DONE Valentine's Day here at Pumpkin Petunia. I may save those, but we'll see. Any opinions?

VALENTINE TREATS

What would Valentine's Day be without treats? Nothing. That's what it would be. Yeah, sure, you would still have all the love and all that, blah, blah, blah. But what's love without chocolate? So in keeping with this incredibly romantic spirit, I have compiled a list of Valentine's Day treats complete with links to recipes and instructions.

Sprinkles Strawberry Cupcakes from Martha, because it wouldn't be a holiday without Martha. Obviously.

Chocolate dipped Rice Krispie Treats from No Fuss Fabulous, because the only way to improve on Rice Krispie Treats is to dip them in chocolate!

Candy Cane Heart Lollipops from Skip to My Lou. Very resourceful - love that. (also seen above as a cupcake topper)

And saving the best for last, my all time favorite treat for any holiday: Pretzel Kisses! These are especially fun for Valentine's Day because the mini pretzels look like little hearts. Just be warned, once you start eating these, it's impossible to stop. Instructions found here at No Fuss Fabulous.

Here's to a ♥ Sweet ♥ Valentine's Day!

ASK AND YOU SHALL RECEIVE

My good friend Czamama commented in the previous post that she wished for a flamingo valentine template (well, indirectly wished for it, but I knew what she meant). So I figured, if she loved flamingos enough to make this, the least I could do was make this:

These sweet little love birds are now part of the Valentine Matchbook Notebook template set.

Enjoy!

MATCHBOOK NOTEBOOK VALENTINES - FREE TEMPLATE

Update: Download templates here.

Monkey Matchbook Valentine

Elephant Matchbook Valentine

Flamingo Matchbook Valentine

As my children get older, each year the pressure increases to create Valentines that are "cool" and, more importantly, not "lame" or "embarrassing." Pumpkin is at an age (10) where he still likes to give and receive Valentines at school, but he doesn't necessarily want to admit that he likes it. Luckily, this matchbook notebook Valentine fit the bill perfectly last year. As a matter of fact, as Pumpkin saw me photographing the notebooks for this post, he told me that some kids still carry their notebooks with them from last year! So I guess that's proof-positive that matchbook notebooks as Valentines are kid-approved.

Always the critics, Pumpkin and Petunia thought that the standard, matchbook-sized matchbook notebooks were too small, so we adapted the idea and made them a bit larger. We added graphics of Pumpkin and Petunia's two favorite animals (monkey and elephant, respectively) and printed them up. One 8 1/2 by 11 sheet of paper makes two notebook covers. The following show what the templates look like for each design.

Print the templates on the paper of your choice, we used textured cardstock, cut using the solid lines as your guide and score and fold as indicated. (measuring from the top of the paper, you will fold at 1 1/2 inches, 6 3/4 inches and 7 inches). It is much easier to fold the paper if you score it first. You can easily score the paper using a straight edge and a bone folder or the dull side of a butter knife.

Once the notebook covers are cut and folded, just cut scrap paper to fit inside. You can use paper right out of your recycle bin, stacked so that the unused, blank side is showing. You could also use lined paper if you have stacks of it lying around like we do. Here is what the inside of the notebooks look like. We measured our notebook paper to be about 3 1/4 by 4 1/2 inches.

We stacked about 10 to 15 sheets of paper to include in each notebook. Once you stack the paper, just slip it under the bottom flap of the notebook cover and staple in place. Then fold down the cover and slip under the fold. The finished notebook is approximately 3 1/2 by 5.

Last year, we made about 50 of these fun little notebooks for classmates, teachers and friends. They do take a bit of extra time, so definitely plan ahead, but the end result is well worth the time and effort and your children will give something fun and useful to all of their friends! Matchbook Notebooks would also make great party favors!

If you would like me to send you a pdf file of the templates, just email me with the subject line Matchbook Notebooks and I will send the templates right off to you!