Made Marian: Oozing Crafty Goodness

Photo by babybee

I’m sure it’s the same everywhere but it seems like every shop window in the city has been shouting about the fact that Valentines Day is around the corner.  I tend to sit on the fence about Valentines Day because I like to celebrate it in some way but I don’t like to buy too much into the clichéd commercial side.  I suppose what I mean is that I like to get a card but I love the fact that I’ve never received a shop-bought card from my significant other (he has always made them up on the computer with photos of us and little in-jokes).  I know that for some people Valentines would be a write-off without a big bunch of roses but given the emphasis on saving the pennies these days maybe we should be thinking outside the box. My significant other is no stranger to this, about three years ago he bought me a gift basket that had a little conifer plant in it, it was about 99% cheaper than a bouquet of flowers and it’s still living on our balcony.

Of course you could always take a crafty approach and buy a few bunches of cheaper flowers and wrap them up yourself.  Your local florist will probably be able to sell you some cellophane and your nearest fabric shop will have a selection of ribbon for you to chose from.

You can even make your own chocolates. I’m a big fan of chocolate truffles and they are ridiculously easy to make. You can present them nicely by reusing an old sweet box wrapped in some pretty paper and ribbon or use a tin storage box like this one.

Last but not least, the card.  Here’s a great card-making project from The Purl Bee. I tried this last year and found it really easy especially since it was my first attempt at card making. I got hooked after trying that project.  Maybe you will too. These were my end results.

I hope my crafty suggestions for Valentines day will inspire some of you to celebrate the day but not go overboard on the commercial stuff.  I’ll post up some more recent love-themed cards soon.

Disclaimer:  I reserve the right to accept cute commercial gifts if they are offered, like this. A gift, not from my significant other though but from his Mom.  He’s dressed as a ladybird which as some of you will know has particular significance to me