Happy Valentine's Day

Happy Valentine's Day, from Sam.
The handsomest little bachelor ever. Eat your heart out, ladies.

Okay, so this valentine is something that has been floating around in my mind for a while... and it didn't turn out exactly as I imagined it, but it is still cute as crap. When Sam was about 3 months old, I found this little tux at a second hand store on a 50% off day. I think I spent something like $5 on the tux pants and jacket, a vest and tie. I didn't know if he would ever have an occasion to wear it, but it was worth it to have on hand, just in case. About a year later, it finally fits him and we didn't have a real occasion for it-- so why not make one?
I have a friend who is a photographer with beautiful backdrops and whatnot who offered to take the pics for me, but we just couldn't get the schedules to work out and make it happen. I couldn't shake this image of the little guy in this little tux clutching a red rose... so I made it happen.
We used the super classy white sheet (that I didn't even iron) (and really should have) (oops) method... and Sam took one look at that set up and laughed in my face before rolling all over the place and folding and wrinkling the crap out of it. So um... photoshop?
...where my skills leave something to be desired. But in the end it was good enough to send to the grandparents (but lets not lie, the grandparents would be excited about scribbles on the back of a McDonalds receipt.) and I thought cute enough (the boy, not the photoshopping) I had to share it with all of you!
The best part though, may have been the outtakes. If you follow me on twitter (@1sassyhousewife) You already saw some of these, but I thought they were too much fun not to share. All of these are SOOC, no editing. This is photoshoot magic in all it's raw and untouched glory!

Swinging that thing like a sword, I tell you!

And I love the following progression of pictures... check it:

Oh, Nothing. Just cute as crap, and snuggling a rose, NBD.

Still adorable... still adorable...

YAAARRRGH! EAT IT!

You need to know that he growled as he bit into the rose.
Then he scattered the petals and draped himself appealingly across them and made his come hither face. Just kidding. Sort of.
You might also have noted that my son is wearing navy blue socks with his black tux. That's because we are classy.  Thank you for noticing. Originally I was going to do the pics in black and white so it wouldn't matter. But then I didn't and it did. So... yeah.

Anyway, made my one year old's valentine spoofing one of the trashiest shows on television, but I feel at peace with that decision. haha.
What did your valentines look like this year? Put links and pictures in my comments so I can see them because I am nosy like that, okay?
Hope you get to spend the day with all the people you love!

Happy Valentine's Day... MWAH!

Some Handmade Valentines

A few weeks ago, Amy Lee and I decided it was time for a glitter fest again. This time we decided to glitter bomb my house and make some valentines. Actually, through some contact at her work she had heard about a program that was distributing handmade valentines to the kiddos in Children's Mercy Hospital. And not that we needed a cause to glitterbomb one of our houses in a crafting frenzy... but we thought this sounded like a GREAT cause. So we invited a few friends, busted out the construction paper, glitter glue and heart stickers, and got together for a Sunday Crafternoon.

Dude, check out the MESS of papers on that table. We were into it. (Also Winston cameoed in this picture... it's like Where's Waldo? Can you find him?)
Here are the Valentines I made... I guess I thought I had taken pictures of everyone's? But my camera ate those or something? So here are mine:

Most of those cards are stacked several deep, I know it doesn't look like a a ton... but we each churned out around 20 valentines. I was trying my hardest to make some Male and gender nuetral valentines-- as valentines with their red and pick and hearts can get rather effeminate fast. Hence the dinosaur and dump trucks.

 Actually, the dump trucks were totally my fav. I hand cut all the pieces which made them a smidge time-consuming, but if you were mass-producing them (Say for a whole class of kiddos?) You could easily use a truck shape on a cricut or silhouette type cutter and it would go pretty fast. Topped them off with some sparkly hearts... and I think they are adorable and fun for boys and girls!
Meanwhile, Melissa was using a circle punch and making adorable 'leggo' valentines (I'll never 'leggo' of you, Valentine!) and cute cute elephants with big floppy heart ears, (You're unforgettable!). And Amy was churning out every animal on the planet... but the favorite were her alligator valentines. Maybe one of them has pictures I can share? Ladies?
Anyhow... we had a fun afternoon putting these together, and I think we sent more than 50 valentines to give to kiddos. So I hope they make some kiddos smile on Valentine's day.
Have you made any valentines or gifts this year? I'd love to see what you put together!

Happy Valentine's Day, Baby!

We decided to make a few valentines to send to our family this year. We had a photo shoot the other day, then I just did a little editing in photo shop and added some text.

I had them printed at walmart one hour photo.... because I don't plan ahead. I am not a fan of walmart photo, quality is not stellar, and they always crop things a little weird regardless of what their website 'previews'... but whatever. It worked in a pinch.

 There were so many cute shots I couldn't pick just one! Sam has many expressions and facets to his personality these days... so each of his loved ones got a unique valentine, which is kinda fun.

We are not big into celebrating valentine's day in our family. It kinda seems like an unnecessary 'holiday'. However... I cannot resist an excuse to take and distribute photos of the little man. Sooo... Happy Valentine's Day to all! Hope your day is filled with happiness and loved ones, and that you aren't rendered useless from the cuteness overload of this post...