Valentine's Day Archives

In Choose To Thrive

Valentine’s Day Window

2 Mins Read

Confession: I’m not that big into decorating for Valentine’s Day.

I like the holiday, but have never been the sort to break out the red and pink around the house. The front door is about as much as I’ll ever do like I did here, here, here and here. And the whole no-hearts thing has been even more true the last five years since we welcomed our 5th kid on Valentine’s Day night during what should have been our special dinner. Now you’re more likely to see balloons and streamers on the 14th instead of hearts and flowers.

But oh my word.

My kids think I’m the meanest mom ever for not decorating our house like their bulletin boards at school. So I caved and threw together a quick, free Valentine’s project that the kids were able to help me with.

Ta-da. My kids are now speaking to me again.

This came together super fast using an old window frame in my living room that had been sitting bare since Christmas.

(A large picture frame would work, t00.)

A quick wrap with some twine …

… some printouts of family pictures and conversation heart-esque names on cardstock …

… and some left over dollar store clothes bins that got a quick coat of craft paint.

Assembly took all of three minutes and could be swapped out easily for any season or holiday using the same materials.

And while I won’t admit this to my kids, I actually love seeing all the wedding and anniversary pictures from the great love stories in our family:

siblings and parents …

… grandparents and great-grandparents …

… even me and Mr. Thrive.

Hope you and your loved ones have a wonderful Valentine’s Day!

We’ll be celebrating five awesome years with our best Valentine’s Day present ever.

In Holiday

Conversation Heart Front Door

2 Mins Read

So here you go … the final entry in my front door choices.

Super simple vinyl hearts + lettering to match my favorite Valentine’s Candy.

And since I liked the minimalist candy look, I skipped adding any kind of wreath or other embellishment.

Simple candy heart goodness.

I simply cut four 5×5.5” hearts in different colors on my Silhouette and then added the lipstick pink letters over top.

No Silhouette?

No problem. This design would be a cinch to hand cut out of vinyl or contact paper and add scrapbook or crafting stickers for the text.

This would also be fun on a board for inside the house so you could reuse it.

So, now it’s your turn.

Let me know which of my four designs should be on the door through Valentine’s Day: 1 – Neutral; 2 – Red; 3 – Primitive; or 4 – Conversation Hearts.

I’ll randomly pick on of the commenters to receive a Valentine’s day good pack from THRIVE. Voting closed tomorrow, January 31st at 8 pm MST so that I can hurry and get the prize in the mail. Edited to add:

Congratulations Nydia!

(Leave a comment with your email if you’d like a free copy of the Silhouette file.)

In Home and DIY Projects

Love One Another (V-Day) Family Night Idea

2 Mins Read

Happy Valentine’s Day everyone!

I debated posting this since it’s so last minute, but here’s a quick and easy idea for those of you spending tonight at home with family like we are. (Mr. Thrive and I celebrate V-day a week before or after because of kiddo #5’s birthday).

We’re having a special “Love One Another” family home evening lesson on showing love to each other all the time. I’m loosely following the ideas here, changing up the treat and activity. (And you could use this idea for an FHE activity year-round.)

And since conversation hearts are a family favorite, we decided to do something a little different and make conversations hearts out of felt.

Kid #2 and #3 helped me cut out hearts from cardboard and cover them with felt.

Kids glued hearts to felt with school glue; I wrapped and then glued the edges using hot glue.

During the lesson we’ll be writing down ways to show love for each person on our hearts and then hanging them up for the next few weeks to help us all remember that showing LOVE isn’t just for Valentine’s Day.

I experimented with what I had on hand: glitter pens and sharpies. The kids loved the glitter, but it’s messy so be prepared. Markers are probably the way to go it you want these to be easy to read.