Happy Valentine's Day, y'all!

Happy V-Day!

Cliff and I have never been big Valentine's people. At least one of us was always in school for our whole relationship until last year, and so gift-giving holidays were often celebrated with a home-cooked meal or a hand-made card. (Read: cheap, but fun!)

This year, we decided that since we can, we will. We both decided we would get each other something small...so of course I was on board to make him something cute! Errr....I mean, manly.

***Editor's note: There will hopefully be another post coming today when/if I find the card that I made for Cliff two weeks ago...for Pete's sake, this house is only so big? Where in the bujeezes could it have gone?!?

First, I made him this little Chinese take-out box with Valentine felt fortune cookies. What a cute and easy little project! Amy from Pieces of Me has a great tutorial here on her fabulous blog, and it was so easy to follow.

She's right - two little cookies fit perfectly into the box! I printed out her pattern onto a piece of paper, and then used my printer/copier/scanner to photocopy the pattern onto the back of a piece of Sweetwater patterned paper. Then I just cut out and glued the box together.

By the way, if you're planning to try this and you want to put a ribbon handle on your box (as I decided, too late), punch your holes and set your eyelets *before* you put the box together. The small Cropadile doesn't reach! :)

Here it is, all closed-up and super-cute:Thanks for the tutorial, Amy!

I also made him a little frame for his desk. I wanted it to be manly enough that he won't be laughed out of the office if he takes it to work, but still lovey-dovey enough for V-day. I started with one of those unfinished square frames from Michael's, and here's what I came up with:First, I painted it black, and then sanded the edges a little. Then I used clear embossing powder and Hero Arts' woodgrain background stamp (thanks for the loan, Adrienne!) allover to create some texture. Here's a close-up...Then I applied a piece of a transparency overlay (the "always" sentiment) across the bottom, and attached some black ribbon across the top of it to hide the "seam". I added three little white heart brads on the right, and then printed and adhered "YOU ARE MY" on the left in Impact Label font from dafont.com. (Hooray for free fonts preventing me from buying a $30 label maker! Yahoo!)The "happiness" chipboard word was a prize from the Crop Away weekend I attended a couple of weeks ago. You can find these at Michael's (if you're lucky - they're so cute and I think they went pretty fast!)

So there it is: my "little" Valentine's gift for my sweet, wonderful Cliff. He is such a fantastic man, and sometimes I wonder how I found him. I really hope he likes his gift this year.

And I hope that next year, I remember that when Cliff says "little" he means a spa gift certificate. I am such a lucky girl! :)