the great handmade valentine swap of 2012

the handmade valentine swap has come to a close! this year was mostly a success -- i loved hearing from our 70+ participants about all the creative, colorful and thoughtful valentines in the mail! a HUGE thank you to everyone who played along, and to those who sent me a card too -- i hope you loved getting extra mail this year.

BUT, this years's swap was tainted by a few valid complaints. some participants were MIA, others didn't appear to put much effort into their cards, and i definitely hope to be able to remedy these problems in the future. :(

in the meantime, here are photos of some of the awesome valentines sent out this year! all images were submitted to me by their respective owners. don't see your card here? email me a photo and i'll feature you in another roundup!

jody from the hobby room made the most amazing vinyl pockets that you can send right through the mail! genius, no? i had no idea you could do something like this and now my wheels are turning with other possibilities for fun mail packages. check out the hobby room for a full tutorial.

dawn from not just a mommy made TWO versions of her valentine. i loved the rock candy package she sent to local friends -- and she detailed the cute seattle-stamped cards on her blog.

my mom, the midlife guru, even got in on the action! she made a cute little valentine bunting with patterned paper and embroidery thread -- read more here.

deanna tourville made some lovely hand-stamped cards -- the owl is my favorite:

paper collage cards by liz friedman:

megan mach's finger-painted butterflies, sewn onto cardstock with thumbprint hearts:

love birds by becky luis:

my faves: wooden stationery

i think wooden stationery is so cool. i've been a longtime fan of night owl paper goods and their flat wooden cards, but i've noticed wood popping up more and more in the stationery world of late.

when i was at ALT, business cards were a BIG deal -- they were all so creative and unique. [check out this fun round-up from kirtsy.] but my very favorite one came from katie at salt + pine (a fellow seattle blogger, woot). her design was letterpressed into a wood card!

the cards were printed by print and grain, based in portland. i LOVE how they turned out. no matter how many brightly colored paper cards i got at the conference (and i got a LOT -- not going to lie, i didn't always care about who i was getting a card from as long as i was getting a card, they were so pretty and fun to collect!), i always remembered the unique wooden card from katie. kind of reminded me of the cool wooden cards danyelle from dandee had at alt last year! [i mentioned those in feb 2011, guess i've always had a thing for wood.]

jenny from hank & hunt made wooden valentines this year for the handmade valentine swap! more info on the swap results next week, but in the meantime how cute are these?! the valentine envelopes also included tiny wooden bunting.

[photo from hank & hunt]

then, just this week i came across a cool way to bring wooden stationery -- or, faux wood, if you want to be technical -- into everyday life.

i received a wedding announcement this week from a family friend. i'm a pretty tough critic when receiving stationery in real life, especially if it's a handmade invitation -- i have high standards. :) but, in the world of DIY wedding announcements, i thought this one was perfect!

broc and charlie's wedding announcement had a topiary theme. the flat card and photo were wrapped in a folded doily, tied shut with a crimson ribbon. the couple's "b&c" motif, designed to look like something you'd carve into a tree, was present on each piece of the package.

they printed the announcement on wood-grain cardstock, which made the "b&c" stand out like a real tree carving. i love the typography they chose, and the cute photo set in -- where else? -- a wooded grove. 

[all photos except jenny's by me]

simple, pretty, and clever -- all the elements i like to see in a wedding announcement. good work, friends!

p.s. -- do you think my photography has improved in recent posts? i got a sweet grown-up camera -- a canon t3i -- for christmas, and i've been taking photoshop classes lately too. hopefully my new equipment and skills are providing a better viewing experience for you loyal readers :)

good idea: paper party pack

i think these paper party packs from mixt studio are so cute. a set of 4 placemats, coasters, wine glass markers and napkin rings in coordinating themes like holiday, oodles of doodles and wine party. an easy, quick way to add pretty paper to your next soiree!

[all photos courtesy of mixt studios]

happy valentine's day!

[source: sparrow nest script]

happy valentine's day! we just got back from spending a romantic weekend in arizona. [romantic = the main purpose of the trip was to visit my grandparents, and we brought jack along, so i guess it really wasn't very romantic. ha.] sooo i'm busy catching up and getting ready to celebrate the big v-day with my little family tomorrow.

here are a few final valentines for you -- hope you have a great day tomorrow, spent with someone you love.

more valentine's day on the stationery place:

valentine round-ups one and two

valentines by smock paper

secret love notes

valentine stamps

[source: avie designs]

love is in the air!

i guess with valentine's day around the corner, i've got romance on the brain -- here's a round-up of some awesome wedding stationery i've collected from around the web lately.

basically in love with EVERY one of the items in the avie designs shop, but i had to pick soiree to share with you because it has my favorite color ;)

the cutest save the date photos i have ever seen! love the photo strip look, love the washi tape, love the colors, love the hand-lettering. LOVE. [printing & calligraphy by tara at ephemera press; spotted on oh so beautiful paper]:

"eat, drink and be married" customized wedding pockets from paper themes -- you insert flat cards with all the wedding and rsvp info:

pretty letterpressed invitations from im-pressed:

adorable sea creature wedding suite, designed by katie from rocket ink & printed by kseniya at thomas printers. i love the little starfish. (spotted on oh so beautiful paper):

amazing "graphic & glitz" wedding announcements designed by amy hardy from design8days (spotted on paper crave): 

** all images from their respective sources. paper themes is a sponsor of the stationery place. 

DIY grandparent valentines

i can take exactly ZERO credit for this idea -- i spotted these cute stamped valentine cards on hello jack [fabulous name, don't you think? ;) ] and knew i had to try them out. you use a toilet paper roll to create a heart shape, then stamp it in paint before sticking it on a card. perfect for my 18-month-old jack! and perfect to send to all our much-missed relatives in other states.

i used pre-cut and pre-folded cards from american crafts, rescued the toilet paper roll from our recycling bin and grabbed some crayola finger paint i have on hand for moments just like this. i demo'ed the stamping for jack exactly one time before he was ready to try it himself -- and he wouldn't stop! he LOVED stamping hearts. i made him stop after a few on the cards but let him go wild on some old newspaper.

then i dressed the cards up a little bit with some washi tape and patterned paper. naturally mama has to get in on this crafty action :)

my little "helper" -- he made a mess while i got crafty. thanks buddy!

this whole project took way less than an hour, start to finish (done in our pj's, no less!) -- and now i have super-cute handmade valentines to send to the grandparents. score!

for more of my handmade valentines over the years, check these out:

tiny valentines

L letterpress valentines with homemade envelopes

good idea: free valentine printables & ideas

my friend muffin from sweet muffin suite has teamed up with sharon from lemon squeezy to design six days of free valentine printables! [muffin is basically amazing -- some of her graphic design work is featured on products at TARGET! sooo legit.]

the girls are halfway done so stay tuned this week for more. seriously, these are the cutest.

while we're talking about sa-weet valentine countdowns, my friend lindsay is chronicling her 14 favorite valentine ideas on linniebell. so far she's covered treat bags, heart-shaped jewelry and red velvet hot chocolate -- YUM! can't wait to see what else is in store.

also, the very talented sara at confetti sunshine featured a great tutorial on a valentines breakfast, complete with free printable downloads. i think i will be using some of these muffin toppers and pancake flags for MY valentine festivities this year. she even has some yummy-sounding recipes to try and cute matching invitations to hand out.

and, if you're participating in the 2012 handmade valentine swap, don't forget that all your cards need to be in the mail by tomorrow! i've already gotten a few and they are SO adorable. can't wait to share them with you next week.

** all images from their respective sources.