Invisible Messages and Jar of Hearts

I used blue vintage mason jars in my February decor, so I thought I would continue the theme for our special Valentine's Day Breakfast...especially when I found mason jar cards that read, "It's a Ball having you as a daughter (son)!"  I'm definitely a sucker for a theme.  My family indulges me.

So I decorated with Ball mason jars, colorful bouncy balls, and round truffles.  We even had blueberries with our pink pancakes.  :)

I covered mini matchboxes with paper and filled them with a tiny chocolate bar and things I liked most about each person.

I wrote secret love notes for each family member with invisible ink (aka lemon juice).  I handed them each what they "thought" to be a blank sheet of paper with their name on it during breakfast.  Dennis was quite bummed and thought I had forgotten his letter.  Then I took them to the gas stove and held the the notes over the burner to reveal their hidden message.  It was AWESOME and they loved it.  Seriously go try it.  So cool.  It can get a little tricky writing invisibly and with a Q-tip.  Some of my words and hearts didn't turn out so great, but eh...it doesn't really matter because it is so amazingly epic.  Plus you can write things to your hubby like, "You are hot!"  And "We are a great match."  Ha.

For my handsome hubby, I sewed some simple hearts and put them in a jar.  The idea is that you leave the hearts in a different places like your car, a coat pocket, a drawer etc and when you see them, you remember you are loved.  Definitely cheesy, but it made him smile.  :)

Dennis helped me come up with a camera valentine.  I designed a card and he said it would be cool to make a camera out of a chocolate bar.  I thought it was a fantastic idea, created a simple camera image and we wrapped them around little chocolate bars and attached them to his card.  We decided on colored cameras to make his card a little more interesting.

Q and I decided on a backpack valentine this year, because he is really loving preschool.  I drew a quick backpack, took a picture of it with my iPhone, emailed it to myself and pulled it into Photoshop where I did some fine tuning.  I was quite pleased with myself and my hand-made graphics (and use of my smartphone).  We added a lined paper background and he requested a red star on the backpack.  We printed the cards on card-stock and cut a slit in the pocket for the mini colored pencils to slip into.

All in all it's been a busy month so far.  But so much fun.  I sure get a kick out of it... especially when I get an awesome new book and two dozen beautiful roses.  The book was so awesome in fact, that I stayed up until 4 am and read it in 3 hours and 45 minutes.  I may have been a bit groggy for a few days, but it was wonderful.  I seriously have a problem with books.  I have to read them in one sitting. And then I'm bummed because the story is over.  Goodness.