Valentine's Day

Sorry it's been a few days since I posted last, I have been busy. I have lots to share with you in the next few days though. But since yesterday was Valentine's day I am going to talk about that. First of all of those of you that don't know, or know and like the story, I am going to share the story of St. Valentine. ...

In 270 A.D., marriage had been outlawed by the emperor of Rome, Claudius II. Claudius issued this decree because he thought that married men made bad soldiers since they were reluctant to be torn away from their families in the case of war. Claudius had also outlawed Christianity in this time period because he wished to be praised as the one supreme god, the Emperor of Rome. Valentine was the bishop of Interamna during this period of oppression. Valentine thought that the decrees of Rome were wrong. He believed that people should be free to love God and to marry. Valentine invited the young couples of the area to come to him. When they came, Valentine secretly performed services of matrimony and united the couples.

Valentine was eventually caught and was brought before the emperor. The emperor saw that Valentine had conviction and drive that was unsurpassed among his men. Claudius tried and tried to persuade Valentine to leave Christianity, serve the Roman empire and the Roman gods. In exchange, Claudius would pardon him and make him one of his allies. St. Valentine held to his faith and did not renounce Christ. Because of this, the emperor sentenced him to a three-part execution. First, Valentine would be beaten, then stoned, and then finally, decapitated. Valentine died on February 14th, 270 A.D.

While in prison, waiting for his sentence to be carried out, Valentine fell in love with the jailer's daughter, the blind Asterius. During the course of Valentine's prison stay, a miracle occurred and Asterius regained her sight. Valentine sent her a final farewell note. He signed his last note, "From Your Valentine." Even today, this message remains as the motto for our Valentine's Day celebrations.

I love that story!! 

I couldn't decide between two cards to make for my husband so he got both, one cute one and one funny one. I will share them both with you here today. Please note that the funny one is slightly naughty.

Since he got more than one card I decided that he needed a little Valentine mail box.

I used Valentines 3D Boxes, it is a Cricut Craft Room (which I discovered recently and will be discussing soon) exclusive. I used no name cheap paper from walmart. He loved it. I thought it was quite clever. While I admit that it might have been cuter had I used all one color of paper I am still happy with the way it turned out.

This is his cute card. I actually took the time to glue each leaf down individually, there are about 100 of them. I really wanted it to have texture and dimension. The only cartridge I used was Planton Schoolbook. The little owl and pink tree are stickers from walmart. I used a variety of paper and if you would like to know a specific one (or all of them) please ask and I would be happy to let you know.

This is the funny card, I saw one on pinterest and I about died laughing so I had to make him one. He thought it was hilarious. It isn't as nicely made as it could have been but since it was a joke I didn't want to spend much time on it. I used the Wild Card cartridge.

Every year I get him the same thing, a "puppy in a cup". I get a small stuffed animal and shove it into a coffee cup, I have done this for 4 years now. This year I decided not to go with the pink and red cup with hearts that he got for the past 3 years (different cups all with similar patterns) and got him an Air Force mug, he was so excited I practically had to wrestle it away from him so I could wash it before he used it. I didn't take a picture of it and I don't want to stick the puppy back into it and get him all dirty. Now what he got me is pretty spectacular. I have been wanting diamond earrings for years now. I have tons of sparkly earrings but none of the real thing. So he got me my first pair of real diamond earrings and I am in love with them.

Aren't they gorgeous! We don't usually do much for Valentine's day, we make a nice dinner at home and exchange small gifts. Thats what made this even more of a surprise. Speaking of nice dinner at home. Oh my was it good. We had steaks, cheesy potatoes, garlic cheddar biscuits, and for dessert chocolate covered strawberries.

I thought they turned out quite cute this year, I make them every year. I was going to get white chocolate and swirl them but I forgot to buy the white chocolate chips so I used some sprinkles I had in the cupboard. Plus I love any occasion I get to bust out my fine china, it's so beautiful.

I had an amazing day with the man of my dreams, but that is usually true of every day. I am thinking that this post is plenty long enough now so I will say good bye for today. But I will be back with more soon.