Valentine Cards from CardsEtcetera

I seem to have two ways of doing things in life. Either I am really organized and I am ready for an event WAY before it is time...or...time snowballs and I just say "forget it." I might have a birthday present sent to you a month in advance...or...I forget to mail it and it doesn't get there until too late.

I get laughed at for being early, but I am starting to think that for me, it is the way to go. I would rather send a gift CRAZY early, than late.

This seems to be true every year with my Christmas Cards. I start thinking about and imagining Christmas Cards for my family in September. I should probably just do them then! The problem is that I feel silly doing them then, which means it is all a snowball effect from Thanksgiving till Christmas...with no cards.

This year I did get some cards out. A few people received cards, but I didn't get them out to everyone. Specifically I didn't get them out to my kids teachers. Yes, I did give gifts to their main teachers. It is all the other teachers that we missed. They both have "Specials Teachers" at school...Music, Art, Science, Computer, Literacy, Library and PE. Not to mention ALL the teachers they have from church activities...AWANA, Choir, Sunday School. I want these people to know they are special. I want them to know how much we appreciate them...how very much we appreciate them.

I did appreciate them at Christmas...apparently I just didn't let them know it. Then I planned on doing something for New Years and that just didn't happen either. So Valentines Day it is. No more excuses. No more good intentions. The line is drawn in the sand. The love will be shown by Valentines Day!

Luckily I discovered a shop that will make our appreciation so much easier. After Christmas I found a shop called CardsEtcetera on etsy.com. I LOVE HER WORK! She makes the most adorable cards out of your photos. It is like she crawled right into my mind and created things just for me! Really...it is what I would make if I were creating cards. I love them!

Look what she whipped up for me...


That greeting was what made it ok for me to procrastinate. When I ordered them, I knew they would work for New Years OR for Valentines Day. Not to mention...they don't SCREAM a specific holiday, so I feel people may leave them up for awhile. Of course she has more Valentine options out now, and a little part of me wants to reorder and go REALLY Valentiney.

The best part? Ok...I am not really sure what the best part of CardsEtcetera is. There are too many great things to choose from. I adore her designs. Jocie is about as sweet as a person can possibly be. She is a FAST worker. She aims to please. She does quality work. And...I can order my prints from Costco and pick them up in an hour! Yeah...this is a FAST option for when I procrastinate. Maybe that is not a good thing for me to know! Seriously though, go and check out her shop. You will be SO glad you did!

I think because I am always doing something crafty, I wanted to add just a little bit more to my cards. Maybe I wanted to pretend like I actually had something to do with the creation of these cards. I decided to layer two pieces of card stock under my photo.


I think it gives it a little more oomph. It is simple. Not super sappy with tons of hearts. Just beautiful in its simplicity.

We are doing a little gift to go along with the card. Some of them will be getting gifts made specifically to suit their interests. Some of them will be getting these:


Again, it is beautiful in its simplicity. It is a wood container from the Dollar Section at Michaels. I added the word love with a red sharpie and we are going to put Cake Pops minus the pop part inside. I guess that makes them cake balls. We are going to go all out on the Valentine theme for this part. It gets eaten, so no one will keep them around for long anyways.


Who do you need to share LOVE with this Valentines Day? Remember, it is never to late to let someone know they are appreciated!