With Valentine's Day falling right in the middle of the month, February is often considered the month of love. The commercial aspect focuses on romantic love...giving fabulous gifts of jewelry, gourmet chocolate, or dozens of roses...purchases of special lingerie...weekend getaways...you know, you've been seeing and hearing the commercials, too.
My take on this month of love that there are all sorts of levels of love to celebrate. Of course there's romantic love, but then there's the love of a child or grandchild, the love of a parent or grandparent, the love of a pet, friendship love, loving a classroom of children...the list could go on and on.
This month's project is a celebration and reminder of love on all of those levels.
The project starts with a galvanized metal dimensional envelope, complete with a hook on the back for hanging on your wall. The envelope is approximately 9 3/4" wide and is approximately the same height from the bottom of the envelope to the rounded peak. There is an opening in the envelope, which allows you to store bits and pieces.

The envelope is altered with paper and gesso, and is then embellished with a vintage inspired deep red velvet flower and leaves (the flower alone is about 3.5" wide), beautiful crinkled and silk ribbons, leaf ribbon, and an altered chipboard heart which hangs below the envelope.
I had actually purchased one (or maybe more :)) of these envelopes back when I was teaching at Memory Lane, but in true Carol Wingert fashion, I put them in a box during one of my organizational moments and haven't been able to find them. Imagine my delight when I came across them from one of my sources...they were a must have for a creatologie kit.
I love putting together memory art with home decor...it's practical and usable. The envelope itself is a neutral color and the heart and flower add a bit of red. I recently read an article in a home decor magazine where an interior designer talked about putting a bit of red into every room. It really gave a room a punch. Thinking back to the days before I was using red in my home quite a bit, the rooms where there would be a bit of red (the kitchen with hens and roosters, for instance), definitely stand out in my mind. So, here's that little bit of red to add punch to your room!
The kit comes complete with the parts and pieces you will need to create a shaped book, which fits perfectly into the pocket of the envelope.
There are 14 interior pages for your love notes, with coordinating papers and embellishments provided to tie your book together.
On the cover of the book are some hand made ribbon flowers...you will be walked through the process of creating them...fun and totally gorgeous! I think you are going to love the process, plus it's something new and different...something I've not included in a kit before.
The inspiration to create a love notes book came several months ago. I was having "one of those days"...just feeling really down on myself. You know...we've all had those days. I was checking my emails late in the day and I had two of them from women who had taken my class the previous week. The emails were so positive, filled with gratitude and just made me feel so good. It was amazing how quickly my perspective changed...can you relate to what I'm saying? You have a rotten day and your hubby comes home and compliments you on something...or tells you how much he appreciates what you do...or your kidlet wraps his/her arms around you and whispers "Love ya, mommy!". It can just warm the heart and make you feel so great!
So, I thought about creating a book to write down some of those moments, or to print out the emails and tape them in there, or to save the little note cards from friends and family, or to print out a special picture and put it there, or to save a special piece of art drawn by a favorite child...this is that book. As you go through your days, be on the lookout for those little love notes or special gestures of love. Print them out, write them down, photograph them...and then insert them into your love notes book. Then, on a down day, just pull out your book and remind yourself that you are truly loved!
The kit retails for $40, with $9.00 shipping within the US, $14 shipping to Canada and $19 shipping to all other locations.

As always, the kit will come with instructions and colored photos of the steps. There's a lot of texture and just plain vintage beauty in this project...you won't want to miss out. I waited 3 months to get these metal envelopes (but I have them now!) and they were in short supply so there is a limited number of kits that I can make.
Shipping of the kits will begin February 24th.
To pre-order your kit, just look at the left sidebar of this blog where there is a PayPal storefront. Look for the image of the project you want and there will be verbiage that says where the kit will be shipped. Simply click on that image and PayPal will walk you through the rest of the steps. Then, start collecting those precious notes so that you can start filling the book later this month.
Do you know what's so cool about this project? Once your book is full, you can just follow the instructions to make another one...and keep doing that until you have a library just filled with love notes. I can guarantee you that you will feel blessed by acknowledging the love and kindness of other people.
So, don't delay...get your pre-order in now. Looking forward to sharing this project with you!
As always, thanks for reading, for your orders, for building your kits and for sharing your love for them with others! I appreciate you! There, another love note...wink!
Happy Love Month!
From my studio to yours,