Valentine's Day Fun: Can O' Dates

Here's an update on last week's Valentine's Day post...  how cute is this?  Hubby got six balloons... we managed to fit in four of the activities.  It was a fun and romantic day.  :)

Our Valentine's Day Mantel- Balloons, cards and a "What I Love" garland.

Fortunately for me, I had some time to make everything while Hubby was out of the house on Saturday morning.  While I was making the balloons, I had a cool idea to make a "What I Love About You..." garland.  And it really didn't take long.  The tag maker I recently bought at Creative Memories sure came in handy!  I just added little embellishments in the form of hearts and flowers and hand wrote what I love about him.  I used raffia ribbon as the line and little glittered clothes pins that I picked up ages ago.  I taped it to the mantle and Voila!  Everyone needs to be reminded why they are loved.  If you are reading this for the first time, my original Valentine's Day post can be found here.     

What I Love About You...

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So onto some new content...

Back when I was dating my husband, we would often run into the problem of where to go on dates.  I used to joke around about making an activity bag with ideas and leaving it in the glove box of his car to jump start our brainstorming.  Fast forward to 2011 when I stumbled on the Dating Diva's website.  I finally got some inspiration for my activity bag.  It only took me twelve years and it's in a slightly different form than a brown paper bag.  :)

Our Island Themed Can O' Dates

Honestly, who isn't looking to do more for less?  In line with the Valentine's Day date idea I posted last week, here is a project to foster more marriage fun and to give you some ideas when you want to do something but need a little inspiration.  From start to finish, the project took about an hour and I tailored it to our preferences and interests.

To make the can, you can print a template from here or make your own.  If you make your own, you'll need:

1- plastic painters can from a craft store
2- sheets of decorative scrapbook paper
2- sheets coordinating paper
adhesive strips
ribbon, optional
scissors, printer and shape cutters

Begin by measuring the inside of the can and cut your decorative paper to fit inside.  If you would like to make a tag, feed the uncut coordinating paper through the printer.  Once the wording is how you like it, line up your shape cutter (I used a circle) and cut the paper.  Tape the tag to the decorative paper on the side that will be facing outward.

Line the top and bottom of the inside of the can with ribbon, if desired, and secure with adhesive or hot glue.  This creates a finished edge and will hide any cutting imperfections.  Adjust the paper so that the sides overlap and cover the entire inner surface of the can.  Tape edges down.  Tie ribbon to the handle and add a tag.

Now for the fun part.  You can get as creative as you want with your date ideas.  Plan for day dates, evening dates or stay-at-home dates with your sweetie.  To make the date cards, enter the text in a word document and print on colored paper.  I used three different colors for three pages worth of date ideas.  Once printed, I cut each date into an individual card, folded it and placed it inside the can.  

Some of our date ideas

I'll post some inexpensive date ideas for your cans over the next few weeks.  Stay tuned!