What Makes Valentine's Day Sweet To You

If you can't get enough Valentine's Day, then today is your lucky day!  Get your fill of sweetness from The {NewNew} and then check out some of our friends and their blogs about this notorious day of romance, flowers and of course sweets.
Andrea Davis: Pure Food Nutrition: Valentine’s Day Chocolate: Good & Good for You?
The Bitchy Waiter:  F*ck Cupid
Brooklyn Flea:  You Gotta Have Heart
The Experimental Gourmand:  Valentine’s Day Special Dinner
Hell’s Kitchen Flea Market:  A Blog Affair to Remember
Metalicious Jewelry:  Well Hello February 
Kumquat Cupcakery:  My Messy Pink Kitchen

Did I mention sweets? Chocolate and conversation hearts, what more could you ask for? Maybe a lot of them.  Did you know.....
A bowl just waiting to be filled with conversation hearts by LennyMud
  • More than 36 MILLION heart shaped boxes of candy will be given and received this year. (www.sugarstand.com)
  • About 8 BILLION candy hearts will be made.  If you put them all side by side they would reach from the city of romance, Rome, all the way to Valentine Arizona -- not just once mind you, 20 times and back again! (www.iowastatedaily.com)
  • Those candy conversation hearts have been around a long time.  NECCO, the maker of them, started putting those catchy little phrases on them all the way back in 1866, and we've been in love with them ever since. (Sweethearts: The Continued Success of America's Favorite Valentine's Candy, 2010)
Of course, candy is only one of thing that makes Valentine's Day sweet for The {NewNew}, when I posed the question I found out there was a whole lot more.

Home is Where The Heart is by JDavisStudio
Mom has been making Valentine's day special for a long time and {NewNew} members Lorrie from LennyMud, Alton of AltonWeekes and Jill from JDavisStudio remind us how sweet mom can make Valentine's Day:

Lorrie's mom made the day special by summoning the Valentine's Day Pixie.  The Pixie is a magical creature that would ring the doorbell several times over the course of the day and leave presents on the doorstep.  Today, Lorrie shares the same tradition with her kids.

Alton's mom and her Valentine's day tradition are actually the driving force behind him starting his stationery design studio.  Every year Alton's mom would give him and his sisters a box of valentine cards to share with classmates.  Those little cards with cupid, hearts and sweet sayings were Alton's introduction to stationery beyond birthday cards.  It was the holiday of love that inspired Alton's love of stationery.

Jill's mom started sending her special Valentine's day care packages back in college and still does today.  They are filled will fun things like candy, silly jewelry, even the occasional McDonalds gift card. Way to go Jill's Mom!

I Do Card by Alton Weekes
Let's face it, nothing makes Valentine's day more romantic than a ring, and I don't mean the doorbell.  A ring is exactly what Loella from LoellaMedina and Angel from CardsInStitches got one Valentine's day.

With the view of the New York skyline in the night time sky Loli's best friend surprised her by popping the big question.

Now Angel, has a bit of a different story.  She got married not just on Valentines day 2003, but on the 5 am Eyewitness News along with 4 other couples!  She found out on Monday that she'd be getting married on Friday at Tavern on the Green in Central Park all expenses paid.  Now that's what I call one sweet Valentines Day!

Since The {NewNew} is an Etsy team made up of the best and brightest artists and designers in the tri-state New York craft scene, it is no surprise that DIY valentines are high on the list of sweet things about the day. Nothing makes Simone, from Groundsel, smile more on Valentine's day than a handmade valentine.  Anne from Felt It loves making valentines for family and friends with her three year old.  Each year her daughters designs become more creative and intricate, I bet it won't be long before she has an Etsy shop.  Jennifer from MellowBeing recalls Valentine's day as a time to make valentines for her mom and friends.

Love painting by LennyMud
Dinner, mix tapes and wearing red made the sweet list among {NewNew'ers} too.
Jody at AStudioByTheSea makes Valentine's day sweet by planning a special night out with her husband of 23 years.  But they do it a little different, they skip the February 14th crowds and inflated dinner prices and celebrate at a fancy restaurant a day or so off.  What a great idea, we may just do that this year too!

Te Amo Card by S2 Stationery and Design
Sara from S2 Stationery and Design has mixed feelings about the holiday but has a great tradition of making a mix CD she calls the "Love Mix" and shares it with friends.  It's her way to let them know that she supports and loves them no matter what.

The perfect notebook for February by CardsinStitches
Lisa from Pretty Stationery loves that Valentine's day is close to Chinese New Year so she gets to wear red and eat candy for two weeks.

And finally, Stephanie from MulryJewels finds sweetness on Valentines day by simply remembering and being thankful for all the love in her life, romantic and otherwise.





Wishing you all the sweetest Valentine's day.
Holly / EllisDesign



Artistic Process: What inspires you?

mellowbeing
"Color. Mixing colors, seeing how they work together, seeing if they create a lot of contrast or just accent each other. It's all about seeing combinations. Color inspires a lot of what I do in any creative medium. I tend to gravitate towards brighter, more lively colors because I believe it's nice and easier to add a "pop" of color to something simple (say an outfit, room, etc.) than it is the other way around.

When it comes to knitting, the utilitarian aspect is the 2nd characteristic that inspires me. I want to use a fiber that is useful to the recipient so that they can get the most use out of it for as long as possible. In this case, a 100% wool yarn is perfect because it keeps you warm and has high durability in the Fall/Winter. Cotton is awesome for warmer Spring times. The 3rd would be texture and quality. A lovely, soft skein of alpaca yarn just screams to be stroked and you know you want it close to the skin. It's why I love making alpaca knit items when I do get the chance (alpaca can be pricey so that's a con)."

-Jen
mellowbeing

Gift Swap & Meeting w/ TheNewNew

Hung out with the NewNew Etsy crew last weekend. It was a blast! We had a productive meeting with brainstorming and good news on the horizon, a gift swap and karaoke night.

Swap Gift: Mug from LennyMud
I was lucky enough to get a Lenny Mud mug (who had hosted the meeting at her studio space). Isn't it awesome?!

repost from MellowBeing at http://mellowbeing.com/ (click here for full post...)

Crafty Presents at the {NewNew} Gift Exchange

Last weekend The {NewNew} had our new year's meeting and party and yes - crafty gift exchange! The meeting went great, we started with a craft item swap (which i think we should do every meeting as people are always looking to destash) and then everyone who brought a gift could take a gift from the grab bag. And as this was a great group of maker's I think most of the presents were handmade, which made them that much more unique and special. I look forward to seeing some other posts to see what other people got...

repost from KimmChi at http://kimmchi-nyc.blogspot.com/
click here for full post...


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-Kimm
KimmChi.etsy.com