One way we fill ourselves with love is to be creative, in whatever way that fits us.  I love to be creative.  It motivates and inspires me not just in the realm for what I am creating, but also spills over into other areas of my life.

Well, for Valentine’s Day my crafty creative bent came out to play.  Oh my!  When the inspiration hit there was no stopping me … all h#@@ broke loose in my house until I had all the supplies and, of course, that meant staying up late.  It was SO much fun and even more more fun giving my homemade Valentines and treats as gifts.

Below are the promised pictures and information for my projects that many asked for on Facebook.  I hope that you become inspired to create something … anything!  Something that takes you away from the mundane.  Something that takes your head out of your to do list.  Something that lets you play again like a child!  Something that will fill your heart and spirit with love!

Love Notes

This is not the greatest picture but this is so cute.  This was a gift for my son’s girlfriend.  I made cute little paper fortune cookies with love notes my son wrote for each one.  I found this idea at One Lucky Day

Be My Valentine Treat Bucket

I gave these cute treat buckets to my family members.  The buckets came from the Dollar Tree.  I covered Hershey Bars with very cute Valentine wrappers and made individual Valentine S’more packets.  The candy wrapper idea is from Anything But Perfect and the Valentine S’mores is from Welcome to Pittiepat Paperie

Chocolate Chip Valentine Cookies

These are just regular chocolate chip cookie bars but I used Wilton’s Brownie Combo Cutter and piped a little icing on them.

Well there ya have it!  Remember, a little (maybe a lot) of creativity is good for the soul!!

Here we are in the month of February already. The time of year we typically think of love and romance.

This year I would like to suggest something that may be a little different for you.  I suggest that you express love to yourself filling your own love tank regardless of who may or may not be around to do that for you.

Valentine’s Day is about love.  Women of Wonder, let’s step it up a notch or two by falling in love with who we are, embracing, and celebrating the wondrously unique creations that we are … so THEN we can give love to others from our overflow!

I introduce to you  … “Love Notes With a Twist”.

Everyday write a love note or a love quote to YOU! Yes YOU!  Write about all the things you would love your secret admirer or lover to say to you.  Write about all your great qualities, all the things that you appreciate about you. Write about all the things you wish others would say to you and appreciate about you.  This is the time to celebrate YOU!

Each love note is going to go into a special love container.  It can be a secret treasure box, a decorated jar, a beautiful vase, etc. You will have a month’s worth of special notes to yourself that you will use throughout the rest of the year when you need a lift or some encouragement.

So what’s the twist?

“Love Notes With A Twist” is a gift from YOU and for YOU that will keep giving all year long!  And, of course, you can continue to add to the love container throughout the year as you think of things to celebrate about yourself.

Don’t wait until you find the perfect container.  Just start now and put them in any jar or mug for now until you land on that special love container.  That is my plan.

Whatever you decide on, take a picture of your finished “Love Note With A Twist” container and send it in to me and at the end of the month I will feature a couple of them with the hopes of inspiring others to do “Love Notes With a Twist”.

Below are a couple of really cute love container ideas and where you can find directions on how to make or buy them.  You don’t have to get this elaborate, but for those of you who are creative I thought you might find these ideas fun.

There is a video on facebook that will show you how to recycle any kind of  jar.  Click here => Love Jar Facebook Page

Love Letters Mailbox from I Love Nap Time

Love Jars from One Lucky Day

DIY Custom Valentines Day Sweet Love Notes Jar

Are you in?  Let me know in the comment section below if you are going to do  “Love Notes With A Twist” with me so that we can be an encourage to one another!

Related Posts:  Filling Your Love Tank On Valentine’s Day

I saw (again) a REALLY cute Valentine’s Day mug that I really want!  You know how crazy I am over cute coffee mugs, tea cups & tea pots! I have not bought it yet but I am planning to.  Actually, I’m hoping to get it on sale after the fact but they don’t have many.  I might miss out if I wait.  We’ll see!

Anyway, no the GIVE AWAY is not for the mug, but for a $10 Starbucks gift card, which …

… if you love the mug as much as I do you could use the gift card to buy it.  Oh and get this! The name of the mug is “Sending My Love Mug”.  Cute, huh?!  Either way, you can creatively use the gift card as part of your self-nurture practice!  If you purchase the mug it will give you unlimited special moments.  It’s just a thought! That’s just how my mind works.

Contest Rules:

You will receive 1 entry for each activity below.  For additional entries, you can tweet, post, and comment as many times as you want.  But here’s the key!  You MUST come back to this post and in the comment section of this post report your entries, otherwise I may miss some of your entries.

1.  Tweet the following message:  I am entered to win a Starbucks Gift Card from @shileennixon at The Wonder Woman Challenge http://shileennixon.com/give-away-starbucks

2.  Follow me on twitter @shileennixon then leave a comment here with your twitter screen name. I will follow you back.

3.  Post on facebook:  I am entered to win a Starbucks Gift Card from @The Wonder Woman Challenge http://shileennixon.com/give-away-starbucks

4.  “Like” The Wonder Woman Challenge Fanpage on Facebook.

5.  Comment on the TWWC fanpage about how you plan to use the gift card if you are the winner.

Contest is open to US and Candian residents only.

Contest ends Thursday, February 3, 2011 at 11:59 pm EST.  Winner will be chosen randomly who I will contact via email.

Good luck!  I hope that you are the Woman of Wonder Winner!

Shileen

Girlfriend, I love chocolate just like most other women I know.

Today I decided to make a very healthy Chocolate Mousse for a treat. (Recipe below) It turned out that when I was ready for this yummy dessert, I was the only one in the house.  My guys were all off watching the Steelers win (yay!) elsewhere leaving me at home alone, which by the way, I didn’t mind at all.

So while I had the Steelers game on I decided to turn something ordinary into something extra-ordinary turning dessert into a self-nurture activity.

I could have plopped this lovely chocolate dessert into a bowl and woofed it down, but I didn’t.  Instead I used one of my cute tea for one sets accompanying the Chocolate Mousse with fresh fruit and Peppermint Herbal Tea, and I also used a tray lined with a pretty napkin.  It truly was not much effort at all, but it was one that was special.  We treat company special, why not treat ourselves special, right?

I am reminded of a note that I keep on my dream board that says, “Treating myself like a special object will make me strong.”  Anytime we treat ourselves special we are making ourselves stronger because we are sending a message to our inner self that says we ARE special and valuable causing our spirit to lift and hopefully soar!

This activity is one you will want to add to your self-nurture practice.  It is so simple to turn something ordinary like eating a snack into something extra-ordinary.  It not only lifts the spirit, but it also can help you to de-stress especially when you allow yourself to be “in the moment”.

Note that I rarely spend a lot of money on something like a tea for one set.  These types of things I typically stumble upon either on sale or at resale shops.  You don’t have to spend  a lot of money on stepping up your experience a notch or two.

By the way, this recipe and activity is great for Valentine’s Day!

Did you catch at the beginning that I said I made a “healthy” Chocolate Mouse?  The ingredients will surprise you!

Chocolate Mousse

(From Lifestyle for Health Cookbook by Dr. Cheryl Townsley)

2 pkgs. Mori Nu “lite” Tofu, firm

1 to 1 1/2 cups Sunspire chocolate chips – or carob chips (I use a 12 oz bag)

1/4 cups honey – or sweetner

2 to 4 tbs. milk – or milk substitute

2 tsp vanilla

1.  Melt chips being careful to not scorch them.  2.  Blend tofu, honey, milk and vanilla in blender until smooth.  3.  Blend melted chips into tofu in blender until smooth.  4.  Chill mixture until firm.  Store in refrigerator and use within five days.

Note:  It needs to be chilled and set for best flavor.

Today is the day of love.

My dear women of wonder, today my heart is full of love and compassion for all of you.  On this day of love, I send you all the love that I can muster up because you are so worth loving.

The Wonder Woman Challenge has always been about stepping off of the merry-go-round of life a few minutes each day in order to love yourself … to fill your empty cup with love SO THAT you can joyfully give to those around you.  We must learn and practice giving from a full cup.

Today is the day of love.

Regardless of what anyone else does for you, what are YOU going to do for YOU?  Don’t miss this opportunity to express to yourself just how much you do care and love yourself.  Your spirit will leap with joy!

“Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It is not rude, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.” ~ I Corinthians 13:4-7

I encourage you to not only apply this passage of love to those around you, but also to yourself in a balanced and healthy manner.

Today is the day of love.

“What women need is to learn how to nurture themselves. We need to shower as much loving kindness on ourselves as we habitually shower on loved ones, and even not-so-loved ones. We need to be loved for our fully formed selves, not for our dependent, appeasing selves. And the only way we can have fully formed selves is by granting ourselves the same tenderness and fierce protectiveness we’d otherwise reserve for a beloved child.” ~ Alice D. Domar, PhD “Self-Nurture”

I love you!

Happy Valentine’s Day!

Shileen

Taking Valentine’s Day into your own hands is a great thing to do!  Why wait and hope that someone will recognize you on Valentine’s Day when it isn’t necessary?

Valentine’s Day can be a fun holiday, it can be a bummer of a holiday.  As women, we always hope that our loved ones will recognize their love for us on this day.  The waiting can be unnerving … will he/they do something or won’t they?  Will someone think of me?

Let me ask you… who really needs that?? I sure don’t!

Many years ago I decided to take Valentine’s Day into my own hands making it whatever I wanted it to be.  I thought about what would bring me great joy on this day.  How can I express love to those close to me that would also fill my own love tank?

I started by giving a tea party to my family, which consists of two boys and a hubby.  You are probably wondering how I pulled that off.  Although at the time they would not admit it, they all loved it!  It was food!  Tell me what boy or man who does not like food!!  =)  Plus they knew it was important to me and we always enjoyed conversation around family time (we still do).  Our tea parties over the years have always been very lovely and meaningful.

It has been a few years since I have thrown a Valentine Tea party.  I will always recognize my guys on this day and they typically do me as well, but I seriously count their recognition as a bonus.

Listen, it is just as important to love on ourselves as it is to love on others.  When we love on ourselves it frees others to love on us.  While you are recognizing your loved ones on Valentine’s Day, what can you do to recognize yourself?  Plan a special tea for yourself, a bubble bath, buy yourself some flowers, take some time to work on a hobby, etc.  Think of a way to treat yourself special, something that will bring you joy.

Here’s a fun idea!  While I was putting together a gift for a friend, I put one together for myself as well.  I love it!  It is simple.  I always say it is the simple things of life that bring me the most joy!

I made a cute set of Valentine’s Day coasters, bought a new mug (I am a sucker for a cute mug!), made up some of “My Famous Hot Chocolate Mix”, and added some of my favorite tea.  It is so very cute!  Just looking it at fills me with joy!

The coaster idea came from one of my favorite websites Cupcakes and Crinoline in an article called Sew Happy 30 Minute Coasters.

Taking Valentine’s Day into your own hands is a great thing to do.  In the end everyone feels blessed with a full love tank.

Do you have any Valentine’s Day ideas to share?