My handsome Valentine

I've never been so excited for Valentine's Day before! I guess that's one of those perks of being with someone you care an extra lot about on what was already one of my favorite days of the year.

Seriously love hearts, red, pink, flowers, and all such gooey nonsense, no matter my relationship status.

Darren likes to tease me, as I mentioned earlier.....I knew I had something coming....something I would like, I just couldn't imagine what.

We exchanged gifts in the Outback parking lot before going inside (turned out to be a foolish mistake....1 hour and 20 minutes wait. That would have been an opportune time to kill time.) Anyways. I gave him my gift with the understanding that he would give me mine inside the restaurant, but as I was about to get out of the truck he changed his mind and instructed me to close my eyes. So I did. Quite nervously. I heard him moving the back of his seat around, then I heard some scraping and jostling.  Believe me, my imagination was at a total loss of what it could be.

Then he told me to open my eyes.

I was not prepared to meet the most darling second hand clarinet I have ever seen! I have been talking about wanting one for several months, but haven't found one I'm willing to spend money on.  He bought it (haggled for it, rather), had it fixed up and recorked, and even got me some cork grease. After goofing around with it a bit, I attempted a song and didn't sound half bad.

The best part is that my curse of not being able to react properly to gifts I receive is virtually cured whenever the right person surprises me in just the right way.

I feel so loved.

Now, before we get lost in his amazing ability to make me happy, let's get a little selfish and focus on my successful crafting attempts that were totally on his behalf:

I canvased a couple of our favorite engagement shots! I played around (see: tried really hard to do it right) for a day thinking it would be a breeze, which it wasn't (it should have been, but I'm Craft Stupid).

The point is, I really love how they turned out, and I will be making more.

And because I took pictures as I worked, there will be a tutorial posted soon enough.

That's right. A tutorial. Because people who craft successfully are automatically qualified to teach.

(Honestly, I just want to brag about every little detail....but if you get a notion and decide to copy me, that's just as well.)

HAPPY VALENTINE'S DAY!