After church one Sunday many years ago, my husband introduced me to his friend Eddie. Eddie then introduced me to his wife, whose name is Cindy. Cindy and I smiled and said "hello" to one another, and that was about it. After all, I was busy looking after my pre-teenage kids and she had a baby in her arms.

Our path's crossed every once and awhile because our husband's friendship. Even though Cindy and I saw one another we really didn't engage in a conversation. We just stood quietly while our husbands talked and talked and talked, something they still do to this day.

That all changed at a Christmas dinner hosted by our friend Karin many years ago. At this dinner Cindy sat across the table for me. As we were enjoying dinner someone brought up the subject of crafting and in minutes we connected! We started talking and couldn't stop, it was like a spark had been lit! Suddenly this person whom I assumed I had nothing in common with and I were instantly connected with so much to share.

I think about that now, so many years later and I laugh! Cindy is one of my most cherished friends, more than that she is my sister! We are seen together so often that many refer to us as "The Cindy's."

Although we both enjoy creative things, we do different types of projects. Cindy can sew and makes beautiful projects with fabric. Cindy also creates amazing treats such as toffee, cake pops, rice krispie cakes, gingerbread houses, chocolate dipped pretzels and she can slice a watermelon into a work of art! You can follow her on her business Facebook or Instagram called Zoe.Hawaii.

The thing she is most famous for is her cookies. Cindy is the ultimate Cookie Mama! Her cookies are so beautiful, you don't want to eat them. However, if you are tempted to take a bite then you can't stop because they are so good.

For the past few years, we've partnered together to host a Mother/Child Valentine Class at her home. This year's class was this past weekend and once again it was such a blessing to share this creative time with her.

Would you like to see the projects we made at the class?

All of our projects that day featured the Painted With Love Designer Paper as well as the Painted Love Vinyl Stickers. In fact, each kit included two sheets of the stickers for everyone to use that day and to take home after.

The first project was a friendly Panda Valentine Card.

This card was made on one of our new Narrow Note Cards. These cards come with envelopes and are the perfect size for creating gift card holders or cute cards for Valentine's Day.

This card is simple to make, as many of my projects are, and the everyone seemed to enjoy making them. Especially my little assistant Raymee, pictured below, who was so good at helping others at the class.

The next project led everyone to the kitchen where Cindy provided a station for them to dip and decorate fortune cookies. They dipped them in colorful chocolate and covered them in decorative candy sprinkles.

Cindy showed them how to take a damp paper towel and carefully wrap the cookie. Then you place it in the microwave for 15 seconds and when it comes out you can carefully pry it open with tongs, take out the fortune and replace it with your own hand written one. Then you pinch it together for a few minutes while it is still cooling down to seal it and then dip it and decorate it.

The girls seemed really excited to learn this technique and even more excited to have the opportunity to write their own personalized fortunes.

After their cookies dried they brought them to a station where I had provided supplies to make a bag topper. They placed their cookies in the bag and then created this cute Take Out Box topper.

The sentiment on this project "Fortunate to Know You" works perfectly if you are planning on giving this to someone as a Valentine or Thank You gift. The stamps on this project all come from the set with that same name, "Fortunate to Know You" which is a new set in our Occasions catalog.

The final project was a Chinese Take Out Box.

I cut a 3 x 3 piece of Blushing Bride card stock and adhered it to the front of the box with dimensionals. I added a piece of Painted With Love Designer Paper that had large sections of gold on it. I die cut a heart and everyone layered a gold sticker on top of it. The vinyl stickers are easy to use and add a perfect finishing touch that really compliments the gold in the designer paper.

The kids all did such a great job on their projects.

Here is Nicole showing me her completed box. It made me feel so happy to see all the smiles that day from these wonderful kids who were enjoying this creative time together.

Are you ready to see what went inside the box? Are you sitting down? This one was "over the top" Amazing!!!

Inside each box was a box!

What kind of box you might ask? A COOKIE BOX!!!! This might look like an extra large cookie but it is actually several cookies that have been iced together. Cindy created cookie kits so that the kids would only have to ice the layers together to form their box.

The kit included a finished topper cookie, a solid heart shaped base cookie and 2 cut out heart cookies that everyone added icing to and glued together to form their boxes. After assembling the box they had a variety of candy choices to fill their box.

Here is what is looks like when completed.

All I can say is WOW! What a beautiful treat to make and take! Its the perfect gift for your Valentine, that is if you can control yourself from not eating it yourself.

One of the sweetest moments at the class for me was watching little Andrew who asked me for some paper and stickers because he wanted to make something. I gave him some scrap supplies and off he went to a station to make a Valentine card. When it was completed, I handed him a pen and told him to write a message. He wrote the words, "I Love Mommy" and ran off with the card in hand. I assumed he was on his way to hand it to Cindy.

Just minutes later I found him in front of the refridgerator where he had GLUED his card to the door, proudly displaying it to surprise his Cookie Mama whom he loves so much!

A priceless moment that can be easily fixed with a little "goo-gone" after Valentine's Day is over!

Assuming Cindy and I had "nothing" in common was a huge mistake. I have learned a valuable lesson about not making assumptions.

Being a part of Stampin' Up! has taught me that same lesson too. I've seen people from all walks of life can become the best of friends when they just take the time to get to know one another.

I wonder if there is someone in your life that you might see on a regular basis but haven't really taken the time to get to know. Who knows, you might have a undiscovered best friend in someone who delivers your mail? Perhaps its someone who sits in the next cubicle at work? Maybe even someone whom you go to church with or see at the gym or grocery store. If someone comes to mind, next time you see them why not slow down a little bit and take a few moment to start a conversation. You may just "spark" something that will lead to you both becoming the best of friends at the very least you can speak words of encouragement and bless someone's day!.

Valentine's Day Projects - www.stampedwithaloha.com

That's how it happened with Cindy and I. I just wish I had talked to her sooner so we could have shared even more creative adventures together. However, I trust that God's timing is perfect and I am thankful to Him for blessing me with such a wonderful sister and friend, I couldn't imagine my life without her.

Happy Valentine's Day Everyone!

With Love and Stamped Blessings, Cindy

Happy Valentine's Day

Lovely Lipstick Card

Unexpected Blessings

Stamped With Aloha