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homemade valentine box

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Sometimes the simplest projects are the best.

My daughter had to decorate a shoebox for collecting valentines in school. The most important detail: it had to have a trap door for removing the cards. My husband worked out the placement with her and did the cutting. I spray painted over the logos on the lid and provided some stickers for her name.

That’s all it took to make our girl happy. Of course, she had to add a butterfly and more Valentine’s stickers. You can never have enough stickers!

I have a feeling this box will be around for many years to come.

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valentine’s day pencil cards

valentine's day pencil toppers

We are doing very simple Valentine’s Day cards this year. I wanted to keep my daughter involved in the process, but between preschool and nature school, she’s got over 30 classmates. Even though she loves crafts, I can’t imagine her staying interested in such a big project.

valentine's day pencil toppers

We picked out Valentine’s pencils together and we used what we had for the cards. You’ll notice that she didn’t use any of the supplies I gathered, but chose her own stickers and pencil for the project — such crafty independence!

Using the big scallop paper punch, I cut out a bunch of flowers. I told her she could decorate them anyway she liked, but she had to make sure she put her name on them. Once finished, we taped them to the pencils.

We started this project early and she’s been doing a few a day. We’ll see if they get finished by next week or if I’ll have to make up the last few.

What do you do for Valentine’s Day cards? Buy or make? Include candy or not? Is your child involved in the process?

from the archives: handmade valentine’s cards, valentine’s day heart bunting, tiny crochet heart pattern

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handmade valentine’s day cards

handmade valentine's day card

My daughter’s preschool is having a valentine exchange tomorrow. Usually the rule for school treats is no candy, but this time they’ve made an exception: one small piece is allowed. I found this cute valentine flower on Martha’s website.

The first thing I did was trace and cut out some leaves. I gave them to my daughter to sign while I traced and cut out the hearts. After she went to bed, I added the “from:” to her leaves and glued the flowers. The next day, she helped me put in the lollipops.

Even though she’s too young to use scissors, I think my daughter had fun with this project. Signing her name to all of those leaves made her feel really involved.

stash: Paper from my never-ending stash of graphic design paper samples. Lollipops are always on hand around here. You never know when you need an emergency “treat.”

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how to: recycled holiday card gift tags

recycled gift tags from holiday cards

Last year I saved a few of my favorite holiday cards for crafting. I planned to reuse the artwork to make new cards, but when I realized I didn’t have any cute gift tags in my stash, I started cutting! I began with 5 cards and ended with almost 30 gift tags in all shapes and sizes.

You’ll need:
-paper cutter
-embossing stylus, crochet hook or knitting needle for scoring
-ruler
-small hole punch

I just started slicing away without thinking too hard about the end result. Then I went back and sorted all of the bits.

  • Large rectangles were scored for fold-over tags. (boy pulling sled)
  • Borders made great matching flat tags. (red and cream stripes)
  • Images were cut in half to make coordinating card sets. (snow scene)
  • Die cuts made really fancy cards. (poinsettia)

Most cards are made out of heavy paper stock and need to be scored before you fold them or they will crack on the fold. If the surface is glittery, cover with a thin piece of paper before scoring.

The final step was to punch holes in the corners so they can easily be tied on to gift packages.

reuse and recycle: This little project didn’t take long and was so much fun. If you sent me a really cute card last year, thanks! You just might be getting it back on a gift this year.

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hand-painted thank you cards

hand painted thank you card

A few weeks ago, my daughter spent the morning painting while I worked. She wanted to practice her letters, so I started calling out T – H – A – N – K… See a pattern starting here? With a little help, she almost wrote all of the letters for a thank you card. After her birthday, I took some pics of the paintings and rearranged them in Photoshop to make this:

hand painted thank you card

And for the inside of the card:

hand painted thank you card

I printed them on our color inkjet and used them for her birthday thank yous. I even made a template for you to use, without the “Love Bella” of course, because I know you think that “K” is super cool! You can download it here.

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valentine’s crafting

After looking over this post, it seems like I was in full Valentine’s Day mode for the past week, but I really wasn’t. All of these were really fast and easy to put together. I had a pretty busy week, so fast and easy was just what I needed!

Last year we colored and put stickers on blank cards. This year we made cards out of M’s existing artwork. She’s been drawing with her magic markers on a stack of make ready sheets T brought home from work and one looked particularly valentine-y.

valentines

You can download my heart template here and if you print it at 100%, the cards will fit in standard invitation size envelopes. I also used the template to cut out some hearts for a garland. I always try to hang something in this window for holidays and birthdays. You can see it from both the living room and kitchen and it’s right behind our table. That little touch always makes our house feel festive.

garland

I also made some quick gifts for T and M. After falling in love with the ball I made for Brady, I felt like M needed one of her own. I made it with leftover fabric from her bibs.

bella ball

I also whipped up a quick sweater sleeve scarf for T, complete with a roundel. I’m not sure if he really likes it or was being polite. There is a fine line between cool and too crafty for T. I think the scarf is sitting on that line! (I really like it, though!)

bmw scarf

We had a really nice day. M played in the snow, I did some sewing, and T cooked up some awesome Valentine’s chili for dinner. The best part of the day was watching M open her gifts and give her dad his Valentine.

valentine