How to make a cool Valentine

Here are Lilo's Valentine's she made for her school friends. I saw this idea on Pinterest via Disney Family Fun. 

Super easy to make. For the arrow, I bought a pack of of mini glow sticks from the dollar store that were actually glow stick bracelets. I glue gunned some feathers on the one end and glued a mini heart to the other - it was made using a mini heart punch.

I made a stencil to trace out the large hearts on construction paper. Lilo started tracing and cutting them out but with 20 kids in her class and needing 2 heart per Valentine well it was a lot of work. So I cut out the hearts and she wrote them all out. The one side of the heart Lilo wanted to put "Be my Valentine" and the other was "You make my heart glow". Using a glue stick we glued the 2 hearts together sticking the arrow in the middle. 

The hardest part of it was being gentle with the glow sticks so they didn't crack before the kids get them.

And I'm so glad we started 2 weeks ago since it can be a long painful process to write out all the Valentines - but I'm happy to say they are all done.

How to make snow Valentines

Happy Valentine's Day everyone. Last weekend at the park the snow was perfect to make these snow valentines. I got carried away and couldn't stop making them. I left them all over the park, hopefully it brings a smile to the next people that come visit.
One on the park bench.
On on the end of the slide.
You need the perfect kind of snow to make these, the snow needs to be hard on the top, at least 1 inch but up to 4 (maybe more if you're lucky) of crunchy snow and then it was fluffy underneath. I drew out a heart with my hand and carved it out. Then gently picked it up from underneath.
Some kids had made a snow hill and then after they left I covered it with hearts.

And of course the girls ate their weight in snow and Isla broke as many hearts as she could. It was a fun afternoon in the snow.

How to make super cute, easy, cheap Valentines clips

These clips took no time at all to make and I think they look super cute. I bought these felt heart stickers at the dollar store for the girls to make Valentines card with. They've made some but the backs are hard to come off so it wasn't an independent project like I'd hoped. Anyways we still had some left and I happened to have a clip in my pocket so I thought that this might work.

For the larger clips I used a large heart and a small one and the smaller clip only took a large heart. You need 2 of each heart for the back and front.

Take the big heart and place with right side out under the clip. Then mark where the opening is.

Then cut out where the opening is and keep that piece (it's not pictured but you'll need it later so don't throw it out).

Put the back piece on first to place around the opening. Then place the front over it, this is tricky since they are very sticky and you only have one try and placing it right. If you have some overlap at all you can trim it off. Then take the back opening piece that you saved and try and fit it under the clip so that hair doesn't get stuck on the sticky part.

Then you can put the smaller heart on from the front and cover with the back heart.

I added stitch lines with a black pen. You can do this before or after you attach the hearts on the clip. It's easier to add them before but if you have to trim if the hearts don't match up exactly it might trim some of it off. The first one I did after because I didn't think of it until after but the others I did before.

Since Isla didn't feel like wearing the clip today I got Dora to fill in for her.

She looks like she likes them - doesn't she?

I kinda wish I thought of these before since they were so easy, cheap and cute. They would have made cute gifts for the kids at Lilo's school, but I guess what would you do for the boys?

So instead I had already made these bracelets or for the boys - Power Bands.

We did have them on a piece of card and Lilo wrote her name and a heart on them but I forgot before she left this morning to take a photo of them - so here are the extras.

I got the idea from here but I used elastic for the bands instead and I didn't use super nice felt like her so I'm not sure how long they will hold up. Oh well, they will look cute for today.

How to make a super easy potato stamp

Well these past few weeks have been a little uncertain so I didn't get Valentines out this year but we did start some crafts. Lilo didn't have the attention span to finish everything - I guess with Mom and Dad home.


But we did do some potato stamping and I figured out a super easy way to make stamps.
Cut the end off a potato and then I used a cookie cutter for the shape. Put the cookie cutter on a cutting board, sharp side up. And then push the potato into the cutter - all the way. Then take a knife and cut around the cookie cutter 3/8" down - just run the knife around the cookie cutter and then the ring just popped off. Then you can pull the cookie cutter off and you have a perfect shape.
Lilo had a blast stamping. I was going to make something cool with them afterwards but nothing happened. That's ok the process was fun and Lilo learnt that white and red make pink.


As Lilo was stamping, I made some flowers for my table. Lilo helped paint them. I think they turned out pretty.
Check out this site for direction - She used floral wire, I instead used 2 pipecleaners, 1 was too droopy otherwise. I also added some leaves since it needed more colour - I only had white pipecleaners, green would have looked good.
I made with my nephews some of these flowers out of different coloured tissue paper and it turned out really pretty too.


Hope everyone had a good Valentines. And a note about my Valentine's game - it was a big hit, even with my 5 and 9 year old nephews.

How to make a Valentine's game

I love Valentines and I think the reason is my mom. She always got me something, even when I moved away she sent me a care package for Valentines day. Today I got the care package from her for the girls - 2 little outfits and a little craft Valentines wand set for Lilo. We already made them and destroyed them.
So I've decided that I have to make something for my girls. For Lilo I have made a Valentine's bean bag toss game.

Supplies
Red, pink, purple and light purple felt (I just used the cheapy felt, no all wool, Martha stuff)
Muslin or other plain fabric
Rice
Tin (I used an old formula container, but a coffee tin would also work)
Stuff to decorate tin

First I cut out 6 large hearts - cut out in Red and in Purple. Then cut out smaller hearts 3 each of pink and light purple. Sew the smaller hearts onto a larger heart.
Then cut out the muslin into slightly smaller hearts - 12 in total. Sew around them with 1/4" seam allowance - leaving 1/2" opening. Then I used pinking shears around the edges (this might not be needed).

Then fill with rice (you could probably use something else I just have a huge bag of rice right now - not sure why :) I tried using a funnel to fill the bags but the funnel tip was too small and the rice wasn't getting through very well. So I just opened the opening and used a spoon to fill it - I held it over the bag so the extra would just spill back into the bag.
Then sewed them closed - use a zipper presser foot if you have. I took them and sandwiched them between 2 large hearts (one plain and one with the appliqued heart on it). Sew 1/4" seam allowance and sew around. Then I pinked the edges around the hearts.
For the tin - I just used some felt, paper heart cut outs and ribbon to dress it out.

So the game is just to throw the bags into the tin - 3 for each player. It's based on an idea I saw for an Easter bean bags.

How to make heart pizza faces

I decided to try and make pizza dough in my bread maker. It had been so long since I've used the bread maker that I wasn't sure if it worked anymore - and it does. So I made a batch of dough and rolled half it of it out onto a pan. When Lilo saw the pizza dough she suggested that it be made into a heart shape - so I thought that was a good idea. After I pre-cooked the crust for 10 mins in the oven I used a cookie cutter to cut out 2 hearts for Lilo. It probably have been easier to do it before it cooked but didn't think of it then.
Then Lilo added the toppings with my help to make a face. Of course Lilo being Lilo still didn't want to eat but after a game of you take a bite and then I take a bite - she finished one of the mini pizzas. No wonder that girl is so skinny.

How to make Valentines Art

I forgot I made this and was going to post. While checking out blogs I came across this etsy site - Royal Buffet and I was totally inspired. I've been wanting to make a mobile of butterflies and was going to use scrapbooking paper but I love the look of the magazine paper.
I have a pile of old Home magazines that are years old so not super useful so I went through and pulled out the papers that were pink or red. Then using my Sizzix die cutter and my heart punch I punched out a bunch of hearts.
The canvas is from the dollar store - a very thoughtful Christmas gift from my nephew. I painted it using some old latex paint and a little acrylic to give it some colour variation.
When it was dry I place the folded hearts on in a pattern. Then glued the folded edge onto the canvas. It looked a little bare so I added a few more mini hearts to fill it in a bit.
I think I'm going to hang it in Lilo's room.
I still want to make a butterfly mobile or attach them to these laterns I bought - so I need to find a butterfly die cut.

How to make Valentines

I need to come up with an idea for Valentines this year to make with Lilo. I think it will have something to do with glitter since I bought this pack of 4 shades of pink/red glitter at the dollar store.
I still love the Valentines we made Lilo's first year (ok 2nd she was only 4 months her 1st). Last year was her first introduction to glue - that was cute. I cut out a bunch of hearts in pink and red and had her glue them to a blank card. She was good about placing them so they didn't touch - then I left the room and the last card had all the left over hearts on them. It was really cute.

How to … make the cutest Valentine’s ever

Supplies needed
- A kid – in my case Lilo
- White paper
- Red Crayons
- Red and/or pink paper
- Heavy paper or plain cards
- Glue
- Scissors

I got this book on games and activities for 1-2 year olds from my aunt this summer. It’s a pretty neat book with a bunch of ideas by month on different activities to do with toddlers.
For February they had this idea to get your child to draw with a red crayon and cut the paper out in heart shapes. So I took this idea and made Valentines.
After work one day Lilo and I had art time. Lilo had a good time colouring and thought it was funny that the crayons left marks on the paper. But I think she had more fun dumping the box of 64 crayons and trying to put them back in the box then she actually did colouring.
After she went to bed I did the rest. I found my card making stuff and some red paper to use behind the white hearts. The only thing I could find was this scrapbooking paper that is pink on one side and red on the other. The 2 tone behind the white heart was actually only done because I didn’t have enough paper to make the 6 Valentines I wanted to. After cutting out 4 squares there were 2 strips that were left only half as wide as I needed them. So I was thinking about piecing them together – tried one side that was red and one pink so it wouldn’t be obvious that I ran out of paper and ended up liking it better. So I cut the other squares in half so I could do them halfy halfy also.

I made a template for the heart – laid it out on Lilo’s art to find the best place to cut out the hearts to get the best look. Traced and cut them out and glued it all together.
To finish these masterpieces off – I wrote “Original Art by Lilo Emerson” on the back.

Hope everyone has a Happy Valentines Day.