Handmade School Valentines

The February of my son's first year of school, an announcement was sent home that the children would have the opportunity to exchange Valentines with their classmates. Each child was to bring a Valentine signed (or with some marking) by the child, one for each student. My mind welled with nostalgic thoughts of exchanging Valentines with my own classmates as a child.

I went down to the local big box retailer and purchased a box of the sheets of pre-printed perforated little Valentines of my youth, brought them home and filled them out. I then sent my little guys to school with a bag of them ready to disperse among his school friends. Later that day he arrived home with a huge handmade envelope stuffed with Valentines. Upon hitting the door, the ran for the kitchen, spilling the contents of the envelope across the table. I stood in utter shock and amazement at what I saw. Clearly, I was the "newbie" at this Valentines stuff. There, spread out before me, was a kaliedoscope of beautifully handmade Valentines in all colors, shapes and sizes, sparkling with glitter, sequins and  pom-poms. So much for my Snoopy cards! This was my initiation into the inspiring world of handmade cards. In subsequent years, we have gotten with the program and crafted lovely little love notes out of things we already have at home. Here as some of our favorites!

1.) Foam Hearts: Using sheets of colorful craft foam (construction paper, card stock  or felt can be used as well) cut 5" x 5" squares. Fold the square in half. Cutting from the center fold, cut (half) of a heart shape. Leave yourself a small border in the foam square, as you can use this in other projects. Unfold the heart and lay it flat on the table. Select a second color of foam and cut a smaller 3" x 3"  square. Repeat the above steps, cutting a  smaller square. Using craft glue ( Elmer's works fine) glue the smaller heart to the larger. Decorate with glitter glue, sequins and pom-pons. Experiment cutting different size and color hearts, and using the 'negative' pieces as well.

2.) Book Marks: Again these can be made from anything you have at home already: foam craft sheets, construction paper, card stock or felt.  Cut 5" x 2 1/2 " rectangular strips. Decorate the front with tokens of glittery love, leaving the back undecorated for your message/ name.

3.) Heat Photo Frames: Using the 'negative' piece from Project 1, take the border / frame of the heart that you previously cut out and decorate it with glitter. After it dries, glue a photo to the back, turning the heart into a heart shaped frame around your little ones. Sorry, this may sound confusing, but if you cut out a heart as described in Project 1, you'll see what I mean. Below is a photo of how we used our "extra pieces".

4.) Necklaces and Hearts: Who said Valentines had to be in card form? Cut little hearts out of your preferred medium, or even use the salt dough recipe from one of my previous posts to make heart pendants. Remember to poke a hole in the top for threading. Decorate and thread the necklaces with ribbons or yarn. Bracelets can be threaded with pipe cleaners.

5.) Heart Magnets: Again, cut heart shapes from your favorite medium and turn it into refrigerator "flare" by gluing a magnet to the back. Magnets can be found at many hardware stores or big box stores priced very reasonably.

6.) Wax Crayon Hearts: These are fun and pretty fast, since you can make a sheet all at once. Take your old crayons and remove the paper wrappers. Place on a cutting board (that you don't mind temporarily destroying) and chop the crayons with a large knife, like you would carrots or something. The wax will stain your cutting board , but after a few washes, will come out. Make a colorful assortment of chopped crayons and mix it well in a large bowl. Lay a sheet of transparent waxed paper on your counter and sprinkle the wax over it, making sure to cover it evenly (don't leave a lot of gaps). Place a second sheet of waxed paper on top and a kitchen towel over that. With your iron on med - low, iron on top of the towel until all the wax is melted. Once you have ironed the whole thing and melted all the wax, leave it to cool for a few minutes. When it's ready, the whole sheet will be hard and rigid. It should look like a stained glass ornament. Using kitchen sheers, cut heart shapes out of the sheet. Since it doesn't need further decoration, just use a Sharpie marker (permanent) to write on the back. You can also punch a hole through the top and thread it with yarn. Hang it in a window where the light will shine through and highlight your beautiful work!

I hope you will try some of these ideas, and that it will inspire you to create your own beautiful, handmade Valentines!