Valentines for my Valentines

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I LOVE Valentines Day! I know it’s a “Hallmark Holiday” but I still love it.  It’s like a mini-Christmas.  People are kinder for a while, but they don’t go nuts in the stores.  There’s no pressure to be here or there or anywhere (please excuse me while I break out my Dr. Seuss). This time of year I pack a love note or card into my husband’s lunch box for the first 14 days of February.  It appears that it doesn’t matter whether your 8 or 38, a note in your lunch box makes you feel special, and makes you smile when you see it. Sometimes I make a big deal out of it, and sometimes it’s just an “I love you” scratched on a piece of paper. I’ve already finished some cards for Jon’s lunchbox.   And I have plans for more.  

This one I plan to wrap around a banana in his lunch box.  

 

Every Wednesday he has to travel further for work, and I don’t pack his lunch so I think I’ll wrap one around a bag of kisses and stick it in his computer bag.  So you see why this is fun…it’s like being Santa when no one expects it.

This year I’m also planning on making cards with my 8 year old daughter.  She’s a bit of a crafty bug like her mom.  On Wednesday I was helping in her class and she told her teacher “You can find her on craftymom.com!” The teacher says “I’ll look for her there.” To which I corrected her and said “I have NO idea what she’s talking about.” And we all chuckled about it.  I’m pretty sure that domain name is taken, and it’s not taken by me.  Ellie thought it was cute because it rhymed.  Here’s a picture of what we’ll be working on for her class. 

I’m going to show you a step by step process for making one of your own.  I used my cricut to cut out the cupcakes, but you can use any die cut you can find. 

Here’s what you’ll need: 

3”x4” storage bags

Happy Valentine’s Day Stamp

StazOn Ink (it doesn’t have to be StazOn but it does need to be an ink that will work on plastic, not just paper)

Glitter and Glue

Create-A-Critter 2 Cartridge

            Cut 1 ¼  inch heart from the lady bug

            Cut 3 ½ inch cupcake

            Cut 3 ½ inch cupcake wrapper

Embossing machine with heart embossing folder (I used a Big Kick with a Paper Studio folder)

Conversation hearts (enough for 10-12 for each baggie and some extras for snacking)

Stapler

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1.     Stamp the bags and give them time to dry, if you move the ink too quickly it will still smudge even though it’s supposed to be ok on plastic.  Once they’re dry put 10-12 conversation hearts in each one.

2.     Fold the 4”x6” piece of paper down 1.5 inches so it measures 4”x 4.5”.  Use a bone scorer or the edge of a credit card to flatten that fold out better.  Place the 1.5” flap into the embossing folder, it’s ok to let the rest hang out, and emboss. 

3.     Staple the storage bag with candy into the flap.

4.     Glue together cupcake wrapper and cupcake.  Spread glue around the top of the cupcake, but take care to avoid the area where you want to glue the heart cherry.  Add glitter.  Then glue the heart cherry on top.

5.     Cover the staple by gluing the cupcake to the flap.

Before I attach the bag of candy to the flap I can have Ellie write out her “To” and “From” on the back.  Here’s a tip, as this will be my 4^th Valentines Day party, it’s easier to distribute on Valentine’s day if they simply put “From” and then can just pass them out.  It can take forever for the littles to figure out who’s name is who and where that particular valentine should go.

My son is 5, and not quite the crafty bug as…well…as anyone.  So his valentines ended up being really quick and easy.  The longest part of this project was getting him to put on that tie…and it’s a clip on.  I took his picture on a plain white background (we call it “the wall” at our house) with him holding out his fist and “showing it to me”. 

 I printed them off at Walmart.com…they come 3 to a card and you can just cut them apart.  I did a hole punch above and below his hand and threaded in the sucker.  

 Now he can hand out treats to his friends with very little effort.  My husband pointed out that Grandma’s might like pictures of that handsome devil too, so good thing I printed extras.  I also thought that for Grandma’s I might thread a small fake flower into that fist.

I hope you now have some creative juices flowing so you can go show some love.  And even if you’re not creative, scribbling “I love you” onto a napkin will surely bring a smile to your Love’s face.