Valentine's Day Paper Heart Wreath

I'm very excited to have my very first guest post -- you can also see this craft over at Sounds Fun Mom. If you live South of Seattle and you're looking for some fun, check out Maegen's page!

I recently started crafting with my kids. I used to be afraid of messes and clean up. And to be completely honest, the effort involved! But once I got over my fears, I discovered that crafting with kids can be a lot of fun. In just a few months my daughter has turned into a crafting monster. Now almost every day she says, "What are we going to craft today, Mommy?"

Since Valentine's Day is nearing, we've been doing a lot of Valentine's crafts. I found this cute paper heart wreath on Pinterest and thought it would be fun to make. I love crafts that are simple and use supplies you already have in your house - especially the crafts that use only paper and staples like this one.

Supplies:

• Paper (thick card stock paper is best)
• Paper cutter or scissors
• Stapler
• Ribbon

The first step is to cut the strips of paper. I made my strips 2" x 11". To make a circular wreath you'll need 11 strips, if you want an oval shape just cut a few more strips.

Fold each strip in half, loop it around and staple. You can use double-sided tape or mini-glue dots, but I love my good old stapler!

Continue folding and looping and stapling until you complete all the hearts. Then lay them on a flat surface in the shape you want. (This photo shows more hearts than I used in the end. I did a little investigative work during this craft and found out that heavier paper works the best and using fewer hearts will help the wreath to hold it's shape.)

Staple the hearts together.

Cut a piece of ribbon and staple it to the sides of two of the hearts.

Then hang it on the wall and admire your craftiness!

My 3-year-old is a little too young to do this craft on her own, but she had fun folding the paper and making shapes out of the hearts before I stapled them all together.

If you're looking for more Valentine's crafts for kids of all ages, check out the Crafts and Activities page. I'm always trying out new crafts with my kids. I hope decide to try a few with your kids, too!