Valentine's Day Paper Heart

I found this cute paper heart on Pinterest last night and decided I had to make it right away. I love crafting projects that don't actually require much crafting - the paper and staples crafts. Totally easy and totally doable. I couldn't find a tutorial for it so I just followed the picture and made it up as I went along. If you have older kids, I'm sure they could help out. Since my kids are still toddlers, I made them some popcorn, turned on Kipper and enjoyed a little time to myself.

Supplies:

• Red, pink and white paper (8 1/2" x 11")
• Paper cutter or scissor
• Stapler
• Ribbon

Cut the paper into strips. I made the mistake of making the strips too big in my other paper and staples crafts (the heart garland and the Christmas tree advent) so this time I made the strips 1" wide. You'll need 46 strips. This is where a paper cutter comes in handy!

Fold over one of the strips, fold over another strip, pinch them together at the ends and staple. If you want to get fancy, you can use glue or double-sided sticky tape. But I don't really do fancy so I'm sticking with the stapler.

Make another heart with two strips of paper. Don't staple it yet. Connect it with the first heart and then staple them together.

Continue until you have a chain of 11 hearts. Then make another chain with 11 hearts.

Take the two chains and staple them together at the bottom.

Fold one more heart and connect it two the two hearts at the end of each chain. Then staple all three hearts together. It's kind of hard to explain so try to follow the picture.

How cute is that?

I looped some ribbon to each side of the heart and hung it on the mirror in my living room. It looks really pretty with the heart garland I made a few weeks ago and makes the room bright and cheery!

Check out the Crafts and Activities page for more crafting fun!

Happy Valentine's Day!

Crafting: Valentine's Heart Sun Catcher

I wonder if posting about Valentine's crafts before December is even over is like stores that put up Christmas decorations in November or October? If so, I'm sorry. But it had to be done.

I decided to start my research into Valentine's crafts figuring if I started now we might have a good chance of getting one or two done by February 14th. So last night I was pinning away and saw this pretty little heart. And then Finley saw this pretty little heart and wanted to make it RIGHT NOW!!! So we did!

Supplies:

• Red or pink paper for large heart
• Colored paper for small hearts
• Clear contact paper
• Scissors
• Hole punch
• String or yarn

Start by cutting out a big heart and then cut out an inner heart from that. Then cut out two pieces of contact paper big enough for the heart.

It helps to flatten the contact paper before you peel it. (Totally unrelated - have you seen this book? It's changed my life. Ok, maybe not changed my life but it has provided me with 3 loaves of delicious, delicious bread! It's super easy and I totally recommend it!)

Back to the task at hand. Let your kid put the heart on the sticky contact paper and then put the smaller hearts inside it. I had pre-cut hearts that came in handy. I'm all about shortcuts around here. Letting your child cut out the hearts would probably be good for their fine motor skills and all that good stuff. But, hey, they gotta teach them something at preschool, right? ;)

When the decorating is complete, put the other piece of contact paper on by starting in one corner and smoothing it down to remove the air bubbles. Ours didn't turn out perfectly smooth, but what craft with kids does? I'm learning to accept imperfection. Next, cut around the heart and punch some holes at the top. Then tie on some string and hang it on your window.

How cute is that? Even with the wet and soggy background outside it makes you smile!

Finley had so much fun with the "sticky paper" that we made a heart for our neighbor, and a few decorations for her room. I'm beginning to think that contact paper is crafting gold for toddlers. I think I'll make a Pinterest board all about contact paper crafts!