Valentine’s Day used to be the most exciting day of the year back in Elementary school. We passed out cards, received candy and even managed to get out of doing school work. As a person grows older though, it takes on a different meaning. Couples take a special day to recognize their love for each other, and single people go home and hate their lives…. but they don’t have to! If this is you, why don’t we take a small step backward, remember what it was like to be a kid on Valentine’s Day, and make a fun little craft.  This adorable puffy heart craft is simple and entertaining to do with kids. You can hang them in your house or give them out to friends. Click below for the step-by-step instructions.

You’ll need:
• Scrapbooking paper
• Ribbon
• Scissors and glue sticks

Directions:

1. Place 6 pieces of construction paper together and fold them in half. Cut out half a heart along the seam. (You’ll end up with 6 identical hearts. If you cut them all at once, it may be a job for strong adult hands.)

2. With the hearts still folded, glue one half to the next half. (Don’t get any glue inside the folded hearts.)

(If you decide to write numbers on the back of each half to help your child, make sure that you use a writing utensil that doesn’t bleed through the paper.)

3. Before you glue the final heart half to the first one (to get the 3-D effect), lay a length of ribbon or yarn as close to the inner fold as you can. When the final heart half is glued down, the ribbon will be in the middle of the hearts.

4. Gently open out the hearts to arrange them evenly.

Helpful Tips:
• If you can, cut out all the hearts at once so they will be identical. Or — if they don’t match perfectly — trim them once they’re glued together. You can also trim hearts with scalloped edged scissors
• Experiment with colors. How about a pink, purple and white heart? Or make your puffy hearts using heart shaped doiles.

Related posts:

1. Kids Craft: Patty and Patrick Shamrock
2. Halloween Kids Craft: Hanging Ghosts
3. Valentine Heart Cards

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As Josephine grows bigger, our house grows smaller. That, or maybe Dallan and I have too many hobbies (i.e. Drums, piano, fish tank, craft room/office…). So, we’ve decided it’s time for us to pack up and move. Our recent house hunting adventures have taken twists and turns. Currently we have an offer in on a house, but it still needs to pass the home inspection (fingers crossed). If all goes as planned, we’ll be renovating an older home and moving in this spring. I’ll keep you posted.

Between house hunting and work, I found time to pull together a little Valentine’s card craft and download. Earlier this week, I came across a creative idea that I just had to copy for myself. To make these little “Heartbreaker” cards,  just print up my downloadable hearts sayings download (link below), cut them up, staple them and shove some candy inside. You can hand these out at parties or make some with your kids to hand out at school. To get the candy out, your Valentine will just need to go breakin’ your heart.

MATERIALS:

• Cardstock or paper
• Stapler
• Candy
• Heartbreaker Download

DIRECTIONS:

1. Print up this Valentine-heartbreaker download.
2. Cut out the hearts.
3. Staple half of the way around the edge of the heart, then insert the candy.
4. Staple the remaining edge.

*Adapted from a craft on MADE

Related posts:

1. DIY: Muslin Bag Valentine’s Day Cards
2. DIY: Halloween Candy Corn Tree
3. DIY: Paper Candy Corns

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With Valentine’s Day just around the corner, I thought it would be fun to repost some of our projects from last year. These muslin valentine’s day cards were one of my favorite DIYS. The beauty of iron-on paper is it allows you to customize sayings, names and artwork on your cards.

Move over Dallan, I have a new love in my life.  Iron-On Transfer Paper.  Who cares about the baby I’m birthing this week.

Since my recent Iron-On Transfer Paper purchase, I’ve been brainstorming DIY Valentine’s crafts. One of my ideas was to make small Valentine’s Day Cards from Muslin bags.  So, I stopped by my friend Amazon.com and ordered up a Muslin bag storm.  Everyone needs 100+ Muslin Bags in their craft supply closet, right?

Once the muslin bags arrived, I started playing around with different sayings I could print out (I couldn’t have done this step without Kiersten’s help. Thanks boobie!).

Click here to download your own printable Valentine’s Day sayings Note: they are about 2 inch x 1 inch in size, so they’re pretty small.  Let me know if you’d like a different size and I’ll email it to you.

After designing the sayings, I printed them on Iron-On paper and got my ironing on. FYI: you need to print the pdf in reverse so the image is flipped when it’s printed on the paper.

For a complete list of materials and directions, visit our post over on Brides.com

No related posts.

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I went overboard on the Cranberry purchases. So I’ve been making cranberry treats, drying out cranberries for simmering potpourri, and now I’m making cranberry Christmas ornaments. Here is one of my cranberry ornament projects – Glittered Cranberry Wreaths.

This project is super easy to assemble; all you really do is string cranberries on a wire. You can leave them as they are, or you can paint Mod Podge on them and roll them in glitter, which actually seemed to preserve the cranberries for a little longer. Use them for party decorations, and then just throw them away. Below is a list of materials and directions on how to make them.

MATERIALS:

• Bag of cranberries
• Thin, bendable wire
• Mod Podge
• White glitter
• Paintbrush
• Ribbon

DIRECTIONS:

1. For the un-glittered cranberry wreaths, start by clipping a strand on wire to the desired length for your wreath.
2. String on the cranberries, leaving a small part of the wire long enough to twist it together.
3. Then tie a bow over the twisted part of the wire.
4. For the glittered cranberry wreaths, start by pouring some glitter onto a plate. Then paint a thin coating of Mod Podge on the cranberries and roll them in the glitter until they are covered. Let them sit until they are dry.
5. Then string them on the wire and twist it just as you would for the un-glittered cranberry wreaths.

Related posts:

1. DIY Christmas Wreath Ornaments
2. DIY Christmas Ornaments: Tissue and Mod Podge
3. DIY: Cupcake Ornaments

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I was at Hobby Lobby the other day and found tons of fun supplies for making Christmas ornaments! I bought a plethora of goodies, but ended up leaving a bag at the store… Ya, it stinks, but I did have enough of what I bought to crank out these babies. These ornaments literally took me three minutes to make. So if you’re not feeling super energetic or creative, try making these Christmas lovelies.  All you have to do is buy a few things at a craft store. Directions and Materials are listed below.

MATERIALS:

• Clear, glass ornaments
• Miniature artificial floral branches
• Gold Spray Paint (I love Design Masters brand)

DIRECTIONS:

1. Take the tops off of the ornament and spray paint them gold.
2. While the tops of the ornaments are drying, break apart the artificial floral sprigs into smaller pieces.
3. Then, fill the ornament with the smaller pieces of floral branches. (Note: try not to let them all fall to the bottom.)
4. Put the top back on.
5. Hang on your Christmas Tree with care!

Related posts:

1. Tutorial: DIY Christmas Ornaments
2. DIY Christmas Wreath Ornaments
3. DIY Christmas Ornaments: Tissue and Mod Podge

The post DIY: Artificial Floral Branch Christmas Ornaments appeared first on Fancy House Road.

Christmas is more than just a day, it’s a season, and ’tis the season to whip out that old Christmas tree and decorate like there’s no tomorrow. However, rather than using those old ornaments from years ago, these felt rosette Christmas ornaments are a really great way to mix it up a bit. Not only do they look really pretty, but they are homemade and a fun way to exercise your creativity. You could even host a fun family night making some of these ornaments for your tree. For directions on how to make this fun ornament, read on.

MATERIALS:

• Felt strips
• Styrofoam balls
• Hot glue gun
• Twine or Ribbon

DIRECTIONS:

1. To start, cut about 3 inches of string and glue the ends of it to the ball so that there is a loop large enough to stick your finger through. This will serve as a place to attach a hook to hang it on the Christmas tree with.
2. Next cut the felt into 1 to 1 1/2 inch strips and some little squares about 1 inch by 1 inch.
3. Make the rosette by folding the strip in half and tightly rolling it on top of itself about five times, or to desired width. Then continue rolling it, but as you roll, twist it until the entire outside layer is twisted.
4. Use a small dab of hot glue to keep it from unraveling. Then glue one of the little squares you cut out to the bottom of it to keep it together.
5. Repeat this process until there are enough rosettes to cover the ball. (Make sure that you make different sizes of rosettes.)
6. Glue the rosettes to the styrofoam ball until there is no white showing.
7. Repeat the process for more ornaments. You can even cut the strips in half to make very small rosettes for smaller ornaments, or mix up the colors.

Related posts:

1. Christmas Gift Wrapping Idea: Red Felt Gift Topper
2. 2011 Christmas Decor Trends: Felt Christmas
3. DIY: Clay Christmas Candy Ornaments

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