Love is in the Air!

Valentine's Day is a favorite crafting holiday of mine. This year I have gathered the supplies to make handmade Valentine cards with the kids. I made these Valentines with a group of 17 girls from my church last week and I am having each of my grands over to have a Valentine crafting hour with me this week.

I have gathered a few scrapbook papers, construction paper in red, white, and pink, heart shaped doilies, cellophane treat bags (because I liked the heart on them) and a collection of really cute Valentine stickers. My tools are a paper cutter, scissors, red and pink markers, and glue sticks.

I cut the striped Valentine print (from Hobby Lobby) into strips to use as accent color on the cards. The "Love Card" on this Valentine came from a card stock that had a variety of really cute cards printed on it. I cut the cards out so that one sheet of this card stock would make 24 cards! (I found this card stock at Michaels).

Before crafting with the kids I cut the construction paper down to 8 1/2" x 11" then I cut it in half again so when it is folded in half it creates a quarter page card. The cards will fit into 4 3/8 x 5 3/4" invitation envelopes. (I saved all of the scraps from cutting down the construction paper to use on the cards.)

For this card I had pre-cut the checked hearts, I used a piece of the pink scrap construction paper, stickers, and a marker to create the stitching. (I pre-cut the hearts (using a cookie cutter as my template) so that I could fit them on the paper very tightly so not to waste this cute paper!)

This one, I think is my favorite! I used a heart doily (Hobby Lobby), a strip of the craft paper, and little square tiles that I cut from the scraps of white construction paper. I wrote out the word (LOVE) using a marker and glued it into place. I made samples of other words and styles for the kids to choose from. (HUGS. XOXO, KISS, MINE)  I had pre-cut dozens and dozens of the little tiles.

These hearts were a great resource but I got them from an unlikely source. They were printed on clear cellophane snack bags. Each bag had two hearts. I got a 24 pack of the bags.....48 hearts for just over a dollar!  Before crafting with the kids I cut the bags apart. I salvaged the bands of the beautiful white lacy print from the top and bottom of the bags for later use..... maybe for Mother's day cards with the grands. Before using the heart the kids had to cut it out using scissors. In my sample card I backed the heart in white paper and cut the white heart out just a bit bigger than the cellophane heart. I also used a strip of the printed Valentine paper. 

For the group of 17 girls I had made up kits for each girl to make these four cards. It was amazing to see their creative minds at work. They came up with dozens of variations using these simple supplies.

You can't have a Valentine crafting party without refreshments!

Chocolate cupcakes in heart shaped foils.

Homemade buttercream frosting in pink.

Topped off with red sugar sprinkles.

Oh so sweet and yummy!