Valentine's Day Autograph books

This is a nifty little last minute Valentine's Day project that makes for a unique keepsake. Instead of making (or buying) many valentines, why not make a little book to collect Valentine's Day signatures and doodles? It's a lot easier to add this to the keepsake box and can be made from all sorts of goodies you may already have on hand. It also has the added benefit of containing two little "pockets" built right in.

You Will Need:
*scissors
*scrap paper
*paper doilies
*stapler
*small paper gift sacks or treat bags
*glue, felt, stickers (optional)

scrumdilly-do it!

Gather all your goodies and get ready to create.

Have your kiddo carefully cut straight across the bottom of your paper sack removing the bottom seam.

Fold sack in half with the seams facing in.

Fold paper doily in half and insert inside your soon-to-be booklet.

Gather small pieces of scrap paper equal to or slightly smaller than the sack and have your kiddo fold each sheet in half as well.

Sandwich all pieces inside the doily.

If needed, use scissors to trim excess doily from the top and bottom of your sack.

Carefully flip over the whole kit and caboodle and add two staples to the crease so that the folds are inside your booklet.

Flip back over and refold in half. Decorate and Ta-da! A nifty little Valentine's Day autograph book!

A fun Valentine Round-Up from Parent Map

Parent Map gave us a shout out in their most recent Valentine's Day round-up. How cool is that? Hop on over to get a looksie, there are some awesome projects in the post and we are delighted to be included!

Valentine Nine!

Here are nine fabulous Valentine's Day projects you can do with your kiddos. Clockwise from the top left, click on the link to the tutorial and keep us posted if you make any of them. We would love to see and hear from you!

*fingerprint love trees
*potion
*straw & paper garland
*lacing cards garland
*valentine scarves
*pink drink
*sugar buns
*stuck on you
*puzzle love

love bots on parade

Why stick to paper for your Valentine lurve? Why not make something a little extra...

valentine fun: stuck on you

With Valentine's Day fast approaching, why not have your kidlets make a valentine that is quirky, fun AND useful? Simply "repackage" your everyday gluestick with a bit of happy colorful paper.

junk mail garland

gotta love your value pack...i'm not sure how regional this is but here in l.a. we get a blue envie full of coupons every month. i have never ever used these coupons and it has been impossible to get my name off the delivery list. this time around, rather than toss them into the recycle bin, i turned them into a nifty garland that you and your kidlets can easily duplicate. just paint, punch, decorate and attach to a ribbon. i stitched mine up but a glue stick will work just as well. have fun!

valentine's day: straw crazy!

With a few supplies, you kidlet can whip up a series of necklaces or garlands, their choice!

Materials:

*twine or yarn
*scissors
*straws (save your straws!)
*glue stick
*paper punch
*scrap paper

scrumdilly-do it!

Hand your wee one a pair of kid friendly scissors and let them go to town cutting up a handful of straws. This is a great project for recycling them straws you've collected out and about! If your wee one is really wee, cut each straw into two or three pieces so that they can lace them safely (with supervision).

Start your tot off by either tying one of of the string to a piece of straw or anchoring a loop between two punched shapes (tape off the end if it is too floopy to easily thread through the straw beads). If you tie off, make sure to leave extra room at the other end so you can knot up the finished fancy-pants piece!

For the punched shapes, make sure the twine is sandwiched between the two with a healthy does of glue stick.

For the lacing, let them go to town. You can talk all sorts of math and science during this as your kidlet creates seriation and patterns in their stringing. Alternate if you like between the shapes and the straw beads.

Package them up in small tins, stitched bags, plastic bags, half a cardboard tube decorated and capped off. there's all sorts of fun ways your wee one can gift these to friend, family & teachers!

ikea hack: valentine's day scarves

Check this out! One Polarvide throw can make 15 scarves for your wee one to give to his or her classmates! Simply fold in half, pin and cut.





You can leave them as they are with a sweet note or cut extra hearts out of the ends. If your tot is handy with a needle and thread, they can embroider a small heart or stitch on a monster face to make love monster scarves. Oh the possibilities!
At $3.49 I think this may be the best deal ever, plus it's useful and the throw also comes in a super nifty green!

**this is what Za is giving to her classmates. We kinda wished we had a class full of Valentines to give them to as well!

valentine lurve: sugar buns

While I don't usually recommend always going to prepackaged something-or-others to satisfy the crafty-bakey-I'm-bored need, this quick fix it kinda too pretty and too yummy, not to. Plus, it is super duper easy. My five (and a half) year old assistant did all the prep-work. On her own.

You will need:
*2 oz cream cheese
*powdered sugar
*food color (optional)
*1 pack of crescent ROUNDS (breadstick dough would probably work as well)
*chocolate chips
*bowl, spoon, froster/dull knife
*baking sheet
*oven

scrumdilly-do it:

Wash hands! Plop 2 oz of cream cheese into a bowl and set to soften. Add a tablespoon or two powdered sugar and a drop of food color and stir.

Crack open your tin of dough and separate the pieces. Unwind one roll and let yer kidlet go to work.

Spread a layer of the cream cheese mixture on top of the dough.

Dot with chocolate chips. The more the merrier.

Reroll it up all purdy-like

Place on cookie sheet, repeat.

Bake according to package directions (lick the spoon).

Allow to cool and serve up with a cuppa tea, or milky beverage of choice. Don't fergit to lick them fingers. These sweet buns are the BESTEST!

After we finished chowing down, Miss Za had begun planning her next batch of sweet buns. She's thinking maybe some strawberry jam and happy edible flowers might a good combo. I think we have a new adventure ahead of us! How do you roll?