be my valentine: you drive me wild

 Here is a fun valentine project that will allow your kiddos to do a little drawing, a little cutting and a little gluing. Have fun!

Materials:

*small pieces of cardstock, atc sized or larger

*printed/origami paper

*pencil/markers

*scissors

*glue stick

*white glue

*buttons

Cut a piece of origami paper down to the same size as your card stock. I traced around my card stock instead of cutting. Flip over to the back and have your kiddo draw a car shape without wheels. Use your scissors to cut out the car, have your kiddo do the cutting if they can. 

Have your kiddo write their valentine message on one side of the cardstock with marker or colored pencils. "Valentine, you drive me wild" "is a kitschy as you can get here.

 Slather the back of the car shape with glue stick and stick to the other side of the cardstock. Add a glue blob to the back of a button and plop it down for a tire, repeat for a second tire and set aside to dry.

Once dry, have your kiddo add detail to their car using markers if they wish. You can also have your kiddo stitch their button wheels on with embroidery thread. You can use a small hole punch to punch two holes into the card stock where your kiddo wants the button to be.

 Beep! Beep!

be my valentine: cherry chocolate brownies three ways

 These super ooey-gooey brownies are loaded with sticky sweet. The surprise kick is a boost of cherry flavor that makes these so tasty!

Ingredients:

*1 box brownie mix

*1 small box of cherry jello

*1 egg

**1/4 cup oil

*1/4 water

Dump your brownie mix into a happy bowl and add your jello powder. Give it a swirl with a mixing spoon to incorporate and add the remaining ingredients as stated on the box of mix.

The jello will turn your batter a lovely red velvet color. Pour into a prepared pan and bake according to package instructions.

 

 

Remove from oven and allow to cool. When cool, admire the lovely color and use a heart shaped cookie cutter to cut out lovely brownie bits. My cookie cutter was medium small but that is definitely enough for a kiddo to enjoy. The jello also makes the finished brownie extra sticky. The flavor is very cherry filled and tangy, kinda like a tootsie roll. Black cherry jello may be less tart, I haven't tried it yet.

Whip up a bowl of lightly sweetened whipped cream with a touch of pink food color. It makes all the gooey so much better. To speed up the whipping, i usually place a bowl in the freezer once the brownies are removed from the oven. While the brownies cool, the bowl chills and the cream whips fast and furious!

 

 

 

You can also layer up two hearts with a dollop of pink whipped cream in between and a cherry on top.

 

 Or, you can use up the in between bits by chopping them into smaller pieces, adding to a small bowl and topping with that magical whipped cream. A smattering of heart shaped sprinkles helps as well.

I hope you enjoy this sticky sweet Valentine's Day dessert, if you pin this and please do, make sure to credit scrumdilly-do! Thank you!

be my valentine: nuts for you

 Greetings happy doers! Today's happy valentine is super easy to make with plenty of room for variation, with the added benefit of being allergy free! Have fun! 

Materials:

*small atc sized cards or index cards cut in half

*ink pad

*pens

*glue

*small googly eyes 7mm or smaller

*origami/construction paper

*glue stick

*scissors, pinking shears and/or border punch

  Grab your materials and have your kiddo gently press her/his thumb into the ink pad and smoosh it onto the paper near the top. Flip the card over so the thumb print is at the bottom and add another print above and slightly touching the first print. It should sort of look like a peanut.

Have your kiddo draw a series of diagonal lines across their soon-to-be peanut and then more across them to create a peanutty texture. Glue on your googly eyes with a small dab of white glue and add a valentine message. Your kiddo can use hand write their message, draw hearts or use alphabet/heart stamps to embellish. 

Grab a sheet of origami or construction paper and cut a rectangle about half an inch larger around than your valentine card. Use a pair of pinking shears to trim the rectangle or use a border punch to pretty it up. Use a glue stick to flue the valentine to the punched paper. My pics show the gluing first then the punching but it was tricky to make sure to NOT punch through the valentine, so I would advise punching the paper before the gluing. Don't forget to have your kiddo sign the back of their card!

 

 

You can also have your kiddo make one fingerprint peanut sans eyes. Add your lines and scan the image into your computer. Print out larger images to your liking and have your kiddo add eyes and sign. Or, you can make the card on a thinner weight paper that you then machine-stitch to a kiddo painted background card. See? So many options! Happy almost-heart day!

be my valentine: strawberry chocolate cakemix cookies

One of my favorite things about Valentine's Day is all the pink, pink, pink that abounds. I'm not normally a person who loves pink but when you throw all those different tints and shades into the mix, I swoon! If the pink in question involves sweetie-sweets, well then, I fall over in love. Here's an easy-peasy cookie "recipe" you and your kiddos can make that is pinker than pink and sweeter than sweet. Make sure to share the cuteness here, these cookies are over the top!

INGREDIENTS

*1 box of strawberry cake mix

*2 eggs

*1/3 cup of oil

*1 cup mini marshmallows

*1/2 cup mini chocolate chips

This recipe is adaptable to any cake mix you like but I thought the strawberry and chocolate combo sounded perfect for Valentine's Day, plus, it's pink! Preheat your oven to 350F and plop a sheet of parchment paper over your cookie sheet. I strongly advise using parchment here, the marshmallows get super melty and sticky-stick to a cookie sheet like super glue. 

 

 

 

Mix all your ingredients together and if you like, use less marshmallows. Roll the dough into small balls, a little smaller than a walnut, and place two inches apart on your cookie sheet. These will spread quite nicely and flatten out a bunch. Bake for 7-10 minutes, depending on your oven and allow to cool. The gooeyness of the marshmallows gets pretty hot so make sure they cool a bit before gobbling up. If you bake too long, the pink turns a bit brown and then your cookies lose a little of their pretty. 

Enjoy two cookies with a cold glass of your favorite milk or milk substitute and wrap up the rest for friends and family. You can also store the dough in the fridge for four days or freeze for two weeks. Enjoy!

25 valentine projects for you and yer kiddos!

*paint a tanagram

*make fingerprint trees

*sugar buns

*tokens of affection

*mini valentine books

*clothespin and doily butterflies

*paper heart basket

*tiny trinket box

*heart shaped crayons

*paperbag books

*jam filled cookies

*shortbread necklaces

*stuffed paper hearts

*pinker than pink cupcakes

*valentine's day snack mix

*heart shaped memory game

*fleece scarf valentines

*kazoos

*tinfoil art

*citrus prints

*mini watercolors

*berry potion

*easy chunky friendship bracelets

*glue stick valentines

ten hats in ten days: perfect for spring tissue paper bouquet

 This one may be a bit on the feminine side but you can tweak it by using different colors of tissue paper.

Materials

*tissue or crepe paper

*white glue

*sturdy paper

*scissors

*hole punch

*yarn

 Grab a sheet of paper and cut a blobbish shape out of it about 6" round.

Punch 2 holes at opposite sides and add a length of knotted yarn to each hole.

Slather a party of glue all over the top of your paper shape.

 

Have your kiddos crumple, fold, and dollop small pieces of tissue or crepe paper into the glue. Crepe paper streamers work perfectly for this. Set aside to dry.

Once dry, plop atop the noggin and celebrate! How's that for ten hats in ten days? Which hat will you make for hat day? Send me a link or a photo and I'll post it here on the 'do!

ten hats in ten days: paper bag bonanza

 Here's another hat from the archives, the first Hat Day post ever! All you need for this is a large sheet of gift wrap, newspaper or a paper bag. Have fun!

ten hats in ten days: old school party hat

 Cone party hats are always a blast, grab yourself a large sheet of paper or newspaper and get to it!

Materials

*large sheet of paper

*pen

*tape

*glue

*yarn

*hole punch

*scissors

*crepe paper streamer

 There are of course far easier and precise instructions for making a true cone shaped party hat. If you would like something more accurate a quick internet search will bring you all sorts of instructions. for this hat, I used one large square of scrapbooking paper. Grab a square and draw a curve along one edge. Cut out with scissors and fold in half.

 Open up your soon-to-be party hat and give your kiddo a bottle of glue and have them draw a long line of glue along the curved edge. Tear a length of crepe paper streamer and add it to the glue along the edge. You can crinkle and/or fold it up to create texture if you like. Tape down rough edges to keep from itching up yer kiddo's forehead.

Grab another length of crepe paper, about 8" or so and fold in half. Tape loose ends and use scissors to cut almost all the way through. Use a strip of tape to affix at the top of your hat.

Fold hat back in half and tape along the edge to seal. Use a hole punch to punch two holes across from each other at the base of the hat. Add a length of knotted yarn to each hole. 

Pop that puppy atop your kiddo's noggin, tie under the chin and have a party, just because.