I'm not sure what we'll be doing this year for our Valentine's Day card-making, since it *is* still January. But it occurred to me that these cards that Junebug and I made last year might be worth
sharing.
But oh, dear readers, please bear with me on this half-baked photo tutorial... I hope that in spite of my incomplete and technically poor photographs you might find this "handy" Valentine's Day craft useful. (Handy! Get it? Ha!)
My excuse is that I hadn't started the blog yet at this time last year, so I wasn't taking these pictures with any thoughts of sharing them beyond Junebug's own 2012 memory book.
But anyway...
Junebug was almost 3-years-old when we made these cards. I prepared the space (above) while she was taking a nap, and then we did the card-making when she woke.
For this project you will need:
- watercolor paper or other heavyweight paper, cut into 4'' x 4'' squares
- an equal number of colored cardstock paper squares, cut to 5'' x 5''. (You should have as many 4'' x 4'' and 5'' x 5'' squares as the number of valentines you plan to make)
- assorted tempra paints in colors of your liking (red and white if you're going for "traditional" Valentine's Day colors... you'll notice we were a little less traditional)
- a couple of paint brushes
- paint tray or bowls for color-mixing
- painter's tape for taping down the squares
- a washing station (nearby bucket or pan with warm, soapy water and a hand towel)
- multi-purpose glue such as Elmer's school glue
- the names of your valentine recipients printed or written out and cut into rectangles, nearly to size (see photo below)
- some fuzzy craft balls (aka pom-poms)
I taped the 4'' x 4'' paper squares to a table. I set up the paints, brushes and bowls in the middle.Then Junebug mixed the paint around in the bowls, applied the paint via the brush to her hand, and stamped her hand on the paper -- first one hand on several pieces of paper, then a few minutes later, the other hand on several pieces of paper -- to form the shape of a heart.
As with almost every art & craft project we do, like this one and this one, I set up a washing station nearby. A simple, sudsy pail of water and a nearby towel. I remember that Junebug enjoyed washing her hands and brushes almost as much as the hand-stamping act itself.
After all the hand-stamping was done and the papers were set aside to dry, we glued some fuzzy balls to the names of Junebug's valentine recipients, which I had printed and cut-out beforehand.
After the handprint hearts were dry, we glued the 4'' x 4'' hand-heart papers centered onto a 5'' x 5'' piece of colored cardstock, to give the card some weight and create a nice border. We set them under some heavy books, to let them dry and flatten overnight.
Finally, we glued the name tags, with the fuzzy balls attached, to the front of each card.
Junebug helped with all the gluing steps, too, and made decisions about which handprints to give to which friend, and where to place each friend's name on the card. It was a sweet process.
In the spirit of full-disclosure, I got inspiration for this idea from a picture I saw on Pinterest last year, which was a similar version of the hand print heart. I can no longer find it, so if any of you know of its origination please let us know in the comments!
What Valentine's Day art & crafts are you thinking of making this year?
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