I just realized that Valentine's Day is in just a couple of days.
Because I homeschool, I don't have the stress and pressure of sending my girls to school with valentines for their whole class. Nor do I have to worry about the candy/no candy decision.
But I do like to use it as an opportunity to make some homemade, hand-crafted valentines for family and close friends.
We started by each making a list of those people important enough to get a valentine from us. Then, I took a collection of white and pink paper, folded in half, and cut out various sizes of hearts. While the hearts were folded, I took a paper punch (or for my eldest, she did this herself) and punched holes all around the outside of the heart.
The girls then got to choose between red, pink or white yarn to lace through the holes. Tie a pretty bow at the top, add maybe some glitter glue, possibly another smaller heart glued to the center - then it is just a personalized message and you have a wonderful valentine card!
The girls had so much fun making these. The hardest part is waiting for that darn glitter glue to dry! Easy-peasy!
Lessons Learned:
- When the heart is folded and you are punching the holes, make sure to punch an odd number of holes. That will ensure that the next step will make your strings come out at the front of the Valentine for tying the bow.
- Start threading at the bottom of the heart, ensuring that the string passes to the back of the Valentine between the two bottom most holes. Then lace up each side to the top holes and you'll find the string comes out on front where you can tie a bow.